First Milestone

YIPPEE!!  I reached my first milestone of more than 25 followers.  I promised my first Give Away would be an awesome one.  Hold on to your hats......

Have you heard of Limoges boxes?  I fell in love with these little porcelain marvels in the 70s while in college and on a Chicken Pot Pie Budget (I could buy them for 19 cents each when they went on sale.  I can truthfully say I haven't been able to look at chicken pot pie in the face since 1978).  You can surmise I could barely afford food, let alone a Limoges box.

Here's a little background on Limoges boxes:  the origins of these petite hinged boxes date back to mid 17th Century France where the fist discovery of the beautiful Limoges clay was discovered.  The original boxes were known as TABATIERES or tobacco boxes.  The very wealthy would also use these intriguing boxes as containers for jewelry, perfume or snuff. Through time these amazing boxes have become valuable collectables.

Each box is unique in that skilled French artists fit each box with detailed metal frames and clasps.  I purchase them as "blanks" (i.e., completely white porcelain) and hand paint them with a 17th or 18th Century design.  Each box is fired in a kiln (at approximately 1450 degrees) numerous times to achieve the affect I want.  Because each box is hand crafted and hand painted, they possess minute variations in color, brush strokes and form that make them unique.

OK.  Can you guess what ONE of the items in the give away will be?  Here's a photo of the Limoges needle case.  I will paint the winner's initials in 24KT gold on the inside of the box to make it even more special.

It measures 3 inches long, 1 inch wide, 7/16 inches deep

Here's how the give away will work:

1) Put a comment on this post and you are entered into  the giveaway.

2) If you are already a follower then your name is put in twice.

3) Put the photograph of this giveaway on your blog and then get another chance.

4) If you blog about this giveaway in a post on your blog then you get another chance.

Please let me know if you have done any of the above. Invite your friends to enter- the more, the merrier.

The winner will be randomly chosen on July 1st, 6PM CDT.   

Next week, I'm adding more goodies to the give away - watch this space.

Cheers!!