we have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway, we have a winner.

Julia in Canada, please email me at lilfishstudios@gmail.com with your mailing address so I can get this stone off to you. Congratulations!

To all of you who shared your latent dreams and ambitions, thank you. I felt a real sense of connection knowing that so many of us have things we want to do outside of what our daily routine allows. I hope you all get to read that book, do that knitting, help others, get to the ocean, or whatever else you might be yearning for.

xo

Lisa

card giveaway winners

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, but my youngest has picked two winners from the hat and came up with 

Elizabeth who said: "I love them all!  But my favorite is A Gathering of Stones.  I'd be so happy to win!"

and

Marlene who said: "I've always admired your creativity with stones.  I love stones also.  My favorite set is Gatherings of Stones."

Ladies, please email your addresses to me at lilfishstudios(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll get your sets out to you.

Thank you all for playing along!

a winner and some news

Thank you to everyone who played along in my giveaway.  I love that so many of you make compliment-giving a regular part of your day.  I can't say I'm surprised, I've long known that you are all a kind and caring group, but it was still so nice to read all of the affirmations.

My kids picked a name this morning and Traci J is the winner!  I've sent you an email, Traci.  I hope you enjoy the stone.  It brings my warmest wishes with it.

And a little news...  Starting today I will be working full-time in a job unrelated to lil fish studios.  We've met some unexpected challenges this year and I need to make a more consistent financial contribution to help keep our family afloat.  I will still be tinkering with wool and wood, dyeing with plants, wandering in the woods, and sharing my experiences here, but I'm not yet sure how frequently that will be.  I'll figure it out in time and I hope you'll stick with me while I get my footing.

If you have extra, I could use your happy thoughts.

Thank you, each of you, for joining me here under the poplar and pine.  Your support has meant the world to me.
 I hope you all create a wonderful start to your week.

Happy Monday.

x. Lisa

p.s. the kitten doesn't have anything to do with my news, he's just there to lighten the mood.

    

a 'just because' winner

 

I'm back from my long weekend trip.  I made a trip "home" to see family and friends and it was wonderful.  Too short, as always, but wonderful.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the giveaway I held while I was gone.  I was really moved by so many of your entries.  You are truly a caring bunch of people and I was thrilled that you embraced the idea of giving a little something to someone else.

I wish I had a book to send to all of you.  Since I only have one, the winner was chosen by the luck of the draw this morning.  I'm pleased to announce that Doreen from Vermont Harvest Folk Art won the book to be sent to her niece.

Congrats, Doreen!  And thank you, everyone, for joining in.

Heart-Felt Holidays winner

Princess Poplar (my 3 yr old) drew a name this morning and the winner of the Heart-Felt Holidays book is...

Lush!

Congratulations!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered!

Don't forget, you can get your very own copy on Amazon for under $10 right now.  If you get the book, and enjoy it, it would be wonderful if you would review it on Amazon also.  And tell your friends.  I'd love to see this lovely little book be a smashing success.

Have a great start to the week everyone.

snow stone giveaway winner

Thank you to everyone who entered and gave me their feedback in my snow stone giveaway!

This morning I drew a name from the hat and the winner is...

Brenda from Pumpkin Hollow Primitives!

Congratulations Brenda!

I have to tell you all how incredible it is for me to have you all share this space with me.  It feels amazing to know that we have this community of sorts, of like-minded people.  Thank you.

Have a good start to the week everyone.

a Stash Happy: Winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway for a copy of Stash Happy: Felt.  I loved reading your comments.  Sounds like a lot of you have your hands in projects right now, and that's fun.  I wish I had a copy of the book for each of you, but alas...  

The book is available both in Lark's Bookstore (which you should check out, there are sooo many great looking books) and on other book sites like Amazon, if you'd like to pick up a copy for yourself. 

Now, drumroll please....

The winner is

Laura A 

Congratulations Laura!  I hope you find some fun projects to work on!

In other news, there will be some new textural stones in my shop soon.  I'll be putting previews up in my shop today and tomorrow and the stones will be available for purchase tomorrow at noon, cst.  (You'll see the listing go from saying "Coming Soon" to a priced listing)

I hope you all have a great start to the week.

Happy Monday!

a mushroom winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by my wee giveaway.  The stories, anecdotes, and recipes you shared really knocked my socks off.  I loved reading each of them.

Many of you talked about family trips to the woods to look for mushrooms and I love that.  That's a memory I'm trying to create with my own children.  I remember finding a giant puffball in jr. high that was large enough to let everyone in our school have a piece of it.  Our science teacher cooked it up in butter and it tasted like french toast.  It wasn't until I was past the teenage years though that I got really interested in mushrooms.  It started with a few morels I found while walking with my dog.  I went home, identified them, cooked them up and that was the beginning for me.

One of you had a question for me and that was, how do I know which mushrooms are okay to eat and which are to be used for dyeing.  First let me say that I only eat mushrooms that I can positively identify.  There's a tendency to want to identify something as the edible you're searching for, but that urge must be resisted.  Only eat something you can positively identify.  When it doubt, throw it out.  Check the shape, size, color, spore color, habitat, season, everything before you commit to eating it.  When starting out eating wild mushrooms it's nice to start with those that don't have any poisonous look-alikes.  There are a lot of good books on mushrooms and I usually tote my guide book from the National Audubon Society out in the woods with me.  There is also a lot of good information online.  David Fischer's "basics" page is a great place to start.

