Giveaway #5

Giveaway #5 is brought to you by me, Jill - one of your Things With Wings gals!  This wood piece would look perfect in an entryway for guests to read and take to heart.....or in your mudroom/garage/backdoor entry area if it's your OWN family who needs the kick in the rear!   It measures 9 x 25 1/2 inches and is made from patterned paper and paint.

You already know lots about us.  But here's a few random things I bet you didn't know:

• I'm addicted to the holiday mint m&m's
• we just "finished" a major kitchen remodel that started at the beginning of the school year and got carpet for the entire house.  I'm so proud of how hard my husband has been working to do all of the work himself.  And am totally indebted to my father in law for all of his help.  I use the term "finish" loosely because there's still so many odds and ends and reorganization to be done now.  Stuff that got thrown in boxes is STILL sitting in boxes.  And as long as it's out of my way, it's staying right where it is until the open house is over!  
• My current favorite paint color (it's always changing) is "gilded oak" by Folk Art. 
•  I developed a stress-induced eye twitch a few months back when our middle son started going through some random weird health issues, and it's probably not going away until after the holidays!
• I played the clarinet in high school and one of my life regrets is turning down my acceptance into the University of Iowa Hawkeye marching band in order to move out and work instead.
• I have a really hideous looking bruise the size of my hand on my shin and I'm not entirely sure how it got there.  Green Girl made me show it to our sister Emily via skype on Thanksgiving.  It was a touching family holiday moment.

 Told you it was going to be random ....and maybe too much information too! 
 
Anyway, you can win the piece above by coming to our Open House THIS Saturday and entering your name in the drawing!  Scroll down to see all the other great prizes and watch out for TWO more prizes yet to be announced!

Giveaway #4!!

Giveaway #4 is this cute scarf and pin set. So cute! These were made by Marnie Saeugling of Icing On The Cake accessories. She is one of our new artists this year. Here is a little background from her....
"My name is Marnie Saeugling. I am a mother of 3 and an elementary school teacher. I have been crafting for as long as I can remember. However this past summer, with all my children grown and living on their own, I decided to try my hand at selling my crafts under the name 'Icing On The Cake Accessories.'
I began selling at local farmer's markets. At the first market, I started with just my headbands and smile bugs on one card table. However, thanks to customers suggestions and requests, my product selection has grown and is continually expanding.
The best thing about starting to sell my crafts is having to continually try new things and branch out beyond my own style. Most recently I have been working with felting old wool sweaters into mittens, scarfs, flower pins, Christmas stockings and hats. I enjoy this because you never know what you find in the way of sweaters and each product comes out differently. In addition to these products, I have my flower headbands, reversible fabric headbands, hair pins, jersey scarfs, T-shirt scarfs, fabric covered notebooks and smile bugs.
I hope to have a website in the near future, but for now you can contact me through my facebook account or icingonthecakeaccessories@gmail.com Custom orders are always welcome."

You can be the lucky winner of this set by stopping by the Things With Wings open house this coming Saturday!

Open House Giveaway #3

Giveaway #3 is brought to you by Diana and Marissa of Girls' Intuition Jewelry - ANOTHER awesome family of artists!  We LOVE that!  The girls behind Girls' Intuition also happen to be mother and daughter and awesome friends! How did they get started?  We'll let them tell you in their own words:  

"We have always been crafty, and jewelry has evolved into something that the two of us enjoy doing together. One day, my husband commented that our jewelry looked just like what he was seeing in the catalogs (for a pretty price.)  We started thinking about how fun it would be to make unique, creative jewelry for those who want to express their style without spending a fortune. (like us!) Why "Girls' Intuition?" The more excited we got about the prospect of this business venture, we started thinking that this could be a good opportunity for Marissa (who is currently 12 years old) to play a part in helping to earn money to put aside for her college tuition. Thus the name, Girls' InTUITION!"

Thanks ladies for donating such a generous jewelry set!  The winner will receive both the necklace and matching earrings pictured above. The only way to enter this giveaway is to come to our open house THIS SATURDAY, December 4th and put your name in the drawing!  

Scroll down to view the other very cool prizes already announced and stay tuned for at least FOUR more prizes to be announced this week!!!!  Can you hardly stand it?!  Are you excited yet?!  

(Isn't Green Girl a lovely model?)

Open House Giveaway #2!

This is a big one folks!! I'm trying to secretly figure out how I can enter the drawing even though I'm not qualified. I just REALLY would love to own this. And it looks SO good on my green walls, not that I've already hung it up to see what it would look like, or anything!

Shadley Grimes is a painter who lives in Iowa with her family. She has a Bachelors Degree in Studio Art and a certificate in Art Education from the University of Iowa, where she focused on life drawing, painting, and mixed media.

Her artwork is described as abstract, colorful "drawings with paint". She uses acrylic paint and a variety of other media including charcoal, pastels, watercolor, and tempera.

