It’s always like Christmas around here… I love new goodies and wait with bated breath for orders to come waltzing in…

I have been thinking about PanPastels for such a long time, now, and finally decided to get some in. Oh the colors, my friends. Just delicious. And so very easy to add to your mixed media and paper arts. No special tools, just your creative noggin’ thinking of ways to use these glorious pigments.

Anyway… I don’t want to wax too poetic because my ‘poetry’ never outdoes the photos. Hope these new treats whet your creative appetite as much as they did mine.

By clicking on any of the thumbnails, below, the corresponding product will open up in a new page at the PaperWhimsy shoppe so you can get a closer look. If you decide to add an item or item/s to your shopping cart, do so and then simply close the new window to come back to this blog post. Anything added to your shopping cart this way will be saved for you.

I just finished a nifty sheet perfect for Valentine’s Day and I’m offering a sweetheart of a deal for a limited time…

Available in printed or PDF download for $3.00, regular $5.00, until 1/28/2012.  Click on the image above to get a closer look and add to your shopping cart to take advantage of this cool deal.

Other new goodies in the shoppe this week:
(Click on any of the thumbnails, below, and the corresponding product will open in a new window at the PaperWhimsy shoppe. You can add the item to your shopping cart, if you wish. When you close the window you’ll come back to this blog post. Any items added to your shopping cart this way will be saved for you.)

The bleak days of winter in January and February lend themselves to bouts of the dreaded ‘cabin fever’.   Happily enough, for a person who has that spark of the artist within, those bouts can be tempered with a few nifty and sparkly new art bits to dress up their art table and their art.

Ahoy!  I just happen to have a few spiffy bits for your consideration.  I’ll let the photos, below, do the talking because we artists are a very visual lot, we are.  And if truth be told I hardly ever read the print and mostly always just look at the pictures.

Read this print though: by clicking on any of the product thumbs a new window will open and take you to that corresponding product in the PaperWhimsy shoppe.  You can add to your shopping cart, if you wish, and then simply close that window and come back here.  Your shopping cart should save any items you add, this way.

By the way, Happy National Hat Day!  Be sure to don your favorite ‘tit for tat’, me Chinas.

Cheers then,
g xo

I’m delighted to announce that the PaperWhimsy Inspire Team is growing.  Along with the wonderful talents of Nancy Maxwell James will be the additions of Julie Loeschke and Jill McCall, artists extraordinaire.  What a coup for all of us!  Julie and Jill will be alternating weeks with Nancy, starting in February, sharing their talents with us via the PaperWhimsy Inspire blog.  I thought you would enjoy, as I have, a bit of background on Julie and Jill as well as a preview of their remarkable talent.

Introducing Julie Loeschke:

New Design Team member, Julie Loeschke, makes her home with her best friend and husband of 40 years, Tim, in the beautiful mountains of southwest Montana near Dillon.  Their sons Ben and Dan, both soft-wear engineers, have flown the coop, but do return periodically for some home cooking, old movie watching, and a rousing game of “Harry Potter Clue”.

Julie has a BS in Art, English and Earth Science education.  She’s done everything from nursing aide, ground crew for an ag pilot to owning her own floral shop.  She sold the shop in 2002, but still helps out during holidays.

An avid quilter for many years, 2004 found Julie looking for a new artistic outlet.  Always a lover of paper, she rediscovered those roots.  One of her favorite childhood activities was cutting out paper dolls, and oddly, she still is.  A collector of old photos and ephemera, the paper arts were a perfect fit and discovering PaperWhimsy was Nirvana, according to Julie!  When not making art, Julie spends her time tending her dogs, Leo and Lucy, reading detective stories and watching movies with Tim.

A peek at some of Julie’s wonderful art:

Watch for more of Julie’s amazing art on the Inspire blog starting in February.

Introducing Jill McCall:

Jill has loved art since she was a little girl, and has always dabbled in it in one form or another.  ‘In Fact’, she writes, ‘you Could Probably Match Decades to what I was Up to: Dried & Silk Flower-the 70′s, Victorian Style-the 80′s and a Home Based Business called Victorian Accents, a reprisal of my Silk Flower Days-the90′s.’   Jill is pretty sure her aunt still has pieces of her work from each and every decade, treasuring each and every one despite Jill’s persistence in trying to get her aunt to give them back or, preferably, to ‘burn them’.

Jill went to college to become a Dental Assistant but that didn’t really nurture her creative side.  So, once her children had grown a bit she went to work in a local florist and gift shop.   It was while Jill worked at the florist shop that she learned amazing skills in visual merchandising from an incredibly talented lady.  Eventually, the times and family pulled Jill back home.   Then in June 2010, Jill started blogging and discovered mixed media art.  As Jill puts it, ‘It was like someone created this art form just for me!  It was a Blend of All of My Favorite Things!’

