Introducing our incredible Royal Birds ATC Swap! How about something a little different this time? I created a fun slide show with some of my favorites from this swap. Hope you enjoy it!
The WINNER of a $100 Gift Certificate to ARTchix Studio is....Nessa Math!
Honorable Mentions are: Pam McKenzie, Gerri Herbst, Sharon Borsavage, Sharon Swayne and Becky Benight. Hooray, congrats artists!
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Introducing our fabulous Blue Moos (1" x 3" collages) Art Swap! I thought I'd try something a little different this time....how about a fun slide show? If you hover over a piece of art, the artist names pop up. Cool!
The WINNER of a $100 Gift Certificate to ARTchix Studio is....Cheryl Carraway!
Honorable mentions are: Sara Udstuen, Marion Bockelmann, Frieda Oxenham, Christy Laudig and Sabine Busch. Congrats artists!
We have a gorgeous assortment of new sheets, stickers, papers, charms and PLAYING CARDS! And as you know, whenever we introduct new goodies, we love to spoil you with extra fabulous gifts!
If you place an order that's over $25 (before shipping), we will automatically include this delightful bonus gift! You'll receive this fantastic sheet of paper doll tags, a cute button with stylish boots and yummy chocolate!
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If your order is over $100 (before shipping), we will automatically include all of the above PLUS a little container filled with vintage sequins that have a turquoise and lime green patina. Love them!!!
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See the cool sequins on this paper doll that I made?! I sewed them onto my paper doll with a needle and thread and orange seed beads. These are the sequins that you'll receive in the big bonus gift. Woohoo!!!
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Check out this fun ATC that Jackie made using one of the tags in the bonus gifts. It features a paper doll that was originally made by Shannon Sawyer. Love how Jackie added the little peace charm and how it says "Peace, Love and ARTchix." Fantastic!
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But wait, there's more!!! Everyone will receive one of these lovely stickers in their orders! It's made by our talented, new, featured artist: Jill Noblitt. Hooray!
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Spice Up Your Holiday Cards This Year!
Here are a few fun ideas:
Decorate your envelopes with our new Glamorous and Lovely Labels! Each label features a handmade paper doll from our recent swap and they look marvelous!
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Make a matching card with our coordinating Glamorous and Lovely Gift Tags! And tuck some fun goodies inside! How about a paper doll? A fun gift ticket? Or festive buttons?
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I must say that I fell in love with paper dolls after making them for our recent swap! You can add beads, buttons, charms and just about anything to personalize them. I'm planning on making a few for my special loved ones and tucking them into their cards along with some fun gift tickets and certificates. Will be so nice!
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New Swaps!!!We've got 2 new, fun swaps for you to jump into in the new year!
"I love animals" Artist Trading Cards due in February 2010! Here's a swap where you can show off your cute pets! Please see our website for details.
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"I Love..." Twinchie Lotto Game Swap due in March 2010! We'll be creating twinchies in pink, red and/or green that I'll turn into a game for all of us! This was inspired by Jill Noblitt's Lotto Game Online Class!
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Kitten Bruno
Just couldn't resist showing this adorable photo of Bruno when he was a kitten! You'll find him appearing on our new Alphabets, Lovely Gift Tags and Labels sheets.
The WINNER of our Paper Doll Swap: Shannon Sawyer!
I loved hosting our Paper Doll Art Swap! I am now officially in love with paper dolls thanks to all of our wonderful swap artists that inspired me beyond belief! I had such a hard time picking the winners but in the end, I picked Shannon Sawyer as our big winner. She wins a $100 shopping spree at ARTchix. Hooray!
Shannon made 12 unique, incredible paper dolls. Each one was in a beautifully decorated pocket. Lovely presentation and the dolls were so cool!
Shannon says: Well first of all I want to say that I thought they would be a
breeze to make and I learned very quickly that they are a lot more complicated
than I thought. That is why I have a new found respect for all
the artists who make them all the time and make them so well. The one
thing I didn't want for my Art Dolls was for them to be flimsy. So I decided to trace them on black cardstock and use
that as the backing. For some of them I decided to use real looking
limbs, so I searched for the appropriate arms and legs in my fashion magazines
and then I copied them and reduced them to the appropriate size. That
seemed to work well for me. For some of the dresses I just took the
pre-made dresses from the collage sheets and I then either sprayed them with a
color wash and embellished further from there. Each Art Doll had a theme,
like there was the "Crazy Bingo Lady" and there was the "Alternative" ArtDoll
and so on. When mailing them I decided to make little pockets for them so
they wouldn't get all bent during the mailing process.
Shannon's fave ARTchix product at the moment: DreamBoxes. I haven't done a whole lot with them up until now, but I have purchased several knowing that I would eventually get to them. Well I finally am getting to them and what fun they are to alter and dress up. I'm thinking that I will be giving them out as Christmas gifts. I've made a couple Christmas ones already using the Snowflake Kisses collage sheets and they turned out so great if I do say so myself. They will make a great tree ornament (because they are light enough for that). Or they could be set on a mantle or tabletop during the holidays. I'm just all about the DreamBoxes right now.
Get Shannon's Paper Doll Stickers!
Order this week and we'll include this awesome sheet of stickers featuring some of Shannon Sawyer's awesome paper dolls! Get them by ordering our Special of the Week 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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Make Your Own Paper Dolls!
Get this charming paper doll sheet at half price for this week only! Make paper dolls this year and tuck them into your holiday cards...such a nice touch! Go to this special link to purchase them.
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The Fabulous Six Honorable Mentions of our Paper Doll Swap!
PATRICIA CLARKSON! Oh my gosh, how I LOVE Patricia's fun paper dolls! The bunny ears are the BEST!
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BARB DELISLE! Fantastic dancing paper dolls!
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NORMA SKOGLUND! Norma turned her fantastic paper dolls into ornaments by adding a decorative wire loop at the top. Great idea! Love how she added my kitty Bruno to one of her paper dolls (I will treasure this one!)
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GENA BOONE-CURTIS! Love the stylish clothing that she decked her dolls out in!
Gena says: These were very time consuming for me because I really wanted each doll to be a completely different character. I also wanted to make them with a little fun twist.
Gena's fave ARTchix product at the moment: Hands down it is your wonderful collage sheets. I have ordered collage sheets from other sites but I am always disappointed in the quality compared to the ARTCHIX sheets. I really love the new doll heads collage sheet. I like how ARTCHIX stays up with the trends and always has new products to share!
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NANCY TERRELL! I'm in love with this teapot paper doll and who can resist Mickey Mouse ears?!
Nancy says: My inspiration is my sister, Cindy Rafael. Every time I visit her house, she is working on something fun & artsy. Her paper dolls were amazing and I thought I would give it a try. She hooked me up with ARTchix Studio.
Nancy's fave ARTchix product at the moment: Ruby Red Collage Sheet, Red Swan Wings and anything Christmas
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GERRI HERBST! Gerri made 6 mermaid paper dolls with extra outfits and accessories! Fantastic!
Gerri says: As a child when asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?", I would sincerely remark, "A mermaid ". To be able to travel between these two spheres of land and sea (while fashionably dressed), by interchanging legs or tails would be the best of both worlds and a dream come true.
Gerri's fave ARTchix product at the moment: German Scrap ..... very ornate and shiny, gotta have shine.
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Paper Doll Art Swap is Being Mailed This Friday!
For all of the participants in our fabulous Paper Doll Art Swap, you are in for a real treat! 4 fantastic chixies sheets are coming your way along with gorgeous paper dolls and my favorite m&m's. You can expect yours to arrive in a week or two. Enjoy!
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Bruno's Got It in the Bag!
Put a paper bag on the floor in our house and within seconds, you'll find a kitty inside. : )
ARTchix Special of the Week: Glorious Red Paper Wings!
Oh, I just love these gorgeous red paper wings! They're such a nice color of red and they go with everything! Get them now and you can start on your holiday cards! Go to this special link to purchase them.
If you get these wings, you'll automatically receive our fun bonus gift of the week: my kitty stickers. Hooray!
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After making my collage above, I had some leftover red wings so I played around with them by adding paint and glitter, etc.
Far left column (top to bottom): I made polka dots with a Souffle pen. Below that, I rubbed a bit of sandpaper on them...looks neat because the silver base shines through. Below that is a some violet alcohol ink dabbed on (really love this!) and at the bottom is just a touch of white acrylic paint (love how you can see the details of these lovely wings by adding a bit of paint).
Next column (top to bottom): I added several different colors of watercolor crayons for a neat rainbow wing effect. Below that, I tried adding violet Twinkling H20s and a bit of glitter. And on the bottom, I added some tiny mica flakes around the edges. Wish you could see these in person because the scan doesn't do them justice. They look extra cool in person!
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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Kitty Stickers!
Get these fun stickers featuring kitty art by me! Get them by ordering our special 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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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Stella the Happy, Red Dog
Doesn't my Stelly Belly look so cute? Love how she matches the lovely Autumn leaves.
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More Cuteness: Introducing Buffy the Witch!
Pam McKenzie sent me this adorable photo of her darling Buffy dressed up as a witch! Soooooo cute....just had to share! : )
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Happy Halloween!
A big Happy Halloween to all of you! These charming Halloween-inspired paper dolls are by (left to right): Shannon Sawyer, Sanna Burgess and Cindy Rafael. Love them, they're fantastic! See you next week when I will be announcing the winners of our incredibly inspiring Paper Dolls Swap!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Inca Becomes My New Art Critic
So, I'm arting away at my desk and up jumps Inca. She plops herself right on top of my supplies and proceeds to meow and yawn. I think she wants to be my new art critic. lol.
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ARTchix Special of the Week: Black Tiny Dot Borders
For this week, get these awesome, thick, black, paper borders with tiny dots for half price! (See detail on the left.) One package gives you TONS to play with! They're perfect for framing your favorite images and more. Go to this special
link to purchase them!
I asked Jackie McColl to show us some great ways to alter these borders. So, being the wonderful over-achiever that she is, she made this fun collage! The black "poles" are strips of the dot border jazzed up in these different ways (from left to right): silver glitter, green Staz On ink, red nail polish, gold shimmering mist spray, green crackle paint, white watercolor crayon and acrylic fabric paint in glittering crystal. What fun!
In her Halloween-y collage, you'll also find: Copper Renaissance Border, Gothic Arches, Antique Doll Head, Witch Style, Dreamy Paper Dolls and Tell Me More.
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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Halloween Buttons!
Great news! For this week only, when you order our blog special above or type "SPOIL ME" when placing your order, we will add these fabulous Halloween buttons to your order! Now you can celebrate your Halloween spirit in style!
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Inspired by Cindy McMath
Since we're in the countdown to Halloween...just had to share this cool, creepy collage by Cindy McMath! It features one of our Antique Doll Heads.
My Trip to Art & Soul in Portland:
Fun, Art Trades, My Classes, Specials of the Week & Cuteness!
In early October, I went to Art and Soul in Portland with my Mom. I had sooo much fun! It was delightful to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of creative, supportive women. If you ever have an opportunity to go to an event like this, DO IT! It's a blast!
I got to laugh and hang out with fabulous women! Here I am with Mija Marie (left) and Christine Hendry (right).
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I traded for oodles of fun goodies! Here are some of the great trades that I received: pretty ATCs, lovely decorative papers, little goodie bags and more. Everyone that had trades to share wore hot pink pins (as shown in the center)....great idea!
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I got to spend a wonderful day with Belinda Schneider and we traded decorated hearts. Here is the 2 sided heart that Belinda made for me. I LOVE it! It features my spoil me chick...love how she made a hat with flowers and flourishes! And anything with pompoms gets me excited! Love all of her fabric play on the left side too...a hat made out of bits of fabric is such a cool idea! I totally want to try this now!
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This is the double sided heart that I made for Belinda. One side shows Paris all in pink...one of my favorite places (and also a place that we had fun shopping together) ...and the other side shows the Bahamas (another one of my favorite places....I hope we get to have art time there together someday).
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Next, I taught a class on Beautiful DreamBoxes! My talented and wonderful students were: Linda Starrett, Laurie Engstrom, Catherine Mein, Jan, Angela Zacharek, Dena Wagner and Rebecca Heiser. I gave them all a DreamBox with Doors and an Inchie DreamBox to play with. Just look at what they made....
This incredible dreambox is meant to hang on the wall. I LOVE the Paris theme, the awesome turquoise and pink color combo and all of the vintage glitter! I spy Heart of Paris, Black Embellishments, Mini Paris Charm, Mini Eiffel Tower Charm and Copper French Borders.
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Don't you just love this mermaid themed dreambox?? It's sooo pretty! I especially love the bright colors and the little round mirrors! I believe the pink polka dots were made with pink nailpolish. Did you know that nailpolish is an excellent way to paint our dreamboxes?
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Another gorgeous dreambox!!! Love the fun bird theme! I spy Polka Dot Bird, Round Photo Charm, Gold Small Flower Border, Gold Baroque Border, Sepia Birds, Black Embellishments and the cool branches are from our DreamBox Kit.
