and the winners are…

the one world one heart giveaway was so much fun… i didn’t get to make it to even a quarter of the blogs, sadly, but i enjoyed the ones i got to visit and the several people i was able to meet along the way.  i am still going to visit each of the participants’ blogs — it is important to me to say hello to all who participated.  thank you everyone for such a wonderful experience!

it will take me a bit to get a hold of everyone directly so if you see this before i email you, congrats!  i will need some of your mailing addresses but don’t fret — i’ll be contacting you by tomorrow.

WINNERS OF A DIGITAL COLLAGE SHEET OF YOUR CHOICE

each of you get to pick a digital collage sheet from my site (http://alteredbits.com) and i will email the sheet of your choice to you (the little red * means that i have contacted you and sent your sheet — this will help me from getting too confused):

1. Marie of Art From My Heart in California, USA *

2. Constance of Rochambeau in Texas, USA *

3. Karen of Paper Fanatic in Ireland *

4. Janny of Tricolore Mixed Media in The Netherlands *

5. Katie of Katie’s Strange World in the UK (sadly i didn’t see your blog until now as you didn’t leave your link — your offerings were fantastic!!) *

6. Danit of The Letter Project in New Zealand *

7. Carapace of Cara Makes in the US

8.  Donna of Creative Journaling My Way in Georgia

9. Lynda of Taylor Made in Oz in Australia *

10. Abigail of Rusted Wings in Montana, USA

WINNERS OF THE CRACKLED WINDOW TUTORIAL

i will send you a link so you can download it from my server — it’s a huge print-quality file, sorry.

1. Tammy of Country Folk Art in New York

2. Gaby of Colorful Adventures in Germany

WINNER OF THE FRIDA KAHLO FABRIC COLLAGE ATC

Kirsten of Fleur De Boheme in Denmark

WINNER OF THE TIN OF FROZEN CHARLOTTES

Jacqui of OddDollz by Jacqui in Canada

WINNER OF THE FRAMED BLACK AND WHITE PRINT (of your choosing)

Tristan of Enchanted Revelry in Connecticut
(please let me know if you want the man or the woman)

And…

because my finger twitched at the end there and i had a little guilt (double clicked the random generator just before the number displayed so it COULD have potentially thrown something off), i asked my son to come in and do me a wee favor.  i said “pick a number between one and one hundred eighty-eight”.  he said “twenty-nine”.

so…. miss sarah.  my dear sweet que sera, sarah of Hen Fruit, you win a non-framed 4×6 print of the black and white man.  it’s is perfect, too — i was so trilled that my little man picked your number because one of the projects next on my list to finish is that “house of fertility” piece that you said you loved and i said i would finish and send to you.  so you get two fetile pieces of art, my friend.  hope that’s not too many!

sarah and kerin — you have the same birthday.
it’s frida’s birthday too, right?

on a side note, i think next year i’ll keep it to two or three winners.  🙂  this took me almost four hours to post.  i say this with giggles and am sooooo not complaining — this has been fantastic and fun, and so great to meet so many new, wonderful people.  thank you, lisa!

it will take me a week or three to get everything out so please bear with me.

lastly, and on a pretty weird note, there was something eerily cool going on when i used the random generator to pick winners.  for every category i was choosing, the winner had specifically stated that they wanted that item.  it was pretty thrilling.

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little things…

i feel so repetitious with all this “i’ve been such a busy little bee” prattle, but it’s true.  i feel like i have four point seven full-time jobs lately with web design, clients, my shop, prepping for a couple of exhibits, family, “me” time (huh?), volunteer stuff that i keep finding myself doing, one world one heart, updating my sites, etc.  it’s made for little time to art.  but as most of you, i can’t make it though a day [nicely] without being creative.  web design isn’t enough — i need the feel of fabrics or fibers, the smell of paint or something to get me through a day most happily.  so, i’ve been taking little bits of time to make little things lately.  mostly ATCs and ACEOs and other small-scale paintings and collages.  i have two or four swaps going on, some gifts i feel i should make, and a few to sell… soon.

i’ve been enjoying making some paper and cloth ATCs.  i’ve started a few over the past week and finished the two above.  i love the contrast between the smooth papers, with more rough and texture papers and softness of the fabrics and fibers.

i’m also doing a series of “love affair” related ACEOs for two swaps.  and some naughty vintage erotica ones too, but i may not post those here.  or maybe i will.  you’ll just have to wait and see.

the “little things” are fun as i can create them when i have little time… between helping with homework and putting whatever i’m making in the oven, etc. and can easily be set aside when a client calls.  i am, however, going to be spending time creating the things i have really been wanting to create for the past year — finish my mechanical and light-up pieces that have thick layers of dust on them.  that is one of my passions, and something i haven’t had the time to partake in for way too long.  i’m lucky — my husby is an electronic genius.  i say “what if i wanted this to have a head that turned?”  he says “buy this and that and this and that other that and i’ll do in it a night.”  gotta love that!

