And the winner is!

I posted a giveaway last week for an original piece of art and picked the winner today!! I used Random.org for a little help. The number was 2! AnoneMoose!! I will be in touch for your address! Congrats! UPDATE: can you email me? I can't find any contact info for you.

Thanks for all the sweet comments all. I feel good about my decision. During this time though my spark for jewelry making came back so doing a bit of that with my daughter as well!

2nd Annual - It's my birthday but you get the gifts giveaway!!

Hi all!

As some of you know next Friday is my 36th birthday and I'm not dreading it like I was last year! I'm looking forward to it for some strange reason and you all can look forward to some fabulous gifts from some wonderful sponsors! YES that's right GIFTS! I'm giving away things, some are mine to give, others are donated from some wonderful Etsy shops and artist friends. You can start entering by midnight tonight and I will stop the comments on the morning of the 9th. Here's the list of the generous sponsors:

Becky Hilgendorf - 5 Original Art Cards

Amanda Makepeace - Original Frog ACEO

Mindy Murphy Lacefield - Tim's Sally - Acorna Pocket Mirror with bag

Erin Keck - EK Creations - "Love Within Our Reach" mixed media necklace

Shelli Dorfe - DazeyChic - Print of your choice & a journal!

Zuda Gay Pease - Handmade Beads & Pendants - Original Polymer Sunflower Brooch

Amy Kane Smith - Amy Smith Mixed Media -

Handpainted & Stitched Card wallet (OR) a pair of earrings.

Amy Kane Smith Glass - $10 Gift Certificate

Kelly Nelson Warren - Happy Shack Designs - Glass Tile Necklace

Kim Geiser - Persimmons Gal - Original ACEO & A Pair of Earrings

Julia Jewels White - Jewels Dolls - Handmade Christmas Doll

Jodi Marie Foster - 3 Art Dolls Kit
(plastic carry case included, 3 fabric doll forms with materials for embellishing (feathers, beads, face cabs, fibers)

EBSQ - Self Representing Artists - One FREE month of membership!

& Me! - MazerDesign - Original Little Whimsie of your Choice (I have 3 originals left!)

Please be sure to visit these wonderful artist's websites and say hi!

I will announce the 15 winners on my birthday (Oct. 9th)!!

Here's the rules:

1. Add a comment on my blog (this post) to enter (that's not hard right?)

2. Tell me what the best birthday gift you ever received was!

3. If you want bonus points add a link on your blog (tell me about it) about this giveaway and you'll get your name entered 2 more times!

Good luck to all who enter and thanks for playing!! Feel free to pass this along to others as well! OK now go do something nice for someone! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND YOU! :)

It's my 200th post!!

I love giving!

Under the weather and feeling crappy but I wanted to brighten your day! This is my 200th post and I feel like giving you something! I can't believe I've almost been blogging for 2 years! Insane! I think I started in mid-October of 2007. Well on to this giveaway! I am giving away a brand new copy of "Creative Awakenings" - Envisioning the life of your dreams through art. You can read more about the book by clicking the link.

All you have to do is leave a comment and I will pick a number using the random number generator or possibly picking a name out of a hat depending on the amount of entries. I will leave this open for 2 days and will pick the name on Wednesday!

OH also wanted to let you know I'm planning a large birthday giveaway starting Oct. 1st! That's right I'm getting old again so you know what that means, you get the gifts! I have some fabulous artists lined up who are donating some pretty awesome things!! You won't want to miss it. I will run it until my birthday on the 9th and will then pick the multiple winners!! Be on the look out for that!

OK off to blow my nose and drink some tea!

Reminder - Can't keep up is a good thing!!!!

Hi all!

I'm exhausted!!! I have been keeping late nights and taking care of Lo who is still in her cast :( . I just can't keep up with life and my art life together!! I have been selling art like hotcakes which is WONDERFUL! The pieces I have been selling have been big and small alike. I still have my art in 3 places locally and if one sells I have to replace it with a similar sized piece. Well I just sold my very large piece that I didn't even have a chance to blog about yet called "The Earth Laughs In Flowers". It is 24 x 36 and very vibrant. It's light and airy and a different style for me. That same night I sold it I created a new piece called "Whimsical Garden" (same size) in a similar style. The big piece was a focal piece at a local restaurant so I didn't want there to be a bare wall. While there switching out things I met a lady who was looking at my art and may purchase a piece for her sister. The same thing happened before when I was hanging "The Earth Laughs in Flowers" 2 girls were looking at my art while I was hanging it and have since gone around town looking at it! I was busy getting things ready for the "All About Birds" show at the library which will be up for a month as well. I've been scanning prints like crazy and even started a new series called "From the Book" (all originals listed on ArtFire). Busy, busy, busy!!! PHEW!! Tired yet? I am!

