Behind Mytutorlist.com

Surprised Kitty

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:28:00 +0000

I was feeling rather glum today and my friend sent me this very cute video. It really made my day. Thanks, AF!

Oh, and just a reminder to enter the Puppy Dogs N Polka Dots giveaway, if you haven't done so already. It ends tomorrow!

Good luck!

Happy Birthday To Dad

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Today is my dad's birthday! He was really excited about getting a year older and was getting ready for it yesterday :) I love how he's such a kid sometimes. It really adds a lot of enthusiasm to life.This is the card I whipped up for him today. I used one of my newest ACEOs. This design is very versatile. It comes in rainbow colours, Christmas colours, orange tones, and red tones. I picked the orange one since it's cheerful and he likes orange/gold tones.
Inside are lots of present boxes. I figure my family can add doodles or little messages inside of them when they sign the card.

I hope he has a fantastic birthday. Yay for another happy, healthy year of life!

Tissue Box Drawer Organizer Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:52:00 +0000

This is an easy project that you can do with the kids to help keep their drawers neat and tidy.

You will need the following supplies:
1. Empty tissue box
2. Scissors
3. Tape
First, grab your empty tissue box. Pick a nice, undented one with a design that you particularly like. This would be a good project to help reuse and recycle some of those really nice tissue box designs. I'm sure you've come across some favourites over time.
Take a sharp pair of scissors and cut diagonally towards the corner. Do this for all four corners.
Here is my tissue box with all four corners cut.
Now reach inside the box and tear out the clear plastic pieces. You don't need them and they will get in your way.
Here's my tissue box with all the plastic removed. You can discard the plastic.
Now it's time to grab your tape!
Tape down all four sides. Be generous with your tape and tape it down well.
Once all the sides are taped down, your tissue box drawer organizer is ready to use! That was easy, huh?
They're great for storing felt pens, pencils, doodads, and knickknacks! It's so much better than a big drawer with stuff just randomly thrown in! You can easily find things this way!
You can use empty chocolate boxes and their lids for this same purpose. What a great excuse to go eat more chocolates, huh?

Enjoy!

Hello And Blue Bird Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:26:00 +0000

There are some new Blue Bird Tags now available in the shop featuring tiny prints of "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" They are super cute, tied with pale blue embroidery floss, and would make excellent additions to your presents and gifts.
There is also a new ACEO print available titled "Hello" featuring a very sweet Odie mouse on a vivid blue background. He comes with a white border or a black border, your choice.

Both available in my shop.

Fleeting Images Of Felt Owls

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Here is one more ACEO that I can show you. It's called "Fleeting Images Of Felt Owls". It is vividly coloured and has spooky tree outlines behind sleepy Felt Owls.

You can find it in my shop!

Winter Bird Cheer On Frosty Lines

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:16:00 +0000

I didn't get around to taking pictures of the rest of the new ACEOs except for this little gem. It's called "Winter Bird Cheer On Frosty Lines", and it was created with a lot of love and whimsy when I was in a particularly festive mood recently :)

These cheerful little blue birds are celebrating the holiday season in candy cane striped hats and stockings hung from their icicle strewn telephone lines. Very cute, n'est pas?

It is available in my shop.

Packages In The Mail - ArtsyCraftsy2 And MngoJuice

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:05:00 +0000

I was excited to receive not one but TWO packages in the mail today! It's my lucky day!

