A Friend's Give-a-way

Head over to my friend and fellow blogger's page for a give-a-way.

John is an author, a healer, an artist and all around beautiful spirit.

(if you don't win, you can always follow one of his page links to his Etsy stores!)

He creates healing art pieces and is giving one of his prints away.

You can enter for a chance to win a copy of the print below.

For your chance, click HERE.

Your print will arrive all the way from Tenerife, Spain!

(Perhaps for some of you that's not so far. For me? It's quite dreamy!)

More Choices

 Good Morning Blog Land!

 I'm happy to report that my days are looking brighter and my mood has lifted considerably. Part of this new found lease on life is due to the time I have had to heal and the work I have been doing to heal what woes me. Part of it is due to the warmth and love of those around me who reached out with supportive embraces and threw lifelines for me to grab if needed. Another part of healing my heart is my recent epiphany about choices. (Read my last post on choices if you're not sure what I'm referring to).

When I was at my lowest, feeling devastation and heartbreak, I lost all faith. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you will know that "faith" happens to be my word of the year. I was warned (by my soul sis Elena) that picking a word for the year is entirely different than when a word picks you. "When one picks you" she warned, "watch out!" She wasn't kidding!!!!!

One not so great feeling I experienced during my recent life upheaval was the loss of joy. I felt as if the joy was sucked right out of me. When the clouds started to clear and my heart started to heal, I thought about joy and how much I missed it. Remembering my new daily choice ritual, the decision was made to put joy at the top of my daily choice list. When I think of joy, one of the people I think of is Ashley from Li'l Blue Boo. She is an amazing woman with a beautiful family, strength of steel and an uber fun blog and business! She is a huge proponent of Choosing Joy. You can find out more about her HERE.

While on her blog, make sure you check out her tutorials, give-a-way opportunities, free downloads, her shop and more! If you click on the link, you will also find out more about her choose joy mission and the bracelets she sells. In honor of my new found choices ritual, to support joy and to help support and honor Ashley, I have purchased a pack of her "Choose Joy" bracelets. I have plans for most of them, but I would like to take this opportunity to host a give-a-way of my own!

photo source: www.lilblueboo.com

If you comment on this post, I will put your name in a hat for a chance to win a choose joy bracelet. I will randomly pick three winners to be part of the "Choose Joy" movement! If chosen, I will e-mail you and let you know you have won! Simply e-mail a response with your mailing information and I will send your bracelet on its way! Names have been chosen - winners will be contacted. Thank you!

The choice to promote My Etsy Shop has always felt like a hard one. I am really good at promoting others, believing in others, seeing the potential in others, helping others. I am not, however, very good at applying the same care to myself. Consider it a mix of fear, unease, disbelief... do you see a negative pattern here? Me too! THAT has to stop! I choose to be successful, I choose to stop hiding, I choose to lose the fear of judgment and embrace self-expression. Also, my oldest son is graduating from high school in a few months and this at-home-mama is cash poor!!! I want to throw one heck-of-a party for my first born so self-promote I will! To kick start my party fund, I am holding a one week sale in my shop. For 20% off, enter the code "yippee" at checkout. Feel free to spread the word! Thanks!

To go along with the shameless self-promotion of my shop, I should give a shout-out to the fact tat I'm teaching a class!!! Yay!!!! I adore encaustics and cannot wait to share my passion with others.

Here is the tiny hotplate I use for my encaustic medium.

Here is the new hotplate purchased to make gobs of medium to share with the class.

 

Here is the beeswax and damar resin mixing and melting away.

 

Here you have glorious encaustic medium waiting for eager students to play!

Are you still here? Well, blessings to you for your patience!

Hugs, love and all that ooey gooey stuff to you and yours this weekend.

♡♥♡♥♡♥♡

Guerilla Art-a-flopagus

I finished my final assignment for the class

Experimental Art e-course

Buah ha ha ha!!!

What a flop!

Well, not a total flop.

I met a friend!!!

Like as in... met for the first time ever.

We've been chatting through e-mail.

I found her art at a local gallery.

The owner said she was painfully shy.

Naughty me snooped around the internet.

Found her e-mail address.

Approached her via e-mail.

Told her I am also a self-taught creator and lover of encaustic art.

Explained that I understand her discomfort with meeting new people

but thought perhaps we could be e-mail buddies.

We could learn from each other.

She agreed.

We chat often. Sometimes daily.

For my final assignment in the Experimental Art e-course

I was assigned come up with a guerilla art project.

I decided my theme would be 

Random Acts of Loving Kindness.

I chose some pictures I had taken.

Played with them in photoshop elements.

Added positive affirmations and a little note in the corner

(a gift for you - a gentle reminder).

Due to my physical struggles this past week they were not perfect.

I did what I could. I decided that was enough.

I would send them into the world as is.

The printing cut off a letter, cropped a picture too tight.

Some of the font is too small.

It's the thought that counts, right?

So I asked my e-mail buddy to meet with me.

No uncomfortable-sit-across-the-table-and-stare-at-a-stranger meeting.

An artsy meet-up with a project to keep us busy.

We would be placing my photo cards in a public place.

Little gifts for others to find.

Pretty pictures and positive sayings to brighten their day.

Perhaps they would find the right owner.

Someone who would take it home.

Someone who needed the message.

We decided on the library.

It was uber busy.

I spread the picture cards around.

One on the steps.

One on the bench. 

A book shelf here.

A movie shelf there.

By the computers.

On and on.

We parked our fannies, chatted, and watched.

Most people walked right by.

Some people looked.

A few picked them up but set them back down.

Afraid to take them?

Not understanding they were a gift?

Then.....

along came....

