June Winner of Mystery Monday Announced

We didn't have that many entries this month and that is understandable, so I am taking a vacation from it for the rest of the summer. I know we are all so busy in the summer months so we will resume in September.

Here is a reminder of all the mystery photos posted for June. I couldn't get the one to upload properly for me so it is all by itself, but the dates are printed on each photo.


I tried to give you an eclectic mix this month, hoping to stir up more interest. These are what the Photos were of:

June 7 - A Van Gogh painting titled: Draw bridge with carriage, This Mystery photo was a close-up of the brickwork with the Arles Sunshine reflecting the water below. This is on a very cool vintage tin I've had for over a decade or more. There is another painting on the other side. I just love his use of color in this one.

June 14 - That one was a close up of the center of one of my Challah bread loaves, back when I could eat it, before I got Celiac Disease. Here is the loaf in full. I love how the camera captured the braids in a glowing way that reminds me of mist between the mountains very early before the crack of dawn.




June 21 - This photo was a close up of the Native American Pottery featured on a this stamp from the 1970's - Folk Art Series. I used it in a brooch/pendant I made with polymer clay and copper wire. It took me forever to drill those holes to weave the wire through, I wish I'd have thought to do this before I baked it!





June 28 - Very close up of the foot of my resident (one of them, we have a pair now) hawk. He was sitting only 12 feet from my patio door for over an hour one day and I took the opportunity to snap some photos of him while he watched me and about a dozen squirrels and chipmunks frolicking in the yard. Here he is perched on the framework of the roof of our tent gazebo, we haven't put the top or sides on yet and the birds love to perch there.


And of the entries we had, most which were on the last photo, where tallied together and this is the winner drawn: Cindee! I will be emailing you shortly about your prize! thanks to all who played this month, I know it's been very busy! See you all in September with a new Mystery Monday Photo!


I did take the time to stop and smell the roses as promised here in my Commitments post, Friday evening and have posted some pics here for you to enjoy if you aren't near a rose garden. I also got some excellent ideas for future organic beads for Heart of Eden Beads so look for those, coming soon I hope!


The end of last week was so beautiful I spent most of it outside enjoying the temperatures in the 70's with clear blue skies and low humidity. At times I even had to pull on a sweatshirt to stay warm! Oh how I loved that. But On Saturday it took a turn, the mercury started climbing, yet was still bearable. But yesterday when I woke up I could feel the humidity creeping in. Saturday night my feet had swollen to almost half size, very uncomfortable! They went down and for that I am grateful but this coming week it is promising to be downright awful! High humidity and in the highest 90's into the 100's! I don't think I will be going out anywhere this week, nor firing any beads in the studio, there's enough high to combat with our two air-conditioners. I really can't go anywhere anyway as hubby's car died and I am left without one till we find another. But I will be working on some sketches for those beads, and will finish up some other projects that don't require much heat.


Yesterday was very hot but we went over to the park to watch the fireworks (the first time in 10 years I've been able to do this and it is only because Jazmine died last August, as we always had to stay home with her because she got so upset it would cause her to go into a seizure.) They were pretty good, we had great seats by the river and it was so cool there, and the sky was clear so I got to take for the first time with my digital camera some shots of fireworks. I love the ones that look like dandelions in the moonlight, I shall have to make some more dandelion beads.

Hope you had a great 4th! Stay cool this week!

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Mystery Monday! Last one for JUNE!

I'm sorry dear readers I thought this was posted already!

Here is your photo of the week. I found it lurking in my Backyard.




Have fun guessing. Here are the rules for a reminder or for those new at playing.
Remember you must email me.


And don't forget about the Bead Soup + Mystery Bead Novel and Mystery surprise Giveaway I am having, only two days left to enter!. See here for details.

And Erin Prais-Hintz is having her Inspired by giveaway (get your entry in by Wednesday) and also she is giving away a pair of earrings from the Bead Soup party.

Here is one of my entries for the 'Inspired by': Paper Crafting Challenge


Bracelet or Necklace!
(click for larger view)
Using a Scrap booking buckle covered in Polymer clay and embellished with a fresh baby Nasturtium leaf and an even tinier one. Also I've set it off on each side with a vintage (almost 70 year old) Indian coins that have holes which make them natural link components. I've been saving these for quite some time not knowing what to do with them and then the cut off selvedges of some linen begged not to be thrown away but used and that is what I did. Looping them through the links on the buckle and then tying them to each other. It is worn by wrapping around the wrist several times and clasps with the magnetic buckle. Or it can be worn with the fibers twisted and lays at about collar bone length. Thanks Erin for helping me with one of my UFP's! (unfinished projects) It all came together pretty well I'd say!

