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‘tiny happy’ was a journal of my handmade life from 2006-2025.

four years blogging and a giveaway

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Happy fourth birthday to my blog! I can't believe i've been doing this blogging thing most days for the past four years, but I love it and don't want to stop just yet. Thank you very much for visiting me and for all the emails and comments and real mail you send my way. This blog has really enriched my life. I mean it.

So, to say thank you, I thought I'd offer a small giveaway. I recently bought a copy of this book, The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin and it's great! It's so nicely put together (including illustrations by Emily Martin) and is chocoblock with ideas and advice about selling your crafts and artwork. Now i've finished reading it, I thought I should pass it along to someone else who might enjoy it. I'll package it up with a set of my newly-printed watercolour postcards and another small handmade something. 

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post, telling me something about yourself- anything you like but it would be interesting to hear what music you are enjoying these days. Thank you again for reading my blog and supporting my work over the past four years.

p.s. I'll send the parcel anywhere in the world, and i'll leave this open until Monday morning. Have a good weekend!

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316 responses to “four years blogging and a giveaway”

  1. annie Avatar
    annie

    What a great giveaway–This book has been taunting me from the shelves of our local bookstore for a month or so now…
    Recent music for me has been David Mallett’s “Inches and Miles” album–LOVE IT. Good old fashioned folk.

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  2. Samantha Avatar
    Samantha

    Congratulations on the birthday.
    I have “The Campfire Song” by Ghost in the Water going round and round and round in my head.

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  3. Mandi Avatar
    Mandi

    congrats! Wonderful giveaway!

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  4. Kelly Burgess Avatar
    Kelly Burgess

    I’ve been listening to a lot of Jaymay and Lisa Mitchell lately. Very springy lady songs. 🙂

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  5. Paige Avatar
    Paige

    Wow, four years?? Happy blogiversary to you! Lately I’ve been listening to The Clash – sometimes I just need to crank it in the car and sing and rock out, like I used to back when I was in college.

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  6. Gill Avatar
    Gill

    Wow – 4 years – congratulations!!!
    I’m still listening to the same music as I was in my twenties!! Led zeppelin/Free/Deep purple
    With 3 teenagers in the house I also get to listen to a lot of their music! it would be fair to say that I like some of it!!!!
    Gill

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  7. Carol Avatar
    Carol

    HI Melissa, happy four-years-blogging – I love listening to Baroque music, so restful and elegant

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  8. aqeela Avatar
    aqeela

    Hi Melissa,
    Ive been reading your blog for ages (years) and i love it for its simplicity, earthiness and your photography. I guess i like all the muted shades going on – even though im much more of a pastels girl. Id love to enter your giveaway, it would just be nice to have a piece of your work!
    Well, abit about me – im 26, married, have a 1 year old son, i converted to islam 6 years ago, and music wise, well, i prefer reading really.
    Aqeela xx

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  9. Jen Gough Avatar
    Jen Gough

    Congrats on 4 years! I love to listen to anything by Ani Difranco…

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  10. karin Avatar
    karin

    hello.today outdoor swimming.in the car music tom waits.and the first one in this spring sitting outside in the night.not raining.not cold.very happy.not good english.sorry.very nice blog you have.i look you from the oder side on the world.i understand better than writing 🙂

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  11. povertyjane Avatar
    povertyjane

    I found your blog about 4 years ago, when my son was born. I remember spending a lot of my summer days taking care of him in the house because of the black flies. I was reading a lot, sewing and spending some time on the computer. Its how I found you and fell in love!
    -Weve been listening to Nirvana, The Beatles, Mother love Bone, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Kimya Dawson…and much, much more!

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  12. Hadley Avatar
    Hadley

    Oh, happy blogiversary! I’m so glad you’re out here in the land of the interwebs! Your creations and fabric finds are always so wonderful.
    Are you looking for new music? Lately I’ve been listening to Arlt, a independent French duo. I’ve also been listening to the new Joanna Newsome album and some old Bruce Springsteen and Pure Prairie League.
    Happy listening and celebrating! ❤ Hadley

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  13. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    Congrats on four years of beautiful blogging! I’ve been listening to The Devil Makes Three, and a lot of our local radio station, which broadcasts a really wide range of music!

