GIVE AWAY WINNER...

  I have to say a hearty "Thank You" to your overwhelming response to the idea of sharing a class beginning in January.  I have already begun work on it and can't wait to share this gift with you all.  Step-By-Step Saturday sneak peeks coming soon!

Now for the cuff winner...

Carola of Boxwood Cottage!

Congrats Carola, please email me your mailing information.

And a little sneak peek at my next Heritage Collection piece...

If everything falls into place I will finally have the first piece complete this weekend.  I had hoped to have it done by now but I never know what a day might hold with my mother so I have a super willy-nilly work schedule right now.

A very dear friend gifted me with a package of vintage ephemera from a variety of sources that were all produced in the 1800's.  The images below were printed in Harper's Bazar.  I think they are so intricate in detail and really beautiful.  I wanted to gift a few of these beautiful images to you...

 Enjoy!

iPiccy - FREE, FAST, FUN PHOTO EDITING...

  ~ All images contained in this post are FREE IMAGES ~

 ~Please feel free to save, print, and share~

With the looming demise of my beloved Picnik photo editing I have been seeking an alternative option for free, fast, fun photo editing.  I heard about iPiccy from Dawn (The Feathered Nest) and I am so excited about this new online editing tool.  L*O*V*E! this new site.  You don't have to sign up, create an account, there are no fees, no complicated registration, you are not automatically thrown into yet another social network, and you don't have to give up rights to your first born child.

"iPiccy makes your photo awesome with many easy to use photo tools. Edit pictures, apply beautiful

photo effects, add text and even paint! Enjoy free photo editing online and show your creativity with iPiccy editor!" Everything about this statement from iPiccy is true.  I am so in love with some of the effects editing tools.  Peeling Paint is my new favorite.

Below are some of my own images that I altered using this new site:

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Some of these were done using a single tool and some were done with multiple tools to achieve the desired effect.  I was feeling like an editing pro in a scant few clicks.  This is a great tool for those of us who have not braved the frightening frontier of Photoshop. (although I hope to blaze that trail someday)  I was thinking of the great ways I could alter ephemera in my own collection for background images to use in artwork. 

I encourage you to go over and play at iPiccy, I guarantee you will love it too!

May all things bright and beautiful fill your day!

WHEN REALITY AND VIRTUALITY COLLIDE...

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One any given day there are at least one thousand and one things on my "to do" list.  There are at least two thousand and two things on my "want to do" list.  And then there is reality where I actually only accomplish one or two things from each list and if I am really lucky dipping my toe in the virtual world of blogging is one of them.  Sometimes that is just not possible, this past week reality and virtuality collided.  My real live life had to take precedence over my virtual blog presence.

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I had such grand plans of doing a big "TA DA!" of my finished desk in the studio as well as a sweet little Valentine tutorial but alas I was needed elsewhere.  It has been a week filled with care giving and shuttling to and from appointments for both my mother and step-father, today is the last one so hopefully I can get a real post in by the weekend.

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My moments have been full, busy, and for the most part happy but I have sorely missed all by blog friends and all the news in the neighborhood.  I still have some comments that have been left unattended and I hope I have not offended, I will be able to get to those very soon and hopefully to visit around too.  Mostly I just wanted to pop in and say HI!  I miss you!  And I hope to visit with you soon.

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I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day!

GIVE AWAY WINNERS...

Thank you all so much for the sweet kinds words of encouragement that you left on my give away post. I love making things and sharing them with you. I also love blogging and sharing snippets of my world with you. I only wish I could make and send something to each and every one of you, I truly do. I can only hope that my words communicate how special I think each and every one of you are.

The Custom Random Number Generator has chosen the following winners:

The itsy bitsy baby boy shoe goes to...Leanne of Provoking Beauty!
The pretty pink baby shoe goes to...Claudia of Mockingbird Hill Cottage!
The Lady Bird shoe goes to...Marcie of The Rustic Victorian!
The Nature Quotes Journal goes to...Susan of Susan deGeneres Studio!
The fabric Peace collage goes to...Lori of Katies Rose Cottage!
Congratulations to all the winners, please email me your mailing address and I will get your packages in the mail the first part of next week.

Even though I cannot make something for each of you I can give you something that you can make something with, some free images from a crumbling old volume of bound Godey's Ladies Books I bought at a flea market several weeks ago. The pages are very old and thin and even with a black backing behind them when scanned some of the back page shows through but it looks kind of neat and layered to me and I hope you will think so too. Just click, save, print and enjoy!(FREE IMAGE)
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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

EPHEMERA FREEBIES AND TUTORIAL SNEAK PEEK...

In recent weeks I found a couple of ephemera resources that I thought I would share with you, two reproduction catalogs, a 1908 Sears Roebuck and a 1894-95 Montgomery Wards. Not only are these fun to look at but a great source for vintage style images from pocket watches and silver spoons,to shirtwaists and skirts...and wee dainty dresses... If you see these in a flea market, nab them, they are a great resource. You can use the original pages or make scans of the images you desire to use for your artwork. Below, I have scanned some images from some of them for you to save and use in your artwork, plus a sweet lady who might have thumbed through catalogs just such as these. Enjoy!

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I have been working on a new free autumnal themed tutorial to share with you using some old ephemera and fabric. I hope to have it posted by the weekend. Karen gave me the idea with a little note she sent me. I told her about all my holiday decor being held wasp-age in the storage building so I could not decorate and she said she guessed I would have to just make something, so, I did.You might remember my being stung recently while near the storage building, turns out the seal around the window had loosened and there was a crack there. Enter... an entire SWARM of wasps! The window has been repaired and the wasps will be exterminated very soon. Until then I thought I'd just make a few items to get that holiday feel. So far I have some pretty pumpkins, skeleton leaves, and fabric acorns and I'll see what else I can think of that will be really quick and easy. If you happened to have taken or want to take Beth and Karla's class, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, these will fit right in with their sepia toned art pieces, decorating tips, and tablescapes.

I am off to dream up some more decor. Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Miss Sandy