My ARTistic Life

Get Inspired & Creative with Art Challenges! (free online class - #5 of 9)

Hooray for the 13 of you that played in the fourth part of our online class: Get Inspired by Texture! So many cool textures created by leaves and more! You can see most of them in our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #4 Weekly Art Challenge").   My kitty, Inca, volunteered to pick all 3 winners this week (scroll down a bit). Each of the winners get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice. Hooray!

And now, let's continue expanding our creativity together with a new art challenge! Now is the perfect time to jump into my free online class! Come join the fun! : )

Art Challenge #5 (of 9): Get Inspired by The Things You Enjoy!

For this week, save all of the cool packaging from the things that you enjoy. Here's what I saved: paper bags from my favorite bakery, tags from shopping at Old Navy, boxes of my favorite tea: Bengal Spice, a paper envelope that held nice bath salts, the cork from a nice bottle of wine and more. Warning: once you start looking at packaging, you'll won't want to throw anything away! : )

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Now, before we jump into playing with all of the fun packaging we've collected, let's make a background in our art journals. Last week, we made a simple background my gluing down vintage papers and painting white gesso on top. Let's continue from that point to make this new background. Once you've got your vintage papers with painted white gesso on top (and it's dry), scribble watercolor crayons on top of it (#1). Then dip your brush into water and blend all of the watercolor crayon around (#2). If you want, you can stop there and you've got a nice background to play with. Or, you can take a paper towel and rub the wet watercolor crayon around with a circular motion. It will blend the watercolor crayon into all of the knooks and crannies and you'll get the look of #3.

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Now, it's playtime! I wanted to find a pleasing way to make sense of all of the packaging that I had collected. So, I came up with the idea of turning them into tags. I cut, ripped and glued them onto tags and then started moving them around on the page, trying to see what looked nice.

I also knew that I wanted to bring back two of the challenges that we had in the past and incorporate them into this challenge. So, in addition to making something out of cool packaging...think about adding polka dots (in any way you want to) AND add something from nature. 

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So, with my collage, I decided to add this twig (as my something from nature). I first tacked it into place with one Glue Dot. Then, I put the cutting matt beneath the page and poked holes with my awl. Next, with a needle and waxed linen thread (it's nice and strong), I sewed the twig into place.

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I kept playing and having fun with this collage and here it is! Ta da! Note that I used our Handy Red Labels to label everything. I love these labels...and they're our special of the week, hooray!

Okay, so, there are 3 parts of this one art challenge and here they are:
1. Make a collage using packaging from goodies that you like (I've got my fave tea, bakery, shopping at Old Navy, bath salts and I stamped with my wine cork.)
2. Add polka dots (I've got polka dots that I made with a red Sharpie on my tag on the far right). (OPTIONAL)
3. Add something from nature (I've got my twig) OR a print (I stamped my wine cork onto a red rubber stamp pad to make the little tag above). (OPTIONAL)

Wow, so are you ready?!

Art Challenge #5 (or 9) SUMMARY: Get Inspired by The Things You Enjoy! Collect packaging from items that you enjoy and make a collage with them in any way you'd like. OPTIONAL: add polka dots, add something from nature and/or add texture by using one of your items dipped in acrylic paint, ink pads, etc.

How To Play in This Art Challenge: Scan your collage and post it online to your blog, flickr account, website or our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #5 Weekly Art Challenge").

Next, click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your gred so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

Deadline: Tuesday morning, November 17, 2009

Prizes: My cute kitties will randomly pick 3 participants and they will each get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice! Hooray!

Winners & Next Art Challenge To Be Announced: Wednesday, November 18

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WINNERS from Last Week's Art Challenge: Get Inspired by Texture!

Hooray for the wonderful, creative 13 artists that had fun playing with gifts from nature! Inca picked 3 winners which will each get 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Here's who she picked:

I printed all of the artists' names, cut them out, spread them out on a table and put a treat next to each name. Then Inca got to pick 3 treats to gobble down! The name that was attached to that treat won! What fun! Congrats to Peggy, Marion and Marina!

See you next Wednesday with the next art challenge! I am hoping to make it related to the holidays in some way so that we can all get a jump start on them! : )

Get Inspired & Creative with Art Challenges! (free online class - #4 of 9)

Hooray for the 14 of you that played in the third part of our online class: Get Inspired by Color! So many vibrant, colorful collages to enjoy! You can see most of them in our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #3 Weekly Art Challenge").   My kitty, MoMo, volunteered to pick all 3 winners this week (scroll down a bit). Each of the winners get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice. Hooray!

And now, let's continue expanding our creativity together with a new art challenge! Now is the perfect time to jump into my free online class! Come join the fun! : )

Art Challenge #4 (of 9): Get Inspired by Texture!

Ahhh, it's a wonderful time to take a break and treat yourself to a breathe of fresh air and a nice walk. While you're out for your stroll, gather gifts from nature. Look for unusual textures. I collected leaves, seed pods, berries, branches, feathers and more.

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Before we play with all of our collected items, let's make a simple background in our art journals. I glued down some vintage papers and adhered them to the page with a UHU gluestick. Then, I dipped my paint brush in a bit of white gesso and painted the page randomly. I focused on putting a thin layer of gesso here and there so that you could still see the vintage papers peeking out from the background.

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Now, get out some acrylic paints. I'm feeling a bit Christmas-y these days, so I picked these colors: chocolate brown, red, green and ochre. These are just inexpensive acrylic paints from Michaels. You can use whatever acrylic paints you have on hand.

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Now, make a grid using one of your found items. I drew my grid lines by dipping a leaf stem into brown paint. Fun! Now, play! Try dipping your items into acrylic paint and make imprints of them. See what happens when you dip your items into a few colors and press them on the page. Try painting your leaves and pieces with a foam brush first and then imprint them on the page. Have fun and play, play, play!

You can see above that I placed the item that I made the imprint from next to each section. For example, on the top left, I used that pine needle branch to make the red imprints. Below that is a leaf that I painted with a foam brush and then pressed onto the page at various angles. On the top right, I dipped that green moss into green paint and sponged it on.  Below that is a twig with dried pods...I painted it with green and red and then pressed it around on the page. I had a blast doing this!

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More imprints! It's amazing the variety of textures you can find just outside your door. If you live in the city, I bet you could make an awesome grid filled with imprints of bottlecaps and modern found objects.

Same as above, you can see the item that I made the imprint from next to each section. On the top left is a neat seed pod, love the wing like shapes that it makes. Next to that are some rosehips that I dipped in paint. They sure make a fantastic polka dot background! On the bottom right is a twig covered in moss, I painted it with a foam brush in ochre and red and then pressed them onto the page. Love this repeated shape.

I'm thinking that these imprints would make gorgeous backgrounds for collages and maybe even my Christmas cards this year. We shall see. : )

Art Challenge #4 (or 9) SUMMARY: Get Inspired by Texture! Take a walk and collect leaves, twigs, rocks, berries, etc. (anything that has a neat texture that you want to play with). Then make a grid in your art journal (or on a piece of paper) and make imprints of your found objects.

How To Play in This Art Challenge: Scan your grid that shows all of your imprints and post it online to your blog, flickr account, website or our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #4 Weekly Art Challenge").

Next, click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your gred so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

Deadline: Wednesday morning, November 11, 2009. (Note, you've got an extra day for this art challenge!)

Prizes: My cute kitties will randomly pick 3 participants and they will each get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice! Hooray!

Winners & Next Art Challenge To Be Announced: Thursday, November 12 (special day next week)

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WINNERS from Last Week's Art Challenge: Get Inspired by Color!

Hooray for the wonderful, creative 14 artists that made great color collages! MoMo picked 3 winners which will each get 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Here's who she picked:

I printed all of the artists' names, cut them out, spread them out on a table and put a treat next to each name. Then MoMo got to pick 3 treats to gobble down! The name that was attached to that treat won! What fun! Congrats to Cheryl, Michele and Gena!

See you next Thursday with the next art challenge and a whole lot more!!! : )

 

 

Get Inspired & Creative with Art Challenges! (free online class - #3 of 9)

A big round of applause for all 25 of you that played in the second part of our online class: Get Inspired by Your Reading Materials! So many cool collages to view! You can see most of them in our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #2 Weekly Art Challenge").   My kitty, Bruno, volunteered to pick all 3 winners this week (scroll down a bit). Each of the winners get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice. Hooray!

And now, let's continue expanding our creativity together with a new art challenge!

Art Challenge #3 (of 9): Get Inspired by Color!

First, go through your magazines, catalogs and/or photos and find one that has a color scheme that you like. I picked this page out of a Marie Claire Idees magazine (love this mag!!!). Love the bright reds and cute kitty!

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Now, pull out supplies in the colors that you see in your photo or magazine page. You may want to give yourself a time limit of 15 minutes or something like that. Otherwise you may find yourself lost in your supplies. lol. I pulled out Cute Kitties, red german scrap, an old letter, fabrics, decorative papers, and velvet leaves.

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Now, where to start? You could just start making a collage out of the supplies that you pulled out. But I decided to start this collage by making my background first. I wanted to challenge myself to keep playing with the round stamp that I used in the last challenge. (An excellent way to expand your creativity is to keep playing with the same thing and see where it takes you.)

So, for this background, I stamped my round circles. And then I used a hole punch to punch circles out of the decorative papers that I had pulled out. I adhered them with a glue stick. And then I painted the red background with Daniel Smith watercolor paints. Love their colors...really nice and vibrant. When I was done, I sprayed a bit of shimming mist across the whole page for fun.

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Play and start moving the items that you pulled out around in a pleasing way. There is no right or wrong so just play and enjoy this creative time.

What I did: I started cutting and adding images. I wanted to bring some elements in from the magazine page (in addition to color) so I added the cats and a letter.

At some point, I decided that I wanted to add white dots across my background. To get them to be more uniform, I layed this Red Mesh on top and then I put white dots in the middle of each section...it was a great help.

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Ta da! Here is my finished collage. As you can see, I ended up making a house shape with 3 kitties inside and check out all of that red, wowza! I had so much fun playing with all of my red supplies that I couldn't resist spelling our "FUN." Tee hee! You'll also find Red Wings (the special of the week), Lucky button, Victorian Roses and see that cool bit of ribbon with nests - if all goes as planned, we'll have it for sale on our site in mid November. I bought some in Vancouver and decided that we all need to get our hands on some! It's really lovely!

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I glued the magazine page into my journal on the left side as my reminder to show what inspired this collage. If you're using a journal, please do this too. : )

Art Challenge #3 (or 9) SUMMARY: Get Inspired by Color! Pick a magazine page, catalog page or photo that has colors that you like. Pull out supplies in those colors and make a collage. Be sure to include circles and dots in any medium you'd like.

*Please SAVE YOUR SCRAPS and hold onto them for a future challenge.*

How To Play in This Art Challenge: Make a collage inspired by colors from a page in a magazine, catalog or photo and include dots and circles. (Please show us the page or photo that inspired your collage too).

Scan them and post them online to your blog, flickr account, website or our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: #3 Weekly Art Challenge").

Next, click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your collage so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

Deadline: Tuesday morning, November 3, 2009.

Prizes: My cute kitties will randomly pick 3 participants and they will each get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice! Hooray!

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WINNERS from Last Week's Art Challenge: Get Inspired by Your Reading Materials!

Hooray for the wonderful, creative 25 artists that made cool collages out of their favorite magazine! Bruno picked 3 winners which will each get 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Here's who he picked:

I printed all of the artists' names, cut them out, spread them out on a table and put a treat next to each name. Then Bruno got to pick 3 treats to scarf down! The name that was attached to that treat won! What fun! Congrats to Joy, Sabine and Carol!

Get Inspired & Creative with Art Challenges! (free online class - #2 of 9)

A big round of applause for all 25 of you that played in the first part of our online class: Get Inspired by Pattern (and make a grid filled with circles and dots). It was great to see all of the unique and fun ways we can make dots and circles. Some of my favorites were postage cancellation rubber stamps and imprints of medicine bottle lids and Cheerios. My kitties have randomly chosen 3 winners (scroll down a bit) that will each get free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Hooray!

And now, let's continue expanding our creativity together with a new art challenge!

Art Challenge #2 (of 9): Get Inspired by Your Reading Materials! (And that's mainly magazines for me!)