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  14. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Wow, what a cool book! I don’t remember how I found your blog, only that I totally fell in love with it and have been following it for about 18 months now. Congratulations on 4 years! I love your voice here and I think your creations are wistfully elegant. Thanks for sharing them with us!
    I am not a huge music fan, I tend to like things with a beat like Lady Gaga, but I only notice the beat, not the music itself and I can never remember who sings what. I lean towards classic rock from the 70s and 80s and my ipod is broken. =)

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  15. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Congrats for the 4 year birthday! i love reading your blog and trying your tutorials, particularly your shoulder bags! You always have the cutest ideas, and I love your watercolors! I’ve mainly been listening the song friends forever by vitamin C, because it totally describes my life right now! Keep up the great work, and I look forward to new ideas and new adventure!
    XOXO,
    Shannon

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  16. Naomi Williams Avatar
    Naomi Williams

    check your blog all the time…really love your projects.
    currently i have completely abandoned music for talk radio…not sure why…i kind of miss music…perhaps i’ll take it up again 🙂 thanks for the reminder…and i’d love to get that book!

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  17. Lida Avatar
    Lida

    Happy 4th!
    Anything on the radio, PBS is good.

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  18. Jo Avatar
    Jo

    Hi Melissa, I love your blog and read it every day.
    I would LOVE the book as I am just about to start my own blog and it looks so useful but also beautifully designed.
    At the moment, apart from kids music! (ABC childrens classics at the moment) I am enjoying listening to Katie Noonan from Australia.
    Happy 4th blog birthday!

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  19. Cedar Avatar
    Cedar

    I just found your blog a few weeks back and haven’t commented yet—but I guess this is the time to start!!
    Something about me….I like to pick things up with my monkey like toes.
    🙂

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  20. little grubs Avatar
    little grubs

    Congrats on the blogging – 4 years!!! What a fabulous – I would love a chance to be in to win. Funny you should mention music I’ve been reliving my uni days recently and listening to UK music from the early 90s. So funny how it immediately transports you back to times and places. I can even remember clothes I wore on certain nights out when I was dancing to this music! Hope you’re having a great weekend. x

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  21. katie Avatar
    katie

    4 lovely years for us too! Thank you Melissa! you are an inspiration to this blogger!
    Listening to my iPod and returning to kate Bush and Joni Mitchell over again – can’t beat the girls!
    take care and enjoy your …. winter! never ceases to amaze me that one!

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  22. Rachel Kearney Avatar
    Rachel Kearney

    Hi Melissa, Congratulations on 4years ! What an achievement. I really love keeping up with your blog, especially now you are back in nelson just around the corner from me! Well done. Rachel X

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  23. Katy (france) Avatar
    Katy (france)

    Gosh, I’m comment n°273! Seeing as I live in France I thought you should hear about ne-yo..a folksy guitar singer from Belgium who recently covered a fifty-cent song with great panache (it should be on youtube..)..and my little girls love Christophe Mae and Olivia Ruiz..both worth checking out 🙂
    Happy Blog Birthday!

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  24. marie Avatar
    marie

    Hi, I am a needle felt artist from New Zealand, your blog is pretty cool, love and light Marie

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  25. Nicky Avatar
    Nicky

    Hi Melissa, I’ve been reading your blog for a couple of years now and I love it. I am constantly impressed with your creations and need to get myself a sewing machine! I have one at home in NZ but I am currently living in London and loving it!
    I love listening to music and finding out about new bands. I am currently really enjoying Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine, Fleet foxes and I think the Avette Brothers sound good, they’re my current new find. Oh and I went and saw the Doves the other week, at last, in concert and they were great 🙂

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  26. Victoria Avatar
    Victoria

    Looks like a very interesting book! Happy anniversary 🙂 I am now listening to Minor Majority and Thomas Dybdhal, both norwegian but you may have heard them while living over here. Calm and melancholic music for rainy days like today 🙂

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  27. Jess Avatar
    Jess

    Congratulations on 4 years of blogging. Love your writing and work. As for music, you’d probably hear a bit of Paul Simon, Dave Dobbyn and Sarah McLachlan at our place.