Jill loves all things vintage, repurposed, paper, paint, fabrics, lace, buttons and bling… ‘anything and everything’, as she puts it.

Jill has been married to Mark for 28 years and is the mother of three children, Lauren, Sawyer and Katelyn.  She also has a ‘small zoo’, as she put it, with Cleo the Sheltie, Cody the Golden Retriever (who resembles Dug from the movie Up)., and Macy, Lily and Teddy the Felines of the Family.  ‘One Big Happy Menagerie… Asylum?… oh …Family!’

A peek at some of Jill’s beautiful work:

You can see more of Jill’s beautiful art on her blog, Feathers & Flight, and on the PaperWhimsy Inspire blog starting in February.

I hope you’ll take a sec to offer a warm and whimsical welcome to Julie & Jill, and watch for their upcoming projects to be featured on the PaperWhimsy Inspire Blog.

~g  xo

Everyone’s getting into the spirit of the 12 Days of Whimsy.  This evening while watching TV I happened to glance over at Draw and discovered this:

He’d been quietly working on this all evening, stuffing the bottle patiently with Lindor chocolate candy wrappers.  Eating all that candy must have been such a burden on the poor guy but an artist’s gotta do what an artist’s gotta do.  We all sacrifice for our art.

close up

Step-by-step tutorial

You’ll need:

Clear empty water bottle (Draw used Iced Mountain)

Several pounds of Lindor Truffles or similar gourmet chocolate candy

Patience

1. Drink the water

2. Eat the candy

3. Stuff the candy wrappers into the bottle

4. Screw on bottle cap

5. Have your wife (or other) wrap a bow around the top of the bottle

Given the time it takes to drink the water and eat the candy, please allow up to six hours to complete this project.

~g xo

I’m running to keep up with Nancy Maxwell James and her splendiforous 12 Days of Whimsy.  Each day Nancy presents a thing of beauty that takes but a few supplies (most of which we already have on hand) and 30-60 minutes of “me-time” at our art tables.  And the result?  More things of beauty that you can share with your cherished friends and loved ones.

So this here’s my catch-up post for the Third and the Fourth Days of Whimsy:

On the Third Day of Whimsy my true love gave to me…

… little shabby mittens?

But of course!  We love shabby!  We adore it!  And these Sweet Shabby Mittens, dripping with laces and buttons and tea-stained to look old, can be strung in a bunting or hung individually on a Christmas tree or on a Christmas gift OR on a Christmas card  … how sweetly and delightfully “shabby” they are.  Nancy includes detailed instructions as well as a mitten template for you to download and use.

***

On the Fourth Day of Whimsy my true love gave to me…

… pretty lacy Book Tags…

Glorious in sepia tones with a pop of color and loads of glitter… as if they were made by some ancient great-auntie who was the village librarian.  Again, make one or make more… string these tags as a bunting or add them to your tree, Christmas gifts or on Christmas cards (there is, simply, nothing so wonderful as a handmade Christmas card), and you’ll be creating something that will become a Christmas treasure for years to come.

And now here we sit… with bated breath wondering what awaits us for the Fifth Day of Whimsy.  Something tells me we shall NOT be disappointed!

If you’re following along and creating art inspired by Nancy’s delicious projects, we’d love to see it!  You can share your creations on Nancy’s blog posts for those specific projects, the 12 Days of Whimsy events page on facebook and the PaperWhimsy facebook page.

And each and every whimsical day there is a drawing with three lucky people receiving $5 coupons to the PaperWhimsy shoppe!  Thus far we’ve had NINE winners and tomorrow three more will be randomly selected.

How to be eligible to win one of those coupons?

Easy peasy – be a fan of SugarLumpStudios and PaperWhimsy on facebook (if you’re not on facebook, no worries, just add that you’re not on facebook when you leave your comment).   Then each day that you leave a comment on Nancy’s blog is another day that your name is entered into the drawing for the daily giveaway.  And yes, you can win more than once!

On Day 13 – December 13th – there will be a drawing from amongst ALL the eligible commenters for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to PaperWhimsy.  And with the turnout we’ve had thus far I think I’ll up those stakes.

There will be TWO $50 gift certificates awarded on the 13th day!

How ya like them apples, my little Christmas cranberries?

