all about Pretty!

IMPORTANT: MOVING TO A NEW BLOG

Hello, sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I've been busy with our Vintage Chicks show coming up fast & furious, June 12 & 13 and with the vendors all lined up and seeing our dream come to fruition I'm feeling thrilled and very blessed.

I've had to make a hard decision regarding my blog since this is my very first blog and I still love it especially the design by Sara (Sadie Olive). It's been over 2 years and I have made so many wonderful friends blogging and even found the courage to introduce my art to the world. Because of this blog my lace cakes were published so I guess I'm just a sentimental fool. So why move? I’m not very tech savvy and after creating our Vintage Chicks blog on Blogger I was surprised how user friendly it was and I love the ease, still learning but I can play around with out losing my entire collection of posts :)  I'm not sure if I can move the history from here to my new blog so I'll be keeping this blog alive also.

So please head on over to the new all about Pretty! and if it's not too much trouble would you mind changing your links from my old blog to the new, please & thanks. It's still a work in progress so thanks for bearing with me. I'm thankful for what I'm considering a fresh start and I sure hope you can join me.

Have a Pretty! day
&
Tu-de-lu,

Laura

ps. hope to see you at the show, check out our blog for sneak peeks

 

OWOH, what a party! Congratulations winners!

Well what a wonderful OWOH this year with 1105 generous hearts who participated. Thanks again Lisa for throwing such a fabulous party!  You can continue to visit all 1105 of the wonderful blogs who joined in the fun this year, just visit the amazing Lisa who has now listed all the participants alphabetically and by country. I haven't been able to get to all 1105 yet but I plan on visiting the rest of you even though I've missed your giveaway.

It has been such a blessing having so many friendly & talented visitors.

Thank you all for saying Hi, I hope you pop by again soon.

 

First Prize

Karen Valentine

she chose my doily brooch

 

Second Prize

Carrie Wendt

she chose the love divine charm

 

CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!

All my other giveaway choices will be listed on my Etsy next week.
 

 

Have a Pretty! day
Laura
Collector, Artist, Restylist, Repurposer, Dreamer
lover of all things old & tattered

 

 

If you have time please head over to my show blog The Vintage Chicks
  

and the OWOH winners are...

sorry I'm a tad late with picking my OWOH winners, been in bed with a bad bug. I've emailed 1st prize winner Karen Valentine and 2nd prize winner Carrie Wendt and I'll post the prizes they choose shortly.

Have a Pretty! day
Laura
Collector, Artist, Restylist, Repurposer, Dreamer
lover of all things old & tattered

grace

 
grace at Etsy

Have a Pretty! day
Laura
Collector, Artist, Restylist, Repurposer, Dreamer
lover of all things old & tattered

COME FLY WITH ME - ON THE MAGIC CARPET RIDE~! owoh giveaway

 

Welcome one & all to the one & only "One World One Heart" giveaway started back in 2007 by the lovely Lisa. This is my 3rd time and each year I participate I discover so many fabulous blogs that I might not have found otherwise. It's always a blessing & an honour to do this and I would recommend everyone to join in as a participant or at least as a guest and get out there and visit the list of blogs.  You'll be amazed at the talent and fabulous giveaways.

I will be drawing 2 names, and they will get to choose one prize each.
Now take a ride on the magic carpet and see what givaways I'm offering

a flower brooch created with vintage lace, doilies, tulle & bling 

mini Lace Cakes, soldered (ATC)

  
 
all about Pretty! charms 
 
  
  
back of charms, lace or mirrors
 

some fun stuff from my studio


So just leave me a comment on this post with the prize you will choose if you win, you're name and make sure I have your email as well so I can get in touch with you if you win.

On February 15th the winners will be randomly picked and announced on my blog. I will email the winners for their postal information.

Good luck!

