Saturday, August 27, 2011

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!



Friday, August 19, 2011

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!
















Monday, August 15, 2011

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!!!!






Tuesday, August 9, 2011

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!