Melissa Samuels Gift Certificate Giveaway! 1more day left!

Hello Everyone:)

Just a quick reminder that my 

Giveaway of a 

$25 Gift Certificate

to Melissa Samuels Shop,

has only 1 more day until

I'll be announcing the 

Winner!

There's still time to enter so

check out the previous blog post

for all the details!

In Co-Hosting Giveaways, don't forget

to go to 

Melissa Samuels blog as well

(Link in my Favourites Listing:)

As she's giving away a Free

La Blanche Stamp

in her Giveaway on her blog!

(Details in previous post:)

Melissa and her family are

currently hunkering down

and preparing for Hurricane 'Irene'

to come through later today, and

she and her family have just been

through their first major earthquake!

She and her Family are fine, I checked!

So lets surprise her with tons of new

'followers' and entries on her blog:)

Hope you all are safe through the coming

days of the Hurricane on both our U.S. and

Canadian  Eastern Seaboard!

You all are in our thoughts!

Be Safe!

Melissa Samuels Gift Certificate Giveaway!

Hello Everyone!

(Can you tell I'm excited!)

As I've been telling you in previous posts,

something Special was coming up on my blog,

and today is the day!

I'm so thrilled and pleased to be

co-hosting my very first

Gift Certificate Giveaway!

This has been in the works for the past

few weeks, and I don't know how I've

managed to keep it a secret, (grin)!

I'd like to present, (drumroll please),

(ok, so Oliver Howard isn't very good on the drum,

much better at barking:)

As one of my favourite things to do here on my blog

I'd like to give a 'Shout Out' to 

Melissa Samuels

'The Art of Scrapbooking'

Shop and Blog

who is now a 

Proud Distributor 

of one of my

Favourite Stamp Product Lines

'La Blanche' Stamps

(This is a picture of some of the 

La BlancheStamps 

I have in my personal collection:)

On Melissa's Shop Page

www.melissasamuels.net

(Link in my Favourite's Listing)

Melissa has this wonderful 

La Blanche Demo from

CHA Summer 2011

That absolutely grabbed my attention!

At CHA Melissa became a New Distributor

for the Entire La Blanche Stamp Product Line

in the U.S. and has brought in for her new

product line in her shop, 

so many of this years new stamps

from La Blanche!

So here's the 

Gift Certificate Giveaway

requirements:)

First: To enter into the Giveaway please

sign on as a 'Google Follower'

here on my blog at

then leave a 

'Comment' here on this Blog Post

telling me you've entered the

Giveaway 

then

Please go to 

Melissa Samuels Blog 

(Link in Favourite's Listing)

And sign on Melissa's Blog as a

'Google' Follower and

leave a 'Comment' on her 

La Blanche Page Blog Post

for your chance to Win a Free 

La Blanche Stamp from Melissa, and

where Melissa can show you 

examples and give you information

about this wonderful Stamp Product Line!

 Then 

You have officially entered in the

Gift Certificate Giveaway

to win a $25 Gift Certificate to

Melissa Samuels Shop!

I will be running the Giveaway

until September 2, 2011

and will announce the 

'Winner'

of the $25 Gift Certificate to

Melissa's Shop on that Friday!

I will then post who the Winner is and

ask you to email me your email address

so I can send your $25 Gift Certificate to you:)

Based on the wonderful Video that

Melissa has on her Shop Page that

she made from the CHA Convention

Summer 2011

And, Melissa's wonderful Talent with

Cards, Scrapbooking, and Journal Making,

I decided to post an example of one

of my projects, using the techniques

I learned from Melissa's Video that

would be a little different from the

normal use of the stamps.

In a previous blog post I showed you 

some wonderful wood cigar boxes that

had been gifted to me from dear friends:)

Well since that Blog post, I've looked at

this box, and came up with this.....

Now you're wondering...

what does this have to do with the 

La Blanche Stamps...well

The inside of the box is lined with

Stamped Images from my collection of the

La Blanche Stamps

and using the wonderful technique of using

UTEE to highlight the image with also

the use of Tim Holtz 'Distress Inks' by Ranger

This is what I came up with as an example:)

I love the texturing that using the UTEE

(Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)

produces!

And the crisp colours that jump out at you with

these great detailed stamps!

The top of the box, using Tim Holtz 'Fragments'

I used many of my other collection of stamps

(also their Companies are listed in my Favourites Listing)

and hand inked and painted using 

Water-Soluble Crayons then pasted the images

to the bottom of the Fragments using 

Inkssentials 'Glossy Accents'.

I will say, the idea for the top of this box came

from Tim Holtz blog, where he created this

layered use of the Fragments:)

(Thanks Mr. Tim)

Using some of my other Favourite Embellishments

I inked, stamped, and used the tissue transfer

technique to create the 'labels'

And used the La Blanche Stamps again

using the UTEE to create a textured label 

for the sides of the cigar box.

So I hope you'll take the time to enter and

pass on the word to your friends,

into my First Giveaway!

And hope you'll take the time to go

to Melissa Samuels Blog and Shop

and watch her wonderful CHA Video!

Cheers!

(And have a great Weekend!)

Enjoy!

The 'Girls' just want to party! :)

BOO!

Hello Everyone!

First off, this is going to be a multipurpose 

blog post today, to make up for missing

a blog post last Friday:(

(So sorry, but 'real life' grabbed me and

I couldn't get back to 'blog land':)

Above is the one and only picture I've 

manipulated of my

dear 'Oliver Howard' with

a computer program to play around with

pictures......he's 'devil' dog in this for

Halloween:)

(grin)...

