Saturday, March 24, 2012

And the Melissa Samuel's Gift Certificate goes to!!!!!:)

Hi Everyone!!!

I am so Stoked!!!
And Gobsmacked!! LOL!

First off!!!

Huge Thank You's
to

There will be a Special ATC
that I'll be sending this Dear Girl!!!

Now I know you all are jumping up and down
wanting to know who's the 
Winner of the $25 Gift Certificate 
to Melissa's Shop...

But I'd just like to say:)
This has been one of the most successful,
interesting, and fun Blog Giveaways I've
done this past year!
With the use of Facebook, and so many
of you jumping on board with such interest
in Making and Swapping ATC's
and all the encouragement from many of
you to 
'Let's do this again'!!

I'm just gobsmacked!

I had started off with the ATC Swap Challenge
part to be 5 Winner's picked for Swapping ATC's
and 
I'd send them a few little goodies with the
ATC's, that's still happening:)

But as you all know now, 
I had decided a couple of weeks ago when your 
ATC's started arriving
that it would be so much more fun to Swap with
all of you!

Oh Man!!! Then 33 Entries Later!! LOL!!!

I'm still making ATC's!!! 
(Almost finished and Envelopes are ready to mail!)

Here's just a few examples of the ATC's I've made

(some of them you've already seen on Facebook),
that you all will be receiving in the mail soon!!

As many of you know about me 
Nature is always involved in any of
my projects:)
This just ended up being a little twisted! LOL!

And a little 'girlie':)

These have been a blast to make!!

And I even managed to teach myself with
some experimenting some new technique's
I'll be sharing in future posts:)

So here we are:)
Over 1000 Page Views 
since the First Post for
this Challenge!!!

45 New Followers!!!
and
33 Fabulous ATC Entries!!!!

Anyone interested in
doing this next month???
Leave me comments on this post if 
you're interested in being part of another
ATC Swap Challenge and Gift Certificate
Giveaway Later Next Month, and any interesting
ideas of what theme you all would like, 
and I'll get it put together, 
as Next Month is my

1 Year Anniversary:)
of
Birdnuts Mixed Media Blog:)


Woo Hoo!!! LOL!!!

So I suppose you want to know who the 
Winner is???? LOL!!!
(I'm such a tease!!)

Using the Random Generator Site
and listing each of your Entries
in order on the previous post.....

The Winner of the
$25 Gift Certificate to
is.....

#9
Diana D. Dardin!!!!

Woo Hoo!!!
( oh man, can you see the confetti flying!!! LOL!)

Congratulations Diana!!!

I just wish I could have awarded all of you
Gift Certificates as you all have 
Entered Fabulous ATC's!!!! 

And I hope the fun of Swapping at the
least is enough for encouraging you all
to do this again, as I've had a blast
and I'm so proud to be 
Swapping and Collecting 
all of your Fabulous Entries!!
I just hope you'll enjoy receiving my ATC's
in the Swap as much!!

So Big Congrats to Diana D. Dardin!
And you all will be receiving your Swap ATC's
soon in the mail! 
( Coming from Canada you never know 
how long it's going to take in the post, as 
you all are all over the place!!
Canada, U.S.A., England, Greece!!! LOL)
OMG!!! The postage!! LOL!!!

And I'm leaving the 5 Winners of 
the little extra's a surprise:)

Ok, Leave me those Comments and
Let's do this Again!!!

Enjoy!!!
( I certain have!!)






















Friday, March 23, 2012

Oh Man!!!! What a Fabulous ATC Turnout!!!

You All Rock!!! LOL!!!

Wow!!!
I have to tell you all that this Fabulous
ATC Swap Challenge 
and 
Gift Certificate Giveaway
with

Has been amazing with all the Attention
and Entries!!!
I'm Gobsmacked!!!

So here's the plan!!!!
Today is the Deadline for Entering your
ATC's in the theme 'Sweet'.
And 5 of you will be picked by
the Random Generator Site
to Swap ATC's and receive a few little
extra goodies:).....

