Putting the Vino Back in Aguavino

This week, I am very happy and excited to announce the Grand Opening and Grand RE-Opening of my Etsy shops!

Hair of the Dog is my brand new creative endeavor featuring a collection of functional gifts, handmade from leftover beer, wine & liquor packaging, using a variety of DIY techniques. All products are made using recycled and/or secondhand materials, with eco-friendly additions here and there. Products include Pick Yer Poison Journals, a Hangover Helper, Soy Wax Beer Candles, Bring-Your-Own Coaster/Cozies, Brandy Bottle Soap Dishes, Goldschlager Candy Dishes, and lots more. You could say that Hair of the Dog puts the "vino" back in Aguavino! (Don't worry, there is no actual dog hair in any of my products!)

My original Aguavino Etsy Shop is also alive and well with a brand new assortment of handmade recycled light switch covers. I'll also be adding some new product lines to that shop in the near future.

What does all of this mean for you? Lots of great deals, a fun contest and exciting opportunities to win fabulous prizes and help out some rescued farm animals!! If that sounds intriguing, please continue reading.....

Happy Hour
Hair of the Dog will regularly feature Happy Hour Specials which may happen at any time of day, on any day of the week. (Please be my fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, join my Mailing List, or follow this Blog to be kept abreast of all Happy Hours in the future) But for now, to celebrate the Grand Opening, it will be Happy Hour ALL WEEK with 20% off everything! Use coupon code "HHBWEEK" to have 20% automatically deducted from your order. (This applies to Hair of the Dog only; does not apply to shipping or tax; and expires Tuesday, November 30, 2010.)

Barfly Bucks
If you've checked out my new shop, you may have noticed that there are a lot of items made with Crown Royal bags. If you drink a lot of Crown Royal, you may have a drinking problem.... but, you can cash in those bags for "Barfly Bucks" that can be used to purchase items in my shop! For every bag that you send in, you get $1 of credit. Limit 10 bags per customer, per year. Please email aguavino@gmail.com for more details.

Free Shipping
To celebrate the Grand RE-Opening of my Aguavino Etsy Shop, I am offering FREE Shipping on ALL items through the end of the month! To take advantage of this great deal, write the message, "I was born on a pirate ship" in the notes to seller. This one will not calculate automatically, so you'll have to wait for an adjusted invoice after you place your order, or a refund through PayPal. (Sorry, but this offer applies to US orders only.)

ArtFire, Too!
For those who prefer to do their handmade shopping on ArtFire, my shop is still active there, too! I will slowly be adding some of my new line of products to that site, but it currently has a lot of items that are NOT listed in either of my Etsy shops. So I am extending the 20% off deal to everything in that shop as well -- no coupon necessary for that one; the discount has already been applied to all items!

Warm Fuzzies -- Do it for the birds!
In addition to all the great deals above, I will be donating 50% of sales on many items to Pigs Peace Sanctuary! Any item with a bird on it (in honor of the turkeys) and/or any other item labeled with my "Spread the Love" icon. This is an ongoing donation program that I run through my shops. Just look for the Love Dove on selected items, and read more about it here.

Name that Bird DRINK
And finally, no Grand Opening event would be complete without some fun and prizes! I will be reinstating my Name that Bird contests on a regular basis. To celebrate my new shop, this one will involve birds and beverages :) Up for grabs this time is a set of handmade holiday themed coaster/cozies, plus a scary snowman wine bottle holder (definitely NOT handmade, but both are definite must-haves for a successful holiday season!). There will be TWO winners randomly drawn from all the correct responses -- the first one gets to choose which prize he/she wants; the second will get the other. So here we go......
Since there are two prizes, and two winners, this will be a two-part contest:
1) Name this drink that shares a name with a bird: Made with champagne, orange juice and grenadine syrup floating on top; served in a cocktail or champagne glass.
2) Tell me what drink you are most thankful for during the holidays, and why.

Please email your answers to aguavino@gmail.com with "Bird Drink" in the subject. Contest ends at Midnight on November 30, 2010.

Whew!! That's a lot of excitement for one week. But this should get you through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and a little beyond to give you a jumpstart on your holiday shopping!!

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Name that Bird -- Spring is Here!

Now that Spring is finally here (sort of), the bird scene has changed a bit. All of the Spring migrants should be at their northern destinations building nests, attracting mates, and starting to make babies!

To celebrate Spring's arrival, this month's Name That Bird Contest features a spunky little Spring migrant that I ran into this past weekend out on the Hood Canal of Washington State. See if you can identify this bird with a little audio AND video...

To enter this month's contest, you must correctly identify the bird in the video (common name). Either email your entry to aguavino@gmail.com, or post a comment on the blog (comments will be hidden until the end of the contest).

