Portland Open Studios Tour Guide Give Away

Portland Open Studios opens in one month, and I am very excited to be participating this year! I'll be opening up my studio, giving demonstrations, and selling art along with 99 other artists in the Portland area October 10-11 and October 17-18. Your passport to participate in all the excitement is a $15 Tour Guide (available at New Seasons, Art Media, or from me) that doubles as a 16-month calendar.


To celebrate the occasion, I'm giving away one of these Tour Guides! If you live in the Portland Metro area, and think seeing artists at work in their studios sounds like a pretty nifty idea, leave a comment! On Monday, September 14th, I'll randomly select one commenter and mail them off their Tour Guide, complete with maps to all the studios and cool art images. Of course, you'll need to leave your contact info in the e-mail, or check back to see if you're selected (unless your Blogger profile includes an e-mail, I can't locate your e-mail just from your comment!).

Curious about the artists? Check out the Portland Open Studios Blog, or look at the slide show here.

Edited later to add:

And the winner is . . .

Sonia of Trauma Healed!

Wanna Trade?

I just sent off a batch of nine Artist's Trading Cards for an ATC show at the Richmond Art Gallery in British Columbia. Like the nine you see above, they were all done by collaging prints I made with heat moldable foam stamps. (Check out the tutorial here!)

I've got a ton of these ATC's, and I'm finally ready to send them out into the world! If you have some original ATC's, and are up for a trade, drop one in the mail to me at PO Box 4076, Portland, OR, 97208, and I'll send you one back (as long as you include your address, that is!).

And . . . if you're not sure what an ATC is, check out what Wikipedia has to say on the topic.

Friday's Yarn Winner(s)! . . . and a Cry for Help from Ms. Crafty Manners

For Friday's Wool Yarn give away, I decided to be less than random - of the four commentors, two had already won (Jess won the Vintage Flower Loom Kit and Mrs. Pilkington won the Magnetic Sheets - though I haven't heard back from her with her address yet) . . . and I loved the reasons that the two remaining commentors gave for needing the yarn: Evelyn needs more yarn for baby gifts, and HM for teaching dyeing at a local museum! How great is that?! In my giveaway fantasy, they both get 6 skeins of lovely wool yarn . . . though it may simply go to the one who provides me with a valid mailing address!

Unfortunately, I don't have e-mails for either of them. Blogger protects you - and your comments - by not making your e-mail directly available to me. Your name has a link, and I can go over and check your Blogger profile, but if your e-mail isn't in there, I can't see it. And yes, I do get an e-mail with your comment in it, but your real e-mail doesn't usually show up in that, either. I won't add commentor e-mails to any mailing lists, I promise. I am going to try and get in touch with both of them, but if you know them, please let them know they're winners! Or, if you're Mrs. Pilkington, HM, or Evelyn, you can e-mail me with your address at sparky (at) eyesaflame (dot) com.

(A Note for All Gentle Readers: Ms. Crafty Manners is still trying to determine the best way to manage this give away in the event that the winners don't contact Bridget with their addresses, and is looking for input from the Blogosphere. How do you manage giveaways? Are there other ethical ways of getting the e-mail addresses of commentors that I don't know about? What if you never hear back from a winner? Do you give the item to another commentor, or does it go to charity? A big "Thank You" in advance from Ms. Crafty Manners.)

What I Save . . . And What I Give Away

So, according to the powers that be over at random.org, the lovely Mrs. Pilkington of Mrs. Pilkington Knits is the happy winner of Thursday's magnetic sheet give away!

The question naturally arises, "Bridget, if you're giving away so much stuff, what are you keeping!?"

The answer, of course, is garbage. Here, in fact, is a load fresh out of the washer:


Mixed media artists and crafters are well-known for their interest in re-using things that are normally discarded. Case in point - quilts made from recycled scraps like the infamous and wonderful Michael5000 StormQuilts. My home town, Portland, OR, has a great curbside recycling program, but it doesn't take lids from plastic bottles. I've only been collecting lids from three households, and I have to tell you, I've accumulated quite a stash . . . I've been on a bit of a personal mission to find a use for these things, and I've come up with a few ideas . . . which I plan on sharing with you over the next few months! (Though I have to admit, bed coverings were not on my list.)


