'Giveaway Ends Soon - Merry Christmas Everyone!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and welcome,

Just wanted to wish all my wonderful Followers a 'Merry Christmas'! And good luck on the Giveaway!


Mary Lou with guitarist extraordinaire Jonny Lang
Backstage at the Rialto Theatre, Joliet IL - 2006
I won a contest for JL fans to go backstage!
What a thrill to meet Jonny backstage! Woo - hoo!

Thanks for stopping by and please come back to visit soon.

See you next year!

Peace,
LuLu

CLOSED / ENDED - 'WOYWW - Surprise! LuLu's 3rd Blogoversary Giveaway!!!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

For WOYWW, I'm announcing my long-promised GIVEAWAY! Deadline Dec 31, 2012. Feb 13, 2013.

This Giveaway prize package will be ideal for artists who create art journals, Smash books, junk journals, visual journals, scrapbooks, or altered books!

GIVEAWAY Eligibility

• You must be a Follower of my blog
• You must have an email address
• You must have a postal address, not a PO Box
• You must have a blog
• Giveaway open to Followers worldwide
• Previous Giveaway winners are not eligible
    
  
  

How to win GIVEAWAY!

1. Include a link to this Giveaway post in a post on your blog - or in your sidebar.
2. Post title should read 'LuLu's 3rd Blogoversary Giveaway!'
3. Enter a comment on this post including your name, and blog address, and link back to your post.
4. Your comment must contain the titles of your 3 favorite posts on this blog 'LuLu Too Beaucoup'.
5. Enter as often as you like, but each new entry comment must contain 3 additional favorite post titles AND include the link back to the post on your blog.

Notification of GIVEAWAY Winner!

• Winner will be chosen by me based on comments within 1- 5 days after Giveaway deadline.
• I will contact winner through their blog to get their postal address.
• NOTE: You must have an email button on your blog,or a Contact button on your blog, for me to contact you!
• Winners name will posted on this blog after I have contacted and received a response from the winner.

Good luck!

www.lulu-too-beaucoup.blogspot.com

LuLu’s 3^rd Blogoversary GIVEAWAY!

            GIVEAWAY PRIZES

· 1 wire-bound Brag Book (Fancy Pants Design) - includes 60 lined journaling pages, 15 pocket pages, 15 2-slot plastic photo sleeves / protectors, customizable (This is my favorite scrapbook / journal / Smash book!)

· 1 canvas pencil case

· 1 mini-stapler + colored staples (no.10) in clear container

· 1 mint tin (Altoids) - great for storing tiny bits and bobs, odds and ends

· 1 pkg. designer fabric samples, 100% linen, 30 pcs. 9" x 4", (Arabel Fabrics - Athens II) $450 value

· 1 pkg. designer textured wallpaper samples on D-ring, 8.25" x 3", (Koroseal and Vicrtex - Color by Choice) - great for art journal covers or pages

· 1 pkg. travel clear bottle set (4 pcs.) - 60ml spray bottle, 60ml, bottle, 15ml cream pot, funnel

· 1 printed fabric case (great pen/pencil case or for shades)

· 1 scissors (Creative Memories) in clear case , 6.5"

· 1 section bubble wrap - great for texturing with paints and medium

· 1 set twine (American Crafts) 8 spools various colors, 15ft/5.6m each, 100% archival

· 3 skeins polyester craft yarn (Caron Aunt Lydia)

· 1 vintage embroidered linen tablecloth (heirloom) - for art journal pages or covers

· 1 wooden ruler, 12"

           

"LuLu’s 3^rd Blogoversary GIVEAWAY ends Monday Dec 31, 2012 Feb 13, 2013 at midnight Central Time USA"

 www.lulu-too-beaucoup.blogspot.com
 
Please do not post questions in your comments. Please email me with questions.

For more artists digs, go on over to visit WOYWW here!
 
 
Thanks for stopping by - please come back again soon.
 
