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 :-)

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 :-)

2011 One World One Heart

Sorry, I jumped the gun a bit and pulled my last post.  Please stay tuned...

My post will come back up at midnight, Sunday, January 30th instead of when it became Jan 30th (sorry)

You will find all the details here, this is a look at some of what is to come:
One World One Heart is an international blog hop whose purpose is to have bloggers from around the world meet and find out a little about each other.

• I will be participating in this final event... 
• I will have a giveaway open to anyone with a blog!
• The only thing you will have to do is make a comment on my official post (not this one - I have turned off comments on this post so that there is no accidental commenting - lol)
• Make sure I have a way to reach you (your blog information is great as long as you have an email on your profile)
• Come back on February 17th and I will announce the winner.

See, easy! Again, so sorry for jumping the gun...

If you have a blog, consider joining us, this is a great event.

**Update** Sprinkled throughout are some of the items that I have given away in previous years.... Hopefully it will encourage you to participate this year :-)

 


Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Winners of 2010 One World One Heart Giveaway

.... and the Winners for my One World One Heart giveaway are....

but wait, before I announce the winners, I wanted to say that this has been such a fun and rewarding event for me! I struggle to find time for my art, which is why I love this event.  It is just the push I need to get up and work on something.  This year was also an opportunity for me to share with some of the mixed media work that I have been drawn to... I can see more like this in the future. :-)

Thank you to everyone who participated, I wish I could give something to everyone.. who knows there is always a chance that over the year those who did not win this event could receive a RAK no promises, but I will try ...

So, without further ado, the lucky winners are....

Lisa (Lisa Lectura Creations) is the winner of the 4 x 6 Canvas Board

These are the lucky 5 winners of my ATCs:

Flor (Flor Larios Art)

Wondrous Strange Designs

Marie (Art From My Heart)

Suzanne (Italian Girl in Georgia)
Shona (An Artful Life)

I will either send each of the winners an email or post a comment on their blog with the good news.  Sorry, I have 5 ATC winners and accidentally only posted 4 this morning... apologies :-)

Thank you again to everyone for participating, I hope to see you all again sometime soon!

Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

One World One Heart 2010 Magic Carpet Ride

Update (2/15/2010) The winners have been announced, just click and see who won!  Please note, I have turned off comments for this post because the giveaway is over... Hope to see you visit again soon.

This is the 4th Annual One World One Heart event! This is my 3rd year participating in this event...  Welcome to carpet #234, don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win my giveaway! 

Lisa challenged us this year to try to incorporate the theme into our giveaways... I humbly submit this wonderful Indian elephant as my magical giveaway.  This is a scan of a beautiful hand painted silk that I was given as a gift.  This project was quite difficult for me because it took me out of my comfort zone, but brought me closer to the type of mixed media work that I am drawn to.  This is a picture of the elephant mounted on an acrylic background.  I love my quilling, so I think I need to add some quilling so stay tuned for some tweaks that will be added :-)

What is the One World One Heart Giveaway? It is a blog-wide event for people around the world to visit participating blogs.  This is an opportunity for everyone to meet new friends and win something.  You need to follow just a few simple rules:

• My giveaway is the elephant shown. 
• For a chance to win my giveaway, post a comment from January 25th to February 14th.  Make sure you leave me a way to contact you, I'd love to stop by for a visit.
• On February 15th I will announce the winner on my blog... The winners will be selected at random (using a random number generator).

***Prize UPDATE*** I have decided that I will add 5 ATCs to my giveaway in addition to the Elephant canvas at the top of this post! I will use a portion of the same elephant (see the photo at the bottom of the post for an idea - this is only a representation, because I haven't made them yet - lol).... Are you having as much fun as I am? I hope so...
I hope you have fun on the magic carpet ride!

Click on over to Lisa's site to visit some of the other carpets.

Enjoy!  Antonella :-)

Update: OWOH Giveaway Pictures

I am very excited and I wanted to share with you my updated pictures for my One World One Heart giveaway!