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  28. Skye Avatar
    Skye

    Happy 4th Blog B’day!!
    I’ve been listening to The Very Best of Roberta Flack/ Soundtrack to Into The Wild/ Soudtrack to Dear John.
    Warmly,
    Skye

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  29. lekki Avatar
    lekki

    Happy Anniversary Melissa. I always enjoy checking to see what your latest creative efforts have resulted in. As for me, well, I’ve come back from a weekend spent on a noho marae with my classmates from Te Wananga o Aotearoa so the music which is running through my head is a new waiata which we learned. It’s not playing in the house and I’m not sure that I can sing it enticingly enough for the family to listen, but it sounded good at the time it was sung with the group! My creative efforts are seeing a new crochet blanket coming together, it’s something I do for relaxation and enjoyment. Keep up the good work on the blog, I hope the next four years are just as satisfying for you as the previous four have been, Lex 🙂

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  30. Kate Fern Avatar
    Kate Fern

    Happy blog-anniversary, 4 years is a real acheivement, I love to drop by there’s always something beautiful and inspiring to see. I’m not listening to much music these days, I used to love Billy Bragg, Kate Bush and Irish folk music, the kids just converted me to Mika!
    best wishes xx

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  31. jennie Avatar
    jennie

    Happy blogging anniversary! Your creations always tug on my heart w/their beauty.
    As for music, lately I’ve been listening to U2, 80’s glam bands, and Tori Amos.

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  32. Tammi Beit Or Zeevi Avatar
    Tammi Beit Or Zeevi

    Hi,
    Happy 4th blog birthday. It is so nice to celbrate it with you.
    I love your blog and enjoy your ideas and inspiring spirit.
    It is so nice of you to offer us the givaway and to agree to send it to any where on the glob.
    What can I say about my self? I love crafting, mostly with fabrics and I don’t do it enough.
    I want to resign my Hi-Tech job (thought my lovely boss, salary and other great terms) and switch to full time crafting and sewing job, but I don’t have the courage to do it.
    As for music: I recommend to listen to this amazing song by Habanot Nechama.
    go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB-ao_cLGJM
    They are magnificent

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  33. jodi Avatar
    jodi

    I like Nightnoise and any of the Beethoven’s Wigs cd’s at the moment.
    Happy Anniversary! Hope that you have many more years of blogging ahead. Also, thank you for sharing about the Extra Curricular magazine. It started me thinking. . .

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  34. kat Avatar
    kat

    I love this blog! It was one if the first i began following when I found out what a “blog” was four years ago (late bloomer, I know). You are so inspirational in both lifestyle and creativity; you’re always doing something.
    Oddly enough, Emily’s Inside a Black Apple was in my early rotation too, so this giveaways is particularly exciting.
    I’m curretnly listening to a ton of Neko Case, Rilo Kiley, Camera Obscura, and Cesaria Evora. I throw a little Velvet Underground, Pete, Yorn, Nina Simone, and Whiskeytown in the mix when my soon-to-be husband starts clamoring for something a little more “male”. And the Pixies and Liz Phair are reserved for my “loud” days. These guys keeps us pretty happy…

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  35. kat Avatar
    kat

    I love this blog! It was one if the first I began following when I found out what a “blog” was four years ago (late bloomer, I know). You are so inspirational in both lifestyle and creativity; you’re always doing something.
    Oddly enough, Emily’s Inside a Black Apple was in my early rotation too, so this giveaways is particularly exciting.
    I’m currently listening to a ton of Neko Case, Rilo Kiley, Camera Obscura, and Cesaria Evora. I throw a little Velvet Underground, Pete, Yorn, Nina Simone, and Whiskeytown in the mix when my soon-to-be husband starts clamoring for something a little more “male”. And the Pixies and Liz Phair are reserved for my “loud” days. These guys keeps us pretty happy…

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  36. Courtney Avatar
    Courtney

    Thank you for such a fun giveaway and such a great blog. I am constantly inspired by your creations and photographs. Your work is beautiful!

