The Motherload of blog give-aways

Ya'll have to go hear and check out this LONG list of bloggers hosting give aways! There are 699 give aways posted!!!!! You'll have to hurry as most of them end Aug. 1, I think... and what a variety of stuff! Lots of gift cards and things for babies as well. Appears to be an "anything goes". All you have to do is comment on the blogs. I have to tell you though, some of them have over 700 comments trying to win! Can you even imagine getting that many comments?! Anyway, go see...The Bloggy Giveaways Carnival
I'm so bummed I didn't find out about this sooner so I could have participated in doing the giving away! Maybe next year..

Drumroll please....

And the winning number 22 is Tiglizzyclone! Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the piece.
Angie

Quilting Arts!!!!!

My magazine arrived today and I can't tell you how exciting it is to see my name and artwork published! AND, I got a half page lay-out! Look!

I also got a notification in the mail from Photographer's Forum magazine , with whom I submitted some photos in a contest. One of my entries has been chosen as a finalist! Winners will be announced by Aug. 15th. I'm soooo not getting my hopes up on this one but even winning honorable mention with my name published in the magazine would be great! Winning cash would be even better! Winning the cash and a camera would send me over the moon! Ok, I'm not getting my hopes up... calming down.......

Removable Moo card holder/ name tag

OK, for my Art Unraveled name badge this year, I created a little holder for my new Moo Cards and made it so that it would detach to go in my purse after AU but having it hanging as part of my name tag makes my cards easily accessible to hand out! Here it is! I LOVE it... it's so ME!

Can you tell?

That we saw Space Chimps? This guy has a new space suit and yes, he's IN the bottle! Ah, the uses for a plastic water bottle.... others are becoming Beanie Baby rockets or parts of robots! And one of the big 2 gal. water containers is now the "Mother ship" full of space Beanie's.

Time for a Give Away!

I haven't done a blog give-away for awhile now and this morning I found, buried in a pile of fstuf in a basket, this piece of work I did in a class with Leslie Riley at Art Unraveled a few years ago. It is actually a paper bag base folded to look like a book, painted, and embellished with a fabric transfer, fibers, glass pebbles, etc....

If you would like a chance to win this piece, all you have to do is leave a comment! I will be using the random number generator and choosing a winner on Monday!

IMPORTANT: YOU MUST LEAVE SOME SORT OF CONTACT INFORMATION OTHERWISE, IF YOU WIN, I HAVE NO WAY OF LETTING YOU KNOW SO IT CAN BE MAILED TO YOU!!!

Different AU trades

I was thinking.... if I were to encounter someone at AU that wanted to do a trade but also had participated in the official AU INchie swap, then my trades would almost be duplicates since my trade INchies are made from the same background at my swap INchies. So... I decided to make little ephemera/misc. stuff packages. I only made 8 but they were super quick and easy. I started out with baseball trading card sleeves that many of us use for ATC's. Well, I had a pack of them but they were all so stuck together sealed shut that I couldn't separate them to actually use them as sleeves. I have been wondering what to do with them. Well, I came up with the idea of just using the whole "sleeve" as a single sheet of clear plastic and stitched it to a piece of text taken from an old atlas! This created a small pocket that holds:
2- 2x3 sheets of Hebrew text
2-2x3 sheets of Asian text
3 buttons
12 inches of 2 different pieces of vintage lace/trim
1 tiny rubber/plastic animal
1 vintage German tea drip catchers (called Tropfenfangers)
1 Moo card

I think they turned out cute and I'm glad to have come up with an idea to use the stuck card sleeves!

Oh, I almost forgot! In one of my groups, I was asking how to make a fellow bloggers name clickable without seeing the entire link. Margaret told me how to do it so I'm giving it a try! Thanks Margaret! And for those of you who haven't visited Margaret's blog before, you need to see her totally cool and unique watercolor paintings! And she's a master doodler too!