Peace and Happy Holidays!
LuLu

'Fun Star Wars Survey!"

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

My Blogoversary Giveaway is behind schedule due to technical difficulties. But the Giveaway is coming soon! So stay tuned! Peace, LuLu

'WOYWW 10-17-2012: Birthday Haul - a little late!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

THE GOOD NEWS
One of my scrapbooking buddies gave me a JoAnns gift card as a birthday gift at our last monthly crop. So I went shopping and snapped up yellow, black and white fabrics. I was on the hunt for jelly-rolls. But alas, JoAnns was sorely lacking. Only found a couple of mini-rolls...

Laminated cotton fabric, cotton fat quarters, tulle rolls  in gold and silver

I plan to use the laminated cotton to make a giant tote bag to store my collection of table-top looms. This will be my first purse/tote project. Hope to start it after the holidays.

THE BAD NEWS
At checkout, I had coupons but I totally spaced and forgot to present my gift card. So after I got my receipt I realized my mistake. Oh, well... I'll have the gift card for my next shopping spree!

YOUR TURN
Have you ever used laminated cotton fabric? If so, what kind of project? Did you have any problems? Would you use laminated cotton again?

Thanks for stopping by. Would love for you to comment on this post - or any of my other posts.

Stay tuned - my 3rd Blogoversary Giveaway will be launched around October 31!

Peace,
LuLu

'Zendoodle Dandies - and Blogger headaches!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and welcome,

Here is a 'zendoodle' I drew a while back in two versions - color and b/w. I like them both. This post is to test uploading photos to Blogger. For months I've been having a problem getting pix into my posts from the laptop.

This test seems to prove that uploading pix to posts may work only with photos already in Blogger.

YOUR TURN
Have you had any problems uploading pix from your computer to Blogger? If so, how did you get the proplem fixed?

Meanwhile, my 3rd Blogoversary Giveaway is on hold until I resolve this Blogger problem.

Thanks for stopping by. Would love for you to comment on this post - or any of my other posts. Please come back again soon.

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW 10/10/2012 - Let The Art Begin - and Giveaway coming soon!"

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

For WOYWW this week, I've actually tidied up my table in the craft studio.A rare event. Here are a few views is a view with daylight streaming in. I love to work in this studio when it's sunny outside. But I'm not a morning person - more of a night owl. So usually I'm playing in here when it's pitch black. Now that it's tidy, I'm ready to let the art begin!

On our recent road trip during my birthday week, I finished writing in my travel journal. So I'm prepping this next travel journal that's on the table. Just a couple tasks and it will be finished.

Most of my travel journals are altered books that I made from old Golden children's books. I prefer to use Golden books which are nice and skinny to fit in the side of my train case, which I take on every trip. Yes, I travel 'heavy'. But I AM improving. On our last trip I only took 3 bags - which is a first for me!

Also on my table are a few other odds and ends, bits and bobs - a paper flower, stack of business cards in a zip top bag, the foam tip that came off of a stamping stylus, and some paper notes that need sorting.


YOUR TURN
Do you write in a travel journal when you take a trip? What type of journal do you use? Is it an altered book? Or a regular store bought journal?

Would love for you to comment on this post - or any of my other posts.
Thanks for stopping by and please come back soon. Now that summer is over, I'll be doing a GIVEAWAY - it's my 3rd Blogoversary time!

For more artist's desks, click here to check out Julia's blog hop for WOYWW!

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 09/19/2012 - Haul and Wow-ee Zow-ee News Flash!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

Yes - I have been MIA. A lot of scrapbooking crops and the annual Scrap-A-Thon 6 retreat in Wisconsin!

For WOYWW this week, check out my 'haul' from the dollar store. I was on the hunt for spray bottles to concoct my version of Glimmer/Shimmer Mist. I want to start making some faux prima flowers for scrapbook/brag book covers, and I like the sparkly effect. I watched a slew of youtube videos on how to make faux mists and I watched another slew of videos about DIY faux prima flowers. Some of the scrapbook covers with the flowers are SO-O-O-O gorgeous. Almost delectable -  they are so pretty!