i’ve been on a frida kick lately too.  i started to make this for the gorgeous and talented gaby but as i have a problem with injuring myself to the point of drawing blood when using an awl, a sewing needle or working with sharp metal.  as a result, i bled on the back of this card not once, but TWICE.  so, i’m making her a new one.  i’m not going to post the new one until after you receive it so as not to ruin any potential surprise.

since this is all battered and bloody on the back, i’m going to make it into a wee shrine of sorts.  it’s such a lovely image of frida and the wee fresh-water pearl matches her bow so well.  since taking the photo, i fixed the necklace piece to be more perfectly centered, and you can’t really tell in the photo but a lot of subtle text in the crackle that doesn’t look too shabby if i do say so myself.

for a BIG thing, i must announce that my sweet and wonderful friend debrina has finished her pages in my book “the museum of forgotten things”.  i must admit that i grew quite weepy when i saw it last night as she’s done such a phenomenal job.  it’s utterly perfect.  i’ll add one image below, but go check out our pulp redux blog now to see the rest.  now.  you’ll LOVE it!!

i’ll be posting my first additions to kim’s book “fragments, vestiges and remains” in the next day or three so peek back.  then i have until the 22nd to plan and execute my other two pages for her book and ship it off to debs who gets it next.  i must hurry as the 14th is valentine’s day and i’ll be mucho busy, the 18th is my birthday (i’ll be 23… again… for like the 10th or 13th time) so i’ll supposidly be busy, and maybe out of town the next weekend for a night so i must hit the book again tonight!  sooo much fun!

ohoh, and a last note.  see side bar for fleamarket floozies — we’ve created a group for our barterables.  and i’ve updated my barterable page (see link at top of page).

cheers!

new things on the altered bits site and stuff to laugh at

boy have i been a busy little bee lately!  getting ready for a few shows and adding things to the altered bits site over the next two or three days.  i’ll have four new collage sheets (witches, bones, darker-themed-alicia-type stuff, as well as some naked ladies and such).  apothecary bottles, mico-beads, petree dishes, microscope slides with covers, etc.  all coming soon just a little too late for halloween.  whoops!

i added three new photoshop textures, or backgrounds — whatever you could want to use them for on the free art page as well:

and last but not least, i’ve added a new tutorial for my “crackled window effect” on the art tutorials page.  eventually there will be heaps of free and paid tutorials in both PDF and video format but it’ll take awhile to get them all up.  some will be from me, and some from our fellow amazing arty friends so stay tuned.

you know those times when you put yourself fully into making something for someone and it ends up being a big ol’ flop!?  well that seems to be my week.  first, i was working on this sweet piece for my wonderful friend lisa jurist at mudhound primitives and decided to add a top coat of varnish.  i have no idea where i got the image i used but i’d saved it for a long time and it felt soooo right to put it in her piece.  about 20 seconds after i brush on the top coat, the image started to bubble, then sloughed off the canvas board!  it was a total nightmare.  i don’t think there is any way to fix that, so i shall start again.  what a jackass i am!

so the very next day, i tried to make something for someone else.  total mono-chromatic flop.  here, just go ahead and laugh at me, i don’t mind (little hanging ACEO, the flapping flop of an attempt at something sweet):

to make up for it, i started something else for said friend and i felt it was just fine.  set it down to dry, tossed my paint-covered baby wipe to the side and went on my merry little way (to watch dexter!).  omg.  so baby wipe landed on the piece and i could pretend i meant for this to happen but look at all of the black ickiness.  i’m sad.  so what?  send a sweet friend two crap pieces and an IOU?  lol.  i crack myself up sometimes.  i wish there were lots and lots more hours in the day!  or that i didn’t have to cut my art time to work (took a month off — bad, bad timing for that one!!).

i did, however, start one and finish another piece that i just so happen to like (both!), so at least i have a 50-50 thing going on this week.  will post those later.

off to read emails for the first time in 3 or 4 days, woots!  happy creating, friends.  🙂

—-

P.S. Bunches of us have been particpating in The Art Exchange.  If you don’t know what it is, here is the gist: you get an email from one of the players, you send a piece of art of sorts to the person in the #1 slot in the email, you move the #2 person up and replace them with yourself in the #2 spot.  Sooo… you end up sending out ONE piece of art, and you forward the email to six people.  In turn, you get THIRTY SIX pieces of art in return.  A couple of the people I’ve sent this too are having difficulties finding players that aren’t too busy.  If you’d like to play, post here or email me so I can get you in touch with someone to get you involved.  It’s soooo fun!

