Damselfly at Camp Merryelande

I came across these Dragonflies - Damselflies at Camp Merryelande, a really cool spot for summer vacation at the beach. It's a rather undeveloped and wild place but that's exactly why we like it so much.

Surrounded by tall grass and pine trees the camping is very secluded. One feels being in a jungle full of unique birds and beautiful damselflies.

These insects are actually ideal models as they normally freeze for a minute or two on a leaf or a piece of wood before leaping to a similar object nearby. A photographer has enough time to make a good shot. These are beautiful creatures definitely worth being photographed.

My third Esty front page

It's so cool Etsy admins picked my Urban Living treasury to be featured on Etsy front page! It's actually my third Etsy front page treasury and it's all about urban living this time. Things we like and colors we pick living in very busy, efficient and somewhat gloomy city environments.


My fellow Etsy artists I featured in the treasury include: JuliaFelt, BlueberryCream, Manonknits, SweetNumber, yevgenia, herbolution, KAPARA, CityCrochet, Aroundbeads, kpersonboutique, NeroliHandmade, sabinesydney, poaplumbagsjewelry

My first GIVEAWAY results

My first ever Giveaway ended yesterday, June 24th. Thank you so much for participating. I very much appreciate your time and attention!

I ran the number of comments through a random generator.


Let us congratulate Tina Reynolds who won the set of my handmade beach bracelets in berry cream sherbet!!!

Congratulations Tina!!!

A unique flute teacher in Richmond, Virginia

We were recently introduced to a unique teacher of flute and piano residing in the Fan district of Richmond, Virginia. Svetlana came to the U.S. just a year ago to reunite with her daughter Maria, also a musician. Rich music traditions run deep in this wonderful family.

Svetlana Yefimova graduated from Saratov Conservatory, one of the oldest in Russia. Built in 1912, it's an institution with a long standing history of world-class music instruction. As a teacher of flute and piano with more than 40 years of experience, Svetlana nurtured a number of world famous flute players, winners of international music awards.

Russia is well known for its strong music traditions and unique teaching techniques. A number of world famous musicians were reared in the Russian musical system. Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Spivakov, Dmitri Hvorostovsky all graduated from famous music institutions of Russia (ex-USSR).

Thanks to Svetlana we discovered a wonderful world of flute. It's a beautiful instrument that can help develop not only a taste for music but excellent breathing techniques extremely useful in our everyday life.

Lotus Nelumbo Nucifera in Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

On my recent visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden I was absolutely stunned by these strikingly beautiful and exotic flowers! I had no idea they grow in Virginia. Nelumbo Nucifera commonly known as Lotus is a rather large plant with leaves sometimes measuring as much as 24 inch. in diameter.

Lotuses are apparently edible and very few people actually know about it. For centuries natives of Australia, Japan, and southeast Asia have been using different parts of this plant in their cuisines. According to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden official page lotus leaf stalks are added to salads and their seeds taste like almonds. The flowers' roots are pickled and their stamens are dried and turned into tea.

I personally like the beauty of Nelumbo Nucifera flowers. Large and unusually shaped they are of tender pink and vanilla hues. A dried seed cup looks like an alien spaceship and with no doubt could be turned into a great house decoration.

Giveaway: Beach bracelets in berry cream sherbet

I so much like summer colors of pink, berry, strawberry, raspberry, sherbet and fuchsia. They add color to any summer outfit. In combination with grey these colors look very elegant and stylish. I handmade this set of three bracelets in pink for a summer at the beach. They are water resistant and easily adjustable. The bracelets attach well and will fit any wrist.

I'm hosting my first giveaway ever! One lucky giveaway participant selected by True Random Number Generator will win my handmade beach bracelets in berry cream sherbet next Thursday, June 24.

To enter:

Please visit my Etsy shop TonyaUtkina and leave a comment about your favorite item in my Etsy shop. Don't forget to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you in case you win. Your e-mail info will NEVER be used for any other purposes!!!

Extra entries:

Please leave one separate comment for each entry. (So if it is 2 extra entries for example, leave 2 comments, etc.)

1 entry - follow my blog with Google friend connect

1 entry - follow me on Twitter TonyaUtkina

1 entry per day - retweet the following message and post a comment about it (just copy and paste the following into the twitter window). Can be done daily:
RT @tonyautkina GIVEAWAY Beach Bracelets berry cream! Visit my blog http://www.tonyautkina.blogspot.com/2010/06/beach-bracelets-in-pink.html

2 entries - grab my button and put it on your blog

4 entries - blog about this giveaway

No purchase is neccessary, but if you happen to buy something you will get extra 5 entries .

Open to US and Canada only. Winner will be chosen by online random generator. Winner will be notified by e-mail on Thursday, June 24, 2010 and will have 3 days to reply or another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!:)

A green dragonfly in the Fan

I accidentally noticed this beautiful emerald green dragonfly in our front yard in the Fan, Richmond, Virginia. It was very calm and tranquil so that I could rush back home to grab my camera and be back in time to take a good shot. I actually like this combination of emerald green with green background and a few black spots on dragonfly's tail (I'm not sure it's called "tail" though). I wish someone could tell me how this beautiful creature is called!

Beach bracelets blue green yellow

I love the summer colors of blue oceans, green mint from cocktails and yellow sun and sand. For a perfect day at the beach I've created this set of three colorful bracelets that are water resistant and adjustable. They will add color to your summer gowns and beach outfits.

Green Grapes Earrings Antique Glass

We have a small back yard and grow some herbs and grapes there. It's a perfect place to spend a weekend afternoon with friends and family and to take pictures of my jewelry. I handmade these earrings of beautiful Czech antique glass in shades of green, emerald, milk and silver plated wire. An elongated kidney ear wires add elegance and style to these unique and vivid earrings.
Grapes in my backyard serve as an excellent background and match my grapes earrings in form and color! It's a perfect summer match!:)

My second Etsy Front Page treasury Chocolates

I just found out that one of my recent Etsy east treasuries Chocolates was featured on Etsy's front page. It's quite flattering to get such a huge exposure and to be picked by Etsy admins out of hundreds of other beautiful and stunning treasuries!