My ARTistic Life

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and family! Sending you lots of love. Here is a heart shaped piece of coral that I found while hunting for beach treasures (one of my favorite things to do). : )

Holiday Ornament Ideas

Look at this lovely ornament by the talented Lelainia Lloyd! She rubbed a bit of white gesso onto our XL Wood House Pendant to create a shabby chic look. And then added a collection of her incredible photos in the windows. Love it!

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And isn't this ornament by Gena Boone-Curtis super cool? She cut up an aluminum tray from the dollar store, whipped up a collage and adorned it with our Eco Antlers.

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And look at these gothic shrine ornaments by Gena Boone-Curtis. She made the shrines out of recycled thin cardboard pieces. And then added images from our Angels and Madonnas collage sheet. Wow!

Thanks for the glorious ornament inspiration, Lelainia and Gena! : )

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And for your Weekly Dose of Cuteness...just look at my little fuzzy love, Bruno. He likes to squeeze himself into the space between my keyboard and computer screen so that I can give him lots of love while I'm working. : )

Just a note, I'm packing up and going to visit my parents tomorrow. Plus, I'll also be teaching an altered book class while I'm away. So excited! I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to share with you. Not sure when my next blog post will be...I'll pop in and surprise you in the next week or two. : ) Until then, happy arting! : )

New Digi Freebie & Cute Bird Earrings

I've got a new fun digi feebie for you! It features the ARTchix muse, my precious pets and a few festive extras. Enjoy! : ) You're welcome to use them in your personal artwork, jewelry, journals, etc. Or hold onto them for a future project. This item is not for resell though.

Get your free, high resolution digital download by simply emailing blogfreebie@artchixstudio.com.

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Last week, I mentioned that the digi freebie would include diamonds (Pamela McKenzie had mentioned that 10 = diamond year). I had this super cool diamond image that I had planned to include but would you believe that after searching for over an hour, I couldn't find it? Grrr! Here is just a peek at some of my vintage ephemera. I seriously need to get down to organizing it better at some point. I'm even embarassed to show you this picture, lol.

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Last week, I also mentioned I'd be sharing a class on how to make this Cute Holiday Ornament. Step by step pics are up on our website now, yay!

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Recently, I posted a cute pair of bird earrings on Facebook. I got some nice comments on them...even my Mom chimed in. : ) So, I thought I'd show you how easy it is to make them.

First, cut or punch out the bird images. Then, paint a coat of Glue n' Seal onto Inchie Wood Tags.

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Press bird image onto Wood Inchie. Wipe away excess glue with paper towel. Wait a few minutes and then paint a layer of varnish on top to seal the image. I used Glue 'n Seal. Let dry.

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Add Turquoise Glass Leaves with Large Jump Rings. And add ear wires with jump rings too.

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And voila, super cute bird earrings are ready to wear. These would make such nice, easy, handmade gifts for the holidays!

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A few of you have asked how long our $1 Sale for our Top 10 Sheets of the Decade will be on. We thought it would be fun to run this sale for 10 days so it will end this Sun, Nov. 13th. Get them for only $1 while you can!

Hope you have a wonderful, art-filled weekend! : )

Celebrating 10 Years, Mad for Flags and More

ARTchix Studio is 10 Years old, hooray!!!! So happy, proud and extremely grateful. To celebrate, we've got some awesome new goodies for you...everything you need to make your holidays beautiful, unique, and handmade at prices that everyone can afford.

A few of my faves are shown above: Eco Flags (see lots more about them below), Eco Peace Letters, Wood Keyholes (make cool peek-a-boo pendants), Penny Holders (send some money luck to your loved ones this year), Eco Antlers (add them to your holiday photos!) and Long Wood Tags (perfect for adding messages).

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I'm mad for flags lately! We're now offering our Eco Flags in this cute mini size. Doesn't this little garland make this gift sing? To make this little garland, I painted our new Peace, Joy, Wish Letters with white crackle paint. And I covered the Mini Eco Flags with our new Christmas Backgrounds sheet. I strung the flags onto festive trim with our new Large Jump Rings (so easy to use...no tools needed).

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I really enjoyed making this flag. It's a Christmas ornament and gift package topper in one. : ) I covered an Eco Flag with our new Christmas Backgrounds sheet. Then glued on one of our new Wood Branches (LOVE!). Added some vintage sequins and "Merry Christmas" from our Tell Me a Christmas Story sheet. Topped it off with some ribbon and trim and one of our new Wood Shipping Tags that says "handmade".

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Many of my loved ones live far away so I'm always thinking about how to send a card that's a gift too. These flags are perfect for this! They can be a card and ornament in one. I made this flag with scraps from the Christmas Backgrounds sheet, Vintage Dictionary Scraps and a Penny Holder to represent wishes for money luck this year.

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I've made some special flags for you too! We're tucking in all kinds of fun gifts with our orders right now. Get surprised with one of these flags, a Scratch and Win ticket, muse goodie bag and/or treats. It'll be a surprise to see what you get! : )

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For your Weekly Dose of Cuteness, check out little Inca. See how she blocks my way when she wants love while I'm arting. lol. She's blocking an ornament that I made...will be posting a fun, easy class on how to make it on our website as soon as I can.

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I'm absolutely loving all of the art that everyone's been making with my masterboard from last week. Let's continue with it for another week! I'll be posting all of the entries we've received so far on Facebook later today.

Want to make something with my collage? Download a copy and make something with any part of it.  Post your creation to your blog or website (and leave a comment with a link to it) or email it to me at helga@artchixstudio.com by next Tues, Nov. 8. Participants will get a $10 gift certificate to ARTchix. Woohoo!

Get your free, high resolution digital download by simply emailing blogfreebie@artchixstudio.com.

See you next week with a new, awesome digi download! Hint...it may have diamonds (as Pam McKenzie recently mentioned that 10 years = our Diamond Year).