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Mystery Monday June 21st

Ready for another round? Here's an interesting one for you. Rock, Paper, Scissors?
Bigger or smaller than a breadbox?
Ancient?
Modern?
Both?





Have fun guessing. Here are the rules for a reminder or for those new at playing.
Remember you must email me.

Don't forget the Bead Soap Swap reveal is now going on. See my post from yesterday to get a list of the days for each participants reveal date. Mine is Wednesday and I am also having a giveaway just for this event, separate from Mystery Monday. Many of the other Swap participants are having giveaways too so be sure to check them all out!

Happy Guessing!

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Mystery Monday June 14th

Just a tiny picture this week, see if you can guess what it is. A Masterpiece of sorts, but not like last weeks. :)


Rules can be found here.


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Mystery Monday for June

Each Monday a new photo will be posted. Follow the same as before, comment here that you are participating, and then email me your guess. Every Monday a new photo will be posted but we will only have one winner per month. All the responses will be put in the drawing, and yes I am still going to put in everyone's name, right or wrong, it's That you played that counts! :)

So, then at the end of the month I will draw one name from all those who emailed me a guess for all the months photos, (yes you can do one week, two weeks, etc or all!) and the winner will get a special Mystery Monday gift just for them. This way I don't get overwhelmed and no one will get shortchanged. I am doing this because I know it's great to get something just for you because you are special, and my readers are special to me. I found out that this is a world wide feeling when participating in the OWOH event as I choose to make something special for each of my winners. In fact they each got two gifts! So I want to continue this on through out the year which will carry us through to the next OWOH event.

I know many of you have found my blog and become followers through that event but maybe didn't win the giveaway so this is like another chance, or many more! :)

So I hope you all will continue to participate, and don't worry, if you won before, that's ok, please keep playing. If I draw a name of a previous winner I will give you a 'consolation prize' and draw a new winner so you still have a chance too!

And now for this weeks photo



The only hint I will give you is that this is a part of a reproduction of a famous painting by a well known Master Artist (deceased). What I want from you is either the name of the painting or the Artist.

PS, also a great palette to work from for a summer design if you are looking for that special inspiration!

Have fun!

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Announcing the Winner!

Well our second, month long contest is now closed and we need a winner! This past month I told you that the pictures were all from one photo, bits and pieces from the whole. I gave you all a chance to guess each week to be entered into the main drawing and this past week to look at all the pictures and see if you could guess what the photo was. As you all know I love to visit my local zoo and one day about a month or so ago I got a great shot right over top of this............Wait! not so fast............hehe.

Well alright I'll tell you because you probably already skipped down to the full photo. ;) It is a Beautiful Mute Swan. It is different from a Trumpeter or Tundra Swan which is also white and distinguished by their different calls and black beaks. The Mute Swan is not native to the USA but comes from Europe/Asia. It has a different shaped bill which is very colorful as you can see from my photos, and it also has that distinguishing 'nob' at the top of the bill which the other swans don't have. The mute swans (which really isn't mute but much less vocal than the other swans) head is shaped different and has that colorful beak. They weight in at about 20-26 lbs and have a (79 to 94 in) wingspan.


I'm not sure if this is a lady or gent in the photo but they were sunning themselves in the corner of the pond area where the goldfish are. (Along with my Koi, Cosmo, remember me telling you about him, he is content up there being the only white Koi in the pond with lots of goldfish friends and this swan and it's mate and a pair of black swans.)

So now here are the photos in order of posting"

1. This first is a picture of the eye, turned on it's side (you didn't think I was going to give you an easy one with four more to come did you? :)
2. Next is part of that black 'nob' that the mute swan is noted for
3. A peek at the end of the beak
4. Feathers atop the head section
5. The beautiful blending (like a Skinner Blend) in sunset colors of the beak going from an orangecicle to a bubblegum pink!

And there you have it! This beautiful Swan in all its glory! What might have thrown some of you was the angle, I was standing right over her next to the 3' high fence and took it straight down, an 'aerial view' if you will.