Increase your chances of winning by following this blog, and/or signing up for my newsletter! (One extra entry for each) Be sure to put a note in your entry to let me know if you are already one or both of these, or a new subscriber.

Contest will end Tuesday, May 19th at midnight PST. One winner will be drawn randomly from all correct entries.

The prize is one 4 x 4 Recycled Photo Tile of the winner's choice from my Etsy Shop.

Good Luck!

Here's one more look at the bird in question:

Lucky Bird-- Winner & Highlights!

There were a lot of great entries in the latest Name that Bird contest. Lots of hummingbirds, but also some other interesting ones. The most original entry was for the Peeps. Although I do not endorse these, as they are not vegan (they contain gelatin, which is derived from animal collagen), they did technically qualify as a "green bird" :)

Here are a few of my favorite entries:
(You can find them all in the comments of the original post)

The Wild Parrots of New Orleans & Brooklyn


Green Jay
Green Violet-Ear Hummingbird

Hand-fed Hummingbirds!


Yellow-throated Vireo

The winner of the Lucky Green Bird Contest was Heather, of 3 am Art, whose favorite green bird is the Green Budgie. I was so happy that her name was picked! Although I don't know her in person, she is a hoot on email/forums and VERY supportive of all her veggie teammates. Congratulations, Heather! Check out her Etsy shop for some great nature inspired photos. You can also stop by her Blog to congratulate her for being the lucky bird!

Her name was picked randomly from a bag that I had just purchased from Vegancraftastic. It's the cutest little squirrel bag you've ever seen, and really well-made. I bought it for a friend, but it arrived just in time to use as a "hat" for picking the winner of this contest. (My friend LOVED it, btw.) Please check out Vegancraftastic's Etsy shop for more awesome handmade items. She is also hosting a giveaway on her blog for a similar bag, but with a really cool skull & knitting stick cross bones pattern. Perfect for your favorite knitting pirate!

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Lucky Green Bird Contest

With St. Patrick's Day quickly approaching, this month's challenge comes a little earlier, and will be a little shorter than usual...

The prize at stake: A Lucky Irish Green Gift Package! And what, exactly is a Lucky Irish Green Gift Package?? It is a collection of handmade goods and thrift store treasures, guaranteed to make this year's St. Patrick's Day the best one ever!! The winner will receive:




1) One Green Energy CD-- the newly released album by The Irish Experience, which features clogging tracks by yours truly :)










2) One Clover-Adorned Mug, one of my latest thrift store finds








3) One set of wacky Clover Leaf Antennas! (You can't properly celebrate the holiday without them)

[special thank you to Noah for being such a good sport]








4) One "Good Luck Wood Duck" handmade photo greeting card
(This one is doubly GREEN-- made with recycled green card stock and secondhand thread, and comes with a 100% post consumer recycled envelope)






I would also include my Irish Drinking Socks in the package, but they are too dear to my heart to part with. Plus I don't think I would get very many entries for a pair of old stinky socks...

(Irish Drinking Sock--NOT included!)

To win this collection of fabulous green prizes, all you have to do is tell me what your favorite GREEN BIRD is and why you like the bird. A link to an online photo of the bird must also be included with your entry. The winner will be selected randomly out of all the entries.

Entries can either be emailed directly to me (aguavino@gmail.com) with the subject "Green Bird", or you can post your entry in a comment here on the good old blog. Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you're the lucky bird!

***DOUBLE YOUR LUCK*** Become a "Follower" of this blog, or subscribe to my mailing list to get a double entry to the contest! (that means I put your name into the hat twice)

This contest ends @ noon PST on (lucky) Friday the 13th!

GOOD LUCK!!

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Name that (Cartoon) Bird Answers & Winner

Here are the answers to last month's Name that Bird contest:

1) Chilly Willy -- Penguin
2) Heckle & Jeckle -- Magpies
3) Foghorn Leghorn -- Rooster
4) Tweety Bird -- Canary
5) The Roadrunner -- Roadrunner (duh!)

We got a lot of entries for this one, and nearly every one had all the correct answers! But, alas, there could be only one winner. And that is....... Kylie of Silent Lotus Creations, and also the fearless, tireless leader of the fabulous Etsy Veg Team! She wins a 4 pack of my handmade Photo Greeting Cards--any 4 selected from my Snail Mail Gallery. Congratulations, Kylie!!