How to start: Pull out one of your favorite magazines. I bought this September issue of Vogue awhile ago and finally made the time to go through it. Tear out images that inspire you. I pulled out this cool photo of trees, some cute pieces of clothing....anything and everything that caught my eye.

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Next, cut out and rip up your images you were inspired by. Then, try moving them around on a piece of watercolor paper (in your art journal if you have one) and get them in positions that look good to you. Remember, you're just playing...don't get too caught up on making something perfect. This entire art challenge is all about fun, playing and expanding your creativity.

You may notice that some of the images I cut out...others I tore into rectangles. I think it's nice to have a variety so try to cut some things out and tear others. Also, try to have little and big images for variety too. 

Glue everything down with a gluestick. I like UHU gluesticks.

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Now, pull out your circle and dots grid that you made in the first challenge. Pick one of your sections and add that pattern to your collage. Jazz it up a bit if you'd like, change the colors, etc. 

I picked a pattern from my grid that included a circular rubber stamp. So, I stamped it in my collage here. I noticed there was a neat symbol that appeared in a key in my collage so I decided to add it into my circle pattern. First I drew it in pencil, then colored everything in with watercolor crayon. This is what it looks like before I blend the watercolor crayons with water and a brush.

If you did not participate in our first challenge, don't worry, you can jump in here. You can do this art challenge and just add dots and circles to your collage, no worries.

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Next, I blended in my watercolor crayons....see how much better my background pattern looks, lol. Remember to always blend your lightest colors with water first...and your darkest colors last.

Then I added circles and dots with watercolor crayons and my handy dandy plastic circle template. I also added little polka dots with a Souffle pen. Get creative, add dots and circles in a variety of ways.

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Here's a picture with all of the supplies I used to create this collage. A Vogue magazine, circle templates, circle rubber stamp and Ancient Page (good because it doesn't run when you add watercolors), watercolor brush, watercolor crayons, pencil, Souffle pens, 2 kinds of scissors (one for big cuts and the grey handle scissors are great for more detailed cutting), UHU gluestick.

Art Challenge #2 (or 9) SUMMARY: Get Inspired by Your Reading Materials! Grab one of your favorite magazines and tear out images and ideas that you're drawn to and that inspire you in some way. Cut and rip them up and glue them down to make a collage. Add circles and dots in any medium you'd like.

*Please SAVE YOUR SCRAPS and put them in a zip lock baggie for a future challenge.*

How To Play in This Art Challenge: Make a collage using images from one of your favorite magazines and add dots and circles in a variety of ways.

Then scan it and post it online to your blog, flickr account, website or our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge #2").

Next, click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge grid so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

Deadline: Tuesday morning, October 27, 2009.

Prizes: My cute kitties will randomly pick 3 participants and they will each get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice! Hooray!

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WINNERS from Last Week's Art Challenge: Get Inspired by Pattern!

Hooray for the wonderful, creative 25 artists that made grids filled with circles and dots! My kitties picked 3 winners which will each get 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Here's how they picked the winners:

I printed all of the artists' names, cut them out, spread them out on a table and put a treat next to each name. Then one by one, the kitties came up and got to eat one treat. The name that was attached to that treat won! Bruno was first up and picked Glenda! Then Inca picked Carol! And lastly, MoMo picked Cat! Too fun!

Get Inspired & Creative with Art Challenges! (free online class)

Let's Try Something New:
An Online Class on Inspiration and Creativity with Art Challenges!

I recently taught a fantastic class on art challenges and inspiration at Art and Soul (scroll down and you can find lots more about my trip). I enjoyed the class so much that I started thinking...hmmm...wouldn't this be a fun class to teach online? So, let's do it!!! I'm excited!

Over the next 9 weeks, I'm going to teach you how to expand your creativity through fun art challenges. With all of the art challenges I'm going to hit you with....the key is to get into the process and not focus on the end result too much. In these art challenges, you're not trying to create amazing art...you're just trying to get in touch with your creativity. For this reason, I will not be picking winners for these art challenges. Instead, my kitties will! Each week, my cute kitties will randomly pick 3 winners and those 3 winners will get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice. Cool, eh?

So, let's begin!!!

Art Challenge #1 (of 9): Get inspired by Pattern!

First, dig out your supplies:
We're going to focus on circles and dots as our pattern to explore. So, dig out a big sheet of watercolor paper (or even better: a spiral notebook with 9" x 12" watercolor pages), your favorite pens, pencils, paints, etc. and all the circles you can find.

I pulled out my watercolor crayons because I can't live without them, watercolor pencils, Sharpie markers, hole punches, circle template, round rubber stamps and Ancient Page (I like how its waterproof...good when combining with watercolors), page protectors, decorative polka dot papers, etc.

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Next, draw your grid lines (I used a watercolor crayon). And then start playing with all of the supplies you pulled out. Don't think too much. Just play. Don't worry about making it pretty and having the colors coordinate, etc. Just have fun making circles and dots.

Here's what I did:
In the top left, I made the dots with nailpolish on top of a watercolor wash. Below that are circles I made using a Sharpie and my handy dandy circle template.

Below that is a piece of green polka dot scrapbooking paper that I randomly colored in a few of the dots with blue crayon.

Middle column, top: More drawing with a Sharpie and watercolor wash. Below that is gold german flowers that I circled with watercolor pencils. I want to try circling more objects to make patterns...will be fun.

Bottom of the middle column is dots made using sequin waste. I used acrylic paint and a makeup sponge and used the sequin waste as a stencil. Fun!

Top right is a rubber stamp that I colored in with crayons. And the other 2 on the right column are more Sharpie drawing with watercolor washes.

Again, the key with all of this is to just have fun playing with dots and circles. Put on some fun music and play, play, play.

About the process:
Warning: once you do this art challenge...you may become obsessed with polka dots and you'll start seeing them everywhere you go. This is a good thing! Don't question it...continue to stretch your creativity thinking of how to make cool polka dot patterns and go for it whenever you can.

Keep in mind, you can work on filling up your grid all in one sitting. Or you can wake up each morning this week and set a time limit of a favorite song or two and then fill in 1-2 sections every day. Your choice....whatever is most comfortable for you.

How To Play in This Art Challenge: Make a grid and fill it with dots and circles.

Then scan it and post it online to your blog, flickr account, website or our YahooGroup (Photos section: "Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge").

Next, click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge grid so I know where to see it online and if you can, please let us know what your favorite way to create dots and circles was. (Let's learn from eachother too!) In addition, please link back to my blog. 

Deadline: Tuesday morning, October 20, 2009.

Prizes: My cute kitties will randomly pick 3 participants and they will each get to pick 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice! Hooray!

New Art Challenge & Specials!

Weekly Art Challenge: Little Big Combo!

For these 2 weeks, make a little collage (1" square) and combo it up with a large collage (4" square or ATC 2.5" x 3.5").

Here I made a 4" square collage and added the inchie with the bird cage on the top right. I started by making the background on the 4" square collage using a circle template, sharpie, watercolor crayons and walnut ink. Next I added images from Bird on a Wire, E is for Egg and Sepia Birds (our blog special) And lastly, I added my birdcage inchie with a pop-up glue dot. It was a lot of fun and a great challenge!

How to play in this art challenge: Make an ATC (2.5" x 3.5") or 4" square collage PLUS add an inchie (1" square collage) to it.

Then scan your art and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

I love seeing all of the Art Challenge entries together so, if possible, can you please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge. Be sure to include your full name with your post.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, October 13, 2009.

Prizes: My favorites will get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice!

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ARTchix Bonus Gift (Sept 30 - Oct 14): Inchie Stickers!

Place an order and get these awesome stickers that you can collect and add to your artwork! Get them by ordering our special below OR simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we'll be sure to tuck it into your order.

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ARTchix Special (Sept 30 - Oct 14): Sepia Birds!

Oh, I just love these elegant birds, birdcages and branches! I used some of them in my collage above. Get this must-have collage sheet at half price for the next 2 weeks only! Go to this special link to purchase it.

If you get this sheet, you'll automatically receive our fun bonus gift of the week: my inchie stickers. Hooray!

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See you next time: Wed, Oct 14!

I'm heading off to Art and Soul in Portland with my Mom. It's going to be a fun girls trip! Hope to see you there! I will be back Wed, Oct 14, with photos from my trip and art classes and oodles of inspiration, for sure! See you then! : )

New Art Challenge & New Specials!

Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Pink and Green!

For these 2 weeks, play with two of my favorite colors: pink and green!

I had so much fun playing with pink and green to make these fun Paris-themed bookmarks for our recent swap! I simply cut out ARTchix images, ripped up pretty wrapping papers and scrap papers and glued them all to our Watercolor Bookmarks with a UHU gluestick. I changed the colors of the butterflies and some of the other images by adding a bit of watercolor crayon to them. I did this to keep them close to my green and pink color palette. I really enjoyed making these and am already thinking about Christmas. Wouldn't it be nice to give friends and family nice books with handmade bookmarks?

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) with pink and green. Then scan your art and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

I love seeing all of the Art Challenge entries together so, if possible, can you please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge. Be sure to include your full name with your post.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, September 29, 2009.

Prizes: My favorites will get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice!

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ARTchix Special: Paris Bookmarks Kit!

I had so much fun making my Paris-themed bookmarks above using these fabulous products together! In this special kit, you'll receive: The Heart of Paris collage sheet, Papillon collage sheet, Tell Me Another Story collage sheet and Watercolor Bookmarks. You'll be able to make 12 glorious bookmarks for yourself, friends and loved ones! Follow this special link to get this fun kit!

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Get Special, Paris-Inspired Bonus Gifts With Your Order, Hooray!

If your order is over $25 before shipping, we will include this fabulous bonus gift with your order! Here's what you'll receive:

* Lovely French Stickers featuring art by Helga

* A Delightful Paris-themed Bookmark by Helga

* A button that says "Art Chick in Paris" (great as a cool thumbtack or wear it with a smile!)

Quantities are limited so get 'em while you can!

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If your order is over $100 before shipping, we will include this fabulous, big bonus gift with your order! Here's what you'll receive:

* Lovely French Stickers featuring art by Helga

* A Delightful Paris-themed Bookmark by Helga

* A button that says "Art Chick in Paris"

* 3 Old French Dictionary Pages

* Mini Eiffel Tower and Mini "Paris" charms

* Pretty Paper Flowers

Quantities are limited so get 'em while you can!

New Art Challenge & New Specials!

Weekly Art Challenge: Checkerboard Fun!

For this week, add a checkerboard to your art!

I love making simple checkerboard backgrounds. In this piece, I tore bits of wrapping paper into squares and then glued them onto watercolor paper with a glue stick. Then I rubbed the edges with watercolor crayons to blend the background together.

Next, I added the lovely woman, flower and words from our Tell Me a Story sheet. They say "be bright beautiful blooming bliss." Love it! I finished this collage by sewing on some pink seed beads.

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) with a checkerboard. Then scan your art and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

I love seeing all of the Art Challenge entries together so, if possible, can you please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge. Be sure to include your full name with your post.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, September 15, 2009.

Prizes: My favorites will get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice!

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Gorgeous Papers from My Trip!

Enjoy some of the lovely papers I purchased on my trip to Vancouver. (I used them in my collage above.) I'm happy to share with you.

Order our blog special below OR simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we'll be sure to tuck this gorgeous collection of papers and goodies into your order! Quantities are limited so offer only good while supplies last.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Loveliness!

Get this beautiful sheet at half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it. I just love this sheet, it's a classic!

If you get this sheet, you'll automatically receive our fun bonus gift of the week: a delightful selection of papers from my trip to Vancouver. Hooray! Quantities are limited so get 'em while you can.

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Bit of Inspiration by Joy Meadows

I'm totally in love with this card by Joy Meadows! She made a cool checkerboard for the background with our Passion for Pink collage sheet. The pretty woman is from our Loveliness collage sheet (the special for this week). And I love how she has a Pink Flower in her hair along with Tiny Pink Dotted Scrap along the bottom. So pretty! This piece was my inspiration for our art challenge for this week. Thank you Joy!

New Art Challenge & Specials!

Weekly Art Challenge: To Have and To Hold!

For the next 2 weeks, make a piece of art that shows a person or animal holding something.

This challenge was inspired by these fabulous bookmarks from our Paris swap. Laura Barnes created the ones on the far right and left and Eileen Terhaar Clark created the one in the center. I love how all of the figures are holding mini Eiffel Towers. Looks so fantastic!

