Shadow Shot Sunday and Camera Critters

I was visiting some of my blog friends this morning and saw E-Makes Art's entry in Shadow Shot Sunday, well, from there I started following links and, well you get the picture (I got completely distracted) and decided to share a picture myself.

I don't know what type of lizard this is, but I loved the way he looked in the shadows from the grass.  This is a picture from a trip to Florida we took in 2007... don't worry, I took pictures of people too, but this is for Camera Critters - lol.

I am submitting this photo to Shadow Shot Sunday #145 and Camera Critters #151 - You should check them out!

 
Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Aquamarine Blog Givaway

I was visiting Tee at the Altered Paper and saw that her friend Tara at Aquamarine is having a giveaway... you have to check out her beautiful work and you can enter to win a chance for these 4 incredible Mixed Media Art Cards (with envelopes) and a teeny tiny painting too.  She will be picking the winner on Monday, February 28th (I think).

Good Luck!
Antonella :-)

I won a Fantastic Tag!

This has been an incredible time for me! I had so much fun traveling around the world during the One World One Heart (OWOH) adventure.  Not only did I get to meet many fantastically talented bloggers, but I was fortunate enough to have won some of the giveaways!!!!


There is nothing more special than opening up your mail and receiving goodies... oh, I hope that snail mail makes a comeback because there is nothing nicer than actually opening up a letter...


Well, I opened my mail last night and I received this beautiful tag from Carola Bartz - Inspiration Along the Way.  This tag is so pretty in person.  The thing I cannot get out of my mind is that cute key that she has hanging from the smaller tag.  And you cannot tell from the picture, but there is this slightly iridescent sparkle on the bottom tag.  It is truly beautiful! I think I will create a scrapbook page and add this to the page so that I can always keep it and tell everyone who looks at the scrapbook that I received it as a gift.


Thank you Carola!!  If you get a chance pop on over to her blog, I absolutely love the photographs that she shares.  They are beautiful, so go take a peak!

I am still awaiting a few other giveaways - I will share them with you when they arrive!!

Have a WONDERFUL Day!!!
Antonella :-)

I Won a Beautiful Dove Ornament

WOW!!! Isn't this the most beautiful little ornament? I won this little beauty from Lisa at Clayworks

I received this incredibly BEAUTIFUL dove in the mail.  It is absolutely gorgeous and the picture is a pale image of the beauty you can see in the glimmery, shimmery elegance that Lisa has created. My son could not put it down, it is something that I will cherish... I am going to leave it out and hang it so that it can be enjoyed all year long!

You have to stop by Lisa's blog and check out her work and I love her "bead soup" posts!

I hope that you find a special surprise and beauty in your day!

Have a wonderful day!
Antonella :-)

I was featured on The Answer Is Chocolate

My butterfly was selected as a "Highlight from The Answer is Chocolate's Open House"

I am so honored and humbled and tickled pink!!



I was not the randomly selected winner of the wonderful giveaway, but I am even more humbled by being specifically selected as a highlight for my Butterfly! Many, Many Thanks!!

I am a follower and Carol's blog is one of my "Check These Out" blogs on my sidebar because I love to see what she is up to... Check out her free printables and Knock Off designs, always inspiring... Oh, and don't forget to keep this in mind and don't forget to stop by on March 18th for next month's Open House.

Carol, again... Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!
Antonella :-)

Some Things I've Won From OWOH

I had to share some of the wonderful things that I have won (so far) from the very generous people who have participated in the One World One Heart event!   Each year, this is such an extraordinary event that I truly look forward to - my only regret is that this was the final year.  The good news is that our wonderfully talented and generous Lisa Swifka will be hosting a similar event beginning next year - Yeah!!!

Now, onto my first winnings (I will post the other things I have won as they arrive... this is so exciting)

I was the fortunate winner of Collage Sheets from the very talented Deb at Craft Grany from Canada  - she created these particular collage sheets herself in photoshop - isn't she so talented?  She sells her collage sheets and many other items in her shop.  If you check out her blog, she has an "Embroidery Ribbon Flower Tutorial" that she posted on February 18th that you might be interested in checking out.

There are many participants who have shared gifts with everyone who commented... these are the gifts that I have received from those very generous people!  If you get a chance, please visit these kind and generous people....

I received a beautiful picture from Jo of Tanglefrost (UK) - in her own words, she sent a photograph of a mixed-media piece that she calls “Fly Free” - I am including what she wrote in her email because there is no way for me to be able to express it as beautifully as she has:  It shows a woman, exposed and vulnerable, standing precariously on a rickety wall made up of all the expectations that had been imposed on her in the past.  The ‘leaves’, that she had used to cover her nakedness, have been dropped... ‘leaves’ that signify the fear, shame and anger that she had used to hide the marks left by her heart’s journey through life.  Now she is ready to catch hold  the ‘birds’ of courage, compassion and connection which will enable her to fly free, into all her hopes and dreams. - her words are as beautiful as the wonderful items she creates.

