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HELLO Giveaways! | Tools

Giveaway Day 29
ByHeather Bailey August 29, 2013

I take a sketchbook with me everywhere I go, even if I'm just heading
to the gas station to refill the tank. I had lovely thoughts to share
about keeping a sketchbook and how pivotal this is for anyone with
artistic ambitions or creative hobbies.

But then, my husband went outside to change the brakes on our car,
leaving me to write out my lovely thoughts in the midst of a storm of
children, which storm has blown my concentration right out the door. The
teenager is writing a physics paper and packing for an overnight field
trip tomorrow. The middle child is sick and needs medicine and love. The
baby has torn his diaper off so many times, that I am now letting him
sit naked on my lap and watch Jay Jay the Jet Plane while I type.

I may not retrieve those lovely sketchbook thoughts till
another day. Just know that the thoughts are there. I am passionate about
sketchbooks. You must, must, must have a sketchbook—so I went and got one for you, along
with a big pack of pretty, colored pencils.

It doesn't matter if you can draw. You need a place to capture your
creative brainstorms. Write it down, draw it out, or risk losing it. I
also picked up a colored pencil blender pen for you, a solvent-based marker meant for blending wax-based
colored pencil pigments. This is something I have never tried before, so
I got one for me too. We'll find out together.

If
I'm preaching to the choir, and you're already amply equipped with
sketchbooks and colored pencils of your own, take a shot at this
giveaway anyhow. If you win, then you can gift the prize to a creative friend who
needs to hear the gospel truth about sketchbooks.

As you know, I have some big introductions to make this week. I
tidied up my sewing area this morning to make way for a full weekend of
projects—assuming the baby keeps his diaper on and no unexpected
strike-offs arrive at the door.

Just going with the flow. I'm grateful to have that flexibility.
Speaking of flow… I better go put a diaper on this kid. I'm testing my
luck at this point.

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Giveaway Day 26
ByHeather Bailey August 26, 2013

I'm am all about art supplies. I love nothing more than to sit at my
drafting table with a fiesta of colorful paints, markers and tools
within reach. It's also handy to have a few supplies that are easy to
pack up and take with me for long family functions, for travel, or even
for a trip to the park with the kids.

One of my all-time-favorite, easy-to-pack art supplies is my compact set of Winsor Newton watercolor
half-pans (the official name for these little dried cubes of paint). I
love to work with pan paints on the go. And each half-pan can be replaced
as it is used—without having to get a whole new set of colors. In fact,
you can swap the colors around, add new ones, remove a few, and make
your own custom palette to paint with.

The teensy-tiny box opens up to reveal plenty of palette surface for mixing colors. There is even a little water tray for plein-air
painting. (I don't use the water tray myself. I'm happy to bring a
larger cup along.) Also included is a small, round paintbrush which is
stored inside the compact.

These pan paints don't offer the same pigment depth as top-of-the-line
tube paint, but they are a good quality for a traveling set. And this
little box of watercolors has remained one of my favorite art supplies
over many years. You might recall my March of the Tools post on these from a few years back.

Today's lucky winner will receive a new Winsor Newton compact watercolor set to call her own, the same traveling kit that I use. A $38 value.

Comment to enter today's giveaway. One entry per household. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form.

Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Tuesday 8/27/13—which means it will overlap with Day 25's giveaway and Day 27th's giveaway, so don't miss those. Watch for the winner to
be announced within the week at the bottom
of the post. For more info on my August giveaway party, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.

Good luck!

xo—Heather

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Giveaway Day 19 — Stella
ByHeather Bailey August 19, 2013

At Quilt Market last May, I met Nathan and Stacy Wiedenmann who were
there introducing a new product to the world. And it was no elementary,
homespun product either, but a multi-function task light of all things.
Now how do you get that made?

The inventor in me can't resist new gadgets. The business owner in me
thrills to see someone tackle manufacturing with success. Isaac has two
pet lighting inventions he wants to patent and market one day, so
meeting small business owners in the lighting trade is extra fun.

Now, I'm going to butcher the Stella Lighting
story, but as I understand it, Nathan was at a meeting at Starbucks
where he and an associate were discussing a prototype of this lamp when a
quilter approached them to find out more about it. After a
demonstration, she insisted that she needed the lamp and she needed it
now. And that other quilters and crafters needed it too. The punchline
is: this godsend matchmaker hooked up a great little lamp with an eager
audience and it was true love.

So
what makes this light different? The Stella task lamp is stocked with
21 little LED light bulbs, all rated to last for 50,000+ hours—we'll
call that a lifetime of use. You never have to change the bulbs. With
efficient LED technology, the lamp uses 10% of the electricity of a
comparably bright incandescent light. And the light stays cool, so you
can work right under it very comfortably. It is available as a desk lamp or floor lamp.