Anyway, for $1 each, I bought 11 packages of spray bottles (all that the store had on the racks). Each package includes:

1. spray bottle (2 oz)
2. regular bottle (2 oz)
3. cream pot (.5 oz)
4. funnel

Wearing my 'chemist cap' again, I'm having a blast measuring and combining components for my DIY mists.

LuLu's 2012 DIY Mist Project

Re-inkers: Stampin' Up re-inkers that I bought way back in 2001!

Storage: Hubby's used cardboard tote from a 6-pack of bottled beer. He doesn't buy beer often, but I asked him not to recycle the totes. I'm keeping them for storing supplies. They're ugly, but handy because of the 6 divided sections. They also work great in my cavernous tote bags keeping gear organized when I head out for a crop...

Haul: The purple plastic tote I found at JoAnns this weekend for $10. It has 2 large sections and 2 small sections on top - PLUS there is a divided drawer on the bottom! This tote also stacks on other totes - but I bought just the one tote this time. (Using a 40% off coupon, I also scored a small rolling plastic cart with 4 assorted drawers that I'm using to store components for a fabric project.)

In the purple plastic tote, I have baggies and other project supplies. Each baggie contains a bottle filled with these wet ingredients:

• distilled water - less than 2 oz,
• 20 drops re-inker - or a few drops acrylic paint,
• 4 drops acrylic glazing medium (as a binder - I could have used white glue),
• 2 glass beads

Each baggie has an asortment of one or more of the following sparkly dry ingredients (PearlEx, Perfect Pearls, and/or Twinkling H2Os).

My plan is to add the sparkly ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine by shaking. The glass beads are to help combine wet and dry ingredients when shaking. Next step is to spray scrapbook paper with my sparkly mist, let air dry and die cut paper into flowers. I broke down and bought Tim Holtz dies at Archivers - again using discount coupons!

The reason I bagged up the components was because I had started mixing the wet ingredients on our dining room table and selected the matching dry ingredients but soon I needed to clear off the table for other uses. It was easy to move the project into my craft room after I bagged stuff up and put them in the purple project tote. Don't you just LOVE how useful those baggies are?!

Fyi, I do have a small supply of Ranger Mini-misters but I only made my mists in a few of those vials before I quickly abandoned that product because:

• volume of vial is too small - I use multiple layers of spray to get the effect I want, and had to re-fill the Mini-misters too often.
• spray pump on a mini-mister was defective
• bottles from dollar store are more affordable than mini-misters. Duh!

Wow-ee Zow-ee NEWS FLASH!

The owner of a golf resort emailed me out of the blue (from a meetup.com Scrap-A-Holics group). She reached out because she wants help on developing her golf resort as a scrapbooking retreat!!!! 

One of the first things I told her (after reading all the pages on her website) was that I would need to inspect her resort (lodging/cabins, restaurant, golf course) before I could recommend it to my scrapping contacts. And would it be possible for me and hubby to get 1 or 2 nights complimentary lodging to inspect it, since we’ll both be on vacation? She said ‘sure’, and she booked us for 2 nights! I’m SO-O-O-O excited!

 

 

YOUR TURN
Do you use any sparkly mists in your artwork? Have you tried Glimmer Mist? What's your fave store bought mist? Have you tried to concoct your own sparkly spray? If so, what ingredients did you like best? Least?

Finally, have you attended any scrapbook or quilting or craft retreats? What are the 3 things you liked best about your retreat experience? 3 things you liked least?

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon - my Giveaway for Followers will be here before you know it!

For more WOYWW ateliers, click here.

Peace,
LuLu

 

'My 2nd Commission - a Paris Adventure!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

Exciting news! This past Friday I officially accepted my 2nd commision. Yeah!