It's also my lucky day because I am finally recovering from a bad cold. It knocked me out completely yesterday! Ack! I hate bad colds. I was puffing on expired inhalers (I have to remedy that...) and popping Tylenol Colds like an addict. Yuck... Ironically, it was when my mother gave me her magical Chinese herbal tea that I started to get better. Coincidence or is mom's foul tasting medicine really magical? Hm... Apparently Coldfx was based on some magical Chinese herbs too.Well, here is package numero uno! It's from Mngojuice! Nice white envelope...
... nothing special on the backside.
Inside is a nice business card, and a freebie! That's a bottlecap magnet with a honey bee and some sequins on it. Lots of fun :) Thanks, Mngojuice! For those of you that run Etsy shops, I highly recommend including business cards in your mail outs.
Wrapped in a whole lotta paper, were these resin pendants. A raven, a butterfly, and a beluga whale. These pendants are actually a lot bigger than I had imagined.
Next up, is a package from ArtsyCraftsy2. Her trade arrived in a manila envelope.
She decorated the envelope back with a little pressed paper sticker. I rather like it when sellers take the time to decorate their envelope. It shows that they care about the experience the customer has in receiving their purchase.
Inside was a business card and a little black box. I like that she hand-wrote a message to me. That's very sweet. I also like that her pendant arrived in a box. That makes it seem like she values her product and treats it like real jewelery, which it is!
And here is the precious little pendant. This pendant is smaller than I imagined a scrabble tile pendant to be, but it is really quite adorable. ArtsyCraftsy2 actually custom made this for me because I'm a big fan of old-school Alice in Wonderland illustrations. Thank you so much, Artsy Craftsy! It's lovely.

Up next? I have some wonderful new ACEOs to show you. They turned out wonderful!

Two Love Birds And Three Little Tweeters

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:47:00 +0000

In spending more time with my parents, I can now envision them as the two love birds that once built a nest and had little birdlings to feed inside. When I go to the supermarket, they twitter about looking for various contraptions to improve the function of their nest, and they bicker and delight over what to bring home to feed their birdlings.

I find it fascinating to think that this is how they made my previous house a home for three little children - three little well-fed children! I don't crave junk food as much as my counterparts today because there was never a shortage of tasty treats to eat in the house. My dad made sure of that!

In moving to a new house, my parents have been taxed to the maximum. They are not as young as they were when they first built their nest for three little ones, and yet they try very hard to rebuild it now. My sister mentioned that she felt that moving had aged them significantly, and she felt worried about that. I worry too.

In some ways, I am truly thankful that I was laid off at such perfect timing. I have had ample time at home with my mother to help her unpack, clean, and organize the new house. If I wasn't home every day like this, she would be attempting all this work alone! I can't imagine that because all this cleaning tires me out completely, and I'm just a young 'un.
I think it would be terribly lonesome alone in a new house too. We came from a tiny townhouse and this place is enormous in comparison. I'm glad that I'm here to keep her company (and that she's here to keep ME company!)

For my parent's recent anniversary, I decided to put one of my Putting Down Roots ACEOs to use. They reminded me so much of the birds that started off at the Putting Down Roots No.3 stage that it seemed too perfect to miss out on. Here they are with their golden nest and one little, fuzzy birdling. Ah, the beginnings of what would be a happy family of five!
And inside are the 3 grown up tweeters with all their distinguishing traits. I'm the short, fat one with long hair, my brother is skinny and tall with short hair, and my sister is tall, slim, and wavy/curly haired. I made speech bubbles for each of us so that we could write our anniversary well wishes.

This was a fun project for me :) My parents liked the card and found the grown up tweeters amusing. They asked why they have another fuzzy baby bird on the front of the card. My sister said it was a grandchild :P

Have a happy day!

A Giveaway From Puppy Dogs N Polka Dots - Win a Designer Wristlet Keychain or Key Fob

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Great gift ideas are still to come in my giveaway series on this blog. I'm glad you're here! Welcome, and I hope you enter in this note-worthy giveaway today for a wristlet key fob or wrist keychain from Puppy Dogs N Polka Dots. Puppy Dogs N Polka Dots offers a variety of key fobs in her shop, ranging from the fun and funky to the delicate and dainty. She uses the most lovely fabrics for her key fobs, including new designer fabrics (raided from her mother's fabric stash). With big names like Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Jennifer Paganelli, Joel Dewberry, Michael Miller and others, you can be guaranteed that her wristlet key fobs are candy for the eyes.As a college girl working hard to pay her way through school, the artist behind Puppy Dogs N Polka Dots realized that she loved creating, meeting new friends through Etsy, and the joy of a happy customer. All her items are lovingly made in a smoke-free home, making them a great gift idea for your non-smoking, scent-sensitive friends.
Want to win one these wonderful wristlet key fobs? Here's how to play!