I'd like to thank all of you that came over to my blog and had a look, took a guess, and the guesses ranged from, cows, to dogs to birds. I know this is a busy time of year and we'd rather be outside much more so I appreciate each and every one of you that has participated!

Now the winner from the five weeks of photos with the guess of Fur Chaps! Love it! Is..................................................................Drum Roll please!


Marie Segal! Congratulations Marie. You know I am going to be intimidated now to make YOU something, but I will grit my teeth and do my best! :) I'll be contacting you soon for your address to send your prize, meanwhile you can look at some of my work at my shops or at Flickr and let me know what appeals to you most about my work and I will design something just for you!

Marie has just opened a new shop on etsy, stop by and give her a visit. Just take a look at these very colorful and detailed earrings. Click on photo to take you to more views at her new Etsy shop. You can also check out all her fine work at her blog Art from my Heart.




Now for our second winner, who nailed all these 'parts'..........................................EmandaJ of Artemisia's Studio! Congratulations Emanda! I just returned from a local bead show and have some beads to share, along with a special on in Polymer I will make just for you!

Also if you stopped by to see the winner today, I also want to let you know about a giveaway over at Andrew Thornton's Blog. Pretty beads from Green Girl Studios, I just found out today through another blogger so am sharing the love and passing it on.......................Go here to enter you have until midnight EST.

I apologize this took sooooooooooooo long to get posted, Blogger doesn't like me for some reason today. First it wouldn't let me even sign into my blog. And once I fixed that problem, I was two minutes from finishing this long post when my pc froze on me! But alas I have succeeded and gotten it posted for you! :)

New mystery for June will be posted tomorrow, along with (I hope) some pics of what I snagged at the Bead show!

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Last Day to enter May Giveaway!

Fresh Start Bead by HeART of Eden Beads

Don't forget get your entry in by midnight tonight (I'll be lenient and give you till tomorrow morning when I wake up) for the May Mystery Monday photo contest.

Read the details and review all the photos for this month on this post here.

Remember there are two prizes this month, one general drawing from all the guesses and another drawing from all correct answers to what all the photos are taken from.

Send me your guess today. I'll announce the winners tomorrow!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I am off to the Bead Show!


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Today's photo is not exactly Memorial Day colors but think of it as the end to a beautiful weekend and this is the sunset! I hope you all have had a wonderful 3 day weekend. We got to spend some wonderful time at the lake, and even saw two red foxes! It must be the time for red foxes to be about because last week I looked out my front window where I sit and write to you from and there was a red fox trotting across the lawn not more than 8 feet from my narrow from porch! I grabbed my camera but only got a chance to snap his back legs and tail but it was a bit startling!

Yesterday I attended a lovely Memorial Day ceremony with my Vietnam Veteran Husband, one of which the likes I've never seen before. It was almost 3 hours long and gave honor to those who have served and to those still serving. It was very inspiring especially today when the veterans are barely a second thought on Memorial Day weekend which usually means shopping and picnics for most.

And today I hope to maybe take advantage of some of these sales once I get my work done in the studio, as we need a new AC, the one we have is so old and it's been in the very high 80's the past few days again.

So here is the last in the series for May. I choose this portion as I love the colors in it and hope it will inspire you to take a bit of time on this long weekend and devote is to art of some sort.

Now this week is a bit different. You will still email my your guess for what this could be. That will be entered into the general drawing. Then for a special drawing of all correct guesses, please send me a separate email (so I don't get them mixed up or miss anybody) with your guess of what all five of these pictures come from. Remember it is a single picture I have cropped into five different sections. Now you have to put them all together and see what you think it is.


Here's a reminder so you won't have to go searching for all the posts:


All correct guesses will be in a special drawing for one of my new spring beads and an assortment of bead soup ingredients to go with it!

You have until June 6th at midnight to make your guesses and the winner(s) will be announced on Monday June 7th.

For anyone that is new to my blog and/or this giveaway contest please see this post for instructions.

Remember: This month I have decided to go with a theme. All the pictures will be related. You can send your guess in as usual each week, but for the last week, I will ask you to give me a final answer. As you know all answers get an entry. But for this last week only those correct will be put into a bonus drawing. This is the fifth and last photo. Have Fun!

I hope you have a Happy Memorial Day spent with family and friends or have fun shopping! But remember a vet you may know today and thank Him or Her for their service to our country, it will mean more to them then you could ever image.

