Friday, September 3, 2010

Back to School Giveaway!!!!!


Well, it's back to school time and fall is just about here in the Northern Hemisphere...so I thought I'd celebrate by hosting another giveaway. This time, the prize is this lovely golden sunflower maiden!


She has been lovingly needle felted in the waldorf tradition using 100% wool roving and batting, coupled with soy silk hair. She's out gathering autumn flowers and turning her face to the sun, like a good sunflower maiden would do!


She would LOVE to come to your house to grace your seasonal table and help bring in this new school season!


If you'd like a chance to win this *original* special girl, who is not currently offered in my shop, please leave me a comment in the comment's section and if you recommend your favorite read-aloud, along with your comment, (either a favorite of your child's or perhaps your favorite one as a child), I will enter you a second time!

Thank you for entering, for taking the time to read and comment on my blog, and for the wonderful loving vibes you all send! Hugs and good luck!

The winner will be announced on Friday, September 10th...

69 comments:

  1. This is SO beautiful! A favorite read-aloud of ours is At The Back of the North Wind. My son likes it so much that he requested that I read it to him as a birthday gift!

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  2. Hi, Jen! Here I am in Vermont still trying to figure out how to successfully post a comment. I love your sunflower girl and am sure she would find a home her in New England lovely - even if she may see snow in a few short months! We have many favorite read a-louds but the one we just finished which was a true oldie but goody favorite of mine is No Fling in the House by Betty Brock. You know - talking mini dog, parentless child, fairy vs mortal life, good vs evil...a short chapter book with all the right parts. As soon as I read the last word, my daughter begged me to read it again right away! I hope you can find it (used is easy) and enjoy it. Please look me up if your family ever comes East...I live over the hill from the woman who sent you the fleece...small world.

    Love, Michelle

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  3. Your doll is lovely and would make a beautiful addition to our nature table. A favorite read aloud of ours is Pico the Gnome!!!

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  4. Wow! She is so beautiful!

    Our fav read-aloud right now is You Can Do Anything Daddy! My ds doesn't care if daddy or I read it as long as we read it! lol

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  5. This sweet Sunflower girl is stunning! Sunflowers are one of my favorites! My children are loving 'Country mouse ~ City mouse' by Jan Brett : ) Thank you for the generous chance!

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  6. The sunflower maiden is so gorgeous.
    Our favorite read-aloud book right now is I Will Hold You Til You Sleep. My son is always talking about the rocky path :)

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  7. She would be beautiful on a nature table. Thanks for entering me!

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  8. Also, we love the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books as read alouds. They're so funny!

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  9. I would love to surprise my girls with this for their nature table! She is beautiful! I was just reading the other comments and can't believe someone else has heard of No Flying in the House!!! That is my all-time favorite book from when I was a kid!!lol A favorite in our house these days is Alaska's Three Bears...I think I know it by heart! lol Thanks for the chance to win such a fun giveaway!

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  10. You are amazing ~ she is lovely!

    Mama and son really enjoyed reading Mary Poppins this year. The little girls liked Circle Dogs & everyone loved A Donsey of Gnomes.

    Much Love!!

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  11. Our nature table NEEDS her! Some of our favorite read alouds are, The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book... (Lots of colors, they are wonderful). What a talent you have!
    hfuhriman(at)yahoo (dot) com

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  12. My favorite as a child? Where the wild things are.

    My girls are currently in love with Winne the Pooh

    My oldest is loving Stuart Little

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  13. How beautiful she is, love and light Marie

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  14. This doll is absolutly beautiful and I know a little girl that would love to put it on her nature table.
    Our current read aloud is Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. A must.

    http://astuvu.canalblog.com/

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  15. Oh, Jen, she is so beautiful she takes my breath away!

    My favourite book as a girl was "The Amazing Mr Blunden" by Antonia Barber. It has also been published as "The Ghosts", and is sadly out of print at the moment. I think I was 9 or 10 when I first read it, and my tattered Puffin has been read so many times the pages are falling out.

    My son's favourite is "The Swiss Family Robinson" - great for grade 3, but he loved it even at age six.

