SNAIL MAIL ENTHUSIAST CHALLENGE ...

AS YOU MAY HAVE GUESSED, I STILL BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD... why else would I be blogging!!!???  The worldwide web is wonderful, yet snail mail is absolutely powerful!!!  Who does not like getting a handwritten note/letter in the mail???  When was the last time you received a treasured piece of snail mail.   A thank-you, a vacation postcard, a greeting card with a note... a true handwritten letter???!!! 

SO FOR THIS CHALLENGE...

Create a notepaper 8 X 5 1/2  leave flat or fold in half - with room to write a personal message, either way... and then decorate the envelope that will accompany it!!!
My granddaughter sent me this after I sent her a note with a dollar for winning a reading award - she had just started first grade!  I had given her blank notecards in her stocking at Christmas.
Use medium of your choice - I will post my project in process as we head for a completion deadline of July 18th!!!
Send your entry to my email:  sinderellastudio@yahoo.com or post a comment with a link to view your piece.

WINNER TO RECEIVE A SURPRISE PACKET THAT WILL INCLUDE POSTAGE STAMPS...

JUST A REMINDER...last months winners will be receiving the prints of their work next week (sorry for the delay - darn real job thing) and the chocolate/tea things that go with them!  My follower winner, Melissa, received her surprise box - and she was truly surprised!

   

Who doesn't love a 64 box of crayola's????

HAPPY CREATING...

dana

PAINTING PINK PETALS

We live by a lake and it is a 4.3 mile walk (soon to be run again, working on that) around it.  Lots to see as I take this walk with our dog Sophie.  Every once in awhile I take my camera along.  I always see something that I want to photograph. I have saved these photos for future painting projects.  I have quite the photo collection of flowers - and seriously, 2 watercolors that I am working on!  Sneak peeks in a couple weeks - sooner if I win the lotto and don't have to go to work! LOL. Last week walking the lake was so dream-like, it was warm and the sun was out - it was still early enough that the lake was quiet.  The delicate petals of the peonies and poppy's were in bloom.  Poppy's remind me of my mom, she had them in our yard when I was a kid - love them!  But they are fleeting beauty.  Like soft crepe paper that blows away after only sharing itself for a couple days!  These are bright orange but I have to share them along with the PINK PEONIES!  Peonies are my daughter in law, Becky's favorite.  She carried them at her wedding and the tables were filled with bouquets- absolutely breath taking what she did with PINK on her special day.  That will be for another Pink Saturday post!  Peonies always intrigue me because they are these solid little brussel sprout type balls that for days it seems just have ants on them (I don't care for ants).  Then all of the sudden these soft fluffly petals are in full view!  Poof!  Like the poppy, they don't last long.   The fragile petals blow off into the wind.  But while we have them - we enjoy them! 

When I read about Beverly's Pink Saturday she noted that she started this as PINK is her mother's favorite color - and PINK always makes you smile.  I hadn't thought about that much, as I have told you I have never really been a pink girl - but she is absolutely right - whether you are a pink girly girly or not - when I think about all things pink and look around me - those things that are - DO MAKE ME SMILE!  Each Pink Saturday blog I have visited has definitely put a smile on my face!  Must check out Frosted Petunias - all the blogs I am following are worth a peek.  I will be visiting new ones again this week.

Happy Pink Saturday - SMILES EVERYONE!

dana
thanks Beverly!

IT'S FRIDAY???

Where did the week go?  Busy - busy week with the real world!  So - now need to catch up so I can do my Friday Foto Collage, I really am having trouble getting the timing down on this one.  The theme is posted Thursday - does that mean that it starts Friday and goes thru the week to get done or is it in 24 hours it must be done?  Somebody straighten me up on this one before I make Peggy crazy! -  will be putting together my Pink Saturday Post - AND - will post the NEW ART CHALLENGE on Monday June 28th!  Hope you will check in!

