Macy's Elf Adventure Contest

Hello Everyone! Happy Wednesday to you! My friend Jill has been entered into the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade contest and I would like to help her elf Dauber win! She was one of the 85 that are picked to be the new Elf Balloon in the parade.  Voting is until September 6th!! Go vote!!!  :)

This is her Elf. # 17 The Painter.  He is super cute! 

You can vote HERE: http://apps.facebook.com/macyself/?entryId=1541953&type=1

Here is another picture of Mr. Elf # 17. Check out the website and vote! Everyone watches the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade! Now you will have a reason to watch to see if he made it as the 2011 elf!!

Graffiti Art

Last night after watching HGTV's Design Star I watched an art documentary "Guerrilla Art" by Sebastian Peiter.
First of all when did Design Star get down to the final 4?? I must have missed a few episodes. Also I thought for sure Meg would have been gone earlier. She was the only one who really pulled off designing a whole room.

Ok so onto the Guerrilla Art Documentary...
you can watch it here: http://www.urbanartcore.eu/guerilla-art-documentary/

The documentary started off by saying graffiti art started in the late 70's which changed the streets of New York. Recently the art was in the streets and on trains and they are now finding their way into art galleries.
The artists that were featured in the documentary were: Futurua 2000, Rama al vee, Espo, Blek le Rat, Banksy, Invader, Miss Van, Faile, Obey, Swoon, Barry McGee, and Os Gemos.

BLEK LE RAT:

Blek le Rat inspired Banksy. 

This was Blek le Rat's first stencil. He said he liked the word rat because it has art in it, and because rats spread like the plague and that is what his art does.

http://alturl.com/depe9

http://alturl.com/me4mf

Blek le rat's website: http://bleklerat.free.fr/

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 SPACE INVADER:

Virus creatures using cement tiles and glue.

http://alturl.com/me4mf

http://alturl.com/8qdab

http://alturl.com/mmwhd

You can see Space Invaders' website here: http://www.space-invaders.com/

He has invaded Paris, New York, London, and Tokyo. He sells maps so you can find where each of his little virus creature is.

____________________________________

OS GEMEOS:

Inspired by Brazilian Folklore

http://alturl.com/bujfa

http://alturl.com/fo2dx

http://alturl.com/w7d94

Os Gemeos' website: http://www.lost.art.br/osgemeos.htm

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Miss Van:

Female Graffiti Artist

http://alturl.com/jfcfd

http://alturl.com/2ojds

http://alturl.com/j579z

Miss Van's website: http://www.missvan.com/

Manic Monday

It's Monday! Can you feel it? I can. I'm still tired from the weekend. We had a great time Friday night. We went to Ruby Tuesday and then to the Comedy show. The third guy was the best. Samuel something. I need to figure out his full name so I can find him. My parents came bright and early Saturday morning to help me move. They filled up the truck, and it took me 3 car loads to get everything out of the old place and into the new. 3 Car loads??!! That is just insane. Wow I have way too much stuff. I guess it's time to go through my clothes and see what I don't need, and throw away the things that I felt the need to hang onto. I have like 3 "overnight bags". Why do I need 3 bags?

It is going to take some time getting used to not having a TV. I watch way too much tv. This will force me to use my time doing something else. I woke up this morning to my roomie turning on music in the kitchen.  Nothing like a little Jack Johnson to get you dancing as you get ready. How can your day go wrong when you have music to get ready to?! I re-heated my breakfast from yesterday went to pull it out of the microwave and totally burnt three fingers on my right hand. I screamed, but somehow managed to hold onto the plate without dropping it and shattering it. I'm thinking those ceramic plates are NOT microwavable. I've put ice on my fingers three times this morning already and my goodness they still hurt.

Thursday I leave for Florida. I started throwing things in last week. I really packed last night. This way I won't forget something and I can continue to edit and remove things. As of now I think I have too many clothes and shoes and it's not all going to fit into my suitcase. I can't believe I'm going to Florida! I am so excited.

Well I think that is all for today. My fingers hurt to type!

Comedians, Moving Boxes, and Wedding Banned!

It's Friday! Woo!! Tonight I am going to see Pete Correale at Chicago's Improv for my friend's birthday. I think there is about 8-10 of us going. It should be a really good time. I heard Pete is really funny. Plus look how cute he is!

Here is his bio on the website:

One of the most requested acts in the comedy chains selling more tickets than any new artist, Pete Correale was recently named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the top 10 comics to watch. The debut showing of Correale’s first one-hour Comedy Central special, “The Things We Do For Love,” scored the network’s key 18-24 male demographic. Among all viewers ages 18-49, “The Things We Do For Love” posted an impressive 96% retention rate. Pete is a veteran of the comedy club and festival circuit as well as television talk shows like “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Night with David Letterman” and “Last Call with Carson Daily.” He co-hosted the Sirius satellite radio show “Breuer Unleashed” with former SNL star Jim Breuer for four years; the two have reunited for a new iTunes chart topping podcast, “The Podcast Masters.” Correale has also taken his act international at Ireland's Kilkenny Cat Laughs Comedy Festival and was invited to perform in London, England on the BBC/Comedy Central show "The World Stands Up.”  He appeared in 2008 and 2009 on the third annual Jameson Comedy Tour and in April, he headlined the historic first-ever Beirut Stand Up Comedy Festival in Lebanon.

