Medieval Journal Giveaway

This is available at https://www.etsy.com/listing/152433457/medieval-art-journal-renaissance-lady?ref=shop_home_active

It is super easy to enter! Just leave a comment. You can view a slide show which features every page of the journal on my Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/dorothyjanetoo

THE WINNER OF THE JOURNAL IS JUDY. THE TWO WINNERS FOR THE TAGS ARE MARY AND VICTORIA. THANK YOU EVERYONE! KEEP WATCHING MY FACEBOOK PAGES FOR FUTURE GIVEAWAYS. https://www.facebook.com/dorothyjanetoo

I have always been fascinated by Medieval history. I began reading historic novels and non-fiction about the period when I was in 6th grade. My first fascination was Anne Boleyn and one of my favorite books was “Katherine” by Anya Seton. There have been several Medieval Renaissance themed television series made in recent years, The Tudors, The Borgia’s, Game of Thrones, and coming soon, The White Queen. Often times, the history is skewed, but they are fun to watch nonetheless.

Please be sure to leave me a comment. This will serve as your official entry in the giveaway. First prize is this journal. There will be two runners-up who will win a set of six tags. You can view the journal in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/152433457/medieval-art-journal-renaissance-lady?ref=shop_home_active

April in Paris and Gymnopedie No. 1- A Giveaway with a Music Lesson

Paris Journal – Please watch the video to see the complete journal

Update! The winner of the journal is Lyzz. The two runners up are Jakki and Mindi. Thanks everyone! The prizes will be sent in about one week.

Please leave a comment to be entered in the drawing!

Long ago, when I was in college, I took a modern dance class. The teacher was lovely. She had long legs and arms and rich, chestnut hair with a distinctive wave which fell perfectly over her left eye.  The first day of class, she arrived dressed in leotards and a pale pink KD unitard - she looked gorgeous in that thrown together, effortless kind of way. Being from the UK, her speaking voice was equally beautiful. This was so long ago. How long? Well, back in those most ancient of days, dance studios were equipped with a portable phonograph, a turntable in a brown, slightly battered box with a speaker on the side – kind of like this: http://www.nostalgiafactoryoutlet.com/nostalgia/products/CR49-TA.asp

Paris Journal

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Back to the teacher. She welcomed the class and swiftly announced we were going to learn some stretching exercises and to watch her and then follow along, at which point she turned to the phonograph, picked up the needle arm and placed it on a record. After the distinctive scritchy scratch of a much played LP, the most gorgeous, sultry, tone poem emerged from the dog-eared phonograph. This was my introduction to Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1. I was …  transfixed. I was more interested in the music than I was in doing the stretches. After class, I ran out and searched for a similar recording (hers was quite old) which I did not find (pre-internet, I was relegated to the record stores in the town I lived in.)

I never became a dancer of any sort. All I can remember from the class is watching the lovely teacher perform flat backs and swoops and swerves to Gymnopedie 1, 2 and 3. Eventually, I found a record and I played it until it began to skip. One of the first things I did when I discovered  iTunes was to download the music. It speaks to me of the Paris I have read about in books and biographies describing the late 19th and early 20th century. In fact, this music is rather at the forefront of that period in Paris. You can read about Erik Satie here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Satie. I hope you will. His sad love story alone is atmospheric.

When I designed my Paris Journal, the Gymnopedie 1,2,and 3 played over and over in my head. I hope you enjoy the little video I made showing the prizes in this giveaway. It only lasts 1:35 so it will be a pleasant interlude.

NOW! Onto the rules.

Well, the only rule is to comment so I know where to send the journal:

Also – I would love it if you decide to click over to the journal on Etsy and give it a like, if you are able. This helps the journal rise in the mystical Etsy rankings. Here is a link for that:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/102964896/paris-travel-journal-paris-ephemera

If you haven’t already, please click over to my Facebook page and like it. I would also appreciate any shares you could give on your own pages to spread the word!

https://www.facebook.com/dorothyjanetoo

But, most of all – don’t forget to comment in order to be officially entered in the drawing. I would love to know if you enjoyed hearing Gymnopedie #1 and also – if you have ever been to Paris. I have not, although, I hope to get there someday. I hope you will enjoy this giveaway and that you will find you have been pleasantly surprised along the way. The drawing for the journal and the two runner-up prizes (two different sets of tags) will take place on Sunday, April 28th at 7:00 PM. Be sure to check back – I will email the winners!