1. Go to Puppy Dogs N Polka Dots' store and pick your favourite key fob. Come back here and tell me which wristlet key fob is your must-have for right now (1 entry).
2. If you spot a key fob that you love and can't wait for a contest to get it (in case some lucky person wins it before you get your hands on it) you can purchase it, and get TWO extra entries for EACH purchase in this contest. You could possibly buy your cake, er key chain, and win an extra one too! You must leave a note in message to seller or add a new blog comment here to ensure that your purchase is counted.
3. Follow this blog, and tell me you did so as a separate comment (1 entry).
4. Follow Puppy Dog N Polka Dot's blog, and tell me you did so as a separate comment (1 entry).
5. Join Puppy Dog N Polka Dot's mailing list on her blog, tell me you did so as a separate comment (1 entry).
6. Twitter about this giveaway, and tell me you did so as a separate comment (1 entry).
7. Blog about this giveaway, and tell me you did so as a separate comment (1 entry).
8. Join Puppy Dog N Polka Dot's fan page on Facebook, and tell me you did so as a separate comment (1 entry).

Note: It is important to make a new comment for each entry as I use a random number generator for choosing the winner. If you put all your entries into one comment, it will only be counted once!

Need some inspiration? Check out some of the awesome key fobs you could win...
Drool... good bye ugly key fobs, hello designer fabrics! You know you have some people in your life that need a new key chain. C'mon, we all all know them. Their keys dangle from the least attractive of key chains. Well, perhaps you can save them from a lifetime of dreariness and kitsch by giving one of these pretty things. They'll think of you every time they open a door! (Did you see the light bulb that just lit up above your head?)Go on, leave a comment. You can't win if you don't try :)

Contest ends November 28, 2009.

Good luck, and have fun playing!

Digital Collage Sheets Now Available At Blue Pandemonium

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:10:00 +0000

Great news! There are now even more ways for you to add cuteness to your life and your crafts. Digital collage sheets for some of your favourite paintings are now available in my shop!
There's a Putting Down Roots No. 1 collage sheet available with 18 different designs to choose from. This would be perfect for tree, family, and love themed pendants, stickers, and magnets. I'm sure you can think of a lot of different ways you can put this pretty picture onto a perfect gift for someone this Christmas. Some of you have asked about Why Does It Always Rain On Me? stickers. Well, now you can print your own from this collection of 19 different designs. He's so cute and sad with his little rain cloud. You know that grumpy friend or family member would appreciate this! And perhaps you'd like to vandalize every book you own with some stickers you could print out non-stop.Finally, there's a digital collage sheet of 48 different Mrs. McRooney Mice images taken from many of my ACEOs, prints, and bookmarks. Anyone with a soft spot for furry little friends would love a pendant made from one of these. There are so many images to choose from that you'll be able to find something for everyone.

I hope you'll find these high resolution (300 dpi) digital collage sheets useful for your crafting and your Christmas gifting ideas. You can also use them for scrapbooking and for making some pretty darn cute cards. They currently come in 1 by 1 inch squares, but if you'd like them in a different shape or size, please let me know.

Have a happy craft-filled day!

BUY 3 ACEO GET 1 FREE SALE in my shop!

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:14:00 +0000

If you've been eyeing my art for a while and didn't want to make the leap yet, now's the time! I have a SALE going on in my shop! Buy 3 ACEOs and you'll get 1 free! That means that you can be a thoughtful friend to 3 different people, and reward yourself with a favourite 4th ACEO for free!
This is also a good time to collect ACEO series, like the Putting Down Roots series which is a set of four lovely paintings.ACEOs stands for art cards, editions, and originals. They are 2.5 by 3.5 sized collectible art. You can frame them into precious tiny paintings, attach them to photo clip displays, and paste them onto cards to make beautiful, artistic cards. You can also tuck them neatly into Christmas cards to send to loved ones, making them an easy-to-send gift.
With a sale going on, it's a perfect time to think about some distant relatives and friends that you might want to send a special little something to. But don't delay! The sale ends on November 30th, 2009.