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Mystery Monday May 24 Number 4 in Series

This month we are doing it a bit different, you can read about it here.

This photo is number 4 in the series.





Remember: This month I have decided to go with a theme. All the pictures will be related. You can send your guess in as usual each week, but for the last week, I will ask you to give me a final answer. As you know all answers get an entry. But for this last week only those correct will be put into a bonus drawing. This is the fourth photo. Have Fun!

Next week I'll reveal the last photo and ask you for your final quess!

Mystery Monday Photo! May 17 Photo 3 in Series

This month we are doing it a bit different, you can read about it here.

This photo is number 3 in the series.




Remember: This month I have decided to go with a theme. All the pictures will be related. You can send your guess in as usual each week, but for the last week, I will ask you to give me a final answer. As you know all answers get an entry. But for this last week only those correct will be put into a bonus drawing. This is the third photo. Have Fun!

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Mystery Photo

I apologize to my readers for posting this so late. I hurt both my arms last week and have not been able to keep my regular schedule because of it.

Here is photo 2 in the May series of Mystery Monday Giveaway


Remember: This month I have decided to go with a theme. All the pictures will be related. You can send your guess in as usual each week, but for the last week, I will ask you to give me a final answer. As you know all answers get an entry. But for this last week only those correct will be put into a bonus drawing. So here's the first photo. Have Fun!

If you need instructions on how this giveaway works please click here.


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Mystery Monday for May - Week 1

We are starting our second Month of Mystery Mondays (this one is a bit late because I announced the winner yesterday from Aprils giveaway).

This month I have decided to go with a theme. All the pictures will be related. You can send your guess in as usual each week, but for the last week, I will ask you to give me a final answer. As you know all answers get an entry. But for this last week only those correct will be put into a bonus drawing. So here's the first photo. Have Fun!



If you need instructions on how this giveaway works click here.

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Aprils Mystery Monday Photo Giveaway - Winner Announced!

First I'd like to thank those who participated in this past months Mystery Monday: Month of Mystery photos. I know you all must be enjoying the wonderful Spring weather and don't have as much time to be online or read blogs so I am grateful for those who stopped by my blog and played along! THANK YOU~!

The First Mystery Photo was this one on the left. I wasn't sure if anyone would recognize it but we did have one guess of what it is! A Kookaburra's bill! A native Bird of Australia. I took this picture at my local zoo this past winter while there was snow on the ground, that is the white you see reflected in the glass enclosure, along with a bit of my lime green jacket, my fav color!.

Here is the picture from Week Two.

It is a closeup of a polished turbans head shell.














Week three we saw these cute little guys from my local zoo. They were posed so perfectly inside the cutout of their enclosure, just begging to be cartooned!

They say they know what this mystery picture is from Week 3. And they should.

It was part of their play 'yard' in their display. Some of the area was landscaped with these white marble chips which were under a beautiful flowering tree whose pink petals were dropping and some had turned brown. I think it may have been a Pink Magnolia or Tulip tree and we did have guesses on that! I loved the texture and mystery of this 'bed of roses that the penguins seemed to enjoy. Aren't they adorable?

And last weeks photo was one I took last fall. It is from my local park. As some of you know I love trees and am always fascinated with them in all seasons. This one I spotted just after the sun had gone down but I could still see a bit up inside it. It appeared to be growing upside down, but this is actually the canopy of the tree from the underside. The darkening sky can be seen in the background. From the looks of it I think it is some kind of ornamental Cedar, but sadly none are labeled at the park so that is just a guess.



So now for the winning entry!
We had 12 entries, so not too bad for a beautiful Spring month! I love reading the guesses, it is such fun, more than me finding something to stump you with! I think my favorite this month came from Erin Prais-Hintz of Treasures Found for this last mystery photo for the month of April. She said it was either the underside of a bush, (pretty dead on) OR, and this is my favorite, the intestines of an Extraterrestrial! :) Love it! Although If there was such a thing, I wouldn't get close enough to bring you a close-up like that! :D

So after Adding up all the guesses and making a random drawing, the winner is........................


