Artful Home and Project Hope

One of my favorite vendors is stepping up to the plate to aid Japan in their great time of need ~ Artful Home.



They partnered with artist Jeff Crandall. Jeff creates these lovely glass bottles with important messages etched on them. They are simple and gorgeous. The one selected for this campaign has the words HOPE - Warning: Do Not Abandon. Fitting don't you think?

Until March 23rd, Artful Home will donate 100% of the proceeds of the sale of Jeff's bottle to the Red Cross to aid the victims in Japan.

I am buying several. One for myself and more to give away. In fact, I'll do a give~away. Leave me a comment on this email and I will put your name in a hat to win one of your very own. I'll announce the winner on March 24th.

Bravo The Artful Home and Jeff Crandall ~ well done!

Fun Friday ~ Giveaway Winners!

How wonderful that it is Friday ~ finally! It gives me great pleasure to announce the winners of the art glass ornament giveaway.....

The Vincent by artist Paul Lockwood
This darling goes to Linda from A La Carte. Her comment was "These are so beautiful! I love the Taffy Pull and the Dragonfly ornaments in the pastel section. I think they are all gorgeous and would love to have one on my tree...but would probably display on an ornament stand because they are works of art!" Her piece of paper in the bowl was pretty big. Hmmm... I wonder if that helped??!

Chantilly Lace by artist Michael Egan
This beauty goes to.... Micah from the The Yellow Front Door as this comment was pulled out of the bowl "I love the Golden Frost ornament - would go perfectly with my silver & gold theme :) They are all beautiful though!"

Candy Cane Lace by artists Mary Mullaney and Ralph Mossman
And the last one goes to.... Kimba from A Soft Place to Land! Her comment was "Oh wow! These are gorgeous! I love the Field & Sky and the Twinkle Star. So beautiful!"

Thank you to all that entered! And a big THANK YOU to The Artful Home (no, I did not get anything from them ~ I just love their art!).

Remember, the discount is still active until 12/14/2009 ~ "The Artful Home and I would like to extend to my readers a 10% discount on ANY piece(s) you fall in love with at The Artful Home. Use it for yourself, for gifts, on anything you would like. Simply enter the code PAULAGRACE between 11/30/2009 and 12/14/2009 while checking out to receive your discount. Just a little gift from me to you to thank you for reading and to celebrate the holiday season together."

Just a little more fun.... here's John Mayer live singing 3 x 5, a favorite of mine. The picture is not great but the sound is wonderful. Listen carefully, you hear someone saying "That's not his song" referring to the first ditty he sings. True ~ its a Bruce Springsteen song (love that song too). I'm hoping he sings 3 x 5 at his 2/20/2010 show.



Enjoy your weekend!

Joyful Holiday Giveaway!

I am sharing my affinity for glass art! Today is the day for the wonderful art glass holiday ornament giveaway ~ YAY! The Artful Home (I have posted about them before) and I have partnered to add more sparkle to your holiday season. How? By adorning your home with a fantastic art glass ornament. If you did not see the preview, here are the ornaments in all their glory.....

The Vincent by artist Paul Lockwood (retail value $42.00)

Chantilly Lace by artist Michael Egan (retail value $95.00)
Candy Cane Lace by artists Mary Mullaney and Ralph Mossman (retail value $99.00)
How do I register to win??!! Simple! Visit the ornament section of The Artful Home by clicking here. Find another ornament (or two) that you love and write a comment on this post about it. That's it! I will put all those that enter in a hat and pick three lucky readers. The deadline to enter is Thursday, December 3rd at 8:00 p.m. (EST). I will draw the winners and announce them on my Fun Friday post December 4th. Remember to check back to see if you won!

A couple more lovelies for you ~

First, if you would like the chance to win more ornaments, The Artful Home is doing a giveaway all on their own. Between now and December 18th, they are giving away an ornament a day. How wonderful is that??!! Click here to register.

Second, The Artful Home and I would like to extend to my readers a 10% discount on ANY piece(s) you fall in love with at The Artful Home. Use it for yourself, for gifts, on anything you would like. Simply enter the code PAULAGRACE between 11/30/2009 and 12/14/2009 while checking out to receive your discount. Just a little gift from me to you to thank you for reading and to celebrate the holiday season together.

I am linking with Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday as these ornaments would transform your tree, Smiling Sally's Blue Monday as one ornament is a gorgeous blue, and Its So Cheri's ~ Its So Very Creative Party since my giveaway is truly art! Wow ~ love these parties!

Enjoy!

To Excited to Wait ~ Giveaway Preview

You all know I have an affinity for glass art. Well, on Monday, November 30th, The Artful Home and I partnered for a Holiday Giveaway. Three beautiful glass ornaments will be joyfully given away! Here are the ornaments.....