There is a special post from Stampgram Studios (US) where she posted a special photo of a "Grunge Angel" that is available for anyone to download.  It is a special Thank You gift she created for everyone to be able to use in your art. Didn't she do a fantastic job? I really love her blog, and you should take a peak at her wonderful work.

You will note that the images in this post are quite small - that is because I wanted you to be able to get an idea of the gift, but they are not mine to share the actual files... only their creators can share them with you.

Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

Butterfly Giveaway Pictures and A Story

Hello Again!

I have been building up the courage to share this piece of art with each of you.  Yes, I have been afraid to share it with anyone because it is very different from anything I have ever done before, and I am a chicken!

For my One World One Heart giveaway, I knew that I wanted to make a Quilled Butterfly! I wasn't sure what it would look like, but I knew that once I started creating it that the butterfly would find it's way out of the papers I was using and emerge as it was intended... and I was right.  Over the course of many hours and several days, she took shape.  I am so proud of the way she turned out.  I tried to get a close up of her so that you would be able to see all the little details.  I did not start with a pattern, just strips of paper.  The first thing that I did was create the general shape of the wings.  I started with a loose shape in the black quilling paper, I used a nice 1/4 inch wide paper for this project.  I wanted the design to be open, so I just made scrolls and various strips and colors of paper along the way.  I wanted to point out the special little hearts... you will see many heart shapes in the wings.  I did this to show the love that was put into this creation.

I definitely wanted her to sparkle, so I used glitter paper as the backing.  I lightly traced the wing that I had created on the glitter paper and cut it out then glued the wing to the paper.  You can see the sparkle/glitter in the close up. I also added some jewels to the project as well to make her happy and sparkly.

I don't know how many times I changed my mind about what I was going to place her in.  I started out thinking a 4x6 frame, but in the end my butterfly emerged a bit too large for such a small frame.  I have had a growing desire to paint and that desire pushed its way through and I ended up creating a mixed-media painting... Please be kind, this is my first true venture in anything outside of ATCs with painting... This is 8x10 canvas board - Yikes!!!

I hand cut flower petals and leaves to make one large echinacea flower and then you will see that I hand painted others directly on the canvas.  I painted the petals a beautiful "sugar plum" pink color (this is a yummy color and I know that I will use it again).  I covered the entire (painted) canvas board with Alene's Paper Glaze, I know, I LOVE this stuff!!! I use it a lot and I think I am going to be using so much more of it!!! I wish it weren't so expensive... so maybe I'll have to curtail my addiction a bit - lol.....  I don't think you can really see from the picture the beautiful shine on the flowers and background... but believe me it is there.

I love quotes, and selected a quote from Goethe - "Remember to live" that I had from a scrapbook set that I received as a gift many years ago (sorry, don't know what it was anylonger).... And that ultimately is what this butterfly and flower represent... the carefree butterfly flittering about is just enjoying the day... I find that I think I personally need to do more of this and wanted to send some of that free spirit to the winner of my giveaway.

Amy, I hope that you enjoy this gift and that she brings you joy and a bit of inspiration!

Update: I have linked this to the following linky parties / challenges:

Aly's Sunday Challenge

I

Hugs,
Antonella :-)

OWOH Winner!!

WOW!  What an incredibly Amazing event this was!!!

I had so much fun, and I hope you did too.

I used Random.org's "True Random Number generator and the winner is:

Comment #139 which belongs to:

Amy from the Weavers Hand!!
Congratulations Amy!!!

Thank you to everyone for joining up this year.  I apologize that I was a little late in posting this update, but I am having terrible internet issues (it is 2 am where I live and I am finally able to finish this post - hopefully it won't go down until after this is finally posted)

Hugs, antonella :-)

My Artful Bag and Other Stuff

Hello Everyone...  I have been having lots of fun traveling the world on the wings of OWOH.  If you are looking for my One World One Heart post and a chance to win my giveway, please click here.

Did  you see that purse? I was inspired by the challenge going on at "Frosted Petunia's Artful Bag Challenge" looks like there will be a different challenge each month, so you still have time to give this a try.  The challenge this month is to make a purse out of something else - for this challenge it needed to function like a real purse... Can you guess what I made mine out of? I made my purse out of an Orzo Pasta box - really, I did... That is really neat isn't it? I chose it because I wanted something with a window in it. :-)  I have really enjoyed this challenge.  Note: I have updated the picture to show the bling I added before I presented the gift.

