Magic Jelly

It's the Little Things...

Way back in '07 I blogged about my childhood tin of plastic treasures that my sister & I called our Little Things Box. We each had an old toffee tin crammed with tiny trinkets that we treasured & traded - much like the tin Amelie finds. I still collect little toys & keep them in vintage cigar boxes.

Imagine my surprise & pleasure to be approached last year by the beautiful Chinese magazine Little Thing to do an interview for their section called Little Paper Magic in the very first issue. They kindly sent me a copy late last year, & I've only just taken a few pics to show you - particularly timely because the theme of this post is all things tiny...

Giveaway Time!
I'm holding a little giveaway of the collages on canvas you see above. They're seriously small - about 2.25 x 3.25" each & come with their own miniature easels.

If you'd like to win the collage on the right, featuring my little illustration of a Death's Head Moth, all you have to do is be a subscriber to my Mailing List - I'll be drawing a name randomly - & to win the collage on the left, featuring Li'l Mary puffin' on a giant stogie, I have devised a little contest...

Just leave a comment here on my blog letting me know you'd like to enter, & provide a link to a picture of something intriguingly small - something little, tiny, miniature, diminutive, eensy-weensy - you get the idea! If it's a photo or artwork of your own, great, but it can also be a link to something you found tinily appealing whilst browsing the internet, that's fine as well. I'll pick a favourite next Monday, & the winner gets the mini-collage! I'll draw the name of the Mailing List winner the same day too.

Can't wait to see your pics of little things!

We Have a Winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my Favourite Shoes print giveaway - what a response! I had so much fun reading everyone's shoe stories.

Stories of love & loss...hope & regret...disappointment & serendipity...

How come shoes evoke such bittersweetness? We hang so much significance on our shoes don't we? They come to represent phases of our lives & carry such strong memories.

Anyway, enough rambling... Drum roll please...

The winner of the Favourite Shoes giveaway is Johanna of Good Girls Studio whose dire tale of disintegrated Dr. Scholl's combined the perfect blend of tragedy & comedy. I totally identified!

I gave away a second Favourite Shoes print to one of my Mailing List subscribers in a random draw. The name I pulled from the Purple Velvet Fedora was Natalie of Naked Tile.

Congratulations girls - I hope you like your prints!

Thanks again to everyone for your wonderful, poignant shoe stories! This was such a fun contest, I'll make sure to have another one soon!

Print Giveaway - Tell Me About Your Shoes!

I was so happy with the Favourite Shoes print that I made another edition in my favourite colour combo du jour - red & pale blue - & it's now for sale in my Etsy shop.

It's difficult to decide which edition I like best, but I'm really in love with the card stock I used this time, it's a lovely eggshell colour with little red & blue flecks, & looks just like a speckly bird's egg. It suits the print so well!

Anyway, I thought I'd have a little contest & give away a print. All you have to do is post a comment here in my blog giving an anecdote, or description, or even a link to a photo or artwork about your favourite shoes.

I don't really feel a burning need to win one of my own prints, but I thought I'd get the ball rolling with my own shoe story...

My sister Josella thinks I have some kind of super-turbo memory, but really (really) I can't even remember my own phone number. I do have some little snippets from the past that I vividly recall though, & one involves my favourite shoes.

I remember walking down King William Street (main street through the centre of Adelaide) with my mum when I was about three or four years old. I know it was near my birthday (in October) because it was mild, late-spring weather. It was a balmy & rainy late afternoon that grew so dark the street lights came on & they reflected in the wet roads & pavements, which reminded me of a poem I had a particular love for at the time (see below).

I was wearing my favourite outfit - a purple & magenta paisley silk smock dress with swirly brass buttons (I'm talking 1971...my mum always dressed Jo & I in these ultra-short dresses, this one was no exception), little white ankle socks, & shiny black patent mary-janes. I loved those shoes. They had buttons instead of buckles - just like my Favourite Shoes print (which is based on a pair of shoes I own now, with extra fancy embellishments)

I remember walking along the shimmery, rainy street (the acoustics change when it rains like that - the traffic was all echoey) holding my mum's hand, & in the other, clutching a brand new colouring book & box of crayons she'd just bought me. Penny Lane by The Beatles wafted from a shop doorway.

