Prize Winners!

Thank you so much for celebrating my DeviantScrap opening today! I really appreciate all of your comments and support! If you didn't win this time, never fear! This is the first of many prize drawings to come this summer.

I numbered the comments in the order they were received, 1-31 and then used the random number generator to determine the winners.

Winners - please email me to get your prize!

And the winners of the $10 coupons are . . .

Kathy of A Spectacular Mess blog


and Karen of Easily Amuzzed blog

And the winners of the 1 Free Kits are . . .

LouAnn of At a Moments Notice blog

and Jackie of Jester Crafts


But hold the phone! You have another chance to win!
I'm having another prize drawing over at the DeviantScrap forum! I'd love to have you visit over there and play along! This game runs through May 28th. Here's the game . . .
(click on the game banner below)



You are always welcome in the DeviantScrap forum! You'll probably see lots of people you know over there. It's worth a visit to see what's going on. Oodles of great tips, ideas, tutorials, challenges and more. Sign up for the free DeviantScrap newsletter and monthly The Muse zine.

Prizes and Previews!

Well, if you've been following the posts below, you know I'm in the midst of a big endeavor moving my collage images from my Etsy to DeviantScrap.com. It will take a couple of weeks to get everything freshened up and bundled together and moved, but we've got a great start!

My shoppe at DeviantScrap opens Monday, May 23.

Prizes
Two $10 gift certificates to be used in the Tumble Fish Shoppe between Monday, May 23 and June 30.



Two 1 Free Kit gift certificates to be used in the Tumble Fish Shopped between Monday, May 23 and June 30.



All you need to do to be entered into the drawing is leave a comment on this post. Please just enter once. Winners will be announced Sunday night by 10 p.m. PST so check back here to see if you've won!

Previews
Here are the previews for the first few kits going in the shoppe Monday. New ones will be added twice weekly so check back often. All kits will be offered in either a printable jpg version or separated png file versions and unlike Etsy, you'll receive your download links as soon as you place your order - no more waiting on me to email them! And all of these will be priced at new values to save you money!

Get Freaky - all the Get Freaky sets bundled into one kit with bonus background papers



Couture Glamour - all of the Couture series bundled together with Glamour Girls



Dance-A-Thon - the best of Dance-A-Thon and Twinkle Toes bundled together with some bonus images including 2 new backgrounds!



Bodacious - all of the Bodacious ATC backgrounds and borders bundled together.



Bodacious Letters - this kit will be download freebie just for visiting my shoppe at DeviantScrap!




After the older images are bundled and listed, I have lots of brand new images to offer too! There will be lots to see all summer long!

Here's a new piece I made using Dance-A-Thon and Bodacious . . . for my friend Monica.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 5/20/2011. All rights reserved.

Have a great weekend everybody!

10:05 p.m. Sunday - comments closed for prize drawings.
Results posted soon!

Here's the scoop!

I am so excited and honored to be designing at DeviantScrap.com again!

I left DeviantScrap rather abruptly last summer, kind of overwhelmed with life after diving into too much after my dad had died. I took some time to learn more and get my ducks in a row and later realized how much I really missed the other designers, community and customers at DeviantScrap. I asked the owner if I could come back and she graciously welcomed me back to the fold and I'm so delighted!

My Etsy will no longer carry collage images - just one sheet to point people over to DeviantScrap. I will, however, continue to offer prints, original artwork, postcards, and coming soon . . . antique ephemera and materials for creating. So don't forget to drop by Etsy now and then and pay me a visit there too.

At DeviantScrap, I'll be bundling up all of my old collage images into larger sets on sale to make room for many new kits coming this summer. Nearly all of my old images will be on sale and will gradually be moved over the next couple of weeks. I'll be adding products twice a week until it's all moved.

There is a lot going on at DeviantScrap! There's a lovely community gathering where you can get to know other artists and the designers, contests, challenges, tutorials and more!