9 + 114 = 238,857 and i’ll be right back

i have been so incredibly busy these past few weeks that i feel like not one thing is getting my full attention or dedication, so i’m going to phase out for a few days.  i have five week old emails that i have yet to respond to (and fully intend to), web client work to do, people to call, and a zine to finish, not to mention 11 started pieces of art for a gallery, art fair thingy, bar “exhibit”, challenges and swaps… all of which need my love and less-divided attention.

despite it all, i had the opportunity to relax a bit and see an adult film with my husby yesterday (it’s his birthday today!).  by “adult film” i mean nothing naughty… just a rated R movie, which doesn’t happen often as our six year old is generally in tow (he got to go to the enchanted forest with my sister, whose birthday was yesterday, as she wanted a wee bit of child-like fun).  anyway, we saw district 9.  loved it.  we wanted to see inglorious basterds (they spelled it wrong, not me), but that one was too long for the allotted time frame we had — let me know if you’ve seen it and if it’s good (but don’t tell me anything about it or i’ll beat you up).  please and thank you.

i also took the time to do a page in my art journal, albeit very little time.  it’s been a VERY long time since i’ve done anything “me-esque” so although it’s nothing fancy, it felt good to do something for myself.  i really cheated though because the main part of the page is an ATC i did based upon a challenge debbie and i started a few months ago (atc/interpretive piece based upon a tarot reading for each other).  the card is a door that opens to tell the story.  haven’t done that part yet but like i said, i’m busy.

you can see some of the detail here and the lady’s face on the left (hey, it pertains to my reading):

as of this moment,  i have spent 114 hours on the black and white zine between layout, design, photo editing and correspondence.  i’m insane.  but i do think that everyone will be quite thrilled with how it turns out.  i’m really almost done, promise.  just need to take a bit of time for other stuff for a wee bit ’cause i’m getting too stressed and mildly grumpy due to a 5 day headache, whine, whine.  not to ruin the surprise, but here is the cover i did late last night (you will see bits of your art in it, most likely, as every contributor has a little glance — some way more obvious than others).

i hadn’t realized there were so many other secret math and science geeks around “these parts”.  and i have a question for you: if you took a .4mm thick piece of paper, and it was actually possible to fold it as many times as you would need to, how many folds would it take for its thickness to be enough to reach the moon? (of course the paper would be more narrow than a strand of hair and obviously a total impossibility, but shhh.  let’s forget logic just for a moment.)  i was surprised to find it to be far less than i would have imagined (heard it on the radio the other night from a math guy).  i already provided a very obvious hint… so you can do the math.

anyway, see you soon.  i shall be “back” at the end of the week and the zine should be posted and bursting at the seems with non-colorful but utterly fabulous black and white art… and it’s bigger than the last one.  shortly thereafter i will post all participants on the side bar and get the rest of things in order and up to date.

later addition after the fact to myself and all fellow pisces people (jo!).  i just read this free will astrology for us for the week and wanted to share for silly fun:

If you build it, they will probably come. If you just pretend to build it, they may come anyway, and end up sticking around because of your charming attunement to life’s deeper rhythms. If, as you build it or pretend to build it, you act manic or send out mixed messages, they may be intrigued and attracted, but they definitely won’t come. So my advice, Pisces, is to suppress your mood swings as you at least start pretending to build the thing in earnest.

happiness is…

i love days like today.  the rain interrupting my gardening due to its force, but the little disintegration piece i buried is surely being effected by the elements which thrills me.

yesterday, i received 3 ATCs from deryn mentock of something sublime for a swap she invited me to do a couple of weeks ago.  it was a lot of fun working on each of her cards and i utterly adore what she sent me (of course!):

and my very favorite of all three gorgeous ATCs:

hopefully she should be getting mine today, and hopefully she enjoys them at least half as much as i’m enjoying hers. i sent these to her:

and to top off the day with utter bliss and excitement, i get to meet my dear friends kerin and charley of remnants of olde for coffee (or lunch?) today. they are returning from teaching a workshop and passing through portland which is, quite luckily, where i live. yays! and with that i must go get ready as i’m running on less than two hours of sleep…

Mail art and ATC Swaps are fun!

Today is a great day! I finally received my two ATCs, mail art and goodies from my new friend Debrina. I have been waiting until I received my package from her to post about this so as not to give anything away.

See what I received from her:

(I have skillfully removed my address to avoid attracting any new stalkers.)

I love the ATCs and all the bits and goodies she put in: a coin from New Zealand (I should have done that too!), postage stamp, lots of little images, a playing card, some fabulous metal leaves, fibers, vintage lace, stickers and all kinds of yummies. I adore her hand-illustrated envelope — she did a fabulous job on it! I’ll definitely have to get busy using these bits. It had been a super long time since I’d done any swaps or created ATCs for anyone. These are what I sent her:

The envelope got too stuffed so I had to put this and all goodies into a larger vellum envelope. I suppose that was a good thing since the post people covered almost the whole thing with customs forms and stamps. 🙂

I forgot to take a photo of the goodies, but here are the two ATCs I sent her:

(the weird bottom thing is sewn on metal with bees wax and paint in its cracks over a piece of painted old cheese cloth)

and:

(i’m no wire worker — ha. tried to fashion a bird cage and know it doesn’t look like anyone older than my 6 year old created it but it was fun!)

Yesterday I sent off Deryn’s package of 3 ATCs and extra goodies. I hope I get hers soon as I’ve been ban from reading her blog until I receive her package… unless I wish to “ruin” the surprise. I like surprises so I’ve opted to wait.