It was just one of those perfect happy moments. I loved my shoes, I loved the day & my new colouring book, & I loved my mum. :)

And have a look - I still own the book with the poem about rainy streets in it that the day evoked in my four-year-old mind...

There are other shoe anecdotes of note that I could have shared...such as the time I set fire to a total stranger's brand new trainers with a flaming marshmallow at a party...but that one's not nearly as picturesque, & anyway, it isn't about my shoes.

So, if you'd like the chance to win a Favourite Shoes print, feel free to share your shoe story. I'll pick my fave in a week's time & announce the winner. Make sure your comment links back to you so I can contact you if you win & get your address!

More Bits of Dusty Ol' Paper

Look at all the paper goodies my friend Mark bought back from a secondhand market for me! I can't wait to draw & paint on it & snip it all up & make collages. Is it weird to get so excited about bits of old paper?

In other news...my Heart Attack greeting card appeared in a Treasury on Etsy's front page the other day. Thanks to The Letter V for featuring me!

I've been busy working on a new painting, as well as making some collages for my Etsy shop, & also printing packaging for buttons, magnets & keyrings, so I'll have some new things for sale soon & some special goodies for my next giveaway. Don't forget, to be eligible for the monthly giveaways, you need to be a subscriber to my mailing list!

I'm also extremely excited about a Gocco exhibition that I'll be taking part in later this year.  Stay tuned for more details!

And the Winner Is...

Lastly, the winner of my little collage giveaway is Kelly Rinehart of Purple Lemon Designs. Her prize is in the post & making its way to her letterbox!

Giveaway Time!

Yes it's that time again - Giveaway Time! The prize, which you can see above, is a little collage. It's mounted to a 4x4" stretched canvas (3/4" deep) & is made of assorted papers (mainly vintage) that I've screenprinted (goccoed) in gold ink with some mystical Magic Jelly symbols.

All you need to do to win this little piece, is be a subscriber to my mailing list. I'll be drawing a winner on Sunday 8th of June.

Bye for now!

And the Winner Is...

Hooray! Time to announce the winners of my Super-Duper Mega April Giveaway!

I've drawn the names from my Mailing List for the 4 prizes, but 1 of the people hasn't replied - eek! Shows how important it is to keep your mailing list info up to date! I'm going to draw another person's name if they don't respond in the next 2 days, so stay tuned...

The winners (so far) are...

Lili Wilkinson (goodie pack)
Cosy Up (Snap! print)
Jen Vecc (goodie pack)

As for the bunny Haiku...wow it was hard to pick a winner - they were all so great! Drumroll please...the winner of the Jack Rabbit print is...

Ashley aka Le Petit Monstre with her poem...

Jack Rabbit stares off
sees much to both love and fear.
It's a jungle out there.

I thought it was really touching in its simplicity - I particularly love the line "sees much to both love and fear" - beautiful work Ashley! Congratulations! Not only a talented artist, but a poet & bunny lover too!

As I said, it was really hard picking just one. I wanted to give a few more an honourable mention...

The lovely Anna Laura for her ode to vegetarianism...

chicken, pork, beef, fish
who eats rabbits anyway?
they look better alive!

Goodfeets with a lovely little springtime revery...

green spring leaves unfold
lying in the grass, she sighs
a rabbit is born

And he also linked to his favourite bunny song... I don't know where he found the time or energy to write bunny poems since I just read in his blog he recently made 24 collages in 2 days!!

And finally, Treet submitted this enigmatic little number...

Quietly I sit
Part of all the universe
You call me bunny

I'd like to send those 3 entrants a little something too, while I'm in a prize-giving mood.

Wow that was fun! I think I'm going to have to hold another contest soon... Thanks for your entries! :)

Super-Duper Mega April Giveaway!

I have been so totally remiss when it comes to my "monthly" giveaways...I think I've only had one since I started my blog last October! Today I'm making good on my promise & launching a Super-Duper Mega Giveaway with not one...not two...but FIVE different prizes to make up for the months I've missed. And I promise to keep up with my monthly giveaways in future!

