Is it 'Cake' Time Yet at Retro Cafe Art Gallery??

Sure is!!!!

Hi Everyone:)

Valentine's Day is coming!!!

It actually is one of my Favourite Holidays,

as you can 

Celebrate 'Love':)

Doesn't matter who or what you Love, 

you get to 

Celebrate it! LOL.

Those of us who 'Love'

Retro Cafe Art Gallery

and

Kristin Hubick

also 'Love'

Coffee Break Design Products

at Retro Cafe Art Gallery!

Kristin has been so busy the past few months, 

Designing a Fabulous New Collection of 

Coffee Break Design Products, 

with tons of New Goodies for Valentine's Day!!!

And as many of you know, I call Kristin the

'Giveaway Diva!'

as she's always running 

Fabulous Giveaways and Contests

on her Blog and on 

Facebook!

And today is no exception!!

Woo Hoo!

Kristin is Co-Hosting another

$25 Gift Certificate Giveaway

right here on 

Birdnuts Mixed Media:)

Yippie! LOL!

So here's the Giveaway Info:

Sign on, (if you aren't already)

as Google Follower here on 

Birdnuts Mixed Media,

and 

Leave a Comment

on this Blog Post:)

and you're 

Entered to Win

the 

Retro Cafe Art Gallery

$25.00 Gift Certificate!

But wait!!!!

If you go over to 

Retro Cafe Art Gallery's Blog Post

(Link attached:)

And Leave a Comment

on the 

Co-Hosted Blog Post

You'll be

Entered to Win 

Another

$25.00 Gift Certificate!!!

That's right! 2 Chances to Win

2 Gift Certificates to

Retro Cafe Art Gallery!!

And check out their

Fan Page on Facebook too!

Give a 'thumbs up' 

While you're there!!!

So as many of you know, whenever there's a 

Special Holiday 

I always bake 'Cake'....

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

And of course I've used

my Favourite 

Coffee Break Design's

'Bus Stop Lady'

Cut-out!

'She's a Heart Breaker'!!!

LOL!!

And always love using 

Kristin's Fabulous Assortment

of Trims and Stencils!!

and loved using the

German Glass Glitter!!

And those of you who know

my 'Cakes' knows 

I Love the 

Alphabet Beads!!!

(Actually I use them on Everything!!! LOL)

As you can see, I used the Lid from the largest of the 

Paper Mache Nestled Boxes from

Retro Cafe Art Gallery

to create the plate pedestal and a photograph

of one of my dinner plates of my good china

for something a little different:)

As always, I had a Great Fun

 baking 'Cake' for the Occasion!!!

I've also made a couple of other 

Valentine's Day Projects using

Coffee Break Design Products

from

Retro Cafe Art Gallery:)

Using Coffee Break Design's

Wonderful Shrine Kit

and 

Bus Stop Lady:)

'Sweet Heart'

and again, using Kristin's Fab

German Glass Glitter!

( Got a little carried away with this one! LOL)

And the fun mini-bottle caps, and

the White Alpha Beads with Hearts!!

and Kristin's also just listed recently

these Acrylic Easels!!

But wait!

I still had pieces left over from the

Shrine Kit so I took a CD Case

and Painted the Shrine Kit piece

with Retro's DecoArt Metal Paint,

and used the Metal Heart that

also is from Retro Cafe Art Gallery,

Alpha Beads, and stamped it all with

a 'Music' Stamp and Walla!

So Happy Valentine's Day coming

from Birdnuts Mixed Media

and 

Retro Cafe Art Gallery!!

And get 

Entered to Win

the 

$25 Gift Certificates on Both

Our Blog Posts!!!

Deadline to Enter is

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

and the Winner's

on Both Blogs will be Announced

Friday, February 10th, 2012!!

Thanks Everyone:) 

Enjoy!!!

And There Are Winners!!!!

Hi Everyone!! :)

Well here we are again!

Another set of 

Winner's to be Announced

today!!!

It's always my favourite part of Hosting 

these Giveaways on my Blog!!!

Spreading a bit of Fun!!!

A Big Thank You to 

Melissa Samuels

for having me do this 

ATC Tutorial

to Highlight her 

Fabulous ATC Products in her shop!

I always Enjoy working with Melissa

and LOVE her Assortment of Great Products 

that she carries in her shop!

Do keep checking in with her as she's currently 

getting ready to start listing all the Fabulous New Goodies

that are currently being shown at CHA Trade Fair!!!

So! (GRIN) Here we are with the 

5 ATC's I made for the Tutorial Post, and

they're all needing homes!

And as I stated previously, in the ATC Tutorial Post,

I will be mailing these out to 5 Winners!

