a gorgeous giveaway with jacaranda designs

"Fresh, fun and playful handmade jewelry that adds some sparkle and individuality to your everyday." this is how jane of jacaranda designs describes her beautiful jewelry shop.

and what a wonderful, and true, sentiment that is!

i just love the charming array of pretty pretty hues and whimsical designs jane creates.  

with something for everyone: from gorgeous & feminine earrings, necklaces & rings, to functionally beautiful bookmarks & hair accessories, i think you'll adore this vintage-inspired boutique. everything is so fantastically lovely! and jane? she's just  wonderful!

so be sure to visit jacaranda designs around the web, and read on to 
WIN a beautiful pair of jacaranda design's gold leaf and blue pearl earrings, 
valued at $35! woohoo!

jacaranda designs

jewelry shop | blog | twitter | facebook | pinterest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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one way to enter is to grab one of my rikrak studio buttons,

like this one for YOUR BLOG! here they are!

<center> <a href="http://rikrakstudio.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the rikrak studio" src="http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/rikrakstudio/therikrakstudiorectangle.jpg" /></a></center>

<center> <a href="http://rikrakstudio.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the rikrak studio" src="http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/rikrakstudio/therikrakstudiosquare.jpg" /></a></center>

and add it to your blog!

{ ... just copy & paste the text in the box above onto your blog sidebar! thanks! }

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:: RULES ::

a) it is possible to have numerous entries total per person.
b) please make sure to leave each entry as its own comment. thanks!
c) using random.org, 1 winner of this  giveaway will be chosen on
saturday sept. 30th @ 12:01 am EST.
d) open to contestants worldwide.
e) please be sure to leave me an email where i can reach you if your account doesn't link to one. thanks.

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matchmaking

all images by jeanette johns

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what a charming matchmaker musician & writer john k. samson is! he's set me up with a wonderful new love: the beautiful work of artist jeanette johns.

samson's  gorgeous new release provincial (you might know his work best from the fabulous  weakerthans  or his amazing lyrical book fame) is all things brilliant  (listen here on paste (my fave: *the last and*). and i'm simply adoring the beautiful cover art by jeanette johns.

isn't her work delightful?

wow.

a perfect pairing. 

what are your favourite pairings of late?
what are you listening to?

(& check out some fabulous classic album design here, too!)

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giveaway & a playlist: with nesting emily

what is an artist?

a creator? a visionary? a creative powerhouse that can effectively articulate emotion + ideas into inspiring expressive form?

for me, the  mutli-media superstar emily jull of nesting emily embodies all of these truly admirable attributes (and more!)  ... i love emily's art!

as a longtime admirer of her work, i'm constantly amazed & inspired by the fantastical ways emily creates beautiful & functional new works in ceramics & textiles. 

it is delightfully mesmerizing for me to see her art so brilliantly marry kntting or fibres or felting,  & porcelain forms in such invigorating, organic ways. a trip to her amazing gallery of a shop is a breath of inspiring fresh air ... just like a gorgeous autumny walk!

so i hope you'll read on to find out how you can WIN one of emily's gorgeous works from her fabulous new knit obi vase collection!

but first, a delightful autumny playlist from our artist!

nesting emily

shop | flickr

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i just love a great playlist. i think it stems back to those glorious mixed tapes days where i'd either make, sometimes receive and always always covet a fabulous collection of tunes by various great artists! for me, a personal playlist is a magical grouping of songs. *bliss!* ... so i've asked some wonderful artists if they'd make up a little playlist on a theme for this rikrak studio series. i thought we might get a glimpse into what musically inspires these fabulous folks... i'm thrilled to present the next: playlists with nesting emily! and check out the other great playlists here.

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theme: Songs for an Autumn walk

dj: emily jull of nesting emily

September- by Pomplamoose 

(Maybe the best, happiest cover of all time!) 

The Shape of My Heart- by Noah and the Whale 

(Oh so sweet, these boys are)

 

Echo Beach- by Martha and the Muffins 
(I am a child of the 80's and this in a fav)

 

My Moon My Man- by Feist

(Simply too good not to include)

You're a Wolf- by Sea Wolf 

(My favourite walking song) 

St. Francis- by Ohbijou  

(My favourite Canadian band- they are amazing live!) 

Mykonos- by Fleet Foxes 

(Not since Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young have a group of men sung so beautifully) 

Devil Spoke- by Laura Marling  

(I love her voice so much!!!) 

Heartbeats- by Jose Gonzalez  

(Maybe the other best cover of all time- so pretty.) 

Undertow- by Warpaint 

(these gals are my newest musical find & I am so smitten!) 

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thanks so much, emily! what a fabulous playlist!

and now... one lucky rikrak studio reader will win... 

---> this amazing emily jull original knit obi vase <----

valued at $40.

emily writes about the giveaway item:  I am premiering this line on the rikrak blog. This is a knit obi bottle/vase. It is my ode to the great knitters and spinners of our craft community. It comes with a removeable obi (scarf, sweater) of hand spun yarn (this one is by funky caroline) that way it can be enjoyed with it's obi, bare or someone can add their own (knit, sewn, etc). This one is about 7 inches tall by about 4 inched across. It is lined with moss green glaze and can hold water or other liquids (could add cork to have it hold oil etc).

 

1. visit the lovely nesting emily shop.

...  tell us about your favourite goodie & why you love it!

=   1 entry

2. heart/fave the  nesting emily shop on etsy.

...  & tell us.

=   1 entry

3. follow emily on flickr.

...  & tell us.

=   1 entry

4. share a favourite song that fits emily's fun *songs for an autumn walk* playlist!

= 1 entry

5. share a link to a fabric/yarn that you would use to create your own beautiful obi

= 1 entry

6.  follow or subscribe to the rikrak studio blog

... & tell us.

