ALTARED ART RETREAT INFO!

 

Altered art online classes available! Details and pics of projects coming soon!

Hugs,

Paula Clare

PS Grab the button on the side of my blog...help spread the word! Simply right click, save image, go!

AND THE WINNER IS...

#59: Nan of Retired in Alaska!

Congrats, Nan! I will be mailing your gnome goodies tomorrow...hope you enjoy the additions to your little gnome/pixie cottage!

Thank you  SO MUCH to ALL my dear readers who have journeyed along with me during this homage to gnomedom! I hope you'll stay with me for the Valentine madness that will ensue Feb. 1!

Hugs and mushroom smoochies to all!
Paula Clare

GNOME GIVEAWAY DRAWING THIS EVENING!

Greetings my gnome loving friends!

I want to thank you all for joining in the Gnome Party Madness this month! It has been beyond fun, and I've made so many new friends! I'm thrilled!

The Gnome Garland Giveaway drawing will be this evening at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time. I will load each entry (via comment) into a random number generator and assign numbers,  then place the numbers into a random generator to pick the giveaway winner! Here again are the prizes:

 

And the box it comes in:

 

And the little tin mushroom full of sweet and sour candies:

 

And the terrarium kit:

 

Includes: 2 or more gnomes, sweet little fawn, mushrooms, small mason jar, moss for terrarium floor.

Good luck to everyone! I'll be back to announce the winner this evening! 

Peace Out!

Paula Clare

AND THE GNOME PARTIES CONTINUE...

Greetings dear gnomlings!

I have spotted several gnome parties in blogdom...you need to check them out before the gnomes pack up and head south for the duration of these cold winter months...

From our friend in the frozen tundra of Alaska, we find this blog entry:

And THE most adorable gnome quilt EVER!

And from our friend at Garden of Daisies:

Some gorgeously, colorfully wonderful gnome illustrations!

And from the 3D mind of ImagiMeri:

 

Incredible, yes?

And *I* received the most incredible box of goodies from my dear friend Elizabeth at Creative Breathing:

The box itself is gorgeous (a Martha Stewart special!):

And the treasures inside beyond wonderful!

My gnome village is now complete!

DO go and check out these blogs...as the Gnome Party is winding down to make way for Valentine Madness!

Drawing for all the gnome goodies (and a few surprises) tomorrow! Also, be sure to email your snail mail addy to me if you'd like a gnome tag...the last day of January is the last day to get in on the gnomey goodness!

Hugs and kisses,

Paula Clare

HOMAGE TO GNOMAGE...

Greetings, dear reader!

As promised, I am back with a few of the many MANY gnome inspired crafts I've been creating...the Magic Cottage is being completely overrun! The snowmen are having to make way for the gnomes and they are NONE to happy about it...

However the snowmen see how industrious the little fellows are and decided perhaps they would get neighborhood clean-up of some of the riff-raff..

 

and so they relented. They did realize how friendly, kind and hardworking gnomes could be...why just look at the neighborhood where gnomes reside!

A far cry from the dirt and grime of the snowman "hood":

(This photo is blurred because it was taken in a drive-by shooting...it's not good to get out of the car and shoot snowmen in THIS neighborhood!)

And so, it is my hope that both snowmen and gnome can live happily together in the Magic Cottage...

 

 otherwise, I may be reporting to you from the site of something akin to "civil war!"

I digress...

Here are a few of the crafts I've finished, and a few still in process!

These are little box vignettes created for a few of my special "valentines"!

And these are the gnome tags...in process. Do you know the mental anguish involved in making 40 gnomes? Well let me share a bit of the nightmare with you...first of all, I had no pattern. So as simple as it was for "E" to create her darling gnome guys, I have no mechanical fortitude whatsoever...so a gnome without a pattern was NOT gonna happen. SOooooooooooooo...