    Best wishes for the start of 2nd grade - I will enjoy sharing the journey with you,

    Cathy

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  16. She is beautiful. I decided today that I need to make a special effort to bring a seasonal rhythm to our home now that Helen has entered high school. Our favorite read aloud when lou was in second grade was "B is for Betsy" and the others in the series. They were my favorite books as a young girl. A lot of the story does take place in school, but it is school in the 1940s...quite a different place from today.

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  17. The sunflower girl is so lovely, thank you so much for the give-away idea.

    Our favourite read alouds right now is: The Narnia Chronicles from C.S.Lewis

    Thanks for entering me. Joy.

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  18. Sunflower Maiden is just the lady to Herald in the fall equinox. She is a wrapped in the warm crisp colors of autumn...like a mothers mantel.
    Such a joy it would be for her to join the autumn folk here in our neck of the woods.
    OK just one book...It would have to be "Father Twilight." The pictures are poetry without words.

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  19. What a beauty! We are new to Waldorf and this would be a great first piece for our nature table! Our favorite book this year has been The Invention of Hugo Cabret. My son was wide eyed with every turn of the page! He asks for it again and again!

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  20. She is beautiful! My favorite read aloud is Christina Katerina and The Box. It's awesome, and the kids like hearing how exasperated her mother gets and how creative Christina can be.

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  21. hi there. i think she is so so so gorgeous we would love to have her, thank you for sharing your creations with us!
    it is spring time here soon...and we are loving the elsa beskow spring creature creations books.xo

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  22. she is gorgeous!!! how generous of you to give her away!

    we are currently reading *miss hickory*. it was recommended to us by one of the wood carvers at wood day that we attended. all time fave read aloud is tiptoes lightly and wind in the willows has been devoured recently, too. ;)

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  23. I love sunflowers :)
    Our favourite (current) read-aloud is "Beware of the Frog" by William Bee. It is about a little old lady who lives on the edge of a woods populated by trolls, etc. It's a good thing she has her pet frog to defend her! My less bloodthirsty favourite read-aloud is "My Father's Dragon".
    Jennifer

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  24. Oh yes yes yes!!! She is beautiful and we'd LOVE to have her grace our nature table!
    xo maureen

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  25. Oh, she is absolutely beautiful.

    Our favorite read alouds are the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We started reading them when the girls were just 3 years old! We've re-read them many many times.

    My 5 yr old loves us to read anything from the Beatrix Potter collection to her. The illustrations are a delight too.

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  26. She is so beautiful! The magic faraway tree books by Enid Blyton have been a favoutite in our house.

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  27. Jen, she is so beautiful! I really admire your skill.

    Margaret is currently enjoying "The Circle of Days" by Reeve Lindbergh. It is a lovely poem/prayer based on St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of the Sun." the pictures are of nature and all its' glory and the length and rhythm is just perfect for my early years daughter. I may even memorize it and find a tune because it would be a lovely recitation poem as well.

    Thanks for such a lovely giveaway!

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  28. You are so very talented!

    My favorite is Beezus and Ramona with all the voices, of course. We've been quoting 4 year old Ramona for years around here.

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  29. She's absolutely beautiful!

    We love The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly by Reg Down.

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  30. What a lovely addition to any nature table!

    We reading "All The World" by Liz Garton Scanlon. Its a wonderful book with amazing and engaging art work by Marla Frazee.

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  31. Oh, what a lovely giveaway! She would fit in nicely on our autumn nature table. Here at out home, we like to visit local pick-your-own farms and my oldest son especially liked picking blueberries this summer. Now he frequently request me to read "Peter in Blueberry Land" by Elsa Beskow. He intently focuses on the story line and seems to feel transported into the lovely pictures. :)

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  32. Wow! She is stunning. We would love to have her in our home. Thanks for the chance!!

    Our faborite read aloud books are the Laura Ingalls Wilder ones.

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  33. She is beautiful and would grace any season table. Thank you for the opportunity.

    Lots of favourite read-aloud books, we're currently going through Roald Dahl's books and on The BFG, however to pick a favourite it would have to be Elmer by David McKee, a great book to read aloud and laugh aloud xx

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  34. How beautiful! Since we're in Kansas (the Sunflower State), this gorgeous lady would be extra special.