As a side note and bit of trivia, I was very sad that I was not able to include my favorite cartoon bird of them all: Woodstock. Apparently there is no definitive answer on what type of bird he is supposed to be! Some people surmise that he may be a dove because the Woodstock music festival used a dove in its logo. Although Charles Schultz, the creator of The Peanuts, did acknowledge in some interviews that the name "Woodstock" came from the music festival, the (nameless) character first appeared in 1967, two years prior to the festival. This, and the fact that he looks NOTHING like a dove, make me think he was not a dove. I always thought he was a canary because of his color, but I guess we will never know for sure what type of bird he was fashioned after, since Schultz never told us. Maybe it doesn't matter, and we should all take a lesson from Snoopy:

[From wiki.com:]

Snoopy has often wondered what type of bird Woodstock is. Snoopy attempts to identify him using his "Guide to Birds." The birds which Snoopy suggests and Woodstock attempt to imitate are: crow, American bittern, Caroline [sic] wren, rufous-sided towhee, yellow-billed cuckoo, Canada goose, warbler, and a mourning warbler. Snoopy finally gives up trying to figure it out, and hurts Woodstock's feelings by saying, "For all I know, you're a duck". Snoopy takes it back with a quick hug, at which point it becomes clear that it doesn't matter what type of bird Woodstock is; the only important fact is that he's Snoopy's best friend.


Check back soon for the next "Name that Bird" contest, and also a product review for a Silent Lotus bird necklace!

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Name that Bird Contest #2

This month's contest is a little different, and another multi-parter, but should be pretty easy (and fun!) for everyone. Pictured below are five photos of six famous Cartoon Birds (one of them is a pair). To enter this contest, you'll have to name all six birds, and tell me what kind of bird they are supposed to be. (Cartoon birds don't always do justice to what they look like in real life, although some of them are awfully cute!)

The prize for this contest will be a 4 Pack of Photo Greeting Cards of your choice! You can choose from over 100 different cards, now on display in my new Snail Mail Greetings Gallery. The winner will be selected at random from all correct entries. Contest ends at midnight, Feb. 28, 2009.

Please email (aguavino@gmail.com) your entries with the subject "Cartoon Birds".

Good Luck!
























(Click on image for a larger view)

Name that Bird Answers & Winner

The bird in question, from last month's contest is Alex, the African Grey Parrot., who became famous for his astounding vocabulary and cognitive abilities. He died unexpectedly and prematurely on September 6, 2007. Everyone who entered got both of those correct! The NY Times ran an article about him after his death. The NY Times Magazine also published a beautiful tribute to both Alex the Parrot, and Washoe the Sign Language Using Chimpanzee, who also passed away that year, less than two months after Alex. But an official Obituary was published in The Economist, and that was the answer I was looking for. Only one person who entered guessed the third part correctly, and that was Jean White from Bellevue, WA. She wins a four pack of my handmade photo greeting cards! Thank you to everyone who participated, and Congratulations, Jean! Please check back soon for more fun contests and prizes.


Recommended/Related Reading:

	Alex & Me, by Irene Pepperberg This is the story of Alex the Parrot, in layperson's language. It's also a very quick read. You'll be flabbergasted by Alex's accomplishments, and charmed by his personality. It'll make you laugh and cry. This is a great book for anyone who was a fan or follower of Alex; for anyone who is a lover of animals, birds, parrots, or African Grays; or anyone interested in language studies or animal behavior.
	The Alex Studies, by Irene Pepperberg If you're looking for something more technical, then this is the Alex book you should read. It's goes into more scientific detail about the language and cognitive studies in which Alex participated. Also available in hardcover
	Next of Kin, by Roger Fouts This is the story of Washoe the Chimp, the pioneer who helped break the language barrier between species. It was written while she was still alive, but there are still parts of the book that will wrench your heart. Another encouraging story that maybe someday other species will be treated with the respect they deserve.

Name that Bird!

Welcome to the NEW Grapevine-- the official blog of Aguavino!
I have purged my old blog posts in order to offer you a more focused attempt at entertaining, intriguing, promoting and prompting.

Your first test: Name that Bird Contest. I will be featuring this contest periodically, so check back often, put me on your blog-watch, or sign up for my newsletter (also called The Grapevine) so you can win fabulous prizes!

Do you know who this bird is? Maybe so, but this one is a multi-parter, so pay attention. To enter this month's contest, please send me an email with the Subject: "Name that Bird", and the answers to the following 3 questions:
1) What is this bird's name?

2) What type of bird is it?

3) What prestigious publication ran an obituary for this bird?


Winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received by Jan. 31st., and will receive a FREE four-pack of my handmade photo greeting cards! (misc. selection)


Please be sure to check out my photography and other handcrafted items on Etsy, Artfire or 1000 Markets! (More products coming soon!)

Keep an eye on The Grapevine for more glimpses into the world of Aguavino.....Coming soon -- handmade product reviews, interesting bird facts, tips for winos, and lots more!