29 Days of Giveaways

Chrysti of "The Altered Abby" is having a 29 Days of Giveaways on her blog - check it out ... she's an amazing artist, and a wonderful person!! Thank you so much Chrysti!!

Blog award

A few weeks ago I received an email from Jo Anne of Paper Cat's Page telling me that she had a surprise for me and to check her blog…well, to my surprise, she had nominated me for this award! Thanks SO much for sending it my way, Jo Anne, I am so honored that you thought of me!

In accepting this award, I agree to:
1. Display the logo and link to the one who awarded it.
2. Nominate at least 7 blogs to receive the award.
3. Add links to those 7 blogs on your blog.
4. Leave the nominees a message that they had been nominated to receive the award.

So for my part of the award commitment, I name the 7 blogs below who I feel deserve the award for various reasons. I want to encourage all my readers to follow the links and discover some cool blogs to visit that you might not have discovered yet!

My 7 recipients are: stay tuned for this - I need to make a decision!
I know you will enjoy visiting these wonderful ladies and their blogs, so do it soon if not right away! In addition, I have quite a few really fun and interesting blogs on my blog links that you might want to check out as well!

Blog Action Day

October 15th is Blog Action Day - click here for more info. This years theme is the subject of poverty.

Poverty is not only a pressing issue, it is a complex one. It's easy to think that there isn’t much an individual can do. Fortunately this isn’t the case at all. With activities ranging from advocacy and professional contribution to charity and financing, there is in fact many ways that we can act.

You can find a range of resources about poverty, about what the average person can do as well as dozens of post suggestions and ideas in the Blog Action Day Resources section.

Alice in Wonderland postcard

Alice in Wonderland/Through the looking glass - what a fun theme! This is one of my favourite stories, and I so enjoyed making this postcard. I printed out the picture (black and white) onto card, and then coloured it with watercolour pencils - without the water. The words were made with a Dymo printer, and the edge with a gold marker.

Black and silver 3 x 3's

I recently was asked to be a co-owner of a Yahoo group - Papercrafting & Trading - they mostly trade 3 x 3's. This is such a fun size to play with - they have the same amount of space as an ATC, but are square instead of rectangular. I sent these to Maggie for her Sharpie Scouts swap - they're done on black and white cardstock, using a silver gel pen, and a black sharpie.

WORDS ATC dolls

These were made for Diana for Februarys ATC Art doll swap.

ATC dolls are ALWAYS fun to make, and I was very impressed with all the Word dolls that the participants made - I think everyone enjoyed this theme!

The doll on the right is made from a stamp that Wendy bought back for me from Australia, and so is the face stamp on the doll on the left - thank you Wendy!!

Strange Holidays

Strange Holidays indeed!!

These were made for Maggie - for a Weird n Wacky ATC group swap. The theme was "Strange Holidays", and as you can see, I went for an outer space/alien look for mine. I loved making these - W&W swaps are always fun!!

Pink 3x3's

These two "Pink" 3x3's were made for Jo Anne - she has started a Pink Collaborative book, and I sent her these as a contributor. 3x3's are so much fun, and I really enjoyed working in pink - not a colour I normally use very much of - except for feminine cards.

Pretty as a picture

This is a skinny book page I made for Rebecca for NZ Stampers SB swap - I have had so much fun with this swap, and have tried quite a few new ideas and techniques.

For this page I used my new Flower stamp, and my favourite Flourish stamps - these are so useful, and I'm very glad that I bought them at Paperific. I would love some more, I've seen some gorgeous ones in online stamp stores that I feel I MUST have !! lol

Our SB swap is now finished, but I think that Chris is going to host another one - I'm sure that I will be involved!

(Did you notice that I did a vintage theme again? It's getting easier every time I do another one!)

Precious Paper card

This card was made for a "Precious Paper" swap - we had to use some of our paper stash - something that we have squirreled away, and not wanted to use because it's too "precious". I was given this paper quite a while ago, and really didn't want to use it up - I'm not sure if I can get any more - but how can I justify buying MORE paper if I don't use what I already have!!

Red and Gold fabric ATCs

I made these for a combined swap with NZ Fabs and ATC-WDU - the theme was "Red and Gold" - what a fun colour combo!! I bought the Christmas fabric from Brenda's Craft Cupboard coz I couldn't resist it - and I have heaps left for making this years fabric ATCs - yayy!! Which I will get onto early, so I can send out some RAKs this Christmas. The ATCs that I received in this swap were amazing - if you want to have a look at everybody's cards check out my Photobucket pics.