I need to apologize

In the past week, I have been given three blog awards and none of them have been posted here. I truly, truly appreciate three different people choosing to honor me in such a way but I just haven't had time to figure out how to get the icons pasted here, set up links to the correct number of bloggers to pass the award to, etc... I'm really sorry if I seem ungrateful for not properly acknowledging the awards on my blog. I don't even know how to get links to other blogs put in my post so they are clickable, etc... so the whole process frustrates me. I feel terrible that I've not taken time to figure it all out and now I feel so behind because it's not just for one award but for three! I'm really sorry and please know that the three of you that nominated my blog for the awards, I really appreciate your kindness and beg forgiveness.

More good news!!!

Someone in one of my yahoo groups just wrote and told me I'm published in the latest issue of Quilting Arts magazine in their "Go Green" challenge! I'm so excited! Since this was my first time submitting for a big publication like this, I just assumed they would notify me if I was accepted or not. Since I hadn't heard anything, I just thought they hadn't made any decisions since I didn't know when that particular challenge would be coming out in the magazine! Now I can't wait for mine to land in my mailbox! I'm thrilled!

Whirlwind weekend

We had such a busy weekend. We had dinner with out of town company Friday evening. Then, Saturday, a different group of out-of-town company arrived and we had dinner with them. After church Sunday, we spent the day with our OOT company and the boys literally swam for FOUR hours straight! We had dinner with them that evening and didn't get home until after 9:00. Then, Monday evening, Chuck had a meeting here at our house so the boys and I cleared out and went to see Space Chimps, which was really cute. Then for ice cream. Again, home after 9:00. Then Sam had a dental appt. yesterday morning and I had a haircut appt. with a few stops in addition. So, when we got home in the afternoon, the boys declared they were not leaving the house again... and I was it total agreement! Today, I am staying in my pajamas and they only went out for swim lessons. We are having a "down day", which is much needed!

I have been working on Inchies for the AU swap and since I had some extras left over, I embellished them differently and made 18 for trades. In the meantime, my adorable little MOO cards came in the mail! For those of you who don't know what they are, they are like mini-business cards that can be ordered through Flickr. They come in sets of 100 and you can make ever single card different if you want! The measure 1x3 inches and are just the cutest things! So, this morning, I finished embellishing the trade Inchies and then made little vinyl pocket pouches that hold a Moo card and an inchie. My trades are finished! Here they are:
I also used an Inchie to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law. The charm says "wish".

All of my Inchies were made using Translucent Liquid Sculpey clay and fused with sheer fabrics, ephemera, dried pressed flowers from my china berry tree, skeleton leaves, onion skins, fabrics, used tea bags, etc.... You name it, I fuse it in! I love the weight and feel of them.

Now, to make my AU name tag and a cute little Moo card holder! I am also hoping to get a few things made for Hannah Grey to pass off for samples at AU since Shosh and Mike will be here vending.

Back to work....

Oh, wait! One more thing! The new Pasticcio Quartz Zine published by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn has just come out and I have a piece of artwork being featured in it! I'm very honored to be included in their beautiful zine! Check it out here:
http://stores.lulu.com/cartwrightandfishburn

What I'm doing today

It's pajama day! Yippee! I love having pajama days and take them as often as I can. Today, I focused on cleaning off one of my art tables which has been totally buried in fabric while I have been making my Quiltlets. I have put all my fabrics away now and can see my table!

I got my watercolor paper cut, eyelets set, and wire hooks added ready to mount on the back of my quiltlets. I have recovered and padded my chair which I sit on at my computer. The funny thing is that it's the most pathetic recovering job. I ran out of staples for my staple gun and had to resort to duct tape to hold the fabric on so I could put the screws back in the seat but hey, it sure feels better... even if it doesn't look that neat! I used a swatch of this huge chunk of fabric someone gave me.

I also did a 5x8 fused piece using lace, vintage text, fabrics, onion skins, skeleton leaves, tissue, and dried flowers, among other bits and pieces. I used Translucent Liquid Sculpey clay. This piece will get cut down into inchies for the Art Unraveled inchie swap. I'm waiting for my embellishments to arrive in the mail to finish them. Here's the piece.
I used a large index file card with tab as my backing so it's really surdy. I think next time I want to start with an entire sheet of vintage text and layer from there. I wonder if it would be a really different look than what I got here? I dunno. I like doing some of these ahead of time because they can be cut up and used for so many things. I really, really want a heat press so I can use Tar Gel. It leaves a more heavy, leathery feel to the stuff and the heat press does all the work for you. With the tar gel, you have to have pressure with the heat (no pressure needed with TLS) but using a regular iron for the tar gel... well, let's just say you need really strong wrists for all that pressure... and it takes way longer doing it that way! Ah... some day... maybe I'll get that heat press!