Our daily $5 coupon winners thus far:

Robyn, JudyB, Irene Walas, Kathie Pieper, Jan D, Sandy S, DoreneElizabeth, Debbie Ellerd and Cat Dodt-Ellis

Congratulations, dear friends of Whimsy

And now… on to the Fifth Day of Whimsy which will post at 12 bells midnight at one of the most whimsical places on earth, SugarLumpStudios.

Stay whimsy, my friends…

~g xo

… my true love gave to me… dreamy rosy pennants.

Nancy Maxwell James posted her second project in her 12 Days of Whimsy celebration and it is glorious!  No weanie little projects, these, my friends (click on the pic, above, to see today’s project).

Please check out Nancy’s post today for an array of glorious photos and all the details of how she constructed this treasure!  And be sure to leave a comment on Nancy’s blog post as well as become a fan of sugarlumpstudios and paperwhimsy on facebook so you’re eligible to win one of three $5 coupons given out daily to the PaperWhimsy shoppe awarded by random drawing.  If you’re  not on fb you’re still eligible to win – just mention that you’re not on fb in your comment.

Now… drumroll… Nancy’s button faeries from Day 1 had me at my art table yesterday afternoon.  I do not often make time to do art for pleasure but those button faeries were so darned delightful (or as Nancy would say: “so stinkin’ cute”) I carved out some time to do my own version.

I know there are some of you out there who are like me – you have a shadow of an idea and you set about creating and that shadow, when it finally materializes on your art table, doesn’t look anything like what you’d originally thought you were going to do.  Hence, MY button faeries don’t look anything like Nancy’s – they don’t even have buttons, for cryin’ out loud, but I assure you they would not have been born had Nancy not posted her whimsical faeries, yesterday.

So!  My little silver tree…

Now has two ornaments on it that look like this …

Yay, Nancy!  Now let’s see about pretty rosy pennants!

Happy Whimsical Day, my friends!

~g xo

…has begun!

Join us for Nancy Maxwell James‘s 12 Days of Whimsy hosted at Sugar Lump Studios.  Twelve festive days of wonderful holiday decorations and gift ideas with free tutorials and a chance to win the daily drawings (starting on Day 2) giving away three $5 coupons to the PaperWhimsy shoppe (YES!  You can win more than one!).  A total of 36 – $5 coupons will be given away over the course of this celebration.  And on Day 13 a $50 gift certificate to the PaperWhimsy shoppe will be awarded to one lucky winner!

What do you need to do?  Just pop on over to Nancy’s blog starting Dec 1, be inspired and delighted by her lovely holiday idea for the day, leave a comment on Nancy’s blog, and be a fan of sugarlumpstudios and paperwhimsy on facebook.  If you don’t have a facebook account, no worries, just be sure to leave your comment on Nancy’s blog and let us know you’re not part of facebook.

Each day that you leave a comment on Nancy’s blog is another chance to win one of those three $5 coupons that will be awarded everyday from the previous days’ comments.

Let the gala event begin!

‘Tis the season for magic and all thing beautiful and you couldn’t start your holiday season in a better place than at Sugar Lump Studios.  Nancy Maxwell James is hosting “The 12 Days of Whimsy” on her blog starting 12/1/2011.

Twelve days of project ideas from the hands of the effervescent Nancy using PaperWhimsy faces (lucky ME!!) to share with you from 12/1-12/12.

Each day will bring a new holiday-themed idea along with drawings for three $5 coupons to use at PaperWhimsy during the month of December.  So, let’s see… that’s 36 coupons we’re giving away?!  And all you have to do to be eligible to win one (or two or more???) is to leave a comment on that day’s blog post and become a fan on facebook of Sugarlumpstudios and PaperWhimsy.  (Don’t worry, my little elflings, if you don’t have a facebook account – you’re still eligible for the drawings if you leave a comment on Nancy’s blog posts).

And, if you are on facebook come on over to the special event that Nancy has set up – 12 Days of Whimsy on facebook.  A chance to make friends, chat, and show off your holiday art created using the ideas shared by Nancy during the 12 Days of Whimsy or the lovely holiday goodness you’ve been creating this season.

And on the 13th day of Christmas my true love gave to me… a drawing from amongst those who posted a comment from Day 1 – Day 12 ~ for a nice fat $50 gift certificate to the PaperWhimsy shoppe.  (Try singing that, my friends!)

To grab all the details check out Nancy’s blog, and to celebrate the event with us, grab the 12 Days of Whimsy banner over there to your right under the PaperWhimsy blog banner.

Hope to see you there!

~g xo

(Continued from Tree in a Cup: A Long Story & Tutorial found here…)

There is no way to condense this art adventure of mine so I decided to divide it up into two parts.  I know how it is… someone is talking and talking and at first you’re engaged and then all of a sudden — white noise –

Hence the break because even I get bored of myself.