I hope you have a wonderful, art-filled day!

Icy Blues Treasury

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I made it into a treasury titled "Icy Blues" today and Why Does It Always Rain On Me? was featured! I'm so delighted :)How is your day going? I'm mostly job searching today and filling in lots of application forms :)

Felt Owl Ornament Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:28:00 +0000

I wanted to show you something I've been working on lately! These are Felt Owl Ornament Tags. You can use them as snazzy tags for your presents, or use them to decorate and accessorize your home. I discovered that they make pretty adornments on a bouquet of flowers, and I know they would make great Christmas tree ornaments.
Here they are without raffia tags yet. They're really fun when grouped together.
I am looking forward to using them on my gift packages, and I think you will like them too. You can find them as singles or sets of 3 in my shop.
Have a happy owly day!

The Winner For A Slice of Delight's Giveaway Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Alright! You've been eagerly waiting to find out who won, and I didn't want to disappoint you, so I conducted the most scientific of processes tonight - names in a hat! (Well, it wasn't quite a hat...)I first began by writing the names of all the contestants onto paper and folding them up. Extra entries had their names written extra times. There were a lot of entries (Good job, contestants!), so that took me a while.
Finally, I had all my folded slips of paper ready!
I dropped them into my makeshift "hat" (a.k.a. a glass vase)
and reached in to pick a name
Wait! It's not scientific enough! Stirring is required!
So I stirred a lot, did a drum roll, and picked out a name.
And the lucky winner of the asliceofdelight giveaway contest is.... jewelrybyjanelle50!
Congratulations, jewelrybyjanelle50! A Slice of Delight is ready to send you your new designer soap! Jewelrybyjanelle50 chose the Lime Slice because she thought it sounded really refreshing. Well, now she can bask in her refreshing lather feeling quite smug at having won it all by herself! Oh yes.
Feeling disappointed that you didn't win? Well, goshdarnit go pamper yourself and buy some of your coveted soap! What are you waiting for? You don't have to settle for ONE bar even! You can go for a whole lot of them! Start thinking about it. You could try a different designer soap every day :) This could be the ultimate bath time of the century for you.

Oh, and she's got some new soaps in the shop that you didn't see before. Berrylicious, Lemon Meringue, FROG soap... you must have a peek!
I want to thank you everyone for playing along and participating in this giveaway. It's been a lot of fun, and I hope you will join in again next time!

Have a great, fabulous soap day!

Finding Inspiration - The Resources You Need To Succeed

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:21:00 +0000

In exploring what I want to do next in my career life, I took a course called Career Builder Plus at Douglas College. It was a ten day program, and it focused on finding out what it was exactly that inspired each of us, motivated us, and gave our lives meaning. If we could discover this very crucial information, we could find direction to pursue the career of our dreams. We were tired of jobs we didn't like, didn't love, or simply didn't care about.

In the duration of that program, I was introduced to the inspirational speaker, Les Brown. I found that he really did have the power to motivate me and give me some hope for finding the right job for me. I vowed to watch more inspirational talks when I felt down and out, simply as pick-me-uppers when things got stale.However, I soon lost sight of this until today when my friend sent me a link to a marvelous site called TED.com. TED is a nonprofit organization committed to spreading the best ideas in the world for free. There are videos galore and you can learn so much, that's it's really quite unbelievable. In particular today, I watched a talk by Seth Godin on standing out, and a talk by Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation. If you're remotely interested in business (you run an Etsy shop, manage people, etc), you should check these out. Seth Godin talks about how marketing has changed. It has gone from bombarding people with information until they buy your product to standing out so that they will pay attention to you and spread the word on your behalf. Dan Pink talks about how some companies suffocate innovation and creativity by using extrinsic motivation instead of intrinsic motivation.
Seth Godin also has another talk on "the tribes we lead". Something that stood out for me in that talk was his observation that people want to be missed. They want to know that they will be missed when they are gone, and that our jobs as tribe leaders (companies, managers, etc) is to make sure that our customers and employees feel missed when they are gone. In other words, people want to feel like they belong and that they have value. If you can make your customers and contacts feel like they are missed and valued, then you will touch a chord with them and be able to reach them.

