Drum Roll Please...Giveaway Winners Announced

Hello all, thanks for your wonderful comments on the giveaway blog.  What a fun bunch you are! 

And a warm welcome to the new commentors and blog visitors. 

I've got a full post planned for you this time.  Egads!  You know what that means.....lots and lots of pictures.

I think a couple of you ladies just might especially enjoy these first three.  Not gonna mention any names...

My longtime blog readers are well aware that Mr. Wonderful/The second most interesting man in the world continues to refuse to make his official debut here on the pages of my blog.  So be it.  Therefore, I'm left with no choice but to choose a blog stand in for him.  You all know how distressing it is for me when I have to resort to using his stand in for husband blog stuff.  Yes, downright distressing, I tell you.  Difficult as it is, my faux husband will be helping me choose the winners.  Yes, ladies, this guy,  my hubs body double....

(Kathy and Helen quit laughing, it's not nice)

For those of you who are new to the blog or who don't remember why Mr. Wonderful is the second most interesting man in the world,

I can finally let you in on a secret.

We personally know THE most interesting man in the world.

Really we do.

And....

I have been given permission to show you a personal family photo of him.

WOOHOO...

 Thank you Fred and Helen for allowing me to share your personal memento

with my blog readers.

This is what T.M.I.M.I.T.W. does on his days off, 

just hanging out with the bigger than life-size replica of himself

A little easier to recognize him in his working attire, though isn't it?.....

Oh the exciting stories of adventure his wife can tell.......I've heard some of them.

I've been there for some of them.

Those stories featured in the commercials are just the tip of the iceberg.

Now that we've explained that, are you ready to find out who has won the giveaway?

We had lots of names to choose from...

 a final comment check turned up one more that came in after I took the above photo..

and yes, I actually did toss your names into a hat...

Here we go...

drum roll please.......

The winner of the necklace is...

Marcia!

(ooohh husband stand-in, what sexy hands you have...You can see them here picking the names.
But I digress.....getting back to business)

and now for the earrings...

the winner is...

Juliette!

Please send me your addresses ladies and I'll get these shipped out to you.