Now, down to business:)

I'd like to give a 'Shout Out' for

my dear friend Gail Schmidt, of

Shabby Cottage Studio

(link in my Favourites List)

at

www.shabbycottagestudio.com

who has been supplying me

with these wonderful 

body forms!

The 'girls' arrived today, and I'm 

thrilled to be thinking up more ideas

for creating further assemblages:)

(I'm sure Gail won't mind sharing this post)

as previously posted

Gail's wonderful body form from her shop at

Shabby Cottage Studios

was used in this previously blog posted piece

that is also highlighted at

Retro Cafe Art 

(also listed in my Favourite's Listing:)

www.RetroCafeArt.com

as the 'wings' are one

of Kristin's wonderful products, as previously 

mentioned, and she currently still has in 

stock, so....

Please go check out both of these wonderful 

Internet Shops 

Shabby Cottage Studios for these great body

forms and other wonderful treats, 

and Retro Cafe Art for the beautiful paper

wing selection (as they also come in

gold and silver!) and check out

Kristin's wonderful selection of 

Coffee Break Design 'goodies too!

for these supplies that you

will be able to create with!

Now all that being said:)

A couple of quick journal pages

I've been playing around with...

The stamps that I used were from

the wonderful shop Redlead, 

I love their stamp line:)

And a couple of extra mini projects

I put together to add to the journal I'm

currently working on. I find that

I ping pong between projects but when

the 'creative bug' hits, I run with it, 

even if it means for something I'm not

currently working on, it gets put to the

side until time later on to add to.

(Love the birdcage graphic from Graphic's Fairy)

Used the tissue transfer technique.

So my next blog post which will be this coming

Friday, August 19th is something really special!

I will be 'hosting' a Giveaway right 

here on my blog, in conjunction with someone

really special that most of you already 

know in the industry, who will be coordinating

a Giveaway along with me on her blog as well!

I'm keeping it secret until Friday:)

So you'll have to make sure by Friday Night

to check in as see what all the excitement is about:)

So until then.....

Hope to see you Friday Night!

Enjoy!!!!

Filler Post...but busy in the art room!!!

Hello Everyone:)

Just wanted to let you know, that I'm currently

working on two major pieces to be posted later

this week, but in the meantime, (as I've been a

bit late in my posts), was my last post, (my entry for

Retro Cafe Arts 'Shrine Contest' which is coming

up to the closing date of September 2nd, so there's still

time for you to enter! ), was such a major project,

that I thought I'd wear myself out, but the two pieces

I'm working on now, will be just as involved and intricate,

so I'm in hopes of them being interesting posts for you all.

So I'm referring to this post as a 'filler' post, in hopes

that you'll see a bit of eye candy, and to update you

on all that is going on 'behind the scenes' :)

So, no, it's not Christmas in July, as I've been seeing on other blogs and such lately....

It's Halloween in August :)

(This is Jake, our Animatronic Butler, 1 of many of

my husbands animatronic collection)

There are so many Holidays and events in peoples lives,

but my husband and I celebrate only a few days

a year. Always our birthdays, our Anniversary,

usually Christmas, and the occasional Valentine's Day,

as we've been married 24 years this September, and

do not have children, ( or much family anymore),

but Halloween is one Holiday we both relish 

with complete abandon, 

and enjoy like a couple of kids. 

Our home ends up being the 'dumping ground'

for all things 'tacky and wonderful'

in Halloween decorations, mostly inside,

but outside in our yard as well.

My husband's collections of Animatronic witches,

goblins, skeletons that overtake our home each year

(some are as tall as 6 feet!), is always backed up

with his incredible collection of 'Michaels Craft Stores'

'Halloween Lighted Village' pieces...

( that's a whole other post down the road!),

but my thing is my collection of Halloween Art Dolls

and Primitive Halloween Dolls, that end up all over

the place along with every other Halloween goodies

we spot each year to add to our collection.

(Not the greatest picture, sorry)

But this is to prove, that I do know how to sew:)

Each year it gets hung up, and I'm always 

motivated to drag the sewing machine out, but

the last couple of years that's usually forgotten

about by December, (grin).

Anyway here's a couple of Halloween projects that

I completed...

From my Vintage Photo Collection...

I find I don't collect very many photos of men,

but this one is one of my favourites...

Can you imagine kissing that fur under his nose!

Halloween 'Story Board'

It was a fun piece to make, using all the great

Halloween embellishments that the stores fill up

with, and no matter how many boxes I have

left over each year, I always end up seeing something

new, and getting more for the next round of crafting.

Another little 'goofy' piece that I enjoyed playing with:)

So, behind the scene's, I'm also working on a few

'Giveaway Contests'

that I'm currently working out the details for

to host on my blog in the coming weeks with

some of my Favourite Suppliers!

 With Prizes

of Gift Certificates, and Products 

for the winners!

I'm really stoked about this, as I am not a

business, or actively selling my art and crafts,

but want to help promote some of the

wonderful Internet Shops that have given me

such great service, and great support! 

(As well as promote my blog with 'followers' 

as down the road, I may be considering an 

Etsy Shop, or something along that line as

I am being encouraged to do).

So do check back often, as I can see a flurry

of posts in the near future!!

Cheers to you all!

Enjoy!