In finding inspiration to succeed, it has been important for me to look first inward to learn more about myself, and then to look outwards to find inspiration in the world around me. It appears that there are websites out there like TED.com that want to help you to succeed. Did you know that there are even more? In your local community, for example, is a library where you can read the latest books and magazines for free! There is a wealth of information there. And if you lose your job, you can go to the employment centers and find a case manager that can help you find free resources to job search, career search, and possibly get funding for education. In fact, some courses funded by the government will actually pay you a wage while you take the courses for free. Entrepreneurial courses, for example, apply to this.
You are not alone. There are people that want to help you, and to listen to you. They care about you even though they don't know who you are. They care because they're human too, and they go through the same things as you do. Problems, issues, lay offs, divorces, insecurities, stress, anxiety, loss - they go through them too!

So don't be down on yourself. Yes, the economy is bad and things are hard, but you have the ability to learn, to improve, and to change your situation. And, if you need a motivational kick, here it is:

My Awesome Trade From Sunshine Speckles

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:14:00 +0000

A lovely package arrived for me in the mail today. This will be my first real letter written to this address. It's really exciting for me :)Look at the pretty envelope it arrived in! It's actually recycled from an advertisement of some sort, but it's really nice looking and environmentally friendly. I should consider doing something like this. I could save a lot of money on envelopes and make my packaging look better than orangy yellow too! She pasted a pink tag on the front for the address so that it's clearly visible. Clever, clever!
She traced the edges to give the envelope some definition on the back. How ingenious!
Ta da! The inside was super nice too! A lovely note written to me on one of her green, stamped cards. Very nice.
Check out the fabulous peacock feather tags tied with raffia. My goodness it's wonderful! I'm loving how they are wrapped with pretty, wide ribbon too. I'm going to find many uses for that scrap of ribbon later...
Oh gee, these goldfish cards are really something. Oh, and did you notice that I have a windowsill to photograph things on now? It really does light well! I crocheted that little cloth underneath. It was supposed to be a dishcloth, but it was too pretty to use.

I'm really happy with this trade. I'll admit that I wasn't sure what to expect when I started it, but Alison makes the packaging soooo pretty! Christmas gift ideas, anyone? You can find her shop here. It's called Sunshine Speckles because she sends you "little specks of sunshine to brighten your day".

Well, Alison, you've sure brightened mine! Thank you so much!

I hope you all have a wonderful, sunshiney day!

High Speed Internet, How Do I Love Thee

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Today is my happiest day since moving. I finally, FINALLY, have high speed internet again. You can't imagine the pain of having no Internet and then dial-up Internet. I was DYING!

Text-based pages would take moderately long to load, but the second a picture came up I was doomed to sit there for a very long time. "1 of 6 items loaded" it would say. I could go eat dinner and come back. "5 of 6 items loaded" it would inform me. Aaagghhh! It was basically as good as having no Internet.
How did I manage before with dial-up in high school? But I suppose computers in general were slow back then so slow Internet was nothing to complain about. Perhaps there were just less pictures, and definitely less high quality pictures on the Net back then. Well, times have changed. If you use dial-up, you're never going to get any work done :P

Ah, sweet Internet! And because my Internet company didn't show up two weeks in a row for their scheduled appointment, I have been upgraded to Turbo for free. Sweet, sweet Turbo. It's like my long lost lover, ahahahah! I ran a test at speedtest.net and it showed me 12.94 mb of speedy goodness. My old high speed was probably closer to 2 or 3 since its max was 5 mb. You can try running the test on your computer to see what kinds of speeds you're getting and let me know in the comments. I'll be gladly testing the capabilities of 12.94 mb all day today :D
So I'm back with a fury now, and I hope you haven't missed me too much. I did try to pop in and chat when I could. I set up asliceofdelight's giveaway on dial-up, if you can imagine! That was a feat unto itself. I had to load each of her pictures, copy it, and then upload it to Blogger. With high speed that's a cinch, with dial up it takes hours. Most of my day was devoted to waiting for those pictures to load, lol. So if you haven't signed up for her giveaway yet, please do so. The contest ends today, so be quick and enter now! You just have to leave a comment telling me which of her fabulous soaps you want to win from her shop. C'mon, that's a great way to choose a prize! And Christmas is commmmming...