Thank you all for participating.

~~~~

I haven't forgotten. I promised to unveil my unusual Florida souvenir in this post,

but I'm going to make you wait for it..

First..

some welcome news

Many of you are familiar with "other Janet".
Yup, that's how we refer to each other.

She has opened an Etsy shop filled with her beautiful, handmade jewels.

Let's all stop by and say "Hi"

You can visit her here at WillowStudioJewelry

Here's a nice little winter pick me up I wanted to share with you guys.

For many years, I've been interested in botanicals and their benefits.

I've enjoyed using them when making my own bath salts and soaps, etc.

I used to scent my concoctions with dried herbs, fragrance or food grade essential oils.  

Which smelled lovely but I didn't notice any real benefits other than making my products smell delicious.

I've recently discovered Doterra therapeutic grade essential oils.

WOW!

What a difference these make.

They are very concentrated so a little goes a long way, 50-70 times more potent than herbs.

This means when you add a few drops, and I'm talking just a few drops, 1-3 drops,

of lavender, peppermint, lemon or ylang ylang to your blend,

you not only get an intense and delightful scent,

but you also get the full benefits of the essential oil.

In fact many of the synthetic oils I used previously, can't be taken internally and can only be used for fragrance, whereas almost all of these are formulated to be taken internally or applied topically.

The lemon is a detoxifier.

Lavender is calming, a disinfectant and good for skin issues.

Peppermint is cool and invigorating.

Frankincense is helpful for asthma, dermatitis and digestive disorders.

Ylang Ylang is good for tension, anxiety, stress, etc. and it smells incredible.

I bought the Family Physician Kit which has 10 different oils 

and I love love love it!

I've just recovered from a nasty two week bout of the flu.

Cuz you know, it's been an epidemic here in Texas.

Everything, yes, everything, including the flu is bigger in Texas.

To combat my aches and general miserableness, 

I would add a drop or two of Deep Blue (for muscle soreness, inflammation, etc), 

Breath (for respiratory issues.)

 (Both of those are proprietary blends specially formulated  to help with specific concerns)

and lavender into my bath and soak.  

I can't begin to tell you how much it helped.

I also mixed two of the oils, oregano and On Guard (another proprietary blend,

 specifically formulated to support the immune system) with coconut oil

 and would rub it on my feet after the bath and at bedtime.

It absorbs very quickly into your system when rubbed onto your feet, in case you were wondering.

I am so absolutely amazed at the effects I have experienced using these therapeutic oils

 that I wanted to share this information with you.

I got my oils here.  They're running specials the entire month of February.

Here are some of my fav bath salt recipes in case any of you would like to make some for yourselves.

Easy peasy. Also gives me a good reason to keep these pretty jars around.

This is what the oils look like

(For all of the recipes, you mix the dry ingredients together first, then add and mix in the oils.

 Store in lidded jars. Add a few TBS to bath water)

Bath Salt Recipe #1

1 cup sea salt

1 cup Epsom salt

a few drops of Doterra essential oils

or

1 tsp other essential oil.

Mix salts together.  Slowly mix in essential oil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bath Salt Recipe #2 

 2 cups Epsom salts

2 tsp of oil; olive, almond, etc.

1/4 cup sea salt (optional)

a few drops of Doterra essential oil 

or

1 tsp of other essential essential oil 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bath Salts Recipe #3

6 cups sea salt

3 cups Epsom salts

1 cup baking soda

a few drops essential oils.

 (Adjust the desired amount of oils as this is a much larger batch of bath salts.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, you can also just put a few drops directly in your bath, if you're not a bath salts type.

Enjoy! 

I hope if any of you give these a try, you'll be as delighted with them as I am.

By now you must be wondering if anything jewelry related has been going on.

A little bit. 

 

 I reworked these, adding vintage smoky charcoal, hematite looking beads inside of 

soldered multi-wire wreaths.

 Rhinestones, vintage and freshwater pearls, crystals and filigree dripping from chains

and sterling earwires.

Ice Sparrow assemblage earrings

Featured in the winter 2014 issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry

I obtained some gorgeous vintage crocheted buttons in a variety of hues.

Ivory, cream, tan and white.

I've made two pairs of earrings with them.

This pair combines them with antique buttons and hand crocheted lace,

vintage beads, carved bone beads, ceramic beads and metal cones.

All in lovely shades of whites and ivory.

This next pair a bit more simple...

Sleek contemporary cone beadcaps sheltering the textural vintage textiles below.

I can't get enough of making tin beads using Pipnmolly's fabulous tutorial.

These reverse to black and white.

Vintage glass cabachons, carved vintage bone beads, brass roses,

Petra's wonderful droplets and patinated stampings.

Before I got sick, I was re-organizing, ok, organizing my studio.

The never-ending battle.

I ran across my vintage glass cab stash, so you'll see a few pairs of

earrings made with those.

Asymmetrical Petra goodies, vintage book chain and spikes.

Need I say it...Pipn style tin beads, Petra danglers and ceramic beads.

I made these beads with metal rather than tin, leaving the solder bumpy and rustic,

then incised an "X" design into the solder.

Vintage green glass cabs, spikes, ceramic and matte black glass beads.

I decided to go with oxidizing on this next pair.

Dilemma from last post solved.

Mixed metals of copper, brass and vintage book chain.

Romantic heart and hands.  Vintage assemblage earrings.

I can't resist figural hands.  Vintage?  All the better!

Dreamy.

Beautiful hollow lampwork beads by Jo Kaczmarski in a soft summer sky blue,

 lustrous white keishi pearls and handmade sterling twisty earwires.

Vintage twisty pearls, vintage glass cabachon 

with the most adorable vintage micro mosaic hearts,

colored rhinestones and patinated stampings.

and last but not least...

Some wrist candy.

A filigree wrapped, vintage perfume bottle, 

paired with a reverse painted glass-metal framed floral piece,

fancy fabric, book chain and a clasp made from an English vintage nurses belt.

Phew.  

You made it all the way through the parade of jewelry.

Now you want to see the souvenir I bought in Florida?

Of course you do!

Why wouldn't you considering that I got it at a store 

with a booze guzzling stuffed gator as a mascot.

Nope, no key-chains or t-shirts for me.

Why it's a gator skull of course!

How cool is that?!

Look at this amazing texture...

You know I'll be making molds of this.

And yes, Kathy...

Contrary to your skepticism,

a gator skull fits in perfectly with my decor.

Why you doubt me, I will never know!

That's it for this time folks...

Thanks again for stopping by, 

for participating in the giveaway, 

(I wish I could send something to each of you.  Well I could, but it wouldn't be prudent)

 and for taking the time to leave your always, delightful comments.

Till next time,

ENJOY!

Adios