Oh My.

It's been too long.
I've been so very busy working and working on art stuffs.

I'm ready for a vacation to the Oregon coast!
Yeah, that's not going to happen for quite some time... ;)

I have some exciting news! I received two copies of Craft-In. The book in which I created the cover for. Good news for you is that I am giving one of my copies away!

This is a truly great little gift book. It is actually 12 little books contained in a very cute box. all of the books are about a craft that you can do with a small group of friends. I am in love with the Pet Portrait Embroidery booklet, the terrarium booklet, and the cute little crochet cactus (I wish I knew how to crochet!)

I've been trying to come up with a really awesome give away game, and I think I finally came up with one. I've been thinking about my grandmother quite a bit lately and missing her quite a bit.

My grandmother meant so much to me and I have many many great memories of her. One of my most favorite memories was making cookies with her. My absolute favorite cookie to make was her Sally Shoppers Pig Out Cookies.

They are basically graham crackers with hot toffee poured over them and milk chocolate chips melted on top of them. Oh! With peanuts, or walnuts, sprinkled on top.... oh my goodness, my mouth is watering as I type!

anyway, she would always let me sprinkle on the chocolate chips (and sneak a small handful into my mouth.) She always let me eat the first one as soon as they cooled too.

So what I would like for you to do is share your most favorite memory with your grandmother, or mother.

The give away will end on Friday at 7pm and I'll announce the winner the same night! The winner will be picked randomly from a name picked from a bowl.

I'm looking forward to reading all of your sweet stories. :)

And the Winner is...........

Drum Roll Please....

Yes! Jessica Jane!

Wohoo!

I tried to get Chloe to pick the name, but she just looked at me like I was crazy...

So I picked.

Congrats Jessica!

I'll get it in the mail for you tomorrow, if you would like to send an e-mail to michelemaule@gmail.com with your address!

Hope everyone has a good Thursday. Be sure to check back in tomorrow for some more exciting news!

Tuesday Tuesday!

It's Tuesday.
Not the best day of the week....

Until right now! Ha!

That's right.
I'm doing a spontaneous give away, because Tuesdays don't get much love.

I am giving away a free 8x10" print of my Three Water Towers!

If you'd like the details you can look here.

all I need you to do is leave me a comment about what favorite band (or bands, I know it can be hard to pick just one) you have been listening to lately. It doesn't necessarily need to be a band, it could be a singer, or a rapper, or whatever.

alright! I'll be picking a random winner on Thursday morning!
Nice!

Good luck, and hope you have a great Tuesday!

ps. My name won't be on the print like it is in this image...

Last Give away!!

Okay!
This is your last chance to win a free 5x7" print by me! :)

I am had a hard time coming up with this weeks question.
But, I have managed to come up with one.

So, this whole Cranbrook experience has really made me question what art is.
It's always been a question for me, but I think my answer has gotten more and more convoluted since being here and observing some of the art that is being done and discussed here.

So what is art?

Is it only art if it hangs in a gallery, or in your home?

Is it still art if it's made by the artists assistant, but not the actual artist? Which is what happens when you become more famous than God.

Is poop smeared on a painting art?

Is gathering a group of your students together, taking a 40 minute bus ride out to nowhere, getting off, walking 20 minutes on a cold, rainy, February Portland, night, just to stand in front of your ex-girlfriends apartment, for 10 minutes, then making them all walk home, art?
This is actually a true story. The sculpture students were none to please with this, and I don't think any of them viewed it as art, let alone sculpture....

I don't really know.
I guess you could simply say that art is what the individual makes of it. But that certainly isn't a fun way to discuss art is it?

So I guess what I'm looking for are your answers.
I'm really interested in reading what your opinions and answers are to this question.
again, leave your comment here, and on Thursday evening I'll be drawing a name from all the comments made here :) Good luck!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Winner Time!

The winner for this weeks blog give away is.....

an inspired peace!! :D
Yay!
You can e-mail your address to me at
michelemaule@gmail.com

Michael and Chloe helped me pick a name this week.

Thank you all for sharing your wonderful dreams!
I loved reading them all. I see that a lot of us have the same dreams, which
is really comforting to me.

Our moving date is getting closer and closer! We have about 7 weeks to go. Holy cow!
I'm am getting so excited about leaving, and going home. Just thinking about it makes me tear up. sigh. I. Can't. Wait.

Well, next week is the last week for my month long give away.
I'll be back on Monday with my final question :)
Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Blog Give away Week 3!

alright!

Here it is.
My blog give away number 3.
The 5x7" print that you could win is one of my newer prints, "My Boots."

This week my question is....
What do you want to be when you grow up.

I realize that most of us right now are fairly "grown up" but, what dreams or aspirations do you have right now. Where do you want to be in in the next 5 years...or 5 months.

For me I want to keep doing what I am doing, being an artist.
I love my work, and I hope I can continue to do this as a living.
I hope that I will be able to expand a bit, grow into some new shops or boutiques. I am also hoping to apply myself to some more gallery shows.
I am really hoping that this will be the year where I can finally afford health insurance!

I'd also like to start a family :)

So there is my answer.
I'd love to continue to be a working artist, and a mom, with health insurance when I grow up.