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Even more gorgeous dreamboxes! The one on the left features a hanging optometrist lens. So cool! You can hang anything in our dreamboxes by making a hole with an awl and then adding wire, thread or ribbon. I spy Feather Your Nest post, When Dreams Take Flight and Chocolate Scallopped Borders on the doors (great idea!).
The lovely red dreambox on the right features a photo of Jan's mother. Isn't she lovely? Hearts surround her as well as a bit of Black Embellishment that's been painted silver with a bit of silver paint.
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My fabulous students also made gorgeous dreamboxes using our awesome Inchie DreamBoxes (which is also this week's Blog Special!)! Aren't they amazing???!!!
I spy Angel Wings (painted silver), Transparency Butterfly Wings, Chocolate Scallopped Borders, Pink Mini Dot Borders, Red Baroque Borders, Red Renaissance Borders, Turquoise Metal Roses, Royal Inchie Birds, Small Brass Wings, Gold Small Flower Border.
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Great news! The ARTchix Special of the Week is our Inchie Dreamboxes! Get yours at a discounted price for this week only! They make the most awesome gifts!!! Stock up now and make them for your loved ones this holiday season!
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Look at the gorgeous goodies that I bought at Art and Soul! As you can see MoMo is here for your Weekly Dose of Cuteness and she approves! I bought decorative papers, cool sequins, velvet leaves and rick rack, vintage tickets and more. What a haul!
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I'd love to share some of my fun purchases with you! So, this week, our Bonus Gift of the Week is an Art and Soul Goodie Bag. You'll receive a small sampling of some of my favorite purchases from Art and Soul: vintage tickets, decorative papers, a piece of mica, little sequins and more. Offer good only while supplies last so get yours while you can. : )
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Winners from Our Last Art Challenge: Little Big Combo!
Before I left for Art and Soul, I challenged everyone to make an ATC or 4" square collage and combine it with an inchie. It's really fun to challenge yourself to play in different sizes and shapes. We had lots of fabulous entries but in the end, I picked these 3 fabulous winners:
Sharon Borsavage! Love this pretty collage! It features some pretty decorative papers that were in a previous bonus gift. How cool is that?! Love how the little inchie says "be glamorous."
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Michelle Remy! Love this Halloween ATC with the little inchie that says "Boo"!
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Heidi (Cyber2tor)! Help, can you please email me with your full name? I love this collage with the gentleman riding the bird, too cool! Love how the inchie is framed with a bit of Black Lace Border and the glasses are made out of it too....awesome idea!
Congratulations Sharon, Michelle and Heidi! You each win 3 free ARTchix sheets of your choice! : )
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: MoMo's a Stowaway!
I'm heading off to Portland for Art and Soul. Yay! I've been packing up my art supplies and class kits and what do I see?! MoMo has planted herself in my duffel bag hoping that I'll bring her along.
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Winners from the Last Art Challenge: Play with Pink and Green!
WOW, we received so many gorgeous entries for this art challenge! I had such a hard time picking the winners. I tried to narrow it down to a few but in the end...I couldn't help but pick 9 winners! One winner was announced last week: Linda Kunsman and her fabulous goddess dolls! And here are 8 more winners that each get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice. Congrats artists!!!
Allison Berringer! Wow, lovely use of pink and green and the big flowers on the Women in Arts' heads look fantastic! Love the Green World backgrounds too!
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Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Pink and Green (continues until Sept. 29)
You still have time to play in the current art challenge! Make a piece of art with pink and green and you could win 3 ARTchix sheets of your choice. Woohoo!
Linda Kunsman made these awesome pink and green paper dolls with our Glamour Post and Pink Floral Borders and Pink Flowers.
Love them! She calls them the Goddesses of Joy, Desire and Love.
Wonderful! Congrats Linda, you are one of the winners for this weekly
art challenge! I will announce more winners next Wed!
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Inspiration: Our NEW DreamBox with Doors Kit
Jackie made this awesome DreamBox using our new kit! Don't you just love it?! This would make a cool, unique Halloween decoration or gift. It has a stand so you can stand it up on a side table that holds your Halloween decorations. Get yours today and get special free gifts! We still have some left for you to enjoy!
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Special Fun, Fabulous Giveaway with Laura Bray
You can win this incredible Spoil Me Extravaganza (retail value of $60!)! Simply check out Laura Bray's awesome blog and leave a comment telling her what your favorite ARTchix product is. Yep, it's really that easy! Laura is going to randomly pick one winner next week. What fun!
Also, don't miss her etsy shop! I've got my eye on her cool chandelier cupcake picks! And I just love her free monthly newsletter.
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Inca and I
"Smile for the camera, sweetie!"
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Published Chix!
Hooray to our published chix! They get 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice for being published with ARTchix Studio products!
Allison Berringer was published in the new Altered Arts Fall 2009 Issue! I spy our Silver Wings, Red Handy Labels, E is for Egg and Grow Blossoms.
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Cindy McMath was published in the new issue of Take Ten by Stampington! I spy Happy Halloween.
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Lynn Stevens was published in the new issue of Somerset Studio (Sept/Oct '09 Issue) with the Witching Hour.
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Don't you just love this cover? Wow!!! I wanted to mention that we carry several of the items in this piece: Black Baroque Borders, Black Lace Borders and Black Embellishments. It looks like the artist (Janie D. Mattern) painted the German Scrap with a bit of orange and silver acrylic paint. Totally cool!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: My Fuzzy Bruno
I keep this bin on my desk and throw all of my blog ideas into it. Bruno loves taking cat naps in it. Here he is...busted again!
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Announcing Our New Swap: Chunky Gothic Arches!
Check out all of the 48 glorious new products on our website! Lots of goodies that are guaranteed to get you running to your art space! One of my favorites is our new Gothic Arches sheets - Sepia, Brilliant and Handmade (by Linda Kunsman). I've been dying to play with them so I came up with this new swap!
Make six 4" square collages with some of our designated collage sheets. Personally, I'm dying to pair up the Wise Owl collage sheet with the Sepia Gothic Arches and the Tell Me More sheet and put them on our 4" Watercolor Squares. Collages aren't due until January 2010 so you've got lots of time to play!
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New Halloween Goodies!
Jackie made this adorable ATC honoring her new kitty, Bella! Awww!!! It features some of our fabulous new Halloween goodies! Don't miss our new Wicked Wings and Witch Style sheets!
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Inspired by....Cindy McMath
Cindy McMath made this fun collage for our current YahooGroup ATC Lottery. The theme is "My Home Town" and she made this piece to celebrate living in the home town of ARTchix Studio. Teehee, how cool is that?! There's still time left for you to join in the fun. Make an ATC honoring your home town and enter it into our YahooGroup lottery by September 20th. You could win all of the ATCs by our talented members (including Cindy's!)!
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Last Week's Art Challenge Winners: Checkerboard Fun!
Another fabulous art challenge! These winning artists get to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice as their prize! Hooray! Here they are:
SARA UDSTUEN! Wow, love the colors and patterns! Great checkerboard background too!
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BONNIE ASHURST! What a great idea for a clipboard!
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LENNA ANDREWS! Love these bright colors and what a great way to use our new Inchie Words sheet!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: MoMo Begs Me Not To Give Away These Lovely Papers!
I recently bought these gorgeous papers on a trip to Vancouver. I cut some of them up to share with you in this week's bonus gift. No sooner had a brought them home when MoMo decided they were her new bed. I've caught her snuggling with them lots.
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WINNERS of OUR LAST ART CHALLENGE: To Have and To Hold!
I was delighted to see birds, hearts and other cute items being held onto in our last art challenge. What fun! I picked 5 winners and each winner gets to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice, woohoo! Here they are:
GENA BOONE-CURTIS! Again!!! I can't resist Gena's incredible artistic style! Gena, you rock girlfriend!!!
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SHARON BORSAVAGE! Wow, beautiful! This piece is entitled "Hold Life High"...love it!
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CINDY MCMATH! I love this quote and how she's holding the house. So sweet!
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DIANE NOREN! Wow, a cat doll holding a paper doll, how cool is that?!
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LINDA KUNSMAN! What a lovely piece and the quote from Langston Hughes says: Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. Love it!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Bruno Cuddles with the Bills!
Bruno takes a nap in our "Bills to Pay" bin. You can sorta kinda see my wall of dreamboxes in the background. Cool!
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Our Fabulous Paris Bookmarks Swap!!!
We recently hosted a Paris Bookmarks Swap here in ARTchix land. It was so much fun! We received over 300 gorgeous Paris -themed bookmarks for this swap! I added the incredible artwork to lots of sheets for us all to enjoy!
Here is what all of the artists in this swap will receive:
Each artist is receiving 6 handmade Paris bookmarks, Chixies Paris Slide Collection, Chixies Paris Inchies Collection, Chixies Paris Post, Chixies Eiffel Tower Post and a yummy candy! Hooray! Packages are being mailed this Friday...please allow 1-2 weeks to receive them.
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And the winners of this swap are:
LAURA BARNES! Laura wins a $100 shopping spree to ARTchix Studio!
Laura's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: It is so hard to pick my favorite ArtChix product because I like them all. At this moment my favorite would have to be the college sheets that were made from the True Color swap. The colors are so vivid and the inchies come in handy for a little extra bling.
Laura's inspiration and thoughts on this swap: I get a lot
of my inspiration from the simple things in life like beautiful
wildflowers, clear blue sky with puffy white clouds, and most of all
the ArtChix group. I really don't plan ahead on how I put something
together I just spread out the items I need and some how it all flows
together. I just used some basic techniques for this project. I chalked
or distressed all the edges of everything I cut and I used my favorite
glue stick and scissor. For fun I made sure I put the Eiffel Tower
somewhere on each bookmark.
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LINDA RIEGELSBERGER wins a fabulous French themed goodie bag!
Linda's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Mini Crown Charms...they are so versatile, and can be put on both inchies larger ATC's.
Linda's inspiration and thoughts on this swap: I wanted my bookmarks to have a very clear Paris theme, so I put an Eiffel tower, a fleur-de-lis and the word "Paris" on every one. I illustrated a story on each bookmark suggested by selected words from the Tell Me A Story and Tell Me Another Story collage sheets. I also challenged myself to get as many ARTchix products on to one piece as possible...for example, the "Isle D'Amour" bookmark has at least 12 different ARTchix products on it. One of the other Chixies suggested using copic markers to color the collage clipart...so I have used this technique as well.
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MOLLIE HUDDLESTON wins a fabulous French-themed goodie bag!
Mollie's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: I absolutely love your collage sheets and have
very many of them. Even if I have one and don’t use it for a
while, when I’m looking for something specific, I can always seem to
find an image on one of your collage sheets to fill the need. I also
love the metal arms, legs, shoes and especially the hands. They add
such special touches.
Mollie's thoughts on this swap: On my book mark
with the moon, I first attempted to “place” each little
star. That was too tedious and not working at all. Instead, I
applied Mod Podge to a certain section, sprinkled the stars randomly and
let them fall where they may. I really did like the achieved effect.
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ROBIN DELISLE wins a fabulous French-themed goodie bag!
Robin's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: My fav. product is the dreamboxes I have been playing with them a lot in my spare time creating all kinds of shrines using all of the artchix collage sheets and attaching charms made from collage sheets and Artchixs metal charms.
Robin's inspiration and thoughts on this swap: As soon as I saw this swap I knew this was perfect for me. I love books and I have wanted to travel to Paris ever since I can remember. Marie Antionette is a def. inspiration I have always loved the line "let them eat cake" along with all things vintage French. I love photos from the fifties in Paris... that's what inspired the hot pink bookmarks and Hemingway inspired the man on his bicycle riding the Eiffel tower, and of course lavender is a quintessential French fragrance and that inspired my lavender girl. The orange and blue girl was inspired by all of the colors of art work created by the impressionists.
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STEPHANIE BLUMENSAAT wins a fabulous French-themed goodie bag!
Stephanie's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Her Words Collage Sheet
Stephanie's inspiration and thoughts on this swap: I love Paris so this was a very fun project. My main inspiration were other Chixies art work. I am new to collage so I reviewed photos of Chix artwork in the ArtChix group and learned from other artists' styles that I admired. I also posted questions in the forum and received many tips from fellow Yahoo group members! Thank you all!
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GIGI LORENC wins a fabulous French-themed goodie bag!
Gigi's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: I love the black and white sheets, it allows me to give the girls on them a makeover! I love putting on the current trends on these gorgeous gals! I also love the Pink sheet, those bright lipstick colored hues are amazing and really bring life to a project.
Gigi's inspiration and thoughts on this swap: I had inspiration from several sources while working on the bookmark challenge. I watched the Moulin Rouge ~ from that I created the blue bookmark. The other inspiration, I had was all my years of Lancome sharing the french touch with all of my clients. When I completed the bookmarks I could almost smell the commingling of roses and bergamont.
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CHERYL CARRAWAY wins a fabulous French-themed goodie bag!
Cheryl's favorite ARTchix product at the moment: I am loving the royal birds products- ATC's and bird images
Cheryl's thoughts on this swap: I have longed to go to Paris since my teens- hope to get there soon!