Lisa Petrillo! congratulations Lisa. If you will email me your mailing address I will make something just for you and get it out to you. Lisa is a lot braver than I, check out her blog and that picture of her at a dig. I could never wedge myself into such close quarters! Kudos To you Lisa! And check out her beautiful and neat studio! Looks great Lisa! Wish I could say the same of mine. :)


Tomorrow I will be posting the first picture for the Month of May contest.
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Last week For April Giveaway of Mystery Monday

Ok, today's picture is the last one for April so make sure to get your guesses in by May 2nd. I will draw and announce the winner on May 3rd.


Directions on how to enter can be found in this post.

Last weeks Photo can be seen here.

Have fun guessing!

Mystery Monday - April 19th Week 3

I've got a few more entries for this month, I sure hope to get more, Remember, the prize is a special gift made just for you!

This weeks photo



Entry directions here.
Last weeks Mystery photo here.

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Mystery Monday - April 12 - Week 2

Come on guys..............don't ya wanna play anymore? :) I know most of you, if you are like me, are spending more time outside and less on the laptop, but I promised to get this going again so I shall.

Here's a recap of last weeks announcement:

Each Monday a new photo will be posted. Follow the same as before, comment here on the blog that you are participating, and then email me your guess. Every Monday a new photo will be posted but we will only have one winner per month. All the responses will be put in the drawing, and yes I am still going to put in everyone's name, right or wrong, it's That you played that counts! :)

At the end of the month I will draw 1 (one) name from all those who emailed me a guess for all the months photos, (yes you can do one week, two weeks, etc or all!) and the winner will get a special Mystery Monday gift just for them. This way I don't get overwhelmed and no one will get shortchanged. I am doing this because I know it's great to get something just for you because you are special, and my readers are special to me. I found out that this is a world wide feeling when participating in the OWOH event as I choose to make something special for each of my winners. In fact they each got two gifts! So I want to continue this on through out the year which will carry us through to the next OWOH event.

I know many of you have found my blog and become followers through that event but maybe didn't win the giveaway so this is like another chance, or many more! :)

So I hope you all will continue to participate, and don't worry, if you won before, that's ok, please keep playing. If I draw a name of a previous winner I will give you a 'consolation prize' and draw a new winner so you still have a chance too!

So far we only have one guess for last weeks photo, you can still go back and look at it and put in a guess for that to. Here's that photo.

and now for this weeks................................



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Mystery Monday - New and Improved!

Hi, and Happy April! Happy Spring (March 20th) and Happy Monday!

We are back with Mystery Monday, New and improved. I told you last month that it was getting a bit much for me to keep up with this plus my other writing schedule and also to have a winner each week, and to come up with something special for each winner. I got behind on this and for that I do apologize. The OWOH event really set me back and I am just catching up on my special gifts for the winners.

I do want to keep doing this as many of you have expressed the fun you have had each Monday coming by and trying to guess the Mystery Photo, so I want to continue. I've just changed the rules a bit.

Each Monday a new photo will be posted. Follow the same as before, comment here that you are participating, and then email me your guess. Every Monday a new photo will be posted but we will only have one winner per month. All the responses will be put in the drawing, and yes I am still going to put in everyone's name, right or wrong, it's That you played that counts! :)

So, then at the end of the month I will draw one name from all those who emailed me a guess for all the months photos, (yes you can do one week, two weeks, etc or all!) and the winner will get a special Mystery Monday gift just for them. This way I don't get overwhelmed and no one will get shortchanged. I am doing this because I know it's great to get something just for you because you are special, and my readers are special to me. I found out that this is a world wide feeling when participating in the OWOH event as I choose to make something special for each of my winners. In fact they each got two gifts! So I want to continue this on through out the year which will carry us through to the next OWOH event.

I know many of you have found my blog and become followers through that event but maybe didn't win the giveaway so this is like another chance, or many more! :)

So I hope you all will continue to participate, and don't worry, if you won before, that's ok, please keep playing. If I draw a name of a previous winner I will give you a 'consolation prize' and draw a new winner so you still have a chance too!

So to start us all off for the month ( and there will be 4 Mystery Photos this month with the winner announced on May 3) here is your first Photo.

Photo credit Organic Odysseys

Have Fun!



All Photographs are property of blog owner and cannot be used without permission

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Mystery Monday Winner Revealed and New March Mysterys

I apologize fellow readers, it's been such a weekend, a holiday weekend for me at that! And I couldn't find the time to get back in the swing of blogging until now!