My second entry for Friday Foto Collage

We were to use magazine clippings only soooooo, had many themes running through my head but somehow locked onto my pile of magazines saved for recipes.  Using EveryDay with Rachel Ray and Good Housekeeping I began my clipping.  I have never really done a collage from clippings so had a few hiccups.  I glued a couple things down before I should have - didn't get my layers right.  Also, I need to buy a brayer, I think it is called.  It is like a rolling pin for art!  I really need one, my pieces buckled up somewhat and lost some of the look I wanted.  Anyways, I have been planning to put together a book of recipes for Chelsea, my son Ben's fiance.  So this will be the cover!
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DAD's OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is an awesome Sunday here!
cheers, dana

Thinking about what to PINK about!!!

Sooooooooo many things I want to talk about that tie to PINK!  But today something simple.  I am a believer in supporting your community and giving back.  I am not a person of big financial means so I try to make small things count.  I try to shop local -that is hard for super market type items but gift giving - cards (most of these things I try to make myself), bakeries, coffee house, eyeglasses (the company I work for, RX Optical, is a homegrown Michigan based company) - the list goes on.  I am an optician by day and have given proceeds from my work last year that sold to Optometry Giving Sight!  I donated a piece of work that was in my May postings to benefit the Womens Center of East Lansing.  I have ran in the Race for the Cure 5k several years and am always moved by the event.  When I am shopping for something if I can buy it to support a cause that I believe in - I do so!  So, I needed a new scrubby for my shower - saw one that came with a pink rubber ducky that lights up!!!  Proceeds to the Komen Foundation!  That was the scrubby for me!

Blogland is a supportive community!  Each site encourages others!  It is like getting big hugs and kudos everyday for your work!  No negativity here!  Each person I have connected with is inspiring and motivating. I did spent time this past week really visiting Tobi (my first pictured follower) at http://www.pinkpixieforest.blogspot.com/ - what an amazing fairy land she truly has created - check it out!

Ann, http://www.frostedpetunias.blogspot.com/ - love her artwork!!!! Peggy - please click on my #2 challenge for her Friday Foto Collage (top right) - great fun and I'm learning alot with this challenge!  I have been looking at the entries for where bloggers create - my friend Penny at http://www.palaverfrompelliegenghiskhat/ her space is so pretty and organized! Stephanie at http://www.queenofdreamsz.blogspot.com/ - Wow, talk about a room with a view!
Anyways, this is a community group!  World wide! 
MAKE A GREAT DAY - VISIT A NEW BLOG - LEAVE A COMMENT - IT DOES MAKE SOMEONE SMILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  HAPPY PINK SATURDAY!
I will be visiting more of my visitors this week!  Darn real job thing takes up too much time.
cheers, dana

LOVING BLOG LAND

I have been busy checking out the blog sites of the participants of Pink Saturday.  This could be a full time job! Awesome blogs - and incredible artwork on many!  Lifestyle showcases, poetic expressions - all keep me going in my own artistic journey.  I am working on a couple of different collage pieces and two paintings.  Goal - GET THEM DONE - darn real job thing keeps getting in the way!
Peggy from the Friday Foto Collage asked about my transfer of the coral - I didn't really know what I used - as I have a closet shelf full of paper and paper-type products that I have collected.  I knew I had this clear plastic stuff for the printer that had adhesive backing - somewhere - so while doing the collage I found it but only ONE sheet.  Was down to creation deadline (as usual) so it had to work or I was out!  I blew up the picture of the coral - but without photo editing ability printed it onto the clear adhesive and cut out the background (that took some patience - something I am very short on but working at).  Anyways, I didn't touch it for several minutes for fear it would smear.  Did the cutting and applied it to my paper - wah-lah, it worked perfectly.  I should have used transfer letters for my wording - it did not come out real great - lesson learned.  Okay - back to my original point - Peggy, I finally dug deep enough in my closet and found the packaging for the product - because I want more - it is by Grafix - Computer Grafix printable transparent plastic sheets with adhesive backing for ink jet printers.  I purchased it at Hobby Lobby and hope they still have it!  Going shopping this weekend.
MAKE A GREAT DAY - share a smile - new challenge posting June 28th...
dana

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.............................