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WINNERS OF OUR LAST ART CHALLENGE: Masterboard Playtime!
Wow, we had an amazing amount of lovely entries for this blog art challenge! I asked you to play with my Masterboard and make a piece of artwork using it. Was I ever impressed with all that you came up with! I had such a hard time picking the winners. By the way, each winner gets to pick 3 ARTchix sheets of their choice, yay! Here they are:
GENA BOONE-CURTIS! Gena made several luscious collages...here are two of them. Love the brilliant colors and Gena's fantastic style!
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KARIN HUSTY! Love how Karin cut up my masterboard and created a lovely cover for her Garden Journal. Fabulous!
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LENNA ANDREWS! Love how Lenna printed my masterboard onto fabric and made this set of sweet fabric ATCs!
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LESLIE BRIER! Love Leslie's cool paper embellishments that jump off the page! And turning my masterboard into inchies for the background is so cool!
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MARION BOCKELMANN! Marion transformed my masterboard into a beautiful wedding card, great idea!
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SHARON BORSAVAGE! OMG, LOVE this collage!!!
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NANCY ELKIN! I LOVE these collages! Adding different heads to the birds looks awesome!
Weekly Art Challenge: Masterboard Playtime! (continues until Aug 25)
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 couldn't resist playing with my masterboard too. I made this special heart for Jackie:
You'll find the nest from my masterboard along with decorative papers, mini blue foil flowers from Mexico and a diecut tree that I colored orange. I glued everything down with PVA adhesive and highlighted the edges with watercolor crayons.
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The other side of my heart includes more bits from my masterboard. Plus, more decorative papers, mini tags held on with mini clothespins, rubber stamps and a "smile" sticker."
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! Winners will be announced next Wed, Aug 26.
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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: My Masterboard Sticker! (continues until Aug 26)
Place an order and get this awesome sticker that you can add to your artwork!
Get it by ordering our
special 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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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: My MoMo
Is that not the cutest little face or what?!
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Published Chix, Hooray!
We've had several wonderful chixies published lately. And good news, if you're published with ARTchix Studio products and we're listed as a source, you get 3 free sheets of your choice. Yay!
Cindy McMath had these brilliant moo cards published in the latest Stampers Sampler! Images are from Asian Delight and Spoil Me.
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Lots of chixies art can be found in this glorious new book by LK Ludwig entitled Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media. There is a whole section on our fabulous itty bitty swap.
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This is my calendar page for August. Isn't it heavenly? It features this stunning collage by Paula Dion. I'm a big fan of the Collage: Artplay calendars by Amber Lotus Publishing (I don't see one on their site for 2010 though? Wah!). Paula's gorgeous collage features her handmade mermaids and cleo.
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Sue Smith had this charming decorated bag published in the June/July issue of Stampers Sampler.
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See you next Wednesday! Hope you have a wonderful, art-filled week! : )
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: My 2 Little White Tigers
Think my kitties look like little white tigers? Hmmm...maybe that's why I love the Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice's tiger packaging so much. Inca is on the left and MoMo is on the right.
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Inspiration in My Email Box!
I couldn't resist sharing these gorgeous pieces that appeared in my email box recently...
Check out this amazing grid by Becky Benight! It's breathtaking! And it's filled with colorful ARTchix goodies: Art Blast playing cards, Gold Symbols, Red Renaissance Borders, Chixies Flying Inchies, Black Lace and a Carnivale Crown. WOW!!!!
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I'm absolutely in love with this collage by Francoise Melzani! Isn't it cool?!! Love seeing our spoil me chick enriched with these bright colors and hand-drawn details. Gorgeous!
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Cathy Mendola made this incredible quilt to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. Check out her blog to find out more!
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WINNERS From Our Last Art Challenge: Just Add Turquoise!
Wow, this was a fun challenge! I received lots of beautiful entries, it was way too hard to pick just one winner. So, I picked 5!! Here they are:
CINDY MCMATH! As you know, I'm a sucker for anything with a kitty. I love how Cindy transformed a Bingo card into this brilliant, fun-loving collage! By the way, Happy Birthday Cindy!!! : )
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GENA BOONE-CURTIS! Gena made several turquoise entries! All of them were fantastic! She's definitely a winner in my book!
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KERSTEN CHRISTIANSON! Love this cool painted background!
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SABINE BUSCH! Oooh, what a fun bookmark with one of our sirens! Love it!
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PAULA FARRINGTON! I love the way these images, colors and words come together to create such beauty!
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Congratulations Cindy, Gena, Kersten, Sabine and Paula! You all win one of these fabulous goodie bags filled with our Turquoise Swirlies, Wings, Star Borders, Shell Borders and Stars! Hooray!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Bruno Is Happy We're Home!
Bruno was so happy when we got home from our trip! It wasn't long before he stretched out on the couch for some supreme relaxation.
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Vacation Pics!
We had such an amazing time in the Bahamas. The colors of the island filled me with such joy and pleasure. I can't wait to play in my studio! Here's a few snapshots:
James and I. Gorgeous green coconuts. Harry the Heron. And the path to the beach. Look at all of the glorious shades of bright green, so beautiful!!
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Some gorgeous shots of the ocean. Love the bright yellow coral ball! And on the top right, you can see some of the fun beach treasures I collected on this trip: coral heart rock, little urchin, sand dollars, shells and amazing seaweed. What a heavenly place!
Turquoise waters, here I come!
Today I'm flying to the Bahamas! Lucky me, my parents live there so we're doing a house swap. They're staying here while we stay at their place. James and I are going to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary! How exciting! I'm so looking forward to relaxing with my honey, playing in my mom's art studio, looking for beach treasures, swimming, reading books and more.
So, for this week, there's no art challenge. But I will be back next week when I'm in the Bahamas to share some of the fun I'm up to.
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ARTchix Special of the Week: "Bright Eyes" ATC Kit
(continues for another week, yay!)
Great news! You have another week to snap up this awesome special kit at half price. Here are 2 fun ATCs that I made using the products in our special kit. So fun!
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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Week: Cool Stickers + Button!
(continues for another week, yay!)
Jackie McColl made this awesome ATC using the stickers and button in our bonus gift for this week! Cool! Get this bonus gift by simply placing a $25 order or more (before shipping) this week. Offer good only while supplies last so get 'em while you can.
Weekly Does of Cuteness: MoMo Gets Busted!
What a little rascal MoMo is! Recently, I caught her drinking out of my water glass! And look at her face afterwards, "What me? I didn't do anything."
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Inspired by Gail Kohl
Recently, I received some beautiful artwork in the mail from Gail Kohl. Gail, if you're out there, please email me. The email address I have for you doesn't work.
She sent me:
This beautifully decorated envelope! I love it! Look at how she cut the butterfly out of the Papillon Post and then included the remaining cut out separately. So clever! I also love seeing the eggs stamp from the Feather Your Next Post behind the handsome gents head...looks excellent!
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What a fun collage! Love how Gail played with our Party Hats in this piece! It's got me itchin' to play around with this idea with More Party Hats!
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Another fabulous collage from Gail! I love how she combined rubber stamps with our Seaside Faux Post. Looks so elegant!
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Winners from our Last Weekly Art Challenge: Play with Pink and Blue!
Wow, this was a popular one. I received lots of gorgeous pink and blue entries for this challenge. It was way too hard to pick one winner, so I picked 4! Here they are:
BECKY BENIGHT! What a bright and cheery collage! And I spy lots of cool ARTchix images: Art Fairies, Black Baroque Borders, My Art Challenges, Pink Dot Borders, Garden Collection and more!
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GENA BOONE-CURTIS! Wow, love how Gena used the black and white polka dot strips from the Chixies Art Flourishes Stickers! It's like they're radiating from the Seaside Cutie. Wow, great idea!
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LENNA ANDREWS! Love these twinchies and their uplifting phrases! I spy lots of ARTchix too: Pretty Bird, Her Words, Imagine and more.
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SHANNON SAWYER! This is just breathtaking! The Victorian Roses make a lovely frame around the central image. And the words from Tell Me Another Story are so perfect for this.
Congratulations chixies! You all win the new Chixies Art Blast Collection! Way to go! It will go in the mail to you ASAP. : )
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Cute Couple!
A big congratulations to my adorable little brother, Peter, and his beautiful bride, Jen! They got married last weekend...it was a fabulous wedding! Wishing them a lifetime of happiness together! And great news, now I have a sister!!! : )
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New goodies, yay!
Introducing the new Chixies Art Blast Collection:
Treat yourself to this phenomenal collection of gorgeous art by our dear chixies! You'll find 2 sticker sheets...perfect for arting up your cards, envies and journal pages...plus, 1 cardstock sheet of ATCs...instant tags!...AND 1 paper sheet with various sizes for all of your mixed media projects.
See our website for lots of fun, new goodies and inspiration!
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New Swap: "Royal Bird" ATCs!
Join me in making fun ATCs with birds and crowns for our new swap! We have lots of brilliant, new sheets for this swap: Royal Inchie Birds, Royal ATC Birds, Bird on a Wire and more! Deadline is mid October. This is going to be a fabulous swap that you won't want to miss!
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Art Challenge Winners from Last Week: Art Up an Uplifting Quote!
We had lots of wonderful entries for this inspiring art challenge. I couldn't possibly pick just one winner....so I picked 4! Here they are....
You may remember that I picked Cheryl Carraway last week. I just love this piece and her quote "Renew Your Passions Daily" is so inspiring!
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Bonnie Ashurst! I love this colorful collage! And her quote from Moms around the world: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." It's excellent! And wowza, do I ever spy tons of great ARTchix items in this piece: ATC Inspirations, My Art Challenges, Handmade with Love, Buttons, Purple Baroque Borders, Turquoise Stars, Pink Flowers, and Inchie Love...just to name a few. : )
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Linda Kunsman! I love this quote and the clever way she transformed the butterfly into a kite. So cute! I spy Irridescent White Baroque Borders along the edges too. : )
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Lisa Robinson! Wow, I love this quote: "All that you love becomes a part of you." And I LOVE ARTchix! It really touched me to see so many cool ARTchix images incorporated into this piece. I spy Pretty Bird, Flying Inchies, Heart and Soul, Spoil Me, Chixies Crowns....just to name a few.
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So, what did these fabulous artists win???
A fabulous goodie bag filled with samples of some of our new products: Chixies Art Blast Collection, Royal ATC Birds, Royal Inchie Birds, Beachy Paper Dolls, More Wonderful Wings, More Party Hats and even more..... : )
Thanks so much for playing! Hope to see you in my art challenge that's due next week: Play with Pink and Blue!
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Happy Days!!!
As you may know, I'm an American living in beautiful Canada. This means I get to celebrate 2 holidays this week: Canada Day and 4th of July! Hooray! Wishing you all great days celebrating with your families and friends!
Art Challenge of the Week: Brighten Up an Uplifting Quote!
(continues for another week, yay!)
I'm going to give you another week to play in this fun art challenge. Art up an uplifting quote that you enjoy. We've received several gorgeous entries so far. It's so inspiring, I love seeing your favorite quotes brought to life! Here is one by Cheryl Carraway:
It says "Renew your passions daily." Isn't this piece amazing?! There is a spin dial in the middle that can point to: paint, write, sing, create, stamp, play...WOWW, LOVE this! I spy our Art Blast Playing Cards around the edges along with our Hats in Bloom, Butterfly Butterfly, Spoil Me chick and more. Just gorgeous!!! Cheryl is one of the winners for this art challenge! I will pick three more winners next week. : )
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 30, 2009.
Prize: My favorites will receive a fun goodie bags with a selection of our new products that we'll be introducing next week. I will announce the winner on Wed, July 1.
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ARTchix Specials of the Week: Sassy Style & Spring Blossom
(continues for another week, yay!)
Great news! You have another week to snap up these awesome specials at half price: our Spring Blossom transparency and Sassy Style collage sheet! Here are two gorgeous ATCs made using these great sheets. On the left, Cindy McMath put the Spring Blossom transparency on top of our Spoil Me chick. Looks awesome! And on the right, Sara Udstuen made this awesome ATC with the Sassy Style collage sheet. Love them!
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: More Fuzzy Love!
James and I were lazy one night and left our tv-watching blankets on the floor. Look what we discovered the next day! Bruno and Stella sleeping on them. Too cute!
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Inspiration in My Email Box
Wow, look what I received recently....
Gena Boone-Curtis made this spectacular piece after being inspired by our recent art challenge to make a grid of art! Isn't it amazing?!! I'm so in awe of it! I'm going to send Gena a Chixies By the Sea Collection. : )
I spy so many great ARTchix images in this piece: Seaside Cuties, Classic Nudes, Mermaid Dreams, Royal Post and Fairy Dreams...just to name a few. : )
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Speaking of the Chixies By the Sea Collection....look at this awesome little book that Joy Spicer made using the images from this collection. It's so happy and colorful!!