Well, time for some lunch and then I'll be back in the studio to mount my quiltlets. I may get started on my altered t-shirt dress too.... now that I can see my cutting mat! LOL!

More Quiltlets!

I managed 4 more Quiltlets in my little series. I do still have to adhere them to the 300 lb. watercolor paper and make hangers but that's the fast, easy part! I may have to take a short break from them... I feel like painting now and I'm getting tired of looking at the massive pile of fabric on my art table!

Have to go get ready for dinner... we have plans with friends.

Etsy store opinions needed

I am wondering if I need to have two separate Etsy stores... one for selling my artwork and a different one for selling supplies. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions about this?

Here they are!

Well, the uploads worked today so I guess the glitch was with blogger last night. Here are the latest Quiltlets. Not sure what I'll work on today, besides a mountain of laundry to fold, and I have a weird kink in my back below my shoulder blade that is knife stabbing... and that came on sudden! ;(

Anyway, now that I have completed several of these, I am doing them differently than I did the very first one in that the first one has a turned finished edge and the rest of them have raw edges. So, I decided to put Quiltlet #1 up for sale in my etsy store! I plan to do more later but the remaining ones are for gifts for a special occasion... which is why I needed them to be all matching with the edges.

Two new Quiltlets

Today I managed to make two more Quiltlets in my little series. I have also gotten the others mounted on 300 lb. watercolor paper complete with eyelets and a wire hanger! And now, blogger won't let me upload anything due to internal errors... whatever... it just makes me mad! I'll try again tomorrow.

Another Etsy love

This week, I just have to bring your attention to the Etsy site of this incredible watercolor artist. I am so stinkin' in love with her work. It's so innocent and whimsical. If I had another baby... which I do not want and will NOT be having... but if I did, this gals paintings would be so incredibly precious in a nursery... although they are not just for babies or anything. Her work is just so pretty and unique. Go take a look:
http://amberalexander.etsy.com

Shamu tip

Someone asked where I got the Shamu live cam... if you want to copy and paste it somewhere yourself, there should be a little icon/ button in the upper right corner of the video screen.

Also, if you watch around noonish... Arizona time, you will see the trainers in the water with them as well as several happy jumps! Ask me how I know....even my kids are getting sick of watching... but I'm not... yet.....

A new journal and stuff

Well, I finally finished making a new watercolor journal so I'd have a new one to start in for a class I'm taking at Art Unraveled. My current journal is almost full and larger than the suggested size for the class so I made a new one. It's my first time using leather for the cover and I have made things up as I went but I'm happy with it. So that the inside of the leather didn't "shed" onto my paper, I added a layer of gauze type fabric and then painted it and sealed it. And don't you love the little metal attachment on the front? Fran let me borrow some alphabet tools for embossing metal and I'm in love!


Another thing I'm now hooked on (when I can tear myself away from Shamu and friends) is dying fabric with rust! I found some rusty stuff outside in an old metal lunch box and this is my result! I have another piece dying in a bucket right now! Don't you love the color?!

Latest Live Cam addiction

I can't tell you how much time I've spent staring at this underwater scene. If you are here and you cannot see the killer whales, check back another time. During the day, around lunchtime or a little later, I've gotten to watch the Seaworld trainers working with the whales and it is so fun to see! Other times, it's peaceful swims with mom and baby. It's so relaxing and terribly addicting!

Featured... and other stuff

If you guys haven't yet discovered the blog "Layers Upon Layers", you are missing out. This is Cyndi Lavin's blog and she spends so much time keeping it up. It's always interesting and informative. If you haven't ever visited her, you must! www.layersuponlayers.com
She not only features various artists, posts the latest challenges from all over the place, features techniques, places, well, you name it... she covers the whole span of stuff any artist wants to know. She had posted a question "What is your favorite thing you have created this summer?". I sent her my pictures of my Senegal girl and my Cactus blossom book and today, I am featured on her site! Anyway, go over and visit her! Don't forget to subscribe to a feed so you never miss anything!

