Wednesday, January 25, 2012

We Have a Winner!

Thank you so much to those who commented on my giveaway post.  I'm not the most prolific blogger, so I appreciate that you hang with me. 

My DH goes to sleep before me and leaves the house before I get up, so I left him a message in my scrawly 2:30 a.m. handwriting asking him to pick the winner before he left for work. Each name was printed on a strip of paper, all the same size, and placed in a little bowl (someday I'm going to have to learn to use the random number generator, but the DH method will have to do for now.)  And the winner is...



Congratulations, Wanda! I hope you enjoy the goodies.

I appreciate each of you who took the time to comment.  For the four who commented but didn't win, please send me your mailing address (if we've not communicated via USPS before) to junqueseeker@yahoo.com and I'll send you a Valentine tag.

Sweet Bird of Winter

I was beyond thrilled to win this beautiful canvas by Becky Shander!  Her pieces are so subtle and calming, and I'm always in awe of her work. 
 

If you read Somerset publications I'm sure you've seen many of her creations.  If you're not familiar with her work, please visit her website here.  You can see additional photos and read about Becky's recent blog giveaway here.

Thank you, Becky!  I will treasure this always.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Valentine's Giveaway

I just finished a few Valentine's tags and listed them in my Etsy shop.  I'm hoping to make more. It takes me longer than it should, but I enjoy the process. The sweet little girls came from The Graphics Fairy and the man with umbrella is Tim Holtz.

Making these tags put me in the mood for a Valentine's giveaway.  I owe you a giveaway from my 100th post last October, and this seems like the perfect time.  If I wait much longer there will be another milestone to celebrate!

One lucky person will receive a selection of ribbons (including two from French General); doilies (red, pink and gold hearts plus a few of the vintage Royalies I found last fall); a few labels, Dresden birds and velvet leaves from French General; and an assortment of buttons and other goodies that should have you making your own Valentine's tags in no time.  Of course, there will be a few surprises included, too!



If you'd like a chance to win, just leave a comment on this post by midnight CST on Tuesday, January 23, then check back on Wednesday for the name of the winner. 

Please share the fun and let your friends know about the giveaway.  Love and good luck to all!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Best Friday the 13th Ever

The class last Friday with Donna Downey was amazing!  It was a 3-hour class, designed to get participants into the mind set that whatever you do in your art journal is yours and it's okay.  It wasn't like any class I've had before, but I felt like it was just what I needed.  To get the full benefit, I also took the 5-hour class on Saturday.  There were about 30 people in each class - limited by space only, I'm sure.

To begin, we each received one of Donna's expandable journals.  Those of us taking both the Friday and Saturday classes received two.  I worked in one both days and am saving the other for later.  One thing I love about Donna's journals is that the covers accommodate the filled pages.  The journals come with one signature and room for another.  She also puts the smaller "insert" pages on each spread to challenge you to think outside the box and come up with something to complement the rest of the spread.  
One of our first instructions was to take a pencil and put something on a blank page.  I wrote "just begin" and wasn't happy with it at all.  We then painted a page and drizzled ink over it.  I didn't work on this spread much more during class but added a few things at home and ended up with this.  I'll probably add more later.
Here are a few of my other pages.  I'm sure I'll be adding more to them later, and still have several blank pages to work on. Bear in mind that I've never had any formal art training other than a junior high art class, and my talents lie more in the sewing area. Please be kind.
We were asked to add certain shapes and colors to a page.  Mine was green circles and triangles.    

We tried photo transfer using gel medium.  I added the suitcases cut from a magazine.  More to do on this page.

This one started as torn paper mosaic.  It still needs something - just not sure what.
This is my favorite spread so far.  I have no idea why as these are not colors I'd typically use, but I love it as is and most likely won't add anything else.


At one point we were told to take our books, move to someone else's area, and use their supplies.  I love this tree screen.  The shadow of the woman was a failed photo transfer that lifted some paint leaving an outline. I like it.

The directions for this spread were to use tape on two pages in two different ways.  I love the stamps and the horse image cut from a magazine, plus the little bit of cardboard given to me by a table mate.  I'll probably add some journaling at some point.

If you have the opportunity to take one of Donna's classes, I would recommend them.  She also does Inspiration Wednesday each week on her blog, and has archives of many of them.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Donna Downey Classes

Donna Downey is in OKC this weekend and I'm excited to be taking two journaling classes with her.  My tote is crammed full of things for the class.  Certain things you bring must fit into a one-gallon zip bag (curious to know the reason behind that) but you get to bring lots of extras.  If all goes well I'll have something fun to show after the weekend.
P.S.  I haven't forgotten that I owe you a giveaway.  I had an idea that didn't really pan out, but I promise there will be something within the next few weeks.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year!

Pinned Image

This is the story of my life and something I should work on this year, but hey, why change now?  Ha!

I started this post on January 1, and here I am on the tenth finally putting it out there.  I've been thinking back over my favorite excursions this year, all the fantabulous junque I found, and my favorite craft projects.  While there were many of each, I hope to have even more traveling, junqueing, and creating to share in the coming months.

The day after Christmas I traveled to San Angelo, TX with my parents to visit my oldest brother and his family.  We had a great visit, including a shopping day at the mall and the thrift stores.  My sister-in-law loves to junque as much as I do, and her mom is a junquer from way back.  Her parents just moved and downsized, and Jackie saved me a few things from her mom's stash - some lovely old photo holders, glass Christmas ornaments, a very vintage Scrabble game, and this little cardboard village made to go over a string of Christmas lights.  Aren't they the cutest? I'm going to look forward to next December when I can display them.
  
Jackie also gave me a cute green log planter, shown below with a wonderful vintage wire "in" basket and a map puzzle that my niece Jen gave me.  I'm already using the basket, and have a few ideas for the puzzle pieces.  The planter has been added to my chartreuse collection.
From San Angelo, we traveled to Odessa, TX to visit my sister and her family and my brother's younger daughter and her family.  While there we saw a great movie - We Bought A Zoo.  I highly recommend it.  My sister gave me some fun lace, trim and buttons that she got from her mother-in-law.  I've already used a couple of pieces of lace, and look forward to incorporating more in the things I make this year. I especially love the green trim and the red, white and blue flowered trim.
I received several fun gifts before the holidays, too, but they were sorted and used before I got photos.  Thanks to my friends and family for supporting my creative and junqueing habits!

Wishing you a year filled with creativity and fun finds!