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) with a person or animal holding something in their hand or hands. Then scan your art and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

I love seeing all of the Art Challenge entries together so, if possible, can you please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, September 8, 2009.

Prizes: My favorites will get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Fabulous Paper Dolls!

Make fast, easy and delightful paper dolls with this fabulous sheet! Get this cardstock sheet at half price for the next 2 weeks only! Go to this special link to purchase it.

If you get this sheet, you'll automatically receive our fun bonus gift of the week: a Paris bookmark by our swap winner, Laura Barnes. Hooray!

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Barbara Delisle played with our Fabulous Paper Dolls sheet (our blog special above) and made this awesome paper doll for our upcoming Paper Doll Swap. Get your Paper Dolls today so that you can play in this fun swap too!

Deadline to put your paper dolls in the mail to us is Sept 15th so if you want to play, please order your paper dolls right away so that you can get them in time.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Paris Bookmark by Swap Winner: Laura Barnes!

Order our blog special OR simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we'll be sure to tuck this gorgeous Paris-inspired bookmark into your order!
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See you Wed, Sept 9th!

I will be away from my computer next week so my next post will be Wed, Sept 9th. I'll be back with a new art challenge, inspiration, cuteness and more. See you then! Hope you're enjoying the beautiful summer weather. I was on a hike recently and found this cool heart rock!

New Art Challenge & Specials!

Weekly Art Challenge: Masterboard Playtime!

For the next 2 weeks, make a copy of my masterboard and add it to your artwork! Enjoy making whatever you want . Print a good copy (follow this link and right click on the image and select "print") and start playing!

I recently read a great article in Stampers Sampler. It was about creating a Masterboard which they describe as: "The artist first creates a "master" by layering many elements of color and graphics together on a page. The process should be reckless and random. Once satisfied, the artist makes several copies of the master. The copies are then used as backgrounds, panels and elements in other projects." What a fantastic idea!

I was so inspired that I immediately ran to my art supplies and created the masterboard shown here. It was so fun! I randomly glued down scraps of decorative papers and added ARTchix words and images. Then I highlighted areas with watercolor crayons and rubber stamps.

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) using my masterboard provided. Then scan your art and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

I love seeing all of the Art Challenge entries together so, if possible, can you please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, August 25, 2009.

Prizes: My favorites will get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice!

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: My Masterboard Sticker!

Don't have a printer but want to play in my art challenge? Place an order and get this awesome sticker that you can add to your artwork! Get it by ordering our special below OR simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we'll be sure to tuck it into your order.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Bird on a Wire

Oh, I just love this adorable birds! I used them in my masterboard collage above. I can't resist adding them to all of my art lately. Get this must-have collage sheet at half price for the next 2 weeks only! Go to this special link to purchase it.

If you get this sheet, you'll automatically receive our fun bonus gift of the week: my masterboard sticker. Hooray!

New Art Challenge & New Specials!

Art Challenge of the Week: Here Kitty Kitty!

For this week, add a cat to your artwork!

Earlier this year, I played with the tiger image that is found on my favorite tea package (Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice). Well guess what, I drank another package's worth of tea and had another box to play with. Hence, I decided to bring back the kitty and play with him again!

This time, I've got him popping out of a tulip. And he's telling us to "embrace this beautiful day" (words from our Tell Me Another Story sheet). The background is snippets of wrapping paper, Enchanted Garden sheet and scrapbook paper. I divided them up with bits of Silver Border. Everything is glued to a Watercolor Square with a UHU gluestick and a PVA adhesive for the heavier papers.

Please join in the fun and make a piece of artwork with a kitty cat!

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) with a cat. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, August 11, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a fabulous, fun-filled goodie bag!

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Tiger Stickers, Yay!

Enjoy these fun stickers featuring my tiger artwork! Get them by ordering our special below OR simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we'll be sure to tuck them into your order.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: My Art Challenges II Sheets


My first tiger collage appears on this sheet! This sheet is excellent to cut up and use in your artwork or follow the art challenges listed and use them to spark up your art! Get these sheets at half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase them.

If you get these sheets, you'll automatically receive our fun bonus gift of the week: tiger stickers.

New Art Challenge & New Specials!

Art Challenge of the Week: Just Add Turquoise!

For this week, add the color turquoise to your artwork. After enjoying the beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean Ocean, I'm obsessed with this color and can't wait to dig out my turquoise paints and pens.

When I got home from my trip, this fabulous decorated envy from the talented Gena Boone-Curtis was waiting for me. Isn't it cool??!!

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) using the color turquoise as your main color. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, August 4, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a goodie bag filled with our gorgeous Turquoise Scrap.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Her Words Collage Sheets

I just love these sheets! The phrases are so fun and uplifting! Get these 2 fabulous sheets at half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase them.

If you get one or both of these sheets, you'll also automatically receive this fun bonus gift:

ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Cool Inchie Stickers!

I added fun words from the Her Words sheets above to some of the cool photos from my trip and turned them into these fabulous little stickers for you! I just love them! They're so bright and colorful! Add them to your art journals, envies and more! Get them by ordering our special above or by simply typing "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we'll be sure to tuck them into your order.

Greetings from the Bahamas!

Greetings from the Bahamas!

Cheers!!! I'm on vacation in the beautiful Bahamas and having an incredible time! I'm just in love with all of the bright colors everywhere. Let me show you some of the gorgeous things that have caught my eye...

The gorgeous turqouise waters...and my honey!
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Adorable birdies along the shoreline.
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Beautiful blooming hibiscus!
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Isn't this amazing?!!
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Sweetie!

I fell in love with this wild dog. She followed me everywhere for a day and I was on cloud 9. She's such a sweetheart...which is why I named her Sweetie. That night, I talked to my parents on the phone and told them all about her. We agreed that I would to take her to the vet and get her all taken care of and she'd have a new home with them but when I got up the next day, she was gone. I'm so sad but am still holding out hope that she will come back.
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ARTchix Special (July 15 - 29): Our Mermaidens Collage Sheet


As you can see, I'm feeling mighty beachy these days. So, I thought this collage sheet was perfect to put on special for you! Get it for the next 2 weeks at half price! Go to this special link to purchase it: http://www.artchixstudio.com/mall/xblog.asp

Keep in mind that if you order this special collage sheet....you'll also get:

ARTchix Bonus Gift (July 15-29): An Ocean-Themed Goodie Bag!

Happy, happy, joy, joy! Get this awesome fun-packed goodie bag by ordering our special above or by simply typing "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order when ordering online.

I will see you next time on Wed, July 29, when I'll be back with a new art challenge, new specials and lots more inspiration! Hope you're having a wonderful Summer!

New Art Challenge & New Specials!

Art Challenge of the Week: Play with Pink and Blue!

I made these fun ATCs for our recent Art Blast swap (inspired by our Art Blast Playing Cards). You can find them in the new Chixies Art Blast Collection. And you can also get them in our new bonus gift that's being offered for the next 2 weeks only.

To make them, I simply cut out ARTchix images (the ones that are available in our special kit) and glued them down to our ATC blanks with a glue stick. Lastly, I added a few rub-ons and defined my edges with watercolor crayon. These were so much fun to make and they came togther really quickly! Now I've decided that I'm in love with pink and blue! I can't wait to play with this color combination some more!

How to play in this art challenge: Make a piece of art (any size or shape) and play with pink and blue. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, July 7, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive the new Chixies Art Blast Collection. I will announce the winner on Wed, July 8.

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ARTchix Special: "Bright Eyes" ATC Kit

These are the fabulous products that I used to make my ATCs above. I've put them all together for you so that you can enjoy making some fun, colorful ATCs too! Get them all bundled up for a special discounted price for the next 2 weeks only.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift: Colorful Stickers + Cool Button!

Prepare to be spoiled!!! If your ARTchix order is over $25 (before shipping), we will tuck in this super bonus gift! You'll receive colorful faux postage stickers featuring art by Helga, 2 "I love ARTchix stickers" by our talented featured artist: Sanna Burgess, AND a cool button that says "glamour girl."

Offer good only while supplies last so order today! : )

New Quote Challenge + Specials

Art Challenge of the Week: Brighten Up an Uplifting Quote!

For this week, art up an uplifting quote that you enjoy.

I read this great quote in a magazine and wanted to do something special with it. Right now, my big goal is to lose weight so having this by my desk helps keep me motivated. One morning, I got up early and just wrote out the quote in thick markers. Then I dug out my scrap bin and just glued down random scraps of paper and doodled a bit with watercolor crayons and pens. This took me about 20 minutes to do. Try it, it's so much fun!

How to play in this art challenge: Art up a favorite, uplifting quote. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, June 23, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a fun goodie bag with a selection of our new products that we'll be introducing next week. I will announce the winner on Wed, June 24.

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ARTchix Specials of the Week: Sassy Style & Spring Blossom

These two sheets were used in the artwork made by our talented swap artists below. I was so inspired by how they really brought them to life! Wowza! Now you can play with them too! Get these gorgeous sheets for half price this week only! Follow this special link to purchase them.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Fab Stickers by Our Swap Winner - Norma Skoglund

For this week, get these awesome stickers featuring gorgeous art by our swap winner: Norma Skoglund! Simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we will include this fabulous bonus gift with your order.

Or order one of our blog specials of the week and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

Grid Art Challenge + Specials

Art Challenge of the Week: Make a Grid of Art!

For this week, make a grid of art! It's so much fun! Here is my inspiration behind this challenge...

The other day, I was flipping through Somerset Studio's Gallery Summer 2009 Issue. I came across this wall art grid by Shari Ulman. I love it! It made me think about a piece of artwork that I have hanging in my bedroom...

I see this print every morning by Jan Williams when I wake up. No wonder I love grids so much! lol. In any case, seeing these 2 pieces above helped me decide what I wanted to do with my receipts and tickets from my trip...

Here are the business cards, receipts, tickets and ephemera that I collected in Amsterdam. (Note: I have 4 more bags of receipts for the other cities that I visited...lots more to do, lol!) I made a simple blue watercolor wash on watercolor paper for the background. Then I started cutting and ripping up my receipts, etc. I kept them all approx. business card size so that it would be nice and easy. And I cut up the receipts a bit so that you can see what we ate for dinner, etc. So, essentially, it's a visual travel journal of our trip. Pretty cool. They felt a little naked so I added some images from our When Dreams Take Flight collage sheet...and a few snippets from our Tell Me a Story collage sheet. For example, I added "beautiful dress" to the business card where I bought a gorgeous dress from. It still feels like it needs something. Hmmm...will let it percolate for a bit.

In the meantime, your challenge for this week is to make a grid of art! You can make the items in your grid any size you'd like but make sure they're all approx. the same size. They can be squares, circles or rectangles...your choice.

How to play in this art challenge: Make a grid of art. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, June 16, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a fun goodie bag. I will announce the winner on Wed, June 17.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: When Dreams Take Flight Collage Sheet

I love this sheet that my Mom designed! I enjoyed using it to spice up my grid collage above. Get this gorgeous sheet for half price this week only! Follow this special link to purchase it.

Order it today and get our free bonus gift: pretty papers from Paris!

Also, order it and play in our fun upcoming swap: Blue MOO Cards!

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I couldn't resist sharing this gorgeous altered house by my aunt, Dianna Rapp! She used an image from our special sheet above along with our E is for Egg sheet and our Lucky Bird Buttons. Love it!

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Beautiful Papers from Paris!

For this week, get these lovely pieces of wrapping paper that I bought in Paris (cute birds in birdcages, cool pen nibs and beautiful palm trees)! Simply type "SPOIL ME" in the comments section of your order and we will include this gorgeous bonus gift with your order.

Or order our blog special above and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

Note: Offer good while supplies last (we have 12 in stock!). Each piece of wrapping paper is approx. 4.5" x 5.5".

I'm Back with a New Art Challenge + ARTchix Specials

Guess what?! I'm Back!

Isn't this postcard by Adolie Day fantastic?!!! It says "Our Chick Has Arrived!" Love it!

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Weekly Art Challenge: Make a Background out of Receipts & Ephemera!

When I was in Paris, I bought this beautiful card. If you look closely, this talented artist (Sophie Adde), made a background out of newsprint and ephemera. Then she painted on top of it with acrylic paints. I think it's absolutely gorgeous and so inspiring!

