And the winners are...

Just a quick note to let all those wonderful people who commented on my giveaway know that the winners have been chosen. Thank you to everyone who left a comment.

Random.org chose the three winners:

1. Lori
5. Linda B
7. Seth

Congratulations to you all. I will be e-mailing each of you to get your addresses.

More beady treasures

Here is another example of what someone has done with my beads. How brilliant is that? Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know how much I love Halloween and all things spooky. So this journal suits my taste very much. It was made by Lori and you can see more of her art and BEAUTIFUL quilts at her blog. She has also opened an Etsy store where you can buy unpainted quilts to paint yourself too. Beautiful and fun all in one. Thank you for sharing, Lori.

Spring blog giveaway

Yes, it's time for another little giveaway. More papers, beads and things. I have three envelopes of papers and three small packages of beads, handmade charms and prima flowers to go to three lucky winners. The envelopes have 22 papers cut to 4x4 inches. Ideal for chunky books, card making or even ATCs and inchies. You can see them in the pictures below. If you want to be in with a chance of winning one of the three packages then just leave me a comment on this post along with your e-mail address.

If you are not comfortable leaving your e-mail address then e-mail me at gsmcmurray[at]ukonline.co.uk (remember to use the @ sign in the e-mail rather than [at]) and I'll put your name in the pot. I will draw three names on Wednesday 24th of March using random.org and e-mail the winners for their snail mail addresses. Good luck.

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day in the UK today so I thought I'd upload the card I made for my Mum. It went down really well. It's just as well my Mum's sense of humour is as daft as mine. The design is inspired by one of Tone Finnanger's bee cards from her latest book Crafting Tilda's Friends.

Etsy update

Yes, new beads are now on Etsy. The pink ones were listed last week but I was quite impressed with them as I actually hate pink. Who'd have thought I would make some pink beads. The others all have their own inspiration story - Easter Candy, Graffiti and Scotland the Brave. I suppose it was only a matter of time 'til I made some Scottish themed beads.

Facebook!

Yes, I finally bit the bullet and signed up for Facebook. It went seriously against my grain. People will tell you how much I REALLY didn't want to Facebook. While it works for lots of people, and they have great fun using it, I'm not the kind of person who wants that in her life. However, I have been reading lots about how Facebook can improve an artist's exposure and often lead to more sales. I'm hoping this is the case. So I have signed up for a trial period and if things work well I'll stick with it. If not, the ringing of the bells of doom will sound for social networking in my life.

My profile badge is on the side of this blog so if you feel like becoming my 'Facebook friend' then just click on the link.

UPDATE: I know have a Facebook fan page too. You can find it here:

The Mermaid's Travels

The other day I got a marvellous surprise when one of my customers sent me a link to a piece of jewellery she made using some of my beads. It is a necklace inspired by the theme The Mermaid's Travels - a stunning mermaid locket with wire, pearl, vintage glass with findings of copper and brass. My description doesn't do it justice though. It is beautiful. I can't tell you how much pleasure I get seeing the wonderful results my customers get when using my beads. Most of the time I use beads in paper crafts so it is nice to know that something like necklaces work so well too. I hope you will take a look at the listing which can be found here on Etsy.

Etsy update

I have listed some new pieces of art for sale on Etsy at sale prices. New beads were also listed recently. I hope you will drop by and take a look. The scans of both pieces really don't do them justice. I am having difficulty getting the colours right when I edit them and it is driving me nuts. Some colours are too strong, others are too weak - and that's just in the one image! However, I hope someone will be able to see past my bad scanning technique to see something more attractive.

Challenge Gillian pt. 2

My weekly attempts at producing a finished piece of art every week finally hit a speed bump this week. I could not decide which version of a dog I wanted to produce - a pencil drawing or a painting. So I started both this week but got neither finished. But it is not a big deal. This week I will try to finish them both. That way I will technically have done one piece of art a week.

Last week I turned to something a little less realistic. I produced some colourful bird collage/painting/things. With the Olympics taking up so much time I wanted to keep thing simple but didn't want to give up on my challenge. The two weeks before that I drew some more flowers and a miniature cat (2x2 inches). I really need to turn my attention to some larger pieces now. A few months and I will be nearing exhibition season again and it would nice to be prepared this year.

M.I.A.

Yes, I have been missing in action. That has been due to the Winter Olympics. I have been glued to my TV for the last 16 days as I love winter sports but do not get to see it very often. In the UK we have a weekly TV programme called Ski Sunday but it mainly revolves around downhill and slalom events. Occasionally we get the Winter X Games or some cross country but I have never seen any bobsled, luge, skeleton, speed skating or biathlon competitions on TV outwith the Winter Olympics. And whereas we used to get regular TV coverage of the ice skating in the 70s and 80s (when Britain had more success in skating) now it is hardly ever shown. It is such a shame as winter sports are adrenalin fueled and great fun to watch. Instead British TV is polluted with soccer. If you say sport to anyone it inevitably means soccer or possibly athletics, Formula 1 racing or golf. Yup, British TV is filled with exciting and inspiring sports - NOT! How many kids out there are disinterested in mainstream sports? How many would love to give something a bit different a try? But because they haven't seen it on TV or know someone who does it they will never get to give it a go. Where will our future medallists come from? More and more TV in Britain is only catering for the mainstream. It is all about profit. It is also very sad. While there may be coverage of sports on the internet not everyone has a PC or internet access. We need more variety on TV and in the UK we have to pay a TV licence fee for the privilege of having TV. Isn't it time TV channels listened to its viewers?

The Canadians have done a fabulous job hosting the Olympics. I am glad that Canada did so well at their own games and while I know alot of my US readers will not be pleased at the result of the ice hockey, it was an exciting match befitting the final. I stayed up until 4am last night to watch the closing ceremony - and yes, I now want a giant beaver for my garden. So, while there has not been alot of creativity during the last two weeks I was inspired by a post on the My Story Art blog on inukshuks. Sharon shows us how to make our own inukshuks - just like the Vancouver Olympics logo. So I gave it a go just to make me feel even more a part of the Olympic feeling. I used a hot glue gun but the glue went a bit wild and stared to dribble everywhere. The one on the left won't stand up by itself either. I think it must have been out celebrating last night after the ice hockey. But it was fun making them. Now I really have to get back to some creativity.