    The Dudimus and I are currently enjoying The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh - which are so unusual, but fun. The Duda really loves to hear them.

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  35. Dear Jen,
    Oh my! She is so beautiful! Just exquisite:) Please enter us. Kye's favourite book at the moment, is The Mitten, by Jan Brett, we had to take it on our road trip with us and we read it often.
    Love to you my friend:)
    Linda

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  36. Your blog is hartwarming. I love the way you write, the pictures shown and the inspiration given. The sunflower girl is beautiful!

    We like reading: Over the rainbow bridge.

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  37. Wow! Jen, she is so gorgeous! I can't believe you took the time to create her in the midst of all the planning...

    I love Patapuck to read with the girls (but it's a french one). We also love the Milly Molly Mandy serie (translated by me!!).

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  38. She is a fiery autumn flame...so beautiful. My favorite read a loud is The Jungle Book.

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  39. She is so lovely! What an inspiration!
    My favorite read-aloud was probably the "Winnie the Pooh" books, and among my daughters' favorites are "Jenny and the Cat Club" and "Goodnight Moon"

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  40. Anything with sunflowers always reminds me of van Gogh's sunflowers and his strong emotions connected to them. Your little maiden is truly unique and perfect for this time of the year.

    We have many favorite read-alouds for grade 2. One is "Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver" by Michael Ende. There is also a sequel to it. He also wrote "Momo" and "The Neverending Story" for older children. Michael Ende went to a Waldorf School and his books are just so full of magic and life.

    Another great author for that age is Ottfried Preußler. He wrote "Robber Hotzenplotz," "The Little Witch," "The Little Ghost," and "The Little Water Sprite."

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  41. Your flower maiden makes me smile. The colors you integrate into her are stunning. She would look amazing on our nature table.

    My favorite read aloud as a child was all of The Little House on the Praire books. I still read them to myself and they bring me great joy and comfort.

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  42. Love the sunflowers on her gown! Our favorite is The Twits by Dahl. The vocabulary has us howling and repeating certain sentences over and over again. As a child my favorites were The Boxcar Children series.

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  43. Sunflower Girl is amazingly done! She'd have a wonderful home here...:)

    My almost 2 year old loves a book called "When I was young in the mountains". It repeats that line with things that happened. It won an award, too, if I remember correctly.

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  44. Ohh what a wonderful generous giveaway, I would feel so blessed to give this lovely girl a home. And how wonderful to get new book ideas from all these lovely ladies.
    My favorite read aloud book would have to Tiptoes Lightly..
    :) Christina

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  45. I like here attitude with the arm on her waist. Reminds me of my daughter. Beautiful creation. We'd love to have her in our home.

    One of our recent favorite read aloud book is Homer Price by Robert McCloskey.

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  46. Jen, she is just lovely! I will enter my favorite books her for you *wink* We love the Tiptoes Collection, Dr. Doolittle, Little House books, and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.


    Great to see everyones books.

    Donna

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  47. Lovely! Thanks for the chance.

    My favorite read aloud, Alice in Wonderland.

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  48. She is so beautiful! Oh, I wish my little one has it for her nature table!

    When i was a kid, my favorite one was "Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren, and my daughter's favorite for the last 15 days is "Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss :)

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  49. Oh, how lovely! We used to live in North Dakota and got to see fields of sunflowers in late summer/early autumn...Oh, how I miss them!
    My sweetie loves all of the Brambly Hedge books...we love to read the adventures of those charming little mice!
    Thanks for such a lovely opportunity.

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  50. We would love to add this beautiful lady to our Autumn Seasonal Table. Our favourite read aloud books are the Tip Toes Lightly books :)

    Kristine

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  51. Hi Jen,

    She's lovely, sunkissed!

    Our current fav read alouds which we a big hit with everyoine are:

    The Hotel Cat
    Jenny Linsky stories by Esther Averill

    and

    Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

    Blessings.

    Lisa

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  52. Oh for sunflowers a good read aloud, though very short and simple with illustrations of needle felted images and very beautiful newcomer to our home is:
    The Sun Seed by Jan Schubert more geared to younger crowd yet redemable by olders for its beauty, it makes good inspiration for a simple puppet story

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  53. Love her! She's more than welcome at my home. I'm just starting to put together our fall nature table and I'm sure she would be a lovely addition to it.

