#Free Torrit Grey #Oil #Paint Now Thru End of April

Torrit Grey is created annually, each spring, by taking pigment particles from the Gamblin filtration system during production, and turning the remnants into a unique pigment. The filtration system protects the workers during the production process, and the remnants are saved and turned into yet another fine arts color. Each Torrit Gray production run yields a unique color, depending upon the particles collected. How cool is that?

The Torrit Grey in store promotion runs through the end of April to coincide with Earth day to bring attention to recycling, studio and environmental safety. Gamblin is giving away promotional 37ml tubes of Torrit Grey in your local fine arts retailer. Get yours now!



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The Winner of the My Memories Suite Giveaway

                                    Cheryl!!!!!!

I will be in contact with her in the next few days so that she may claim her prize. 

The contest is now closed, but in case you missed it you can always purchase a My Memories Suite of your very own, or as a gift to give (because you are so very thoughtful) by using my coupon code STMMMS62509 in their online store. For every purchase made with my code, I will be donating $10 to the ArtZ (Artists for Alzheimer's) organization. In case you missed it, you can read about ArtZ in my post Art and Alzheimers, It's Personal.

Thank you everyone, for participating or just lurking.

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My Memories Suite Review and Giveaway!

I wanted to despise this software. I really, really did. Quite possibly, if I even liked it a smidge I would have to finally face years of online photos that have never been printed out and seen the light of day. I wouldn't be able to use my inability to navigate through Photoshop Elements as an excuse any longer, which I ironically purchased years ago for scrap booking! 

Let me explain, I have learned to use Elements for basic tasks.. but the thought of creating an entire scrap book page with it makes me want to pull my hair out! It's like using a blow torch when all you needed was a single lit match. Serious overkill. 

Rather than dive right in, I checked out the My Memories Suite blog, facebook page and tutorials. I wanted to see what kind of support the product has. It has very robust free onsite tutorials and a rabid fan base. After watching the what-you-need-to-know-to-get-started video I was chomping at the bit to get started and could see why it's users love this software! It is extremely friendly, and intuitive - especially if you have tried other photo editing software. One of the nice things about MMS, is that you can use any custom element you have - whether it's something you created, or a freebie you downloaded off the internet.


I decided to create an Art Journal Album using photos of journal pages I had created in other artist's journals. This first page "Art! Just Do It!" borrowed heavily from Rosie the Riveter and was painted right over Julia Cameron's The Artist Way Chapter 3, "Regaining a Sense of Power".

I've been in an Art Journal round robin for about a year now. We pass our journals around, and each month take turns creating pages in someone else's journal. After one year, we will get our own journal back with all the other participating artist's wonderful art work in it! It has been so much fun and I can't believe it's almost over. This journal page was meant for Joy's journal, so I included photos of her. 


This is the second page in my Art Journal album, using my "Art! It's what for dinner..." chicken journal page as the background paper. I liked that the original spiral bound wire was captured in the photo, and wanted to keep that element. I could have covered it with a standard digital ribbon.

I scanned a rusted star I kept from an old wind chime, and used the jpeg (in Photoshop Elements) to create my own digital star embellishment. I downloaded the metal bracket as a freebie digital embellishment from Pixel Scrapper.

This journal page was painted in Anne-Marie's book, so I included photos of her. I would like to create a page of everyone in the Art Journal group - using the page that I created for their book. I loved creating the work and giving it away, but am happy to have a vehicle to create an album for myself with added elements meaningful to the group. The finished album can be printed, or be shared online with music and video added.
Hint: I didn't originally take photos of all of the journal pages that I created, nor did I bring my camera to each group meetup. If you decide to do something like this for any groups you belong to, it would be great to be prepared!


The MMS software made it an absolute joy to play, tinker, swap and experiment with their kits, and with my own custom elements. I worried less about what I was doing, and more about how it was looking. In essence it was true tool, and not a hindrance to the process. Loved the small learning curve and the ease of use.


My husband may yet, actually see a wedding album!

The wonderful people at My Memories gave me one extra My Memory Suite as a giveaway!! Isn't it great to share?!

If you would like to have the chance to win your very own copy of My Memory Suite v2 (retail $39.97) you can enter in any or all of the following ways: (Be sure to comment with an email, or other non-anonymous way, so that I can reach you in case you are the winner!)

1) leave a comment, saying what would be the first project you would tackle if you won! 

2) follow my blog publicly, and leave a comment saying so

3) like me on facebook, and leave a comment saying so

4) follow me on twitter and leave a comment saying so

5) facebook, and/or tweet about this giveaway, including a link to this page and leave a comment saying so! Please include @vpmillerart #mymemories and #giveaway in your tweet. Here is a shortened link http://bit.ly/nDV3VW to use.

6) go to the My Memories site and tell me which kit you like best. (I bought "A Wonderful Life" which is a vintage Christmas-y kit, and also one of my favorite movies)

The more comments you leave, the better chance you have to win! Entries will close next Monday at midnight, EST. I will draw the lucky winner next Tuesday!


I'd like to say thank you to everyone who supports my blog, the people at My Memories, and to everyone who loves the arts, in general! Good luck!




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Artist's Way Online Giveaway!

This is a shameless plug for my good friend and one heck of an amazing facilitator, Cheryl. Cheryl has been facilitating this class for years and I was fortunate enough to be in hers and experience it first hand. I can tell you she is just what the doctor's ordered and serves it up with a plate of hilarity. Those of you who also want to hone your art skills may be interested in art classes via accredited online colleges.

Cheryl is the one actually giving away an online Artist's Way class to the first 20 people who contact her! In return, since this is her maiden voyage teaching online - you must be willing to endure possible learning experiences with technology sigh... ya know .. like in the real world! 

What a great deal! 

The Artist's Way.. and meeting with like minded people to share experiences and act on the exercises in Julia Cameron's book is what helped me to break through the artist's block that I had had for... oh... decades. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Certainly, if you can meet up with an Artist's Way group locally - then do so! Stop hemming and hawing and second guessing yourself - go and do something! Action, is the key.

But if you are challenged because no such group meets in your area. Or it's hours away. Or because the Artist Way group has already started.. or because it won't start until this summer.. Jump on this one! 

You have one life and the time to do something about your creativity is now. Whew. 

Now get out there and make something!

All My Best,

Victoria

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