WE HAVE TWO WINNERS !!!  As this was our first art challenge and this blog is not widely viewed - response was limited BUT TALENT AND IDEAS were abundant!!!  I could not pick one entry over the other!  Of special note, and exciting to me is that a couple other individuals started pieces but felt "they weren't good enough art-people" to complete and enter.  Trust me they are - this is a blog in its infancy and I am a "wanna be artist", not trained, not knowledgeable - just a lover of the doing!!!!  So I am very PROUD of my TWO WINNERS in the "Take Flight" postcard with a message challenge!  Drum roll...............

-  Penny Plum - produced an excellent piece drawing and using photo editing! 

 I LOVE IT !!!  Please visit her blog - her current posting regarding Raggedy Ann and Andy is heartwarming and will make you smile! http://palaverfrompellieghengiskhat.blogspot.com/

This piece is going to be a GREAT postcard - nothing like inspirational snail mail!!!  Penny your postcard prints - as well as your Godiva are on their way!!

Next, WINNER, and first time entrant to any art anything Linda Schroeder!!!

Grandkids are some of the best inspiration for creativity on this earth!

This little butterfly will definitely make you smile!!!

Prints and chocolate coming!!

Isn't that what art is all about - to motivate, to inspire, to be shared, to make you think, to express feelings - to keep our hearts and minds open!!! 

I hope this GETS SOME OF YOU OFF THE VIEWING AND INTO THE DOING!!!  Everyone is a winner when that happens!

Melissa Mathie - is also the winner of the new followers drawing - a package will be in the mail to you this week - watch your mailbox!

p.s. - I would like to say THANK YOU to all the Pink Saturday welcomes!  I have been stopping by and will be leaving comments this week.  I sooooooooo enjoyed doing the post and love the bonding Bev's site creates!  Peggy's Friday Foto Collage challenge is also great - check it out!

CHEERS, dana

this has been a blast hosting and chatting with artists' and potential artists' - next challenge to be posted June 28th - mark your calendars!!!

Pink Saturday...my 1st...Link to PINK

As I write my first PINK SATURDAY post ... I'm excited.  The oldest of four and THE only girl, PINK was not a dominant color in our house.  I then had two boys and seven nephews soooooooooooo, once again, not much to PINK ABOUT.  I then re-married and  my husband had two very PINK girls, young teenagers - no less!  So here I am, a tomboy, and a step-mom - wow - not an easy combo.  Anyways, life goes on and it is really great - as I am now a grandmother of SEVEN - 3 of which are very PINK GIRLS!

Cloee turned 7 this week, the first of our grandchildren - the PINKest of the PINK-  (that is her at two in the butterfly outfit for halloween) - then here at our house almost seven.  oh wait , there is CAMERON - she is four - and don't you forget it!  Here she is at her fourth b-day party with Great G-Pa!  She is the PINKest of Pink -

oh yes, and then there is NEVA - she recently turned TWO and SHE is the PINKest of Pink!!!  With Grandpa Mark - love the PINK dog grandpa!!! thanks. 

Ironically, my cousin, Linda - the oldest of four and THE only girl - also had her first granddaughter, Braelyn, celebrate her 1ST B-day ( the same day as my first granddaughters B-day) and She is also the PINKest of PINK!!!!   It is a PINK cosmic connection!  I could go on and on about the small world in which we live with PINK connections but I will just say it with pictures.  Welcome to my PINK world - it is the BEST place in the Universe!!!! 

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers, dana

FRIDAY FOTO COLLAGE...