I got to thinking after the post, that the 5 Winners

picked will be sending me an ATC that they've

made each to be posted on my blog here on 

Birdnuts Mixed Media, and after realizing 

how long it could take in the mail, I would

still love to have you all send me yours for 

my collection, but how about sending me a picture

first, so I can put together a 

Blog Post in your Honour!!

So here we go! 

The 5 Winners of the

ATC's Are!!!

(Confetti flying!!)

'Monica'!

'Deanna'!

'Rachelle'!

'Annie'!

and 

'Mary Jane'!

Woo Hoo!!! You all are the Winner's!!!

I so wish I could send everyone an ATC this time round!

I was so thrilled to have you all leave such Great Comments, and show so much interest in participating!!!

You all have me thinking 

about getting us together 

here on 

Birdnuts Mixed Media 

for doing a regular 

ATC Swap!!!

Leave me some Comments and let me know 

what you all might think about participating if I was

to hold a ATC Swap here on a regular basis. Or even

Email me at 

GIMPY@telus.net 

and let me know

what you would think of the idea:) 

And include any ideas that you have on a swap!

Well now! We have 5 Winners!!!!

Big Congrats!!! I'll be sending each of you

Email's to give you the Big News and

to get your mailing information!

And in the meantime, get those ATC's

made and photographed and emailed

to me for our 

Special Blog Post to Honour 

Your Work!!!

Woo Hoo!!! LOL.

If you're a regular Follower 

here on 

Birdnuts Mixed Media,

you know that as 

I bring one Giveaway Post with a 

Wonderful Internet Shop to a close, 

there is usually another

Fabulous Giveaway Post 

in the Wings, (pun intended:)

As a regular Follower, you know too, that occasionally

I bake Paper Cakes......

So do check back with me 

tomorrow as I will be Co-Hosting with

'The Giveaway Diva'

LOL!!!

Kristin Hubick 

of 

Retro Cafe Art Gallery 

and

Coffee Break Design Product!!!

So make sure you check 

back in tomorrow and

as always....

bring forks for 'cake' as

I hate doing dishes!!

LOL!!

Big Congrats Again

to all 

5 Winner's of the 

ATC's! 

You'll be hearing from me shortly!!

And as always....

Enjoy!!!

Woo Hoo! ATC's With Melissa Samuels and an ATC Challenge!!!

Hello Everyone:)

How did I get here again so soon!

LOL!!!

Yes, it was just yesterday that I did one of the

largest blog posts I've done in a long time,

but with the Fun Giveaway Announcements,

and all the Wonderful Eye Candy I had to 

share, I wanted to get it all listed before

Todays Fabulous Blog Post!!

(So if you have the time, and a cup of coffee settle in

and have a Boo!:)

I'm so very pleased, as it's been a little while, to share with you todays blog post is with my Dear Friend

Melissa Samuels

Melissa asked me back in December if I would be interested 

in doing some ATC's for a blog post 

Featuring her Shop's

Great Selection of ATC Products and Accessories.

No Problem!!! I love ATC's!

In case you don't know what an ATC is, 

here is my knowledge on the subject. 

An ATC is an 'Artists Trading Card'.

Artist Trading Cards are for the sole intention for 

trading with other artists, and are not for sale.

There are a plethora of websites on the Internet just for the fun of making and trading ATC's! 

And, I believe the only rule in making ATC's is that they 

are to be exactly 2 1/2" wide x 3 1/2" long.

And that's the only rule!

You can use any medium in art you wish to make 

an ATC, as long as you have them the correct size!

Well I have to tell you.

Melissa  has a Wonderful Full Product Line of

anything you might need for making ATC's!

With a Full Selection of Inkssentials Brand

Artist Trading Card Blanks in a huge selection 

from Card Stock Blanks to Black Chipboard

and everything in between!

(Tags too!:)

Melissa so kindly sent me a selection of the 

Inkssentials Brand Blanks and other Products

for making Todays Project:)

And Scor-Tape too!

I hadn't seen the Scor-Tape before in such great

sizes, from 1/8" all the way to 1/2" and above!

And look at all these Fabulous Embellishments!

Woo Hoo!!

Everything from Prima Brand Shabby Chic Treasures,

Melissa Francis Brand Vintage Embellishments,

Websters Pages Sparklers, and even

My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Pad 

of 6x6 Papers

in all the colours I'll be needing, 

as today I'm making 

Valentines Day related ATC's:)

So lets get to it!

The ATC's that I'll be showing you, are all

going to be 3 Dimensional as that is my 

very favourite kind of ATC.

Because I enjoy making Mixed Media 

Altered Assemblages when I can find the

time, I tend to enjoy in other mediums

building layers. So any of these ATC's

I'm showing you today, are just 'my' thing.

