Featured Shop and Treasury Challenge • magalerie

Dream Team Treasury Challenge #4

Welcome to the Dream Team Featured Shop and Treasury Challenge! Congratulations to Anne of magalerie on winning challenge #3. Each week the featured shop will be included in all treasuries created for the challenge. The winner of the challenge will be the NEXT featured shop.  The challenge will run from Thursday to Sunday each week and a new one will be announced the following Thursday. The featured shop will choose four (4) treasuries to be in the finals and everyone can vote on the treasuries here on Tuesday and Wednesday with the new featured shop (winner) posted on Thursday to start another week. If any of the treasuries make front page, they will automatically be in the finals.
 

This week's challenge will run for TWO WEEKS from November 10 to November 21

The Rules:

1. Use at least 6 Dream Team members. Our shops are listed on “the Shops” button as well as visiting our team page. They can be in any slot on the treasury.
2. Include any item from the featured shop in any slot in the top three rows of the treasury.
3. Please follow our blog.
4. Put "Treasury Challenge" somewhere in the TITLE of your treasury.
5. Link back to this post. This helps other people find the challenge and enter. As an example "This is a Dream Team Treasury Challenge, anyone can play. Go here http://etsydreamteam.blogspot.com/2011/11/featured-shop-and-treasury-challenge.html  for more information".
6. Post a comment here with the link to your treasury.
7. Tag the treasury "dtchallenge4"
8. You can enter as much as you'd like!

This week's featured shop is magalerie - a photo art enterprise run by Anne of Paris, France. Anne says, "Making pictures has always been part of my life since I was little."
 

Featured items from Anne's shop:
1. After The Rain

2. Carousel

3. Keep Calm

4. Life is Beautiful

Want more magalerie? Stay in touch on Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/magalerie_etsy and read up on Anne in this fab interview http://www.scoutiegirl.com/2011/05/seven-questions-with-french-photographer-anne-of-magalerie.html

 

Good luck and Happy Curating!

Featured Shop and Treasury Challenge • MaddenPhotography

Dream Team Treasury Challenge #2

Welcome to the Dream Team Featured Shop and Treasury Challenge! Congratulations to Bree of MaddenPhotography on winning challenge #1. Each week the featured shop will be included in all treasuries created for the challenge. The winner of the challenge will be the NEXT featured shop.  The challenge will run from Thursday to Sunday each week and a new one will be announced the following Thursday. The featured shop will choose four (4) treasuries to be in the finals and everyone can vote on the treasuries here on Tuesday and Wednesday with the new featured shop (winner) posted on Thursday to start another week. If any of the treasuries make front page, they will automatically be in the finals.
 

This week's challenge will run from October 27 to October 31

The Rules:

1. Use at least 6 Dream Team members. Our shops are listed on “the Shops” button as well as visiting our team page. They can be in any slot on the treasury.
2. Include any item from the featured shop in any slot in the top three rows of the treasury.
3. Please follow our blog.
4. Put "Treasury Challenge" somewhere in the TITLE of your treasury.
5. Link back to this post. This helps other people find the challenge and enter. As an example "This is a Dream Team Treasury Challenge, anyone can play. Click here (add the current challenge link) for more information".
6. Post a comment here with the link to your treasury.
7. Tag the treasury "dtchallenge2"
8. You can enter as much as you'd like!

This week's featured shop is MaddenPhotography- a photo art enterprise run by Bree of San Diego, California. Bree says, "I have always loved photography with a passion and I love that I am able to share it with you!"
 

1. Charcoal Gray Dandelion

2. Autumn Leaves Harvest Gold

3. Fall Trees Card

4. Lime Green Gecko

Want more MaddenPhotography? Stay in touch:

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MaddenPhotography/211267462222672
 

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/Maddenphotos

Good luck and Happy Curating!

Get The Look • Rustic Autumn Comfort

 

The Dream Team presents Get the Look: Rustic Autumn Comfort - a fall fashion and home gift guide. Enjoy!