But here's the news:)
All Entries are going to be
Swapping ATC's With Me!!!
That's right!
I've gone bonkers!!!
LOL!
Turns out I made enough ATC's to actually 
consider this, ( although last night I had more
Fabulous Entries, so I'm scrambling to make
some more! LOL)

All ATC Entries ( up to 3 per person!)
Are Entries for the 
$25 Gift Certificate to
Woo Hoo!!!

So in the meantime, as tomorrow I'll be 
Announcing the 
Winner
of the 
$25 Gift Certificate!!

I wanted to Share All the Fabulous ATC
Entries as they're all Amazing and Wonderful!!!
I'll also be sharing with you all the 
Links and Shout Outs 
for many of these Fabulous Artists Entries!!
So lets get to it!!!
(if I've made any error's, please Email me
and I will correct asap! There's a ton of
information here, and I don't want to 
mess it up!! LOL)

There is no order here, it's as they come!!!

First up!!!

ATC by 'Flutter BeforeYou'
'Fish Girl' Entry #1

ATC 'Soul Sisters'
by Flutter BeforeYou
Entry #2

ATC 'Love's Old Sweet Song'
by Flutter BeforeYou
Entry #3

Flutter BeforeYou 
has both a Great Blog and Etsy Shop!
Please check them out!!!
and 



Next Up!!!

Chocolate Bunny by Jennifer Ingle:)
( and I don't think Melissa Samuels 
will mind this:)
Jennifer is a Design Team Member for
Retro Cafe Art Gallery and many other
Wonderful Companies, and she's used
Fabulous products:)
Jennifer's Blog 
'Just Jingle'

And the Next Up!!
ATC 'Life is a Beach'
by Anitra Fritz:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Down by the Sea'
by Anitra Fritz:)
Entry #2

ATC 'She Loved to Swim with Fish'
by Anitra Fritz:)
Entry #3

Please take time to check out Anitra's Etsy Shop 
'Cute Art World' at


Next we have:)

'Sweet' ATC by
Diana D. Darden :)
Entry #1

ATC 'Sweet Faults'
by Diana D. Darden
Entry #2

ATC 'Sweet Corn'
by Diana D. Darden
Entry #3

Diana has a website I'd love to have
you take time to check out at


Next is:)
ATC 'Sweet Pea'
by Eugenia Strange:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Sweet as Pie'
by Eugenia Strange
Entry #2
( Using the Famous Retro Cafe Art Gallery Dollie!!)

Currently Eugenia doesn't have a blog or shop
but we'll be working on that with her!! LOL!
Thanks Eugenia:)

And more to come!!!
Next Up!!!
ATC 'Sweet Girl'
by Renee Stien:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Girl with Wings'
by Renee Stien
Entry #2

Renee has a Fabulous Blog called
The Tin Goat at
Which I encourage you to please go visit:)
Thanks Renee:)

And Our Next Entry is....
ATC 'Tempus Fugit'
by Lois Romeo
Entry #1


ATC by Lois Romeo:)
Entry #2

ATC 'Circus'  
by Lois Romeo:)
Entry #3

And another Fabulous group of ATC's and
and Wonderful Artist that doesn't have a blog!!!
We'll have to work on you too Lois!!!
Thanks for Entering:)

And Wait!!! There's even more Entries!!!

Next Up!!!!
ATC 'Sweet as the Day is Long'
by the Fabulous Mary Jane Chadbourne:)
Entry #1

ATC 'A Corner of Heaven'
by Mary Jane Chadbourne
Entry #2

Mary Jane Chadbourne
'Desert Dreams Studio'
has a Fabulous Blog and Etsy Shop
and
Also Mary Jane Chadbourne is one of the
Fabulous Artists who are teaching at
Artful Gatherings this Summer!!

And our Next Entry is from....
ATC 'Cutie Pie'
by Tracey Stockman:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Crave'
by Tracey Stockman:)
Entry #2
What's up with no Blog Tracey!!!
Gotta work on that!!! LOL!
Thanks for Entering!!!

Hang in there Everyone
There's Even More!!!!!!

Next Up!!!
ATC' 'Pink Sweet'
by Shelly Mendenhall:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Sweet Blue'
by Shelly Mendenhall:)
Entry #2

ATC 'Sweet Green'
by Shelly Mendenhall
Entry #3
One of the 'Book of Days' Journal Group
Sisters:) You rock Shelly!
Thanks for Entering!!!