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  37. Lovely World Avatar
    Lovely World

    I’ll give this a chance! Thank you.

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  38. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    Hello Melissa,
    What a lovely idea for a giveaway. I’ve just been spreading playbark inside my girls’ living willow wigwam and buying a few little fennel plants to eat later in the summer.
    At the moment I’m enjoying the Juno soundstrack, primarily by the Mouldy Peaches. The songs are quirky and make me smile.

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  39. Ida Avatar
    Ida

    Four years, wow! Congratulations!
    Currently I’m really enjoying the music from the Basque artist Kepa Junkera.

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  40. Daniela B. Avatar
    Daniela B.

    Hi I’m Daniela! 🙂 today I expecially like listening an italian singer I love very much,while going for a walk with my boyfriend in the fields..”Con te partirò” from Bocelli!hugs

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  41. amba Avatar
    amba

    I enjoy opening your blog page everyday to find creative craft work and beautiful photos and words.
    I live in countryside in south of Italy and make bespoke leather dog collars and leashes etc..
    About music I listen to… I am not a huge fan of music but I often listen old CDs that was given by my co-worker in England.
    When I listen to it while working alone at my workshop, it makes me happy and brings back a memory of fun time like singing dancing laughing at work.
    Here in south of Italy, we can already feel that summer is not far from us.
    I hope you will have a great summer 2010.

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  42. kerry Avatar
    kerry

    Four years blogging! wow, commitment! I’ve only just started. I have been loving Villagers “becoming a Jackal”, their album is out Monday, lovely songwriting, visit at http://www.myspace.com/villagers

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  43. kerry Avatar
    kerry

    4 years, that is commitment! I’ve only just started. i can recommend The Villagers, ‘Becoming a Jackal’, album is out tomorrow I think, you can listen here http://www.myspace.com/villagers beautiful singer/songwriter

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  44. Sarada Avatar
    Sarada

    Congratulations on your 4 year anniversary. Your blog is always such an inspiration to me, I love it thank you. I’ve been listening to Pete Molinari lately, a UK folky/blues singer. we often used to go and watch him play in London in our life before babies! Seems a long time ago! Just enjoying the sunshine and all it brings.

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  45. holly Avatar
    holly

    I’m embarrassed to say that I just now have discovered Cat Power, so I listen to that when I can. And I’m feeling in a Kinks kind of mood lately.
    As for your blog anni, congrats! I found you about…two months ago? and enjoy reading. Keep ‘er up!

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  46. Caterine Avatar
    Caterine

    4 years! congrats. i am so happy i ‘met’ you thanks to this blog.

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  47. magpiechic Avatar
    magpiechic

    Hi Melissa, you’re a real source of inspiration and motivation to me. I wish there had been blogging when i was at home making things with little kids. I am listening to Edith Piaff a bit lately, when there’s nothing good on Radio NZ National.

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  48. Simply h Avatar
    Simply h

    Happy 4th Blog anniversary Melissa, Thanks for 4 years of calm, comforting and inspiring posts!!
    I have been digging out all my old cd’s recently and have been loving Prince – Parade and Sign O the Times.
    And when I finally get an ipod! I will be adding Sweet Charles – Yes it’s you….to my play list http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFrehI9KGU
    I have been listening to this lots!

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  49. Becky Avatar
    Becky

    Your blog is like sitting down with a great cup of tea or coffee: invigorating and relaxing at the same time. It is a “me time” sort of blog. I love it. Keep writing and photographing, please.
    We have been listening to classic Muppet Show favorites and Doc Watson Sings for Little Pickers (we have a 2-yr-old who asks for lots of repeats). I’ve been enjoying bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Vampire Weekend and the jazz Greats from 20s-40s. The list of music from around the world is really inspiring – thanks for asking the question.

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  50. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Congratulations on your anniversary. I love your blog and am inspired by what you make and how you sell it, but would love to read the book! Thanks for the inspiration.

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