I also passed a construction site recently, and saw that these items had been discarded - they were half buried in a heap of dirt and debris, but did I let that stop me from running over in my suit and heels and digging around to grab some choice bits?! Heck no! That's why I drive a truck! These items are just crying out to be included in some kind of mixed media extravaganza . . .

Maybe one made of lids?

It's Time for Another Drawing!

I was sick yesterday . . . so we're doing two give away drawings today.
For these drawings, I decided to go more low-tech . . . numbers on paper . . . papers in a bowl . . .

and the winner of Tuesday's Purse Handle Give Away is . . .

Number 1, our first commenter, Sister Diane from CraftyPod!!

The winner of Wednesday's Flower Loom Kit Give Away is . . .

Number 6, our final commenter, Jess!

And Monday's Winner is . . .

It's been Tuesday on the East Coast for a little while now, but here in happy Portland, OR, we've still got a little time left! So, who's going to win the Style Stones offered up in last Monday's Give Away?

So, using the random number generator at Random.org, the number was "6" - and the sixth person to comment was Seth of The Altered Page . . . Which reminds me, I need to get some goodies out into the weather, and fast!

Friday Give Away . . . A Bit of a Yarn

Ah, so we come to the final give away this week . . . though I'm already scanning the studio for more things I can let go of! This is a lot of fun . . .

Today, we have twelve skeins of wool yarn. I do very little with yarn anymore . . . I do a little small scale weaving, and some machine needle felting, but I don't knit or crochet, and I don't really have any use for this. A friend who used to own a yarn store back in the day is cleaning out her studio . . . and I'm passing the savings onto you!

If you want the yarn, all you need to do is leave a comment by Friday, February 27th, and I'll randomly select a winner and ship the yarn off anywhere in the continental United States. Well, to the winner, that is! If you win, I'll get in touch (make sure you have a blogger profile with e-mail enabled, or that you check back next week to see if you won) and get your address.

So far, I've had interest in everything, but just so you know, if anything doesn't get "comments of desire," it'll find a happy new home at SCRAP here in Portland - my favorite place for recycled art and craft supplies.

Thursday Give Away . . . It's Magnetic!

Today's special clutter-clearing, stash-busting, studio-sweeping give away is 12 packages of magnetic canvas! Each of the 12 packages contains one 5" x 8" white vinyl magnet sheet . . . even as I post it, I'm getting the jitters . . . I keep thinking things like "but we could use them for a visioning exercise to make collages on and then put them up on the fridge where they could hold reminders of our future course of action!" or "kids would love to cut these up and draw on them!" or "wouldn't magnetic puzzles be fun?!" or "I could take photos of my friends, attach them to the magnet sheets, and then make funny hats and clothes out of magnets to dress them in!"


Help me stop the insanity. These magnet sheets (purchased on clearance) have been in my studio for several years, and it is time to pass them along. Hopefully to someone who will actually take action on any of the above wonderful ideas, or come up with a million of their own.

You know the drill. If you want these magnetic sheets, all you need to do is leave a comment by Thursday, February 26th, and I'll randomly select a winner and ship the magnet sheets off anywhere in the continental United States. Well, to the winner, that is! If you win, I'll get in touch (make sure you have a blogger profile with e-mail enabled, or that you check back next week to see if you won) and get your address.

Wednesday Give Away and a note about My Hair

One of the things that happens when you spend a lot of time looking at blogs is that you end up ordering a lot of cool things, like this Cathy of California vintage flower loom kit . . . and here's her tutorial on how to make them.

Of course one of the other things that happens when you spend a lot of time looking at blogs is that some of the things you order sit in your studio gathering dust. Which means it's time to give them away . . .

GIVEAWAY!

So, if you've been craving your own vintage flower loom kit, all you need to do is leave a comment by Wednesday, February 25th, and I'll randomly select a winner and ship the vintage flower loom off anywhere in the continental United States. Well, to the winner, that is! If you win, I'll get in touch (make sure you have a blogger profile with e-mail enabled, or that you check back next week to see if you won) and get your address.



I also just got my hair cut. The gal over at Bliss Salon did a great job - she gave me exactly what I asked for. And I'm still not used to it. It looks weird.


So, in that reactionary way you do when you're not used to a new haircut, I was thinking maybe I need to get it all chopped off in a blunt wedge cut with flippy front . . .


and maybe all asymmetrical, like it was the 80's all over again.