This is great! I feel like I'm finally on a roll and all the late nights and constant marketing online is paying off. Thank you to all who have passed on my links or have purchased my art. Because of the sales I have been able to pay off 2 credit cards!! What a good feeling that is!!! Still a ways to go but it's a dent! I need to be debt free!!! THANK YOU!

I just found out last week that I am going to be in an upcoming artisan spotlight on ArtFire in a few weeks!! So I'm busy stocking up my ArtFire shop. If you see a new piece you like it will most likely be listed there. I am trying to generate more sales in that shop now. They have soooo many great features that are very helpful when listing items.

I also wanted to give you a heads up that I will be hosting a giveaway again once I hit post number 200 which is very soon!!! Be on the lookout for that. It may or may not be an original just for you as a thank you.

Well this was long! Here's the photos you've been reading for! LOL

"The Earth Laughs In Flowers" - SOLD

"Whimsical Garden" 24 x 36 Mixed Media

"Adventure Called" - From the Book Series 5 x 7 mixed media

"Keep Branching Out" - From the Book Series 5 x 7 mixed media

"NYC Visit" - From the Book Series 5 x 7 mixed media

"BFF Swoon" - From the Book Series 5 x 7 mixed media

Another cool giveaway!!

Hi all,

I've been discovering a lot of new artisans out there and happened to see this on someone's Facebook today! Check out this great giveaway, the prizes are awesome too!! I LOVE her jewelry!

Enjoy, go enter and good luck!!

BTW still looking for my art mojo!!!

Aimée

PeaPod Necklace Giveaway!

Hi all!

Just saw another great giveaway today! Visit Persimmons Gal's blog!! She's giving away this adorable polymer clay peapod necklace!!! Check her out! She sells some adorable things! Just thought you might like to enter!

Aimée

And the winner is ....

Lucky number 13 which was Jodi Ohl!!! Congrats Jodi! You've won my 4 Bistro prints. I will be contacting you shortly Jodi! You all need to check out Jodi's art!! She's fanta-bu-lous! Jodi is also on the same Etsy team as I am. Metsy (mixed media etsy). You can search Metsy on Etsy and every artist on the team's work will show up.

I just wanted to say thank you so much for entering this giveaway!! I learned so much from your responses and got a lot of great feedback. Thank so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to help an artist out! I truly do appreciate it.

I have already started the clean up process in my shops. I'll no longer be offering bookmarks regularly but may throw some in every now and then. I've also taken out the prints that haven't sold in a super long time. I am going to refocus my energies on series and OOAK pieces. I hope that helps a bit.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I also wanted to thank those of you who have been praying for my Nana. She passed away this past week on the 13th of all days which was her birthday. This is what I wrote the night it happened.

Just wanted you to get the feeling of Nana's surroundings tonight. I am just now getting home. Nana died peacefully tonight and was at peace and surrounded by her children. I left about 15 minutes before to head home with my Dad and Becky. I am relieved but really sad at the same time. I loved this woman more than anything in the world. God was there it was evident in the peace in the room, also the view from her bed was of God's wonderful creatures. We were joking that Nana was Snow White because all of these wild animals were at her window or close to it. Chipmunks playing, squirrels, a badger, 2 young deer, rabbits, various birds. I am not kidding one bit. The animals were all there and not scared at all. The hard part was when 2 cardinals landed on the bench near her window. Cardinals were Nana's favorite birds and were with her at the end.

Again thank you all for your support and blog love!

Aimée

Goals and a Giveaway!!!

I'm a big goofball and needed a laugh! LOL

I don't know about you but I could use a giveaway for all my sweet readers. hmmmm. Any takers? More about the giveaway in a bit. This post is all about goals. I have had a lot of goals in the past that haven't happened due to my laziness or poor planning. Being a mom has taught me that I need to properly plan a day otherwise things just will not happen that you want to happen. I've decided to take that to the next level with my art. My art came about from being bored during the long Northern NY winters we have here. It ignited a passion in me I didn't even know existed until really this past year. I found my niche in Mixed Media and I'm not looking back!!!!! I think it's from all those years of using Photoshop at my old job doing graphic design that did it. Why? Because in Photoshop you use layers to build your compositions and that's exactly like mixed media. I just LOVE it and I think it comes naturally to me because of my previous graphic design experience.

