A Package!!

Dont you just love getting packages in the mail?  It has to be one of my favorite things, especially if I am not expecting something (or simply have forgotten about it!)  Heck, I even adore it when I know its coming, and I'm waiting for the delivery man, bouncing around with excitement chanting "where are you?  where are you?  O, come on and freakin get here!!".  There is something so much fun about tearing a package open and getting at what's inside.  (Can you tell I'm gearing myself up for my birthday where I get SHINY packages all wrapped up for me!!) 

I received a terrific package in the mail a few weeks ago (shame on me for just now getting around to sharing it.  Time has been flying and I've been busy.)  This package came from Cat and was part of her One World, One Heart giveaway.  Cat also blogs with her sister Cricket  here.  Both blogs are beautiful.  Full of wonderful images and thoughtful words.  I hope you'll take a moment and explore both of the links.  I find myself visiting them often.  When I won, Cat asked what I'd like to receive.  I looked through those blogs and etsy shops and just loved everything so I pretty much told her that and asked her to suprise me.  I gotta say, she did a superb job of picking.  I absolutely love this tank.  The sentiment expressed on the back is so much how I want to live my life.  (Somedays I do better at staying true to this than others.  Hey, I'm a work in progress.)  I've never seen the brand Love this Life before, but you can be sure I'll be looking into getting more from them.  Thank you so much Cat.  I couldn't love it more.  Tanks are my summer staple and I cant wait for it to warm up here so I can wear this!  She also included a lovely "live large"card and a fun chalkboard heart ornament that will soon hang in my kitchen so I can leave love notes to my hubby, or just remind myself that I am out of milk. 

Thanks again Cat!  I love it!!!  And thank you for stopping by for a visit.  I hope your week is off to a great start.

OWOH goodies

I won the most beautiful art tag from Wendy as part of what she gave away for the One World One Heart blog event.  I just love the different textures and mediums she used on this.  I also adore that it includes music in its background.  Its like it was customized for me!  She also included a cute bookmark that I know I’ll be using all the time.  Thank you so much Wendy.  Your gifts really brightened my day and they make me smile when I see them!

I have been busy, busy, busy here.  Hope to be ready to reveal something new here on the next post.  Thanks for stopping by.

Don’t you just love socks, and the OWOH Winner!

I made these socks for a magazine challenge entry about 2 years ago.  I actually assumed they were lost because they had been gone so long and then early this week a package arrived in the mail with them inside.  The package also contained a rejection letter from the magazine, but that was brushed aside because my socks were back!

I love wearing crazy, often mismatched socks and these were hard to mail away right after I made them.  I finally got to wear them for the first time and they kept a smile on my face for the entire day. 

And, now for my drawing…

I’m happy to announce that the name I drew from my bowl of entries was 

of the beautifully creative blog ArtsyFartsyMe.  Congratulations Jaime.  I’ll be emailing you shortly so I can get your prize shipped your way!

One World, One Heart 2011

I am excited to again take part in the wonderful One World, One heart blog event. I think it is an incredible way to make new friends and also give away a little goodness and the same time.

For any new visitors to my blog, thank you for taking time to stop by. I wanted to tell you a little bit about me. I am a professional piano teacher and church organist. I love sharing my knowledge of music with others, and incorporating their developing skills as a method to help them express themselves. I have a degree in piano and harpsichord performance and also an advanced degree in music theory and literature. So I have a strong background to share with my students. I also play the harp and still have much to learn with that instrument.

I've lived in Michigan my entire life but I spent my college years in the northern part of the state compared to my southeastern home. I share my home with my hubby of a little over 14 years and our two dogs. I am new to eating a whole food diet and love the richer tastes that I get to enjoy by using fresh, clean food. I just signed up to participate in a CSA for the first time this year and can't wait for the growing season to get underway so I can receive my portion of the harvested crops.

I love playing with art. I find it soothing to spend time surrounded with paint, clay, beads, and many other mediums. I’ve taken a few community ed. classes in polymer clay, but mostly I am self taught in my art making. I love taking on the challenge of working in new mediums and seeing how my skills develop.

