August (ahem!) giveaway N°6 - an original oil painting

Last week I told you it was my last giveaway for August, but today I have yet another fabulous gift for you to win, so I have to stretch the month a little.  I'm sure you'll forgive me though when you see what a wonderful new giveaway I have for you today.

This beautiful oil painting is an original, created especially for readers of My French Country Home by the talented artist Carolina Elizabeth.   The painting is an oil on linen panel.  It comes unframed and measures 5" x 6".   Carolina painted this lovely bouquet with the style of My French Country Home in mind!  Amazing!!

 Carolina sells regularly: via her lovely blog Carolina Elizabeth, and also via the website the Daily Painters Guild.

  

Like so many of us, she has found that internet has provided her with the means of being creative, showing her work, reaching out to people, but still being at home for her family.

If you would like to try to win this beautiful painting simply pop over to Carolina's blog, sign up as a follower, take a look around, and tell us which you prefer of the lovely paintings she shows .  Her speciality is still life, and there are some beautiful landscapes too.

And of course you are all dying to know whose name came out of the draw last night, ....

I am happy to say that the lucky winner of two beautiful cushions of her choice from Atelier Be is Linda Stansbury who writes the blog All new at 62 .   Congratulations!

If you get in touch with me Linda, I shall send your address over to Jess at Atelier Be

Thank you all for taking part.  Don't forget to check in later in the week to see how my Brocante Tour is going!  They all arrive in Normandy this morning YAY!!

August giveaways - N°5 two stunning cushions

 Can you believe how fast the month of August has passed?!!

Today is my fifth and last giveaway, and I have to thank each of the sponsors who have donated so generously each week to make this giveaway season so spectacular.

Thank you also to everyone who has taken part.  Your enthusiasm for each new prize, and your willingness to share on facebook et al, is amazing.

Without further ado, here is today's giveaway, which I know you are going to adore ...

There is a talented lady, bearing the dreamy name of Jessica Chauvot de  Beauchêne, who lives in a century old village in Switzerland.  She is originally from Connecticut, but she fell in love with a frenchman, and has since settled in Europe.

 She creates these wonderful cushions from old linen sacks, with the original writing, or with logo and writing reproduced in traditional style.

She writes a charming blog, and she has an amazing etsy store, all under the name of Atelier Be.

She and her husband moved to Switzerland  at the same time as her parent's in law were emptying their family's Norman farmhouse which was packed to the rafters with trunk upon trunk of old textiles, etc.    [NDLR, excuse me while I sit down and breathe deeply!]

She  took as much as she could possibly fit  with no clear idea of what to do with it all.   [Pass me the smelling salts]    ......  Eventually creativity sparked and the Atelier was born, the Atelier Be website  and etsy soon followed.  Now she  searches from brocante to basement looking for old fabrics to re-purpose and infuse with new life.  

So Jess's very generous giveaway is for TWO  pillow shams [that would be cushion covers for the British amongst us! ) of your choice, shipped anywhere in the world, so yet again this giveaway is open to all.

How to enter?

First of all visit the Atelier Be etsy store, take a good look and come back here to tell us which pillows you prefer

If you would like a second entry then click here to find the Atelier Be facebook page, give them a new like and come back to report!

The will be chosen by random draw next Tuesday evening at midnight Paris time

And finally, for those who are dying to know if they won the right to commission a pve design   design of their house or pet, I am happy to announce that the winner of last week's giveaway is ......

Kim  who writes the charming blog White Whispers 2 U

Congratulations Kim,  and consolations to everyone else who joined in - you can still have a commissioned portrait, just get in touch with Patricia at pve design and put in an order!

Wishing you all a delightful day!

August Giveaway N° 4 - a portrait of your home

Hey, do you recognise this house?!   It looks sort of familiar, and sort of friendly too .....

yes, this portrait of my french country home was painted by the talented Patricia van Essche over at pve design, and my amazing giveaway today will give a lucky winner the chance to commission a portrait of their own home or , if they prefer, their pet!

Patricia trained in design, and for 15 years she worked in New York City as a designer and design director for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Liz Claiborne.   Pretty impressive!!

Today she runs pve design, and creates original artwork and illustrations for clients.  This can be in the form of a house or store portrait, the portrait of a favourite pet, or decorative or pattern design.  She also has a gorgeous line of stationery, selling at her  etsy shop.