Music, Number 9, and 1920's

These are three ATCs that I made for a Cards R Us swap - the themes were "Music", "the Number 9" and "1920's" - and all 3 were sent to Carol J.

The "Music" one was made with sheet music, and the violin is from a serviette. The "Number 9" is the rhinestones around her neck, and the "1920's" one is a copy of a 1920 Life magazine cover, with a bit of glitter and a few rhinestones.

I enjoy these swaps - the atcs that I receive are always great - and I'm looking forward to next months themes.

One World One Heart Winner

ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF MY OWOH GIVEAWAY!!
I used www.random.org and the winner is ...

REEVA!! CONGRATULATIONS REEVA!

I have contacted Reeva by email requesting her snail mail address. Thanks so much to everyone who came and visited my blog and entered my giveaway.

And a huge thanks to Lisa for taking the time to organize this and helping to bring us bloggers closer together!!

AND ... don't forget to come by next year for my 2009 OWOH giveaway!! See you there!

One World One Heart

I have this Art Doll to give away in the One World One Heart giveaway event.

If you are new to this, this is what you do. Just make a comment on this post (don't forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win) and I will put your name in a drawing, that will take place on the 14th of February. I'll post the winner and will send you your prize.

Lisa's blog http://oneworldevent.blogspot.com/ is where all the bloggers that are participating are listed. Go take a look, join in the fun if you have a blog, and visit with other bloggers for a chance to win.

I hope to find time to make a few more Art Dolls ...so there could be more than one prize given away! SO don't forget to leave a comment on this post to be in the running for this doll! Anyone can win...you do not need to be a participant in ONE World-ONE Heart to do so...so come on...leave me a comment! Then check back on the 14th of February to see if you are the winner! Good luck everyone!

Healing Doll

This doll was made for an ATC Art Doll challenge - "Goddess/Muse" was the theme. I drew the template, and offered it to the group to use - quite a few of them did, and others came up with their own pattern.

I made this as a "Healing doll" - her pink ribbon is for breast cancer awareness, and the bear is for victim support. The words on her tail are Love, Peace & Hope - three things that we must all have in our lives.

When she was finished I realised that I couldn't give her away, so I made a different doll for the challenge winner - and now this one is on my desk in my studio, watching over me.

If anyone would like the template for this doll it can be found in my Photobucket pictures, along with a few others - feel free to use them.

Moonbeam/Queen of Art

"Moonbeam & Angel Dreams" - another 3 x 3 - I started with scrapbooking paper, and a vintage image - then used Sharpie to draw over the images.

And this is my favourite 3 x 3 that I have done ... "Queen of Art"

I'm really very happy with this one - I started with a digital image that I drew over with Sharpies, then I added a black letter "Q", and used silver Sharpie to draw all the abstract designs. Sharpies - what would I do without them!! lol

Too cute for words

3 x 3's - what a nice size!! I joined Maggies new group - Papercrafting & Trading - and fell in love with 3x3's!!!

This is the first one that I did - I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it - maybe trade it - but for now it's sitting on the shelf in my office so I can enjoy it!

The stamps I used are new ones that I got from our local Warehouse - they don't often have a lot of new crafting supplies, but I always check them out when I'm in town, just in case they get in something like this. This set has some lovely swirls, a butterfly, dragonfly and very cool flowers.

Pay It Forward

The Altered Diva http://alterediva.blogspot.com/ has invited everyone to take part in this Pay It Forward challenge. I too think it is a great idea and am willing to play! I will send a handmade gift/thingy/something to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this "Pay It Forward" exchange. I don't know what that gift will be, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! And truthfully, it will probably be later than sooner! The only thing you have to do in return is "Pay It Forward" by making the same promise on your blog with a link back to me. So basically, if you comment I'll send you something crafty that I'll make! Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be the recipients of your handmade work. You must post this on your blog to be eligible.

Vintage postcards

"Vintage Postcards" ... I enjoyed making these. Those of you who know me, know that I struggle with vintage themes, but these postcards were SOOOOOO easy to make.

I think it was because I had some new flourish stamps, and couldn't wait to use them, and this theme was perfect. The recipient was happy with them too, so maybe I'll try vintage more often ...

Aren't the little girls cute?

Nightmare Before Christmas

"Nightmare Before Christmas"

... what a fun ATC theme!! These were made for a Weird N Wacky swap, and were sent to Ria. I made an extra set (just because!!), and gave them to Dallas for Christmas ...

But now I don't have any for myself - I might have to make some more!! lol

W&W is definitely one of my favourite groups - I get to play around with themes like this - the next one is "Strange Holidays" ...