As I look through the entries to MY challenge - I created a piece with the "TAKE FLIGHT" theme to enter in the Friday Foto Collage challenge.  It is a new blog challenge also - how perfect.  I do not have a photo workshop program and am not computer savvy sooooooooo felt this would definitely take me to a new learning space.  I started with two of my photos - one I shared over this past challenge time frame as a piece of inspiration: the butterfly that had landed in our garage and I had taken a photo of a piece of coral that I love.  Started this piece with a piece of watercolor canvas with a sap green wash.  I used cut out butterflies and moths from a collage sheet - from Shabby Cottage Studios - and magazine/catalogs that I had been saving!  I then blew up the picture of the coral and copied it onto a transfer sheet (I have never done this and am currently in love with transfers now). 

Layed the pieces out - several times of course - moving things around and then started adhering the butterflies with gel medium:

Then the scary step of taking the coral print off the transfer backing and getting it onto the canvas - yikes!!!!!!!!  It was much easier than I had anticipated - that's why I'm in love with it - and it gives depth - super cool look!  Now I know why people are addicted to photoshop!

So, wha-la: "TAKE FLIGHT" - GIVE WINGS TO  YOUR DREAMS - a collage - soon to become notecards!!!!!!!!!!! 

Hope this helps you decide to enter our next challenge here at Sinderella's Studio - Winner of our FIRST POSTCARD WITH A MESSAGE CHALLENGE TO BE ANNOUCNED SUNDAY - STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!!!


CHEERS, dana

deadline for your entry...midnight June 10th

Send in your entry and add your name as a follower to have a chance to WIN.  Doesn't everyone love getting snail mail.  In our ever instantanious world - I still LOVE to open up real mail!!!  Not junk - or  bills - but notes from friends, updates on life, thank you's (a forgotten art with MOST of today's generation) or just a random card that says hello.  My treasured piece of mail from my granddaughter, Cloee, is on my frig.  I had sent her some things in the mail soooooooooo she made a thank you card - on her own - took it to her dad so he could address it.  My son, of course, knew that I would be crazy about her doing that!  She turns 7 tomorrow, I was sooooooo impressed!
With the postcard you create - USE IT TO MAKE SOMEONE SMILE!!!  If you are the winner I will be sending you five prints of your card so you can mail them to your friends and family!  MAKE SOMEONE'S DAY - REMEMBER SNAIL MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a copy of a postcard I sent out a couple years ago in honor of Sept. 11th - entitled: REMEMBRANCE!  I wrote about it's creation, it was the outcome of my first art challenge entered. Can you believe a postcard stamp is now .28cents???!!!
cheers, dana

LAST TWO DAYS TO GET IT DONE...

POST CARD WITH A MESSAGE  -TAKE FLIGHT ART CHALLENGE DEADLINE IS JUNE 10TH sooooooooooooo
only two days left to send in your entry.  Send to my email: sinderellastudio@yahoo.com

I will be drawing the winners and announcing them on my post for June 13th!  Remember, if you become a follower - you are entered in a surprise giveaway - and if you enter a post card you could win the Godiva Dessert Kit!!!!!!!!! plus some addition goodies - of course!
"TAKE FLIGHT" into an artistic challenge!
Have fun and enjoy the ride!!!!!
see May 18th post for details - pretty much whatever you want to do!  any medium - welcome
cheers, dana

learning to blog...

As I continue to figure blogland out - I have decided to also participate in Pink Saturday!  You know with 3 granddaughters I should have alot to PINK about!  So next week I will enter!  I have my new happy chair hanging on our deck for my creative thinking space.  I put on my brightest pink footies and am pondering my first entry!

So now, back to THE SINDERELLA'S STUDIO ART CHALLENGE!!!!  I've had several comments on my facebook and email that people are going to enter, so don't forget the deadline is June 10th - that is Cloee's 7th birthday!!!  Winners announced on June 13th (13 being my lucky number).  So get out your markers, crayons, paints, cameras, scissors and glue!  ENTER!

details in my May 18th post!  GOOD LUCK, I AM HOPING TO BE BOMBARDED WITH POST CARDS!  HUMmmmmmmmmmm... an entry thought - this could be the "take flight" of my blog getting off and running!

CHEERS, dana