Shadley's themes include heritage, lineage, motherhood, gender, salvation, adoption, poverty, and childhood. She is fascinated by children's art, and draws much of her inspiration from the artwork of her children and the memories of her own childhood.

http://shadleygrimes.com//

grimesfam@gmail.com

If you would like to win this awesome piece of art, your chance to enter your name in the drawing will be at the Things With Wings open house!

First Open House Giveaway Revealed!

Our first giveaway prize is this glass tile necklace entitled "Hands of Time" by Keri Speidel of Creative Genius Art.  Her most recent venture involves jewelry made from hand drawn images and collage, but she uses many other different mediums including painting, collage, jewelry, illustration and photography.  She is most famously known for her love of working backwards on old windows.  She was born and raised in Iowa and currently lives in Lisbon, Iowa.  She attended Cornell College to become an art teacher and taught for a few years before taking a break to become Super Mom to her two boys.  She makes her art from her kitchen table in her "spare" time.  She does a variety of meaningful personalized gifts perfect for all types of occasions.  In her own words:  "I love to create things especially for people, to really touch their heart when they see it and know it is just what they wanted.  If you can think of it, I can probably make it for you (keyword being 'probably.')" 

 

At our open house Keri will have a variety of items for sale including window paintings, smaller wood paintings, and glass tile necklaces.

 

You can find more of her work on her blog:

www.creativegeniusart.blogspot.com

and on her Facebook page: 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Creative-Genius-Art/121186378616

 

*Stay tuned for lots MORE awesome prizes to be revealed!  The only way to win one of these great giveaways is to come to the Things With Wings holiday Open House December 4th, and enter your name in the drawings! 

Things With Wings Holiday Open House

By now, many of you have received our postcard invitation to our annual holiday open house in the mail!  (We've already sent out over 600, and have another 400 we're handing out!!!!)

Oh, we are SO excited!

We've got a great group of friends joining us with their jewelry, paintings, and textile art!  You will be able to get a TON of your Christmas shopping done!  Plus we will have yummy desserts, hot cider and good conversation ready for YOU! 

We can't WAIT to announce all of the prizes we'll be giving away that day.  Our friends have generously donated some awesome things for drawings (along with some TWW goodies, of course) that you can enter when you come December 4th.  Keep checking back with us here because we'll be giving you some sneak peeks of the giveaways and introducing you to our artist friends.
 
Another big reason we're so excited about this year's open house,  is that YOU will be the first ones to see our new line with DEMDACO called "This Thing Called Family!"  We will have the ACTUAL collection on display at the open house and we can't wait to show you!

More details on the great giveaways coming soon!

*Didn't get a postcard, are local to the Iowa City area and would like to come?  Email us at paperprayers@hotmail.com and we'll hook ya up!

Connecting With You

Do you have a story or comment you'd like to share about a connection you've made to one of our Things With Wings pieces?

We are putting together an article for Crescendoh about why we do what we do with our artwork and our take on how art "saves."  Well, we know that only Jesus saves, but we get the concept they're going for.  They've encouraged us to ask our readers/customers the same question - how does art 'save' you?

One of our main goals in creating our work is to connect with all of you!  We love creating something meaningful and personal that speaks truth, encouragement, and hope into others' lives, and for our OWN lives as well.  Often times WE'RE the ones in need of the boost!

If you've ever purchased a piece that spoke to you and your circumstances, or to lift up a friend who needed some encouragement, or if you're a blog reader and you've found something useful by visiting us here would you be willing to share a bit of the story and what that's meant? 

We know that God uses art everywhere in many different forms all the time, to bring healing, renewal, encouragement and joy in all kinds of circumstances.  We'll be sure to give HIM the glory!  We feel privileged just to be a part of it!

Comments or stories can be left here on this blog post, or emailed to paperprayers@hotmail.com

Thanks bunches!
We are so thankful for you all!

Beaverdale Was A Success!

Last weekend we spent Friday night and Saturday in Des Moines at the Beaverdale Holiday Boutique.

I've got lots of pictures to show all of you, but for now I'm going to tell you this one story that sums up how great our time there was.

This boy of about 10 or 11 approached us and explained that he'd been saving his money all fall to buy his family Christmas gifts.  He explained he likes to buy one big thing for the family, and then something smaller for the people individually.  This year he wanted to buy this piece of Green Girl's on the left: "Welcome to our happy, fun, crazy, loud home."  But he was $2 short.

   

 We're not going to let a measly $2 stand in your way!


Sold, Young Man!  In Green Girl's words, "Let's do this thing!" (With a fist pound to the table.)

I'm not too proud to mention that this guy's heart for his family made me teary eyed and got me gently teased by my fellow Wingers!  What can I say, I'm an old softy.

Beaverdale Holiday Boutique!

We get so super excited about this show every year.  It's good in every stinkin' way.  And it's in TWO short weeks!  Can't wait to come to Des Moines!  More info here.