Sept 4th is my birthday and I want to celebrate by hosting a giveaway for all of my great fans! The best part about it is that it will be for a $60 gift certificate to my etsy shop, which means the winner gets to choose their very own prize! The draw will be on Aug 31st, 2010.

Each point below is  a way to qualify for the contest, doing more than one increases your chance for winning, just make sure you leave each entry in a separate comment!

• Spread the word about Markhed :  Twitter, facebook or Blog about this giveaway and leave a link. Make sure to leave a comment here so I can verify.
• Follow Me : follow my blog – facebook – twitter leave a comment here on which you are following.
• Help me reach 1000 Fans on Facebook: share my page with your friends and leave a comment here telling me how you shared my page!
• Show the Etsy Love : Heart my shop on etsy and leave me a comment here with your etsy account name so I can verify!
• Join our Mailing list : Join our weekly mailing list and you will be entered in our Italy competition too! Make sure to also comment here and let me know you did so!

To be a winner, you need to do one or more of the above and leave a comment here so I can verify your action!

The winner will be announced on August 31st so check back here to see if you won!

One of my co-Artisans Gallery Team Members, Roxana of Illuminated Perfume, had an article published yesterday on the Etsy Blog all about her experiences of being a part-time holistic beekeeper. In celebration of this endeavor and love of bees the team has decided to start a blog it forward movement that began yesterday on our team blog. You can see the schedule here. I am not slated to write until July 1st, but I thought I would mention it on the lead up to the weekend because there have been so many wonderful bee-related items that out team has created, one post would surely not do them justice.

This weekend, David and I are heading to Toronto to visit one of my oldest friends, her husband and her new baby. I couldn’t be more excited to hang out with her and her family, despite all the G-20 meeting hoopla going on (can you say, badly timed?). Enjoy this bee themed compilation:

1. Botanical Hair Pin Barrette (by The Faerie Market) 2. Sunflower Collar (by Tortilla Girl) 3. Organic Crocheted Bee Beads (by Three Blue Bee) 4. Rosa Mini, a Chaparral Perfume (by Illuminated Perfume) 5. Bumble Bee Handmade Wool Felt Pincushion (by Sea Pinks)

So my blog is completely transforming, yet the themes will stay the same just with some more angsty complaining from me. Well, maybe not complaining, more like me trying to find myself and trying to shed some of the burdens I have somehow inherited by other people’s expectations of what I SHOULD be doing.

In short: I am trying to figure out how to live my life the way I WANT to and not the way society or anyone else thinks I should. And, you know, not become homeless.

Now, I need a plan. Something tangible with a deadline. Inspired by Julie and Julia I think I will set up a time line and a challenge for the next year. It will not involve exclusively cooking, though: and I am certain that my life is not interesting enough to be made into a movie.

xo
Marie