And Next!!

ATC' 'Sweet Bear Factor' ( I named it! LOL)
by Joy Northrup:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Sweet Sensation' ( Ok so I named this one too!)
by Joy Northrup:)
Entry #2

ATC 'Sweet Dollie Devine' 
(LOL! I named her too!!!)
(Woo Hoo! Retro Cafe Art Dollie!!)
by Joy Northrup!
( I hope you don't mind my naming them Joy!!)
Thanks so much:)
Joy Northrup as 2 Wonderful Links to Share
and
Please check them both out!!

And Next is....

ATC 'Lovely'
by Emma Jones:)
Entry #1

ATC 'Sweet Hearts'
by Emma Jones:)
Entry #2
You did good Emma!!!
Thanks so much:)

And Last but Certainly Not Least:)

ATC 'Hey Babycakes'
by Jennifer Gerwig
Entry #1

ATC 'Angel Food Cake'
(How Sweet!!!)
by Jennifer Gerwig:)
Entry #2
Jennifer has a Wonderful Blog at
And again, I encourage you all to drop by
Jennifer's blog and have a boo!!!

And Woo Hoo!!! Right at the Last Minute
Tonight just as the Deadline is about to Happen....

ATC 'Cute Baby Cakes'
by Gigi Butterfly!!
Entry #1

ATC 'Bending over Backwards'
by Gigi Butterfly!!
Entry #2

Gigi Butterfly has a Fabulous Website that
you just have to go check out as she's one
of British Columbia's Fine Artists!!!



Well!
Isn't this Fabulous!!!
All these Entries and there's still time
as the Deadline is at Midnight tonight!
Friday March 23rd!!!

Any more Entries will be showcased
in tomorrow's Blog Post which will
be Announcing the 

Winner of the 
$25 Gift Certificate to

Woo Hoo!!!
( Ok so I'm pooped now! LOL!)

Big Thanks to all of you who have Already Entered!!
And Big Hugs and Thanks to my Dear Melissa!! xoxo

And on a quick personal note, as I have been receiving 
emails from some of you:)
from the previous blog post....
Our Dear Oliver Howard, ended up
in Emergency Surgery, and has had
all the Bladder Stones removed and was
in hospital for nearly 3 days, but I'm
thrilled to say that he's home now resting
and seems with all of the stitches to have
had a zipper put in!
He's now my new p.j's bag:)
Prognosis is good, but has a ton
of tests ahead of him for the next 
few months, but the boy is 'Magical'
and coming along well:)
Thanks for all the Fabulous and Heartwarming
Emails and Messages on Facebook!
May have to get him his own page! LOL!!
xoxox

See You All Tomorrow!!!
Enjoy!!!








































Saturday, March 3, 2012

March Already!!!! What happened to February! LOL!

Happy March Everyone!

I want to Thank you all for being so patient,
as I said in the last Blog Post, we have
a ATC Challenge coming, but somehow
between that post and this post, things got 
a little crazy in my life!
On a personal note, those of you who know me,
know that I have a 'zoo' in my home, and outside
of my home! Well, we've had an emergency a
week ago, with our dear dog Oliver Howard:(
In a 24 hour period of time last week we ended up at the Vet's Clinic, ( a Fabulous Clinic here in Victoria, B.C. that we have been clients of for nearly 25 years, Juan de Fuca Veterinary Clinic, You guys Rock!!!), which ended up the next day with Emergency Dental Surgery for Dear Oli and a diagnosis of Bladder Stones!
If you look at this above picture of our Beautiful Boy...this is
what he looked like when we brought him home:(
Poor swollen face:(
They even took a top fang!!!
He's been resting on pain med's 
since last week and is coming along fine, 
a new prescription diet and we'll see 
what happens in the coming weeks about 
the Bladder Stones...ouch I hope they pass!
(Luckily they're really tiny on the x-ray, so
we're fingers crossed that we caught it all
really early, and the diet will turn this around:).

Anyway my apologies to you all for being so
late with this post....but with a little face like 
that, it's no wonder my life stood still for awhile:)
(and believe me, the other two 'elderly ones' sucked 
as much sympathy as dear Oliver was getting to boot! LOL!
But's that's another whole story!)