For this commission I'm creating a custom scrapbook of a client's Paris vacation! I've been given carte blanche - total creative freedom! The base of the book is a Brag Book by Fancy Pants that I'm altering.

I'm ecstatic!

Here are photos of my scrapbook that I presented to land this commission.

YOUR TURN

Have you ever made  or personalized a custom scrapbook to order? What were your specifications? How long did it take you to complete the order? How many hours did you spend on the project?

Thanks for stopping by. Would love for you to become a Follower while you're visiting. Stay tuned - my '100 Follower Giveaway' is coming SOON!

Peace,
LuLu

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

I JUST discovered 'The 100 Themes Challenge' founded by Digital Whisper. That blog is now defunct. But there are a lot of other digital artists taking up the challenge. I can't wait to join in the fun!

Here is one blog  that is very inspiring.
http://wwwravenpainting100themesartjournal.blogspot.com/


Here is my entry into the Josephine Baker Challenge. It won!

Josephine Baker Challenge - My Winning Entry!

YOUR TURN
Have you ever joined in the 100 Themes Challenge? If so, please send me your link.  Have you ever visited other bloggers doing 100 Themes Challenges? If so, please send me their links.

Thanks for stopping by. Would love for you to leave a comment. Please come back again - and my 100 Followers Giveaway is coming very soon!

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 08/01/2012 - Fabulous Finds From Friend!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

For WOYWW this week, I'm showing a fabulous find! A haul of matboard!

A friend of mine owns a  framing store and art gallery nearby. After reading about matboard in a Supplies List for a mixed-media project, I phoned him last week to find out if there were any unused matboard scraps that I could have. He said 'sure', I could have their matboard scraps - for free!

Matboard Haul - 27 July 2012

I drove over this past Friday to pick up the matboard scraps, which were huge, compared to the size of my artwork. So the framer there gave me a quick cutting lesson on their gi-normous wall trimmer.  I spent the next 45 minutes trimming down matboard to 12" or less. Just imagine how long it would have taken me to trim all that matboard at home using a utility knife?! I'd probably still be trimming matboard today!

The matboard scraps are in all different colors - including some fancy finishes. I plan to use the matboard scraps as substrates, book covers, journal pages and journal covers.

Thank you for your generous gifts, Greg and Fran!

YOUR TURN
Do you create mixed media artwork? How do you use matboard in your artwork? If not matboard, what do you use as substrates for your mixed media creations - other than canvas, paper or fabric?

Thanks for stopping by. Please come back soon - my '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming late this summer! If you are a Follower, do not miss this Giveaway!

For more artist digs, click here to visit Julia's blog hop WOYWW!

Peace,
LuLu

'A Day of Tatoos and Tapes'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Well you know the saying about 'best laid plans'....This morning hubby and I realised that walking around the Art museum all day would be murder on my sprained ankle and his bum knee since he just had surgery. What were we thinking?!

So while hubby took a nap I worked on my job search. When he awoke we decided to drive in the opposite direction of downtown Chicago. We went shopping at the Michaels craft store in Tinley Park, IL. Hubby bought all the lovely goodies below for me!
Thank you, Hubble!

Goodies from Tinley Park's Michaels!

• 2 jars of matte gel medium (regular and heavy) by Golden,
• matte medium and glazing medium by Liquitex,
• 3 packs of tatoos/decals,
• 2 packs of tape runner refills,
• 4 self-adhesive wallpaper borders (on sale for $1.99 each) - I'll use these as tape,
• a roll of pattern Duck tape,
• 2 great art books (one about collage and the other about mixed-media).

After the shopping spree, we drove through Tinley Park's quaint downtown and found a great restaurant for lunch.

We hope to get back to the Art Institute of Chicago again - eventually. And no, I'm not going to CHA. I've had invitations - but CHA doesn't seem like my cup of tea. Too crowded for my tastes!

