And the winners are...

Jenn F (from Facebook) will be giving the box a new home

and

the little fishy will be swimming its way to Kathy.

Congratulations!

Happy Monday to you all!



Happy Birthday Giveaway

I love my birthday.

I celebrate it in a big way every year.

Craig and I take a short vacation, this year we went to Grand Rapids, MI and visited breweries.

6 breweries in 3 days.

We have fun.

I also have a family picnic.

This is the official first day of "Sangria Season"

This was celebrated on Sunday

and although we picniced inside due to more rain, it was a great day.

I also like to give something away on my birthday.

I give to charity, and as gifts I ask for donations to my favorite charity, the Breast Cancer 3 Day.

I sometimes donate blood but I'm off schedule for that and can't this year.

This year I'm giving something away on my blog.

This box. 

 And maybe something else, but its still being finished.

**edited 11:37, yes, that something else is finished and pictured at the end of the post**

So, if you'd like to help me celebrate my birthday, leave me a comment here.

Or like Artbrat's Bits & Pieces on facebook and leave me a comment on my wall.

If you do both, I'll enter your name in the hat twice.

I'll draw a winner on Saturday at noon so you'll have til then to be entered.

(and if the something other turns out, I'll edit this page with the 2nd giveaway)

I hope you have a wonderful day!

This little fishy with the big bulging eyes serves no purpose other than making someone smile.  I love his big eyes!  This will be the other giveaway.  I think I'll draw 2 names so I can spread the joy and fun a bit further. 

Good luck!

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.

A fishy girls night

Girls night on Saturday was lots of fun. We had a very nice meal together and then started crafting. I think all the fish turned out well and everyones is a bit different which is always fun. It was a nice way to loosen up and have our hands busy while we caught up with each other.

Sunday I went with our church youth group on their laser tage outing. We played 3 games and had a blast. Its a little hard being one of the adults for that trip as all the kids think its great fun to continually target you. I was just happy to not end up last in any of the games. I finished in the middle everytime. Its really nice to go out with that group of young adults. They are so well behaved and really are fun to be around. Its neat to see how much energy they have and how they spread that enthusiasm to each other.

Before laser tag I joined a large family for their Sunday lunch. My family never did the Sunday lunch thing. The family I joined had about 30 people for lunch. They do this every Sunday (not all of them are there every week, but its always a big group). It was very nice to be invited to this dinner again. I feel very comfortable with them and am in between the ages of the adults and the youngsters so I can be with any of them and have some similar interests. They are a very welcoming bunch. The first time I attended lunch I noticed a wall hanging that said something about never turning anyone away, there's always an extra chair. They truly live that sentiment by not only inviting others to join them, but spreading such a family, welcoming atmosphere. What a lovely family.



I hope that the "fit in, comfortable feeling" is experienced when people come to my house.