My shop at DeviantScrap opens Monday, May 23! There will be prizes offered here later tonight or early tomorrow, so come back by and enter the drawing!

Here's a fun little video created by the talented Marta Van Eck, another designer at DeviantScrap. It was made not long ago to celebrate DS's first birthday. If you like Monty Python style imagery, you'll love this!

Big News coming!

Are you curious? Want to know what's happening? It's gonna be good! And there are prizes involved!

Here's a hint . . . keep coming back to see more of the picture revealed!

You're about to know my secret!



When the picture is revealed, you'll know my secret good news! AND, you'll have a chance to earn some prizes.

Oh! Almost forgot! I have some new postcards in my Etsy shop!

Long overdue . . .

. . .in so many ways . . . One item I've wanted to share for awhile was hindered by my sudden inexplicable issue with pulling my camera out of the drawer and turning it on. You know the feeling . . . when life gets so crazy the thought of what is normally a simple task is just hard enough to make you put it off?

I participated in one of LaWendula's fantastic paper swaps this spring. LaWendula is such a generous soul to organize so many lovely opportunities to not only share materials but make new friends around the world. Please check out her blog and ongoing swaps. You won't be disappointed!

My trade partner for LaWendula's Scavenger Hunt Swap was Eliza of Druga Szesnacie blog. I had a wonderful experience being introduced to Eliza's work and trading papers. I love her whimsical but sophisticated journaling style and use of all sorts of materials. She sent the most generous package of gorgeous materials for our swap . . . including chocolate and stunning copies of her own journal pages. How lucky am I? Wowee! I think I got the better end of the deal, for sure. Thank you so much Eliza! And thank you LaWendula for bringing us together!







For those of you waiting on Tumble Fish Studio postcards in my Etsy . . . they're coming soon! MOO made a mistake in my order so I'm running a bit behind schedule but the reprints should be on their way and 2 sets of postcards will be listed soon!

Also coming . . . I promise to be adding new collage sheets in the next week or so and putting prints back in the inventory. Life has kind of gotten in the way of work but I am gradually getting caught up and ready to make trips to the post office again. Have lots of new things to get ready and can't wait to share them with you. I'm also thinking of selling some of my stash of original and antique ephemera so watch for news about that.

Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Some news . . .

Feel like life has been moving at warp speed and I have left my blog way way back there somewhere. I'll explain some personal news near the end of this post. First want to share some art related news.

I hinted at this a few weeks ago before I was ready to reveal more. But today, with page numbers and contract in my email, I think it's safe to announce that six of my art pieces will be featured in a new book by best selling author Martin Dawber along with the work of many other international artists. I am excited and honored beyond words. According to Amazon, "Martin Dawber is the Principal Lecturer in Fashion at the Liverpool John Moores University where he has taught for the last 25 years. He is also a practising designer and has had his work exhibited in France and Finland. He has a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art, specializing in Fashion Design. Martin Dawber lives in Liverpool." I'll reveal more as it all comes to fruition, but wanted you all to be some of the first to know! And I want to thank the many image designers who gave me permission to use their images in my work and will be proud to include them in the captions for each work included in the book.

Small Me


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/8/2010. All rights reserved.
Image credits: Everything is mine except for "Le Petit Journal" and a portion of the background which come from cemerony.etsy.


I have lots of other art stuff to update and share but just need a day with enough hours in it to get it done - hope that happens this week, so come back by if you can toward the end of the week.

Personal News
Have had a lot to deal with with my daughter. It's a long story but our troubles included a brief but nerve flinching lymphoma scare and now we are left with just a bit of a mystery as to why she has been so sick for so many months. Part of it can be explained with a recent mono diagnosis coupled with a severe strep infection that seems to be stubbornly rooted in her liver. But it doesn't explain abnormal liver tests back in December or repeated illnesses back to October. We're still waiting on blood tests and answers but we feel we are finally on the road to recovery and so thankful "the big C" has been taken off the table. As we approach the end of her senior year, and all of the activities and deadlines that come with it, I feel my schedule and work habits may continue to be a bit hit and miss. But someday, I swear, someday I am going to feel like life slows down just long enough to feel caught up for at least one blog post!