Handmade Soap by Elegant Rose Boutique

Chunky Cowl Neckwarmer by natalya1905

Embroidery Hoop Art by sometimesiswirl

Cable Knit Blanket by Biscuit Scout

Vintage Leather Boots by DeLaBelle

Feather Note Cards by CraftedByLindy

Rustic Photography by FirstLightPhoto

Organic Spice Candles by Forest Candle Studio

Chocolate Ganache Cookies by Tookies

Flower Earrings by laurenblythedesigns

giveaway • littleshopofphotos

Dream Team Member Giveaway:

Autumn Halloween 5x7 Pumpkin Print from littleshopofphotos!

Here is your chance to win this fabulous home decor autumn photograph. This giveaway is for one 5x7 pumpkin print as shown below.

TO PURCHASE:

This item is available for immediate purchase HERE!

TO WIN:

Mandatory Entry:

Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry.
Make sure to include your email address or a way to contact you if you win! 

1 Entry Visit littleshopofphotos store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/littleshopofphotos and browse around and leave a comment here with your favorite item!

1 Entry Follow this blog, the Dream Team Blog, leave a comment here that you completed this.

1 Entry Like littleshopofphotos on her Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Shop-of-Photos/150729294948010, leave a comment here that you completed this.

Extra Entries:

Make sure to include your email address or a way to contact you if you win!
Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

1 Entry - Follow littleshopofphotos on her blog at: http://micheleiljazi.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment here that are following her.

1 Entry - Follow littleshopofphotos on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/MicheleIljazi

1 Entry – Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment here that you did! You can tweet once per day and each tweet will count as another entry, just make sure you leave a separate comment for each tweet. Feel free to use this tweet or something similar: 

Win #photography Autumn Pumpkin 5x7 Print  #blog #giveaway Ends 10/28! RT @dreamteametsy @ MicheleIljazi http://ow.ly/6kKpF

1 Entry – Heart littleshopofphoto’s Etsy shop and leave a comment here with your Etsy username.

1 Entry Grab the Dream Team blog button and put it on your blog! Leave a comment here that you completed that with a link to your blog.

1 Entry – Blog about this giveaway and leave a link here.

1 Entry- Enter another of our giveaway’s HERE and leave a comment about which one you entered.

GUIDELINES/RULES:

•  Please make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry.
• This giveaway has been extended and will end at midnight EST on Friday, October 28th.
•  The winner will be chosen by Random.org. I will have the winner announced by November 1st and he/she will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. If a winner cannot be contacted, another winner will be randomly chosen.
•  This giveaway is open worldwide.

giveaway • victoriaenglishcharm

 Dream Team Member Giveaway: 

Snowdrop - 10x8 Print

by victoriaenglishcharm 

Here is your chance to win this gorgeous print by
 victoriaenglishcharm!

  

Don’t miss out on this fabulous giveaway!

   

TO PURCHASE:

This print is available for immediate purchase HERE!

TO WIN:

Mandatory Entries:

Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry.
Make sure to include your email address or a way to contact you if you win! 

1 Entry - Visit victoriaenglishcharm’s shop at 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/victoriaenglishcharm

and browse around and leave a comment here with your favorite item!

1 Entry - Follow the Dream Team Blog, leave a comment here that you completed this.

Extra Entries:

Make sure to include your email address or a way to contact you if you win! Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

1 Entry - Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment here that you did!You can tweet once per day and each tweet will count as another entry, just make sure you leave a separate comment for each tweet. 

Feel free to use this tweet or something similar: 

WIN this gorgeous print by victoriaenglishcharm @dreamteametsy    http://tinyurl.com/6a5q5lw #giveaway

1 Entry - Heart victoriaenglishcharm's Etsy shop and leave a comment here with your Etsy username.

1 Entry - Grab the Dream Team blog button and put it on your blog! Leave a comment here that you completed that with a link to your blog so we can find you!

1 Entry - Blog about this giveaway on your blog, and leave a link here.

1 Entry - Enter another one of our contests HERE and post which one you entered.

GUIDELINES/RULES:

• Please make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry.
• This giveaway will end at midnight EST on Friday, July 29th
• The winner will be chosen by Random.org. I will have the winner announced by July 31st and he/she will have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address. If a winner cannot be contacted, another winner will be randomly chosen.
• This giveaway is open worldwide.

