About 2 months ago, I had asked polymer artist and dear friend, Betsy Strebe of Strebe Designs, if I could purchase one of her Limoges style boxes. She generously offered to send me one as a gift. Because I know she puts a lot of work into these lovely trinket boxes, I said that if she would like, I'd make something to send to her in return. She agreed, and she sent me this beautiful little box:
Limoges style box by Betsy Strebe of Strebe Designs
Inside of Limoges style box by Betsy Strebe of Strebe Designs
Betsy's little box is displayed in one of my polymer art shrines in my studio. This little shadowbox display contains a few of the little gifts I've received from other polymer artist friends over the years... (I have a couple of other polymer art shrines, so this is only some of my treasures from friends)
In this photo: Top Orange Mokume Gane box by Susan O'Neill of 11BOLDstreet, 2nd shelf Blue Marbled egg by Angela Hickey of Polymer Clay Creations, 3rd shelf Limoges style box by Betsy Strebe of Strebe Designs, 4th shelf Polymer appliquéd glass heart ornament by Linda Riopel of NKDesigns, 5th shelf Millifiore egg by Cindy Matthews of Arrowdale Art Studio, 6th shelf rock and succulent plant pendant by Maiah Tanner of Walk Home Happy, bottom 2 shelves are some little pieces I made (place holders until I get other small polymer gifts to fill those spots!)
As an added surprise, Betsy also gifted me these lovely gift cards that were created with her own hand carved stamps! Beautiful!!
Hand carved stamped designs on note cards by Betsy Strebe of Strebe Designs
Backside (logo) of hand carved stamped cards by Betsy Strebe of Strebe Designs
It took me a while before I finished the piece I made for Betsy and sent if off to her. When I received her piece, I had been in the middle of a major studio reorganize, where I moved all the furniture around (more to come on that later...). Then I had to spend time creating my Cocky Trump sculpture, then I got busy with Thanksgiving, creating ornaments and finally having to deal with pet injuries and family health issues. So I decided today I was going to sit down and finally get these lovely gifts posted for show and tell! Aren't they gorgeous?! I'm so glad to have an example of my dear friend's work in my collection of polymer art from artist friends! Do you have special collections of art in your home? Tell me about it in the comments, and be sure to go check out Betsy Strebe's work at Strebe Designs!
Thanks so much again, Betsy!! I absolutely LOVE my beautiful little Limoges box, and the gift cards too!
Oh, I almost forgot... here's the little container I made and sent to Betsy:
I don't consider myself to have more luck than the next person, but I sometimes stumble upon fortuitous occasions, for which I am always thankful. So today's post is about giving thanks for, and acknowledgment to those generous souls who offered up these recent gifts.
First of all, I must acknowledge the wonderful gifts I received in December from my PCAGOE guild mates, for our holiday swap. (yes, I'm very behind in the thanks for these lovelies, the holidays and start of the new year really ran away from me this year). These beauties were the work of Jackie Sieben of The Pleasant Pheasant and JAE Jewelry (Gorgeous pens and seam ripper, left), Susan O'Neill of 11BOLDstreet (Funky trinket box and fabulous pendant, center) and Linda Riopel of NKDesigns (beautiful caned pendant necklace, right) Check out their work, by clicking their names to view their respective etsy shops.
(I wanted these images to appear together, so please click on the image to see them up close). Thank you again, Jackie, Susan and Linda!! I absolutely love my swap gifts!
The first of 2 surprise gifts happened last month, when I was notified that I had won a giveaway from the website, BeadingGem Journal by Pearl Blay. Pearl partnered with one of my favorite polymer artists, Helen Breil, to give away a bunch of Helen's silkscreen designs. I was one of the lucky winners, and I had my pick of Helen's silkscreen designs! I chose the design "Cabaret". It arrived in the mail about a month ago, and I still haven't had the time to play with it, but here's a photo of the silkscreen package that I received:
I have yet to try the silkscreen technique... so I am really looking forward to a day when I can play around with this fantastic design! Helen has many other designs in both silkscreens and textures, if you're not familiar with her work, please do check out her website (which includes links to where you can purchase her designs for your own use!) And don't forget to check out Pearl's site for tons of inspiration, tips and giveaway opportunities!
The second windfall that came my way happened on Valentine's day. I entered Deb Hart's (of Renaissance Gal of San Antonio) Facebook event, where she generously gave away 3 of her polymer pieces. Deb is known for her fabulous millefiori cane work. The other 2 prizes were a bunch of her original canes and one of her caned owl pendants. The prize I was so very lucky to win was one of her sea turtle trinket boxes!! If you know me, or follow this blog, you probably know I have a little adoration for sea turtles and Native American inspired art... so, to say I was thrilled about winning this treasure was an understatement! Well, my beautiful sea turtle arrived last week. I've taken a couple shots of her to show you how fabulous she is, and for the first time ever, I shot a video to post here on the blog. The idea for the video came about because one of my most favorite features about this treasure is not easily displayed in a still photo, check it out for yourself: (crossing fingers that the video actually works)
And since the video doesn't do justice to viewing all the wonderful details, here are the still shots...
Can you tell I'm absolutely in love with this turtle? ;) She has found a permanent and prized spot on my nightstand, where I can admire her every day. If you love this as much as I do, and you don't know about Deb Hart's work, you should definitely check her out! You can find Deb here on her blog, etsy (where you can purchase a turtle similar to this one!), and Facebook. And if you want to learn how to make some of Deb's creations, she offers a great variety of classes at CraftArtEdu.
So, again, a big Thank you to (my guild mates) Jackie Sieben, Susan O'Neill and Linda Riopel for my holiday swap items, and huge Thanks to Helen Breil, Pearl Blay and Deb Hart, for their generous hearts and the wonderful prizes that I received! Aren't they all wonderful? Have you had luck in winning online contests or participating in swaps? Leave me a comment below, and tell me your thoughts!
And as an aside; if the video worked in this post, I hope to do some tutorial videos to post on the blog in the future.... and, if you like the Thank you image (first image of this post), you can find that as a printable digital postcard file in my graphics shop YourDigitalWorld.