I love her style, it is modern, and feminine and with that essential bit of whimsy.  And as she has family in France, there may well be a French touch peeking through now and again!

So what would you ask Patricia to draw if you were the lucky winner?   ......

your horse, your house, your hound .....  or maybe just your favourite corner in the home?

To enter this fabulous giveaway you need of course to leave a comment below,  but you can enter more than once ...

for a second entry pop over to Patricia's store and come back to tell me what you like best

for a third entry share the news of the giveaway on facebook, twitter or pinterest.

Thank you to Patricia and to everyone else who has given so generously for my month of giveaways,

and good luck to you all!!  The winner will be drawn next Tuesday at midnight Paris time.

Which once again brings me neatly around to the winner of last weeks Provence Rug:

the random draw pulled out the name

Pam Meier, Minneapolis

Well done Pam, just get in touch with your address and the provence rug and soap dish will be on its way to you!

August giveaway N°3 - a provencal rug

The month of August is rushing past at a rate of knots and we are already up to the third giveaway!!
 
This week I am delighted to be able to offer you the chance to win a beautiful Provence Rug, that is guaranteed to bring some Imported Sunshine from the South of France.

Provence Rugs was created by two bloggers who I was lucky enough to meet in Paris one September.  Libby Wilkie, who writes a design blog  An Eye for Detail, paired up with Delana who writes the most amusing blog Du Jour about her life as she settles in France.

Libby and Delana are offering one of their pretty Provencal Rugs to a lucky reader, and if the winner is in the States, then they can also choose a matching soap dish or tray.

The winner will be able to choose between three colours, typical of the traditional Provençal designs.  The rugs are made in the South of France, and are 100% cotton, they come in three sizes, the giveaway is for a medium size in either Ciel Bleu, Tournesol Yellow or Rosehip Red.

The rugs are unique to Provence Rugs and are imported in limited quantities by Libby and Delana.    Don't you think one of these rugs would look great just inside a door to create a bright and oh-so-French welcome?!

To enter the giveaway simply leave a comment telling me which rug colour you prefer and for a second entry then pop over to the Provence Rug Facebook page and click on their 'like' button then come back here to tell me!  So easy!

Good luck to all, the winner will be drawn next Tuesday evening at midnight Paris time,  and announced on Wednesday ..... which brings us very neatly to the two lucky winners of last weeks exciting competition!

I am sorry to say that - despite all his heroic efforts at amusing, distracting and influencing my judgement - the, by now, famous and immensely talented  David Terry was not one of the winners picked out in the random draw!  Another time maybe David!  Please keep up your comments, we love them!

The winners of the giveaway picked out in a random draw, and who will be receiving a copy of Nina Hartmann's beautiful book are .....

Francesca, a lovely and warm-hearted  Italian girl who writes a beautiful blog Passionedeco about her home in Italy;

and Lynne over at the fun blog Dreams on 34th Street

Congratulations ladies, just get in touch with your address and the volumes will wing their way to you!

August Giveaway n°2 - Vintage by Nina

The second week in my month of giveaways and I am really thrilled to be able to offer two signed copies of Nina Hartmann's beautiful book Vintage by Nina.

As you may remember, this stunning publication is being distributed in the States by my friends Trinidad and Johan at Atelier de Campagne.  When they came here for lunch in June  , they kindly left a copy for me as a gift, and a couple of copies for me to giveaway.  Perfect!!

I have spent quite a while drooling over looking at the photos in the book, the styling is amazing, and really quite inspirational, especially to someone like me who loves brocante so much.

Nina is Swedish, but  .... the book is written in Norwegian!   So I'm not going to pretend that I understood the text, but it doesn't seem to matter.

So on your starting blocks, if you would like to receive a signed copy then here is what you have to do ...

Leave a comment below in perfect Norwegian ...... no that was a joke.

I'll take a comment in any language I can understand, that is your first entry.  If you would like to up your chances of winning a book then share news of the giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest and come back to tell me.  A separate comment for each new entry please.




And to the very important matter of the winners of last week's giveaway, three no less!!  The winners were drawn randomly at midnight yesterday, Paris time.

Kate at Vintage Style Hire

Katy at  Katy Noelle's Photo Journal

and Paula, also known as Mrs Sutton  of   Hill House Diaries

If these three lucky ladies would like to get in touch, I'll pass them over to Tracy so they can join in the fun on the Creative Home e-course 

August Giveaway N°1 - an e-course in home design!