Guest Curator

Blue Birthday Presents for my Sister

Jana here, from luncheonettevintage. I curated a little list for my sister. Because, well, she rules. We've been super close since Day One and she is the main object of my gift giving obsession, partially because she inherited our mother's amazing ability to shop (the retail gene, we call it), but doesn't shop for herself nearly enough.

My sister, who is younger but more mature, is also part sensible and part silly, part girlish, part powerhouse. And she recently got a great big promotion. As it's her birthday soon, I picked out some work-related items in her favorite color (also genetic, from the maternal side), blue. Each item's a multitasker, same as she. 

LOVE languages tote bag, BucktoothedBunny

Tote bag / Message to Self. Girl carries huge folders and files and papers everywhere, because she rarely stops working. Here's a sweetly optimistic and appropriately global-centric and heartfelt tote that, when in the elevator with the Mayor on the way to your office in the morning, you can flip to render plain workaday navy, and then flip it back for a smile at the sight of all that lovely love.

14 oz blue coffee mug, JDWolfepottery

Coffee Cup / Sign of Professional Self-Respect. Since high level types shouldn't be wielding paper cups with logos and plastic lids from their desk, here's a cup for pouring the rest of her take-out latte into.

Button bracelet, nicolecarey

Jewelry / Figgedagibbit. Otherwise known in the female workforce as a bracelet to fidget with while reviewing massive budgets and spreadsheets. Also doubles as sign of being not without a sense of humor when dealing with possibly resentful colleagues who might otherwise label a newly promoted person as suddenly inaccessible.

Open Sea photo, Maddenphotography

Art / Covert Escapist Moment. When the four walls and million items on the to-do list are beginning to multiply on their own, a photograph of the sea, positioned somewhere very easily stared at, will help.

Underwood typewriter, Sarahanntiques

Bangable Object / Childhood Reminder. When we were little and Mom took us to work with her (she worked in a museum), we got to play in the meeting room with the office supplies. My sister liked to play librarian — stamping on "library cards" with a loud, resolute thump, or write irate, overblown letters on the old manual typewriter, which often resulted in tangled diatribes and tirades in which one letter was superimposed over the other until the paper shredded against the roller. Always good to remember one's roots. 

Swing arm lamp, AMRadio

Lightgiver / Possible weapon. Long ago we sisters decided that swing-arm lamps made great swords and staged a mock swordfight using our desk lamps, which we unplugged and pulled out of their clamp stands with great force. Our house was modern; our mother was furious; but we had a blast. Now that she's a grown-up, she can just swing the lamp a bit too abruptly in some fool's direction. Should have a good effect.

Giant hat, Floradorahats

Beach hat the size of an umbrella / Relaxation strategy. The heck with work, honey. Go to the beach. Having a birthday in July has its advantages. Enjoy them!

7 Questions • Sue of FirstlightPhoto

Sue is the woman behind FirstlightPhoto, headquartered in Elgin, Illinois. The dreamteam caught up to her recently, during a rare moment when she was actually standing still.

Poppy Feathers, firstlightphoto

1. Where do you live?
I live in Elgin, Illinois. It's a city 35 miles northeast of Chicago. I've been here all my life — not that it's a great place, but my family is all in the area and we have never talked much about moving. We're near the country where our horse, Herbie is. We acquired him last summer. My daughter, now a freshman, has been riding horses since she was in the third grade.

2. What are you obsessed with lately?
I guess I'd have to say my business. Last school year I got laid off, and so I started my business. (I did get recalled for this school year, though.) That camera goes with me everywhere. Sometimes I just keep it in the car. And I love the photo editing part the best. I usually do have something in mind when I take a photo, but with all the different possibilities on the computer, things can really change. I hardly ever watch TV because I'm always on the computer, working my website. That's going to have to change now: summer is here and I want to get outside.