When it comes to doing your own, 

do your own favourite type of ATC, 

paint, draw, cut and paste,

staple, sew, glue,

whatever you chose:)

Using the wonderful 6 x 6 pad of 

My Mind's Eye Paper that Melissa sent me, 

I covered the Inkssentials Blank ATC with

paper using the Scor-Tape to secure the paper.

These lovely papers come double sided and 

I kept in mind that the other side was complimentary

to the print on the front, so not to waist the paper,

I would cut a piece for the front, then flip and cut

a piece for the back of the ATC. Always do the 

backs of your ATC's as that is where you'll be 

signing and dating your ATC's for Trading them!

I also chose in this example a

Melissa Francis Brand 

Vintage Embellishment Frame and 

Prima Brand Shabby Chic Treasures Corners.

I had the Red Heart Button and chose a vintage

music sheet to back the frame 

with to offset the button.

Melissa also sent a lovely bag full of 

samples of all sorts of beautiful 

lace and ribbon trims that she also 

carries in her shop! 

Paper flowers, and lovely Pins too! 

(Yummy and so much fun!! LOL)

In this example

the double sided paper had this lovely

graphic of a pair of birds on the other side,

you'll see in the finished ATC pictures what

I did with it:)

I like to use Ranger Brand

Inkssentials Glossy accents to attach my

3D Embellishments as I think it helps

them stay on the card stock well.

And I also always edge my ATC's with

Tim Holtz Distress Inks to give a 

Vintage Edge to my ATC's.

So that's the basics of how I made the ATC's

in Todays Blog Tutorial!

Thanks to all of you for checking in!

wait....what am I forgetting.....

oh yeah...

(grin)

Like I said before, these are just suggestions

of some 3D ATC's 

and everything you see on these examples

you are able to find in Melissa's shop

at

www.MelissaSamuels.net

(except this little charm, that was mine, LOL)

And as you can tell these are all about...

Valentines Day:)

So I really hope you all will consider making 

some ATC's or get back into making ATC's!

And check out Melissa's Great Selection of Products 

to get you started and/or back into making them!

Matter of fact.....while I think of it....

Here's a little idea:)

I made 5 ATC's for this Tutorial 

if you all might be interested,

and to encourage you to get into making

your own ATC's:)

Leave a Comment on this Post

(and sign on as a Google Follower if you 

aren't one already:)

And on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

I will pick 5 Winners to send these ATC's to:)

But here's the catch!

The 5 Winners have to make 

1 Valentine's related ATC

of their own to mail back to me:)

When I have received all 5 of your ATC's

I will post them here on

Birdnuts Mixed Media's Blog

to 

Highlight Your ATC's!

Please do leave me a Comment anyway as I always

appreciate hearing from you all, but Highlight

in your Comment if you're throwing your hat in 

for the ATC Challenge!!!

Woo Hoo!!!

I'll Announce the Winners 

in the Challenge

on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012!

And send you an email for your mailing information

to send you one of the Tutorial ATC's!

Big Thanks to Melissa Samuels

for all the Fun Goodies she sent to me

for the making of these ATC's!

Now get to making your ATC's!!!

ENJOY!!!

www.melissasamuels.net

We Have 3 Winners!!!

Woo Hoo!!!!

3 WINNERS!!!

Hello Everyone!!

Well here I am, about to announce the

Winners of the 3 Tutorial Brooches

I made for 

Shabby Cottage Studios

for my 1st Tutorial as

Artist in Residence:)

I had great fun making these brooches,

and I'm so very pleased to be sharing them,

with at least 3 of my Fabulous Followers!

I just wish that I could give every one of you one!

And the Winners are!!!

Marilyn (Tarnished Rose)!

and

Cindi a.k.a. Erickson!

and

Selah Gay!!

Woo Hoo!!!!!

I will be sending each of you an email to notify you

that you are a Winner, and request that you send

your mailing address to me in return confirmation, 

for me to mail the brooch!

I will say, any addresses that are supplied in any

of my Giveaways,

 I will immediately delete upon use, 

and not keep in future or share in any way

with anyone else, as to protect your privacy:)

Woo Hoo!!! Winners!

I was so pleased that so many of you were interested

in Entering the Giveaway for the Brooches

and have decided that in future Tutorials for

Shabby Cottage Studios

I may again offer the Tutorial Project

in a Giveaway again!

Stay tuned as in the coming weeks 

as I will be posting the next 

Tutorial for Gail at Shabby Cottage Studio,

as in the meantime,

I also have other Projects and Giveaways

with my other Fabulous Company's 

I have been so proud to be 'Friends' with!

