allsorts

Winner winner!

My first ever giveaway officially ended at midnight last night, so today I get to announce the winner of the Pretty Maids prints! There were so many comments, I was astonished to see the final count!  I wish everyone could win, but then I'd be making prints until June or so. Anyway... the handy dandy random number generator at random.org came up with the number 28 so yay, I didn't have to count very high.

And the winning comment is:

I don't know this nice woman, but after visiting her blog, I am sure the doll prints are going to the perfect place, because she has the two most adorable little girls!  Her de-stressing recommendation was excellent, as were all the great ideas everyone gave. Many involved a hot bath and a tasty beverage, so of course, I will be taking those suggestions to heart... once the workers get off my roof and I won't worry about them peeking into the skylight in my bathroom... whoops!

Thanks again for playing along, it was great fun, and I'll be doing it again soon, I'm sure!

Cheers,

Jenny

Pretty Maids prints ~ a giveaway!

Welcome to my first ever giveaway!  I've been working up colorized versions of my Pretty Maids, and sometime next year I hope to have prints of all the dolls available in my etsy shop.  For my giveaway, I've printed six of the color versions onto heavy watercolor paper, popped them onto dotty little yellow and blue mats and into red Ikea frames.

I'm giving away six framed doll prints: Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands.

The dolls are 4" x 6" and are printed using archival inks, and the frames measure 6.5" x 8.5".  All six can be yours free, I'll even pay shipping!  Just leave a comment on this post about your favorite way to de-stress during the holidays, because as I explained before, I am coping with a wee bit of stress right now.  Comments will close Saturday, December 18 at midnight CST, and Sunday I'll use the random number generator to choose the winner!  Easy peasy!

Good luck!

Jenny

the giveaway has ended... thanks for playing along!

The storm before the calm

Well, it's either wait for some photos or post without them... what the heck, I'll just jump right in.

It's been so long since I posted I'm almost afraid to pop in.  How did so much time go by so fast? We were out of town over Thanksgiving, and then the flu got me when we got back, so that kind of washed the first week away. Since then I have come up with post ideas, and either I have no decent photo to show, or time to take one, or all the ideas I have seem really really lame. But there definitely is lots of activity going on here, so maybe I can use that as an excuse...

We're doing some work around the house. The whole exterior is getting a face lift... new gutters, new shutters, woodwork repair, a power wash and a fresh coat of paint. Inside, we now have new carpet installed in our bedroom, and Thursday we ordered a new couch and chairs for the living room!  (we made the guy at Crate and Barrel very happy).

Why we thought December would be a good time to do this escapes me now.  Amid this chaos, Christmas decorating is happening in small disorganized bursts of random accomplishment. I keep planning to grab the camera and take some quick shots but nothing is anywhere near finished, or attractive yet.  So many new ideas, some are coming together, some have been busts. Oh well, with beauty comes great pain.  Who said that? Does that apply here? I danno.

See, the thing that has me all weird is this. Photographers are coming to take pictures of my decorations. For a magazine. My kooky decorations, my kooky house. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the idea.  And now I keep changing my mind about everything.

So... as a thank you for still visiting my blog (despite the gaping lapses I keep apologizing for.. sheesh, I need to stop doing that) I will be having my very first giveaway! Hopefully I can pull that together for tomorrow, so stay tuned for details.  Let me see what I can come up with that you might like...

Cheers,

Jenny

Turkeys Never Gobble

I thought it would be timely to share this little book I illustrated a few years back. You can really see how much my style has changed! This was when I was working half and half... I drew the line work in ink, scanned it, then using Photoshop I added color within the line, and also changed the hue of the line itself. Another bit of trivia... it was shortly after this book came out that I switched to using Jenny B Harris... my full name was too long to fit on those little board books!  So this is my way of wishing you Happy Thanksgiving!

Click the images to enlarge, so you can read the wonderful text by Joan Holub!

Hope you all have a safe and very Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers,

Jenny

Ears to your 'elfies

Guess who's come out to play again? It's the Christmas Elfies embroidery pattern, now available in my etsy shop. And I've added some extra treats, like a candy cane and a little prezzie!

And something else is new, this time the pdf includes a black and white version along with the color one, and one in reverse in case you prefer to use an iron-on marker to transfer the pattern. I still use the window/tracing technique, but I'm tempted to try the other, it sounds like it might work pretty well. Anyone have any experience with it?

Tomorrow we have tickets to see A Midsummer's Night Dream at the new Wyly Theater, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the new venue. And the production! It's one of my all time favorites by the Bard.

Hope you have a jolly weekend!

Cheers,

Jenny

Let it snow...

I'm still buried under an avalanche of work, so I've been terribly remiss in posting. (Get it? Avalanche? Snow?) Well, anyways... here is some inspirational eye candy for you to snack on while I shovel out from under the last bit... (ironic since I have never shoveled actual snow in my life!)

These images have been parked in the nether regions of my computer for absolutely ages, and I apologize but I don't recall where they came from. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd love to give proper credit.

They appear to be from a Christmas Emporium, and if they are, what a truly delightful shop it is!  I would love to visit! In fact... these are the photos that launched my obsession with adoration of red and aqua!

Which... all things considered... is really something!

Holiday ho ho ho's...

Jenny

Ho ho ho!

Tada!  The blog has its new look for the Christmas season!  I also dusted off the Gingerbread House and Zoe Holiday Dress-up buttons over there on the right sidebar.

So.... let the festivities begin!

Cheers,

Jenny

Trick or Treat!

If you stopped by Allsorts sometime yesterday or earlier today, you were given an unintended sneak peek at some behind the scenes experimenting with my blog design.

So,have a Jolly Halloween indeed! wink wink

Cheers,

Jenny

Poor neglected Allsorts

All the action is over at Owlsorts!

Cheers,

Jenny

A little owl told me...

Some freakishly fun things have been happening over on my Halloween blog Owlsorts!  Just yesterday the Wise Old Owl shared The Tale of the Family Cursed, my contribution to a celebration enjoyed by over 200 Halloween blogs.  And also....

A covey of Spooky Pinspinners have been spotted!  If you'd like to make these for your own haunted mansion, apparate over to Owlsorts for patterns and a tutorial.  But don't delay, because when Halloween is over, they'll evaporate with the rest of the dreadful decor to make way for Christmas!

Oooooooo scary!

Jenny