Giveaway Time!

It's time to have some fun! Last week I mentioned that I'd be hosting a giveaway in collaboration with my friend, Judy Gula, owner of Artistic Artifacts. Judy has a website as well as a brick-and-mortar store dedicated to all things mixed-media. If you're lucky enough to live nearby, you should stop in and maybe even take a class! Here are the giveaway details: Judy has graciously offered to give away a jar of this lovely, colored modeling cream by Viva to not one, but TWO of my readers!

So, all you have to do is comment here to be entered to win (it would be awesome if you would visit Judy and her shop on Facebook and "like" them, too, if you're so inclined!) In a few days, I'll pick two winners and put you in touch with Judy, who will ship you your gift. Be sure to tell your friends and please feel free to Pin and Twitter about this giveaway as well!!

On to what's happening in the studio this week. I forgot to mention that last month for my birthday, I bought myself a new toy, the Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting machine.

This is a handy gadget that can cut all kinds of materials from stencil film, to vinyl, to fabric, and of course, all manner of paper. I chose this machine over others because it gets great user reviews, and unlike some other cutters, it connects to my PC and doesn't require me to purchase cartridges of images just to get one particular image. If I need a font, or a new design, I just hop over to the Silhouette site and buy it. I LOVE it, although I have to admit that there's a slight learning curve to using it. But it's mostly easy and there are tons and tons of great videos, tutorials and entire blog sites dedicated to getting the most out of your investment! If you're interested, I'm compiling a list of particularly useful links on Pinterest.

This week, I cut a couple of stencils.

These are images that I purchased in the Silhouette store (they're really inexpensive) and cut out using .005 ml stencil film. I have yet to cut a stencil that I've designed myself, but that will be one of the next tasks I teach myself.

I took a few minutes to play with my stencils on my Gelli plate.Here, I used them on the cover of one of my journals.

And here, on some simple copy paper.

The Cameo has some real potential to become an invaluable tool in my studio.

Finally, I want to show you the progress I'm making on my latest painting. I talked a little about it in last week's blog post, and I've moved along on it quite nicely this week, as well.

 

It still needs a lot of work before it's finished, and I'll show that as it happens. 

This weekend, I will begin working on building a new design wall. I'll take lots of process photos and show them to you when the wall is complete.

In the meantime, create!