Here is the little swag of prizes I have to giveaway...

Prizes 1 & 2 are packs of Magic Jelly goodies (value approx. $20 each)...they each contain the following...

• Sunday Morning 3.5" cork-backed drink coaster
• pack of 5 1.25" button badges (assorted Magic Jelly designs)
• pack of 5 Jelly tags
• a little bag of vintage plastic trinkets & ephemera

Prize No. 3 is a 5x7" print on canvas panel called Snap!
& a pack of 5 Jelly tags ( value $18). Prize No. 4 is one of my Fox & Flowers limited edition Gocco prints & a pack of 5 Jelly tags(value $15).

To win one of these, all you need to do is subscribe to my mailing list - that's where I'll draw the names of the winners. If you'd like to leave a comment or email me with your preferred prize, I'll keep that in mind if I happen to draw your name. Easy!

The 5th prize is an extra special one...an original Mixed Media piece called (rather unimaginatively) Jack Rabbit. It's an ink drawing on tea-stained Hahnemuhle paper, on a collaged background, mounted to brown kraft card (sheet size 6x6"). This is an original - not a reproduction - & is worth $85 (the winner gets a pack of Jelly tags too).

Picking a winner of this one is a little bit different...rather than just drawing a name out of a hat, I'd like you to write a Haiku about a bunny. Either post your little poem in the comments or email it to me & I'll pick my favourite!

I'm announcing the winners in a week's time, so you have until Wednesday the 9th of April to sign up to my mailing list & submit your Haiku if you want a chance to win the bunny! :)

Majaba
For all you Etsy people out there, Juln's site Majaba - where you can easily view your shop & item hearts, & check out your views - has just been updated , so keeping track of your views is faster, easier & more reliable than ever. Julian has tweaked the View Counter so you can now check all of your pages, no matter how many listings in your shop, & he's working on further enhancements & features to be announced soon! He's also offering advertising space for Etsy sellers now - Majaba receives about 12-15,000 hits a day at the moment, & it's increasing daily! So if you're interested in advertising, take a look here.

In other news, I'm collaborating with Julian on some very exciting top secret projects...so stay tuned for more about that later!

Gocco Mania & Other Stuff

Etsy asked me to write a Gocco article for their blog, The Storque, & you can read it right here. Just a brief rundown of the plethora of Goccoed items available on Etsy, & some links to Gocco resources as well. Etsy also very kindly featured some of my picks (& one of my own Gocco prints) on the front page. I took a screenshot!

Now...aren't you all dying to know the answers to my 80s Pop Star Quiz? Yes? No? Maybe? Well here they are...

1. Adam Ant
2. Sara Dallin (Bananarama)
3. Clare Grogan (Altered Images)
4. Thomas Dolby
5. Limahl (Kajagoogoo)
6. Phil Oakey (Human League)
7. Simon le Bon (Duran Duran)
8. Steve Strange (Visage)
9. Plastic Bertrand
10. Gary Numan
11. Susan Sulley (Human League)
12. Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet)
13. Morrissey (The Smiths)
14. Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout)
15. Howard Jones
16. Stuart Adamson (Big Country)
17. Kate Bush
18. Toyah Wilcox
19. Nick Kershaw
20. Nick Heyward (Haircut 100)

Wasn't that easy peasy? Most people complained that it was too difficult, but the winner got a very respectable 12 out of 20. Extra nice is the fact that she is from Adelaide (like me) & is a super-duper terrific artist. Her name's Violet Cooper, & it was very nice to get acquainted with a fellow Adelaidean & artist...you should really go check out her stuff, her work rocks (as the kids say these days). Anyway, I sent her little prize of a coaster...may she use it to protect her coffee table from rings for many years to come in the knowledge that she truly is a Cheesy Eighties Music Mastermind.

In other news, I just want to draw your attention to the lovely Pamela Buckley who has a blog called Ophelia Golly. She bought one of my prints a few weeks ago & has just written the most generous & lovely blog entry about my work. I thought it was so great because she's written about how she makes up stories to go along with my photomontages & how she prefers to think they're real rather than a bit of digital sleight of hand.