I know, I know, you didn't want me to remind you that Remembrance Day signifies the end of holidays until Christmas. You wanted to think that you don't have to think of Christmas presents yet, but YOU DO! (Noooooooooo!) I can hear you all cringing now. But the reason I mention it is because I stopped by Canada Post and it recommends sending Christmas packages around the first of December in order for them to arrive on time for Europe. Within Canada, December 11 is your cut-off. For lettermail, like cards, it's about December 16 for within Canada, and December 14 to the USA. That doesn't leave you much time to shop if you want something to be sent on time to your loved ones.

I've shown you some great products from different Etsy stores like Marang97, A Slice of Delight, and those lovely sponsors on the left like A Little Bit Of Pretty. There's also my shop Blue Pandemonium. I've introduced you to sales, promotions, and to to the ingenious concept of trading. If you're a shop owner, ask about trading. If you've found something you really love, but the price isn't right, talk to the shop owners and see if you can get a discount. They might offer you free shipping, or a discount for multiple purchases. You'll never know unless you ask.
Anyways, my ode to Speedy Internet is over. I am off to examine a most lovely package that arrived in the mail for me today. Pics coming next! Wheeee~!

The pics in this post are some local Natural life that I have come across. They are so beautiful! Oh wait, the shrooms are from my old place. Lol...

The Much-Anticipated Giveaway from A Slice Of Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:05:00 +0000

It's finally here, the moment you've been waiting for - the giveaway from asliceofdelight. Oh, it's going to be a good one. You're looking for the perfect, thoughtful gift for yourself, er, I mean for your family, and you loooove good smells and that freshly cleaned feeling. Oh yes.

You want the best soap out there, and yes, you want someone to just practically give it to you. Well then, what are you waiting for? Enter for this awesome giveaway now!

A Slice of Delight features bright and cheery soaps that ruffle your senses. They're fun to use, and they make you feel good. Her soaps are packaged in cello bags that are certified biodegradable and compostable. The tag and raffia tie can also be recycled, and one of her ingredient suppliers is only a bicycle ride away! How's that for environmentally friendly :)

The product ingredients come from reputable soaping industry suppliers, so you can rest easy in your luxurious quality lather.

A Slice of Delight, is offering you the chance to win one of her amazing handcrafted glycerin soaps. What kind of soap, you ask? Your kind of soap! You have the opportunity to pick your favourite soap variety from her shop, and she will send one to you! How fantastic is that?

But that can't happen if you don't enter her giveaway, so here's how to do that.

1. Leave a comment on this post, telling me which soap you would like to win from asliceofdelight's Etsy shop. There are so many great soaps to choose from and they look so darned cute! (1 entry) In the case that your favourite soap is sold out, you can pick another favourite flavour!

2. Become a follower of this blog, and leave a comment here telling me that you have done so. (1 extra entry)

3. Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment here telling me that you have done so (1 extra entry)

4. Twitter about this giveaway and leave a comment here telling me that you have done so (1 extra entry)

5. Become a Facebook or Twitter fan of asliceofdelight and leave a comment here telling me that you have done so for each (1 extra entry each)

6. Heart asliceofdelight's shop or my shop, and leave a comment here telling me that you have done so (1 extra entry)

6. Make a purchase from asliceofdelight, and you will gain 2 extra entries EACH per soap purchased. You know you see some great gifts in this shop, so take the leap now and you could get more soap FREE for yourself :)

This contest is only open to residents of Canada and USA. Contest ends on November 13, so enter now!

Enjoy!

Whirlwind Move To A NEW HOME

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:21:00 +0000

Sorry for any delays in emails and postings! I've been moving to a new house! Phewf! Has it ever been taxing.