The 4 x 6 canvas board Elephant has been painted green as a base, then I decoupaged the elephant cutout applied a layer of a crackle finish around the elephant and applied a white overlay.  I then stamped scrolls around the elephant in the same green.  The word "Dream" is stamped along side of the elephant.  I then added quilled scrolls around the elephant and of course added bling... green rhinestones and glitter along the stamped scrolls.  A green organza ribbon is tied with a heart charm.

The ATCs are made in a very similar manner, with the main difference being a red bow is tied onto the ATC.

I have been inspired by all of the people participating in the Magic Carpet ride... and I hope that my humble giveaway will be enjoyed by the lucky winners.

I hope that all the fun and love shines through.

Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

OWOH Update - Prize Information

Just in case you missed it, I am participating in the One World One Heart event again this year... I am #234 on the Magic Carpet!

You can read all about it on my earlier post (just click here)... I have updated my listing to include the following giveaways:

1 - 1st Prize:  An Indian Elephant that has been decoupaged over an acrylic painted canvas, I will also be adding my personal touch with a bit of quilling to embellish this beauty.

5 - 2nd Prizes - ATCs made from the same elephant image (the image is just a representation of what they may look like since I haven't made them yet)... Ok, I work better under pressure :-)

Hugs and Happy Wandering!

Enjoy!
Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Final Thank You - One World One Heart

I am sending out one final Thank You regarding the 2009 One World, One Heart

Special Thank you to Nancy (All Pulped Out) for the beautiful card she made and sent out. She gets so many special KUDOS because I think she made a card for everyone who commented on her post. Now this is something to think about, and I can only imagine the hours and hours that she spent. Isn't the card beautiful? and she even made her own mailing address labels to match. If you get a chance, don't forget to visit her: allpulpedout.blogspot.com

And I wanted to Thank the winners of my snowflakes... they were all so sweet with their comments... and I am pleased to say that all the snowflakes arrived safely (and one took a transatlantic flight to get there - lol)

Grandma Betty , Dajon (Dajon Designs) , Marie (Gave That)


These are the little beauties... 2 green and one tourquoise!


Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, OWOH, one world one heart

Winners! 2009 One World One Heart

This has been so much fun. I am only sorry that I was not able to visit everyone participating. I am amazed by all the people who were able to visit all of the hundreds of participants.

So, what everyone has been waiting for...

The WINNERS are:



Grandma Betty

Dajon (Dajon Designs)

Marie (Gave That)



Congratulations to each of you! I will make them this weekend. I will contact each of you for your mailing information and to see if you have a special color request.



Thank you to everyone who participated and made this such a fun and wonderful event!



Don't forget to make plans for next year's event!!!



Enjoy!
Antonella :-)


Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, OWOH, one world one heart

2009 One World One Heart Giveaway

Update: The 2009 One World One Heart Giveaway Event is over - sad, but true :-(

Please check out my post to see who the winners are :-)

This is my second year participating in this event and it is so much fun!



What is the One World One Heart Giveaway? It is a blog-wide event where people like you, from around the world vist participating blogs for a chance to meet new friends and win something. Lisa Swifka is the gracious host of this event, and she has listed all of the participants on this Gypsy Caravan on the sidebar of the One World One Heart blog.

There are a few simple things to keep in mind:

• To enter my giveaway, post a comment on this post from from January 19th until February 11th



• On your comment make sure you leave me a way to contact you. You can leave your email address or a link to your blog so I can find you.



• On February 12th 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.
  

So what can you win? How does a beautiful quilled snowflake sound? It has been very cold and snowy here so that has inspired the giveaway. As you can see, I have 3 snowflakes to giveaway so let me know if you have a color preference.

I hope you have fun visiting the blogs in this Gypsy Caravan.

Please feel free to join my blog and become a follower!


Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, OWOH, one world one heart

What are Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)?

So you want to know what Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are?

My personal definition of ATCs is that they are a fun way to share a piece of yourself with friends, family, and future acquaintances. The ATCs that I have done have involved some amount of quilling, so for me an ATC is a way to share what I am passionate about. You too can share your passion, an art form, medium, quote, dream, or craft that you love.