Hello World!

Long time, no see . . . .

We've had some health issues going on with my 17 year old daughter that had me way, way, way sidetracked for the last couple of weeks. Mono for one thing but more than that going on . . . prayers are appreciated but I think we are getting things lined out finally. She had some pretty bad infections going on in her body but she is getting better.

So, meanwhile . . . I did get a few things done, slow as molasses, but finally done. Here's my latest collage work . . . one of my new favorites. I'm not selling prints for awhile on Etsy, not until life settles down and I can commit to regular trips to the post office. Maybe next week. This piece is inspired by my real live chats with my neighbor Cindy.

The Neighbors


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 4/12/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital Collage. Image credits: building walls and roofs from Crowabout Studio B at Deviantscrap.com; fence from Finecrafted Designs at Deviantscrap.com; windows, faces, bodies, grass, sky, words from my own collage images.

New collage sheets done and more to come this week!
(click on the picture below to go to Etsy)



Have a great week everyone!

Be Awesome Instead . . .

In the words of Barney Stinson, my motto for this week is "When I get sad I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story." I've probably told you all that before but it's one of my favorite quotes.

I've taken some unexpected breaks from working this last week and kind of the week before. Got bogged down. Ya know that feeling? Gonna work AND play and focus on the bright side of life this week. Too much going on around here to update you, so I'll just jump right in . . . started this week by goofing off this morning between preparing new images for collage sheets.

The Predicament


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 4/11/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: the fly is from jenu-designs.com; background texture by DistressedTextures; everything else from my own collage images.

I get bored in the organizing and scanning and restoring and extracting. Sometimes just need to goof off. The before and after of The Predicament . . .



Needed to rework an old piece this last week for an upcoming project. It's linked to my flickr where you can find a link to the original too.

Dream Police


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 4/5/2011. All rights reserved.Digital collage. Image credits: men from flickr's bobster855 (extracted, altered, recolored); wings from Itkupilli.etsy.com; "Dream" from Crowabout Studio B at Deviantscrap.com; background texture from flickr's JoesSistah; everything else from my own stash.

Have an awesome week everybody!

Three Muses, Freaky Exports & Yummy Acquisitions . . .

Three Muses Challenge
There's a wonderful challenge site that is the culmination of hard work from 3 lovely ladies: Ann, Marie, and Bev. Each week they post a theme and after you create a piece you may link it reciprocally to the site and your site. This week's theme was The Land of Odd and turned out to be my inspiration for two (almost four) new digital collages from me and some new collage sheets. Several people had suggested to me that I give a Three Muses challenge a try and it had been a long while since I had. But, it might have just been the spark I needed to feel a little more inspired to work. So, thank you Three Muses and my friends that suggested trying the challenge! You can find Three Muses here. The first one is my submission to the challenge and the piece that sparked the rest seen below.

Freak Pride


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/27/2011. All rights reserved.Digital collage. Image credits: tents and seal from Studio Crowabout B at Deviantcrap; flags on tents and some texturing on floor from Clementine at Deviantscrap; everything else from my own collage sheets.

Freak Pride Journal Page


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/27/2011. All rights reserved.Digital collage. Image credits:tents and seal from Studio Crowabout B at Deviantcrap; flags on tents and some texturing on floor from Clementine at Deviantscrap; paperclip and photo frame from Christina Renee Designs and used with a commercial license for a retired kit; coupons on left, asian paper at upper right from designer Sherrie JD at Deviantscrap; postcard in lower right from jen-u designs; tape from designer Caryn Scanlan; everything else from my own collage sheets.