I don't actually have Internet set up yet, so I'm sneaking in a quick post during a break in class :)

The new house is great! It's red and white, just like my old place, and it's on a hill, just like my old place. The only difference is that it's a house instead of a townhouse. Otherwise, I'd have to do a double take! Heheheh... There's a really big gardening area though, so I'll have fun showing you what I do with that later on!

Right now, we're focused on unpacking and cleaning. We don't even have a couch yet! The house is really hollow and you can hear an echo when you talk. I think that will change once the carpeting and furniture get put in. It's a pretty nice place, and my mother seemingly loves it. I'm getting used to it too, but it was hard for the first two days. I really missed my old place because I had grown up there and my room was my hideout. At night, I felt like a hermit crab that had been forcefully removed from its shell and I would leave a little light on because it was frightening to be in a new home.

I don't have any pictures here at school to post, but I'll add some later on for you to see. I'm the first one in my family to have their room all set up, partly because I was so hell-bent on making it feel like home again. The rest of them are still sleeping on mattresses on the floor while my room, well, it looks like my room again already, and it's been scrubbed from ceiling to baseboards.

Anyways, I have to get back to class. I have a giveaway to do this week, but you'll have to stay posted for that to happen starting on Tuesday or Wednesday instead when my Internet gets set up again. I apologize sincerely for that, especially to asliceofdelight, but I want to do it right instead of pell-mell right now.

I wish you all sweet dreams, and happy home-making. I'll be wishing the same for myself :P

Winner For The Marang97 Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:22:00 +0000

It's that moment you've been waiting for - did you win? I know the anticipation is killing you, so before I cause any undue stress or a shortened lifespan, here is the winning entry from the Marang97 Carnation Giveaway...

And the winner is...Congratulations to AnastasiaC for being the lucky winner of the Marang97 giveaway! AnastasiaC's favourite carnation was the Blue Carnation Flower Pin.A HUGE thank you to all who entered! If you didn't win in this giveaway, don't fret! A lovely handmade carnation can still be yours if you head over to Marang97's shop. I noticed that she has some new and pretty flowers listed. It's okay to replace your disappointment with a little shopping. It's good for you. Well, at least that's what I always tell myself...If you reeeeally can't wait until the next giveaway (and there ARE more coming), then you can head over to ArtTales fabulous blog, and enter her giveaway for Lucky, the perfect pet rhino. Once you see him, you will know you want him. You will want to spam her blog with your entries - which I happily did :) But what you will really want to do, is to buy her Leftz. Go have a peek and see why!

Happy shopping!

ZBrush Night Class Day Two

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:28:00 +0000

I am happy to report that there has been some progress made in learning ZBrush! Hurray! Here's a time line for my latest homework assignment, a lion head door knocker. We were allowed to use any reference material, so I used a lovely stone lion head image that I found on the Internet. I thought he would make a great lion head door knocker! I didn't follow it to a T, but it was a useful guideline.I started off with an image plane and began to pull the general shape of the lion head out.I started adding details like the nose, snout, etc. And pushed in some eye sockets.Here, I'm reshaping some of the facial proportions to fit my image better. He was a bit too narrow before.I went up a level of detail in ZBrush (you can go from a very low level of detail to higher levels of details by subdividing the mesh), and this lets me smooth things out and add some finer things like eyes. You can see the details better when the mesh has been subdivided, but it's good to work in general shapes with the lower subdivisions.With more subdivisions available, I can now give the eyes a cuter shape and work on the lovely lion's mane. I just keep working on the mane to make it lush and full all around, including the top and around the ears. ZBrush is so intuitive for this kind of thing. I really love it.As you can see, ZBrush lets you change the appearance of the material at any time quite easily. It defaults with this waxy red material, but I like to work with the lighter gray since I can see the shadowy parts better when it's brighter.

I have done some more reshaping of the face at this point and pinched up the center of the fur on the mane to define the tufts more. I have also added the knocker.With the main fur sections more defined, I continued to work on building up the details of the lion's mane. This was quite tricky to draw smoothly, so I had to use a tool called Lazy Mouse to help keep the strokes more even. I'm not sure why it works, but it does. The general idea is that the line drops down slower than your mouse, and the lazy winding somehow draws smoother lines. It took a long time to draw all that fur, but the end result was pleasing. I added some more detail to the eyes (like the tear duct), and I called it a day. It was hard work for a beginner, but very good for only day two of ZBrush class. Remember Day One of this class?It looks kind of scary with the metal colour because the eyes look beady, lol.