I used paper from a DCWV Mini Stack and went with a primarily yellow and pink theme.  This is my stepdaughter's birthday card this year, so that is the reason for the color selection.  The flowers are punched out of a book that had fallen apart after getting wet - I know, punching a book - shivers, but I have to say that I really like the way they came out.

The side view shows how this is a "working purse" and the ribbon I used so that you can carry it with you :-)  If you look again at the front, you will see a bit of a scallop flap, I used my glue bottle to trace circles on the back of the paper and then cut around them to create the scallop.  For a more finished look, I used a piece of card stock to line the inside of the purse and came only around the back and to the flap.  I then cut, leaving a little border so that it peeks through the front.  Not sure if you can see that in this picture.  I also attached a magnet to keep it closed... I should have used a stronger magnet, this is a light weight magnet, and I wasn't thrilled with it.

In the next few photos you get to see the surprise inside... This is what I placed inside the purse, these are little tags that we will each write our birthday wishes to her on.  I am very proud, the artwork that is on the back of them is my son's - didn't he do a FANTASTIC job!!!!  I love his art teacher, he is my little artist and made these when he was 7 and 8 years old.

For the flowers... I tried following the tutorial I found here for these flowers by Cristena Bagne, but I could not get the folds to work the way she did (update: this is the link to the video tutorial) - I probably have a different number of scallops than she has or just can't fold (both are equally possible)... so I did the next best thing, I figured out how to do it another way...

I made my flowers by first punching a scallop out of paper and then inking it - I chose a pink in keeping with my color scheme.  I then folded my scallop in half and then in half again so I could find the center.  I then cut a slit along one of the folds where the scallop was not cut in half.  This is where you will begin the folding process. Fold each scallop in an accordion fashion until you get to the end.  You will need to make 2 of these for each layer of your flower.  I only used 2 layers and added a button for my center.  And yes, I used 2 punches so that each layer was a little smaller than the previous layer.  I only have 2 scallop circle punches so that is why I used 2 layers.  I will post about how I made them with pictures in another post...

Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

2011 One World One Heart

Hello everyone my name is Antonella, and I love to do quilling or paper filigree.  Quilling is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to make, well, just about anything.  If you are interested, take a peak as I have lots of free patterns and quilling for you.  I started my blog in June of 2006, which will make this my 5th year blogging (if you remember, stop back in June and I'll have to do a giveaway to celebrate).

UPDATE:  This event is closed.

I am so happy to welcome you to my blog.  I know that this is one stop along your journey visiting and meeting lots of new and hopefully old  friends. I would love it if you stopped to have a look around before you put your wings back on in your journey around the world.

This year we are "flying on the wings of OWOH",    I am #153. This is the fifth and final One World One Heart Giveaway, so it is with a little sadness that we kick off the event.  This year it begins Sunday, January 30th and ends Thursday, February 17th.  On February 17th the winner will be announced.

What is One World One Heart? The following is from our hostess on this journey, Lisa:

It is a worldwide event for bloggers to give us a chance to make connections we may not have otherwise met.  Can you believe it? Last year there were over 1,000 participants!!! Think of it as a GIGANTIC open house allowing you to travel without ever leaving your home........going from blog to blog(in various countries) seeing the wonder each one has created and meeting all the fabulous people behind those blogs. As a bonus each blogger participant will offer up a "door prize or prizes"....just for dropping by, saying hello and seeing their world.  Click here for the list of participants.

To enter my giveaway, post a comment on this post until February 17th

On your comment make sure you leave me a way to contact you, you must have an active blog to be entered for a chance to win. Please leave a link to your blog and your personal OWOH number so that I can visit your giveaway.

On February 17th I will announce the winner on my blog and I will ask the winner to contact me with their postal mailing address so you can receive your gift.  The winner will be selected using a random number generator (haven't decided which one yet).  The winner can be from any country, it is pure luck of the draw.  I have had international winners in the past and it has worked out well.

Are you ready? I know I can't wait! My giveaway this year will be a quilled Butterfly.  The style of the butterfly will be similar to these pieces I have done that are sprinkled throughout my post, the Blue Snowman, Red/White/Blue Heart, and Birthday Cake.  I will be posting pictures of the butterfly as it progresses....

I have had so much fun over the years participating in this event, my first event was in 2008!  I am sad that this will be the last year, but I completely understand.  It is a lot of work to coordinate this event each year.  As a participant I struggle with trying to find time to visit everyone can you imagine managing the links and leaving messages as Lisa our hostess must?!?

Ok, are you ready? I look forward to your wonderful comments. Remember to write a comment here on THIS post for a chance to win.  Each year I have added prizes before the end of the event, so there will probably be some extra chances to win.... I will update this post accordingly when that happens. :-)

Enjoy!

Antonella :-)