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It brought to mind a painting that I did after James and I got married. This is a huge canvas that hangs in our dining area. First, I painted the background with ochre acrylic paint. Then I randomly glued on receipts from our honeymoon and misc. papers from our wedding. Next, I got out a big paintbrush and painted the heart on top of all of the papers and added the green background, etc. I also used a toothbrush to flick on paint and I put the paint on heavy in some places so that it would drip down. I really enjoyed painting this and it's such a special memento of our wedding day and honeymoon.

Now I've collected and saved the receipts and misc. papers from our recent trip to Europe. And I'm thinking about what I should do with them. I haven't decided exactly yet but I'm thinking something like this would be fun. Will be sure to show you when I do. : )

In the meantime, your art challenge for this week is to collect receipts and misc. papers from your week and then use them in a background for a collage of any size you'd like. You can paint over them or keep them as is, your choice. I just think it will be fun to play with receipts in our backgrounds. : )

How to play in this art challenge: Make a collage of any size that includes receipts and/ or pieces of ephemera in the background. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, June 9, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive some fun goodies from my trip. I will announce the winner on Wed, June 10.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Bird Stickers!

I got this gorgeous old book in Amsterdam and it's filled with incredible bird illustrations! Yay!

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I turned one of the beautiful illustrations from this book into these fabulous bird stickers. For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include these 3 awesome sheets of stickers.

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: "Garden" Collage Sheet Collection

When I got home, I was delighted to see that so many flowers in my garden are in bloom! Hooray! It made me think about this lovely collection of garden images. Get this gorgeous collection for half price this week only! Follow this special link to purchase it.

Order it today and get our free bonus gift: beautiful bird stickers!

Weekly Art Challenge: Celebrate Birds & ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: Celebrate Birds!

It's finally Spring and the birds are singing! Yay! For this week, make an ATC (or collage of any size) that features a beautiful bird or birds in it.

I made this ATC for our upcoming swap: Art Blast ATCs. It was so fun! I made this ATC with ARTchix images: Fly Little Bird (our special this week), The Eyes Have It, Grow Blossoms, Tell Me Another Story), pink tinfoil ornaments that I bought in Mexico ages ago and rub-ons.

How to play in this art challenge: Make an ATC (or collage of any size) that features a beautiful bird or birds in it. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, May 5, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a fun goodie bag. I will announce the winner on Wed, May 6.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Fly Little Bird collage sheet

Make ATCs with this sheet for our Art Blast ATCs Swap! Hurry, you must get your artwork in the mail to us by May 15th. Follow this special link to purchase this sheet!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Buttons, Inchie Stickers & More!

Great news! We're still celebrating our gorgeous new products! So, prepare to be spoiled! Type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this extra magnificent gift for you! You will receive:
* 2 awesome buttons
* a fun set of inchie stickers by Helga
* new "I love artchix" sticker by new featured artist: Claire Selby
* and more!

Or order our blog special above and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray! Offer good only while supplies last.

Weekly Art Challenge: What Do You Love? + ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: What Do You Love?

For this week, make a twinchie (2" square collage) and show me something that you love.

I recently made these fun twinchies for an ARTchix swap. You can find them on our new Chixies True Colors sticker collection. And I've also turned them into a special set of inchie stickers (get them free with your order this week if it's over $25 - before shipping).

I had an absolute blast making these twinchies! I challenged myself to make them only using our Spoil Me collage sheet, Passion for Pink collage sheet, Tell Me Another Story collage sheet and some fun pink floral paper that I bought on a trip. Once I started cutting out the images, the words from the Tell Me Another Story sheet took over and I found myself collaging about things that I love. What fun!

How to play in this art challenge: What do you love? Make a twinchie (2" square collage) dedicated to something or someone that you love. Make sure it says "I love..." or something similar on your collage. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. 

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, please post your artwork for this challenge to our YahooGroup: Photos: Helga's Blog: Weekly Art Challenge.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, April 28, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a fun goodie bag. I will announce the winner on Wed, April 29.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Pink Twinchie Kit!

Now, you too, can enjoy making fun twinchies with this handy dandy kit! I've pulled together the collage sheets and twinchie watercolor cards that I used to make my bright and cheery twinchies above.  Enjoy! Follow this special link to purchase everything!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Buttons, Inchie Stickers & More!

Great news! This week, we're celebrating our gorgeous new products! So, prepare to be spoiled! If your order is over $25 (before shipping), we've got an extra magnificent gift for you! You will receive:
* 2 awesome buttons
* a fun set of inchie stickers by Helga
* new "I love artchix" sticker by new featured artist: Claire Selby
* and more!

Weekly Art Challenge: Inspired by Our Swaps & ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: Be Inspired by Our Winning Swap Artists!

For this week, look at the gorgeous artwork made by our winning swap artists below. Amazing, eh?! Pick one or more of the winning collages below and make a piece of artwork inspired by it. I picked Shannon Sawyer's beautiful twinchies:

I love Shannon's purple hued color palette and I love her layers of flourishes. I was inspired to break out a package of rub-ons that I've had tucked away for some time.

Here's what I made:

I made this fun birthday tag for a friend. I used the Lavender Lovelies collage sheet in the background like Shannon did. And I added rub-ons too. What fun! I also included my favorite image from our Exotic Jewels sheet.

How to play in this art challenge: Look at the winning artwork from our swap below. Find one or some pieces that inspire you and make a piece of artwork (any size or shape) inspired by them. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog. Please be sure to note which winning artist you were inspired by.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, April 21, 2009.

Prize: My favorite will receive a fun goody bag with samples from some of our new sheets that will be coming out next week. I will announce the winner on Wed, April 22.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Inchie Stickers!

Enjoy Shannon Sawyer's gorgeous artwork! For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome sheet of inchie stickers.

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: "Lavender Lovelies" collage sheet

Get this gorgeous collage sheet for half price this week only! Follow this special link to purchase it.

Order it today and get our free bonus gift: lovely inchie stickers by Shannon Sawyer!

Help Me Pick the Next Swap + ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: Help Me Pick the Next Art Swap!

For this week, I'd love to hear your ideas for what our next ARTchix art swap should be.

Here's what our last 3 swaps have been:
- a twinchie (2" square collages) swap with our spoil me chick
- Valentine swap with our Pink and Red German Scrap
- ATC swap with our Art Flourishes

In addition, we are in the middle of hosting a "True Colors" twinchie swap. And coming up, we have an ATC swap inspired by our playing cards along with a Paris Bookmark swap.

Now, I need to come up with our next swap which will be due in September. Keep in mind, that we need to keep the artwork on the small side and relatively flat so that shipping isn't too expensive.

I would love to hear your ideas!

How to play in this art challenge: Dream up a fabulous art swap! Do you have a favorite ARTchix collage sheet or product? How about coming up with a swap using it? If possible, please make a piece of artwork as an example for your swap idea. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Or if you have a great swap idea but are not able to make an art sample for it, feel free to just post a comment here and tell me about your swap idea.

Deadline: Tuesday morning, April 14, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite swap idea...and the winner will receive one of my fun Paris -themed goodie bags. I will announce the winner and our next swap on Wed, April 15.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Purple and Yellow Collage Packs!

I'm in a color swap right now and I had to make up collage packs with purple and yellow papers. What fun! I made 8 extras for you! 

So, for this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome goodie bag filled with beautiful purple and yellow papers.

Or order our blog special and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

Note: I have only made 8 of these special bonus gifts so this offer is only good while supplies last. So get 'em while you can!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: "Open the Door" Buttons!

I just love these buttons! They remind me of what I want to do this Easter with my family: "open the door", "collect moments" and "ponder mysteries." Get them for half price this week only! Follow this special link to purchase them.

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Wishing You a Very Happy Easter!

Pamela McKenzie sent me this cute photo. She received this cute pink chick in one of her orders from us and she decided to display it in this clear box and put it in her studio. The clear box keeps it safe from her adorable kitties. So cute!

Happy Easter Chixies!!!

Weekly Art Challenge & ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: Celebrate Paris!

Oh, how I love Paris! For this challenge, make a collage celebrating this beautiful city! Think about what you'd do there: shopping, seeing art, lounging in cafes, touring the Eiffel Tower, etc... and make a piece of art honoring the fun things to do and see in Paris.

I made this fun ATC envisioning a girls trip to Paris someday. We would drink champagne, see lots of gorgeous art and collect wonderful treasures at the flea markets.

I am entering this ATC into our current YahooGroup ATC Lottery which has a "fantasy" theme. There's still time for you to play if you'd like. You just need to make an ATC with one of your fantasies (and at least one ARTchix product) and post it to our YahooGroup by March 29th. You could win my ATC above along with lots of other gorgeous ATCs made by our YahooGroup artists.

I used several ARTchix products in my ATC: Happy Chix collage sheet, Trip to France collage sheet (our Weekly Special), Gold French Borders, Tell Me a Story and Tell Me Another Story collage sheet and our Watercolor ATCs.

How to play in this art challenge: Make a collage of any size or shape celebrating the city of Paris. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, April 7, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorites from those entered in this challenge...and the winners will receive fun Paris -themed goodie bags. I will announce the winners on Wed, April 8.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: "Paris" Inchie Stickers!

For these 2 weeks, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome set of Paris- themed inchie stickers with your order.(#13 in our blog sticker series).

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

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Surprise Bonus Gift:
See the cute pink fuzzy chick on the top of Lenna's computer? We're tucking these adorable little pink chicks into our orders that are packaged in boxes. So, ya never know, you may be surprised with one of these cuties!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Trip to France collage sheet:

Get this fantastic collage sheet for half price for these 2 weeks only! Go to this special link to purchase it. Get it and play in our upcoming art swap: "Paris" Bookmarks!

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Hooray for Jackie!

Here in ARTchix-land, Jackie McColl makes sure that your ARTchix orders are perfect along with a million other things. We are so lucky to have her! Jackie is also an amazing artist! Now you can see her gorgeous artwork on Flickr! Hooray!

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Upcoming Schedule:

Wed, April 1: I'll pop in for a quick post with just your Weekly Dose of Cuteness.

Wed, April 8: I'll be back with the winners of our Paris Art Challenge along with your Weekly Dose of Cuteness, ARTchix specials, a new Art Challenge and MORE! : )

Weekly Art Challenge & ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: Get Inspired by Art in Your Home!

For this week, look around your home and find a piece of artwork that inspires you. I picked this cool cherry painting that I bought in Mexico. I love how it's simple, beautiful and fun all at the same time.

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Now, make something! After studying my cherry painting from Mexico, I decided to make a grid of little squares and play with putting images inside them. I tried to include only the top third of each image (similar to the cherry painting) and I kept the backgrounds really simple. I tried to go stark white like the cherry painting but just couldn't do it. lol. So, instead, I glued down some vintage text and painted some white gesso on top. On some of the squares, I added a bit of watercolor crayon to give them a bit of a green and orange tint. This was a really fun challenge!

In this piece, you'll find images from: My Art Challenges sheet, Women in Art sheet, Art Blast sheet (Note: this is the weekly special), E is for Egg sheet, Good Kitty sheet, Dreaming in White sheet and all of the words are from Tell Me Another Story.

How to play in this art challenge: Take a photo of a piece of artwork in your home that inspires you. Then make a collage or anything you'd like that is inspired by this piece. Be sure to include a photo of your art inspiration along with the art that you create.

OR if you're loving my cherry painting, feel free to make a piece of art inspired by it.

Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, March 24, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a fun goodie bag. I will announce the winner on Wed, March 25.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Inchie Stickers!

For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome set of inchie stickers with your order.(#12 in our blog sticker series).

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Art Blast collage sheet:

Get this stunning collage sheet for half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it. Get it and play in our upcoming art swap: "Art Blast" ATCs!

New Art Challenge, Special and Fluffy Chicks!

New Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Purple, Yellow and Green!

For this week, dig out your art supplies and focus on papers and paints that are purple, yellow and green. I recently played with this color combination when I made these ATCs for our Art Flourishes swap. I was pleasantly surprised by how well they looked together.
In these 2 ATCs, you'll find images from our Hats in Bloom collage sheet (our blog special this week), Art Flourishes collage sheet (that I hand colored with felt tip pens), Butterfly Butterfly collage sheet, Tell Me a Story collage sheet and Tiny Pink Dot Borders (that I aged with alcohol inks).

How to play in this art challenge: Make a collage of any size or shape featuring the colors: purple, yellow and green. 

Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online. In addition, please link back to my blog.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, March 17, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a fun goodie bag. I will announce the winner on Wed, March 18.