 

I have a dear friend who owns a Cricut die cutting machine. I've never been terribly impressed with them, and figure I wouldn't need one since I don't usually make things en masse. However, I am convinced that the machine was made for these very things...tedious projects involving the same kind of embellishments in great numbers. SO.....

 

Having already cut each tag individually out of chipboard, and punched each hole and papered and inked each tag, I had already invested dozens of "man hours" (LOL) in making said tags...more than I intended. And so I enlisted the help of my dear friend and asked her to bring her Cricut and we'd cut out 40 gnomes. What?! What do you MEAN it's not that simple????

 

WELL, much to my dismay, there is no gnome template in all of Cricut's many templates...which meant, we were going to have to get creative about the way we  think about this. Okay, let's break it down then, we need 1 circle (for the head) two hands, two feet, a beard, a tunic, a hat. Easy enough...let's start cranking these babies out! NOT SO FAST....there's the little matter of finding and choosing the RIGHT tunic and the RIGHT hat...and there is NO beard. None. WHAT?!?! No beard? How can that be? Even in the nativity template there was no beard...however, there was this tunic...and so we chose. Nativity tunic it is. AND, rather than create each piece of the body separately, there is a template for paperdolls. Head, hands and feet included! WOOT! SOMETHING made easier and not more difficult! HOORAY! However the expression on the paperdoll is very childlike, not old and wise like gnomes truly are. Well, we just HAVE to have beards...even if I have to cut each one out by hand...that's all there is to it...

So I started perusing the templates and looked for anything round with a scalloped edge...wait, what's that? hmmmm...an apron. The bottom of the apron is scalloped...I could just cut off the top half! This just might work!

And so we cut one...tried it on for size...voila! Our gnomes have beards! And while I had to cut each one to fit, it wasn't nearly as tedious as it would have been to cut out each little scallop individually. Now they need eyes and a grin that's a little mischievous but friendly and wise. And there it is! The gnome personality shining through!

And so I have made each of you, dear readers who will send me your snail mail addy, a little gnome tag to remember forever our trip into the gnome world together!

Chunky Valentine book to come! Hugs!

Paula Clalre

GNOME IMPROVEMENT...

Greetings, dear reader!

I hope you are enjoying the gnome madness...my magic cottage has gained a sort of gnomey-homey-ness of late.

Chillin' Wit My Gnomies

However, with Valentines Day on the horizon, I find it hard to contain myself...see the background of my blog? I made it myself! Imagine, me fumbling about with HTML! Frightening to be sure...however I WON'T be trying to FEED it to anyone, so perhaps a safer venue for me than, oh...say...COOKING?!?!

SOooooooooo, I decided to "marry (pun intended) the two ideas: Gnome and Valentines Day! The above is an example of the gnomey goodness that awaits you at your local Gnome Emporium...

OR, if you'd like to make some gnome-awesome valentines yourself...try this on for size:

I'll be making my OWN version this weekend. I'll be doing a lot of "show and tell" when I return...I will be completing my gnome tags, gnome junque book, and gnome valentine in the next day or two. Try to contain your excitement! LOL!

Until then,

Paula Clare

aka

Your Friendly Neighborhood Gnome Lover!

GNOMES AND A BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY!

Greetings my fellow gnomekins!

I thought since we have discussed the origins of the Scandanavian gnomes, it only fitting I retell a couple of old tales lest some of you missed them "way back when."

First, the little gnome book I told you I sent to our dear Elizabeth? Here are some photos of the "oldie but goodie":

The book is called "Totens Christmas Secret" circa 1951. The dutch colors illustrated inside are just luscious:

I found the little Christmas gnome at the same estate sale...don't you just love his sweet little face?

Also, since we're in the "bohemian" neighborhood, I thought I'd post some pics of a wonderful little place Hubby Dear and I found in beautiful Loveland, Colorado:

 I give you, "The Bohemian Cottage" (Aren't the colors just yummy?):

In great European fashion, the food was served in several courses. Here, we have been brought a tureen full of Czech Potato soup with Bulgarian Dumplings...YUM!