Chicago Improv's website:  http://www.improv.com/

Saturday my parents are coming down to help me move, and then later in the afternoon Justin is coming down for the weekend. I think we will either go golfing (I keep telling him I will go with him) or check out Palatine's Summer Festival and see the band Wedding Banned.  For my Wisconsin friends they are as big as Super Tuesday. Maybe even better! I really like Wedding Banned. Their routine is as if you are at a 80's wedding reception. I always have a good time since I know almost every song they play.

Wedding Banned's website:  http://www.weddingbanned.com/regindex.html

All About Roses

Roses haven't been on my radar of favorite flowers for years because everyone gets roses and they didn't seem as special to me anymore.  I used to say I would much rather get a single exotic flower over a dozen roses. I wanted to see that the person put thought into the gift instead of just walking into the flower shop and buying a dozen roses. However my friend's sister got purple roses in a silver vase that really caught my eye as a wow I've never seen that before. I love the color purple. So I wanted to see what kind of colors roses come in now:

Pretty isn't it??!

The other thing I forgot about was tipped roses.  

My roommate has a bouquet of fallish looking roses that are tipped orange. 

Wow! These are pretty crazy.

I think these are pretty not as a gift but as a table centerpiece.

Neat idea that you can personalize messages onto your roses.

What is your favorite flower?? I would love to hear from my followers!!

Guilty Pleasures

I'm not sure I can properly express my love for Essie's current ad campaigns. I love that they have the actual nail polish dripping onto an object so you can see its true color. I also love the quote with the Essie signature which gives it a personal touch.

I love the colors and their names.  The far right sea foam green is called "absolutely shore" 

The light pink is called "Made to Honor"

The Fair Game is an interesting color. This is the Resort Collection.

Yum!!!!! 

I love wearing brown clothing, but never thought of brown nail polish. 

Check out their website for all of the gorgeous colors. 

And the homepage shows various colors with the nail polish dripping down the objects.

http://www.essie.com/

I like these: 

Smooth Sailing 

Turquoise and Caicos

What is your "color" for the summer?? 

The Art of Fancy Lettering

This morning I thought I would post about calligraphy.  My mom bought me a calligraphy set when I was in middle school that I really enjoyed practicing letters. When I was home last I tried finding the set to see if the ink hadn't dried up yet, but I couldn't find it.

I was thinking about calligraphy this morning on my way to work and if it is still popular or one of those dying techniques. I'm not sure if anyone hand writes calligraphy anymore but it is definitely alive and well on computers. www.etsy.com has quite a few calligraphers to create stationary for you.

I have 2 calligraphy blog sites I follow:

Notes: A Calligraphic Journal- http://contemporarycalligraphy.blogspot.com/
Alice posted a really interesting blog on calligraphy drawn into the sand.

http://contemporarycalligraphy.blogspot.com/2010/01/out-of-africa.html

and
A Lucky Orchid Wedding- http://www.luckyorchidweddingblog.com/
Laura is a full time calligrapher who creates wedding invitations, envelopes and custom-designed maps.
Her maps are really interesting and personalized for that wedding.

This is a picture of one of her custom-made maps of the town/city someone is getting married in with little details of the wedding.

_________________________________________________________________

Ok now for fun examples of calligraphy.  Of course we have to check out my new favorite website etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62606731/dachshund-or-wiener-dog-art-calligram-or?ref=sr_gallery_13&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query

=calligraphy&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_

search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

http://www.etsy.com/listing/72432832/small-calligraphy-initial-necklace-in?ref=sr_gallery_26&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=

calligraphy&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search

_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77521226/arabic-calligraphy-art-painting-on?ref=sr_gallery_16&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=

calligraphy&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_

search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79819954/isaiah-54-10-calligraphy-framed-print?ref=sr_gallery_28&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=

calligraphy&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_

noautofacet=1&ga_page=4&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade%2Fart

This has inspired me to go back to my parent's house and try to find my old calligraphy set or buy a new one. Absolutely gorgeous lettering. I always enjoyed writing cursive letters and words.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Good Monday Morning Everyone! Did you have a good weekend? I had a great weekend. Saturday I was going to go to the Farmer's Market and then to Olbrich Botanical Gardens but it rained until about 9 or 9:30 so I stayed in bed. Once the rain cleared I drove to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens to walk around and take pictures.  If you have never been or if it has been years since you have gone back I highly recommend checking out Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. I think the last time I was there I was 14 or so and we went to see the Butterfly Exhibit. I'm not sure if we walked around outside or not. So it felt like I was walking around it for the first time. It was truly magical. The crickets were chirping, butterflies were dancing around the air and the flowers were starting to turn towards the sun after the beating of the rain. Every section at the Gardens was beautiful.  I think I took about 84 pictures which I won't make you look through. But I did choose a few of my favorites. I found a major theme when I was taking pictures: I saw a lot of hibiscus plants, and I was drawn to taking pictures of man-made and nature. I loved the straight geometric lines from the trellises and soft organic lines from the plants and flowers.