Art = Life to me right now. It makes me happy inside. Lately I have heard that from a lot of people who like my art, it makes them feel happy and that in turn makes me happy all over again! OK so I rabbit-trailed a bit. I'm sorry. Anyways what I was getting at is I'm taking my goals to another level with my art. This year it is my goal to get my art published in at least one publication!! I would love to be in one of those fabulous Somerset Studio publications any one or my favorite Cloth Paper Scissors, I don't care which!!! That is my goal. I'm realizing I'm not making art now that I think people will want to buy, I'm making art that is coming out of my soul. This is helping me with my goal because I have been getting some great exposure lately. I think it helps to say it out loud too!! I have a mental goal list that I plan and hope to accomplish this year. Have you done that too? I think it helps to keep me on track, I probably should write it down.

One of my other goals is to simplify! My art is all over the place and now that I've found my niche I need to simplify my shops. I think I'm getting out of the bookmark biz and may do a sale of those. I am also going to discontinue prints that haven't sold in a year except for a few special ones. Gotta keep it simple and clean!

Last but not least is the never changing lose weight goal! UGH! Seems like it never ends. I am on track though and started the South Beach Diet last week and LOVE the food. So we'll see how I do on phase one and if I'll continue but man it's a struggle!! I know I'm not alone. I'd love to look like this again!

The goofball that I am! This was after losing almost 40# and before Lo.

OK on to the FUN part! The giveaway!!!!

(Part 1) I would love to hear your goals and aspirations this year. What are you planning on doing and how are you going to accomplish it? (Part 2) I'd love to know which of my art is your fave whether it be style, medium or actual piece. This will help me when I'm cleaning up and simplifying my shops!

The prize will be the ENTIRE set of my Bistro series!!! Yes all 4 prints which I normally sell for $40 as a set. These are so great together and would make a colorful addition to your home and hopefully make you really happy!!!!

But wait!!! That's not all folks, for just a little write up on your blog announcing this or if you become a follower of my blog I will throw in a print of choice to you if you're the winner! You can pick another print that you want, any print!! Just let me know that you've done either or both. Also make sure I have a way to contact you. I will leave this giveaway open for a week. Next Sunday I will pick a winner at random using the Random.org integer generator. I hope I've brought smiles to everyone's faces today.

Thanks all for your support, kind words and blog love! I truly appreciate it!

Aimée AKA Mazer

Christmas Giveaway!

Well it's that time of year again! Time to give and be with loved ones. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and STRESS that this time of year usually brings. A lot of times I have to remind myself not to get caught up in it otherwise I'd go nuts!! Like most families I am the one who comes up with gift ideas, I do the shopping and wrapping, I do the cards and mail them out. It can be super stressful but this post is not about STRESS it's about sharing with you!!

I would like you to tell me what the best gift you ever received was, be it something physical, emotional or an event. Just for doing that I am going to pick 2 winners with the random number generator to receive a set of 4 bookmarks. Make sure you tell me which set you would like if you win. You can choose between my Season's Speak set or my Bistro set. These you can keep for yourself or give in a stocking stuffer both are worth $10.

Season's Speak Set

Bistro Set

OK so I'll share with you my story. I think the best gift I ever received was when I found out my boyfriend (now husband of almost 10 yrs) Jason was going to follow me to NY. He went away to school when we were both living in FL, during this time I couldn't find work and my family had just moved back North to NY and I was starting to live on credit. It was getting bad!! I made the gut wrenching decision to move back to NY and I really didn't want to because all of my friends were in FL and I knew Jason would be coming back to FL after school was done. I didn't know if we could survive the distance since we had only been dating 4 months when he left. I was worried sick that it would be over and I knew by that time I had wanted to marry him. I got the phone call from him that he was going to move to NY so we could be together again and I was the happiest I had ever been. He came a few days just before Christmas and we've been together ever since!!! That was the best gift ever!!!!

Now it's your turn! Make sure you tell me how to contact you if you're not a blogger and also which set you would like!!!

Have fun!

Giveaway is open until Saturday at Noon! I will announce the winner then.

Aimée

DRUM ROLL PLEASE ....