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ARTchix Blog Special of the Week: Our Hats in Bloom Collage Sheet

This is one of my favorite collage sheets! These gorgeous gals and their blooming hats make me smile and they look great on everything! Get this fantastic sheet for half price for this week only! Follow this special link to purchase it!
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INSPIRATION with Hats in Bloom by Cindy McMath:

Don't you just LOVE these funny ATCs that Cindy made?! She paired our Hats in Bloom with our Art Bingo collage sheet!

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Get 2 Free Gifts Today!

We're in the process of celebrating our fabulous new products on our website! Hooray! So, order today and get 2 free gifts:

GIFT #1: Order today and get this awesome new free gift that I just designed!

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GIFT #2: If your order is over $25 (before shipping), we'll tuck in these awesome stickers of cute chicks and more! Offer good while supplies last so get 'em while you can! : )

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BIG GIFT #2: Guess what?! If your order is over $100 (before shipping), we will add this delightful fun-packed gift to your order! It includes cute chick stickers, a fluffy pink chick, colorful tags by Helga and more! Offer good while supplies last so get 'em while you can! : )

Weekly Art Challenge & ARTchix Specials

Weekly Art Challenge: Have a Cup of Tea & Make a Collage With the Packaging!

For this week, enjoy a wonderful cup of hot tea and save the packaging! I could go on and on about my love for tea. I usually drink at least 2 steaming mugs of tea everyday. Since July of last year, I have been on a quest to lose weight and get fit. So far, I've lost over 50 pounds and I must say that drinking tea has helped to keep me warm, happy and satisfied. My favorite tea of all time: Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice. This is the box it comes in:

After you drink your yummy tea, make a collage out of the packaging. Here's what I made:

Don't you just LOVE this tiger from the tea packaging?! I put him on this ATC and added images from the Spring Blossom collage sheet (our blog special this week) that I colored with watercolor crayons to give them a brighter, richer hue. I also added polka dots with a pink Souffle pen by Sakura (great pens!). "Embrace the Earth" is from our new collage sheet: Tell Me Another Story (which will be available on our website next Wed).

How to play in this art challenge: Enjoy a cup of tea and then make a collage out of the packaging. 

Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, March 10, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a fun goodie bag. I will announce the winner on Wed, March 11.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week (Mar 4 - 11):

For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome set of mini stickers with your order.(#11 in our blog sticker series).

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Spring Blossom collage sheet and/or transparency sheet:

Get this gorgeous collage sheet and/ or transparency for half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it. Play in our upcoming swap: "Art Blast" ATCs with this collage or transparency sheet!

Spring Blossom - INSPIRATION by Laura Carson:

Aren't these ATCs just gorgeous?! Laura used the Spring Blossom collage sheet in the background and added micro beads to the flowers to bring them to life. She has also included a strip of our Medieval Borders on the bottom of each ATC. Wow, these are just stunning!

See you next week for more fun and creativity! : )

Weekly Art Challenge: Have an adventure day & celebrate it with a collage! (Feb 18, 2009)

The Art Challenge for the Next Two Weeks (Feb 18 - Mar 3): Have an adventure day & celebrate it with a collage!

This week or next week, find a day or even just an hour to give yourself an adventure! Go somewhere new that you've always wanted to go or a special place that you've been meaning to go back to...a shopping trip, a museum, a garden... anything that gets you giggling when you think about it.

Recently, James and I went to Vancouver. And I had an amazing adventure day to myself! I went for a walk, took a ferry to Granville Island and shopped around and took photos. I took the photo above and I just love it! It makes me so happy looking at it remembering what I special day I had. As a gift for you, I've put a high resolution copy of this photo here.

On my adventure day, I bought these fun goodies: pretty ribbons and notecards, Japanese papers and a cool new rubber stamp by Judikins.

I decided that I wanted to celebrate my adventure day with a special collage in my art journal. So, I challenged myself to make a collage showcasing my new purchases and the cool photo that I took at that special day. And voila, here it is!

For the background, I used my new rubber stamp with Ancient Page stamp pad. Then I scribbled pink and turquoise watercolor crayons on top of it. Next, I made tags with my bird and tree photo, new Japanese papers and new ribbons. What fun! You can see that I also added eggs and fabulous Chixies Flying Inchies to help tell my story about the day.

How to play in this art challenge: Take yourself on an art adventure and make a collage of any size celebrating your special day. Or if you're not able to find a day for yourself, feel free to play in this art challenge by making something with my photo.

Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, March 3, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a fabulous goodie bag with paper and ribbon swatches from my adventure day in Vancouver. I will announce the winner on Wed, March 4.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week (Feb 18 - Mar 4):

For these 2 weeks, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome set of mini stickers with your order.(#10 in our blog sticker series).

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

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ARTchix Special of the Week: E is for Egg Collage Sheet and/or Transparency Sheet

Get this magnificent collage sheet and/ or transparency for half price for these 2 weeks only! Go to this special link to purchase it. Play in our upcoming swap: "Art Blast" ATCs with this collage or transparency sheet!

E is for Egg - INSPIRATION by Belinda Schneider:

I love how Belinda Schneider used the E is for Egg sheet in this ATC and tag. So cute! Don't you just love her backgrounds?! You can get some on our ATC Inspirations collage sheet. I also love how she has the flower chick popping out of the egg on the left...the woman is from our Hats in Bloom collage sheet and she's sporting our Gold Wings.

The cutie on the right wearing an egg hat is from our Faces from the Past collage sheet. Her little bird is from our Garden collection.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
Wed, Feb 25: I'll pop in for a quick post with just your Weekly Dose of Cuteness.

Wed, Mar 4: I'll be back with the winners from our recent Flourishes ATC Swap, a new art challenge, inspiration, cuteness and more! : )

Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Pink and Brown!

The Art Challenge for this week: Play with Pink and Brown!

For this week, get out your pink and brown pens, crayons, pencils, papers and bits and make a little something.

What I did: I decided to have fun making a pink and brown mosaic in my art journal. I started by making grid lines and then filling in the squares with pink and brown watercolor crayons and pens. I had fun doodling, scribbling and not worrying or thinking about what I was going to do with all of this. This photo above shows what my page looked like after my first layer of just watercolor crayons, pens and rubber stamps.

My finished mosaic, yay! : )

Lucky for me, I recently made up pink and brown goodie bags for a swap that I'm in. So, I had a little baggie filled with pink and brown papers, images and tid bits...all ready to go.

I would recommend that you give yourself a time limit of about 15 minutes or so to pull all of the pink and brown paper and bits that you can get your hands on. This challenge will be so much easier if you limit yourself to just a little pile of pink and brown goodies to play with on your art desk.

Once you've got all of your pink and brown stuff together, start ripping, cutting and playing. I had so much fun layering my pink and brown papers onto my grid. I just played and tried not to think too much. I found that I had to get quite creative since I only had a small amount of goodies to play with. But that's what I ended up loving about this art challenge. I find that I'm always more creative when I limit the supplies I can play with.

Once I had everything cut and torn out, I glued everything down with my trusty UHU gluestick and Tacky Glue. Then I added some more dots and details with more watercolor crayons and pens.

I really enjoyed this challenge and can't wait to do it again! By the way, there are 10 glorious ARTchix products incorported into my mosaic: Art Blast Playing Cards, Winged Cuties collage sheet, Chixies Valentines Collage Sheet Collection, Sepia Guys collage sheet, Key to My Art Collage Sheet (which is our special for this week), Pink Flowers, Chocolate Wings, Pink Wings, Dazzling Doorways Collage Sheet and our Spoil Me collage sheet. WOW!

How to play in this art challenge: Make anything you'd like using only a pink and brown color scheme. Bonus points if you make a pink and brown mosaic! Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, February 17, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a fabulous pink and brown goodie bag from me. I will announce the winner on Wed, Feb 18.

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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: A Pink and Brown Super Fabulous Goodie Bag

Great news! You can get a pink and brown goodie bag like the one I used to make my pink and brown mosaic above. All you have to do is type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome collection of pink and brown papers and goodies with your order.

Or order our blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

Note: I've made up 10 of these special gifts so offer good only while supplies last. Get 'em while you can! : )

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Key to My Art Collage Sheet

Get this magnificent collage sheet for half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it.

Key to My Art Collage Sheet - Inspiration:

I'm totally in love with this ATC on the left by the talented Stephany Zerbe! You'll find a Key to My Art image in the lower right....along with images from our Butterfly Butterfly collage sheet. Did you know that you can get a copy of this stunning ATC along with matching buttons?! Hooray!

On the right are two lovely ornaments made by the wonderful Elaine Fong! What fun! She has made mini collages with our Key to My Art collage sheet, Tell Me a Story transparency sheet, Large Antique Copper Memory Frames and Glass.

Weekly Art Challenge: Treat Yourself and Make Something with the Wrapping!

Weekly Art Challenge: Treat Yourself and Make Something with the Wrapping!
I recently bought a package of amaretto cookies from Starbucks. Yum! They're delicious with a cup of tea. I thought the wrapping was so pretty, I couldn't possibly throw it away! So, I made a collage with it....

In this collage, you can see that I ripped up the amaretto cookie wrapping and added bits and pieces to my collage background. You'll also find colorful doors from our Dazzling Doorways collage sheet, an adorable Winged Cutie, along with bits of wrapping and scrapbook papers.

My collage is about my destiny and where I've been and where I'm going to. One door says "USA" because that's where I was born and lived most of my life. Another door says "Canada" because that's where I live now. And the third door says "Next?" I'd love to play with more doors in my collages, they have so much meaning and significance. These doors in particular brought back fond memories of my husband and I walking the streets of London and Paris snapping photos of these lovely doors.

By the way, I glued everything down using my trusty UHU gluestick. And I made the circles using a plastic circle template and watercolor crayons.

How to play in this art challenge: Make anything you'd like using the wrapping from a treat. Yes, even chocolate! If you can, show us your treat! Then show us what you've made with it. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Wednesday morning, February 11, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a fun goodie bag from me. I will announce the winner on Thurs, Feb 12.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Dazzling Doorways Collage Sheet:

Get this magnificent collage sheet for half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it.
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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week:

For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome set of mini stickers with your order. Or order our blog special above and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!
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Special Time:
See you next Thursday, Feb 12! I will announce the winner of my One World One Heart Giveaway along with a new art challenge, the winner from this week's art challenge, inspiration and more!

Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Black and White!

Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Black and White!

For this week, play with black and white and grey. I was inspired to play with this color combination after reading Somerset Studio's Jan/ Feb 2009 issue. The theme for that issue is black and white so I wanted to give it a whirl! And my, was it tough for me! I LOVE color. So, I found only being able to use black and white was really hard for me. I will have to try this some more so that I can get more comfortable with it.

I made the twinchie (2" square collage) with our Fade to Black collage sheet, Elegant Insects collage sheet and 2" Watercolor Paper Squares...along with watercolor crayons, black pen and black waxed linen thread. It was fun but definitely a challenge for me!

How to play in this art challenge: Make a twinchie (2" square collage) using only a black, white and grey color scheme. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission with "Blog Art Challenge" as your subject line. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, February 3, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive my black and white twinchie above with a mini goodie bag of black and white papers. I will announce the winner on Wed, Feb 4.

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Weekly ARTchix Special: Fade To Black Collage Sheet:

Get this splendid collage sheet for half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it. And then please join us by making twinchies (2" square collages) with this sheet for our upcoming swap: True Colors Twinchie Swap (deadline March 10, 2009). Please see our website for details.

Fade to Black Collage Sheet - INSPIRATION:

Cindy McMath and Christy Laudig are both playing in our True Colors Twinchie Swap. They made these 2 awesome twinchies with our Fade to Black collage sheet. Cindy's is on the left and Christy's is on the right. They also both feature our Glamour Girls collage sheet. And Cindy's includes a strip of Black Baroque Border. Aren't they awesome?! Come play in our swap and you might get one of these cool twinchies!
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Weekly ARTchix Bonus Gifts:
Great news! In honor of our fabulous new products, we're pleased to continue offering 2 fabulous bonus gifts. One for orders $25 - 99. And one for over $100. Get 'em while you can for this week only!! : )

Weekly Art Challenge: Play with your Scraps!

For this week, play with your paper scraps that are leftover from a project.

Recently, I made these fun valentines for an ARTchix swap. When I was done, I found myself with a pile of yummy paper scraps that I couldn't possibly throw away!