Ok time for the lovely pictures:

This is the entrance and the butterfly exhibit is in that glass greenhouse.

Absolutely perfect conditions to take photos. Not a lot of people walking around yet, and the rain drops were still on the leaves and flowers.

I couldn't believe how HUGE the Hibiscus flowers were. Look its the size of my hand! So gorgeous!

You walk over a little bridge and they have this gorgeous gold Thai Pavilion. 

I hope you enjoyed my pictures and they inspire you to check out Olbrich Botanical Gardens if you are in the area. http://www.olbrich.org/

Ads of the World

Inspiration Friday! I found some fun and exciting advertisements to share with everyone.

You can visit the Ads of the World website here to see the ads I posted: http://adsoftheworld.com/

Who Wants To Host A Party?

Kim, my newest follower posted awhile back on her blog (you can check out her awesome food and cake decorating blog) here: http://ksheyne.blogspot.com/   about a website called House Party:

http://houseparty.com/

So you sign up on their website, fill in a little information about yourself and then they send you notifications about upcoming parties you can host.  So you have to agree to use their website to help you invite at least 10 friends, write a comment before and after you host the party, and they will send you enough products for the number of friends that attend that party.  

I have recently applied to host 2 parties: Johnsonville Brat Pizza party which will include in my party pack: coupons, apron, pizza sauce spreader, pizza cutter and a few other items.  I have also applied for a Chef Boyardee party.  

It is a free website to join, you don't have to sell anything to your friends, or buy anything. If you are chosen to throw a party they send you the party pack to help get you started. The concept is that you and your friends are trying a new product to see if you like it and then spread the word.  It is as simple as that.  I know Kim has hosted 4 parties.

Check out the website for more information... http://houseparty.com/

Guerrilla Marketing

I just finished another marketing book- "Guerrilla Marketing, easy and inexpensive strategies for making big profits from your small business" To me guerrilla marketing is "The Truth" anti-smoking campaign. http://www.thetruth.com/

The author Jay Conrad Levinson first breaks down the difference between traditional marketing and guerrilla marketing. He then lists the 16 Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing. (Commitment, investment, consistent, confident, patient, assortment, subsequent, convenient, amazement, measurement, involvement, dependent, armament, consent, content, and augment. He tells you the steps on how to develop a marketing plan and the various marketing methods you can use- radio, telephone, tv, internet, newspaper, magazine, direct mail, and outdoor signs and billboards.

Chapter 7- Secrets of Saving Marketing Money, is a really great chapter. This chapter is definitely a big reason as to why you need to read this book and save your company money.  Here are a few examples from the chapter: 1. You can barter with radio stations and newspapers to get what you want at a fraction of the cost. 2. Cooperative Advertising Funds- Large advertisers will pay small advertisers who mention their name or logo on their ads. 3. Remnant space- Magazines will sell advertising space at a discounted price for the pages and spots they can't fill.

The book is then broken down into Minimedia Marketing, Maximedia Marketing, and New Media Marketing. Minimedia Marketing is circulars, brochures, classified advertising, and bulletin boards.  Maximedia Marketing is newspapers, magazines, radio, television and outdoor advertising. New Media Marketing is blogs, podcasts, email, your website, SEO (search engine optimization), and webinars. Each section breaks down each marketing method and gives you tips and secrets on how to master each one and save you money.

This is Jay's Guerrilla Marketing Association website: http://guerrillamarketingassociation.com/

You can also check out his other website: http://www.gmarketing.com/  It has articles on guerrilla marketing, presentations, coaching advice, the many books he has written, and his blog.

This is his tip of the day:
Push the envelope

The direct mail letter gets 70% of your orders, the brochure 20%, and the order form 10%. But none of these items will be seen if the envelope doesn't grab their attention. Personalize with stamps and hand-written addresses. Try using bright colors, rubber stamp and post-it effects.

This is the book I read You can find it at the Amazon website:

http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Marketing-4th-Inexpensive-Strategies/dp/0618785914/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311262483&sr=1-2

Glistening Tree Tops

I finished the painting I was working on last night for my office. My boss retired a month ago and we have a new boss who let us re-arrange the office. She painted some of the walls and bought new art. One of my co-workers said I should paint something to hang on our side of the room. She said she wanted something bright, abstract and with trees. Last night I just had to finish the tree leaves. I think I spent about 5-6 hours on it.

Here is the finished piece:

I have pictures of my process, but forgot to add them to my jump drive. I will add them to this post after work.

My favorite part is the bottom with the various shades of blue. It is always funny how you finish a painting and you know what not to do the next time or what you will change if you do the painting again.