Time to update the blog!

Wow! I had no idea how time could pass so quickly and then realized it has been months and months since I posted to the blog.  I’ve been so busy working on the Vintage Image Madness site that I lost all track of the blog.  My bad!

I’ve uploaded over 2,000 vintage images to the site already!  I have probably another 1,200 to 1,500 vintage holiday / greeting postcards to scan and edit and upload.  Not to mention the close to 400 vintage photos that I rescued from sure oblivion recently.  These old photos are “instant relatives” and I have no idea about anyone in them - they are all different, from different parts of the country and range from cabinet cards to snapshots.  These “instant relatives” need new life breathed into them and are ready for a new adventure.  Be sure to check out the shoppe to see these over the next few weeks.

The latest upgrade to the shoppe went fairly well and the new features are wonderful!  I love the hover view, the ability to create a lightbox and be able to email the lightbox to a friend.  Totally fun and addicting.

I’ve set up a photo gallery with all the customer creations that I’ve received recently.  These are not for sale but surely are lots of fun to look at and get inspiration from.  I wish I had MORE to share with everyone.

Also, I noticed that I haven’t added any new pics of Andrew in over a year! Again, my bad.  He’s almost two now and quite a charmer.  I’ll try to get new photos up soon, I promise!

Books

I’ve added a new page to the site showing books that I either LOVE or have just gotten or just would love to have!  Enjoy perusing the catalog of art books!

Visit the Vintage Ephemera Society!

I have been happily reading many articles on the Vintage Ephemera Society’s website.  This is a wonderful resource and has great little articles of collector’s just like me and their collections of different ephemera.  I highly recommend a visit to this site, just make sure you have some time and a nice cup of coffee.  There’s lots to see and read - the vintage images alone is well worth the visit!

Here’s the direct link:  http://www.ephemerasociety.org/index.html

I especially liked reading the following articles:

The Secret Life of Victorian Cards - http://www.ephemerasociety.org/articles/victoriancards.html

My World of Ephemera and Welcome to It - http://www.ephemerasociety.org/articles/dew.html

Goldfish: An Initial Victorian Trade Card Perspective - http://www.ephemerasociety.org/articles/finley.html

Valentines — The Language of Love - http://www.ephemerasociety.org/articles/rosin.html

Enjoy your visit! 

Shoppe is now open!

I have finally gotten my vintage image shoppe up and running.  You’ll now be able to find lots of images pre-1923 available for download for a very reasonable cost.  These images are all 300 dpi and ready for your digital collages!  I have over 250 images out there right now and have many more to come, check back often as I will be adding to them frequently. 

 If you’ve found my shoppe by stopping by and reading this blog, enter the code “blog15″ and save 15% on your shoppe order (coupon code valid through 9/15/06)!

Going Postal Chunky book swap complete

The chunky book swap with the theme “going postal” has been completed and all the packages have been mailed out to the players!  Check out the amazing artwork in the gallery section of the website.  Kelly Parsons won the “best in swap” prize with her artwork, congratulations Kelly!

Now offering “Mother’s Bracelets”

Finally got going and set up a page on my site to offer the Mother’s bracelets that I’ve been making off and on since Christmas! I recently got orders for 5 more and thought I really ought to put them up on the site.

Information about them is available on the “Bracelets” link above. Pictures of completed bracelets will be available soon on this page as well.

They are personalized and made from sterling silver beads and findings! They make lovely gifts!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew is celebrating his 1st birthday on June 8th! We are very excited and I designed his birthday invitation this year for all his friends and family. I can’t believe that a whole year has gone by already, it truly seems like yesterday we were on our way to the hospital to have him.

Pics of Carl Racing

I’m always showing artwork and pictures of Andrew, so I thought I had better post a picture of my DH doing his favorite activity, racing his road bike. This picture was taken at a crit race in New Hampshire at NHIS in April.

Shutterstock

I’m very excited about having my photos approved at Shutterstock!  The post below shows the most current images I have available and my most popular images.  This is just a small snapshot of my gallery!  Since I was approved in early April, I have had downloads every day - lot’s of fun!

If you’re an aspiring photographer, you can join too!

Submit Photos to Shutterstock and make $$$!

Photos Approved!

 	 		My latest images for sale at  		Shutterstock:

  	 	 	  	
 	 		My most popular images for sale at  		Shutterstock:

  	 	 	 	

Exciting News!

