Painting!

Wow! I had no idea painting could be so much fun!  Sure I've touched brush to canvas before but honestly it's been so long I really can't remember the last time. I recently picked up this great little starter kit which included a selection of acrylic paints and 9 small canvases.  It was an absolute steal at 50% off and since I've had painting on my mind over the past several months I snatched it up.

Those canvases have been all but screaming at me lately so I finally took some time over the weekend and gave it a try.  Here are a sampling of my first attempts...

I had fun including different elements ~ for example the painting below is titled "Break-time" and includes espresso coffee grinds and pomegranate rose tea.  I have a collection of rose petals from my garden so I included a few of those and one is even heart shaped...

I think I love mixing colors the most ~ it's just so much fun to watch the swirling colors mingle and blend to create new shades and patterns.  The bottom one is titled "Winter Rose"...

This one is my son's favorite, probably for the dark browns and greens with vintage imagery and watches, he's always favored that style...

Now the trick is figuring out how to properly photograph them ~ it seems I don't have a white wall in house (hmph!) but I hope to get that figured out soon.

I want to thank Angie of Artangel and Lisa of The Wright Stuff for all their help and tips on getting started with this medium.  Both of their work have served as strong inspirations to me in the past and I really appreciate all the help with answering questions and offering up creative advice ~ thanks ladies!

Best~

Gift from an Angel~

I just received the most amazing 'gift'! My sweet friend Angie of Artangel has been participating in a Pay-it-Forward challenge in the month of April ~ basically she's offered a selection of her gorgeous creations for free through her Etsy shop.

Today was the last day and her offering was this gorgeous "Love" painting/collage. I'm a huge fan of my dear friend's work and have been collecting her pieces over the years.

When I heard she was offering up this gorgeous piece (one of my very favorites) as her last PIF, I just had to stalk her shop and sure enough, I got it!! Whoot!! I'm now the new owner of this fabulous Artangel creation and just couldn't be happier!!

So a huge thanks to the Angie for choosing to participate in this give-forward event and the angel who helped me click that buy button at just the right time♥ What a wonderful gift after this l-o-n-g week!

I'm sure you'll want to view more of Angie's gorgeous creations like this newly finished piece "Unwritten Poem" ...


I just love all the intricate details she includes in her work! This piece along with another will be appearing at an open exhibition in the UK this week, so here are the links to visit her blog and shop ~ www.artangeloriginalart.blogspot.com & www.Artangel.etsy.com to find out more.

Enjoy!

Sponsorship Followup

I wanted to give a quick follow up to the Sponsorship I hosted this past week on Sugar Creek Hollow. I can't tell you how much fun it was viewing all the fabulous cards everyone created! Creativity is such an amazing thing ~ we can each be given the same tools and come up with totally one-of-a-kind creations. That's always SO inspiring to me!

Here is sampling of what was submitted~

It appears there were even more that enjoyed set of freebie images I gave away too since the downloads topped over 168 ~ Wow! Who doesn't love a freebie, right?

These same ghoulish delights can now be found in my Etsy shop for all of those looking to have some Halloween fun ~ they're great for kids too since the set comes with print your own cards. What fun that would be at a Halloween party!!

So a huge thanks to Patti from Patti's Paper Creations for suggesting I sponsor this event and I can't wait to hear who the giveaway winner will be! I'll be sure to let you know when I do.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Enjoy~

Freebies and More

While making my rounds I recently stumbled upon two fabulous freebies that I just had to share with all of you...

The first is a wonderful pink offering from Better Homes & Gardens who is giving away free copies of Healthy for Life a 32 page cookbook to everyone who participates. The best part is... for every book downloaded they will donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research ~ pretty sweet! To grab your free copy just click here.

The next fabulous freebie is a wonderfully creative ebook titled Wired Up. All you have to do to get a copy is sign-up for chance to win a fabulous Encaustic Mixed Media Prize ~ I know... pull my arm, right?!

It's a wonderful collection of artistic goodies and the website alone looks like one to get lost in for hours. So click here to enter the giveaway where you'll find find a link to the download the free book on the entry confirmation page.

Enjoy~

New "Customers" Page

One of the added bonuses of creating digital collage sheets has been seeing the wonderful goodies other creative souls have been making~ they're just so fabulous!

And so to spotlight some of these gorgeous creations I've started a new page title "Customers". There I'll post new images as I receive them of fun and inspirational customer creations ~ I think it will be a great way to give back too, as visitors can find links to the artist's creative blogs and shops.

So, if you've recently used one of my collage sheets in a creation, feel free to send me a few photos and some descriptive info ~ I'd love to see what you've made and if you're looking for some new inspirational tools, feel free to check out the growing selection of new collage sheets in my Etsy shop.