'dum dum dum'

THE LIBRARIAN.

She spotted the cards, walked around picking them up

and proceeded to deposit them in the waste basket!!!!!

Seems she did not find our idea cute in the least.

Litter. Solicitation.

Whaaaaat?

She totally crapped on my random act of kindness.

What a jab. Ouch!

Thank goodness my new friend was with.

We decided to laugh instead of cry.   :)

I picked them out of the garbage.

An afternoon in the library and not a single card adopted.

We left.

We went to a cemetery to take pictures of old headstones.

My camera died after a couple shots.

Luck was not on my side.

Time to call it a day.

I dropped my new friend off at her car.

Thanked her for her help and for a fun afternoon.

I headed off to run some errands and left the pictures in random places as I went, this time with no worries as to whether they would be found or thrown or simply blown away.

After all, it's the thought that counts.

That reminds me.

My surprise for today.

I wanted to send two sets of my 

"Random Act of Loving Kindess"

cards out into the world via my blog.

They're not perfect

but

they're filled with

Loving Kindess!

Possible uses

bookmarks

send via mail anonymously

give to those you love

give to total strangers

stick in library books

stick in random places around town

keep them for yourself.

If interested in receiving a set let me know in a comment.

If there are more than two people I will draw names by Friday.

p.s. Thanks to all my loving friends who sent well wishes this past week. My pain is receding, mind clearing and I am on the upswing. Hugs back atcha!

And the winner is....

John!

Had my boys do the drawing. They put the names in a bowl, one held it, the other drew. One in four chance of winning. Not bad, eh?
Congrats to John and to everyone, thanks for being here.
John, please send me your mailing info. and I will get your package off to you promptly. Thanks.

My First Give-a-Way!

I apologize in advance for the scattered condition of this post (words & pics). I have picked up a childcare job to try to make ends meet here and with four of my own and now an extra (1 year old), I am really scrambling to find time for everything.
I joined Shannon at Free Spirit Knits in her "reduce clutter create space" campaign (see button right hand column). This month's theme is "The Basement".
Oy Vay!
The basement. (breathes in heavily and sighs)
Feng Shui has it that the basement represents the past. Getting that baby cleared out not only helps your household function better, but your spirit and mind. It's a hard area as it's often "out of sight, out of mind".
A few years back my husband finished the once concrete basement (I think I may have posted about it before, but no time to look!). My "studio" is also in the basement. During construction, everything in the entire basement ended up in my studio. Since completion I have gotten some items purged, some organized and a lot still remains to be done.
I use the term "studio" loosely as it is also the laundry room, the furnace room, the storage room etc...

Working on my de-cluttering project and being faced with the monthly topic of basement, I can no longer ignore my area as the rest of the basement is clutter free and minimalist already.

Care to see my before pictures? If you are faint of heart, you may wish to look away!

Aaak! and... Egads!
I need to organize and purge as is quite obvious!
In the spirit of Shannon's Generosity at purging,
I am holding my first ever give-a-way.
It is aimed at a mixed media artist, a collector of antique/vintage, or any other creative, collective soul.
I am giving away a vintage collection of Finds.
 
Included in the give-a-way...

1. Page (front & back pictured) out of a vintage scrapbook of someone revering fine art.
2. Vintage book
3. scrap assortment of various papers (only thing not vintage)
4. Vintage Bingo card, game money, keys
5. Page from sketchbook (painted w/ lady) from a deceased art school teacher (wish I knew his name, but I only know a bit of his story)
6. Vintage stamps from around the globe

I am offering these items out of appreciation for my blog readers and also to get a kick start on selling and using my collection of vintage finds.

I will be drawing a name on Sunday. If you would like a chance to win, please leave a comment and share a little about what you think of my first give-a-way.
Is it inspiring? Interesting? What are some ideas of what you might do with some of the items? What's your favorite?
Please pass along the link to this post if you know of someone who would be interested in giving new life to these little pieces of history.

Thank you so much!!!!

Introducing...

I would like to introduce you to a talented, sweet, generous artist.

Her name is Julie Haymaker Thomas.

She is a mixed media artist and teacher.

You can find her website here.

Her blog is here.

Etsy here.

I love her blog profile pic. It's the cutest!

And here is something I won from her blog!

It hangs above my stove.

Isn't it sweet? 

I was trying to decide if it was a spoon full of magic, wishes, or perhaps love.

Better yet, a spoon full of generosity as Julie mad it with her own hands

and offered it as a give-a-way on her blog.

I decided it was a spoon full of goodness which covers it all ;)

She simply calls it "A Spoon Full of Stars".

She offers a tutorial here.

There were kits offered as well.

I must be off to seek her guidance on how to purchase.

Have a wonderful day

with a spoon full of goodness

on the side!

~ thank you as always for visiting ~

And They're Off!!! (plus a give-a-way link)

Three of my four started school today. Princess starts tomorrow. Bitter sweet I tell you. 

Such a strange summer.

The weather was off.

Our luck up and down.

But boy did we have fun!
(warning: pic heavy)

(1. awesome houses  2. baking bread  3. beaches  4. birthday parties  5. carving shows  6. catching critters  7. evening drives  8. fairy gardens  9. family  10. fishing  11. Fourth of July  12. games w/friends  13. mountains  14. nature walks  15. storm watching  16. strawberry picking ... to name a few)

Whew!
You made it through!
You deserve a reward!

Rhythm of the Home
is celebrating their first full year of publication.
They are family and earth friendly, full of wonderful information, how-to's, warm fuzzies, cooking, crafting and so much more! 

They are holding a generous give-a-way

so head on over and join me at a chance to win!

(click on the link above)