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Another happy and colorful piece...check out this delightful collage by Pam Barnes! It features our Hats in Bloom gal coming out of a pot, so cute! Love the Butterfly Charm in her hat! And the birdies from Sweet Tweet look great here. You can also find our Gold Lace Borders, Gold Small Renaissance Borders and Gold Small Flower Borders around the edges. Fabulous!
See you next week! I'll be introducing our new Chixies Art Blast Collection and lots more!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: MoMo loves ARTchix swaps!
Whenever I'm picking the winners of our swaps, MoMo loves it! It means that I bring out her favorite bin to sleep in. Every time I turn around, she's in this bin and I have to keep shooing her out. It's funny!
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Winners of our Art Blast ATC Swap!
We had 55 wonderful artists participate in our Art Blast ATC swap. Everyone made gorgeous ATCs inspired by our Art Blast Playing Cards. Oooh, I had such a hard time picking the winners but in the end, I picked...
NORMA SKOGLUND! Winner! (Norma wins a $100 shopping spree on our website. Hooray!)
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: I love "all things ARTchix."
Comments: Your ART Blast cards are wonderful inspiration. Loved using the birds as a focal point. So I started with those and a pile of images cut from your collage sheets and a pile of transparencies. I liked the backgrounds with the birds and found that if I cut out the focal point, I could slip other images behind them to add layers. I also used copic markers to add some color to the birds.
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JOAN LAWRENCE! Honorable Mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: the new white sheet with the baby doll head
Comments: I am always challenged with your contests but when you plant the seed of the project and what sheet or items to use; it does help with creating new artwork. I used some old vintage wallpaper I had gotten from ebay and I loved the results with your transparencies.
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FRIEDA OXENHAM! Honorable mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: definitely the transparency sheets
Comments: I used these in making the Art Blast cards and what I really adore
about Artchix transparencies is that they are transparent enough to be
able to see the background, while at the same time giving a clear
outline of the image on the transparency. I love being able to build up
layers on my cards in this way.
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SABINE BUSCH! Honorable mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: I love all your beautiful collage sheets. My favourites are all sheets with birds, mermaids and art dolls.
Comments: I had a fun day with my sister when we made our Art Blast ATCs together.
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CHRISTY LAUDIG! Honorable mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: I'm a real "eye" person. As soon as I see a person, I look at their eyes, and look into their soul. You can tell so much from someone's eyes. So, my favorite product right now is..."The Eyes Have It" Collage Sheet.
Comments: I was a little intimidated by the Art Blast Swap and found the best thing for me to do was to "think" about what I was going to create. I write a list of what the requirements are for the Swap...and then I pour over each of the collage sheets that we can pick from. Then I lay out 6 blank ATC's and start picking a main image that I want to work with. After that, I work on the background, and start adding other bits and pieces until I feel balanced. I must admit, after I started putting them together, I felt more relaxed and enjoyed the whole process so much, I created another six.
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JENNIFER ROGERS-DANIELS! Honorable mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: Dreamboxes, all the German scrap, and the new sticker collections!
Comments: I really had fun making the ART blast ATCs. It was a challenge to me to combine the retro photo images with the nature elements. Furthermore, it was a very limited color pallet for me to work with. I decided to make tags that could be moved so you get more than one viewpoint when looking at these ATCs.
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LYNN MCMILLAN! Honorable Mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: That's a tough one; there are so many! :) I think the irridescent white mini border has to take the prize, though. It's cool as it is, and it's great to add a hint of color to and match whatever I'm working on.
Comments: I had a lot of fun making the Art Blast ATCs. I had an idea before I started, but it evolved as I went and the cards ended up looking almost completely different from my original idea. That's what I like about ARTchix swaps and challenges: I never know where the process will take me, but I have a great time on the way!
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PATTI SCHMID! Honorable mention.
Fave ARTchix Product at the moment: German scrap -- any color I can get.
Comments: The swap was quite a challenge for me. Since I had a difficult time approaching the project, I just kept looking at the challenge cards and primarily focusing on the color scheme. I had the Sassy Style collage sheet (have always wanted to use it); and then began building from there. I think the black, red and white combination is really quite sophisticated. Yet the do-dads made it work. Little red accents pulled the whole thing together.
We will be introducing the amazing, gorgeous collection that was created from the artwork in this swap next Wednesday! Stay tuned for next Wednesday!
Also, good news, this swap will be mailed to all players by the end of this week or early next week. : )
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Winners of Last Week's Art Challenge: Make a Grid of Art!
We had 9 talented artists play in this fun art challenge. All of the grids of art were so cool that I had to pick 3 winners....
CYNTHIA FRENETTE! Love this, it's spectacular!
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LINDA FREEMAN! Love how she used a boggle game as the base for her grid. Genius!
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LENNA ANDREWS! Oh, this piece is so happy and colorful, it makes my heart sing!
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These 3 fabulous winners will receive:
The Chixies By the Sea Collage Sheet Collection! Hooray! : )
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Fuzzy Love
Stella and Bruno are quite the fuzzy pair. They like to hang out together, it's so cute!
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Lots o' Published Chix, Hooray!
Did you know that you get 3 free ARTchix sheets of your choice when you are published with ARTchix products and mention us as a source? Check out some of the latest magnificent pieces of ARTchix art that were recently published....
Lenna Andrews' gorgeous mini quilt was published in Sew Somerset! You'll find an Mini Chix in the lower left. Awesome!
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Laura Haviland was published in Somerset Studio's Gallery - Summer 2009! Love her paper dolls with our fun Hat and Wonderful Wings.
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Jackie McColl and I were also published in Somerset Studio's Gallery Summer 2009. Yay! Jackie's house collage at the top includes a diva from our Flirt collage sheet along with our Black Lace Borders. And her cool piece on the right and my collage on the left feature our Sassy Style collage sheet and transparency sheet along with Tiny Dot Borders in black and white. Jackie's also includes a cute Black Crown.
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Rima St. John's cool book was published in Altered Arts' Summer 2009 Issue. You can find our Circle Pix images on tags along the cover.
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Check it out! Our butterfly girl is on the cover of Lisa Kettell's fabulous new book: Altered Art Circus!
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Winner of Last Week's Art Challenge: Make a Background out of Receipts & Ephemera!
We had 4 wonderful entries for this challenge. Oohh, it was a hard choice but in the end, I picked....
Cindy McMath! Cindy made a whole bunch of cool collages and she shows us how she started with a background of receipts and then painted over them on her blog. Great visuals! Cindy wins:
This fun goodie bag with gorgeous papers and velvet flowers that I bought in Paris and Amsterdam. Enjoy Cindy! : )
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: I heart Momo
My little Uma has been an absolute treasure since we've gotten back from our trip. I think she really missed us. Her new nickname is Momo. Hence, I heart Momo. : )
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European Inspiration Galore!
As you know, I recently went to Amsterdam, Spain (Madrid and Barcelona) and France (Montpellier and Paris). What a trip! James and I had an amazing time! Only negative thing was how expensive everything was. It was rather shocking at times. But that's okay, we just focused on enjoying the experience, I bought lots of postcards and we took lots of photos. : )
First stop: AMSTERDAM!
Amsterdam had gorgeous architecture (see the incredible rooflines in the photo above), beautiful canals and lots of bikes..... just charming. I fell in love with these peonies (my favorite flowers) and couldn't resist buying a bouquet for the apartment that we rented. Note, I picked the bright pink ones because they matched my scarf!
Whenever I travel, I always make sure that I buy at least one magazine in the language of that country. You never know what you'll find inside. I bought this magazine called "flow" in Amsterdam, it is breathtaking! If you have the opportunity to buy this one, DO! I found it so inspiring! Will share some of the inspiration I got from it on a later date. Just to keep you in suspense. : )
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I took the photo on the right in a beautiful little alley in Amsterdam. Love the wisteria! I bought the two greeting cards on the left because I thought they were so unique and colorful! Love the patterned "fabrics" on both cards and the card on the top made me want to make a collage with diamond shapes of various patterns. So cool!
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Next stop: SPAIN!
We had a wonderful time in Spain! I had to buy the red bull postcard because I'm a Taurus. : ) This photo of James and I was taken at the best paella restaurant in Madrid: La Barraca. Bea Alegria (a beloved customer and friend in Madrid) recommended that we eat there and we LOVED it! Thanks Bea! They had the best gazpacho too! : )
I couldn't resist taking a photo of the gorgeous, colorful candies at a market in Barcelona. And my favorite thing in Spain was Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. (photo at bottom left). More on Gaudi....
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I fell in love with Gaudi's architecture and was moved to tears! Apparently, he was quite sickly as a child so he didn't really have any friends. So, his mom would take him into the countryside on nature walks and it was there that he developed his love for nature. And when you look closely at his architecture, you can see how it is inspired by and celebrates the natural world. Amazing! Here's an example of how he was inspired by shells. Wow!
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Last stop: FRANCE!
Ahh, Paris! Belinda Schneider and I got together for 2 days of shopping in this marvelous city! She took me to my new favorite store: La Droguerie! If you're ever in Paris, don't miss this store for the world! The prices are extremely high so I didn't buy much but just seeing this shop and all of the beautiful craft materials displayed so elegantly made me feel all fuzzy and happy inside. They have ribbons, beads, yarns, buttons, feathers....ahh, it's heavenly! Note the jars in the photo above...all filled with velvet flowers and leaves. Divine! By the way, I heart Belinda. She's one heck of a cool chick, wish she lived closeby!
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Ahh, what is Paris without a nice glass of red wine? And the glorious Eiffel Tower! I bought the cute coupons at the top...they say "good for one treat." I'm thinking about using them for my diet in someway. I like my treats..maybe I earn a coupon for each workout? Or I get a certain number of coupons each week?
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I bought this awesome notebook on the left. Look at the stuffed animals and paper flowers and hearts. I love the look of this and am so inspired by it! I wish I could buy some of those animals and flowers too...guess I'll have to figure out how to make my own. lol. What a cool postcard on the top right! Love the colors and style! I bought this gardening magazine (100 idees jardin) because it has gorgeous photos of flowers that are perfect for collage. Will show you on a later date. More suspense. : )
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More cards and postcards from Paris. I love this bird greeting card on the left. I've got tons of postage stamps, this would be a great way to use them on a card. And love these 2 Eiffel Tower postcards. So unique and clever! The top one has a wallpaper background and they've just put a photo of an Eiffel Tower statue inside the bird cage and a Michael's-esque butterfly near it. Hmmm....very interesting. Might have to try something like this. Love the colors and look of the postcard below it. Very cool!
I hope you've enjoyed these tidbits of inspiration that I've collected on my trip. I'm sure there will be more to come. : )
I'm Off to Europe!
James and I leave for Europe tomorrow! Eek, we're so excited! We're going to Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Montpellier (south of France) and Paris! I'm hoping to post some photos from my trip here while I'm on the road. We will see how it turns out. Fingers crossed all goes well. Hopefully, "see" you sometime next week with a few photos from Amsterdam!
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ARTchix Bonus Gift of the Month: "Paris" ATC + Button
Jackie made the beautiful card for me above. I've turned it into an ATC to share with you! You'll also get one of the buttons from our Souvenir de Paris Buttons. Simply type "spoil me" in the comments section of your order and we will include this fun ATC and a button with your order.
Or order our blog special and we will automatically include this bonus gift. Hooray!
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Jackie is published in Somerset Studio! Hooray!
Jackie McColl's beautiful "Evita" DreamBox is in the new issue of Somerset Studio! Hooray! Find out how she made it in our new online class: Theatrical DreamBoxes!
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Don't miss these delightful, inspiring DreamBoxes in our new, free online class: Theatrical DreamBoxes!
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ARTchix Special of the Month: Our DreamBox with Doors!
I just love this style of DreamBox! It's fabulous! Get some now for a special discounted price for this month only! Follow this special link to purchase some.
We will include the Paris themed bonus gift (ATC and button) above when you purchase this special. : ) Offer good while supplies last so get 'em while you can.
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Inca and Uma
Inca does her impression of a seal while Uma lounges in the background. Ooooh, I'm so going to miss my kitties and doggie while I'm away!
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Winner of Last Week's Art Challenge: Celebrate Birds!
We had 17 entries for this art challenge! It was a popular one! It was really hard to pick one winner but in the end, I picked....
RAMONA SAMUELS! Isn't this gorgeous?! Ramona wins a fabulous bird themed goodie bag!
Our next art challenge will be on Wed, June 3rd when I get back from Europe.
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Stella!
My adorable Stella at Botanical Beach
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My Fun Birthday
I celebrated my 38th birthday over the weekend. It was heavenly! James took me to a beautiful beach that I've been wanting to go to for a long time: Botanical Beach. There were tons of gorgeous tide pools and mussels! We saw this big bear too (luckily, we were in the safety of our car!). It was such a great weekend! I found myself feeling very thankful and happy for all that I have in my life. I am one lucky chick indeed.
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Winners of the "I Love ARTchix" Sticker Contest (by our YahooGroup)
Every year, we host an "I Love ARTChix" contest. Members of our YahooGroup make ATCs celebrating their love for ARTchix. And can you believe we had over 100 entries this year? WOW! It was so wonderful seeing them all! We asked our YahooGroup to vote for their favorites and here are the winners...