So since you all have been waiting I am going to announce the winner of last weeks Mystery Monday Photo.

These were the photos you were shown to guess from. The one on the left is a closeup and the one on the right is a step back so you can get some perspective. As I told you we finally got up to the zoo last Sunday to see if we could see Cosmo. The lake was mostly frozen so I guess we will have to wait a bit longer. But the other animals were out enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the 40 degree temperatures. Some just laying around sunning themselves and others very active. So I think you all knew this was some kind of animal (especially since I'd been to the zoo) and this animal was very active. It was in the same enclosure as the Zebras, and I was so happy to see on this visit that there are now two Zebras again. They started with two about a year and a half ago and the male died. When we finally got to go see them, it was just one and she looked so unhappy and sad and lonely. So now I am glad that there are two of them. Here they are nuzzling one another.


I love Black and White as many of you know and Zebras are one of my favorites. It was still a cold day and I wore my Zebra neck wrap but it didn't seem to impress them any. I tried to snap as many photos of them as I could, feeling a bit inadequate standing next to a woman who had a telephoto lens on her camera almost the length of my arm, but still I think I got some good pics!

But the animal in the Mystery photo was one of two that kept pacing up and down, back and forth right in front of the area and blocking the photo shoot I was trying to have with the Zebras. So I gave in and shot some of them. This one happened to be on the side that has a chain link fence but there is an area with an observation deck that they can't get over.



So what animal was it? Check out this video I shot of the Zebras (the male is the smaller and more flighty of the two) and you will see the camera hog pass by. Also that weird sound you hear is it pacing back and forth.

Now hold on to your seat, not the prettiest thing in the world but interesting nonetheless. Here is a full shot of the beast. You can see where the Mystery pictures came from.

I was surprised myself when I looked at these pics after returning from the zoo. I've seen Ostriches many times and up close too. I only took these three photos because he seemed to be insulted that I wasn't photographing him but instead concentrating on his pen companions ( I shot over 40 pics and videos of the Zebras! :) ) So I took these to pacify him but he wouldn't stand still, always pacing, so these aren't that great but interesting close up. The feathers on his neck do look like a sheeps fleece, even the color is similar. Did you know they have the largest eyes of any land animal?

When most people think of Ostrich feathers, they think of feather dusters or Feather Boas (which many are raised commercially for) because of the loose feathers they have, different from birds of flight, but most don't notice the fuzzy looking feathers on the neck. I'll bet the next time you look at an Ostrich you'll take notice of it's interesting neck! :) ( In many places Ostrich neck stew is a favorite dish! ).

So It seems I've stumped you all again so I am making a drawing from all the guesses. I want to thank those who have joined my blog, and the new players and also thank those who have come by faithfully each week to make a guess, I love and appreciate you all!

In case you were wondering what some of the guesses were we had almost a whole Zoo full! Most of these are at my Zoo but there's a couple more they need to add! :)

The biggest guesses were of Sheep, Llama's and Alpaca's (remember you can guess more than once) We also had Elephant, Camel, Kangaroo and Koala! It really makes you think about these animals and how similar they are when viewed up close, especially since the photo was of a bird but up close could look like all these other animals!

So from the Entries I received, I drew a random number and that number was held by Shirley!

Congratulations Shirley! Please email me your snail mail address and tell me about your favorite art/craft interest and I will get your Surprise package out to you ASAP! I think I could supply you with some nice Fat quarters if you'd like! :)

Now for this weeks' Photo

Title: Zoomed In or Out?
The rules are simple, even more so now.

1. View the Mystery Photo
2. Leave a comment on this post saying you are participating
3. Email me with your guess (I allow up to three) before next Monday, but Please DO NOT post your guess in the comments! :)
4. Next Monday I will draw a name from all the guesses and they will win a mystery surprise from me!


Happy Guessing!

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Mystery Monday - And we're BACK!

Yes Mystery Monday has returned, Thank you my readers for allowing me my trip around the world with OWOH this past week. Next year if Lisa has it again I shall be ready, because you really do need all three weeks to do this, not one! In fact for those of you participating in my One World One Heart giveaways, the Mystery of who my winners are will remain a mystery a bit longer as I was up late trying to visit as many of the other blogs on the journey as I could before the deadline (I actually fell only 10 shy of seeing half of them!). So I haven't drawn my winners yet, but I will contact each and every one of you when I do later today and will post the results. Since you are here you may want to get in on my weekly Mystery Monday giveaway. The rules are simple.