The Vincent

Chantilly Lace

Candy Cane Lace

Plus, there will be an extra special little something just for my readers ~ a little thank you from me to you.

Please visit on Monday to register for this very special holiday giveaway!

All Things Glass III - Part Two - Artist Series III

A funny thing happened - I received an email from Terry Nelson, VP of Marketing for The Artful Home thanking me for the blog mention. No, please Thank You! Mr. Nelson said, "We are currently running at 15% off promotion in case you wanted to mention that for people looking to buy one of those beautiful glass pieces you included." How wonderful! Now all those beautiful pieces are even more affordable. So what do I do, I immedaitely go back to their site and start looking. Guess what I found?? More beautiful AND functional art glass. Everyone knows about vessel sinks. They can be lovely and add so much. I just put a copper vessel in my client's powder room. It is beautiful. I cannot wait to show you the before and after pictures of that entire project - maybe I'll take some with my little Canon to at least show you the powder room. But I digress. What about a glass sink vessel ot perhaps a faucet. I found these fabulous ones at The Artful Home.

Too much of a commitment? Well, how about this one.....
This one reminds me of the glass pieces I showed you on top of my media cabinet. It is neutral so it will go with almost any decor. The red one above reminds me of another glass piece in my home that I forgot to show you. It is on my mantel.

I bought this one from a young artist at The Sugarloaf Craft Fesitval in Virgnia. I tried to get the link for Sugarloaf but it isn't working. I hope the Festival lives on! Art festivals are the perfect place to find amazing art in just about any material. At that same festival, I purchased beautiful Raku pieces from a brilliant young artist who literally had a fire pit in his parents backyard - Nikko Yngente. When I Googled him, he came up in Linkedin, Facebook, and Business Exchange. Raku is defined per About.com as: "Definition: Raku (noun) generally refers to a type of low-firing process that was inspired by traditional Japanese raku firing. Western-style raku usually involves removing pottery from the kiln while at bright red heat and placing it into containers with combustible materials. Once the materials ignite, the containers are closed. This produces an intense reduction atmosphere which effects the colors in glazes and clay bodies. The drastic thermal shock also produces cracking (known as crackling since it is deliberate)." Ok, I'll buy that - but I bet Nikko knows better. Here he is per his Facebook page and here are my pieces...
Ok, that looks pretty intense! I am not sure if that is part of the Raku process. Maybe Nikko will email me and let me know. I bought these pieces years ago and I still love them today. They are also on my media cabinet - on the other end (that is my daughter's picture when she was three years old peaking into the shot - adorable). Unfortunately, I don't have the card of the red vase glass artist. I must have misplaced it. His work was wonderful too. I have disgressed again into Raku. In my defense - the message I am trying to deliver is ART - art is a must in all my designs. We will talk frequently about art - almost all mediums. I was actually going to blog on the art of music as an inspiration today - again..... I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!

All Things Glass III

As promised, I continue my All Things Glass series with affordable art glass options. First, I'll show you some pieces that I have in my own home. You have seen this picture a couple of times before. This is a piece I have in my family room on top of my media cabinet from Nuvo Glass. I love these pieces because they are simple in color - white, clear and gold - when the light is not on them. Cast the light and they glow.
These pieces are from Fusion Z. Fusion Z and Nuvo Glass have excellent price points. These pieces are from their Glass Kelp line. The blue you see is actually an welcomed anomaly. I had seen the piece in blue at a showroom. When I placed my order, I asked them to hand pick for me a set with the blue. I have this placed in my living room where steel blue is used. I know they are designed to look like kelp but my interpretation is fire. In fire, orange-red, orange, and blue are represented. This is my abstract 'fireplace.' It is the center of a large display cabinet.

Here are the professional shots of the room (better than mine!).


In the second picture, you can also see the piece below, which I admired for years before I purchased it. This piece is from The Artful Home.
The Artful Home represents many wonderful artists in all price ranges. Below are a few from The Artful Home that I selected.


I love glass bowls! I use them for centerpieces or to simply place on a table, shelf, console.... the possibilities are endless. If you do not have a light source such as a pin light, just place a portable light next to it like these. These are 'desk lamps' that have great lamps for glass. The are sleek and I would even consider them discreet. I found them on Lamps Plus.



These bowls below are an excellent example of the relationship between glass and light.


Here are some lovely ones from Fusion Z.


If you do not see something here that catches your eye, check out their websites. I am sure you will find something that catches you eye just like glass catches light.

Those that follow me on Facebook, check out your gem of the week!