YOUR TURN!
Have you ever used Golden's gel medium in your artwork? How did you use it? What about Liquitex's glazing medium? or Liquitex's matte medium? What's your fave glue for adhering tissue paper or napkins? What's your fave glue for adhering fabric? Do you every use fusible web? Misty Fuse? Have you used fusible web or Misty fuse on paper?!

Thanks for stopping by to visit - would love for you to comment - and please come back often. My '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming  later this summer!

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW 07/18/2012 - Too TidyToday!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,
For WOYWW this week the table in my craft studio is tidy!

Workstation with organizing checklist!

No projects are on my workstation today because tomorrow I'm off to visit the Art Institute of Chicago with hubby - to see art works in the New Modern wing!

Although we do live in Chicago, our neighborhood is so far away from downtown Chicago (aka The City) that it is always a grand adventure to 'go downtown'.  I used to work downtown years ago, but now I feel like a tourist. Which is a good thing!

Do you like to visit museums? What is you favorite museum? Have you been to The Louvre in Paris? or the Victoria and Albert Museum in London? I never really liked museums until I went to see the Louvre - I spent the whole day there. I liked The Louvre so much, I went back the next day!

Thanks for visiting my blog today - would love for you to comment. Please come back often - my '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming this summer!

For more artist's studios, visit Julia's Stamping Ground here.

Peace,
LuLu

'Treasure Hunt!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Artist Seth Apter at The Altered Page is hosting his annual bloghop of Buried Treasure!

Click here for a peek at some of my blog's Buried Treasure!

Have you ever gone a real Treasure Hunt? When? Where? What did you find?

Thanks for visiting. Please come back soon. My '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming this summer!

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 07/11/2012 - Goodies Galore!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

For WOYWW this week, I've got a little treat.

Hubby and I had an adventure this past Saturday. After going on a short roadtrip to an antiques market (and buying some cheap items for collage fodder), we stopped on the way home for sushi lunch. Ymmm-mmmm. Afterwards I bought a few items at the thrift store in the same plaza.

Found an old round chinese checkers tin, a couple of packages of stickers with embellishments and die cuts and chipoboard, a kids stamp pad and plastic stamps in a plastic toolbox, and a few other assorted goodies.

On my table below are the contents of the stickers packages that I picked up for a song. I put them in a plastic bin temporarily until they go to their proper 'homes. We had quite an adventure that day!

Thrift store finds!

Do you ever go 'antiquing'? What about hunting for collage fodder at thrift shops or flea markets? What are your favorite things to look for?

Thanks for stopping by - and please come back often. My '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming this summer!

Wanna see more artist ateliers? Go visit Julia's WOYWW blog here.

Peace,
LuLu

"FREE TUTORIAL - Embossed Metal Tape: Edited"

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

I was surfing my own blog and found a short tutorial I totally forgot that I wrote on my technique for embossed metal tape. Thought you might enjoy this post from June of 2010.
 LuLu's Embossed Metal Tape Tute!

'Swirly Girly Challenge'

Have you ever used TH grungeboard? Have you ever used embossed metal tape? Have you played with my tutorials?

Would love for you to comment - and become a Follower too. Thanks for stopping by. Please come back soon!

Peace,
LuLu

'EXTREME Close Ups: Steampunk Smash Book / Art Journal / Scrapbook!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and Welcome,

You asked for it!

These are Extreme Close Ups of the book I posted yesterday. I'm making this book for Daddy for this Sunday Father's day!

Back Cover ECU

Front Cover ECU 1

Front Cover ECU 2

Front Cover ECU 3

Have you ever used hardware in your art work? What about chains? Have you ever tried to make a charm out of a wooden game piece?

Thanks for stopping by - and please leave a comment. Come back soon.

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 06/13/2012 - TUTORIAL: Steampunk Art Journal / Smash Book / Scrapbook!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and Welcome,

For WOYWW this week, thought I'd show you the book I'm presenting to Daddy on Sunday Father's Day. This week is also his 80th birthday! Daddy goes scrapbooking with me once a month at Aunt Alma's house. She's 95 years old!