ATCs by Linda Riegelsberger (left) and Sue Cervantez (right).
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ATCs by Norma Skoglund (left) and Sara Udstuen (right).
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ATCs by Pam McKenzie (left) and Allison Berringer (right).
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Winners of the "I Love ARTchix" Sticker Contest (by Helga)
There were so many gorgeous entries for this contest that I couldn't resist picking 6 more! All of these winning ATCs (12 in total) will be made into stickers that you'll be able to collect and come free with your orders at ARTchix. Plus, all 12 winners get $25 gift certificates to ARTchix Studio! Wow!!!
Here are my picks...
ATC by Jennifer Rogers Daniels (left) and Patti Schmid (right).
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ATC by Linda Riegelsberger (left) and Sandee Hyde (right).
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ATC by Lynn McMillan (left) and Bonnie Ashurst (right).
Congratulations artists! We will also be offering this complete set of 12 stickers for sale in late June. Will let you know when they're ready for you.
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Winner of Last Week's Art Challenge: What Do You Love?
We had 7 awesome entries for this art challenge. Everyone made really neat twinchies (2" square collages) celebrating things that they love.
Here's the winner....
SABINE BUSCH! Congrats Sabine! You win a fun goodie bag from me! I will put it in the mail to you first thing next week.
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Mr. Blue & Pablo
Pamela McKenzie recently sent me this photo of her adorable kitty: Mr. Blue (on the left). He reminds me so much of my dear Pablo that passed away several years ago. What a special kitty he was. My, aren't they both so cute?
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Sticker Collection Alert!
Pamela also sent me this photo recently. She admitted that she loves collecting our "I love ARTchix" stickers that come free with every order. She keeps them under glass on a tabletop in her art studio. What fun!
Do you collect our "I love ARTchix stickers" too? Please show me what you're doing with them, I'd love to see!
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Winner of Last Week's Art Challenge: Be Inspired by Our Winning Swap Artists!
We received 4 great submissions for this art challenge. It was hard to pick a winner but in the end, I picked...
Cindy McMath! She says, "I chose Norma Skoglund as my inspiration, but I didn't use her beautiful blue palette. I was inspired by her use of scale." Love it! Cindy wins a fun goodie bag with samples of some of our gorgeous new products. Hooray!
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Swap Updates!
I've changed the deadlines for a few of our swaps. Here they are...
Pamela McKenzie made this awesome ATC for our next swap: Art Blast ATCs. Please note: the new deadline for mailing your ATCs to us is May 15, 2009.
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Jackie McColl made this lovely Paris themed bookmark for our Paris Bookmarks swap. The new deadline for mailing your bookmarks to us is: July 20, 2009.
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Jackie McColl made this cute Party Girl Paper Doll. We have 2 new collage sheets that are perfect for this fun swap: Fabulous Paper Dolls and Dreamy Paper Dolls. The deadline for this swap isn't until September so you've got lots of time to play!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Copycats
It cracks me up when I see Inca and Uma being copycats!
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Our "True Colors" Twinchie Swap WINNERS
What an incredible swap this was! We had over 70 participants, our biggest swap ever! Everyone made beautiful 2" square collages celebrating the beauty of color. It was so hard to pick the winners that in the end I ended up picking one big winner (prize: $100 gift certificate) and 8 honorable mentions (prizes: fun goodie bags)! Wow!
We will be mailing all of the swap packages this week so you will probably receive them sometime next week. : )
And now, introducing our wonderful winners....
GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Shannon Sawyer
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: I'd have to say my favorite product right now are the color collage sheets. I just love "Green World", and I also adore "Sepia Sentiments", next is "Passion for Pink" and also "Lavender Lovelies". I also just love the "Classy Labels". Every collage sheet I mentioned is great for adding a little character to an ATC, Twinchie, Moo Card, collage, and so on. They are great when you just need to add a little something and you're not sure what you need. You look at those collage sheets and inevitably you always find what you're looking for. I am also in love with the new "Flourish" sticker sheet set that is a compiling of all the awesome artwork from the swap.
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: My inspiration for my Twinchies would have to be the color collage sheets as I mentioned above. When you look at those and with what the theme for the Twinchies was, it was pretty easy to be inspired and come up with a small collage for each different color. I always like for my collages (no matter what the size) to tell some kind of a story. I also wanted to give these a finishing touch with some thin flourishes. Like so many, I am a huge fan of swirls and flourishes. But as far as my inspiration goes, I get inspired by the ArtChix products themselves. Your collage sheets always get my creative juices flowing. I didn't have any really clear cut technique with these. Aside from whatever I mentioned above.
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Christine Hendry
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Chocolate Baroque Borders! For the last few years I've been craving a metallic brown border, and when Helga came out with these it was like she had read my mind. They are the perfect brown, warm and elegant. I can't stop using them.
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: Nothing inspires me quite like color, but keeping a piece within one color scheme was a challenge for me. I started with a bunch of images that I had cut out over time, and divided them into separate piles by color, then focused on one color at a time. In the past I had usually used the label images whole, but since I was working with such a small size I needed to cut them up. It was very freeing to cut the labels apart and use just bits and pieces of them in different combinations. I don't know why I never did this before, but it was great fun, and forced me to focus in on the wonderful little details in each of the labels. In many of my Twinchies, I used metallic gel pens, small jewels, or glitter glue for the final sparkly touch.
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Jane Malone
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Classy Labels Transparency Sheet.
I love, love, love transparencies and since I love to sew on unusual mediums, I would love to get my stitches in some of those babies. Right now, I have a sheet of the paper ones, and I have loved using those.
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: Everyone always seems to say, "Make it your own." When I add "my signature" to something, it includes sewing and often fabric, so I tried to put my signature on ARTchix. Fabric and thread inspire me, so I had to use them.
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Katherine DeCarlo
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: I love your collage sheets and use them all the time. They are my favorite ARTchix product...and your German scrap borders. I love the shine and texture they give the small boxes I make.
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: The inspiration for the twinchies was traveling, flying away to a magical place and relaxing. The bright colors evoke happiness, the greens evoke spring. The twinchies are screaming I need spring!!! I need a magical get-a-way to my secret place. I love Paris and hope to travel there one day...and springtime in Paris would be my ultimate get-a-way!
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Laura Barnes
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Dapper Fellows collage sheet
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: My inspiration comes from this group and you. I tried some other groups, but ArtChix is the only one I really love.
Making my twinchies, I used distress ink on some of the backgrounds and around the edges of all the cut outs to give them depth. For the flourish transparency I put it through my xyron machine. I just did a lot of layering and used very sharp scissors.
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Norma Skoglund
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: ARTchix transparencies. They add depth and dimension to a project and can be transparent or layered with a colored background.
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: Your lovely colorful collage sheets were my inspiration for this project. Each sheet had a nice variety of items.
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Pamela McKenzie
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Spoil Me Collage Sheet.
She is an icon, she is
so versatile and fun for nearly any subject or theme, I can play with
her like a paper doll, dress her up or down or just use her head and it
works every time! She and the pink chick are my muse next to Buffy and
Mr. Blue (my mixed-media art students/ kitties).
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: For the Twinchie swap I first conceptualized on "scale" as a factor (My hubby is an architect) and since they are so tiny, and I just love children so much, the little child fairies seemed like a natural to set the tone for the theme to go together with Helga's wonderful color collage sheets. I didn't want to clutter the twinchies up too much (because of the scale). Once I cut the fairy's that were the main focal point, I laid them on and around the corresponding color sheet until I found the pleasing arrangement. I did a little embellishing with colored pencils, shimmer chalks and some brads for continuity among the series of 6. One important thing to me in this challenge was to only do one card at a time and assemble my supplies and materials up front.
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Sanna Burgess
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: For this particular contest I think I most enjoyed working with Hello Yellow! It's so much brightness and light and something really unique for me to work with. I always love the new things ArtChix comes up with!
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: My inspiration for these twinchies was color (of coarse) and small bits I have saved and catagorized by color! Some of the bits are pieces people send me as gifts in my swaps or even Helga has sent me as gifts for buying artchix art! I also used specific collages suggested for the true color twinchies! I have all those collages I didn't use yet ready for the next assignment too so my stash never shrinks... it always grows and in not only fun but in beauty because I love my Art Chix! I also had a blast finally using my new sewing machine on these twinchies. I tried really hard to make each one a winner so a lot of love and fun went into each one of my twinchies! I wanted to do some of each color but I sadly ran out of time! Guess I saved a few colors for next time though!!!! (Note: Sanna made 42 twinchies for this swap! WOW!)
..... HONORABLE MENTION: Sara Udstuen
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: ARTchix transparencies.
Inspiration and techniques used in my twinchies: I liked the challenge of exploring a single color on each twinchie. I usually picked a background first from my stash of paper marbling rejects, then chose coordinating elements as a theme evolved. I do not start with a certain final image in mind, usually everything starts to fall into place and begins to reveal a story of its own.
In addition, I use a frame cut out with an opening the size of the collage I am working on to place over background papers to choose the best section or direction of pattern. Using the frame allows me to try different things before cutting. I also use the frame as I experiment with placement and choice of other elements. I also try to hide the white edges of cut out elements by coloring the edges with a felt tip pen in a matching color if possible.
STAY TUNED: We will be introducing the gorgeous set of stickers that features the incredible artwork from this swap next Wed, April 22! You're going to love it!
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Winner of Last Weeks Art Challenge: Help Me Pick the Next Art Swap!
I received so many fabulous ideas for art swaps over the past week. Thank you! I wish I had time to host them all! But in the end, I picked 2 fun swaps that I can't wait to play in! I will be making up proper write ups for our website next week. I will let you know when they're posted. But in the meantime, please allow me the pleasure to announce our new art swaps:
Swap idea from Christy Laudig: Paper Dolls!
I just love this paper doll by Christy! It looks like she's ready to go to a fun party. So, let's make "Party Girl" Paper Dolls! Let's each make 6 paper dolls using our Pretty Paper Dolls collage sheet or any of the new paper dolls sheets that we will be introducing on our website next week. Deadline will be September 21, 2009. More details will be posted on our website next week.
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Swap idea from Allison Berringer: MOO Cards!
I'm in love with these MOO Cards that Allison made! They feature images from one of my favorite sheets that my Mom designed: When Dreams Take Flight. So, for this swap, we're going to make 6 MOO Cards (approx. 1" x 3"). Each card must include at least one image from one of these sheets designed by my Mom: When Dreams Take Flight, Awakenings or Snowflake Kisses. Deadline will be November 16, 2009. More details will be posted on our website next week.
Thank you for your great ideas, Christy and Allison, I'll be putting fun goodie bags in the mail to you asap!
Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Inca Laughing
I love this photo of Inca. She looks like she's laughing. She likes to sit at the table like a person and ask for food. It's hilarious!
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Recently Published Chix:
I'm so proud to say that my studio is featured in the current Studios magazine! How exciting and what an honor!
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Belinda Schneider had her article on awesome Button Dollz published in Somerset Studio's Gallery Dec/ Jan edition. I sure love this mermaid doll!! It features one of our Sirens of the Sea.
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These gorgeous art dolls were in Somerset Studio's March/ April 2009 Issue! Cindy McMath made the beautiful one on the left and Laura Haviland made the cool one on the right. Cindy's art doll features Hats in Bloom, Handy Labels, Time After Time and a Spinning Arrow. Laura's cutie features Glamour Post, Whimsical Wings and Hat Affair.
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This lovely card by Linda Kunsman was in Just Cards Volume 13! It features All My Love, Pink Borders - Tiny Dot and Floral and Victorian Roses.
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This cool purse is in Crafty Chica's new book: Guide to Arful Sewing. It includes images from our That's Amore collage sheet.
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Winners of Last Weeks Art Challenge: Celebrate Paris!
I received 21 entries for this fun art challenge! It was so delightful seeing everyone make art devoted to one of my favorite cities in the world! I couldn't possibly just pick one winner so, I picked 3! And here they are....
CHRISTY LAUDIG! I fell in love with her Van Gogh background with Paris snapshots. Gorgeous! It makes me want to dig out my art books and collage with old masters' paintings.
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MIKEL OBRIEN! The colors in this collage are just spectacular!!! And I love how she altered the clothes on the mini images from our Classy Labels sheet. So cool!
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PAMELA MCKENZIE! As you know, I have a soft spot for kitties so I just had to pick this one! Love it!
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Prizes for these Fabulous Winners:
I made up beautiful Paris themed goodie bags. Each one includes an authentic vintage document from Paris along with Paris ARTchix goodies. You can see a few featured here: Heart of Paris collage sheet, Paris Post, French Borders in Copper and Gold. Congratulations Christy, Mikel and Pamela!
Inspired by Our Art Blast Playing Cards
Last month, Clarissa Sharp and Christy Laudig won one of my Weekly Art Challenges. I sent them each a fun goodie bag and tucked inside was one of our new Art Blast Playing Cards. I asked them to make something that was inspired by the card that I sent them. Here's what they made:
Christy received the pretty playing card on the left. She was inspired to make this awesome clip board after studying it. Isn't it lovely?! She has used a smiling woman image from our Sepia Gals collage sheet, a pink heart from our Art Blast collage sheet, faux post from our Poste d'Amour, pink ephemera from our Passion for Pink collage sheet, and a bit of our Pink Floral Borders. Wow!