So here we are March 3rd already!!!
So are you all ready for another

ATC SWAP CHALLENGE
and
Gift Certificate Giveaway?


As a Guest Designer for
It's my absolute pleasure to launch
another
Co-Hosted 
ATC Swap Challenge
and this time
Gift Certificate Giveaway!
Woo Hoo!!! LOL!

When Melissa and I Hosted the last 
ATC Challenge that Highlighted her 
for making ATC's, it was so much fun to 
Swap the Winning ATC's with you all
that I decided to do this again! 

So here's the Skinny! (grin)

The 'Theme' for this 
ATC Challenge is
'SWEET'
Which could be anything!
With Easter coming it could mean desserts, candy, or
it could mean cute animals, or anything that you
think is SWEET:)
So get those thinking caps on, and lets begin and 
here's what will happen!

Before Friday March 23rd, 2012
Email pictures of your
ATC Challenge Entries
to me at
GIMPY@telus.net
You can submit up to 3 Entries,
 as I'll be using a 
Random Generator
to pick...

5 ATC Entries 
as the 
ATC Swap Winner's
who will be swapping
ATC's with me.
Then leave a Comment 
here on this post to be
Entered!
(You don't have to be a Google Follower,
but sure would appreciate if you'd sign
on as one!)

The 5 ATC Swap Challenge Winners
will have their 
ATC's Highlighted in a 
Future Blog Post here
on 
Birdnuts Mixed Media:)
 
along with swapping the 
ATC Winning Entries by mail,
I'll be sending along
an ATC that I've made with
some 'Extra' Goodies from
Melissa Samuels Shop
to encourage you to make 
more ATC's:)
( I'm really hoping you all will find this
fun, as I'd like to do this every once in
awhile as it's so much fun for me, and
I so Enjoy Co-Hosting with Melissa:)

But wait!
The 5 ATC 
Swap Challenge Winner's 
are the one's that
I will use a Random Generator
to pick 1 Winner of the

$25.00 Gift Certificate Giveaway
to 
Melissa Samuels Shop!!!
Woo Hoo!!!

So there ya go!
Email a picture of your Entry
(or up to 3 Entries!), and
Leave a Comment on this Post
that you're Entered by 
Friday March 23rd, 2012
and on 
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
the Swap Winners will be
Announced and the
Winner of the 
$25 Gift Certificate to 
Will also be Announced!
(By emailing photo's of your ATC Swap
Entries, it will speed up the Giveaway
as the mail service to Canada takes so long,
also it gives me your return Email address 
so I can notify you when the Winner's are chosen,
I will include my mailing address to the 5 Swap
Winner's to mail their Winning ATC's to me
for the return Swap and Extra Goodies and
to give you a head's up on the Highlighted Blog
Post of all the Winner's ATC's once they've arrived!:)

So in the meantime...here's a quick mini tutorial 
I made (sorry it's a short one, with taking care
of the dog and all! LOL)

Using ATC Base Card Stock from
and a little Gel Medium I took beautiful
paper napkins and peeled away the layers
to give me just the printed image on the
top layer. I glued them down carefully to
not tear the image, using the Gel Medium
to the card base:)
Then using Mr. Tim's :)
Tim Holtz 'Distress Stain' Picket Fence
I lightly covered the napkin graphic to
soften the graphic for a background.
Then using a variety of graphics that I
have from a Fabulous Assortment of
Companies that I occasionally Highlight
here on Birdnuts Mixed Media, here's a 
couple of examples of what I made using
this technique:)
I also like to use the ATC's in other ways
other than just swapping, as I do an assortment
of different sized journals, and one of my favourites
is a mini moleskin journal,
which I mounted the ATC on the journal page:)
Here's another one I mounted in my mini journal
using the same series of napkin based ATC's
With this one I didn't use the Picket Fence
Distress Stain, but instead used a Script Stamp
to embellish the napkin image, and then
mounted in my mini-journal:)

So there ya go Everyone!!!
Get to making those ATC Swap Challenge
ATC's and send me those pictures via Email and
leave the Comment on this Blog Post 
so we can get on with choosing the Winner's!!!

Thanks Everyone!!!


Enjoy!!!