So, I got out my art journal and randomly glued them all down without any idea of what direction I was going in. Over the next few days, I spent 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there...just tinkering with it. And before you know it, I had this fun journal page featuring the 4 loves of my life! Cool! I don't think you can read what I wrote on each heart so I will tell you what my 4 biggest loves are: ARTchix, James, my family (which includes my pets) and myself. : ) I really enjoyed this art challenge. And I bet you will too!

How to play in this art challenge: Make a collage of any size or shape using your paper scraps leftover from a project. If possible, please show us what your original project was...and then what you made from the scraps. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your art challenge post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday morning, January 27, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my 3 favorites from those entered in this challenge...and the winners will receive the inchies, ATC and collage made below...as inspired by our new Art Blast Playing Cards. I will also include a mini goodie bag for each winner too. I will announce the winners on Wed, Jan. 28.

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ARTchix Special of the Week: Tiny Pink Dot Borders (Jan 21 - 28)

I'm in love with our pink dot borders! You can see that I used them a lot in my valentines at the beginning of this post. My new favorite technique is to add dots of alcohol ink to these borders and blend them with a makeup sponge a bit. It gives them such a rich, hand-dyed look. On the right, you can see the borders without alcohol ink...and on the left, I've added dabs of Wild Plum alcohol ink. Just love it! I know you will too! Get our Tiny Pink Dot Borders at half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase some.

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ARTchix SUPER SWEEEET Bonus Gifts of the Week

We're celebrating our awesome, new products this week! So, we've got 2 fabulous bonus gift options for you. No codes or anything needed. All you have to do is place an order at ARTchix Studio for above the required amount (see details below) and we'll tuck these extra goodies in with your order.

BONUS GIFT
If your order is over $25 (before shipping), we'll include this gorgeous sheet of stickers featuring my valentines on them...along with a sample of one of our fabulous Art Blast playing cards.

BIG BONUS GIFT
For this week, if your order is over $100 (before shipping), we will automatically include this incredible bonus gift with your order! Prepare to be spoiled! You will receive: a sticker sheet with my pretty valentines, a sample of one of our Art Blast Playing Cards, 3 mini valentine cards and envies (that match the stickers) AND a yummy chocolate. WOW!

Jackie couldn't resist playing with our BIG bonus gift! She arted up the mini envelopes and transformed them into extra cute valentines!

Weekly Art Challenge: Make Valentines!

Weekly Art Challenge: Make Valentines!
For this week, make valentines to express your love and appreciation for the special women in your life.

First: Color Play!
Before I started making my valentines, I did a little color play exercise. I dug out my Twinkling H20 watercolor paints because I never use them! Then I scribbled down blocks of watercolor crayons in different colors. In my page shown here, you can see the original Twinkling H20 paints on their own on the far left, top (colors are Royal Orchid, Key Lime and Teal Zircon). Then, next column is 2 shades of brown with the same Twinkling H20s brushed over them. Next column is shades of blue...then green...then red and orange...and then yellow....all with the Twinkling H20s brushed on top of them.

I loved the results of this exercise and will definitely be using my Twinkling H20s a whole lot more! My favorite combination ended up being red watercolor crayon with Royal Orchid Twinkling H20 on top...gorgeous! (it's the one that's at the top, second over from the right) I decided to incorporate this fun color combination into my valentines below!

Second: Valentines, yay!
I really enjoyed making these valentines for the special women in my life. I started by making the hearts out of watercolor paper. First I folded a 4" square piece of paper, drew half of a heart and then cut it out so that I got my template. Then I traced the heart onto watercolor papers and cut them out.

Next, I cut out and added my Winged Beauties and decorative papers to the hearts with a UHU glue stick, along with stickers to spell out names.

Before applying the German Pink Border, I added a bit of Wild Plum alcohol ink to it to give it an aged look. (I love this easy technique...now I'm addicted to putting alcohol inks on all of my German Scrap!!!) Then I adhered it with Tacky Glue.

Then, using a black Micron pen, I wrote around the edges of the hearts: things that I love about these wonderful women in my life.

Finally, I added the beautiful painted background (which is my favorite color combination from my paint exercise that I talked about above): red watercolor crayon - scribble it all around, blend with water, then dab Royal Orchid Twinkling H20 on top with a damp paintbrush. Notice how I left the edges with just the pure red, I thought this looked neat.

What fun! If felt really good to make my Mom, aunt and girlfriends special valentines this year. Wanna make one or some for the special women in your life? Let's spread the love!

How to play in this art challenge: Make at least one valentine using any supplies you wish. Then scan and post it to your blog, flickr account or website. Next, click on "comment" at the bottom of this post and leave a note with a link to your valentine post so I know where to see it online.

If you don't have a website or blog or anything, feel free to email me your submission. (helga@artchixstudio.com)

Deadline: Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

Prize: I will pick my favorite valentine from those entered in this challenge...and the winner will receive a handmade valentine and mini goodie bag from me. : ) I will announce the winner on Wed, Jan. 21. 

More Winged Beauties Inspiration!
Check out the awesome chunky book page by Jill Schulse above, on the left. Love how she drew fishnet stockings on this winged beauty!

And my, doesn't this winged beauty look stunning in this Classic DreamBox by Kathy Cameron on the right. So lovely and elegant!

Weekly ARTchix Special: Winged Beauties collage sheet (Jan. 14 - 21)
Get this exquisite sheet of delightful winged beauties at half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it.

ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Chixies Valentine Stickers!

For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome set of Valentine stickers with your order. Or order our blog special above and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray! This sheet of stickers includes fabulous art by the winners of our Valentine Swap: Kelly Parsons, Allison Berringer, Sanna Burgess, Norma Skoglund and Shannon Sawyer.

Cindy Tries Out Last Week's Art Challenge!
The talented and wonderful Cindy McMath tried her hand at last week's Art Challenge (Make a collage out of an ad!). Love it! Don't miss her new, awesome blog: Pink Bird Studio!

Weekly Art Challenge: Make a Collage out of a Magazine Ad!

Weekly Art Challenge: Make a Collage out of a Magazine Ad!
For this week, go through any magazine that you have laying around your house and tear out an ad that inspires you. Then start cutting it up and playing with it. For my collage here, I started with an ad for coffee (that's the main image in the center). Then I cut up the text in the ad and reworked it so that it reads: Express Yourself. Do it. The Most Majestic Experience. Cool, huh? Then I added bits of paper scraps, ephemera, Victorian Roses, and watercolor crayon scribbles. I loved doing this and will surely do it again! Next time, I'll scan the ad first before I make the collage so you can get a better visual of what the ad looked like initially.

This art challenge is so much fun!! If you're inspired and decide to make a collage out of an ad, can you please post it on your blog and link to here? I would love to see!! : )

As you can tell by my art challenge collage above, I love our Victorian Roses! You can see how I added one to my collage on the right (the rose looks so pretty tucked into our Spoil Me chick's hair) and don't ya just adore Linda Kunsman's pretty collage on the right with the brilliant red rose?

Other featured ARTchix products in these 2 lovely collages: Winged Cuties collage sheet, Gold French Borders, and Tiny Iridescent White Dot Borders.

Weekly ARTchix Special: Victorian Roses (Jan. 7 - 14)
Get this exquisite sheet of lovely paper roses at half price for this week only! Go to this special link to purchase it.

ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Mini Sticker Sheet #8

For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this awesome mini sticker sheet with your order. Or order our blog special and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!

Weekly Art Challenge: Wrap More Gifts!

Weekly Art Challenge: Wrap More Gifts!

For this week, keep staying ahead of the Christmas rush by wrapping some more gifts. I wrapped this set of gifts for my dear friend, Suz. I will be mailing them to her because it's her birthday in a couple of weeks. I wrapped each present and then made little tags for each one of them.

When I'm mailing gifts, I like to put little notes on the top to make it more festive and fun and to hint at what's inside. The pink gift is a pretty journal so I wrote on the tag: wishing you peace. The green gift is a funky camera so I wrote on the tag: wishing you art. And the leopard print gift is a piece of jewelry so I wrote: wishing you fun.

These tags were so easy and fast to make! I had some scraps of watercolor paper that I rubbed with watercolor crayons and blended them by spraying on Moon Glow's Moon Shadow Mist. This gave them a neat glow. When dry, I added Fairy Dreams images, labels and sticker alphabets.

Gorgeous DreamBox featuring our Fairy Dreams Collage Sheet

This beautiful Heart DreamBox by Rosie Radcliffe features an image from our Fairy Dreams collage sheet in the center. Love the bright turquoise and pink colors along with all of her painted dots and symbols. So cool!! Would make such a nice gift!

Beautiful Artist Trading Cards featuring our Fairy Dreams Collage Sheet

Top left: ATC by Linda Kunsman. Love how Linda created a halo with a Red Flower. And the Red Baroque Scrap Borders on top and bottom look so pretty!

Top right: ATC by Kelly Parsons. Love Kelly's colors! It's neat the way she paired the Gold Flower Border and Pink Flower Border on the bottom.

Bottom left: ATC by Jackie McColl. Love how Jackie wrapped an ATC with Egg Blue and Brown Ribbon. Then she tucked in the fairies, awesome!

Bottom right: ATC by Kelly Burton. Love how Kelly made a little crown for the fairy with a piece of Gold Baroque Border. Then she used the same border in black at the bottom for repetition. Excellent!

ARTchix Weekly Special: Our Fairy Dreams Collage Sheet

These beautiful fairies made by Belinda Schneider kept popping up in my studio this week! I want you to enjoy them too so I'm making them the special for this week.

Get this awesome fairy collage sheet at half price for this week only! Jazz up your holiday projects with this gorgeous sheet! Go to this special link to purchase it.

Weekly Bonus Gift: Angel Goodie Bag

The fabulous bonus gift for this week is an angel themed goodie bag! It includes sweet angel images, white angel wings, vintage sheet music and mini tinsel garland. For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this fabulous bonus gift with your order. Or order our weekly blog special and we will automatically include this sweet bonus gift. We have made up 12 of these goodie bags for you...so get them while supplies last.

Make a beautiful ornament or tag out of our bonus gift this week! 
Jackie McColl made this pretty tag, I just love it! She added vintage sheet music to a Twinchie. Then added the angel image and the wings (she rubbed the white wings with blue watercolor crayon first). Lastly, she punched holes and strung on the tinsel garland.

Weekly Art Challenge: Play in a Swap!

Weekly Art Challenge: Play in a Swap!

This week, sign up to participate in an art swap. They're so helpful in getting your creative juices flowing. How about trying an ARTchix swap? Or do a search for art swaps online. They're so much fun! I wasn't feeling very creative this week but I HAD to put together my collage packets for a Red and Green Collage Packet swap that I'm in. Knowing that the deadline was right around the corner, MADE me get creative! I went through my stash and pulled out red and green papers galore. You'll find paper napkins, paint samples, wrapping papers, True Colors ARTchix Cards, Handy Red Labels, Red Wings, Red Baroque Borders, Chinese red money envelopes, ephemera and more. I cut and tore them all up into pieces and then stacked them into these little piles. This makes them super easy to put together.

Voila! Here is a Red and Green Collage Pack all put together. Pretty, yes? : )

With the scraps that were left over, I made this pretty label to put on all of my red and green collage packs.

ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Fabulous Red & Green Collage Pack

I made 20 of these gorgeous red and green collage packs. 10 are for the swap that I'm in. And 10 are for you! For this week, type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this extra fabulous bonus gift with your order. Or order our weekly blog special below and we will automatically include this bonus gift. It's an amazing gift pack that's guaranteed to spark your creativity! While supplies last.

ARTchix Special of the Week: Our Inchie Celebration Collage Sheet

Get this awesome red and green inchie collage sheet at half price for this week only! Jazz up your holiday projects with this gorgeous sheet! Go to this special link to purchase it.

Bruno stikes again! While I was trying to take photos of the papers and goodies for my red and green collage packs, Bruno had to jump in on the fun.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!! : )

Weekly Art Challenge: Wrap Up a Gift!

Weekly Art Challenge: Wrap Up a Gift!

For this week, get a jump on the holidays by wrapping up a special gift or two. I find that if I start early, I'm able to put more time and thought into wrapping each present. And one of my favorite things about Christmas is wrapping presents. 

For the gift above, I wrapped it in pretty paper and made a nice gift tag by simply folding a paint sample in half and adding a sticker from our Peace, Tranquility and Harmony faux post.