Enjoy!

✻´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´✻✻✻Don't miss the opportunity to enter my June Giveaway for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate in my Etsy shop(¸.•´ (¸.•´✻

Time for Another ~

Looks like it's time for another Sale ~ whoot!

For those of you coming in a little late, here's the scoop... I'm terrible with sales & marketing (would rather be creating any day), so earlier this year I decided that every time my favorite online wholesaler had a sale, I would follow suit. Kind of took the guess work out it and things are working great so far ~ I just wait for those sale notices to arrive in my Inbox and off I go...

So here are the details for this sales ~ from now thru June 14th (midnight EST) you can save 19% off everything in my Etsy shop ~ just enter the code: summerfun2011 during checkout.

It's great timing too because I just finished creating a few new ultra colorful digital collage sheets. They boast a lovely selection of winged friends and other whimsical elements just perfect for your creative journey.

Enjoy!

✻´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´✻✻✻Don't miss a chance to enter the June Giveaway for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate in my Etsy shop(¸.•´ (¸.•´✻

One of My Favs ~ Happy Mother's Day

One of my favorite days is coming up this weekend ~ that's right, Mother's Day! Close friends and family know I Lo♥oVe being a Mom. It's really very funny because when I was younger I had this corporate woman/travel the world mentality and didn't want children but the arrival of my first son changed all that. Something about having to put someone else's needs before mine changed my heart and perspective through the years.

My children have taught me more than I could ever have imagined and I can't help but think they were responsible for softening that 'take-charge' woman into a gooey ~ cry at the sappiest commercial ~ kind of gal. There's just something about a little hand holding yours as you skip through the grass chasing butterflies that softens your heart. ;D

So, in honor of Motherhood and all of you wonderful Moms out there who live for the tiny hugs around your neck and knees ~ even if they're only a part of the past now ~ I'd like to wish you a very Happy Mother Day!

Of course my little posting wouldn't be complete without adding a minor business plug ~ gotta feed those hungry mouths after all ;D ~ and so I'm giving a shout out to some new digital images I created in honor of this celebration. These newest goodies are a selection of digital sheets ~ tags & 1 x 2 domino size images featuring quotes and verses celebrating Motherhood which you can find listed in my shop.

And last but not least, I leave you with a few new buttons to honor this special day ~ these were two of my favorites sayings from the selection of new tags I created and so I've made them into new blog badges as gifts from me to you.

<center><a href="http://www.PlumroseLane.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Mother What was War? badge" src="http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy344/plumrose-lane/Badges/PrL-Mother_What_is_War-badge.png" /></a></center>

<center><a href="http://www.PlumroseLane.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="A Mother's Heart badge" src="http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy344/plumrose-lane/Badges/PrL-A_Mother_Holds-badge.png" /></a></center>

Enjoy~

Digital Collage Sheets... who me??

So, here's something that doesn't rely of online image hosting... Digital Collage Sheets ~ Yay!

Yes, I've finally decided to try my hand with a few designs. It's something I've had a... well.. hankering for, I guess, and so I decided to finally jump in and give it a try.

Now there's no doubt mine are a little different than the norm and hopefully that will be appealing to collage artists, not to mention I like the idea of not stepping on any toes, if you know what I mean. I truly admire so many digital collage artists and house links to many of their blogs under the "freebies" section in my right sidebar.

I'm still in the process of creating and tweaking a few sheets but there are a handful currently making their debut in my Etsy shop and so for the next 24 hours they're all on sale ~ buy one get on free. Simply check out with one, and let me know which sheet you want for free in the "Note to Seller" section - I'll send you both ~ how fun!

Oh and please... if you create something with them I'd love to see your work~ that's the best part!

Enjoy!

A Festive Freebie Wallpaper

Today we're off to celebrate an annual family meal together. Each year our son gifts us this special dinner out and we all have so much fun. The attendees change, we've lost some and added some but at the core of our little family is a unique gift of friendship and love. We have some time before we leave and not being one who enjoys sitting around with nothing to do, I decided to take the time and spruce up my desktop ~ the red background and glowing tree were just too 2010.

I searched around online but couldn't find anything that fit my needs ~ something light in color yet pretty on the eyes. In the end I thought, "why not make one?" and so I used some of the heavenly features from my Cherish theme to create this light and festive desktop background.

The background is created in 1440 x 900 size and should fit most wide screen desktop monitors and laptops. Simply click on the image to enlarge and then right click to save to your own computer.

And here's a little reminder ~ don't forget about the year end Sale going on in my shop ~ 25% off EvERyTHiNg including custom projects.

Enjoy!