Now for the official definition as taken from Wikipedia:

Artist Trading Cards are individual art miniatures which pass hand to hand. Some sources have credited M. Vänçi Stirnemann, who began trading sessions in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1997, as popularizing ATCs in the modern era, although modern ATC's can be traced back to portrait miniatures and to a kind of business card popular with Impressionistic era artists.^[1]

The official size of an Artist Trading Card is 2.5 in x 3.5 in (6.4 cm x 8.9 cm). Think of baseball trading cards and the idea is the same. The orientation can be either vertical or horizontal and I have created them both ways.

Some form of cardstock usually is the base of the ATC but any material can be used. Think of polymer clay, thin balsa wood or metal to give you some alternative ideas.

From what I have seen and read, the only thing they have to be is 2.5 in x 3.5 in (6.4 cm x 8.9 cm). Everything else is up to you!

Some ideas for your ATCs:

• If you draw, sketch a design on your card blank
• Paint with acrylic or oils or watercolors
• Scrap a shabby chic design
• Take the "altered" approach and alter your trading card
• Decoupage your trading card

Controversy
Yes, even with Artist Trading Cards there is controversy. The generally accepted approach is that they are to be "traded, not sold"

So the controversy arises when some artists sell theirs. I personally have only given mine away. That is because I love to share what I do with others, and this is a small way for me to connect with people and share quilling.

So this is all about what ATCs are. Click Here and for instructions to make my One World, One Heart ATC that I made for Lisa Oceandreamer (refer to the picture).



There are plenty of places to go to trade your ATCs online, just look for swaps online and you can find one of your own.

If you are interested in a swap, let me know... I'd love to do one.

Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, Artist Trading Card, ATC, OWOH, childrens crafts

Free Pattern Quilling Artist Trading Card

I promised that I would share the pattern for the One World, One Heart Artist Trading Card (ATC) that I made for Lisa Oceandreamer.

For this ATC I used a variety of techniques and I also played with fonts. I think that my passions run from Paper (being top of the list) to fonts running a close second. Of course, these are outside of the real-life people in my life - lol.

This was a one of a kind ATC as I was making it as a gift for Lisa as hostess of the One World, One Heart blogging event. She really went above and beyond and I can only imagine all the work she put in to keep up with all the requests to join the event.

Many of my projects involve the use of a product called PowerPoint. This is a Microsoft product that allows me to play with objects and place them where I want. I created the text One World One Heart in a font called Scriptina, http://desktoppub.about.com/library/fonts/hs/uc_scriptina.htm, there are a variety of places you can download it, this is just one of them.

I like this font because it has a very thin line and flows well (it even works on vellum). This is what I did:

• I placed the text as though I had stamped it all over my 2.5 in x 3.5 in (6.5 cm x 8.9 cm) trading card area.
• I let the text run over the side of the trading card area because I knew that I was going to crop it later.
• I printed it on a white cardstock, so I added a translucent pink to the area that would be cropped.
• The other thing that I did was to use different shades of pink and red so that the center text would really stand out. You can see this if you look at the picture.

Then I printed it out and cropped it so that it was 2 in by 3 in (5 cm x 7.6 cm). I did this because I mounted it on a glistening pink color cardstock.

I inked all of the sides with a rose colored stamp pad to give it that shabby chic appearance. What can I say, I like inking the edges of my papers.

Now I was ready for the quilling, and I have been really into scrolls lately and so I used double scrolls and heart scrolls.

• 6 - 3 in (7.6 cm) White Double Scrolls
• 3 - 3 in (7.6 cm) Red Heart Scrolls
• 1 - 3 in (7.6 cm) Green V-scroll
• 1 - 1.5 in (3.8 cm) Green shaped Teardrop
• 1 - 1.5 in (3.8 cm) Green strip for the stem

• My favorite thing about the double scrolls is that if you arrange them in a certain way, they join together to make a heart. Like ornamental ironwork. So I used this to my advantage, playing on the "heart" theme of the event.
  
  
• I arranged 2 pairs of double scrolls this way creating 2 "Hearts with a flourish"
  
  
• I arranged 2 Heart-scrolls with the pointed ends touching and then took the remaining 2 double scrolls and glued them to either side. I then added a rhinestone in the center.
  