Thanks to French Kissed for some images.

The particular arrangement of this Gymnopedie #1 comes from :
Gymnopedie 1-  Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

And the winner is …

 

 

I want to thank everyone for commenting and participating. There were over 100 entries and I had so much fun reading all of the comments. I am not sure of internet winner etiquette so I am only going to announce first names. The winners will have been notified by email, so you will know who you are.

The shopping bag full of names

The winner of the journal is Paige! The two runners-up are Stephanie and Amy (there were multiple Amy’s if you did not receive an email from me, please come back and play again!)

Again – thank you everyone! Be sure to check my Facebook page for future giveaways.
All the best,

Dody Williams
Proprietress Dorothy Jane

www.lacegrl130.etsy.com
https://www.facebook.com/dorothyjanetoo

All the best – Dody

 

Journal Giveaway at 8:00 PM!

 

The drawing for the giveaway will be held at 8:00 PM (EST) and I can hardly wait! So far, there are 93 contestants and the crystal bowl is so full, I am going to have to use a grocery bag. Because of the enthusiasm and WONDERFUL, THOUGHTFUL comments made, I have decided to make two runners-up who will each win a set of my Jane Austen Tags. You can still enter by going to this post and leaving a comment. http://lacegrl130.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/win-a-jane-austen-journal/

Many thanks to everyone for playing along! I hope you will check back for future giveaways or “like” my Facebook page to keep up on all the “paraphernalia” I post over there. https://www.facebook.com/dorothyjanetoo

 

Win A Jane Austen Journal

I was having fun on Facebook doing some little giveaways. But, as with all things in life, things get complicated. In order to comply with Facebook’s legal rules, I am now going to hold my giveaways here on my blog. I need to pep the blog up anyway and get back to blogging in general. So, to start off with a BIG bang, I am going to giveaway one of my ORIGINAL Jane Austen Journals.

So, here are the rules. I am going to try and make this easy and fun. In the comment field, please tell me your FAVORITE Jane Austen novel. When the drawing occurs on Sunday, April 7th, 2013, I will communicate with the winner and send the journal. I would also love it if you could go to the Etsy page for my journal and favorite it - https://www.etsy.com/listing/76293665/jane-austen-journal-pride-and-prejudice.   You can also find my Dorothy Jane Facebook pages here: https://www.facebook.com/dorothyjanetoo. I would love to have you follow my page. I try to post interesting articles and also I share some of the collages I make. My whole Etsy adventure is really about more than simply selling my wares. I just love to make pretty things. And I love to share them. Thanks to all my loyal Facebook Fans – I hope you will all come over here to enter the giveaway!

Here is the journal I will make for this giveaway:

Win this journal!

Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

http://secretfairysociety.me/2012/12/22/the-secret-fairy-society-christmas-newsletter/

Could this be Jane After All??

Literary mysteries abound.  I came across this article this morning about the disputed portrait of Jane Austen as a 13-year-old girl. The painting is supposed to have been painted by Ozais Humphry when Jane was visiting relatives in 1789. However,at some point in the 1940′s experts deemed this could not be Jane because the style of dress suggested it was painted after 1800. However, some new technology has revealed not only the name of the painter, Ozias Humphry and the date, 1789, but also the name of the subject … JANE AUSTEN! I am awash in literary mysteries these days and I am loving it!

So, how to explain the style of dress? In 1789, grown women were dressing like this:

But, how were children attired? Yes, children were usually dressed as mini adults, but I did a little research using Marie Antoinette’s,  daughter, Marie Therese, who was just a couple of years younger than Jane (born in 1778 to Jane’s 1775) and here is what I came up with:

I am beginning to wonder if maybe this IS Jane. What a lovely little face. I also think there is a resemblance between the face in the portrait and this face:

 Look at the eyebrows! The tip of the nose! Remember, the sketch was made by an amateur, Cassandra Austen, Jane’s sister.

I am beginning to think this might be Jane after all! What a wonderful revelation.