Lori Lundy sent me this gorgeous wrapped gift. I love how she punched out hearts and glued them to brown wrap to spice it up. Looks so pretty! Love her cute tag featuring two adorable girls from our Sisters and Friends collage sheet.

Here I've wrapped up a cookbook in pretty pink and green wrapping. I added buttons to the ribbon and the gift tag is a copy of one of my chunky book pages (printed on cardstock). My friend's name is "Mel" so see how I added her name to the "gift tag."

ARTchix Special of the Week: Our Spoil Me Buttons

Jazz up your holiday gift wrap with these gorgeous buttons! They make awesome stocking stuffers too! Get some at a discounted price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy them!

ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Gift Wrap Kit

For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this awesome bonus gift: a selection of wrapping paper swatches from Helga's private collection, pretty punched out hearts and butterflies and fun stickers. Perfect for making your holiday wrapping extra beautiful this year!

OR purchase the weekly special above and we'll automatically include this cool bonus gift with your order. While supplies last.

Okay, with all of this "talk" about gift wrap, I couldn't resist sharing this photo of my adorable Bruno! It was taken during my birthday this year, as soon as I opened this box, he jumped right in and settled in for a long nap.

Weekly Art Challenge: Make holiday ornaments! (Nov 12, 2008)

Make Holiday Ornaments!
For this week, get a jump on the holidays and make up an ornament or two or three. They make such wonderful gifts and all of the ones I'm showing here on my blog are sooo fast, easy and FUN to make!

Both ornaments above were made with Tall Silver Memory Frames and Microscope Slides. Simply cut your images to the size of the glass, sandwich them between glass and pop them into the frames.

The images in the ornament above on the left are from our Creative Keepsakes Kit. And on the right, "Feather Your Nest" is from our Feather Your Next faux postage sheet.

Bamboo Ornaments!
These cute ornaments also look great as purse charms! How to make them: glue Spoil Me images to Red Bamboo Tiles. Then cover with Diamond Glaze and let sit overnight. Then string on Skinny Legs, beads and boot charms with beading wire.

Mini DreamBox Ornaments!
I love these mini DreamBoxes! Paint them with any brand of acrylic paint. I usually like to paint at least 2 coats. Put a dot of glue on the back of your image, drop it into the frame and then use a toothpick or tweezers to nudge the image into place. The image on the left is from our Imagine collage sheet. The image on the right is from our Spoil Me collage sheet. Finally, embellish 'til your heart's content. For the lime green ornament, I added found text plus dots of white paint. And on the purple ornament, I added more found text plus black heart rub-ons and Chocolate Wings with rhinestones. Yay!

DreamBox Pendant Ornaments!
Jackie McColl made these beautiful ornaments with our DreamBox Pendants! She simply painted the dreamboxes with acrylic paints, dropped in bird images from our Pretty Bird collage sheet, and then embellished them with Pink Flower Borders, Black Mini Crown, Black Baroque Borders and rhinestones. So pretty!

Tall DreamBox Ornaments!
I love these DreamBoxes because you can hang them like ornaments or you can stand them up on your desk. It's really nice having the choice! Both of these DreamBoxes were painted with plain ol' acrylic paints. Then images were dropped in: bird images from Chixies Flying Inchies on the left (the window of this frame is 1" x 3" - perfect for framing a set of 3 inchies!) and of course, our beautiful Spoil Me chick on the right. Rhinestones were added to both ornaments. And then I added rub-ons and a Rasperry Metal Rose to the lime green one. I love putting rub-ons on top of the frames and glass, looks so cool!

ARTchix Special of the Week: Our Set of 2 Tall DreamBoxes

It's the perfect gift for this holiday season! You can make special DreamBoxes with fun themes and happy messages for yourself,  friends, family and coworkers. These great DreamBoxes can be ornaments or special mini frames for displaying desktop artwork (because they have a hang hole on the back AND a stand).

Get some at a discounted price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy them! At this great price, you can afford to give everyone the gift of your creativity this holiday season! Order this week and get our awesome holiday-inspired bonus gift!

Bruno likes ornaments too!
While I was taking photos of the ornaments for my blog, Bruno couldn't resist getting in on the action! : )

Hope you have a great week! ; )

Weekly Art Challenge: Make Holiday ATCs! (Nov 5, 2008)

Weekly Art Challenge: Make Holiday ATCs!
Get a jump on your Christmas and holiday cards this year by making a set of holiday Artist Trading Cards. Once you make them, you can copy them and add them to the front of cards (instant Christmas cards!) or use them as gift tags on packages or..... You'll be able to share your beautiful art with everyone this year without too much effort and time.

Where Do You Start?!
Well, I knew that I wanted my ATCs to be green and red so first, I pulled out my wrapping papers, ephemera and collage sheets that have these 2 colors. Then I picked my favorite paper from the stack (which is the red coral with green background) and then I started ripping and tearing and playing from there. And of course, I had to include my muse. : )

BONUS Gift of the Week: Enjoy one of my holiday ATCs and matching stickers!
To celebrate our new fabulous products, this week, if your order is over $25 (before shipping), we will automatically include this fabulous bonus gift with your order. This awesome bonus gift includes a fun ATC and matching mini sticker sheet by Helga...along with a length of silver tinsel. While supplies last.

BIG BONUS Gift of the Week: Enjoy a set of my holiday ATCs, stickers and YUMMY FUDGE!
To celebrate our new fabulous products, this week, if your order is over $100 (before shipping), we will automatically include this amazing bonus gift with your order. This awesome bonus gift includes a set of 3 fun ATCs and 3 matching mini sticker sheets by Helga...PLUS a lucky vintage horseshoe or wishbone charm PLUS a piece of *delicious* chocolate fudge from Quebec, Canada. While supplies last.

Our Big Bonus Gift = Gorgeous Gifts!
Jackie McColl loved wrapping up this gift using our Big Bonus Gift ATC, stickers and lucky vintage wishbone. Looks soooo nice!! : ) Now you can make your prezzies look extra lovely this year too!

ARTchix Special of the Week: NEW "Handmade with Love" sheet
Get this awesome collage sheet and/or sticker sheet at a special discounted price for this week only! Spice up your holiday cards, gift wrap and prezzies with this gorgeous sheet! Follow this special link to buy them!

Weekly Art Challenge: Make a Set of Twinchies! (Oct 29, 2008)

Weekly Art Challenge: Make a Set of Twinchies (2" square collages)!
For this week, make a set of 3 or 6 twinchies (2" square collages). I recently made these twinchies for an ARTchix swap and I had so much fun! I loved the little 2" square surface to play with. It's small but not too small if you know what I mean.

On the left, you can see the front of my 6 twinchies. First, I selected a few pieces of coordinating papers. Then I glued them down to our Twinchie Watercolor Squares in various ways to create fun backgrounds. Then I added images from our Spoil Me sheet along with words from our Tell Me a Story sheet. Easy peasy and super fun!

On the right, top, you can see the backs of my twinchies. And in the lower right, there is one of my twinchies all packaged up. I included a cute ticket, Pink Wings and my favorite tea of the moment: Wild Sweet Orange.

For inspiration, here are some beautiful twinchies from the ARTchix swap:

Twinchies with Inchies (1" square)!
Isn't it neat to see how all of these artists added inchies to their twinchies in such unique ways???
Top row, left to right: Sanna Burgess, Tina Shoaga and Jade Adams.
Bottom row, left to right: Kim Smith, Martha Yee, Renee Stockfleth.

Twinchies with Round Images!
Isn't it neat to see how all of these artists added round images to their twinchies in such cool ways???
Top row, left to right: Jackie McColl, Gena Curtis, Jutta Konig.
Bottom row, left to right: Coral Collingsworth, Christine Hendry, Tina Shoaga.

Twinchies with Slide (1" x 3") Images!
This is definitely one of the popular images that many artists enjoyed using from our Spoil Me sheet. Love seeing how these artists played with this slide sized image (1" x 3").
Top row, left to right: Michele Hale, Tina Shoaga, Jane Miley.
Bottom row, left to right: Charlotte Fern, Martha Yee, Joy Meadows.

Weekly ARTchix Special: A Special Twinchie Kit for you!
Make twinchies for all of your loved ones in no time with these 3 essential items (that I used to make my twinchies above): our Spoil Me collage sheet, Tell Me a Story collage sheet and Twinchie Watercolor Squares. Get them together at a discounted price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy them!

Guess what?! You can frame your twinchies and turn them into awesome ornaments with our Silver Frames!

Weekly ARTchix Special #2: A Special Twinchie Kit for you WITH FRAMES!
Make twinchies and turn them into spectacular onraments (see photo above) for your loved ones this year! For a special discounted price this week, you can get:
* Spoil Me collage sheet
* Tell Me a Story collage sheet
* Twinchie Watercolor Squares
* PLUS 3 Silver Frames with 6 pieces of matching glass

You will have everything you need to make 3 ornaments and lots of extra twinchies that you can turn into tags, cards and more. Get this incredible packge at a discounted price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy them!

Weekly Blog Bonus Gift: Mini Notecards (made from my twinchies!)

For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this awesome bonus gift: 2 mini notecards that I made with my twinchie artwork, a pretty pink ticket and my new business card.

OR purchase the weekly special above and we'll automatically include this cool bonus gift with your order. While supplies last.

 

Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Something New (Oct 15, 2008)

For this week, play with something new! Perhaps you have something tucked away that you've been wanting to play with? Or maybe you want to treat yourself to a little something? I bought these fun goodies on vendor night at Art and Soul. The cool "Kat" is by Sue Hadden (love it! Christine Hendry showed me the cat that she bought from Sue and I immediately ran over and bought this one. Thanks Christine!). I bought an awesome bag of mica in different shapes and colors from Daniel Essig. And all of the color tidbits (velvet leaves, fabric flowers, mini mirrors, labels and pink tinsel) are from Studios Blackbird.

Now, make something with your new supply or supplies. I made this delightful DreamBox. After teaching my classes, I've been dying to get back to my studio to play. I made this DreamBox to sit on my desk near my computer. The painted tin is a mixture of acrylic paints that I sponged on with a makeup sponge and then added drops of green alcohol ink. Inside the frame, you can see my muse, our Spoil Me chick, sporting wings made out of my new velvet leaves. The interior frame has my new pink tinsel around it (I adhered it with glue dots). The top section includes a little mirror surrounded by Pink Wings. The bottom section includes Silver French Borders and words from Tell Me a Story collage sheet. I added the cute little umbrella and dots of pink glitter around the frame at the last minute. This is a very special piece to me because it reads, "Smile. Delight the World. My happy beautiful creative artist life." What a wonderful goal to have and it will always remind me of my wonderful time at Art and Soul. : )

Special of the Week: Our ATC DreamBox

It's the perfect gift for this holiday season! You can make special DreamBoxes with fun themes and happy messages for your friends, family and coworkers. Think about it: you have the power to brighten up office desks around the world and make someone feel really good and loved every single day by making them a special DreamBox.

Get some at a discounted price for this week only!  Follow this special link to buy them!

Bonus Gift of the Week
I have about 20 of my awesome Art and Soul trades leftover and I'd be happy to give one to you. For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this  fantastic bonus gift pack which includes: a mini sheet of stickers, a cute button, an ATC with a lucky penny from the Bahamas and a yummy candy.

OR purchase the blog special above and we'll automatically include this cool bonus gift. While supplies last.

Weekly Art Challenge: Make Yourself a Kit! (September 10, 2008)

 
Right now, I'm working on a blue and orange color ephemera swap. For this swap, the goal is to fill a regular sized envelope with decorative papers in the designated colors. For this round, the colors are blue and orange. So, I dug through my stash and cut decorative papers and goodies into nice, neat little pieces. As you can see, my kitty Inca loved this! I found her using my ephemera piles as a pillow!

 
Once I had my piles of ephemera ready, I sorted them out into 15 envelopes for the swap. I decided to keep one of the filled envelopes for myself. I thought it would be really fun to challenge myself to make something out of its contents. Here's what was inside:
* ARTchix collage images: Blue, I'm Blue, Tangerine Travels, Bubble Pix, Chixies By the Sea
* Turquoise Wings
* Blue mesh
* Gameboard
* Decorative orange and blue Japanese papers
* Old letter
* Paint samples
* Stickers & tickets
* ATCs and Twinchies that I painted with blue watercolor crayon + Moon Glow's Moon Shadow Mist in Treasure Island Aqua

So, that's the fun art challenge for this week. Pull together some decorative papers and images and make a little "kit" for yourself to play with. It can be really refreshing to give yourself just a small pile of papers to play with. You may want to try and stick to one or two colors to make it a bit easier.