I am very excited to announce my new role on the ARTchix Studio Yahoo Group! I am now a co-moderator of the group and the Super Organizer. My duties include managing the database, file maintenance, approving swaps and general moderation of the group. I’m thrilled beyond words! I love this group of artists and I especially LOVE anything ARTchix so this is a great fit for me!

Please, if you’ve never shopped at ARTchix Studio, you are in for a real treat!
Go here: www.artchixstudio.com

If you’d like to join this Yahoo Group, go here:

Website Update!

With the very much appreciated help of my webmaster friend, Dave, I have begun converted the gallery to flash based picture albums. Click on the “Pictures” link above and you’ll find an album of pictures of my little man, Andrew. It’s hard to believe he’s 6 months old now! He is definitely the love of my life!

If you’d like to check out Dave’s website and see what other other work he does, go here: www.artopa.com and tell him that I sent you!

ARTchix Vintage Trim ATC swap complete!

This swap is now complete (actually several weeks ago) and I forgot to add a post! I have added ALL the artwork to the photo galleries. So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy a slideshow of 90 wonderfully vintage ATCs with an ARTchix flair!

New Items added to the Shoppe!

ATC Clear Sleeves

I’ve added several new items to the Shoppe today! If you haven’t already checked it out now would be a good time to - these items added are in limited supply and once they are gone, they’re GONE!

I’ve added cigar bands, vintage bingo pieces, tea bag papers and clear ATC sleeves (as shown to the right). This is in addition to the doublecross dominoes, scrabble tiles, vintage trims and various sundry other items that are already in the Shoppe awaiting your perusal.

Enjoy and please feel free to use the “Contact Me” form with any questions or inquiries.

ARTchix Alphabet Chunky Book swap!

The first page for the ARTchix Alphabet Chunky book has arrived! It is absolutely AMAZING!!! I’m so pleased and can’t wait to see all the pages (due January 15th, 2006) and the final completed book. This is going to be so fun and a wonderful little book filled with awesome artwork.

Marcy Hudziak designed the page for the Letter G! She did a marvelous job and each page has a wonderful feel to it - thick, heavy and each one is an original! Lots of layers! The left most is the front and the right is the back of the page. FANTASTIC!!!

ARTchix Vintage Trim ATC swap!

The swap entries for the ARTchix Vintage Trim ATC swap have begun arriving! Check out the gallery of them! I’ll continue to post new artwork as I receive it.

Let’s Go Shopping!

Very exciting news! The shopping cart and items for sale are now up and fully operational!

I’m really thrilled with this and will be adding new items as I get them ready and continue to clean out my craft room. You never know what you might find, so check back often!

Hurricane Katrina Fundraisers

“Art with Heart” Artist Trading Card exchange
I was asked to participate in an art exchange specifically to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina relief. This exchange was facilitated by Tia Bailey and 16 artists participated. We each created a “HOPE” ATC to be auctioned off on eBay as a set (#7353045278 scheduled to end 10/3/05).

UPDATE: This auction ended at $250.17!!!

“Spread Your Wings” chunky book
I participated in a chunky book swap that was hosted by Connie Armitage with the theme “Spread Your Wings”. Connie ended up having one book left over and all the contributing artists agreed to post it on eBay (#7349152842 which ended 9/14/05) with all the proceeds going to Hurricane Katrina relief.

This little book raised $275!!!

New & Improved Website!

Welcome to the “new & improved” website for mainemadness! Please check back often to see what’s going on in my little corner of the world.

The galleries continue to be updated regularly with new artwork and pictures of little Andrew, my pride and joy!

I’ve also created a page to announce new swaps that I am hosting. AND I’ll be adding more content soon that will include “Items for Sale” as I clean out my craft room of extras, magazines, tools and other collage items that I no longer need (OR I have WAY too many of!)

Please feel free to use the “contact me” with comments, questions, to sign up for swaps or just to chat!

Hello Friends!

This is my very own BLOG! I intend to post little things of interest here (as opposed to things of little interest!).

The main focus of this site is the galleries of ATCs, RAKs, cards, etc that I have made, received or contributed to. Please click on the gallery link at the top of the page to view my galleries. These will be updated regularly.

Thanks for stopping by!