For this year’s giveaway, I have a beautiful box. I made this a few years ago and love it, I painted, collaged, included copies of some of my artwork and glittered the heck out of the box. Its not huge, maybe about 3.5” round. The perfect size to store precious trinkets inside.

To enter please you need to have a current blog, and leave me a comment on this post. I'll be selecting a winner on Feb. 17th. Please make sure your comment allows a link to your blog so I can follow up if your name is drawn. Make sure you check out all the amazing participants in the One World, One Heart event. There is an amazing amount of talent represented in the event.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll visit again soon.

Wonderful day

I had such a wonderful day yesterday. I think my favorite V-day ever. I was the lucky winner of 3! OWOH giveaways. I am so thankful to be choosen and cant wait to receive art in the mail. Laurie is sending me a lovely heart pin, Lisa has created a beautiful poetic postcard that I'll be getting, and Kaycee is sending some original notecards! I'm feeling so lucky and blessed. Thank you ladies for adding to my happiness.

I had a lovely day with my DH too. We went for a nice lunch and then stayed in for the evening. I went to a new Borders bookstore after lunch yesterday. It was incredible. They had a whole digital section where you can download music straight to your ipod, they're hooked with Shutterfly so you can make your own digital albums there, and had many other cool things. In the cooking section they actually had 2 computers with printers where you could find and print out recipes (no limit to how many either!) It was such a comfortable place. They have a stage in the back (not just in the kids section) and a long list of people coming (both authors and musicians) and I was just blown away by the whole thing. I love bookstores anyways, but this went beyond anything I've experienced before. It was such a nice part of my afternoon to browse this new store.

I found a new craft book that looks really cool. Its "The Big-a@@ Book of Crafts" by Mark Montano. The project on page 148 is how to make your own Ultrasuede art case. I remember seeing these cases maybe 2 years ago on the Oprah O list and then in a shop, but they were way out of my price range. I will need to dig out my sewing machine, but if I can make one of these it'll be so cool!

Todays art is a mixed media collage. I love frogs and this one just popped into my art journal one night, peeking out of the tiara. I just love it. I painted, modgepodged some art paper accents, glittered, and glued on fake jewels. I used lots of metallic paints of course too. It was fun.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a lovely Valentines day and have something special happen to you today.

One World One Heart

Here are my giveaways for the one world one heart event
I could not choose what media I wanted to giveaway, so I'm going to draw 3 names (assuming at least 3 people show up here). The rules for the event are to leave a comment on this days post, you need to be a blogger, and I'll draw names on Feb. 14th. I'll leave the winners names on my blog and also try to follow your comment link to notify you and gather your shipping information.

The first prize is my colorful "Be Yourself". I used Pinata inks for the background, metallic acrylics for the dress, arms and legs, trimmed the piece with an art yarn. I used a polymer clay face (made with a Maureen Carlson mold) and gave her hair trimmed from a boa. She's a very wild woman.

My second prize is an original design beaded necklace. I used 2 shades of pink seed beads and accented with fire polished glass beads. A flower design appeared when I started playing. I finished the piece with a sterling silver s clasp.




My last prize is one of the stuffed paper fish. This one is the prototype I used before my girls night. She is made by cutting out 2 paper shapes, stuffing and taping shut modgepodging tissue over top and then decorating.

I am really excited about this event as its the first time I've done something like this. I did go through a bit of panic and stress when picking out what to offer because that old fear of no one will want your work came up. Sometimes my confidence just disappears on me and I have to go look for it again. It has been a blessing for me to recently discover the artistic blogging community. Its therapeutic to see other souls inspiring, encouraging and supporting each other. I thank each and every one of you.

And the winners are:
Junierose who will be getting the necklace,
Kathy was will receive the fish, and
Stacyzimmerman has won the "Be Yourself"

Thanks to all of you. Your supportive comments have made a tremendous difference to my self confidence. It will be a pleasure to peruse all the new blogs I've found throughout the coming months.