Well, on the home front, we got Chuck off to Alaska yesterday after celebrating his 50th birthday on Monday. He had a guy gathering Sunday evening of several of his closest friends over at one of his very best friend's house. That was what he really wanted for his birthday. He had a great time with the guys. On his actual birthday, well, work always gets in the way at some point but we did manage to get out. He wanted to take the boys to the movie Wall-E so we did that and then had cake and ice cream and he opened his gifts.

On the way home from the airport, we picked up one of the boys friends from church... Sam #2. When they are all together, they are called Sam 1 and Sam 2. It gets really confusing having two boys with the same name! Funny that they are now use to having a number following their name and answer appropriately! LOL! Sam 2 was actually give the number either at school or swim team, can't remember where... but his mom clued me in on it and it's worked like a charm! hehehe!

I have some fabric rusting right now and am in the process of making a new watercolor journal so I'm ready for my class at Art Unraveled. I feel a headache trying to ruin my day so I better go eat something so I can take my Excedrin.

Happy Mail day!

In one of my fiber art groups, I won a goodie package from Terrie Lightfoot with Lost Art Creations, for entering a challenge. OMG, you guys, look at all the stuff she sent! Can you believe this!?! I'm in shock. The vintage Hindi text almost made me faint, seriously, it's so gorgeous! Everything is is so wonderful? And the fabric... well, it just brings tears to your eyes it's so amazing. I'm still trying to catch my breath! My favorite collage sheets have been purchased from Terrie's store. Here are her links: www.lostartcreations.etsy.com
www.picturetrail.com/lostartcreations (I think you can purchase her yummy supplies through her picture trail)

Happy 50th Chuck!

Today is my husband's 50th birthday! He had a guy gathering last night which was exactly what he wanted to do for his birthday and leaves for his Alaska trip tomorrow. I purchased a new piece of luggage for his gift so he can take it on his trip. He's excited! Here is the card I made him today. I chose the Saguaro on the front because of the significance of the number 50. A Saguaro doesn't produce any blooms until it reaches 50 years of age. I find great significance in this and a message for us. The best years are yet to come!

Etsy find

I've been exploring around Etsy a bit and wow, are there some amazingly talented artists out there selling great stuff! This morning, I discovered this shop: http://cathydailey.etsy.com
Now, I am not a big jewelry person. I like it but rarely wear it. But this gal makes the most gorgeous, unique wax cast sterling silver pieces. I am in love with her work and think everyone should see it so go look! ;)

Quiltlet #3

My boys went swimming this morning and were then picked up by a friend and taken to McDonald's to play with her son. They were gone about 2 hours and then came back and played for a bit. While they were gone, I had time to make another quiltlet! Now it's almost time to go to my mom's house for dinner and fireworks. Lucky for us she lives directly behind a local community college where a great fireworks exhibits happens every year. We see them right over our heads from her back yard and no crowd! We'll be heading over shortly.

HGDT new art

I got a new shipment of fun goodies for my design team work with Hannah Grey. This small metal hinged boxed called to me immediately and I wish I had a few more to play with! It measures 1-1/2 inches. I inked it with Staz-on ink in black and timber brown. The image is from a Queens Dresser Drawer collage sheet. I added rusty metal wire (also from HG) and then diamond glaze. It was only after I finished it that I realized what a perfect little box it would be for inchie storage! It would also be darling on a necklace as a little treasure box/ locket! Can't you just see it? It's pretty light weight too. Now I need more to play with!

Today my friend Becky came over and spent some time with us. We tried to do paper mache' with my boys... they asked... but lasted about 5 minutes. Sam was totally grossed out by the feel of the stuff and Max practically bathed in it but quickly got tired of the process. Max was attempting to make Saturn and Sam wanted a penguin. I worked on them for a while and then realized I'd so rather be doing something else and wondered why I was wasting my precious time. The whole point was for me to do something fun with the boys... yet I was sitting in the floor by myself working on THEIR stuff! Forget it! Oh well... I tried...

In Memory

Today we said good-bye to the last of my furry girls, Phoebe. I've had Phoebe about 18 sweet years. She will be greatly missed.