And the prize goes to...

...Tumbleweed Trails! Today was the day for our One World - One Heart drawing, and when I drew Tumbleweed's comment from our hat, I was so happy to see that our copy of Commonplace Mouse would go to a grandmother who loves to read to her grandchildren. I wrote the book with my heroic younger daughter in mind, so I hope the grandchildren enjoy this story of one adventurous mouse's escapades.

Many thanks go to everyone who participated, both as giveaway hosts and as commenters. And of course, kudos to Lisa Swifka for putting on another successful and fun One World - One Heart event this year.

One World - One Heart 2010

I'm happy to announce that Castle in the Air is participating in this year's One World - One Heart event. One World - One Heart is the creation of Lisa "Oceandreamer" Swifka. Lisa began the event in 2007 as a way for more people in the blog world to say hello to one another and share their art.

Everyone who takes part announces their participation on their blog, then posts about an item they are giving away. Visitors to each blog involved leave a comment, and at the end of the event each participant randomly selects a visitor to win their prize.

Lisa describes One World - One Heart as not so much a contest but a virtual "open homes" tour with a chance to win a door prize at each stop. It really does feel that way as you click through to all the participating blogs and get to know so many people.

Last year was our first time to participate in the event. For our prize, we gave away a signed copy of Castle in the Air, the first book from Dromedary Press. Dromedary's newest book, Commonplace Mouse, was published recently, so it's a natural pick for this year's prize. Click here to see our many posts about this tale of perseverance and high adventure. One lucky winner will be sent an autographed copy.

If you'd like to enter to win the prize, all you have to do is leave a (non-anonymous) comment on this post. One World - One Heart ends on Monday, February 15, and that's the day we will draw the winner's name from a hat and announce it here.

To learn more about this event, visit the One World - One Heart blog.

From the home studio...

I've been making time to spend in my studio at home lately. It's really my own world, and I have a great time getting lost in music and all of the little details of my projects. Recently I've been spending time learning the joys of creating with paper clay. Here is a picture of one of my new friends who has come about from that process.

Her face and hands are made of paper clay attached to an artist's armature, and I made her clothes from painted fabric. She's part of a larger project that I hope to tell (and show) you more about in the near future. Rosanna Pereyra (doll-maker extraordinaire and creator of the weblog Fractured Fairytales) and I met during this year's One World - One Heart festivities, and we've been corresponding as I've worked on my dolls. She's been a real mentor, sending encouraging replies to my emails and pictures, and gently pointing out where I can make improvements (like in my sense of proportions). Thank you, Rosanna!

We have a winner!

Congratulations go to Keron Lee, of Melbourne, Australia, who won our One World - One Heart offering. She was the lucky reader whose name I found when I pulled the winning entry out of my hat.

One World - One Heart has been a delightful journey. I have enjoyed visiting so many of the weblogs. I regret only that I didn't make it through the entire 911 sites on the list before the big giveaway. That said I shall be visiting the rest in the days to come.

Thanks go to all of you who have left comments on my site. It has been a wonderful experience building a stronger online community and I am grateful for all of the friends I have made.

I am looking forward having many more adventures together!

"What if the mightiest word is love..."

These words were asked today by the inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander in her poem "Praise Song for the Day."

It does feel as though Valentine's Day has come early for me this year. But instead of a person, my beloved is our great country and its wonderful believers in hope.

It has been an incredible experience today watching strangers hugging in the streets, celebrating the diversity and strength of "us." This experience has been echoed in reading the wonderful comments left by fellow participants in One World-One Heart.

All of this gives one a great deal of faith in the power of lovers and dreamers in action.

One World - One Heart

Before I started this blog, I was convinced that it was the perfectly wrong thing to do. Here I was, running a bricks-and-mortar store where I get to have face-to-face conversations with all of the wonderful artists who visit Castle in the Air. What sort of online experience could hope to match that?

While there isn't anything that can truly compete with real world friendships, it didn't take long for me to see that the store's blog was putting me in touch with all sorts of people whom I would never get to meet otherwise. Alongside our Online Shoppe, the blog lets people from around the world get a taste of what we do at Castle in the Air, and we can get to know each other through email or through visiting each other's blogs.

Someone who understands this power of the Internet to bring artists together is Lisa "Oceandreamer" Swifka. For three years now, Lisa has organized One World-One Heart, an annual festival that takes place across any number of blogs. Participants simply list an item they'd like to give to a lucky reader, then go and enter similar drawings for prizes at other participants' blogs.

For our entry, we're giving away a signed and numbered copy of Castle in the Air, the first book from my publishing company, Dromedary Press. The story in the book was a surprise gift from my husband on our first wedding anniversary (the paper anniversary). It tells the tale of a queen who has countless suitors, but pledges to give her heart only to the one who can build her "a castle in the air." While Duncan was secretly writing the story, I was furtively painting a picture for him, a picture of a queen waiting to meet the one who would sweep her off her feet.















When we exchanged gifts and saw how well they went together, Duncan and I decided to celebrate by combining the story and the painting into the most romantic little book. We engaged letterpress printer Richard Seibert and bookbinder Victoria Heifner to create it in limited hardcover and pamphlet editions. The forty-page book includes the full-color image of the queen and five line illustrations of the marvelous castles proposed to her.

Do you want your very own copy? We sell them at Castle in the Air as well as through our Online Shoppe, of course, but we're giving away one copy of the Castle in the Air hardcover to a lucky reader -- it could be you!

All you have to do to enter the drawing is to leave a (non-anonymous) comment on this blog post. You don't have to be a fellow participant in One World-One Heart, you don't even need to have your own blog -- the festival is just about getting people to say hello and get to know each other in this brave new online world. We'll draw a winner's name at random on Thursday, February 12 and announce it here!

To learn more about One World-One Heart and see who else is participating, please visit Lisa's blog.