Freaky Fairy


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/28/2011. All rights reserved.Digital Collage. Image credits: everything from my own collage sheets.

Freaky Fairy Journal Page


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/28/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: paperclip and photo frame from Christina Renee Designs and used with a commercial license for a retired kit; tape from designer Caryn Scanlan; everything else from my own collage sheets

Exports

Here are a few new collage sheets. I have to admit I felt a bit rusty after a good 3 week break from creating collage sheets. But today I feel like the ice has been broken and I look forward to making more sheets this week.

Get Freaky



Get Freaky Apparel



Get Freaky Masks



Acquisitions
I've enjoyed generous friends, talented friends and a bit of fun lately. Just wanted to share some recent things that have found their way to me lately . . .

From my good friend Trudi of Two Dresses Studio



From an old friend, Leo of Etsy's LexArt Glass



From the talented and so sweet Fiona Randall of My Artful Muse blog



From all over the world, just a sampling of antique papers I have to go through, organize, scan and restore



From my brain to my body, a symbolic gift that I need to get out and use my body and my brain will work better



From my friend Brenda and myself, my growing collection of Sandy Mastroni dolls to keep me company as I work.



Long post, early in the week . . . hope you have happy creating days this week and everything goes just right!

Oh my . . .

A big fat fail on the schedule plan I posted yesterday. I did visit and comment around 25 blogs today and some flickrs. But that is the only thing I did according to plan. Got so sidetracked. But, tomorrow is another day and I still like the general approach of that plan.

I played a bit today for some reason . . . just couldn't control myself. But (the big proverbial but) . . . . I am still not "feelin'" things. I am still not feelin' in stride with creating. I did some looking today and I think part of my problem is that what I'm seeing in my head, I either don't have the images to create what I "see" or I don't know how to go about creating what I "see".

Soul Okay


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/24/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: head from flickr's picassoswoman; everything else from my own collection of digital collage images.

Stuck (I want to be outside the box)


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/24/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: background from designer Lorie Davison; aged photo texture from designer Holly McCaig; box altered from photorack; side label from designer Sherrie JD; everything else from my own images.

I find myself wanting to work in 5 very different ways. Like these . . .

Teesha Moore
Anahata Katkin
Corinne Geertsen or Maggie Taylor or Casa Jordi
Michael Mew

But I want to work in those directions all at once in some divine combination of them all. I look at my work and see it with very different eyes when I start looking at the work I want to be influenced by. My work seems very novice, flat, contrived, forced and then I get stuck. I see the differences between what I make and what I want to make and I don't know how to push forward. I'm not looking for anyone to solve my problem or even advise really. Just sharing my journey, my thoughts, my fights with myself.

Busy, non-Art Friday and then hope to get some collage sheets done this weekend. Hope you all have a fantastic and productive weekend!

You say malarkey. I say melarkey.

Yep. I spelled malarkey wrong in the piece in the post below. Oh well, as I've said in Facebook and Flickr, it just proves my point that I don't know what I'm talking about . . . usually. May go back and fix it, may not. I can always say, since it's somewhat of a self portrait, that it was a play on the word to be MElarkey.

I'm as slow as molasses but did get one more piece done this week. Starting to shift my focus to making some new sheets but I have lots of scanning and restoration to do so it will be a few more days before I get anything ready to show.

Unbelievable


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/22/2011. All rights reserved.
Digital collage. Image credits: textures from designer Lorie Davison and Flypaper; flowers from Finecrafted Designs at Deviantscrap; a little magic from Paint the Moon; everything else from my own collection of images.

New standard operating procedure starts tomorrow . . .
I've decided that I get so overwhelmed trying to start the blog visiting I want to do that I'm going to try and break my day up into parts. I really need to set a timer and stick to a schedule of sorts and see if that helps me accomplish more.

• I'm going to take an hour or so each day and visit a section of the blogs I have linked as my fav's. For instance, I might visit J's-L's tomorrow, A's-D's the next day, and so on. That will help me get caught up on some inspiration and my friends at the same time.
  
