fantasy art and tree chatter of aquariann

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Stephanie La Plante for submitting the randomly-chosen 185th entry. Bajrang will email you after Memorial Day weekend with how to claim your prize. Spring is in full swing and so are home improvement projects! My Ogre and I have done more chores around the house this year than the last decade combined. The biggest renovation was freshening up my loft with new paint and laminate wood flooring. Now it's time to decorate the walls. Ogre hung a fairy shelf and decorative mirror for me, but we still need to decide on which wall art to hang. Can you believe I have piles of pretty posters and fine art prints that have never seen the light of day? And yet the idea of hanging a tapestry is tempting, especially when browsing all the colorful options at Tapestries Home . If your walls are also bare, shop owner Bajrang Middha has the perfect solution. He's giving away a single bedspread of choice (up to $14.99 retail value) to one...

Magnolia tree blossoms weren't the only beautiful things that turned my head upward while visiting Washington DC in early April. The national's capital has such awesome architecture and stunning structures! I'm glad our concierge kindly recommended a restaurant in Chinatown, or I might have never seen the Friendship Archway. Local architect Alfred H. Liu designed the colorful Chinese gate with 7 roofs up to 60 feet high, 7,000 tiles, and 272 painted dragons in the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Looking up so much didn't stop me from looking down, though! I swiftly stooped down on a busy sidewalk to capture this dragon carving on the bottom of a stone wall. My photo doesn't do justice to the Chinese dragon sculpture that guards the Chinatown Community Cultural Center's sign, but I couldn't leave him out. His tail actually spirals all the way down the pole!

My nail art collection is starting to resemble a dragon's hoard. I have garnered a great pile of shiny nail stickers by several beauty brands thanks to giveaways, gifts and Kmart clearance bins. Last week I tried Sleek Stick by Essie for the first time. Applying the UV cured nail appliques was similar to my experience with L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Nail Lingerie stickers . They went on easily and smoothly, without the wrinkles that I get when using Jamberry Nails wraps on my curved claws. Unfortunately, the Essie brand didn't provide a "long lasting wear" as the packaging claimed. The high gloss silver began rubbing off within two days. Fortunately, given the sneek-e scale design, the chipping wasn't too noticeable until day 7. Removing them was also easy - I was afraid I'd have to scrub them off like I do with Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips . But they quickly peeled off in one piece like Jamberry Nails do. I probably wouldn't...

The pink magnolia blossoms photo I shared last week may have been my favorite flowers during my trip to Washington D.C., but this yellow magnolia tree bloomed a close second! I celebrate nature daily, but hope those souls that don't make a special effort today to stop and smell the magnolias for Earth Day.

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Darlene Demell for submitting the randomly-chosen 88th entry. Milan will email you with instructions to claim your prize within 24 hours. As soon as real tulips began blooming in my town, the fairies whisked away the magic tulip in my yard to another soul in need of a flower pick-me-up. If you yearn for more spring flowers in your life year-round, Milan of SNiS Leather Goods makes the cutest tulip wallet! And he's giving one away to a lucky winner. The credit card case is made of 100% natural leather and is designed to hold four standard credit or ID cards. Milan's interest in making leather products began when he was just 14. He'd spend hours in his father's workshop, watching his dad create various leather items. Eventually, Milan tried his own hand at making something and fell in love with the process of using raw materials to design something beautiful. Later he fell even more in love with a creative woman...

I happened to be visiting Washington D.C. at the same time as the National Cherry Blossom Festival last weekend. Although I couldn't make it to the Tidal Basin to dance under the pink Yoshino cherry trees, I did swoon over several other beautiful blossoms. The tulip-shaped petals on the pretty pink magnolia tree above were my favorite. And if you follow me on Instagram, you already know how tickled pink I was to spy a giant Care Bear balloon lining up for the parade.

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Karine Groulx for submitting the randomly-chosen 263rd entry. Dana will email you with details on how to claim your prize within 24 hours. Winter rain weeps over dormant dirt, but spring rain splashes beauty back into the earth! Last week's April showers brought lots of flowers to Delaware. If your area is a bit slower to rise from slumber, don't cry. You could win a spring prize pack from Trinkets by Dana to brighten both your jewelry collection and your home decor for the season! Dana is giving away rain cloud earrings and a flower art set of her original watercolor paintings to one winner. The unique Tibetan silver-plated cloud charms are embellished with light teal raindrop crystals. The Chinese writings mean "I wish you well or I wish you have a safe trip." I am sending Dana those same well wishes - she's preparing for grad school! To help condense her packing, she's offering a BOGO discount i...

As much as I love flowers, I despise digging in dirt. So much so that a couple years ago we replaced the hostas and daisies at my house with a rock garden. Don't worry, the perennials were adopted by my mom. Now we buy annuals to decorate a seasonal window box and flower pot instead of having to weed constantly. When I noticed a pop of red in my lawn last Friday, I figured it was a candy wrapper. I ventured closer to pick it up and discovered it was a single spring wildflower ... that resembles an adorable miniature tulip. How did it grow there when I haven't ever seen any flowers like it in the neighborhood? Perhaps the fairies magically planted a bulb for me because they knew how strongly I was longing for spring to bloom!

My daydreams of spring are finally coming true! A plethora of pretty plants began blooming over the holiday weekend. Sarah Alden of Forever Fairy sprouted several spring decor ideas during a Fantasy Artists of Etsy team game. Her handmade finds include "The Rose Garden" photography print by Fine Art Photographer Carolyn Cochrane, needle felted bird chickadee by Bluebird Cove and my pink flower art magnet .

The white daffodils I photographed for my mom's birthday last April haven't bloomed yet, but their gorgeously green stems are adding much needed color to a slow spring! I will keep stalking the plants until I get flower photos, too.