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Clarissa received the neat bird playing card on the left. She was inspired to make this beautiful bird collage after seeing it. You can find a pink bird from our Pink Symbols and a bit of Tiny Pink Dot Border.
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness: Puppy Stella!
After snuggling with puppy Finnbar recently, I had to go through our puppy photos of Stella. Wasn't she so fluffy and adorable?!
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Winners of our Last Art Challenge (Play with Purple, Yellow and Green!)
I received 13 gorgeous entries filled with bright purple, green and yellow! It was way too hard to pick just one winner so I picked four! And here they are:
LENNA ANDREWS! I loved her use of color and what's that I see?! Why, she altered one of our Art Blast Playing Cards! How cool is that?! She also included "She rocks" from Her Words collage sheet and a purple door from our Dazzling Doorways collage sheet. Awesome!
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PEGGY GATTO! Isn't this piece FUN?! I love how Peggy has put our cute gal from the Chixies Bubbles Collection riding in a big shoe....along with her great quote. Too funny!
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SANDEE HYDE! I'm a sucker for everything with mermaids! lol. I just love this collage! Love how Sandee has played with the mermaid's tail (from our Sirens of the Sea sheet).
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SUE CERVANTEZ! This collage is soooo lovely! I love the Chixie Hat on top of the cute gal. And love how she's stamped up the pretty background from our Green World collage sheet. And my, how that bird from the Hellow Yellow sheet shines!
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Prizes for the Winners:
Fabulous mini goodie bags! You can see here that they include Happy Chix, Chixies Art Flourishes faux post, tickets, background papers and more!
NEW Art Swap: "Paris" Bookmarks!
Join me in celebrating one of the most beautiful cities in the world! Paris holds such a special place in my heart. Don't ya think it would be so wonderful to have a set of special arty bookmarks devoted to dear Paris?
I made this fun bookmark in minutes by simply gluing images from our new Inchie World collage sheet to one of our Watercolor Bookmarks. Then I added the Eiffel Tower "hat" and cute chick from our new Trip to France collage sheet. Lastly, I added purple rhinestones and "I love Paris" cut out from our new Tell Me Another Story collage sheet.
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ARTchix Paper Dolls in the new issue of Somerset Studio!
Our talented guest designer, Alwen Rambo, was recently published in Somerset Studio with her fabulous paper dolls! Hooray! Don't miss our new Pretty Paper Dolls collage sheet that she designed in honor of it!
Can you guess how many ARTchix products Alwen used in her paper dolls?! Neither can we, lol! Here they are: Glamour Faux Post, Whimsical Wings, Butterfly Butterfly, Silver Hand Charms, Spring Blossom, Royal Faux Post, Copper Hand Charms and Minstrel Shoes!
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness
Welcome adorable Finnbar! He's the newest addition to our ARTchix family! Cynthia, our packaging diva, just brought him home. Couldn't resist sharing this photo with you!
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Winners of our Last Art Challenge: Have a Cup of Tea & Make a Collage With the Packaging!
We had 13 gorgeous entries for this last art challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed receiving your submissions via email and online. I loved seeing all of the tea packaging transformed into lovely works of art! I think it's extra cool when you can transform "trash" into treasure! Everything was so fantastic that I couldn't pick just one winner...so I picked 3! : )
BARB MALTY! Dont' ya just love all of the layers and bright colors?!
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MIKEL OBRIEN! Isn't this piece lovely? Mikel used the same tea packaging as Barb's yet they both have such a unique style. Love 'em!
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JENNIFER ROGERS DANIELS! Jennifer made 3 beautiful ATCs, this happens to be my favorite!
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Congratulations Barb, Mikel & Jennifer! Here's the fun goodie bag that I put together for you! You can see a hint of what it includes in this photo: stickers with my tea packaging artwork, Gold Embellishment Frame, White Wings, hand from Handful of Treasure, image from Sweet Spring and more. Enjoy! : )
WINNERS of the Last Art Challenge (Have an adventure day & celebrate it with a collage!)
It was so wonderful seeing so many of you treat yourself to fun art adventure days! We had 11 participants in this fun art challenge and I had such a hard time picking one winner that I decided to pick 3 winners instead! Yay! Here they are:
SUE YOUNG! Sue went to the Art Institute of Chicago for an Edvard Munch exhibit. She says: "What a surprising exhibit...we learned much about Munch and
his contemporaries. Munch is best known,of course,for his black and
white painting called "The Scream". I hadn't really planned on
entering this week's Artchix contest until I saw this painting in
person. Immediately, I knew what I HAD to do!!!
It's called "Life With/Without ArtChix". You'll notice that life
without ArtChix is colorless, bleak, sad; definitely worth screaming
bloody murder!!! Life WITH ArtChix is colorful, brilliant, creative and
exciting!"
Sue's piece really touched me and made me feel so proud, happy and honored!
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JAN DEBELLIS! Jan went to Red Canyon Park in Colorado and made this wonderful collage to celebrate her great time there. Note: she also used my photo from Vancouver in this piece, looks fab! : )
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AMY PAINTER! Amy went to Point Roberts, took tons of cool photos and transformed them into an amazing altered book!
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Congratulations Sue, Jan and Amy! You will each receive this little goodie bag with pretty samples from my shopping trip in Vancouver:
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WINNERS of our Art Flourishes Swap
Recently, we hosted a fantastic Artist Trading Card Swap. All participants were asked to make 6 ATCs using our Art Flourishes collage sheet or transparency. I was amazed at all of the incredible ATCs that came in the mail! Wow, such inspiration! I ended up picking 1 Winner and 5 Honorable Mentions! The Winner received a $100 shopping spree at ARTchix Studio. And the Honorable Mentions received fabulous spring-themed ARTchix goodie bags. And here they are:
The WINNER: Cristal Marie Wooten
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: I love the collage sheet collection, and the german scrap.
My inspiration and techniques used in my flourish ATCs: I
gathered a whole bunch of "stuff" together including tons of ARTchix
products and spread it out and then over the next few days added bits
and pieces untill they felt complete. I also tried some new techniques
on some of them. I used Utee and cracked it to achieve a shiny cracked
effect. These were a lot of fun!
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HONORABLE MENTION: Becky Loyall
My favorite Artchix product at the moment: Victorian Colorful Butterflies. I love to make faeries and am having a blast with these on my ACEO's.
My inspiration used in my flourish ATCs: I love nature and everything about it! I wanted to use some vintage photos from the great Silent film era. So each one of my cards has an actress from that time and flowers. I see them as helping our modern cinema bloom into what it has become. I also wanted to convey that artwork blooms and changes daily in my head anyway! The flourishes added the final touch!
My technique: After I made my collages, I coated each card with Judikins Diamond Glaze, then I added the flourish transparencies and when they dried, I coated them again with Diamond Glaze.
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HONORABLE MENTION: Belinda Schneider
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HONORABLE MENTION: Linda Riegelsberger
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Glamour Post Faux Postage
My
inspiration and techniques used in my flourish ATCs: Both the mermaid and dancing puppet were done on shrink plastic. The
embossed dots were done with Liquid Pearls. I wanted to represent
movement and action in both of these pieces, so I made the people
"doing" something. The puppet is wearing the flourish head-piece like
a Vegas showgirl, and I thought the painted face from the flourish
sheet fitted well with that theme. The mermaid is picking jewels off
the curly flourishes that I thought looked like seaweed.
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HONORABLE MENTION: Norma Skoglund
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Dapper Fellows collage sheet. They all look so stearn that it is easy to poke fun at them just a little.
My
inspiration used in my flourish ATCs: I put all the cut pieces from my collage sheets on a tray and
transparencies on another tray, then just start moving them around and
trying different combinations. Then I make or find a background that I
like with the arrangement. The "Winged Beauties" just seemed to be
perfect for this challenge.
My techniques: On the flourishes, I used Lumiere paints for some of the backgrounds, a few rubber stamps, Copic markers, and Stckles for a little sparkle. (I always like a
little bling!) Most of the transparencies were adhered with glue dots.
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HONORABLE MENTION: Teri Calia
My favorite ARTchix product at the moment: Winged Nudies collage sheet
My
inspiration and techniques used in my flourish ATCs: I was inspired by the wonderful images on the Women in Art collage sheet. The women have such wonderful expressions, I just had to give them crazy hats to frame them.
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COMING NEXT WED, March 11:
The Chixies Art Flourishes Sticker Collection will be for sale on our website next Wednesday! 4 sheets of gorgeous stickers to decorate your world, you're going to love them!
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WEEKLY DOSE OF CUTENESS
My adorable kitty Inca! She loves to sleep on her back like this! Doesn't she look so cute? You can see her smiling in this pic! : )
Bruno channels his inner lucky cat. lol.
See you next Wednesday for more cuteness, our Flourish Swap winners, a new fun art challenge and more! : )
WINNER of Last Week's Art Challenge (Play with Pink & Brown!)
Ooh, what a delight it was to see so many gorgeous pink and brown mosaics, collages and ATCs! I struggled to pick a winner but in the end had to pick CHRISTY LAUDIG! She made this stunning 4" square canvas, isn't it just gorgeous?! Christy has won the fun goodie bag on the right.
Christy's gorgeous collage features a multitude of lovely ARTchix products: Large Mix collage sheet, Loveliness collage sheet, Fairy Dreams collage sheet, My Art Challenges collage sheet, Spring Blossom collage sheet and Peace, Hope and Tranquility faux post.
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INSPIRATION in Vancouver, BC, Canada
James and I recently spent a few days in beautiful Vancouver, BC. What a lovely city! On one day, we walked to the aquarium and had such a nice time!
I was so inspired by the sea life at the aquarium! Look at these vivid colors! Now I'm dying to make collages in these color schemes. And I was so amazed at how much the anemones looked like dahlias! I'm thinking that a collage featuring anemones and dahlias would look so neat!
Just before my trip, I received this awesome tote bag in the mail from Mari Torres! Isn't it awesome?! James took this photo of me carrying it around in Vancouver. I love the colors, my muse - the Spoil Me chick, and "full of surprises"! So delightful! Mari doesn't have an online shop yet but if she opens one in the future, I'll be sure to let you know.
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness
My little Uma girl, what a cutie!
One World - One Heart WINNER:
My kitties have chosen the winner for the One World - One Heart Giveaway, hooray! Here's how they chose the winner. First, I made a note of the number of comments on my blog: 329. So, technically, each comment was assigned a number in order of their posting...the last person getting number 329. Then, I wrote numbers 0-9 on heart shaped post-it notes and put a kitty treat on each number. I have 3 cats so each cat was to pick a number.
First up, Bruno!
Bruno sauntered down the table and chose #3 for #300!
Next up, Uma:
Uma sniffs her way along and finally picks #2 for #20!
And now Inca is to pick the final number:
She surveys the numbers and almost looks like she's not going to pick one at all! But then, she jumps in and picks #4!!!
So here you have it! The winning number is #324 as picked by Bruno, Uma and Inca. And #324 is.....TAMMY P!! Tammy P wins an ARTchix Studio Complete Faux Postage Collection along with my handmade valentine. Congratulations Tammy! A big thank you to everyone for participating in this wonderful event. I've really enjoyed seeing so many creative blogs and I look forward to working my way through the huge list of talented participants in the upcoming weeks.
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WINNER of Last Week's Art Challenge (Treat Yourself & Make Something with the Wrapping!)
What a pleasure it was to see so many of you eating yummy treats and then including the wrappers in your beautiful collages! What fun! I had a hard time picking the winner but in the end I picked Barbara Smith! Look at 2 of her stunning collages below! Each one has amaretto cookie wrappers in them. Wow, aren't they gorgeous?!!
Barbara's prize is this fun goodie bag:
This fun goodie bag includes an ARTchix Mermaid Card, one of my blog stickers, snippets from the Dazzling Doorways collage sheet, Turquoise Shell Border and more.
Winner of Last Week's Art Challenge (Make a black & white twinchie!):
Linda Kunsman!!! You can see her fun twinchie on the left. Thank you all for playing! It was so difficult to pick a winner. I received 17 entries this time! The most I've ever received! And honestly, I loved every single one! So, I had to pick the one that made me smile the most and that's Linda's because I love anything with Paris (or cats!). lol. Linda will be receiving the fun goodie bag on the right which includes my black and white twinchie, some Dapper Fellows, Iridescent White Wings, Black Wings, old film strip and more.
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This just in...Inspiration from Kelly Burton:
Kelly recently sent me these scans of her beautiful artwork! I couldn't resist sharing them with you. On the left, she's made a skinny (3" x 5") with one of our lovely Mermaidens. And on the right, she made a valentine ATC with our new Chixies Valentines collage sheet collection and a strip of Gold Baroque Border. So pretty!
