Win a custom painting from artist Amanda Koop at The Barking Owl!

I cannot put into words how amazing my sister, Amanda Koop, is. And I'm not saying that just because we're related and she's my best friend :D She is a talented and gifted artist, and has put her creativity to good work in creating custom portraits of pets, children, or just about anything you can think of-check out her work at her new website www.amandakoop.com
She is also the hilarious blogger behind The Barking Owl, which I introduced to you recently. She creates funny yet true daily musings of her life with her husband and their special needs cat Tumble!
My sister has created some beautiful pieces for her customers in her hometown of Chicago, her first love is pet portraits and she has become quite known in the area for her work. She takes pictures that owners send to her and creates these true to life portraits a modern twist:

Lily The Boxer

Butterscotch the Labradoodle

Here are some paintings she has made for me of my boys
Bennett:

Cooper as a baby, in water color

Amanda has kindly offered to do a custom 8x10 painting of your choice! Be it a pet or child portrait, or just some artwork of your choice (She is currently working a painting for me of a bird in a bird cage, my latest obsession!)

Win it! Win a custom made painting by Amanda Koop!

Mandatory Entry: Follow her blog, The Barking Owl, via Google Friend Connect!

Extra Entries:
To qualify for extra entries, you must first complete the Mandatory entry. Please put each entry in a separate comment. (and for example, if you are already a FB fan, just leave a comment stating :i'm a fan on FB) for each entry/comment, you must leave your email address

*For 2 entries, follow The Barking Owl blog on Facebook
*For 2 entries, follow Tumbleweed The Cat on Twitter
*For 2 entries, leave a comment on any blog post at The Barking Owl, leave a link to the post in your comment
*For 3 entries, Add my button to your blog, located near the top left side and leave a link to your blog in your comment-leave 3 separate comments
*For 3 entries, add The Barking Owl Button to your blog (find it by visiting TBO blog), leave three seperate comments
*For 5 entries, Blog about this giveaway, please leave a link in your comment!
*Become a FB fan of Life with the Stevens
*Follow Life with the Stevens on Twitter
*Update your Twitter status to "Win a custom portrait from www.Amandakoop and Life With The Stevens @hlstevens http://tinyurl.com/26eatms " Or something along those lines ;D You can update 2x a day for 1 entry each.
*For 2 entries,Follow my blog through google, located on the right hand side of my blog-leave 2 separate comments
*Vote for my blog by clicking the "We're on the Fence" button on the right side of the blog, above the counter. Each click of that button gets me a vote!

Entrants from the US are eligible. Contest Ends on January 17th, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST. Winners will be chosen by random.org and announced January18th, 2011. Winners will be notified by email with “You Have Won The Amanda Koop Artwork giveaway” in the subject line. Winners will then have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.

Disclosure/Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this post, other than the love of my sister :D Amanda Koop will be responsible for prize distribution. For more information on this blog and my posting practices, please refer to my disclosure policy.