Well it is the 15th, time to announce the winner of the 5x7 print giveaway from MagicIsland! There were 33 entries, and I used the Custom Random Number Generator and Janet F was the winner!! Congratulations!!!! Thank you to all that entered :)
I will be posting a new contest within the hour.
Hi everyone! I actually have a ton of work to do today. My dining room table is completely covered in card making supplies, and I want to get a whole bunch of my cards done so that I can see my table again lol. BUT I did want to mention my Easter sale. It is a great opportunity to grab things, and I have been doing a lot of listing:
Easter Weekend Sale
Ends at midnight (est) Sunday night
All items in all 3 of my shops are 15% off! You can convo me for me to adjust the listing before you purchase. Or I can send you a revised invoice or refund your paypal.
Also, all items purchased this weekend (Fri, Sat and Sun) will be earn an entry into a drawing to be held on
Monday, for a $15 gift certificate good in any of my shops.
Raevyn77
SimplyRaevyn
PeculiarParchment
Well I am gonna drag myself off to the table lol . I hope to spend some time on my blog after the weekend :) Have a great weekend and Easter everyone!
I am going to change things up a bit this month, and do two contests! One will start now and be drawn on the 15th. The second one will be posted on the 15th.
This first contest is a great one. Mary of MagicIsland will be giving away a 5x7 print ($12 value) from her shop, and the winner can pick the print that they want!
So what are the rules? It's easy! Visit MagicIsland, then leave a comment here with the link to your favorite piece in her shop, and why you like it! Don't forget to leave your email address at all. If I can't contact you, you can't win.
Get a bonus entry! Sign up for my newsletter. I use the newsletter to keep you aware of special sales going on, blog contests, etc. I will not abuse the list to spam you all of the time, and I will not share your email address with anyone. Just click here to sign up.
The winner will be drawn on April 15th and will be announced on this blog, as well as being contacted by email. Good luck!
Footnote
Since I am in the process of switching my blog over to blogger, all entries on BOTH blogs will be counted. So if you enter here, you do not need to enter on the other blog.
I have always been a fan of photography, both aspects of it. I love to take pictures and then develop them in a way to show my perspective, and I love looking at other people's pictures. I love to see how other people view things. And it is always amazed me how beauty can be found in the most simple things. I have admired a lot of photographers on Etsy, but by far one of my favorites is Mary at MagicIsland. Her shop is full of gorgeous photos, and she is really able to convey her love for her surroundings in her work. I have so many favorites in her shop, and I am proud to say that I have quite a few of her pieces displayed in my house.
Although I am a fan of all of her work, I do have a favorite in her shop. And I am really hoping that some day it will be mine!!!
I talk to Mary often, and recently I asked her if she wouldn't mind answering a few questions for this article. Here is what we came up with!
Name: Mary Haggerty
Age (if you don't mind): Rather not thanks, but older than you!
Where do you live?: Ocracoke Island NC
How did you get started with photography?
I was always the kid carrying a camera I don't ever remember a time when I was not fascinated with capturing images.
What inspires you most?
Nature, people, and places I've never seen before.
What do you do in your spare time?
I like to sew and I make quilts. I also love to travel when I can. And I spend some time at the beach.
Tell us a little known fact about you.
I have been a photojournalist for many years, I was a freelancer for the NY Times and I have exhibited my photographs in museums and galleries. I published a book, "American Journal: a collection of off beat small town road trips"
Do you have a favorite subject to photograph?
I love to photograph people. If find they are the most interesting subject. I love photojournalism and making editorial portraits.
Do you sell anywhere besides Etsy? Where?
I have a shop, Ocracoke Photo on Ocracoke Island, NC come visit! I photograph a lot of family portraits at the beach and weddings on the Island.
What advice do you have for anyone that would like to start selling their own photography?
It's not easy. I've done a lot of different things over the years, portraits, weddings, photojournalism, fine art. Find what interests you the most.
Do you twitter, flickr, facebook..or anything else where people can follow you? Please feel free to list all of your "social networking" addresses.
http://www.OcracokePhoto.com
http://www.MagicIsland.etsy.com
http://www.PhotoAmerica.etsy.com
http://www.Ocracokeweb.com
http://www.OcracokeIsland.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ocracoke-Island/53887363599
thats most of my sites lol.
******
To put it in plain English, Mary's work is beautiful! It is professional and her aspect on things really shines through. She is also very easy to communicate with. So if you need a gift, something for your own wall, or you just want to admire some amazing photography, take a look into her shop!
| Etsy Buy Handmade MagicIsland |
I have decided to start posting my blog here again. Older posts will still be found on my old blog, but new posts will be found here :)
I know I know, it looks like I am not blogging at all anymore. But this isn't true! We put a blog up on my website. So come and see me at http://www.simplyraevyn.com/blog
The other night I had the worst nightmare of my life. Now nightmares are a common occurrence for me. I have all different types, at all different levels. I have ones I have dubbed “anxiety” nightmares. Nightmares may be too strong of a word for them, but basically they are dreams were I am in very stressful situations that I cannot get out of. Probably the most common version of this nightmare for me is I am pretty much dropped into one of my old jobs, but not given any updates on how things run these days. I know this sounds minimal, but they are extreme situations. And one of the things I always prided myself on at any of my old jobs was being in control. So these dreams are very upsetting to me, and usually leave me feeling like I have not slept.
I have nightmares of horrible things happening to people I care about. For example the other night I had one where an old friend of mine had fallen into a coma.
I also have typical monster type dreams. These are probably less upsetting to me, depending on their intensity level. I have ones where Freddy is chasing me, or something like that. They sound cheesy, and they are. Most of them are mildly upsetting.
However my nightmare the other night was the worst! I guess it could qualify as a monster nightmare, but it was much worse than that. I can’t begin to describe it and have it make any sense to anyone but me. I can say it was based on ghosts, but not at the cheesy and amusing level. I woke up yelling things, and unable to breath! This is where things get really weird. I looked at the entrance of my room, and saw someone standing there. I say I saw it because as sure as I am typing this, I knew I saw it. At first I thought it was Paul’s mom, then the longer I stared I realized it wasn’t. Then it was just gone. I was disturbed to say the least. I got out of bed, I had no interest in continuing the dream. And in my head, I was absolutely convinced that our apartment was haunted! However as my head cleared, I relived the event of the “shadow” in the doorway. The more and more I thought about it, I realized I could not have seen what I thought I did. And I have a few reasons for this conclusion. For one it was 4am and absolutely dark in our apartment. There were no computer monitors on, no TVs, no light at all. The second reason is that without my glasses, I am blind as a bat. I could have never seen anything at that distance. The thing that makes this so extreme for me, is that this has never happened to me before. When I “saw” the thing in my doorway, I was positive I was awake. I was thinking about how extreme that nightmare had been. I have never had the lines between awake and sleep so completely blurred like that.
I realize that people may be thinking that I use the term nightmare too liberally. Not all unpleasant dreams are nightmares. And I know this. What causes me to put a dream into the nightmare category is really the anxiety level. If it is so high that my sleep is unsettled, and I wake up emotionally bothered or feeling completely unrested, I call those my nightmares. I guess other people have different qualifications for nightmares, but that is mine.
I did not write this to whine. My sleep problems have plagued me as long as I can remember, and I am quite used to them. I guess that is why the level at which this particular nightmare got to me really bothers me. A lot of my dreams I attribute to my anxiety problems and mental issues. I guess…I am just really tired.