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Weekly Dose of Cuteness:
My kitty Uma loves to plant herself on my art desk whenever I'm arting up a storm. Isn't she adorable?!
2 Chix Published in Somerset Studio:
Hooray for Cindy McMath and Regina Portscheller! They were both published in the Jan/ Feb 2009 issue of Somerset Studio. Cindy's awesome collage is on the top left and her cool decorated envelope is just below it. Both pieces feature our Sassy Style collage sheet.
Regina's amazing collage is on the top right and features our Loveliness collage sheet. Congrats to Cindy and Regina, they both win 3 free ARTchix sheets of their choice!
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Winners of Last Week's Art Challenge (Play with your scraps!):
Wow, everyone made such cool pieces with their scraps! Clarissa Sharp's collage is on the top left and features our Coquette transparency. Christy Laudig made the ATC below it with the red rose and butterfly from our Garden Collection. C. Marie made the cool valentines on the bottom right...the pressed ferns look so pretty! And Janet Heritage made the ARTchix altered book (with leftovers) on the top right.
WINNERS from Last Week's Art Challenge on this Blog
Last week, I asked you to make valentines and wow, everyone made such pretty ones! I found myself saying there's no way I can pick just one winner! So, I picked 3: Clarissa Sharp (cat valentine), Belinda Schneider (fabric valentine) and Christy Lowdig (ATC valentines). You can see them all below.
THE PRIZES
Here's what I'm sending you! I made the valentine below and copied it. So, one of you will get my original and two of you will get copies. Plus, a fun valentine-y goodie bag. Here's what they look like all wrapped up (on the right below). Thanks for playing! Hope you'll join me in the new art challenge for this week: Play with your Scraps! Deadline Tues, Jan 27 morning.
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INSPIRED by our NEW Art Blast Playing Cards
I'm just loving our new Art Blast Playing Cards! They're just breathtaking to look at and wow, are they ever great for fueling your creativity! Here are a few examples of how they've inspired me in my art.
ART BLAST INSPIRATION: 1 CARD
I randomly picked one playing card out of the deck. It inspired this fun collage on the left! I tried to pick a similar color scheme of red, ivory and black. And I just had to include red roses! In addition, I found some sheet music and used that as the background. You can also spy the same stork that's on the card in the bottom right of my collage. What fun!
ARTchix products: Art Blast Playing Cards, Art Blast collage sheet and Winged Beauties collage sheet.
ART BLAST INSPIRATION: 2 CARDS
For this ATC, I focused on only what is included inside the labels on each card. The first label has a seashell and the second says "ATC." So, I made an ATC that included an image that had a seashell (from our Large Mix collage sheet) on it. Fun!
ART BLAST INSPIRATION: 4 CARDS
The really fun thing about these playing cards is that each suit has a different challenge featured. The Diamonds are all projects. The Spades are all symbols and themes. The Clubs are all color combinations and the Hearts are filled with different art mediums. So, if you really want to challenge yourself, pick a card from each suit! That's what I did for this fun challenge. I focused on just the items inside the labels of all of these 4 cards: inchies, egg, pink/cream/brown color combo, glitter. Wow! So, that's what was on my mind when I made the 3 inchies above.
ARTchix products: Art Blast Playing Cards, Tiny Pink Dot Borders, Tell Me a Story collage sheet, Valentine Wishes collage sheet, Imagine collage sheet, Mini Delights collage sheet, Watercolor Inchies.
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PLAY IN OUR NEW SWAP!
Make 6 ATCs inspired by the 2 cards from our Art Blast Playing Cards below:
Please see the details for this swap on our website. Postmark deadline is May 10, 2009, so you have lots of time!
Note: Each of your ATCs for this swap must include one ARTchix image from one of our following sheets:
E is for Egg collage sheet
Art Blast collage sheet
Spring Blossom collage sheet
Floral Fantasy collage sheet
Birds (coming in March 2009)
Just to get the whirls turning....here's an ATC I made that's inspired by these 2 playing cards:
ARTchix products: Floral Fantasy collage sheet, E is for Egg collage sheet, Tell Me a Story collage sheet, Silver Renaissance Borders (aged with a bit of green alcohol ink), ATC Watercolor Blanks.
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WEEKLY DOSE OF CUTENESS
Here's my kitty Bruno sitting in the in-box on my desk. What a cutie!
I'm so happy to be a part of this awesome event that encourages creativity and friendship around the world! Be sure to check out the One World - One Heart blog to see all of the fantastic prizes you can win!
For my blog, I'm pleased to announce that you can win a super, fabulous ARTchix Studio Complete Faux Postage Sticker Collection (retail value of $126)! You'll be spoiled with hundreds of gorgeous stickers tucked into a swell plastic binder for easy storage.
PLUS, I will include this pretty handmade valentine by me (Helga Strauss).
How do you win? Simply leave your name and email address as a comment on this blog post before February 12, 2009. Everyone is welcome to comment and therefore be eligible to win this fantastic prize. I will have one of my cats help me randomly draw the winner on February 12, 2009. Good luck!
Announcing the ARTchix Valentine Swap Winners!
We recently hosted a valentine swap here in ARTchix-land. The guidelines were to make heart -shaped valentines with ARTchix Red or Pink German Scrap. We were amazed at the gorgeous hearts that came pouring it! What treasures! It was so hard to pick winners!
WINNER: Kelly Parsons!
Kelly's valentines are so unique and they're just beautiful! She made hearts
with pockets and then made colorful, romantic tags that she tucked inside. WOW!
We were so sad to discover that Kelly recently passed away. She will be dearly missed. We are donating her $100 winnings to cancer research. And we are giving her lovely valentines to Hospice. We think that's what her generous and thoughtful heart would have wanted.
ARTchix products in Kelly's lovely valentines: Red Swan Wings, Black Swan Wings, Black Baroque Borders, Black Mesh, Victorian Roses, All My Love collage sheet, Hold Me transparency sheet.
HONORABLE MENTION: Allison Berringer
I love how Allison made her valentines into pretty ornaments! So cool! : )
ARTchix products in Allison's lovely valentines: Pink Wings, Valentine Wishes collage sheet
HONORABLE MENTION: Norma Skoglund
Love all of the bright colors Norma used in her valentines! The details are
lovely too...for example, look at the way the red wings caress the hands holding
the red flower. So elegant and pretty!
ARTchix products in Norma's lovely valentines: Valentine Wishes collage sheet, Red Swan Wings, Red Small Renaissance Borders, Red Flowers, Pink Flowers, Pink Tiny Dot Borders, Red Metal Roses, Pink Symbols, Pretty Bird collage sheet, Tell Me a Story transparency sheet, Hold Me transparency sheet, Incredible Inchies collage sheet, Small Mix collage sheet
HONORABLE MENTION: Sanna Burgess
WOW, look at the incredible details and many layers on Sanna's valentines!
Amazing!
ARTchix products in Sanna's lovely valentines: Pink Wings, Red Embellishments, Playful Gents collage sheet, Red Wings Collection, Floral Beauties ARTchix Cards, Heart of Paris collage sheet, Special Delivery collage sheet, Pink Floral Borders, Awakenings collage sheet, Through the Looking Glass collage sheet
HONORABLE MENTION: Shannon Sawyer
Shannon's valentines are exquisite! Check out the many layers and beautiful
details!
ARTchix products in Shannon's lovely valentines: Pink Wings, Valentine Wishes collage sheet, Pink Floral Borders, Pink Flowers, Red Small Renaissance Borders, That's Amore collage sheet, Garden collage sheet collection, Winged Cuties collage sheet
Everyone Gets a Treat!
All of the participants in our Valentine Swap will receive the new Chixies Valentine Collage Sheet Collection (which will be available on our website for purchase next Wednesday, Jan. 21) along with a yummy chocolate.
Note to all valentine swap participants: We will be mailing your swap packages out to you at the end of this week and early next week. So, you can expect to receive them by late January (but most likely sooner). Thanks so much for playing in this swap, it was a real pleasure hosting it!
My kitty Bruno enjoyed receiving all of the valentines too! He liked to cuddle up with the boxes!
Happy New Year!!!
Belinda Schneider sent me this gorgeous New Year's card, I just love it! It features our Spoil Me chick, Red Renaissance Scrap, Red Swan Wings and Black Baroque Borders. Sooo pretty and festive! Thanks so much Belinda!
What I was up to while I was on my holiday break:
We celebrated our ARTchix Staff Christmas Party! We enjoyed a yummy lunch at a nice restaurant and spa treatments for all of the girls, what fun! That's me at the head of the table, Cynthia in hot pink on the left, Kathy, Jackie in green, Lareena with the purple scarf (Jackie's lovely daughter)...then on the right: Prince (Jackie's handsome son), James and Cindy in blue. What a great day we had together! Love you guys! : )
Christmas was sooo fun! My family came to visit and it was heavenly! As you can see, all of my kitties and doggie enjoyed Christmas too....especially our Christmas tree. I often woke up to find kitties camped out under our tree nesting admist the presents.
After Christmas, James and I enjoyed several days at a beautiful little resort less than an hours drive away from us (Point No Point). It was soo magical and healing to walk along the beach, sit by the fire and read and chat. I felt sooo refreshed and revived after being there for 3 days!
After my blissful time away, I came back all jazzed to plan out my new years resolutions. On Jan. 1, I made this list and so far so good. : ) Yay! : )
Dear, sweet Angie gave me this One Lovely Blog Award. Isn't that nice?! Wow, thank you so much! : )
The rules are:
1. Add the logo to your
blog.
2. Link to the person from whom you received this award.
3. Nominate
7 or more blogs.
4. Leave a message on their blog, letting them know they are
“One Lovely Blog”!
I nominate ....
3. Jade Adams
6. C. Marie
7. Whopple
I'm Published!!!
Did you see my article in Somerset Studio's Nov/ Dec 2008 Issue?! I'm so proud of it! I love wrapping gifts so this was such a fun article for me to put together!
Best Crown EVER!
Belinda sent me this scan of a gorgeous new collage called "Snow Queen" that she made with our Spoil Me chick. Wow, check out that crown made of German Scrap. Isn't it amazing??! I think it's made out of Baroque Border and Wings...all painted white. Also, her necklace is a French Border that's been painted. And her belt is a Small Flower Border that's been painted. Wow, it's soooo pretty!!
Our Upcoming Swap: Art Flourishes ATCs DUE in the mail by Jan. 10, 2009
Check out this awesome ATC that Belinda made! Wow, isn't she talented? I spy Art Flourishes on her head along with a snippet of Black Baroque Border.
Have some time off after the holidays? How about playing in our swap? It's going to be so much fun! Please order your sheets ASAP so that we can get them in the mail before we close for the holidays on Dec. 19th.
My Grandma and Me
My Mom recently sent me this photo. Isn't it sweet? It brings a tear to my eye because I so wish my Grandma were here to see me now. While I was growing up, she always encouraged me to be artistic. She bought me magazines and we'd have craft time at her house. She always loved everything I made her and proudly displayed it all...even the dolls I made out of toilet paper rolls! lol. I thank her for helping me become the artist I am today.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!! : )
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season with your families! I'm so excited because my family is coming to stay with us this year. We haven't had a Strauss family Christmas in quite some time so I'm pumped!! This also means that I've got lots of stuff to do before they arrive. So, this will be my last blog entry for 2008. (By the way, I just had to share this cute photo of Inca as a kitten in my "Misc. To Do" bin. So cute!)
I look forward to seeing you in the new year! I'll be back with my New Year's post on Wed, Jan. 7th. See you then!
Also, please note: ARTchix Studio will be closed Dec. 20 - Jan. 5.
Gorgeous Necklaces by My Mom!
My Mom sent me this photo of some necklaces she's been making and I couldn't resist showing them to you. Aren't they gorgeous?! She added ARTchix images (Sea Dreams, Mermaid Dreams and Spoil Me collage sheets) to our Large Brass Photo Charms. Then added resin on top to seal them. Then she drilled holes and wire wrapped on shells and sea glass. So pretty!!!
Pretty Bracelets by My Mom!
My Mom collaged Silver Bracelets with ARTchix images from the Tiny Bubbles collage sheet. And then she added resin to seal them. Lovely!
Cool Rings by Jackie McColl!
After seeing my Mom's beautiful necklaces and bracelets, I was inspired to make some rings as package toppers for some special gifts this year. Jackie's class on Quick & Easy Rings makes them so easy and fun to make.
Me and Fluffy Bruno! : )
This week, I've been working on submitting an article to Cloth Paper Scissors' Studios magazine. I've been having fun taking photos of my studio and writing all about it. Just had to share this cute photo of me and my dear Bruno. This red recliner is in my studio and it's my favorite chair in the house. : )
Our family friend, Susan Freniere, passed away a few days ago. She was a truly inspiring, wonderful, strong, intelligent, artistic woman and she will be dearly missed. My Mom made this beautiful DreamBox for her. It shows Susan and her husband in the center with photos of everyone in my family around the outside. "You are loved" was rubber stamped onto ribbon. And my Mom, being the incredible jewelry maker that she is, made the incredible nest at the top. She made this DreamBox for Susan to tie to her bed during her illness in hopes of lifting her spirits. It makes me sad that she never got to see it. (It arrived just after she passed away). But I'm sure she knew that she was indeed very loved by so many.