  
• The final element I added was a heart flower. For this I added a Heart-Scroll wrapped with a V-Scroll and then placed a strip of green quilling paper and added a shaped teardrop for the leaf.

I hope that this inspires you to try making one of your own Artist Trading Cards.

Enjoy!

Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, Artist Trading Card, ATC, OWOH, childrens crafts, free quilling pattern, free ATC pattern

WINNERS One World One Heart

Happy Valentines Day!

Ok, now for the OWOH giveaway.... DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....

Special Thank You Gift For our Hostess, Lisa (Heart of the Nest)...

And the Winners are:

The Quilled Heart in a frame: This Girl Remembers Such a delicate little heart. Hope you enjoy it. Stay tuned, I will post the pattern/instructions for how to make this soon (have to run to work now).



The Santa Ornament: Susie (Creative Rainbows) - If you would like him in a frame instead, please let me know and I can do that for you as well. He is truly adorable, the picture really doesn't do him justice. A version of him will be attending the North American Quilling Guild's Annual Meeting in Rhode Island this May.


I wish I could do something for everyone... Just need more time... :-)

Congratulations to all the winners and special Thanks to everyone who participated. If you are a winner, I will attempt to contact you. Please, please also contact me (you can send an email through my profile here) and send me your snail mail information.

I will make a trip to the post office on Saturday (if I don't hear from you by then, I will mail it out as soon as I can... I package up the quilling to prevent it from being squished in the mail).

This has been so much fun, and utterly exhausting. I am only sorry that I wasn't able to get to everyone to enter all the contests. Next time I will start earlier so that I don't miss out on visiting everyone. I still have to go back and add all these new blogs to my links section - they are all worth visiting again and again.

I promise that I will do more of these giveaways going forward...

Thank you for the opportunity to participate!

Many Hugs and Wishes,
Antonella

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, OWOH, free gift, One World One Heart

One World, One Heart

UPDATE: This giveaway is closed. Click Here for the WINNERS.

Hello Again Everyone,


My friend Toni from the 3 AM Designs blog shared this neat event with me. I am very excited about joining in.

The One World, One Heart is an annual event hosted by Lisa Oceandreamer, this is the second year she has hosted this event! What a fun way to get to see some of the really neat blogs that are out there. Please go to Lisa's blog for information about this event and how you can add your blog. In Lisa's own words, this what it is about:

It is a blog-wide giveaway event. The original idea behind this was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. Last years event had nearly 100 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.

The idea is that every blog will give away one item to a lucky blog reader. This is how it works:

• All you have to do is make a comment on this post and give me some way to get in touch with you (your email or your blog).
  
• You have until February 13th to post your comment (I am EST, so post before midnight EST)
• I will pick a name from those entered (probably have my son select a name from a hat)
• I will then post an entry on my blog to let everyone know who the lucky winner is
• This is open to anyone (I will even sent internationally)
• Here is a picture of the inspiration for my free gift, this is a pattern that you can find in the 2008 Accord Quilling Calendar. If interested in making this beauty, here is the free quilling pattern:
  
  
  
  Update: I have been busily creating my One World, One Heart free gift. See my new picture next to my inspiration piece to see the gift I am giving away. This is the same basic pattern, updated a bit. It is framed in a 4x4 frame. All quilling is done by hand. When I post the winner, I will also post instructions to make this beauty.


Update... There are definitely more than 50 posts, so I am also giving away this Santa ornament.

• 
  Good Luck Everyone!

I can't wait to see all the blogs out there.



Enjoy!
Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, one world one heart

OWOH Such Fun!

I wanted to share with everyone how much FUN I am having with the One World, One Heart blogging extravaganza.

I have been traipsing through blog-land and getting to see some of the most beautiful blogs and things. If you haven't given this a try, please join in the fun. Most bloggers, such as myself, are offering a chance to win our giveaways to anyone who asks to have their name entered (whether they have a blog or not).

So what do you have to lose? Just jump right in and enter your name and walk around the world by visiting all these neat blogs.

Enjoy!
Antonella :-)

Technorati Tags: OWOH, One World One Heart