Horses Grazing, firstlightphoto

3. Coffee, tea or both?
Coffee, definitely. I don't drink alcohol except on a holiday. I'll drink regular or decaf, I don't care, I just like the way it tastes. I could drink it all day!

Blue Ford Fairlane, firstlightphoto

4. What is your favorite thing about being on Etsy?
I'd have to say joining a team. I discovered teams last year and have loved them! I have made some e-friends on the teams and would love to sit down for that coffee with them, too! I've also made wonderful friends with some photographers from that team, too. They're a great bunch!

Care to share a photo of you when you were little?

5. And what is your least favorite thing about being on Etsy?
Hmmm. Selling fine art anywhere is a huge challenge. What sales I do have, I think are because I've worked so hard to get them. It's not Etsy's fault. I just have a medium that is hard to sell. The Etsy admin does seem to like a certain kind of photography, and that's about all they promote.

6. What are you afraid of?
Easy to answer ... spiders! Any kind, any size! Next question!


7. Who are you in love with?
I've been married for 24 years to my husband, Dave and we have one daughter, Gillian! Oh, yeah, I also have my miracle cat, T.J. (that's another story).

pets and gardens

The Tale of a Cat

by Firstlightphoto

Let me introduce you to T.J. He is my little miracle cat. I acquired him from the vet's office after I had to put another cat to sleep. He just kind of wandered into the office one day, and my vet thought of me. I took my then three year old daughter with me to check him out — and that was 12 years ago. The vet did an exam on him and gave him to me, no charge.

Therein lay the end of my free cat. That very night he was limping in pain. I took him back, they shaved a hind leg and it burst from an infection. Right away I had to give him 10 days of antibiotics. Over the course of the next few years and many vet visits for puffy paws, I found  out his little body was trying to grow back a dewclaw (he was already declawed and neutered when I got him). Surgery was needed to completely remove the dewclaw on a front paw.

A few yeara later we noticed he was losing his hair, and ended up with only his guard hairs left on him. He looked so thin now with all that hair gone that I ended up taking him to a vet dermatologist! They did skin and eyelid biopsies and found out he had got something that the vet medical book only has two lines about. They hadn't ever seen this in a cat, and only rarely in a dog. After a lot of money spent, tears and frustration we decided to put T.J. on some nasty autoimmune medicine.

Hallelujah ... T.J.'s hair ultimately grew back. They wanted me to take him back occasionally for bloodwork to make sure he's okay.

Last summer, the bloodwork didn't look good. So they wanted me to take T.J. off the medication to see if that's what was causing his red and white counts to be low. I was told he either has feline leukemia or bone marrow cancer. By this point he was doing nothing but sleeping — ALL the time, and in unusual places. Needless to say I spent three days crying. I called the vet and asked her if it was okay to put him back on the medicine and shegave  me the okay.

HE IMPROVED! And improved. They didn't, and don''t understand it at all, and neither do I. But I just took T.J. back to the vet a couple weeks ago, and his bloodwork still pretty much looked the same with a bit of improvement in his anemia. So I consider T.J. my little miracle cat. I treasure his time with me every day. He does have his bad days, but so far he always gets better.

And I just love all the bad and naughty things he does. Because to me that just means he's feeling good. Now, don't get me wrong: I don't like to find him sleeping on my dining room table. But now instead of getting mad at him, I just remove him.

One of the photos I have in my shop is T.J. It's called "Keeping Watch." It was taken in my upstairs bedroom window. When I'm up there he likes to sit on the hope chest and look out the window. He sleeps next to me at night curled up under the covers. He pesters us at 5:30 in the morning for his moist food (where I hide his medicine). He has a fetish for plastic. He pretends to eat it and makes weird chewing noises making us think he's eating it, but he's not getting anything off. Plastic grocery bags are his favorite. He likes donuts (we'll give him a couple little pieces if we have one). He sits in the chair next to me at dinner and patiently waits for tiny meat offerings. He's sitting in the window next to me as I'm writing this right now.

I love my little miracle cat, T.J. and I cherish every day he's with me.