Announcing a new ARTchix Swap!
Make 6 or 12 twinchies (2" square collages) with a "True Colors" theme. For each twinchie that you make,
explore one color. You may want to do a set of 6 twinchies that are all red. Or
maybe you want to make one twinchie devoted to the color red, the next one
honoring the color orange, and so on until you do one for each color of the
rainbow. It's totally up to you, have fun and enjoy! The deadline isn't until March 10, 2009 so you have lots of time!
Note: Each twinchie must include at least one ARTchix image from at least one of the following sheets:
Ruby Red
Tangerine
Travels
Yellow (coming in January 2009)
Green World
I'm
Blue
Lavender Lovelies
Sepia Sentiments
I made the twinchie above with our new Ruby Red collage sheet, 2" Watercolor Squares, Tell Me a Story collage sheet and Handy Red Labels. So fun! : )
My Snuggle Bunny!
I love sharing photos of my adorable pets. So, when I took this cute photo of my kitty, Bruno, snuggled up in the recliner in my studio, I couldn't resist showing it to you. : )
HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
A Peek at Next Week.....
I plan to start making Christmas gifts very soon. Will be sure to share what I make with you. In the meantime, check out these awesome ornaments that Jackie McColl made! They all feature images from our stunning, new Snowflake Kisses collage sheet...paired with Memory Frames in Inchie, Twinchie and Tall sizes.
We recently hosted an awesome twinchie swap! (Twinchies are 2" square collages.) The only rule was that everyone had to make 6 twinchies using images from our Spoil Me collage sheet or transparency. What fun!
Announcing, the WINNER of our twinchie swap: Teri Calia!
She wins a $100 shopping spree at ARTchix Studio, hooray! I totally fell in love with Teri's twinchies. Love how she paired our Spoil Me chick with our Sassy Style sheet, Pretty Bird sheet and Tell Me a Story sheet. Fabulous!
Honorable Mention #1: Eileen Terhaar Clark
Love these pretty twinchies! And check out the cute envelopes Eileen made for her twinchies (see bottom row - far left and right).
Honorable Mention #2: Kristi Bremner
Okay, now I'm totally in love with Kristi's color combination of purple and red! Can't wait to play with these colors!
Honorable Mention #3: Norma Skoglund
Wow, love these stunning twinchies! Norma's use of transparencies and compasses make them extra unique and mysterious!
Honorable Mention #4: Patti Schmid
I'm totally in love with Patti's bright colors! Also, love how she paired our Pretty Bird images with our Spoil Me images. So cool!
Honorable Mention #5: Sharon Walworth
Love Sharon's colorful twinchies with flowers and lots of sewing! She presented these gorgeous twinchies in an adorable decorated lunchbox. And each twinchie came packed up with matching fabric flowers and goodies (see sample on the right). A+ for presentation, way to go Sharon!
Thee Prize for our Fabulous 5 Honorable Mentions: A package of Spoil Me treats!
Each honorable mention will receive: My Art Challenges collage sheet, Spoil Me buttons, Pink Flowers and a package of the Blog Sticker Collection. Congratulations, artists!
Gifts for Everyone in this Swap, hooray!
We are in the process of mailing out all of the fabulous twinchies this week! Yay! Every participant will receive the new Chixies Spoil Me collage sheet collection (note: will be available for purchase on our website next week), the new Chixies Spoil Me faux postage sheet (note: will be available for purchase on our website next week), 6 gorgeous twinchies from other artists, my new business card and yummy candies and gum (Chiclets, of course!).
My cute kitty, Uma, helped me organize this swap. (Yes, she looks just like my other kitty, Inca, because they're sisters. ) Uma is the naughty one though. Tee hee. Her nicknames are "Emo" and "Evil Inca." lol!
Join us for our next swap: Red & Pink Valentine Hearts with Mini Goodie Bags!
Deadline is postmark Nov. 10, 2008. (Only about a week and a half away.) Make 6 Valentine hearts using our red and pink German scrap. And include a tiny goodie bag with art treats with each Valentine. Cindy McMath made this gorgeous valentine for this swap and you can see one of the cute goodie bags she made up that includes some fun game pieces, brads, mini cards and stickers. Make your Valentine's Day for 2009 super awesome by playing in this fun swap!
Still Unpacking and Getting Organized
I'm still in the process of getting unpacked and organized...along with designing some new products for next month. As you can see, Inca likes to help! : ) Unfortunately, this means that there will not be a new art challenge for this week. But good news is that the dreambox below will still be on special for this week along with the awesome bonus gift.
A peek at what I'm working on......
Join me next Wednesday, Oct 29, for lots of fun and inspiration!
Packing Up
My journey to Art & Soul in Portland started with days of packing. Packing for myself, packing for our booth, packing for classes I was teaching and classes I was taking. Wow, it was intense! Here you can see my kitty, Inca, tucked into my class supplies. I almost packed her up too! : )
Albie's Awesome Class
My first day at Art and Soul was Albie Smith's Painted Papers class. Oh, what fun I had! Albie is a wonderful teacher and fabulous person! I adore her! Here is a photo of me and Albie and in the background, you can see some of the fun paste papers I made in her great class.
Hooray for Trades!
Throughout each day, it was great fun trading goodies with everyone. I came home with a bounty of fabulous trades that I will treasure forever. Here you can see a few of my favorite trades that I received: felted leaf by Mija Marie, "Girl with the Pearl" ATC by Connie Freedman, "Got Style" ATC by Christine Hendry, purple altered tin necklace by Sue Ellen Hayler, orange bird magnet by Dayna Collins, altered mini clipboard by Connie McDowell, "Art and Soul" fabric pencil case by Marian McBryde, altered clothespin by Laura Warren, kitty bottlecap magnet by Patricia Bober. Isn't it amazing how unique and magical they all are?! : )
Hooray for My Students!
I taught 2 DreamBox classes and had an absolute blast!! My students were all so warm, sweet and super talented! Here I am with one of my dear students: Dayna Collins. Check out the awesome DreamBox she made in my class on her blog.
A Few Fabulous DreamBoxes Made in My Classes
I was so inspired by the beautiful dreamboxes that everyone made in my classes! I just had to share some of them with you because they are soooo amazing! I apologize in advance for not remembering all of the artists names. Can you please email me if I don't have your name listed. Thank you. : )
Top, left: Love this magical sea-themed dreambox! You'll find an image from the Chixies By the Sea Collection inside the frame. The outer frame was painted with acrylic paints and then bits of gold and copper leaf were added. Note the big starfish bursting out of the top, sooo awesome!
Top, middle by Laura Warren: Love how she put the bottlecap in the top portion of the dreambox, looks so cool! Inside the bottlecap is an image from our Bubble Pix collage sheet.
Top, right by Sunny Howard: Love how she painted a plastic lizard and glued it to the lower section of the dreambox as if its walking onto the glass. Looks so neat in person! Her main image from our When Dreams Take Flight collage sheet looks sooo excellent!
Bottom, left: This one is sooo beautiful and elegant! Loved seeing the arches from our Architecture collage collection inside the frame along with a dancing winged beauty from our When Dreams Take Flight collage sheet.
Bottom, right by Karen Ritter: Oh my gosh, I wish you could see this one in person! Karen wanted this to look like treasure dug up from the sea and wow, she definitely achieved that! She actually painted the edges of the glass with acrylic paints and then drizzled sand on top of it. Love how she added the shells and you can see the same winged beauty from our When Dreams Take Flight collage sheet appearing in this piece as a mermaid.
More Fabulous DreamBoxes Made in My Classes
Top, left by Belinda Villanueva: Love how she framed the Spring Blossom ATC with our Black Lace Borders and then added the Black Baroque Borders below.
Top, middle by Marian McBryde: The central image is a photo of her parents when they were married. So sweet! Love the heart lockets on the top. It was originally a charm bracelet that she wired onto the dreambox. Looks so cool!
Top, right: Check out the beautiful gold frame....it was made with gold leaf + sand + gold paints. The texture is so cool in person! The stunning collage in the center is from our DreamBox Kit Images.
Bottom, left by Connie McDowell: Gorgeous! Connie painted the tin with acrylic paint and then dropped alcohol inks on top. That gave it this amazing patina! My fave part about it: she adhered bullet casings to her dreambox to act like little vases to hold the two Mexican Pink Paper Flowers!
Bottom, right by Marie Kennedy: Love the Pink Embellishment framing the Pretty Bird at the top. Looks awesome! Also, love how Marie stamped black swirls onto the glass with StazOn ink.
More & More Fabulous DreamBoxes Made in My Classes
Top, left: Love the bright red frame with the black edge and white dots. So striking! Inside the frame, you'll see an image from our Birdsong collage sheet.
Top, middle by Jean Handcock: Love how Jean went for it with bright red and animal print in the background along with dots of glitter around the frame!
Top, right: I love the elegance of this one! The clown image, harlequin pattern, blue pom pom...so pretty!
Bottom, left by Christine Hendry: I'm in love with the lime green and red color scheme! The red swan wings flying off the top looks soo cool!
Bottom, right by Leslie Hanson: Love these bright colors too! And the button at the top looks excellent!
Our Dazzling Booth on Vendor Night
On my last night at Art and Soul, it was vendor night! We sold lots of our fabulous ARTchix goodies. Here are a few shots of our dazzling booth. Thanks for all of your support! It was wonderful to meet so many friendly, thoughtful, generous women! Hope to see you again next year!
Next week, I'll be traveling to Portland for a fabulous art convention: Art & Soul. I will be teaching classes, taking classes and selling wonderful ARTchix goodies on vendor night. I have spent an unbelievable amount of time preparing for this big event!
I will also have trades to share at Art and Soul! Trades are little packets of goodies, artwork, etc. that everyone brings to trade. It's so much fun! If you see me with this bright lime green bag, that means I've got my trades with me and I'm ready to trade! I made up 100 of these little fun packets that include: my ATC with a lucky penny from the Bahamas, a mini sheet of my blog stickers, a cool button that says "lovely" and a Starburst candy.
Hope to see you at Art and Soul! : )
I just got back from a trip to San Francisco with my fabulocity-ness girlfriends! Gloria is on the far left, Colleen (aka Happy Cat) is next, Melanie is in my favorite shade of green and there's me on the far right. We had such an amazing time together!!!! We ate lots of yummy food, shopped our buns off and laughed and giggled our way all around town! It was soooo fun!!!!! I feel refreshed, rejuvenated, inspired and soooo lucky to have such beautiful, positive and supportive women in my life!
I had planned to journal in the evenings but of course, we ended up shopping, eating and drinking instead. lol! So, I don't have an art challenge to post for this week. But I'll see you next week with a new art challenge & specials.
Hope you have a wonderful, art-filled week! : )
I was just looking through and enjoying the current issue of Somerset Studio (Sept/Oct 2008). I was excited to see these 3 gorgeous pieces!
On the left is a stunning collage by Lauran Stevens. You'll find an ARTchix Party Crown atop the little girls head. Congrats Lauran, you win 3 free sheets!
On the right top, there is a Halloween themed matchbox necklace by Deborah Wroblewski. The cute children and red hat can be found on our Happy Halloween collage sheet. Congrats to Deborah! She won 3 free sheets and this is what she chose: Small Mix, Christmas Greetings and Birdsong collage sheets.
On the right bottom is the magnificent "Chat Noir" collage by Kim Solinas. The cat is sporting our enchanting Black Swan Wings. Congrats to Kim! She picked these 3 free sheets: Lovely Lenses, Sugar & Spice and Under the Sea collage sheets.
Way to go girls! : )
After looking at the Somerset Studio issue, it got me more excited about Halloween. So, I just had show off our new Halloween buttons by Linda Kunsman. I'm totally in love with them! In the photo above, you can see her 3 original collages that we magically transformed into the cool buttons as shown. They would be so cute to put on your tote bag or purse...or wear them around town to show off your Halloween spirit.
Introducing our new fabulous collage collection: Chixies Bubbles! All of the artwork on these 4 sheets is made by our talented YahooGroup members. Find out more here! I'm just in love with these sheets! You'll find gorgeous art in lots of handy sizes: ATC, inchie squares, 1" rounds, etc.
In the Bubbles ATC swap, I turned many of the gorgeous ATCs into buttons! A big congrats to Stephany Zerbe! She was the winner of this swap. She won a $100 shopping spree at ARTchixStudio.com. Aren't her ATCs so delightful?! In this image, you can see her 3 beautiful ATCs along with our new "Desired" Buttons.
Another ATC by the winner, Stephany Zerbe...along with our new "Seek Home Love" Buttons!
Honorable mentions Peg Englishman (purple stars ATC) and Cindy McMath (diva ATC) along side our new "Diva Style" Buttons.
Honorable mentions Lynn McMillan (2 bottom ATCs) and Jade Adams (door ATC) along side our new "Open the Door" Buttons.