= 1 entry

7. follow  the rikrak shop (that's me! twitter.com/therikrakshop)  on twitter

... & tell us.

= 1 entry

8. tweet on twitter

... about this giveaway and come back here and tell us! be sure to include @therikrakshop so i can find you! 

= 1 entry

9. blog about this giveaway

... come back and tell us.

= 1 entry

10. grab one of my NEW rikrak studio buttons,
like this one from the left hand sidebar, for YOUR BLOG!

<center><a href="http://rikrakstudio.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the rikrak studio" src="http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/rikrakstudio/therikrakstudiorectangle.jpg" /></a></center>

<center><a href="http://rikrakstudio.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the rikrak studio" src="http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/rikrakstudio/therikrakstudiosquare.jpg" /></a></center>

and add it to your blog!

{ ... just copy & paste the text in the box above  onto your blog sidebar! thanks! }

11. :: PLEASE NOTE: 

each entry must be it's own comment.

thanks! ::

..........................................

:: RULES ::

a) it is possible to have a maximum of 10 entries total per person.
b) please make sure to leave each entry as it's own comment. thanks!
c) using random.org, 1 winner of the nesting emily giveaway will be chosen on monday october 11th @ 11pm EST.
d) open to contestants worldwide.
e) please be sure to leave me an email where i can reach you if your account doesn't link to one. thanks.
 

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:: inspired reading :: Nikolski with guest blogger deanna

indie finds inspired by the book Nikolski

:: top :: geekel + gbrosseau  + holli 

:: middle :: maverick photo +  donnageissler + sushipot

:: bottom :: jenwildcat + blurrylens

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i've asked a dear friend, deanna, to be my first-ever guest blogger! she's always inspiring me with her wisdom + wit, kindness + generosity, supermommying + love of handmade. she's a delight & i know you'll love her too. in her series: inspired reading, deanna shares & discusses a fabulous book,  as well as some beautiful indie-finds garnered by her reading of it. yay to  great books & great friends!

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Have you ever felt that life was getting a little too ordinary, predictable, or just plain dull? 

I started the summer off in a bit of a rut. The sun was shining but laundry and dirty dishes seemed to pile up as fast as they could be done. One day, while chatting about books, a friend mentioned Nicolas Dickner's debut novel Nikolski, which had somehow eluded my notice in spite of its numerous literary awards. Fortunately I took up this recommendation the next day.

Nikolski tells the story of three young Montrealers. There is Joyce, a fishmonger with pirate ancestors who also freelances as a dumpster diver. Noah is an archeology student who spent his childhood as a nomad, traveling across Western Canada with his mother in a 1966 Bonneville station wagon named Grampa. And there is also an unnamed used bookseller with an heirloom compass that points towards Nikolski, Alaska.

The novel is imaginative, beautifully written, and terribly funny. More than once I was reminded of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez. As with Márquez, the ordinary laws of physics and probability don't always apply in Dickner's fictional world. Magic is commonplace. Coincidence reigns. Noah awakes one morning to find the ghost of his great-great-grandfather sitting at the kitchen table. One night Joyce discovers the perfectly mummified body of an office worker in a downtown dumpster. The booksellers' flooded basement transforms into an icy sea complete with shells, urchins, and a Leviathan.

Nikolski is one of those novels you don't want to end. Even now, weeks after I turned the last page, I still find myself thinking about its characters and their stories. After finishing the book, life seemed a little more mysterious and amazing. In short, it was the perfect cure for my summer rut, and left me feeling as if one morning I too might find a distant ancestor sitting at my kitchen table.

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about the author: Deanna does most of her reading in Guelph, Ontario, where she's a stay-at-home Mom to a spunky 5-year-old daughter. Besides reading, she spends her time writing, baking, and hanging out at the park.

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wonderful! thanks so much dear deanna!

so how about you?

have you read nikolski? 

what did it inspire in you?

read a book that's inspired YOU lately? 

please tell us! we'd love to hear!

have a magical weekend, nicies!

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{hand} making change: the D.A.D. project

like many lovelies out there, i'm greatly inspired by folks that create change for the better in the world. gosh.... folks do this in so many wonderful ways. in this rikrak studio series, we'll be meeting wonderful lovelies who are creating a better world with their handicraft. thanks for inspiring good in the world, each and every one of you. today, here's the next {hand} making change feature: the D.A.D. project!

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what do you do when difficult times come your way?

two wonderful artists & sisters, emily chen & serena chen, chose to turn a challenging health prognosis into a healthy action: the D.A.D. (drawing a day) project!

emily & serena write: "This project is a tribute to our father, who has been battling stage 4 colon cancer since May 2009. We are taking turns, creating a drawing every day, and donating $10 from the sale of each print... to the Canadian Cancer Society, the largest national charitable funder of cancer research in Canada."

so wonderful!
i was so moved to read how one of the most difficult things about their father's situation are their own feelings of helplessness. gosh - that can be such an obstacle in life, can't it!?

i think it's such a brilliant, positive, hands-on way to turn that helplessness into a way to help! love it!

i've been so lucky to get to know emily a bit over fun tea parties {we found out we lived on the same street in ottawa after tweeting and etsy foruming last year!} and i'm such a grand grand fan of everything mchen. she's an amazing, kind, generous, loving creative powerhouse and i hope you'll visit her latest project!

--> artists: you can also donate your own artwork to help raise funds! just contact serena & emily!

the D.A.D. project
shop | twitter | blog

serena chen
shop | twitter | blog

emily chen
shop | twitter | facebook | blog

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have a great *{hand} making change * group,
shop or project that i should feature?

let me know!

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have you ever focused on your art
to help you thru a difficult time?
to create change?

tell us! i'd love to hear!

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