As for mushrooms that are good for dyeing, there are books out on this subject but I haven't gotten any yet.  My experiments with dyeing are largely just that, experiments.  Last year when I noticed that the rotting Lobster mushrooms were giving off a red color I was curious if they were used for dyeing and searched online for the answer.  Just in the past few weeks a similar search led me to Shroomworks' blog which is a helpful and interesting read.

I hope that helps a bit.

Now on to other business...(drumroll please)...the winner of the wee mushroom scene is

Marilyn!
from Room on the Left

Congrats, Marilyn! You'll be receiving an email from me shortly.

Thanks again to all of you that took the time to leave your comments.  I wish I had a mushroom to give each of you.

Have a great Tuesday.

Wow! What A Week

Yeah, the title kind of covers it.  Wow.  What a week!  
Sometimes life hands you a sweet package and this week seemed to be just that for me.

Yesterday, Etsy ran an article about my wooden bowl collection.  This article was first run on the rikrak blog.  Thank you Kristal!  Thank you Etsy!  You are both amazing.

Jennie from Sweet Greens has a little interview with me (and my giant face) on her site and is offering a giveaway.  I'd love it if you'd stop by and enter.

The photo of my boy holding the dazed bird was Conservation Minnesota's photo of the week. 

I won a blog giveaway (ok, well I was the winner late last week but close enough) hosted by the uber sweet and talented Fringe whose work I have coveted for ages.  I get this gorgeous cowl you see below.  Big hooray!

I managed to do a quick shop update yesterday featuring some new work.  I'm especially proud of my newest mushroom sculpture.  It's pretty large and it feels very natural to me, as if I could bump into these on one of my mushroom hunts. 

And now, to top it off, I get to pick a winner of the recycled t-shirt scarf.  Thank you so much to everyone who entered and left such great comments. 

Here it goes, picked by the random number generator......  (drumroll please) .... the winner is

Sonia!!

You can visit Sonia's lovely blog here and her Etsy shop here.

Congratulations!  I hope you love it.

(Margie - go play the lottery.  Right. Now.)

For those of you that asked, here's a how-to.  Really, really simple.  The only thing I would add to the link's instructions is to look for t-shirts that don't side seams or printing on them.  That makes for an easier cut and a smoother finished product.  The thrift store always has t-shirts and if you don't like the color you can always dye them.  I added the leather loop to help keep the pieces from tangling and to add a little "me", but it isn't really neccessary.  

Don't discount little kid t-shirts either, they make a nice smaller scarflet or bracelet.

Thanks for sharing my week with me.  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.   

Mushroom Mania Giveaway Winner

A sincere THANK YOU! to all who entered, tweeted, and blogged my little giveaway. It was fun to read your comments and I look forward to browsing the many new blogs I've found this week through your posts.

Now, without further ado, the winner as chosen by random.org is.... Meg. Congrats, Meg!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Virtual home show

***WE HAVE A WINNER OF MY VIRTUAL HOME SHOW DOOR PRIZE***

PLEASE GIVE IT UP FOR:

Catnip Studio!

Catnip, I've sent you an email with details. Thanks so much, everyone who stopped by.

We’ve gathered together some fabulous ladies who make some of the sweetest hand crafts around. We’re bringing our very best creations from our homes to yours in this unique two day online shopping experience. Plus, we’re giving away door prizes so don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog to enter. It’s not too early to think about shopping for those special folks on your Christmas list so please keep them in mind as you browse these fabulous offerings:

Notebooks: Sue Bleiweiss
Gadget Cozies: Ginny Harvey
Toys: Felicia Haywood
Felted Items: Lisa Jordan
Needlebooks & Sewing: Jenn Maruska
Pottery: Julie Thomas
Tags: Karen Wittkop

As you look around on this stop on the virtual home show, you'll notice that you're surrounded by the woods. That is where much of the inspiration comes from for my creations.

Hi y'all, I'm Lisa Jordan, resident crafter, artist, designer, creator, and dreamer behind Lil Fish Studios. Join me for a batch of cookies and a nice cuppa coffee, will ya?


Living here in the woods of central Minnesota, it's hard not to be moved by the colors and textures that abound in nature.



I'm moved to do my part to live responsibly and abide by the three R's...reduce, reuse, recycle. As a result you'll see many recycled or repurposed materials in my craftwork. Using the wool from wool sweaters for felting is one of my favorite pursuits.




Aside from crafting, I'm a mom of 3 busy boys (with a new baby on the way), wife to a brilliant husband, and supervisor of two English Bulldogs, 3 chickens, and 1 fat goldfish. My little guys love to craft with mama and I try to engage them in crafty activities while I'm working, but the bulk of my creative endeavors take place while they're sleeping. Because seriously, toddlers can demolish a work in progress in 3 seconds flat. I also enjoy cooking, especially with the food we grow in our large garden, hiking in the surrounding woods, fiddling with various power tools, and getting my hands dirty in general.

As my thank you for stopping by, I'm offering up a door prize of an assortment of 6 wool heart ornaments, made from felted wool sweater material. All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know you were here and I'll enter your name in the drawing. Hurry, the home show ends on Nov. 4th and the winner will be drawn on the morning of Nov. 5th and announced here on the blog.

Thank you so much for attending this Virtual Etsy Home Show! I’d like to invite you to the next stop on your tour:



Jenn Maruska who has mad sewing skills and makes the most incredible needlebooks.