 
I made these ATCs out of my "kit." Haven't had a chance to finish them yet. I'm planning to rubber stamp inspiring words on them. : ) But in the meantime.....

 
I made the Weekly Blog Bonus Gift! Hooray! Place an order with ARTchix Studio this week and get this awesome mini sheet of stickers if you type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order. Or if you purchase the weekly special below, we will automatically include this delightful bonus gift.

  
Weekly ARTchix Special: Our stunning Blue collage sheet! Get it for half price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy it!

Weekly Art Challenge: Discover Cool Color Combos!

Weekly Art Challenge (Aug 20-Sept 3): Discover Cool Color Combos!

For these 2 weeks, look through magazines and catalogs and tear out pages that have cool color combinations that inspire you. It's so much fun!

Here I discovered this awesome color combination in the new Land's End catalog: lime green, hot pink, orange and black and white. Love it!

Make a piece of art inspired by one of your newly found color combinations!

Here I made this ATC for the current ARTchix YahooGroup ATC Lottery: "Starts with the Letter B." As you can see, I chose B for Bird (branch and beak). : ) And you'll also find the bright colors from the Land's End catalog page above. I'm totally in love with this color combination!

To make this ATC, I glued the black and white tree image from the Pretty Bird collage sheet onto a Watercolor ATC. Then I cut out the Bird image from the same collage sheet, colored the frame orange with watercolor crayons and attached it to a Watercolor Twinchie to make it strong enough to hang from the tiny branch.

Next, I sewed on the little branch (that I found on one of my morning walks) with needle and thread, punched holes and then tied on the bird twinchie & "B" tag with bits of lime green silk ribbon.

By the way, I'm just in LOVE with this bird image. He appears in some of our other products: Lucky Bird buttons, Chixies Flying Inchies collage sheet collection and Peace, Tranquility and Harmony faux post. 


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Bonus Gift of the Week (Aug 20-Sept 3): Colorful Bird Sickers!

For these 2 weeks, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this fun mini sheet of stickers.

OR purchase the blog special below and we'll automatically include this cool bonus gift.

Please note: We will be closed until September 2nd so all orders will not ship until that date. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.










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Weekly ARTchix Special (Aug 20-Sept 3): Pretty Bird collage sheet

This is one of my favorite sheets!! Get this sheet for half price for these 2 weeks only. Follow this special link to buy it!

If you buy this special sheet, we will automatically include the delightful bonus gift above with your order. : )

Please note: We will be closed until September 2nd so all orders will not ship until that date. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.

Weekly Art Challenge: Art Up Your Life!

Weekly Art Challenge: Art Up Your Life!

I recently bought this cute potted baby fuschia. So pretty. You can see a close up of the tiny flowers on the right side.

Unfortunately, it had this ugly label that I couldn't get off! So, I decided to cover it up with art!

For this week, look around your house (inside & out) and find something that can be beautified with a little blast of art.

I decided to start by making an ATC. I focused on the word "breathe" because I find that often, I forget to really breathe. lol. So, this is a good reminder for me. I have put a high resolution version of this ATC in the Weekly Art Challenge folder for you. Feel free to copy and put it in your house too. : ) You will find that I used our Lovely Lenses sheet in this ATC....love it, along with bits of paper scraps!

And here it is on my plant pot! Looks so much better than that ugly label! I printed my ATC onto sticker paper and then covered it with a piece of clear packing tape to protect it from moisture...before sticking it onto my pot.

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Bonus Gift of the Week (Aug 13-20): Lovely BREATHE Stickers!

For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me!" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this fun mini sheet of stickers! They look great on plant pots, envelopes, mirrors and just about everywhere!

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Weekly ARTchix Special: "Lovely Lenses" Collage Sheet

Get this gorgeous collage sheet for half price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy it!

Weekly Inspiration & Creativity: ATCs & Envies

ATCs for ARTchix YahooGroup

The theme for the current ARTchix YahooGroup ATC Lottery is "Back to School." I am really pressed for time this week so I found this cute schoolgirl collage that I made a few years ago. I am going to print her on heavy cardstock in these different variations. It was fun to revisit one of my older collages. I want to do this again! : )
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I LOVE MAIL

I get some of the best mail in the whole wide world! I feel so lucky! These are some of the cool envelopes that showed up in my mailbox recently.

Top left: "I love ARTchix Mail" is by Coral Collingsworth. It's so awesome, thank you Carol! : )

Top right: Envelope by Valerie Rajcic. Look what she wrote: "You make the world a better place!" Thank you, Valerie, for making my day! : )

Bottom left: Envelope by Norma Jean Skoglund. Love the "bubbles", thanks Norma Jean! : )

Bottom right: Bird by Gena Boone-Curtis. The bird's dress says "Helga Rocks." Tee hee, thanks for making me feel so good, Gena! : )
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Congratulations Peter and Jen!

Peter (my younger brother) recently proposed to Jen. Don't they make such an adorable couple? Check out the video my brother made of his proposal. It's soooo sweet and romantic! I think it's impossible to watch without shedding a few tears. Sooo touching! I wish the two of you every happiness in the world!

Weekly Art Challenge: More Pattern Inspiration!

Weekly Art Challenge: More Pattern Inspiration!

Good news, Stella is back from the vet and feeling much better! Phew! Of course I had to treat her to a new toy so I got her this cute little stuffed dog. When I got it home, I realized it was covered with this pretty pattern of lovely hibiscus flowers!

I LOVE hibiscus flowers! My parents live in the Bahamas where you see these flowers EVERYWHERE! They're so colorful and just breathtaking!

It made me think...hmmm...don't I have some hibiscus postcards or photos......?

I set a time limit of 20 minutes and started going through all of my bins of postcards, my digital photos, etc. and this is what I found...
On the left, you'll find a beautiful Bahamas calendar with a hummingbird (it's hanging in my Bahamas themed bathroom), and then on the right- top: that's a vintage postcard (I have put a high resolution copy for you in the Weekly Challenges folder so that you can play with this lovely image too), middle right is a postcard and bottom right is a photo that I took. Fun!

Bonus Art Challenge: Make a bookmark with an image that was inspired by pattern!

When I visit my family in the Bahamas, it's one of the rare times that I'm able to read novels. It's so heavenly to listen to the ocean and read. Usually when I'm at home, I only have time for magazines. This is why I decided to make a bookmark for myself.

I collaged a long, skinny piece of watercolor paper using my hibiscus image along with some great ARTchix images: Spoil Me collage sheet and "By the Sea" ATC Creativity Kit. I tried to keep close to the red and white color scheme as seen in the original pattern on Stella's toy.

When it was complete, I sandwiched it between clear packing tape to protect it and make it more sturdy. It's the cheap, easy way to "laminate" something.

Wanna play too? I would love to see you make something that's inspired by a pattern (like a bookmark) or just show me your cool, inspiring patterns by linking to this page!
 

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Bonus Gift of the Week: FAB Stickers!

For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me!" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this fun mini sheet of stickers!

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Weekly ARTchix Special: "By the Sea: ATC Creativity Kit!

Get this incredible sea-themed kit at a special discounted price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy it!

Weekly Art Challenge: Find Pattern in Your Life!

Weekly Art Challenge: Find Pattern in Your Life!

My hubbie recently got this new shirt! I immediately fell in love with the pattern! It's soooo cool! It inspired the art challenge for this week: look for cool patterns in your daily life. Once you start looking, you'll be hooked! Take lots of photos of cool patterns that inspire you.

Then pick a favorite pattern and draw it. Don't worry about trying to make it perfect. Just relax and have fun. Here I drew the pattern with watercolor pencils and crayons on the left side. The right side shows the same pattern "inverted" in Photoshop.

Bonus Art Challenge: Make an ATC with your new pattern!

I made this Artist Trading Card for the current ARTchix YahooGroup ATC Lottery that has a theme "Odd to Oz." You can see the pattern that I drew in the background. Fun! ARTchix products that I used are: Spoil Me collage sheet, Chocolate Baroque Borders, ATC Creativity Kit: By the Sea, Mini Nest Charms and our Butterfly Butterfly collage sheet (which is also our special for this week - get it at half price for this week only!)

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Bonus Gift of the Week: Vibrant Stickers!

For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me!" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this fun mini sheet of stickers!

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Weekly ARTchix Special: Get our Butterfly Butterfly collage sheet at half price!

Get this gorgeous ARTchix Studio collage sheet at half price for this week only! Follow this special link to buy it!

Weekly Art Challenge: Spoil Yourself with Flowers!

Weekly Art Challenge: Spoil Yourself with Flowers!

This past weekend, I spoiled myself with these gorgeous roses from Costco. It's been heavenly walking around the house seeing colorful roses everywhere, what a treat!

I was so inspired by the colors of these roses that I just had to make something with them! So, I took lots of photos with my digital camera. Then printed the photos onto a transparency sheet.

Wanna play too? Treat yourself to a beautiful bouquet of flowers or pick some from your garden (or a friend's garden). Then take photos and print them on transparency...(or paper). OR download and print my flower photo: I've put a high resolution copy in the Weekly Art Challenge folder for you.

Link to this blog and show me your flower photos, I'd love to see!

Bonus Art Challenge: Make an ATC with your Flower Photo

I had so much fun playing with this rose transparency in my studio. I made these 2 pretty Artist Trading Cards.

For this ATC, I used vintage text (sized for an ATC) from the Mail Call collage sheet and glued it to an ATC blank. Then I cut out a piece of rose transparency and held it lightly in place with a glue stick. By the way, I really like the look of the roses on top of the vintage writing...looks so elegant. To secure the transparency into place, I glued a strip of pink Italian post from the Mail Call collage sheet and then sewed vintage buttons on. Before sewing the buttons, I made all of my holes with an awl...made it so much easier. Then topped this piece off with a bit of glitter and an image from my favorite collage sheet: Spoil Me.

For this second ATC, I started out the same way by gluing vintage text from the Mail Call collage sheet to an ATC blank. Then, I covered the whole ATC with a rose transparency...just love the colors! I then sewed the transparency into place (by first poking all of the holes with an awl). I love sewing transparencies onto ATCs, I really think it gives them a nice, extra special look. Then I added the cutest baby in the world from our Lovely Lenses collage sheet along with dazzling butterfly wings from our Butterfly Butterfly collage sheet. A ribbon to hold the "lens" in place and a dabble of glitter and voila!

Link to this blog and show me what you make with my rose photo or your flower photo! I'd love to see! : )

Bonus Gift of the Week: Vibrant Stickers!

For this week, when you place an order with ARTchix Studio, type "Spoil Me!" in the comments section of your order and we'll include this fabulous mini sheet of stickers!   

Weekly Art Challenge: Circles, Dots & Bubbles

Weekly Art Challenge: Circles, Dots & Bubbles

With all of the sea themed artwork and images that have been coming across my path lately, I've become obsessed with circles and bubbles.

A few days this past week, I've gotten up about 30 minutes earlier than usual to play in my art journal. And here is what I made: a grid filled with all kinds of circles, dots and bubbles in bright summery colors.

First I drew a grid with a black crayon. Then I played with watercolor crayons (my favorite medium in the whole world!), plastic circle templates, punches, pencils, pens...I even dipped my pencil eraser into paint. lol. It was so much fun!

Wanna play too? Link to this blog and show me what you make! I'd love to see!

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Bonus Art Challenge: Circles, Dots & Bubbles ATC or Collage

After you make your lovely grid filled with circles and bubbles. Pick one pattern and duplicate it onto an ATC or any sized collage.

I made this ATC called "B Natural" for the ARTchix YahooGroup ATC Lottery. It includes the cutest baby in the world (from ARTchix Awakenings collage sheet), vintage text, a little branch, "B" sticker..all on an Italian Watercolor Card.

Again, please link to this blog, I'd love to see what you make! : )

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Treat Yourself!

I'm a big fan of treating yourself after a job well done! If you complete both of the art challenges above this week, buy yourself a little treat: something round or with circles on it. It could be a peppermint patty, a new art supply, a donut....or even the ARTchix Bubble Pix collage sheet. 

Did you treat yourself? Link to this blog and show me what you bought. I'd love to see!