But for now, I'll just leave it the way it is and do my best to channel my inner Joan Jett.

Tuesday Give Away & A Lot About Purses

Yup, it's time for another . . . .

GIVEAWAY!

This time, it's purse handles. About two years ago, I made a single purse out of a felted sweater. Suddenly, purses were exciting . . . and purse handles seemed full of possibility. So, I bought, well, quite a few. And never made another purse. In part, this is due to the fact that I love Queen Bee bags (and use the occasional Hardwear by Renee bag) but never use purses with handles like these. The other part is that, well, I got distracted by a lot of other crafty goodness out there.

Fortunately, the recycled accessory maven at Mugwump took a few off my hands, but I'm still left with five. Five groovy purse handles. You know you want them. (Dang, maybe I really do need a Mugwump bag, too . . . one of the advisors at the SBDC has a Mugwump bag made from a Monopoly game board . . . and I covet it. Maybe if you take these purse handles off my hands, I'll have room in my house for a new purse!)

If you want them, leave a comment by Tuesday, February 24th, and I'll randomly select a winner and ship the purse handles off anywhere in the continental United States. Well, to the winner, that is! If you win, I'll get in touch (make sure you have a blogger profile with e-mail enabled, or that you check back next week to see if you won) and get your address.

Monday's Give Away & A Crafty Update

GIVEAWAY!

Here's the first studio clearing give away: A collection of over 100 simple shape Style Stones by ClearSnap/Color Box. They're flat-surface beads that you can stamp and color and decorate like in the sample bracelet . . . I got them on clearance a few years ago, and they have sat in my studio ever since. If you want them, leave a comment by Monday, February 23rd, and I'll randomly select a winner and ship them off anywhere in the continental United States.

As for the crafty update, I got to spend a big chunk of the day in the studio today . . . very much needed. It had been way too long since I'd really spent a good chunk of time just making art. I worked on some artist trading cards for ArtFest in April. I'm using a stamp made from one of my octopus drawings and a bunch of old security envelopes mounted on watercolor board.

I also started working on a new encaustic collage . . .

Pay it Forward: Comment, and You Could Be Next!

The lawn is mowed, and the ballot is in. My most critical community duties done, I moved on to something a little bit more fun, but still in the category of "community good," at least in my book.

Ella Rose works the main checkout desk at the Rebuilding Center. It's an awe-inspiring place, full of serviceable and salvaged windows, doors, cabinets, lighting fixtures, toilets, tiles, drawers, and even switchplate covers. It's usually the drawers that I drop by for - they make a great base for the shrines and shadowboxes that my students and I make as a part of Artmaking as Playful Prayer. Well, I dropped by a few months ago to load up on drawers, and Ella Rose was cheerful and chatty as usual, offering random discounts and even complimenting me on my earrings.

"Those are cool! Where'd you get those?"

"I made them - see, this is recycled bicycle inner tube."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and look - this is just a rubber band from produce!"

"REALLY? That is so cool - hey, wait a minute," and she paused to dig through a drawer. "I've been saving these - do you think you could do something with them?" She held out a pair of curved blue glass tiles, small, but still thick and heavy.

"They might be a little heavy for earrings . . ."

"Oh, that won't bother me!"

"Yeah, I can do something with these . . . It may be a while, but I'll make you some earrings - do you want inner tube on them?"

"Yeah, and rubber bands, too!"

I played with the glass over the weekend, and finally got a design I liked. Today, I delivered on my promise.

And she loved them! She gave me a hug, and a promised 10% off . . . but, you know, Ella Rose always gives me a good deal, so I'm not too worried about it! (and no, that's not Ella Rose wearing the earrings, just in case you were concerned for her health . . . )

She always treats me well, always has a smile, and sometimes, it's just nice to do something nice for someone else.

In a similar vein, Geek+Nerd did a "Pay it Forward" post about a month ago (ok, I checked, it was on April 9th, though I can't seem to get a permalink going to it!) After getting the tag from another blogger, she promised to send out a random handmade gift to the first three people who posted a comment with the understanding that they would do the same on their blogs . . . and I was chosen! So, I'm finally getting around to making my own "Pay it Forward" post. Be one of the first three to post, and I'll send you a handmade crafty item - all I ask is that you share the love on your own blog . . .