I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her; this is what she has to say about my print Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep:

The story I put with it (almost within seconds of deciding it was real!) was that it was probably a photograph of a magician's children, and he insisted on the dove being part of the photograph as a silent signature of his profession. I am not making this up (well, I am making it up but it is something that I am not lying about believing when I saw it!) and I know that the imaginative talent of the artist was what was behind my suspended belief otherwise I never would have wondered over it at all. (I can also say that having just recently seen the Prestige might have fostered this idea just a little bit too...) But obviously the art is the magic!

I just thought that was so sweet! Thank you Pamela! Ironically, I sold my last 5x7" version of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep today. I'm happy (& grateful) that the entire edition has sold, but a little sad to wave goodbye to the last one. There are still a few left in the 8x10" edition though.

Whew...this has turned into a marathon post. But I can't leave you without posting this fantastic clip from the Jerry Lewis film The Ladies Man...

Do You Remember Blue Rondo a la Turk?

Well if you do, you might have a good chance of winning my little Guess the 80s Pop Star contest!

Here's a whole bunch of 80s singers as they've appeared in more recent years. Time is a harsh mistress, that's for sure!

It's pretty much a British/Euro-centric group, because that's the kind of music I was into when I was a youngun.

The person who guesses the most correctly wins a Christmassy little 'Winter Birds' drink coaster. If it's a draw, I'll randomly pick a name of those who drew out of a hat. Just email me your answers by Sunday please! I'll post the answers & announce the winner on Monday.

In other news, I was so surprised to see that I'd been featured in Etsy's blog, The Storque the other day.

Thank you saguirl for the article...what an honour!

And the Winner Is...

Whoops, sorry...I haven't been around much lately & forgot to announce the November giveaway winner. The lucky winner was Orange Flower who I informed last week, & her parcel's on its way to her door. If you'd like to be eligible for the December giveaway - which will be an extra special Christmas one - don't forget to subscribe to my mailing list.

And for all the people whose names I didn't pull out of the hat, here's a little Haircut 100 to cheer you up. If this doesn't get you high-kickin' around the living room like a Top of the Pops dancer, nothing will...

November Giveaway

Hands up who loves free stuff? Yep, me too! I thought it would be fitting for the very first monthly giveaway to be chock full o' jellilicious goodness. The winner of the November giveaway will get:

• a Magic Jellies cork-backed drink coaster
• a Magic Jellies hand-printed greeting card
• a matching Raspberry Jelly 1.25" magnet

Only subscribers to my mailing list are eligible. I'll be drawing a name out of a hat on Sunday the 11th of November, so if you're not already a subscriber, all you need to do is subscribe here & email me at the Google Group email address asking to be included in the draw. Easy Peasy.

I'll announce the winner on Monday!

One Thousand

I love a good milestone, & today I reached a doozy - my 1,000th sale on Etsy! I can't believe I've sold so many things! That's a lot of customers, & a lot of parcels, & a lot of work.

I am so grateful for my good fortune & want to give a big thank you to all the wonderful buyers who got me to 1,000. That includes quite a few return customers too - thank you so much! And let's not forget my fellow sellers & artists who've helped me along the way with their generosity & wisdom - & thank you Etsy for being so good to me!

My 1,000th sale was my Sunday Morning print which I think was one of the very first artworks I listed & has sold really well ever since. Thanks to Etsy, it even made an appearance in American Airline's in-flight magazine.

I wanted to do something extra special for my 1,000th sale, so have made up a little gift package for my 1,000th buyer, Stiletto Heights.

In addition to her purchase she will receive the following...

• Sunday Morning 3.5" Pocket Mirror
• Fox & Flowers Gocco Print
• Heart Attack Hand-Printed Greeting Card
• Home Sweet Home 5x7" Print on Canvas Panel
• Li'l Mary 1.25" Keyring
• Li'l Mary 1.25" Button Badge

I hope she likes them!

Thanks again for everyone's support - here's to the next 1,000 sales! :)