 Have a Pretty! day
Laura
Collector, Artist, Restylist, Repurposer, Dreamer
lover of all things old & tattered

If you have time please head over to my show blog The Vintage Chicks
  
 Don't forget to leave a comment so your name goes in the draw

Art & Soul Vacation Part 2

Well somewhere in my piles of "treasures" in my studio I finally found my book creation from LK Ludwig's class at Art & Soul. Although it's not finished (and may be one of those forever ongoing projects) I thought I'd share what I've done so far because I loved creating this. Still needs some work but I think it's starting to come together.  
I was very inspired by my classes,the shops and the beauty of Portland. Looking forward to heading back next year and we hope to spend more time at Seaside when there isn't a Tsunami warning :) My cousin Doris came with me, she's a fabulous artist and we have similar tastes so we travel well together. The entire trip was fabulous and we had some wonderful adventures. We stopped at Seaside on our way to Portland and on the way we saw some Tsunami warning signs and joked... what if we were here when a Tsunami hit. Well low & behold when I was in class the next day they mentioned an earthquake had hit and there was a Tsunami warning the day before when we were on the beach. We wondered why it was so quiet there. Doris even got attacked by a surprise wave. Yes we're a couple of blonde's who like to live life on the edge!  
  
Doris being swallowed up by Tsunami waves~!
 

I love the ocean and miss it so much since I moved to the prairies almost 3 years ago.
Here I am giving it a big hug! 

I sure hope to make it back to Portland next year for Art & Soul and more shopping! I did manage to fit in a bit of shopping in Portland both on vendor night and all I can say is WOW! We also had one day to shop before we left for home so we hit Monticello per Isabel's recommendations. She was busy with family that day so we missed getting together with her but next year hopefully and I hope to catch up with her at the Farm Chicks this year. I loved Monticello and found some lovely finds. I totally recognized Isabel & Lisa'sbooths. Our shopping extravaganza at Monticello!!!

My cousin said she like to watch me shop, it was like watching an athlete in motion or a dancer dancing and she called it being in the zone.  I have to admit shopping is definitely my favourite sport!


 

These are my sweet vintage finds!




 
  
Just wondering if anyone knows of an on-line photography course? I'm sure it's me and not my camera so I really need to learn how to take better pictures for my blog.

Have a Pretty! day,
Laura

I'M THRILLED TO BE BACK! Art & Soul Part 1 - Portland 2009

Happy New Year!!! I'm starting fresh after being away and not blogging for a few months, dealing with health issues, but I'm trusting God is healing me day by day and the new year will be better than ever.

I did attend Art & Soul back in late September and it was fabulous. Coming from a tiny prairie town that doesn't really have an art community it was a thrill to be surrounded by so many exciting artists. I would love to move to Portland where there is such a community of artists, especially outsider & mixed media. My community has many amazing fine artists but I don't really fit in to that genre. I loved meeting so many remarkable talents as well as blog friends and I learned so much from wonderful teachers.
 
These are pics from class. My first class was with Katie Kendrick "Tales from the Land of Odd".  We learned how to paint without thinking. and that helped me immensely because I tend to be a perfectionist I have a hard time painting more primitively which is what I like. We were to paint our version of a classic painting but not copy exactly.  

Art & Soul, fun, fun, fun!!! (excuse me with no makeup)
Katie Kendrick and me

Here are my few paintings not quite finished but I'm pleased with them. I don't like dead animals hanging on the wall so I switched it to a flower :) Bless her for teaching us this incredible tip, just don't think, I love that and I think I'm getting really good at not thinking!

I only had a few minutes left for this one, it still needs lots of work but it's growing on me.

I love her pointy shoes, just too cute!

my classmates and some of their paintings

 
 

My next class was "Vintage Gentlemen" with Charley Slaughter & Kerin Gale. I really would like to start creating jewelry but so busy with all my other creations I haven't had a chance so I took this course to learn a few things and create a jewelry piece that was vintage inspired.  

This is the class sample.
 
 
 
This was my creation followed by more classmates & their creations.

Love, love, loved this class with LK Ludwig, you know me, I love FLOWERS!!! 
"The Secret Life of Flowers"

LK & silly old me (again sorry for the shocking no makeup look) 

These are some pics of LK's book she shared with us in class. It's stunning!!!
 

I had so many other pictures from class but I guess I was excited and bouncing around that they were all blurry.  I will take pics of my book from LK's class although it's not finished and post in part 2.  
  
Hope you enjoyed this mini tour of Art & Soul. I'll be posting part 2 later this week.

God bless!

Have a Pretty! day,
Laura