    One favorite read aloud? Oh, that's hard. The Paddington book series is a definite favorite here.

    Kim

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  54. Your sunflower maiden is lovely! We are just now setting up our first ever nature table.

    As a child, my favorite read alouds were all of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I still have all of my copies from childhood. :)

    My children have preferred The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. It's really the first chapter book that they were truly entranced by, and we go back to it again and again.

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  55. My girls would so love your beautiful sunflower maiden! We actually have a nice sunflower theme happening in our circle time for these first weeks of the school year.

    Some chapter books we have enjoyed during the past year or two (having moved on a bit from the Tiptoes Lightly books, though we still enjoy those too)...

    The Milly Molly Mandy Storybook
    The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
    Little House in the Big Woods
    On the Banks of Plum Creek
    Farmer Boy
    Heidi

    And then all the rest of the Little House books, at a totally inappropriate pace, because we just couldn't help ourselves...

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  56. I have just started needle felting,so I am a long way away from your fantastic creation. Your sunflower maiden would be a fantastic addition to my gnome/fall scene.
    Most of your responses are from young mothers, I however, am an older grandmother, looking for ideas to pass on and encourage homeschooling among my children. We did, however, have a number of great books - a super book from Australia (if I remember correctly) "There's a
    Possum in the House"; and "The Surprise Doll"
    (a doll for everyday of the week).
    Our children still love to read and I am glad that we passed that message along. Cannot encourage parents enough that reading is Important!!!!! vah_mom@hotmail.com

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  57. so lovely!!!! wow!!!
    we have always loved hansel and gretel:)

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  58. This is beautiful! I hope I can still enter?!

    Wild Child is a favorite for Autumn. It's about Mother Earth and her children (the four seasons). Lynn Plourde is the author, and the drawings are by Gregg Couch -- GORGEOUS! Love this series and so beautifully written. Short, sweet, but gloriously lovely.

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  59. I loved Alice in Wonderland as a child. I was surprised by my youngest boy. He hates to sit for long, but he has loved The Little House series. I really like the small little book Harriet You'll Drive Me Wild! I'm not always a calm mom and this has given me a little grace.

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  60. So beautiful! Thank you for such a lovely give-away!

    Our favorite read-aloud is Mr Popper's Penguins at the moment,

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  61. She is truly lovely :)

    We love Milly Molly Mandy around here, as well as Pippi Longstocking and Five Children & It.

    Thanks for sharing your gifts!

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  62. Love the sunflower maiden. She is beautiful! We are just about to create our fall nature table- so the timing would be perfect! My favorite read aloud books as a child was Dr. Seus, particularly 'The B Book' - since my name started with a 'B'.
    -Bonnie in IL

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  63. This post is for Ani - who is having trouble leaving a cmt. If any one else is, comment somewhere else and I'll cut/paste over here to enter you...

    "Jen, for me, on that page only,there is no white comment box.crazy.
    we are reading "the Bobbsey twins" series right now. I think my boys like them cause I read them as a little girl and because of their adventures. :) "

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  64. My daughter and I love sunflower girl! We would love to bring her in to be on the autumn tree
    (like a seasonal table)in her NEW Kindergarten french immersion class. One of our fav read aloud books right now is : Ain't gonna paint no more! Robyn S

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  65. she is so beautiful-she would be lovely gracing our nature table this fall!
    My kids loved Twig and now anything with gnomes.
    I loved when my teacher read Wind in the Willows when I was a child.

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  66. Beautiful doll!

    Our favorite is a french book called Poule plumette. It is so repetitive the kids just love to hear it over and over again.

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  67. Beautiful! I always loved Heidi, as a child, and now my kids love to hear it too!

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  68. How beautiful! Our little girl loves Arabian Nights right now. Daddy's been reading her a bedtime story a night and she's always eager to hear another one.

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  69. What a truly beautiful doll. I love yellow flowers the best, they are so happy and innocent.
    Our favourite read aloud? Oh my that will be tricky, there are so many!
    At the moment It's the tales of King Arthur for my three eldest girls. They are so enchanting.

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