I am looking forward to another fruitful day tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the teacher will give it a good mark :)

Have a great day!

New Tags And Who Won The Anti-Stress Bot Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:14:00 +0000

I am so delighted to show you some new tags I have available in the shop. I have had a lot of comments on how much people have liked the "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" painting, and recently I've been asked if I could make some tags out of the image. Well, your wish is my command! Here are some really adorable "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" tags! The edges have been scalloped to give it a really cutesy feel (as if the image wasn't cute enough), and the tags are tied with satiny blue curling ribbon. These tags would really brighten up any package, despite the unfortunate little blue bird's predicament.
The tags are backed with cardstock in a coordinating, but relatively simple pattern. This makes it perfect for writing a quick To and From, or a thoughtful little note from you.

They are packaged in a cello sleeve for protection and pleasing presentation. You could include a set in a letter to a friend, or as a gift enclosure in a Christmas card.Next up, is a new set of Little Singing Bird Tags. They are back by popular demand! This time, they are made from pretty cardstock cut outs instead of fabric cut outs. This particular set looks really pretty with the golden floral print and gold ribbon.

Grab them quick, if they fit your fancy as I think they would look endearing on any present.
These tag sets and others can be found in my Etsy shop.
Now for the moment you've all been waiting for - the results to the Anti-Stress Bot Marigold Seed Giveaway!

... drum roll, please!

The winner of the Anti-Stress Bot Marigold Seed Giveaway is...
That makes the winner AIK!!! Congratulations to AIK, and thank you everyone for playing! If you haven't entered the giveaway from Marang97 for a lovely carnation flower of your choice, enter now!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

A Fabulous Giveaway from Marang97

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:33:00 +0000

This week I have the pleasure of hosting a giveaway by Angela from Marang97! Marang97 features delightful recycled and ecofriendly creations, including art work and fashion accessories by Angela Pennock.

Angela is offering you the chance to win one of her really wonderful fabric carnations up to a value of $7.50 from her shop. You must check it out! They are really lovely.HOW TO ENTER
To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post telling me what marvelous flower you would like to win from Marang97's Etsy shop. Feel free to list more than one favourite in case your chosen item is sold before you can snatch it up.

HOW TO GET EXTRA ENTRIES AND SHOPPING DISCOUNTS
To get extra entries, you can follow this blog, blog about this giveaway, or Twitter about this giveaway. Make sure to leave an extra comment(s) so that your extra ballots are entered.

Marang97 is also happy to offer a SHOPPING DISCOUNT to contestants, so hurry on over and start your Christmas/Me-time shopping now! You will gain TWO extra ballots if you make a purchase during this giveaway period. Make sure your extra ballots are counted by leaving a comment in your 'Note to Seller' or by leaving a comment here.It's easy to enter and the prize is going to be just what you wanted (since you chose it!) So what are you waiting for? Go to Marang97.etsy.com now and pick your prize!

Contest and discounts end October 26, 2009.
Have fun!

Trading For Bunnies

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:43:00 +0000

My recent new love is trading on Etsy. You find equivalent value items between your two shops, and just send them to each other! You still check out, but neither party pays, and Etsy still gets their fees. Everyone is happy :)My first trade arrived! Hurrah! A package pour moi!
I eagerly tear it open!
Oh look, a cute foam heart sticker holding a message for me! That's a nice touch.
And then for the best part! Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies! Postcards, magnets, cards... I'm in bunny heaven!
Oh bunnies, how do I love thee? You are just so darn adorable. Sigh, those cute floppy ears...

Thanks so much, yenspiration!

Have a happy bunny-filled day! Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Kid Bot on Craft Gawker

noreply@blogger.com (Mytutorlist.com) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:53:00 +0000

Another proud moment for Blue Pandemonium Toys and Art! It's Kid Bot on Craft Gawker. Bless them!