Happy New Year and A Give-Away To Start Us Off!

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January 1st 2014.

This cannot be – I think 1994 was just a couple of years back – who turned up the speed?

I finished yesterday with quiet introspection.

On a day to day basis it seems as if nothing much happens or changes and life just ticks along. If I want to get maudlin I could say none of my wishes have come to pass.  But when I took a moment to step out of the forest in order to see the trees I saw a quite different vista.

I see that all my daily needs are easily met.  I see that I have all I need and even some of what I want.  I see I can meet my expenses every month.  I see my friends and family. I see my neighbours.  I see I started blogging.  I see a community that has grown from that first unremembered step.  I see I started painting again.  I see I opened an Etsy Shop.  I see I wrote 100 posts.  I see I had a lot of fun.  I see new laughter lines.  I see that I love.  I see that I am loved.  

I see a vast landscape of serendipitous meetings, events and inspirations.  And I remember to trust that no matter what I think I want, my life is happening even – as John Lennon said – while I am busy making other plans.

I  see and I remember that I am a most fortunate person!

Look what I got in the mail yesterday

DSCF1635

125 10.5 x 14 cm super shiny postcard sized prints from the good guys over at Vistaprint.

I ordered sticky back labels and business cards from them early in December and they arrived the day before we went off on our jaunt through Central Otago to Queenstown.  [Click here for that post]  I was really happy with the quality and the price.  These postcards were an add on at a hugely reduced price and with free postage as a thank you for my order.  At the time I thought why not – may as well give it a go – and it is absolutely a WOW!

The postcard size cuts off a bit of the original painting, which was purchased by the sweet Alys over at Gardening Nirvana on the day I opened my Etsy Store – which kind of made my year really – but I think she still looks kind of neat  🙂

I’ll be sending some of these out as freebies with every order I think.  And I’ll get the others made up this way too – who knew my paintings could look so great?  Tra-lu, Tra-lay, Oh happy day!  🙂

[NB:- It appears I’m giving up modesty for 2014]

Now lets get on with the business at hand.

The first Give Away for 2014

is a signed print of your choice from my Etsy Shop.

Now should you be a person who ticks one or any or all of the following:

  1. A person who likes whimsical art
  2. A person in need of something to put on their wall
  3. A person who forgot to buy a gift for a female friend/relative recently
  4. A person with a gift needed for a female friend/relative soon
  5. A person who likes free stuff
  6. A person who supports my attempts to become an artist
  7. A person who has previously won a give-away before
  8. A bloke

………..then please feel free to enter into this New Year Giveaway – entirely sponsored by an anonymous, generous, kind, loving, thoughtful, patron of a would-be artist and

  • Hit the ‘Like’ button on the Contented Crafter Page on FaceBook
  • Hit the ‘Follow’ button on the Contented Crafter Blog
  • Hit the ‘Leave A Comment’ on this post and leave a comment

If you already ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’ I know – and I love you for it, just leave a comment.

If you don’t ‘do’ FaceBook, I absolutely understand, just mention that fact in your comment.

If you have stumbled onto this post through my cunning ploy of naming and tagging ‘Give Away’ and ‘Free Stuff’ go check out my Etsy Shop The Contented Crafter for a full list of the prints you could choose from should your name be drawn.

That’s it folks.  You have until midnight on Twelfth Night – 6th January – and the draw will be made the following morning.  We shall continue the age old tradition of my coffee mug, having emptied it’s early morning contents of delicious hot coffee into my eager being, becoming the receptacle for your various names.  I’m hoping the coffee cup will be full and the ‘Likes’ and ‘Follows’ will therefore be quadrupled………..Ah well , we must have a dream for it to come true 🙂

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!  🙂

35 thoughts on “Happy New Year and A Give-Away To Start Us Off!”

  2. Pauline, I just love the way you have reflected and counted your blessings! I’m glad that I am part of your blogging world. Here’s another thing I see that can be added to your list of “I See”…
    I see that you are a contented, lovely, lady.

    Your postcards are lovely!

    I have a facebook account, but do not log on often.

    Like

  3. Love your work…I am not on facebook…I admire you opening a shop on Etsy..that is one of my goals for 2014 or 2015, so I enjoy that you are sharing and showing others how to make it all happen! You have a achieved a lot!:-)

    Like

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  5. Oh what a fun post. You are the bees knees my dear. I love your art, your energy, your sharing and caring. I’m tickle to see this lovely art on postcards.