This is sold as a BRAG BOOK (by Fancy Pants) that I found at Archivers during their long weekend crop last week. It's designed like a combo Smash book and scrapbook - with clear plastic page protectors for photos, lined pages for journaling and 15 sections divded by thick cardstock pockets. It looked very sturdy - now I want to buy more! Update: It is sturday. I made the book SO FAST! I bought another BRAG BOOK for more vintage heritge ephemera I recently was given. I hope to have the 2nd book completed in time for our annual August 2012 family reunion. Ha! Ha!

I decided to use it as a scrapbook / art journal including photos of Daddy through the years with captions for the photos as my journaling. This book makes it super, duper fast to do scrapbooking - and I'm always on the lookout to scrapbook faster! Aren't we all?

Here are the steps I used. You're welcome to use my steps as a pseudo -  tutorial.

SUPPLIES

·        Acrylic  paint - gold

      ·        Brag book or Smash book
      ·        Bubble wrap
      ·        chain
      ·        dimensional items – your choice
      ·        fishing lure holders
      ·        Gold paints to ‘gild’ cover edges (test and experiment first)
      ·        Heat tool
      ·        Heavy gel medium
      ·        jump rings
      ·        Old hotel keycard or putty/spackle knife – 2”
      ·        Paint brush -  ¼” round
      ·        Pattern scrapbook paper/cardstock
      ·        pliers - chain nose, round nose
      ·        ribbons (7"-8")
      ·        Spray ink
      ·        Table cloth or craft mat
      ·        Tape runner (permanent)
      ·        Tim Holtz distress charms
      ·        Tim Holtz Tonic Scissors
      ·        Vinyl gloves (opt)
      ·        Water container



PSEUDO TUTORIAL

First, I removed some of the lined pages (as usual), because it was already FAT when I bought it. So I knew that adding more would make it gi-normous!

Next, while still at the weekend crop, I started adhering pattern scrapbook paper to each lined page, the inside covers, and the pocket pages. Easy peasy! Then I added ribbons to the wire binding. Also added, tabs I made to the edges of each section divider pocket.

When I returned home, I started playing with the covers. Adhered torn pattern scrapbook cardstock, gilded the edges with various gold paints, spray painted the covers with blue and green spray ink found at Archivers. Very messy, but good thing I used my 'spray box'. Great investment.

Then, for the front cover, I adhered foam letters and spray painted them with spray ink. I randomly stamped both covers with gold acrylic paint using bubble wrap  that I'd wrapped around my hand. Then I gathered a bunch of dimensional items and glued them on using generous amounts of 'heavy gel medium' (Golden). I did a layout on freezer paper to test the composition first.

Some items I adhered were washers, springs, foreign and domestic coins, dice, watch parts, vintage CTA tokens, Monopoly game tokens, bingo tokens, flattened bottle caps, keys and calculator parts.

Compostion test

After I was satisfied with the test, I started gluing down the various items. I glued items over a few days - letting the cover dry overnight. I've been adding some photos in the page protectors.

Added chains, fishing lure holders, keyring, skeleton key and Tim Holtz distress charms to the wire binding.

Also, I found Daddy's 1932 christening dress and slip with Granny's handwritten notes, which I added in an archival ziplock bag. I punched holes in the bag first using my Bind It All (BIA).Then cut a slit in each hole with Tim Holtz Tonic scissors. Luckily, the placement of the BIA holes matched the wire binding!

Front Cover

 Back Cover

The book got fat again, and I'm not even half finsihed!

 Front fan

Top fan

What do you think of the front cover? Have you ever used dimensional objects in your art work? If so, what is your favorite glue for heavy objects?

Thanks for stopping by -  and don't forget to comment. Please come back soon.

More artist studios for WOYWW are here.

Peace,
LuLu