Saturday, June 02, 2007

The Wurst Gallery and a Summer Crafts Giveaway

Unpainted Nesting Dolls from The Wurst GalleryOne of the benefits of blogging is being able to tell you about new things I've discovered so I'm starting a regular Saturday Giveaway event where I will showcase products that make life a little more fun then give one away to a random Scribbit reader.

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I came across this terrific craft project at The Wurst Gallery and knew in a second it was perfect for my daughter who loves to paint and create: unpainted Russian nesting dolls.

Five genuine, Russian-made dolls--the largest being six inches high--which nest inside one another for your little Picasso to adorn. Grace loves to write stories and plays so she's going to paint the five dolls to be characters in her latest story: a king, a queen, princess, fairy, and palace pet though I see plenty of possibilities. Paint them as characters from The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood or Rapunzel. Paint them to be family members, characters from a Bible story or characters from your own imagination.

To decorate the dolls use regular acrylic craft paint then protect them with a spray polyurethane coat for luster and durability.

For younger children The Wurst Gallery also carries Paint-a-Plate which includes all the materials needed to produce a hand-decorated melamine plate. The kit comes with a plate, 10 markers, instructions and a shipping envelope so once you've produced a design you can mail your plate to back to the factory where they will transfer the drawing onto the plate.

Both items are terrific and inexpensive summer activities for children and The Wurst Gallery has graciously provided one of each for a lucky Scribbit reader as this week's Saturday Giveaway.

Here's what the prize includes, all of which are pictured at The Wurst Gallery website:

* One set of 6-inch unpainted nesting dolls
* One Paint-a-Plate
* One lovely tote bag with The Wurst Gallery crafted logo
* One enamel puppy pin

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday June 4th go to the giveaway entry form on this page and enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name in my regular Tuesday post.

Important things to note:

Because of the cost of international shipping the Saturday Giveaways will be open only to readers in the U.S. If you're upset at being left out, leave me a comment to that affect with a suggestion/solution to the problem and I might consider an alternative in the future.

As long as you enter before 12 am Monday morning according to your own time zone I'll count it. Alaska falls near the end of the day so I'll catch all the entries anyway.

I've designed the entry form so that anyone can enter. Reader, writer, blogger, friend, foe, anyone with an email and a United States address is eligible. The entry form is entirely private, it will send me whatever name you choose to enter and your email so that I have a list of entrants and can easily contact the winner to learn where to send their prize. I will not publish anyone's email or full name and will throw all entries out once each week's drawing is over. Anonymity is guaranteed. The most anyone will ever see is "LaFawnda from Preston, Idaho is this week's Saturday Giveaway winner" when I post the results on Tuesday.

So enter today and regardless of whether you win this summer crafts package consider ordering these items for yourself. They'd make great birthday gifts and would be perfect for the time when you hear the inevitable "Mom, what is there to do?"

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26 comments:

Mrs. O said...

Very fun project - you could almost do the 7 dwarves.

my4kids said...

That sounds like a great idea Scribbit.

Linds said...

Hi there... Let me say first that I am not at all upset about being left out! But a solution might be to open it to all and say that overseas winners must pay the shipping costs, perhaps? When there are prize draws, or giveaways, I generally add a comment saying leave me out because I live in England, but it would be nice to feel included in the general group and not excluded. You know what I am saying? It makes us feel we are all part of the same community and not outsiders, and heaven knows there are precious few of us compared to the American crew! I promise I am not going off to sulk now. It is just a suggestion!

Jenn in Holland said...

*sniff* That's okay, I won't play. But I will be happy for the weekly winners!

My suggestion is that you draw MY NAME every week and then just stockpile the prizes until I can come over and pick them up! :)
Is that selfish?

Code Yellow Mom said...

LOVE the nesting dolls...These are super fun projects! Thanks for organizing such a fun and easy give-away!

One year for Christmas we had each of my parents' grandchildren color a plate like this and gave them to my mom - she gets the "set" out at family gatherings and loves them!

Julie Pippert said...

Oooh I have to check out that place. My kids love arts and crafts.

Anonymous said...

Those nesting dolls are awesome! Cool contest idea!

M said...

Oh, you were right. I L-O-V-E it. Sounds like a fun company too. Thanks.

Jeana said...

Oh my goodness! My parents brought my girls Russian nesting dolls from their Alaskan cruise and they adore them. They would LOVE these!

Daisy said...

My daughter loved these dolls when she was young. I picked up sets in the most random places.

Maddy said...

Oh yes very good indeed. I have two [old] sets of my own [handpainted by an expert rather than my two left hands]
Cheers

Beckie said...

Very fun ideas for the young crafty ones!

I would love to see a photo after your nesting dolls are painted. This is so fun!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I adore matryoshka dolls. My brother went to Kazakhstan many years ago and brought home one of those dolls for me as a souvenir and he had no idea he was spawning a collection.

Scribbit said...

Thanks, linds for the comment. I briefly considered that idea but worried that it would be rude of me to tell people to pay their own shipping.

I'd love to have everyone included and since you're good enough to suggest this maybe it's not a rude/weird idea afterall.

I'll keep it in mind. Anyone else out there agree with linds?

There will be times when I have small, lighter items such as jewelry or cloth items that are more easily and cheaply shipped and I've thought I could open that up for overseas readers.

Thanks for the comment.

Though Jen, your idea is pure brilliance too :)

An Ordinary Mom said...

Nesting dolls have always been one of my favorite things, so this would be fabulous to win. Keri and I would have fun painting them for a summer activity.

You are too kind to your readers :)!!

Ice Cream said...

My kids are always trying to sneak my nesting dolls off my living room shelf. This would be a perfect gift for my daughter for christmas. Thanks for letting me know about it.

Linds said...

PS... I think Jenn's idea is brilliant!

Anonymous said...

Fabulous giveaway! I love it - and "LaFawnda from Preston, Idaho." GOSH! I'd love to win!

luckyzmom said...

What a great idea.

owlfan said...

My kids (both boys) love the nesting dolls. We have several sets from my mom's travels to Russia. It would be really cool to paint your own set.

Andi said...

Neat...very neat. I think that I will do something like this sooner or later. Oddly, I would find great amusement in doing "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." I am currently working on ways to do prize drawings on my blog, too. :-)

Blondie said...

I almost painted some for Little for Christmas, but then I found some red ones that were PERFECT for her so I skipped it. But I still plan on making my own nesting dolls some day. So fun.

Unknown said...

What a great idea! You're too kind for hosting these giveaways!

The Estrogen Files said...

I do love me some LaFawnda and Napoleon! Thanks for the linky - we're off to visit.

sara from (almost) Preston, Idaho

Believer said...

Thanks!

beauty girl said...

I love these craft ideas! I am always looking for new things to do with my kids, I'm not sure they are old enough for the dolls yet, but the plate idea is fantastic, I think a great idea for Christmas for gran and grandpa. Maybe we can do something besides pudding paint this summer!