1. View the Mystery Photo
2. Leave a comment on this post saying you are participating
3. Email me with your guess (I allow up to three) before next Monday, but DO NOT post your guess in the comments! :)
4. Next Monday I will draw a name from all the correct guesses and they will win a mystery surprise from me!
5. If you guessed correctly but your name is not drawn and you participate in the next Mystery Monday your name will be added twice, so that's two chances to win! So it pays to keep coming back and guessing, and besides that, it's fun! It's not just guessing what the photo is, but it helps to stretch your eye towards details and if you are an artist in any medium that will help you tremendously in your artwork!

So without furthur ado, I present you with this week's Mystery Monday Photo:


Yes, this one is in Black and White so you have to use your imagination more. Color gives us so much more information than we realize when we look at objects and shapes and wildlife even.

So, Animal , Vegetable or Mineral? I'll let you guess! :)

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Mystery Monday Photo and Winner Revealed!

Remember I said I went into my studio to find some interesting mystery pictures for you? So I hoped this would help you in guessing what it could be, related to art supplies, tools, that kind of thing. But again I seemed to have stumped most of you. I promise to make the next one easier, which will not be next week since that is February 15th and the day that I will be having my drawing for the One World, One Heart Giveaway. (Today is the last day to sign up so check it out!) I'm giving away 9 prizes that day and don't want too much confusion. I just signed up on Friday and already have over 100 entries. There are over 1000 participants so still have a week to stop by and sign up. So we will get back to our regular Mystery Monday on February 22 and I promise I will make it easier! :)

So who is our winner this week? Did you take a look and guess but not email me? If you got it right you may be kicking yourself now. Here is the photo. Sometimes the old is better than the new. For sometime I had been using a hand held plastic version that comes in a kids pencil case , then I got an electric version. The plastic never worked right, even one I got from the notions department at the sewing store and the electric eventually died on me, so back to basics, 'Standard' basics that is. For those of you who are teachers, I imagine this should have been easy for you. ;)

As an artist many of you probably use one of these for things such as altered art, scrap booking, mixed media pieces and even my favorite, polymer clay.

Know what it is yet?


Here's a wider angle photo , mounted on my new shelving unit on my work table. It is the best sharpener you can have as far as I know. You can sharpen all sizes of pencils, and it doesn't break off the point like others do. It has an inside mechanism that is sharpened steel and works like it should on the wood, shaving it just right. It sharpens my oil color pencils to a great point to get into the stamped crevices of the baked clay. Yes, I color my clay sometimes after baking with colored pencils. You can see that in this ACEO I made last year.

I was actually going to give you this picture below, because if you have one or ever emptied one, you would recognize this, but I thought I would play on the abstract of the design of the holes and let your imagination take you there.

I loved all your answers, some made me burst out laughing! I had lots of Bobbins, and phone dials and even a hubcap! :) but my favorite was 'Brass Knuckles'. I have to say that wasn't my most dangerous sounding guess, my husband, who has used this numerous times to sharpen his pencils for wood working, thought it was a Revolver! Oy! If I need Brass knuckles and a revolver in my studio I can honestly say I wouldn't be producing that much art! Or I am such a bad artist that I have to threaten people to like and buy my art? I don't think I'm that bad. :) lol

So after this entertaining Mystery I had only one correct answer and that was from Mary Lamoray! Hooray! I am glad I didn't stump everyone. I think I have as much fun reading your guesses as I hope you do making them!

Please all come back on Feb 22 for a new Mystery! I love sharing this time with you and I finally figured out where I got this idea from. A long time ago I was a subscriber to GAMES magazine. I'm not even sure if it's still published, in fact I don't recall seeing it on the Magazine stands at Barnes and Nobles or Borders, so maybe not. But I love puzzles and non contact games, more games of strategy. They used to have a feature each issue that had a page of I think a dozen pictures, close-up and strange angles of ordinary objects and you had to guess what they were. I love the study of details, proportion, light and more and guessing was only half the fun. I think a great exercise for any artist, don't you? So I am glad you all are having fun with this and keep coming back and starting off your week with something fun to look forward to!

Congratulations again Mary, I have your address and will send you a grab bag that is useful to your art and not too big because I know of your storage issues! :)

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