The decor was out of this world...and it occurred to me WHY I like the "Bohemian style"...it's a little of everything...and VERY colorful! Lucy hand painted the entire cottage! Gorgeous! She decorates like I do!

The food was amazing...I had Wiener (VEENER) Shnitzel with potatoes (which is actually Austrian, not German) and my husband had Roast Schnitzel with mushrooms, gravy and potatoes. The portions were huge...and, unlike many restaurants, our waitress (who was the co-owner) and her husband (the cook and other co-owner) came to our table to chat and see how we liked the food. They were a delightful couple...very genuine and kind. They both had really, neat accents. (Czechoslovakian) They have been in the states for many years, but you'd never know it...they sounded like they just got off the boat! Here's a photo of Lucy, Henry, and hubby dearest:

Apparently Lucy is quite the gardener also...she was talking to another patron and invited she and her husband out to their garden to talk plants:

Thanks, Lucy and Henry! Eating at the Bohemian Cottage was a WONDERFUL experience!

So dear reader, if ever you are in the Loveland/Estes Park, Colorado area, you must stop in and say hello to this fun couple! Oh...and DO prepare to eat too much! Apparently it's the "Bohemian" way!

More soon!
Paula (the Bohemian) Clare

GNOME SIGHTING IN THE TUNDRA OF MINNESOTA!

Greetings, gnomies!

I wanted to let you all know that I have spied yet another gnome sighting in Minnesota! My long lost best friend Faith has been suffering from her lack of gnomage...and lo and behold, what should she find at a thrift store but this darling book:

Isn't it just TOO fab? Here's an example of the illustrations:

 

You'll have to go to her blogsite to see the rest...and to let her regale you with the "tale of the find!" What fun!

Also, I wanted to show you what else I've acquired in the line of gnomedom...are you ready? You will surely turn utterly GREEN when you see the newest addition to my gnome village!

It's an  aqua canned ham birdhouse! I absolutely SQUEALED with delight when I saw it at JoAnn Fabrics! Isn't it wonderful? I'm creating an awning for it out of this material:

And if you recall my photoshopped dream paint job for our canned ham:

All Bud and I need are pointy hats and it will be an identical scene!

I also wanted to let you know a bit of news about the AltAred Art Retreat: I WILL be teaching at least one online class! Either the "Chunky Junque Book" class or the Canvas Art Journal Class. Regardless, I will be letting you know soon about class & kit cost, supply list, and time and date. I TOTALLY forgot that I have a web cam built in to my laptop...I can record even if my FLIP video cam fails me! HOORAY!

I also wanted to show you this "easy peasy" little gnome from the creative mind of Christy at SweetTidings:

 

It's simply baker's twine wrapped around a wooden spool, topped with a round wooden bead and a little felt hat and scarf! ADORABLE for your sewing basket...or atop your favorite pin cushion! Brilliant!

One more thing...I will be adding this to the Grand Prize Box at the end of the month:

 

A little DIY terrarium kit! Many of you have told me you've had a hard time finding the tiny goodies that go inside a terrarium, so I will "share the wealth" of my stash and give you all you need to make a tiny little gnome world yourself! The kit includes:

A Bit of Terrarium Moss

A Handful of Mushrooms...asst. sizes

2 or More Gnomes

A tiny little fawn

And a small Mason Jar to use as either storage or the terrarium itself!

To enter in the drawing, all you need to do is leave a comment on any January post! I'll put all entries into a random number generator, assign numbers, then put THOSE numbers into a random generator and draw 1 name! The lucky winner will have their prize of gnomie goodness sent to them right away! Be sure to privately email me your snail mail addy so I can be sure that EVERYONE who attends my gnome party this month receives a Gnome Tag as a door prize!

It's all SO exciting, isn't it?

More soon! Hugs and teeny, tiny gnome kisses,

Paula Clare