Now it's your turn.
Just leave your answer in the comments below, and on Thursday night I will draw a winner, and announce who it is on Friday afternoon!

And the Winner is!!!

TeamFifteen15!

Whoohoo! Congrats!
Please e-mail me at michelemaule@gmail.com

Thanks to everyone who participated!
I really enjoy reading everyone's answers.

I will be having another give away on Monday, so be sure to check back.

Other than that I am having a good day :D
It's pretty and sunny here. Still chilly...but that's okay.

I did manage to get some new items done for my Etsy shop...
So be sure to check them out!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Blog Give Away Week 2!

Okay!
as promised, here is the second blog give away of the month.

Today my question for you is what things in your life make you happy?
List five things in your life that you love, that don't require monies, or at least lots of monies.

I will start!

1. I love spring time in Portland. My favorite thing to do in the Spring is to lay on a blanket in my front yard, in the shade under the big cherry tree, while perusing the newest Ikea catalog!

2. In the morning Chloe likes to come snuggle right under my arm, and sometimes she gives my hand little kisses. It's so cute!

3. Getting mail from my friends. a letter or a postcard, or sometimes a present. Makes my day.

4. Sometimes, rarely, Micheals dinners get switched to another night, and he surprises me by coming home several hours early. It happend last night, and it was such a nice surprise!

5. a nice long 5 mile run on Mt. Tabor on a summer morning. I love seeing Mt. Hood and Hawthorne St. from there. Love it.

That's it!
Now it's your turn.

Leave your favorite 5 things in the comments section, and on Friday I will draw a name from the list of people and you could win a free 5x7" print :D

Hope everyone had a good weekend, and hope you're all having a good Monday.

ps. I added two new paintings to my Etsy shop!
Be sure to check them out :)

and the winner is!!!!

Okay!

The winner is..................

Elaine R who's answer was London!! :D
So, Elaine, if you could e-mail me your address I will get that off to you on Tuesday!
my e-mail is michelemaule@gmail.com

Thanks to everyone who left a comment!
I really loved reading them all!
I love questions like that one. It makes you kinda start dreaming of all the possibilities. :)

I'll be asking another question on Monday, so if you didn't win, you will still have another chance next week!

Well, it's a really nice day here in Pontiac!
It's 64 degrees outside!!! Whoa! That's hot! :)
It's suppose to be warm most of the weekend. I hope it sticks around...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Blog Give Away Week 1

Hello!

Today marks the second day of March, and it also marks the beginning of my month long blog give away! :D This is the print I will be giving away this week ------>

So let's get this started.
My question for this week is...

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live, and why?

I think most of you know my answer to this question.
I would live in Portland, Oregon. My home is in Portland, along with my friends, and that is really important to me. I also feel like Portland is just where I belong.

If I were given a second choice, maybe a second home (which I can do because it's my blog and my rules, ha!), I would love to live in this little suburb of Paris, Monmarte. It just looks so cute! And living there would really help me with my French. I think it would be a very inspiring place too. It looks like a place that I could walk around for hours, just taking things in. Maybe I would find a sweet little cafe I could call my second home, and I could have a small studio that would look out over the street. Sigh. Yes! Montmarte. :)

Or....New York would be pretty awesome too..I think for obvious reasons ;)
Anyway, those are the places I would like to live :)

Now it's your turn!
Just leave your answer in the comments section, and on Thursday night I will draw a winner and post it on Friday's blog.

Let's Celebrate!

So in just a few days March will be here.
March is a pretty significant month for me.

March 7 marks my two year anniversary on Etsy (even though I didn't really start selling until the end of October 2007).

March 9th marks Michael's 8 week mark until graduation. Yay!

March 21st is the first day of Spring! Yay! That's something to really look forward to as well.

Anyway, lots of great dates are coming up and I thought it would be a great way to celebrate by having a month long blog give away! Yes, the entire month :D

So...this is how it will work. Starting on Monday, I will post a question, and I will give my answer, and would like for you to leave your answer in the comments section. Every Thursday evening at 7pm, I will draw a name randomly, and announce the winner on Friday! Every week during March.

Sound good? You wanna know what you're playing for? (Hehe...that was my nerdy Survivor Jeff Proust quote...)
You'll be playing for a free 5x7" print :) I'll post the print that is up for grabs every Monday. So, if you're not really into it, you don't have to waste your time with an answer ;)

Well, that's about it. It's a gray cold day here in Pontiac, and I've been listening to the Decemberists and drinking peppermint tea all day....
I seriously can't believe that we are getting down to counting weeks...9...wow. It's keeping me going for sure.

Hope you all have a great, safe, weekend!

Exciting Things are Happening!

Yes they are!

So this morning I woke up to see my Imperial print on PoppyTalk! :)
That was a nice thing to wake up to.

Also, the Spring Fling craft fair is in the works and I am really excited about that.
I don't know if I'm allowed to say who is going to be there...but I will say that I am
really excited about the vendors who have said yes! yay!

Also, I am considering doing a bunch of blog give away dealys next month...more on that later!

Yup! Lots of really good things coming my way, and YOUR way too!