As I will be tomorrow,

Monday, January 16th, 2012

There will be a New Blog Post

with a Fun Project for

That's right, an ATC Project for

Melissa Samuels

Tomorrow here on Birdnuts Mixed Media!

Wow, what a morning!

3 Winners of the Brooch Giveaway

and an upcoming New Project tomorrow!

So in the meantime....

I'd like to take a few more minutes of your precious time,

to share a few 

Shout Outs, Projects, and Eye Candy,

 while we wait for tomorrow's new Blog Post:)

The Holiday Season may be a Past Memory 

for most of us, but it's been still going on

for me here in Victoria, B.C. long after

the Holidays were over, as my mail service

has been so backed up, that packages are

still arriving for the Holidays!

I'd like to Share with You all a couple of 

Lovely Goodies that have arrived and

tell you a bit about the senders:)

Ms. Gigi Butterfly here in Beautiful British Columbia!

Sent a Fabulous Print to my Husband and Myself

From her Fabulous Gallery here in B.C.

I would love for you all to check out her Online Gallery @

www.GigiButterfly.com

And see so many of her Wonderful Art Prints!!!

Thanks so much for your generosity Gigi!!!

and I also would like to share with you another

of my Fabulous Artist Friends

Sherry Westfall Mathews

Sherry makes these Adorable Creations

and lists them in her Etsy Shop at

dalaimomma@etsy.com

I absolutely love this Vintage Watch Creation

that Sherry made! The snow works just like a 

snow globe:)

Hugs to you Sherry! Adore it!!!

And I am just so overwhelmed this last Holiday Season,

as so many of my Incredible Artist Friends

so many of them on Facebook 

(and what a Fabulous Community of them there are!!!)

My Dear Friend

Mary Jane Chadbourne 

of

Desert Dreams Studio

on Facebook

Mary Jane makes a Variety of Handmade

Incredible Bracelets, and Art Boxes and

also sells on Etsy to boot!

DesertDreamsStudio@Etsy.com

I Love the Bracelet Mary Jane!!

Thank you so much for making it for me!!!

And I also have to absolutely tell you about

my BIAF!

(Best Internet Art Friend)

You all know her as

Kristin Hubick 

of Retro Cafe Art Gallery:)

Among the many things that Kristin so very kindly

sent me for my Birthday in December and the Christmas Holiday,

for which I am so 'gobsmacked' with, this had to absolutely

take the 'cake' so to speak:)

Kristin at Retro Cafe Art Gallery 

made arrangements with the Fabulous

Debrina Pratt of

Land of Enchantment

to send me one of Debrina's Fabulous 

Art Creations that I just adore!!!

Kristin knew that I have always wanted one

of Debrina's Lovely Creations and made

arrangements that both she and I would

have our own Birdhouse's made by Debrina!

As you all know, 

Retro Cafe Art Gallery

sells a Beautiful Assortment of

Land of Enchantments

Wonderful Graphics Sheets!

These are just a Fabulous Assortment of what I call

LOVE

From all these wonderful Artists who I am so proud

to refer to as my Friends:) :) 

Love you all!!!

And wait there's more to share!!!!

(LOL, Longest Post Ever!!! LOL)

I signed up this last December for a Fabulous

ONLINE TUTORIAL CLASS!!!!

AND IT's FREE!!!!

With my Fellow Canadian Artist Friend

Effy Wild of

www.wildpreciouslife.com

Book of Days!

Please check out Effy's Wonderful Project that I am 

currently a Group Member of as it's a Wonderful Opportunity

to learn all about Journaling, and be Motivated by this

Wonderful Artist!

It's a Year Long Project! Which may sound intimidating, but it's a Fabulous way to keep motivated, and the 

Online Community on Facebook as a Group Member is 

a 'Happening' in it's support!!

Here's some examples of my journal pages I've created while

being a Member of Book Of Days...

Trying all sorts of techniques! From Watercolour Washes,

to Stamping, Hand Lettering, and Graphics use!

(Graphics from the Fabulous TumbleFish Studio @

DeviantScrap.com!)

And of course as many of you Followers have learned

I always have a bit of cheeky humour in my pieces:)

(Big Birthday Sock Bash for my December Birthday:)

And I've even been motivated by Effy's Class

to dig out my old Acrylic Paints from my

years of Decorative Painting and begin again

doing some of my own creations through Journaling:)

(This page spread is going back to my sort of 

'childs book' ideas, back when I thought I'd be 

writing children's books. Old dreams anew:)

So Everyone:)

A very long blog post, full of Eye Candy:)

And tomorrow another post with the

Fun and Fabulous

Melissa Samuels!!!

And again,

Congrats to the Tutorial Brooch Winners!!!

Enjoy!!!!