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My ARTistic Life
Creativity and Sharing from Helga at
ARTchix Studio
Issue #5, July - September 2007
Click images to enlarge
| About
My ARTistic Life (Our New Newsletter) |
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Sorry, this
issue is no longer available. But luckily you can read it here (see
below).
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| About
the Cover Art |
Collage by Jackie McColl
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Jackie McColl, my helper here in
ARTchix-land, recently created a gorgeous set of
mermaid ARTchix Cards. I absolutely love them and know you will too! I wish you could
see the originals...they’re so incredible! Shhh! Don’t tell her but I’m
planning to frame them for her as a special gift. |
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Letter from Helga |
Me at my favorite walking spot
in Victoria: the beach at Esquimalt Lagoon |
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Dear Art Friend,
Hope all is well and happy in your world. Here in ARTchix-land, life
is nice and sunny!
I’ve been taking lots of walks and hanging out with friends. Check out
what some of my walks have inspired me to do and a couple of the pretty
gifts I’ve put together in Random Acts of Creativity (see below).
I recently spent some time organizing my art studio. Ahhh, it feels so
much better to play in my studio now. I can actually find what I’m
looking for! See my before and after photos below.
Do you have a special Artist Trading Card that needs a good home? Check
out the new kit I designed
below. It includes a DreamBox sized for ATCs! Hooray! You can add your favorite ATCs to it or use only the kit
supplies provided and make a stunning, unique piece of art to hang on
your wall. While in design mode, lots of ideas and thoughts popped into
my head so I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you.
Hope you’re enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather!
Wishing you a wonderful, art-filled day,
Helga
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Random Acts of Creativity |
| I've been grabbing little
bits of creative time every chance I get lately. Here are a few of
the things I've been up to. |
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Our Bonus Gifts
As you may know, when we introduce new products... we like to offer
you a special bonus gift during that time. I put a lot of time,
thought and creativity into making this extra little gift for you.
For July, I transformed my photos of my favorite local beach into
faux postage for you. Also, my helpers (Jackie & Alwen) and I picked
little rocks and beach glass from our beautiful Victoria shores. And
my Mom made a precious necklace (a tiny bottle with local beach
sand). I’m so proud of these meaningful gifts, enjoy! |
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Impressions of Found Objects
I loaded these found objects
(from my walks) with acrylic paint and stamped them into my journal. |
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Quick
& Beautiful Giftwrap
Select pretty paper & ribbon, stick our faux postage onto a tag, add
some of our paper flowers and voila! |
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Quick
Arty Gift
I made a quick art kit for my friend and her young daughter: an
assortment of ARTchix images, scrap & paper tags...all in a cello
bag with a “J” for “Jenna” tied on. |
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Mail Art
When I saw a field of dandelions on one of my walks, I snapped a few
photos calling them a “field of
wishes.” Then I turned them into a quick card for my dear friend,
Suz.
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| My
Art Studio |
| My studio
was a mess! It was hard to find what I needed. Now that everything
is in properly sized bins with labels, I'm a happy camper. |
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Before & After
After several days of organizing, I managed to get everything into
labeled plastic bins. It was a big
challenge but I feel so much better in my studio now. |
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Art Bits on
Display
I love having some of my
treasured art bits on display and close at hand in my art studio! |
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Container for My Paint Water
My cats try to drink my paint water. Yikes! So, I found this lidded
container at an art supply store. |
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Colorful, Beautiful Art
I purchased this wonderful piece of artwork from Peg Englishman.
Check out her online shop at
pegskitchenstudio.etsy.com
called Peg’s Kitchen Studio. |
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Art
Cart on Wheels
I bought this handy metal cart at Storables in Seattle. I keep my
watercolor crayons and other supplies that I use all the time in it.
Then, I wheel it over next to me when I’m creating.
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| My
Art Projects |
| Our new
ATC DreamBox House Kit is an extra special kit for me. I
designed everything in it... including the
house-shaped DreamBox
that his being handmade in Mexico. Wow, what a rush to see it
all come together. In this kit, I included lots of nice images
and charms so that you can make a stunning unique piece of art. |
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DreamBox by Jackie McColl |
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General Notes:
* When playing with the kit, think about layering images and popping
them out with adhesive pop up dots or squares of cardboard. 3-D
effects look neat!
* I put a black background on all of the image sheets so that they’re
easy to cut out (especially the transparency!). Try leaving a black
edge around your images for instant frames. Looks great!
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Perfect ARTchix Additions:
* Colored Page Pebbles. I included some 1/2” circle images in the kit
thinking they’d look cool with page pebbles adhered around the edges
of the tin frame and in the photo charms included in the kit. You
will receive some page pebbles in the kit but you may want more in
different colors for extra fun.
* Milagros and Charms. You’ll find 5 holes at the bottom of the
DreamBox for hanging charms and found objects. What fun! You can
also weave ribbon through the holes or tie on just about anything
that has meaning to you. We’ve included a great selection of charms
and jumprings in the kit but you may want to play with others too.
* Nature ATC Creativity Kit. Make a
special ATC with this kit and then add it to your
ATC DreamBox House Kit. The images
coordinate so well together! |
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Favorite Products: Ocean |
| I just
love Summer! It makes me think of sitting by the ocean with a cool
drink in hand! |
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1)
ARTchix Card DreamBox House Kit (#K611)
You’ll find lots of ocean-y
goodness in this new kit. It’s so much fun to play with! The
DreamBox even has a stand on the back for easy table top display. I
have an arted up one next to my
computer and it puts a smile on my face every morning. |
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2)
German Turquoise Swirlies(#G922)
These paper swirlies in radiant
turquoise make great tiaras! |
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3)
Chixies Mermaid Mail
(#P314)
Our talented YahooGroup artists
have done it again! Dress up your envies with these colorful
mermaids! |
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4)
Beach Vacation Charms (#AB972)
I’m thinking these cute charms
would look awesome on a beach themed charm bracelet or
necklace! |
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5)
Ocean In A Bottle collage sheet (#M154)
Little bottles filled with
fish, shells,
turtles, sand dollars, mermaids and more...oh what fun it is to add
them to your Artist Trading Cards!
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Gallery |
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We recently received over 100 gorgeous ATCs with mermaids from our
beloved
YahooGroup members. We had such a hard time
selecting just 35 of them for our new
"Mermaid Mail" faux postage
sticker sheet. Here are some of the ATCs I loved but just
couldn't fit onto the sheet. |
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ATC by
Janet Heritage
Colorful bits of ribbon and paper make up this cool background! |
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ATC by
Joan Lawrence
A merbird! Makes me want to add a mermaid tail onto my kitty! |
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ATC by
Linda Kunsman
Love the festive banner! |
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ATC by
Mary Franzenburg
Incredibly intricate, beautiful tail! |
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ATC by
Patti Schmid
This mermaid’s tail is made out of sparkly sequins, looks pretty! |
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ATC by
Paula Dion
I’m in love with the shell hat! |
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