Some Lovely Packages

I had been very lucky to win 4 OWOH giveaways and another one that also had been drawn on the same day. Two of the gifts have arrived already. One of them came from DORTHE over at Den Lille Lade. Dorthe is a very sweet friend who owns a little shop in Denmark. Besides a lot of other beautiful things, she creates the most gorgeous dolls, faries and angels. You can see a variety on her lovely blog. My prize was this wonderful snowgirl

The pictures don't do her justice, she is even more beautiful in real life. Dorthe had added a surprise for  me and that was this lovely little Marie collage on a hanger

Just adorable, don't you think? Thank you so much for those beautiful gifts, dear Dorthe !

The second package came from Sweden. I had won a giveaway from JEANETTE over at Pysselpalatset. If your Swedish is as bad as mine, you might like to make use of the Google translater, she has on her sidebar. The translation might come out a bit funny but you will get the meaning. Jeanette did such a wonderful job wrapping the gift that it was almost too pretty to open. ALMOST ;-)!

I'm glad that the postal service had handled it with care and nothing was ripped off. Jeanette had sent me a lovely book made from handmade paper, some beautiful cards and as an extra those cute little molds and the wonderful seashell.

Everything is very pretty and I already have some ideas for the molds. They would not only make a great base for pincushions but also could be used as egg cups for some decorative Easter eggs. Thank you very much for all the lovely wins, dear Jeanette !

I guess someone is hungry over here. Cecil makes funny noises and tries to motivate one of the "can openers" by speeding from the living room into the kitchen ... :-)

Have a great day, evening or night, depending on where you are!

Hugs,
Julia

About Motivation, a Collage and something I couldn't throw away

I do not only get inspired very often when I read blogs, but also motivated. The collage I will show you today would probably not exsist, if

KAREN over at "Some Days are Diamonds"

hadn't asked her readers at the end of January what projects they were working on or had already created for Valentine's Day.

In Germany Valentine's Day has not the significance that it has in the US. Of course flowers, chocolates and possibly small presents are given but there is usually not that much decoration, sending out cards etc. Nevertheless I had planned on doing some Valentine's Day decoration but couldn't seem to get myself started. So, when Karen asked about the Valentine projects, I hadn't done anything yet but her question had motivated me. I took a box of pink fabrics out of the cabinet. Good start so far :-). I checked my vintage images that would go with the theme and printed one onto fabric. Laces were still laying around from the last project and so I picked some and dyed them in matching pink and peachy colors. So far so good but I couldn't really work on the collage because my studio was a real mess from the last project and I actually would need to clean it up at least a little bit before I could go on. Now

JODIE from "Everything Vintage"

 came into play. She posted that her studio would need to be tidied up and playfully asked if someone would come over to help her. Of course I would have loved to help, but she lives just too far away. I'm so SORRY, Jodie ;-). I don't know why, but her post motivated me to at least "dig out" my cutting table. It had been buried under sheet music, vintage letters and book pages, pieces of lace and fabric scraps. Even though the rest of the room was still not cleaned up, I could work now on the collage and it was finished on Valentine's Day. A little bit late, I admit, but without Jodie's unintentional push it still wouldn't be completed.

Thank you so much, girls!!!
You got me going!

A funny coincidence is that my motivators were both in the same Vintage Valentine Fat Book Swap. Please hop over to check out their beautiful blogs and scroll down a bit to take a look at the gorgeous fat book they received from that swap! You will drool over the pretty pages Jodie, Karen and the other participants had created!

Here now my finished collage and some detail pictures:

 Since LOVE is a great theme not only for one but for 365 days a year, the collage will hang it in my studio all year round.

I would like to share with you what I have used for the frame. Last year I bought a children's puzzle at the flea market. It would have been easy to store the whole thing but I just had the idea to keep the puzzle pieces in a jar. I had put the cardboard that helt the pieces almost in the trash when I gave it a second thought and kept it. You never know .... This happens all the time to me since I started with mixed media and it's part of the reason why my small studio is so crowded. Anyway, I was happy I kept it because it made a great frame for my collage.

This is how it looked before I had painted it:

What kind of "trash" have you used lately in your creations?

Have a wonderful day, dear friends! Here it is snowing again. I wish you a more pleasant weather!

Hugs,
Julia

OWOH Winner

Thank you so much everybody who had entered my OWOH giveaway! This was the first time I had participated and I had never expected so many entries.

The winner of my giveaway is

MARIE of  "Spun by Me"

Congratulations, Marie! I've sent you an e-mail.

Thanks again, Lisa Swifka, for organizing that wonderful event! This must have taken a lot of hours!

Hugs,

Julia