I am very excited to announce an August full of giveaways here on the blog.  Every Wednesday I shall have something wonderful to be won, that makes five Wednesdays between now and September when you can try your luck.

Each giveaway will run for a week, and the winner announced the following Wednesday.

And by the way, I have one Wednesday still free!  If you have an amazing product you would like to promote here just send me an email and I'll see if I can fit you in.

 This week I am delighted to be able to offer three lucky winners a place on this wonderful e-course, starting in October.

 Creatively made Home has been designed by Tracy Leber of French Larkspur, I'm sure you all know her beautiful photography and sure eye for a great piece of design.  I am particularly happy to host this giveaway as Tracy and Jeanne Oliver will be coming to stay in our cottage next September, and I know that their visit is going to be seriously good fun!

With her friends Sara Duckett,  Jeanne Oliver,  Kimberly Taylor, Jennifer Rizzo  Tracy will be running a 5 week course to help you find new creativity in your home

In Tracy's words:

 Creatively Made Home is an all new e-course about creating a home that reflects your heart in everyday living.  It is about inspiring and encouraging you to create and style a home that you and your family love to live in...

 

Here is the jam-packed schedule for the course:

* Each week you will have amazing truthful videos from not only the five teachers but other creative women.

* Each week we will take a room from one of YOU and all five women will give their suggestions telling you how they would transform the room with their style.

* There will be 50+ project videos.

These will be incredible videos that include everything from gardening, cooking, gift giving and decorating.

* There will be written tips from each woman telling you how she starts a room, picks paint, fabrics, etc.  You will learn where to start when putting your own home together.

* Tons of beautiful house photos from each of the five women.

* Videos that truly reflect what life is like in each of their homes.  The stuff that life is really about. 

* Each woman will share their own truthful journey about how they started making their home a reflection of their hearts.

* Each person registered will get an easy entertaining e-book to download.

It will contain go to recipes for beautiful and easy entertaining (they do go together), photos of table settings that take the stress out of having people over, favorite drinks and so much more (and their funniest entertaining story).

* There will be a private Facebook group to connect with other class members.

* There will be a once a week live discussion with one of the teachers!

* You will get printables and pdfs to keep and use again and again.

Can you believe how much fun this will be?!  I'll be taking part in the course myself, and I am so looking forward to a little help in brightening up my home.

So here is how to take part in the giveaway:

simply leave a comment below telling me why you'd like to take part in the course.

For additional entries, share news of the giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

Please leave a separate comment for  each additional entry.

Don't forget there will be three winners here and the giveaway is open to everyone so don't hold back!!

The winners will be drawn Tuesday 7th at midnight Paris time, and the names announced on Wednesday 8th, when I shall also announce giveaway number 2!

 

a guest post and a june give away

Today I am honoured and excited to be a guest at The Enchanted Home, that wonderful blog written by the sparkling Tina, who has delighted us with the tale of building her home, and then with the opening of her beautiful on-line store.

If you haven't been there before, check her out straight away!!

And to any new visitors to My French Country Home, that have come over from Tina's Enchanted Home, thank you for dropping by.  To celebrate the month of June, possibly my favourite in the year, I am pleased to announce a little giveaway, you'll find details at the end of the post.

June, here  in Normandy, is the month of roses, the month of dropping by at friends' homes; the month of garden fairs, the month of early starts to get to brocante fairs in fields still wet with morning dew.

Here are a few shots I took over the past couple of weeks, a sample of everyday life at My French Country Home.

sharing drinks with friends who live by the river;

planting up the potager;

misty mornings before hot days;

climbing hydrangeas shouting for joy;

and peonies and roses competing for our attention;

So here without further ado, are the little treasures I have found recently at brocante fairs here, and that I am happy to offer to three different readers for my June giveaway.

First a pretty hand towel embroidered with the letter A, second a hotel silver creamer, embossed with the name Welcome Hotel, and lastly three little duck moulds, so charming on a kitchen shelf.

You know the drill for these giveaways

leave a comment telling  me what you would like to win;

and for another entry share on fb or twitter;

an extra entry for each accomplished task!

Winners will be drawn out in a weeks time, midday Wednesday 13th, Paris time of course!

Thank you for reading me, and thank you to Tina for inviting me over today.

Bonne chance!!