    I’m following you all over town, so I will simply leave a comment here. Mwaaa

    Like

  6. I am not commenting because I have already won a giveaway from you…but I am commenting “Well done” on your daring to give this Etsy store a go and I am enjoying watching your growth 🙂 xxx

    Like

    • Wendy – you are so special to me – your support is warm and generous and I always feel it and appreciate it! We haven’t yet reached the stage where a previous win disqualifies you from a new entry – I think the gods of random choice seem to be working quite well on this blog and I get quite excited to see who they choose next…..The Etsy store just sits there, but it gives me something to do and aspire to and that is a good thing! xoxo

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      • Aw!! Well, given how hard it is to actually put bits of ourselves “OUT THERE” I think you have done brilliantly and yep, it is something to aspire to and we could all do with a bit more of that 🙂

        It will be interesting to see how the gods work then, cool 🙂 🙂

        Like

  7. Just headed to FB to click “like” and realised I was already liking you :). I don’t “follow” blogs but I put them into my RSS Feed Reader so that I get every post as they are minted. If I followed all of the blogs that are in my RSS Feed Reader in the usual way (and got email reminders of each of the posts) I would need a special email account for blogs alone! I follow 230 blogs at the moment ;). As someone who ticks a few boxes and who admires your lovely artwork from affair and a fellow magpie who loves bright and shiny things I would like to enter your New Years competition please 🙂

    Like

    • You are upping my education this morning Fran – I never understood about the RSS feeder [In my mind it stands for Rudolf Steiner School – which I always knew was a bit anomalous to find in a blog dashboards….]

      230 blogs is a lot! You don’t actually do any sleeping do you – because you not only read but comment copiously on them – all of them? – surely not!! My mind is boggling!!

      So though you don’t or won’t help me attain the longed for 200 followers on my blog I shall still put your name in my coffee cup just because I love you and you make me happy 🙂

      Like

      • Ditto ma’am 🙂 Your wonderful comments make my day and seem to come when I am feeling particularly twitchy about things. I don’t comment on all of my RSS Feed Reader blogs. Some of them are purely educational and teach me about organic gardening, permaculture, vegan food etc. but a select core are my favourites and I always comment. You just elevated yourself to that select core and I might even click “follow” (and get the emails) just so you get one step closer to your goal.

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        • [Blush, smirk and curtsy] That makes me feel better – I just sent you a message bemoaning the fact that I haven’t got an annual report and basically it’s not fair!!

          Please tell me where they hide them.

          Like

          • Mine was sent to the email account that I used when I signed up for the blog. If you can’t see it, it is probably in your spam folder? They might send out the NZ blog stats later as “Australia” is at the beginning of the alphabet? NO idea why 😉

            Like

            • Well, I may just never know how many concert halls I did or didn’t fill -maybe WP hasn’t found an image for NZ – that could be the problem – Wendy might wander past and tell us if she got a report in the mail…. Well, tell me – I realise you probably couldn’t care less 🙂

              Good luck in the draw!

              Like

              • Tell you what…you can have mine! :). I will ask Wendy if she got one yet :). I hope I didn’t sound ungrateful for getting my report, what I meant was I blog for my happiness and the stats are interesting but not something that I am out to compete with anyone else over. I am just happy that people keep reading my massive posts and come back 🙂

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                • No, no – you didn’t sound at all ungrateful  and I certainly never meant to imply that you did sound ungrateful –  fully got that your interest is with your community of readers!I’m just miffed [a little, fading fast] that I didn’t get one, don’t want yours, want my own!  But fully expect to continue with my life completely unaffected by the fact that WP missed me out …. I’m a bit behind with my emails on account of computer idiosyncrasies, but nearly back on track now!  

                  Like

                    • Good luck…Wordpress don’t really care about their free bloggers any more and they stopped actively sorting out problems. If you want answers you need to go to the help page and check out the forums. That’s part of the reason why we are going to move Serendipity Farm to a self hosted site ASAP (that, plus we are almost full 😉 ).

                      Like

  8. Happy new year Pauline and Orlando! What a lovely, joyous, grateful goodbye you have said to 2013, bringing you into a beautifully open and receptive entry to 2014. We should all take a leaf from your book! Greetings from Auckland where we are joyfully wallowing in wonderfully fun family time!! : )))xxx

    Like

  9. I’ve liked and followed (and followed on Twitter, too, just in case . . .); now to comment . . .
    hmmmmmm…………… what to say? (can you tell I had coffee this afternoon? 😉 Love your work, of course. Even better, that you are giving up Modesty for 2014 (and not just for Lent). Like your daughter, you were born to sparkle . . . and it’s hard to do that modestly, don’t you think? Hoping to win, but wishing everyone luck anyway . . . and all the best in this great new year. ~ Linne

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    • I’m so happy to see you have covered all the bases Linne – well done! Thank you for the share on FB too – that is so appreciated!!

      I think we should all sparkle every opportunity we get – perhaps that should be this blogs aim for 2014 – I like the idea!!

      Good luck dear Linne.

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  10. Your Tag ‘Lack of Modesty’ made me laugh! WHY not? If we don’t like our own creations, somethings gone very wrong 😀 Happy New Year Pauline, I am (once again) crossing my fingers but will congratulate you too on your terrific list of accomplishments this year. There’s no grass growing under your feet! 😀 xox K

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    • That’s Laurie teaching us a new fun thing to do! Well caught!
      It is a terrific list of accomplishments isn’t it – and I only saw it because I caught the thought that nothing much had happened – what rubbish we tell ourselves sometimes!! Good luck dear Boomdee!

      Like

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