• And, I'm going to take one hour each day to take the online class, Remains of the Day by Mary Ann Moss, that I haven't started 3 weeks after signing up.
  
• One hour for emails and . . .
• One hour for Flickr and . . .
• One hour for house chores . . .
  
• and the rest to work.

We'll see how this plan works . . .

Hey! By the way . . . thank you for your kind comments. You all are just the best blog friends anyone could ask for. I thank my stars for you all everyday and I really appreciate the time you take to visit and comment.

Ehhhh . . . .

Don't really know how you spell "Ehhhh". That mumble of indifference when you don't love or hate something but will accept it as it is. That's what I'm talkin' about. Feeling very Ehhhh-ish.

I said on Facebook this morning I was kicking the flu to the curb, but it kinda snuck back in as the day went on. Don't feel horrible, don't feel good, tired of being tired, and bored with being sick. So, I really really tried to dust off my dusty art self today to try and make something.

Melarky


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/21/2011. All rights reserved.
A simple little Zetti style digital collage. Image credits: all but the bubbles from my own collection of images. Eyes belong to moi. Bubbles from designer Nicole Young and used with a commercial license. Somewhat of a self portrait today.

I made this next one last Saturday night, also just really needing to make something more than making something out of inspiration. I am definitely forcing it right now, but I always go through bouts of that when I haven't been creating and looking at the work of others daily.

Can't I?


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/19/2011. All rights reserved.
For me, when I haven't made something for a long while, the first one back is always a bit awkward and lacking. Have to push through to let the muses know you're ready to roll again. Digital collage. Image credits: everything from my own collection of images. 6 separate antique photos were used.

My very talented and sweet friend Amy of Wallflower Images told me she saw my mail art in Somerset Studio and I said "I don't think it's mine." I hadn't sent anything and hadn't heard anything from them. So I went to my new unopened copy and started browsing, back to front as I always do anything worth enjoying! hee hee And there in the Letters to the Editor area was a picture of a label I had put on the box mailing in a submission last summer for the Holiday issue. How funny is that!



More importantly . . . notice the call for mail art! I know tons of you that should be submitting work to this call!

On the agenda this week . . .
I know some are waiting on new collage sheets. Lord knows I should be making them. I am absolutely overloaded with lots of recently gathered antique pictures and ephemera - so many sheets working in my head. But, I think I really need to spend some time this week blog hopping and flickr looking to gather some inspiration. I need to knock out a couple of new pieces and work out some of the kinks I have from not stretching my creative muscles much in several weeks. I need some fresh perspectives. So, if you are in fact waiting to see new stuff (which may very well be the case in my sweet dreams), hang in there just a bit longer. I promise to be productive soon!

ugh

Hi all! Have had the flu all week and still feeling yucko. Hope to be back and working next week. Have a great weekend!

marsha

Un-Art Week

I think it's going to be an Un-Art week for me. Taxes, laundry, errands, chores, and some long overdue busy work need to be done. My Etsy is open but I won't be around much anywhere else for a few days.

I'll leave you with a source picture of me and my kids . . . source meaning they are part of the cause of my Un-Arting. Ah, I love 'em anyway. They are my best creation and sometimes need a little tweeking.



Have a great week everybody!

For my Digi Peoples . . .

I am in luuuuuurve! I just absolutely adore Paint the Moon Photoshop Textures and Actions. I am still teaching myself digitally and use Photoshop Elements 7. Annie's actions make it so easy to adjust work in magical ways! I played with just one of a huge bundle I downloaded this morning . . .



I have ten million things to do today, but couldn't resist a few minutes to play. Here's the link if you're interested in Paint the Moon . . .



Also, have my own Facebook Page now . . . HERE
I've just gotten started with it so be sure to "Like" me if you're on FB and watch for more to come!

Have a great weekend everybody!