I left off with me wondering about a container for my tree and how I was enamored with the idea of a tea cup – preferably old, preferably pink.  It was Draw’s day off… in fact this was the day I had that laser treatment on my RIGHT eye – the crooked one.  I was milking this surgery for all it was worth and pouted my way successfully to the antique mall in Noblesville.

A quick mention about expectations and what I’ve learned over the years – they can be very constipating.  I’ve found myself missing out on a lot of opportunities because I went into something with an expectation and wasn’t able to adapt.  The antique mall had various and sundry tea cups and it took me just about three-quarters of the way through the first floor to discover that if I didn’t adapt I was going to be sticking my tree on a paper plate.  So I broadened my thinking…

I’m sure you can see where I was going with this idea, the only problem is the best part of this tin is the lid.  So sticking the tree on the top or sticking the tree in the tin would hide the lid.  But for six bucks I figured I’d find a use for it eventually so into my basket it went.

I did find two lovely tea cup/saucer sets that would have been perfect but not only do I want that thing exactly as I pictured it but I also want it cheap.  And those were not.  So, with my new set of eyes (one of which had just been lasered)  I went to the second floor of the mall and found this wonderful pink and gold saucer sans a cup.

Ahhhh… ohhhh… well how can one pass up this treasure at a mere $4?  So into my basket it went because now all the pistons are starting to fire.  And sure enough, around the next corner I found this…

… without the tree, of course.  It fit perfectly on the little saucer and I’m totally in love with this new creative thinking I have going on and how it’s evolving into this mix/match explosion so it too went into my basket.  So did this (found by Draw)…

Absolutely nothing to do with pink but so pretty and half-price to boot.  One never knows when one is going to need a three-legged yellow tea cup with matching saucer.

As did this, found while I was checking out…

I’d seen an antique school globe on a decorating site hence the thought of a globe was stuck in the back in the recesses of my mind.  Once I get over that whole confining “expectation” thing I was freed to unleash my brain power and pull out all that stuff I’d been thinking about for the last several months.  Of course, one might think this little shopper was getting a wee smidge carried away but I’m really quite tickled that I found this globe for a mere 20 bucks.   Thankfully, I was also thinking about cinnamon rolls and Starbuck’s so it was relatively easy for Draw to drag me out of the antique mall.

The trick for attaching the tree to the cup (sugar bowl) isn’t really so much a trick after all.  I picked up a block of oasis which is a favorite of florists.  Very easy to trim with a serated blade I cut it to fit inside the bowl attaching it with a glob of hot melted glue in the bottom of the bowl.

The tree trunk is every crafter’s secret weapon – a toilet paper roll.  I covered the roll with gesso and then discovered that it was a bit too big around so cut it longways and rolled it a bit tighter.  I used masking tape to secure it and applied another coat of gesso for extra measure.

While the gesso was still wet I sprinkled the roll with mica.

Oasis is very easy to work with – it isn’t stiff like styrofoam – so I was able to work the toilet paper roll into the oasis using a twisting motion much like you’d use to screw in a screw.  Once I got the tree trunk aka toilet paper roll “screwed” securely into the oasis I secured it with a bead of hot glue.

Now, this is where my “creative thinking” took me but you may well come up with a better idea.  The toilet paper roll is only 4″ long.  Originally, I was ferreting through my stash looking for a wrapping paper roll but came up empty handed so I had to settle for the short little tp roll.  Because the cone is 7″ tall it would completely engulf the tp roll and I wanted a bit of a truck to show.  et Voila!  I glued a wad of paper towel into the tip of the cone inside until there was enough to allow for a bit of trunk to show when I set the cone on the tp roll.

Last but not least, I decorated my tree with little banners stuck onto pearl-headed pins and crowned the tree with a “waterfall” of pink rhinestones.

Then tucked Angelina fibers around the base of the tree for some extra sparkle (and to cover the oasis).  Which reminds me, I did put a coat of gesso on the top of the oasis after I secured the tp roll to it.

Amazingly, not only did I manage to create this little bit of fairy-ness but I also managed to put together a handy little kit to help you on your merry way to constructing a tree of your own.  There are just a few kits and you can find them by simply clicking on the picture, below.  The product listing details what is included in your kit.  So, yeah… you’re not getting a toilet paper roll in your kit but you are getting lots of other nifty bits tucked into a bag so you don’t have to go scrounging around your art room in search of.

I wish for you a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and a joyful and effervescent Christmas!

~g xo