The Twelve Days of Christmas – Day 10 [Raffle]

/ December 22, 2016

We are hitting the final three days of the 12DX raffles. I have a few more surprises in store for you to tide you over to Christmas Day. Before I get to today’s raffle, here is the result from yesterday: There were loads of entries for the calendar, an extremely popular item then. The RA desk calendar goes to Clorinda Cardillo. Hooray – may it cheer you up every day of next year ;-). Please let me know your address so I can put the calendar in the post for you pronto. The draw protocol can be accessed via click on the seal to the right.

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12dx-1

Do you dress up for Christmas? Do you *like* dressing up? Are you *equipped* for dressing up? I have already opened a couple of Christmas presents from two close friends of mine; one *in* fandom, one *outside of* fandom. Both gave me beautiful pieces of jewellery, i.e. a pair of classy pearl earrings, and a delicate silver bracelet with a horseshoe motif. “Elegance” is not my middle name, so I was laughing here at the subtle message of my generous friends. “Scrub up a bit, woman!” I am wearing both items now, and I have to say it is actually nice to feel a bit more elegant than usual. Do you need to enhance your outfits, too? Then today’s prize might be suitable for you.

1 Handmade RA brooch

(Click pictures to enlarge!) Handcrafted. not necessarily discreet. But maybe this is the sort of adornment, an elegant fan might wear at a red carpet event? Please, universe, give us one of those again, in 2017! It’s over-due! The “rosette” is about 4.5cm in diameter; measuring from top to bottom (of the chains), the brooch is about 7cm long. There is a pin on the back of the brooch, for fastening on your top/lapel of choice. If you like it – and want it – just leave me a comment on this post. I believe that Hariclea still has a bit of chocolate on the go to throw in, too. The raffle is open the next 23 hours and finishes at 7am on 23 December 2016.

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You may wonder how I managed to have the initials of our wonderful favourite man, made. Well, here’s the story behind the brooch: I was browsing through the antiques shop of a friend, thinking that it was unfortunate I could not afford any of the beautiful, old things there, when my eye got caught. Two initials practically jumped out and screamed at me so loudly that I had to suppress my cry of surprise. RA. Not separate letters but fused together. In an antiques shop. But this could certainly not be a fan item, old enough to be considered antique??? I mean, granted, when I look at Mr A, I occasionally think that he is an ageless vampire, or has an attic in his picture, or something like that, because at “forty-coughs” he looks so good and ages so well. But surely, there were no Armitage fan clubs in the early 1900s??? Nevertheless and needless to say, I had to snap it up immediately, because it had an irresistible price, too.

I quickly realised, of course, that R and A stand for “Royal Artillery”. Research on the net told me that these brass ‘badges’ are called “shoulder titles”, and as such they were attached to the epaulettes on the uniform of Royal Artillery soldiers. (Nowadays they tend to be made from cloth, not metal.) The antiques dealer told me that my RA titles are made of brass and from the WWI era. Despite or maybe because of my pacifist leanings, I think there is nothing wrong with wearing them – giving them a new meaning which could not be further from war. It’s all about RAlove, kids!

~*🎄*~

Recap and small print: Raffle for 1 handmade RA brooch + bag of Thornton’s chocolate, open to all until 7am GMT Dec 22, 2016. The raffle items will be sent anywhere in the world, no P&P costs either. The winner’s address will be passed on to Hariclea to facilitate despatch of the chocolate. To enter the raffle, just a leave a comment below. Winner to be announced in Day 11 post of 12DX, tomorrow.

~*🎄*~ 

Love and best of luck to you all!

 

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62 thoughts on “The Twelve Days of Christmas – Day 10 [Raffle]”

  5. Beautiful brooch! It’s always nice to find those initials in different places. Here in Finland it’s a bit hilarious to read Donald Duck comics because Scrooge McDuck’s name in here is Roope Ankka. So you can see those certain initials quite often in those comics 😀

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  6. Beautiful brooch. I wear brooches to work all the time! Of course, all of my coworkers would know what RA stands for as I would proudly wear it quite a lot. 😉

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  8. ah what a brilliant find (not an entry though 😉 love the idea of reusing things with a past for something more loving and peaceful 🙂
    Oh and just a small plea 🙂 as i am off to the airport tomorrow morning before 5am i beg of the winner to bear with me for 2 weeks until i am back, but the January will be all the more sweater for the wait :-))) (sorry, again!)
    Congrats to Clorinda and please please send us your address so i can pop yours in the royal mail at airport tomorrow morning, otherwise i’m sorry i can only do it when back on the 7th of Jan!
    They keep though no problem as i’ve got them chilled 🙂

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    • Yes, it really was a great find. I remember feeling really giddy when I came across this thing in the shop – and how frustrating it was that I didn’t have anyone with me at the time, to whom I could giggle about it 😉

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  13. Guylty, thank you so much …. I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am about winning the calendar … you know how much I love your photography ❤️ … The calendar will sit on my computer desk right alongside of my Berlin Station RAPS 😉 Merry Christmas, sweet lady, and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

    PS. I love the brooch and the story about the letters … very interesting.

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    • So pleased that you are pleased, Clo! I packaged the calendar yesterday evening, and it will go in the post today. It’ll be a race between my package and Hariclea’s 😉 Which one will arrive first 😉

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      • Thanks again, for hosting this fun raffle/giveaway, for sharing your talents with us and, most of all, for your generosity 👍😘. Can’t wait to see which package wins this race … one thing for sure, I will love them both 🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄

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        • You are more than welcome. I find these little projects a great and cheerful distraction for myself. And like every artist, I love sharing my work with others. Otherwise it would be no fun. Thanks for reading, commenting and supporting xx

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  14. Congrats to Clorinda. Well I am a jewelrynista so This beautiful brooch would look nice and since one of the intials is mine.That would be great to.

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  15. What a great story. I believe it was fate that you and that brooch found each other but it will be luck for whoever gets to give it a home 😊

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  16. Pingback: Waiting for Guylty Treasures: A Saga in Verse, Links, and Pictures | I'm Feeling This

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