It also has five brightness levels, so it can be adjusted to the task at hand. You can choose from three different light temperatures, including a warm light (very similar to incandescent light), a very cool light, and a bright, daylight-balanced light.

For me and my purposes, the
daylight-balanced setting is where it's at. Much of my work involves
reviewing colors for accuracy. And having a Stella on hand allows me to
work later into the day, after the sun has set—perfect for evaluating
fabric strike-offs, painting new artwork, or choosing thread colors.

The light is even and bright and the neck of the lamp can be bent in almost any direction. It's streamline shape allows it to peek in quietly over your work or move aside as needed.

Check in with Stella on Twitter and Instagram. Visit StellaLighting.com
for a video introduction and more information about the product and the
company. Art stores, quilt stores, needlework stores and more are all
starting to carry this new light, so watch for the Stella at your local
shop.

Stella Lighting is generously donating one white Stella task lamp for today's giveaway. A $220 value.

Comment to enter. One entry per household. U.S. shipping only on this one. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form. Today's giveaway will close at noon PST on Tuesday 8/20/13. Watch for the winner to
be announced within a few days at the bottom
of the post.

For the backstory on my August HELLO Giveaway project, click here. Please
share the word. And check back every day.

Good luck!

xo—Heather

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Giveaway Day 16 — A Big One
ByHeather Bailey August 16, 2013

When I say that I'm friends with some cool people at some cool
companies. I mean, wow. I put out some calls, told everyone I wanted to
have a big Thank You Party for my readers, and look what's coming in.
Today's giveaway prize is another big one.

This incredible machine here is called the Cricut Expressions 2.
It is an electronic cutting machine. Digital designs are plugged into
the system on cartridges and out come perfectly-cut pieces. Pieces of
what, you say? Pieces of cardstock, chipboard, sheet magnet, foam, felt,
balsa wood, vellum, cling vinyl, fabric and more. That's a lot of
creative possibilities.

This
Cricut is a free-standing machine that is easily operated using
touch-screen technology. You don't have to have a computer. From what I
read, this is one of the easiest cutting machines to operate and there
are a number of video tutorials and reviews posted online if you're a
visual learner.

Included with the Expressions 2 machine is their Cricut Essentials
cartridge which includes hundreds of designs and a Cricut Alphabet
cartridge. Beyond that, Cartridges galore
are available separately from a variety of designers. The machine
features a cutting area as large as 12" x 24" and it will arrange
multiple items for you in order to prevent waste.

Great for crafts, party decorations, card-making, scrapbooking, fabric
applique, product packaging, valentines. I can think of so many fun
things to do with a cutting machine. What incredible technology to have
on hand.

Oh! And Cricut is also including a bundle of iron-on vinyl in three colors—winner chooses the colors.
Wait till you see what you can do with this iron-on vinyl. Holy cow.
You can customize tee-shirts, pillows, shoes, sports jerseys, hats,
handbags, Christmas stockings—anything. To see images of this
heat-transfer film in use, visit Cricut's iron-on vinyl product page, then click on each color of vinyl to pull up project ideas.

With so many functions and uses, it's quite impossible for me to cover it all in this one post. I recommend you visit their "New to Cricut?" page, the Cricut Blog, and the Cricut Forum if you want to delve in to the details and see all that the Cricut Expressions 2 can do. Cricut is also on Facebook (a great resource), Instagram and Twitter, so go say hello.

All in all, today's generous prize is a $345 value. Thank you, Cricut! To enter for today's
giveaway, leave a comment here on this post. One entry per person.

Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form; I can access that info from behind the scenes. Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Sunday 8/18/13.
(This is a big one and it's Friday—so I'm giving you all weekend to
enter. This means it will overlap with Saturday's and Sunday's
giveaways.) Watch for the winner to
be announced early next week at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on these August HELLO Giveaways, click here. Please
share the word. We have lots more in store for you this month.

Good luck!

xo—Heather

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HELLO Giveaways! | Tools

Giveaway Day 14 — Art Supplies!
ByHeather Bailey August 14, 2013

Art supplies! Who doesn't love to collect art supplies!?

I'm incredibly excited to share today's prize with you. Copic has generously contributed a set of their Ciao Too
artist-quality markers. I've been researching markers heavily all year
and Copic stands tall at the top of the list. Not only does Copic offer
their markers in scores of colors, with a variety of nibs to choose from, but Copic markers are also refillable and blendable. That's right—blendable. The ink flows smoothly and colors can be blended together without glaring streaks or stripes.

They make several styles of markers which hold differing amounts of
ink, but follow the same color system. The Ciao markers
here come with a brush tip on one end and a chisel tip on the other.
With some product lines, you can choose which nibs you like best and
swap them out as you see fit. Most of their markers are
double-ended—except for the super-duper wide ones.

One popular style, the Copic Sketch marker, can be attached to their proprietary air-brush system where
colors swap out easily and there's no fussy clean-up.