And the winners of my birthday giveaway are as follows:


This beautiful set of jewels nicely donated from Hesperion Designs goes to: JanetFaye!

This super cool original piece of art donated from Twisted Figures goes to: Suze


A 3 pack of these lovely cards donated from Cinnamon & Honey goes to: JeweledRabbit

An ACEO print of your choice from Wild Gypsy goes to: CupcakeDD (please contact through her store link and let her know it was for my birthday giveaway, she'll ship direct to you.)

A wonderful bar of handmade artsy soap from Sunbasilgarden goes to: Jen. (she has the best soaps ever!!! I use them all the time. Please contact my friend and soaper Lauren through her shop and she'll take care of the rest, let her know it was for my birthday giveaway.)

A super cute Halloween premade banner was kindly donated by the lovely Belle of Papergirl Productions and this goes to: Krissysart! (Please contact her through her shop as well.)
Now for the gifts I am giving away:

1 Print of your choice from my shop goes to: SusanCone!
1 Print of your choice from my shop goes to: Jenny!
1 Print of your choice from my shop goes to: Miss Knits!
1 Print of your choice from my shop goes to: Miss Bliss!


1 pair of Boo Halloween earrings/print of choice goes to: Donna!

1 bar of Sunbasilgarden's Sweetie Pie Birthday Cake soap from me goes to: Katie & Aubrey!

I want to thank all the lovely people who donated for this birthday giveaway, you would have just gotten prints from me otherwise! Be sure to visit them on their blogs and in their shops! I am putting permanent links under my favorite links on the left so you can always know where to find them. For the people who didn't win this time I'm sorry but I'll be doing more giveaways in the future! Please drop by sometime and say hi! Thank you all for making this birthday special all of your comments were wonderful! Here's to another year!

Blessings to you all!

Aimée

Thank you all for entering my birthday giveaway!!!

365/2, originally uploaded by creativeFlutter AKA MazerDesign.

I will be tallying up the names and entries today and tomorrow and will announce the winners on Sunday! Thanks for making me feel so special and all the sweet birthday wishes! The entries are now closed.

Excuse my photo this was me after waking up this morning. I had no birthday photos yesterday, it was an extremely crazy day.

Thanks for reading my little art blog and I hope you keep visiting, giveaway or not.

Check back by Sunday evening and I'll have the winners posted!

Hugs and blessings!

Aimée

Birthday Giveaway!!!

birthdaygraphic, originally uploaded by creativeFlutter AKA MazerDesign.

Hi all!

As some of you know this Thursday is my 35th birthday, (can we all say woo hoo, without enthusiasm?) I'm not looking forward to turning 35 but you all can look forward to some freebies! YES that's right FREEBIES! I'm giving away things, some are mine to give, others are donated from some wonderful Etsy shops and friends. Here's a sneak peek list to name a few:

Cinnamon & Honey - Handmade Card
The Wild Gypsy - ACEO Print
Hesperion Designs - Necklace
Twisted Figures - Original Art
MazerDesign (me!) A few things, earrings, original art, prints, bar of soap
Papergirlproductions (NEW!) - Premade Halloween Banner
Sunbasilgarden (NEW!) - Bar of Candy Cane Soap

and maybe a few more. Please be sure to visit these wonderful shops and say hi!

My hope is to have everything in by Wednesday or Thursday and have the giveaway between Friday and Saturday. I will announce the winners on Sunday!

Here's the rules:

1. Add a comment on my blog (this post) to enter (that's not hard right?)

2. Tell me which shop you want to win something from

3. If you want bonus points add a link on your blog about this giveaway and you'll get your name entered 3 more times!

Good luck to all who enter!!!!! You'll love the prizes!!! I may post a sneak peek of the items in my flickr account not sure yet! Thanks for entering!

**ANYONE qualifies** international or not! ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND YOU! :)

HELP ME CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY!

Me at about 2 1/2 years old playing the Fall leaves, my fave!

Hi all!

I am going to be having a birthday giveaway HERE on my blog. My 35th birthday is next week, Oct. 9th and I'm looking for people willing to donate an item in this giveaway! It would be exposure for your shop and items because I will be linking your shop to the item itself! What a fun way to get exposure right? Well if you're willing to donate to me to give to others that would be awesome!!! I would have you ship the item to me and then I would ship to the winner. Please contact me via email aimee[at]mazerdesign.com and let me know if you would like to take part in this!!

Thank you!!

Aimée