I'm just mesmerized by these. Like every product I'm including in the
giveaways this month, I contacted the company because I genuinely love
what they do. I have been fawning over this prize ever since it arrived
at the studio on Monday. Someone is going to be one lucky duck.

Copic
markers are top-of-the-line. They don't come cheaply, but they do their
job fantastically and they maintain their value quite well. With refillable alcohol-inks and replaceable nibs, these valuable tools can be used in perpetuity.

They work great for fabric studies and that works for me. I love them.

So, here's your chance to get hooked on these amazing markers too. Today's winner will receive this 24 pack of Copic Ciao Too markers. A $130 value. Thank you, Copic!

Follow Copic on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the Copic Marker blog. In fact, check out the Gallery on their site for inspiring artwork and artist interviews.

Comment to enter today's contest. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form; I can access that info from behind the scenes. Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Wednesday 8/14/13. One entry per person. Winner chosen at random using the random number generator at Random.org. Watch for the winner to
be announced within a day or
two at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on my August HELLO Giveaways, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.

Good luck!

xo—Heather

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HELLO Giveaways! | Tools

Giveaway Day 13 — Puj
ByHeather Bailey August 13, 2013

Today's giveaway is from my friend, Katie Richardson, who invented this crazy-cool folding baby tub and quickly expanded her business, Puj Baby, to include several other hip and helpful products for families.

Katie
is good friends with Isaac's sister, Maureen. She and I have met up a
couple of times and every time I see Katie she's reached new heights in
design. I'm incredibly impressed with her and her success.

I discoverd the Industrial Design program at my university when I was
just about to graduate in Apparel Design. I have kicked myself ever
since for not learning about it sooner. At one point, after I had
abandoned my plan to pursue Medicine, I had hunted for a degree that
would lend itself to animatronics (mechanical puppets and special
effects for the movies, that kind of thing). I wanted to know how to
make anything and everything, sewn items on through to electronics.

I am still mad that the Industrial Design program never came up on that hunt. I
had grouped it in with Civil Engineering and passed it right by. If I
could do college again, I would major in Industrial Design and minor in
Apparel Design. The inventor in me still craves that education on
materials and processes. Perhaps I can find a program somewhere yet and
scratch that itchy itch.

My point is that Katie here majored in Industrial Design. As did her
husband, Ben. And look what they have created! Isn't this impressive?
Together they are a design power house. And I can't wait to see what
they do next. You can too. Follow Katie and Ben's journey on their company blog and on Katie's "Secret Blog"—I sure hope it's not a true secret—Katie? Puj Baby can also be found on Instagram and Twitter at @PujBaby and on Facebook as well. Check them out.

Without further ado, today's giveaway prize is a generous bundle of amazing inventions from Katie and her company, Puj. Winner will receive one Puj Tub, one Puj Hug baby towel and Puj Nubs, knobs to hang your Puj products on. A $90 value.

By the way, the Puj Hug towel
fastens gently around mom's neck so she can get baby from the tub more
safely—without fuss. Or dad's neck. See how this works at Puj.com. I love inventions!

I know some rad people.

Comment to enter today's contest. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form; I can access that info from behind the scenes. Today's giveaway will close at 11:59pm PST on Tuesday 8/13/13. This one requires a U.S. address. And they can't ship to a P.O. box. Watch for the winner to
be announced within a day or
two at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on my August HELLO Giveaways, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.

Good luck!

xo—Heather

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Tools

The Icehouse
ByHeather Bailey February 28, 2013

The building that last week's Revive conference was held at is so cool. It
is a gutted old relic from the early 1900s, a place where they used to
manufacture 300 lb. ice blocks for refrigerating food in railcars
heading east.

The owner of The Icehouse, as it's called now, is dedicated to the arts and offers the space
for exhibitions and creative events. One upcoming sculpture show is all about different artistic takes on manhole covers of all things. Seriously.

Have a look at some of the manhole covers on the
Icehouse's Facebook page. They're pretty spectacular.

The property is crusty and textured and fun. Even the pavement in the
parking lot is appealing in its chunked up, brightly-painted way.

If you are cool. And you need a cool place to host something cool, then check this place out.

The Icehouse
429 W. Jackson Street
Phoenix, Arizona

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Tools

Oh My Gouache!
ByHeather Bailey November 16, 2012

Don't you just love when you're working along, having an
normal-sort-of-day, and the postman shows up with a box of sunshine.
Today I'm restocking my gouache supply. Not with onesie-twosie-tubes,
here and there, but with all 84 colors in this particular range.

I'm amping up for major output this year.

In my years of ordering art supplies online from all over, I don't
think I've yet seen such meticulous packaging. I tore into the bundles
like it was Christmas. It took me a good 20 minutes to free the tubes.

Yum,
yum. Now where to keep them? I have a little baby here who would just
love to sink his teeth into each one of these tubes, take the lids off,
bust open the tails and squirt color everywhere.

Come to think of it, that sounds just about right.

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Tools

H.B. on HB
ByHeather Bailey March 23, 2012

You asked about the pencil shown in this post?

This handy tool is called a drafting lead holder or clutch pencil. It contains a thicker core of lead (2mm) than a mechanical pencil (0.05mm to 0.09mm) and must be sharpened with a specialized device called a lead pointer.

Pencil lead is manufactured in a range from soft to hard, with “B” representing a soft lead and “H” representing a hard lead. B stands for “Black” and H stands for “Hardness.” As such, a soft lead produces a darker, thicker line and a hard lead produces a lighter, thinner line. The full spectrum is represented below in an image from Dave’s Mechanical Pencils. The more B’s a lead has, the softer it is, the more H’s it has, the harder it is.

Your typical school pencil or mechanical pencil uses an HB lead, which is dead in the middle between soft and hard. (A “#2 pencil” is the same as an HB pencil.) However, for my artwork, I prefer a harder lead which is less dusty and won’t smear as readily. A harder lead keeps its point longer as well. However, with a hard lead, artwork isn’t as black on the page as with a softer lead. For me, this is an easy trade-off. I use a softer-leaded pencil to lead up the back side of tracing paper in prep for transferring a design, but for all other pencilly purposes, I prefer a hard lead.

I’m a huge fan of mechanical pencils as well and I use them plenty, especially when I’m on the go. Most stores carry the standard HB leads for mechanical pencils. However, it takes some planning to procure those ultra-thin leads in a harder variety. You can find them online or at nicer art supply stores. When I’m at the studio or at home, however, I tend to use a lead holder. It’s not great for travel because the lead pointer gets filled with graphite dust and can make a real mess if you tip it over. You can track down a lead holder online or at your local art supply store. My nearby Michael’s carries a Staedtler brand lead holder, as well as HB lead cores. Hobby Lobby, however, has a variety of lead cores.

Perhaps this helps some of you out? I thought lead ratings were relatively common knowledge till I saw the light bulb go off behind Isaac’s eyes when I explained these terms to him a couple of weeks back. I guess I’m in my own little world. Me and my pencils.

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Family | Tools

A Box of Happy
ByHeather Bailey March 2, 2012

Here's an investment with guaranteed returns.

For $1.00, make a child's day with a box of colorful chalk. Leave the box on her bed with a love note. And that child's charming artwork will bring you far more than $1.00 of happiness. Take photos and your returns will double in the years to come when you both reflect on those sunny days of childhood.

We haven't been able to fit in a family portait in years. At this point, I'm counting on Charlotte's artwork to catalog our family make-up. In fact, I dream of assembling a coffee table book of her artwork to help me endure an empty nest. I thought of naming the book 'I Love You, Mama' as this is the tag line on most of her drawings. My latest thought, however, is to name the book 'A Spoonful of Charlotte' as this mighty book is bound to help the medicine go down—the fleeting of time, a deterioration in health, vision issues—whatever is in store for me should I be fortunate enough to make it to a beautiful old age.

I'm planning out my happiness.

In fact, I've been giving a lot of thought to mindful happiness the last few years. I've been assembling my children's traditional keepsakes (artwork, report cards, photos, etc.) into files for their easy retrieval as adults. When I started, it struck me to include more meaningful things as well—bits of wisdom when they come to me, a love note for my far-off descendants—and my take on happiness and how to foster it. The more I move on it, the more convinced I am that everyone should leave such a guidebook for their kiddos. What to do, what NOT to do. I mean, isn't happiness the thing?

So far, I have a handful of essays. Gosh, 'essays' sounds so—so what? Collegy? So far, I have a handful of studies. What's the word here? Though some stories are typed up, not everything is written out yet. I scribble down notes and test out my theories regularly. Some experiments are spiritual, some are physical, some are silly. Really, these are all excuses to be mindful about happiness because I believe mindfulness can make for powerful results.

Code name: Hello Happiness.

I made a list the other night of some of my sillier experiments with happiness and I realized that I should be including you guys in this. For instance, why have I not posted about my Cleaning Crown? Or video-taped a Family Dance-Break for you to laugh at? Though I did post about taking a Clogging Class with my friend, Sarah, and learning to Make Yogurt, I did not revealed my intent nor my impressions.

The colored chalk was a simple plan to make the lessons I teach at my church a smidgeon more fun for the ladies. I wish I had thought to get an extra $1.00 box for Charlotte and leave it on her bed with a love note. That idea didn't crystallize till after we divied up my teaching supply and enjoyed a few minutes of scribbling on the driveway together.

I'll have to surprise Charlotte with a new box of chalk in a couple of weeks when these others are worn to nubs.

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