January Blog Giveaway!

It's National Do Nothing Day! I am honoring this day by doing nothing chore related such as laundry. :) But, I just have to do a blog entry and be creative today! No rest for the artist! :)

One of my creative goals for 2011 was to do a Blog Giveaway every month. I love inspiring and sharing my love for art and photography and I appreciate all my readers who continue to encourage and support me. A giveaway each month seemed like a perfectly wonderful way to say "Thank You"!

What is this month's giveaway? January's giveaway is for the book "Digital Expressions" by Susan Tuttle. This book will teach you how to create digital art with Adobe Photoshop Elements. Don't worry if you don't have Elements, any Photoshop or other digital art software such as Painter, will still work. The book is brand new and comes with a CD that includes digital design elements.

How can I enter to win? Join "The Clubhouse" by clicking on "Follow" over on the right column and then leave a comment so I know you are in to win! If you are already a follower, just leave a comment. I'll draw a winner from a hat (how fun to do some things the old fashioned way!) and post the winner in a post towards the end of the week. Open to everyone anywhere in the world! :)


You will be inspired by this book and will learn how to include elements of photography, paper, vintage images and other digital design elements. Here's one I did today:

Life is a Circus

In this image, I started with a peeling paint texture that is available for everyone to use. You can find this texture and more in my Textures and Backgrounds Gallery at DeviantArt. I used an image of a ferris wheel I took in London as well as vintage images from my own collection (you can find some also on DeviantArt in my Vintage Stock gallery) and from Flickr Commons. Add in some paper butterflies to give a 3D element to the piece, throw in some word texture, an inspirational saying and viola! A work of art! With Digital Expressions, you too will be creating digital collages in no time!

Good luck to everyone and may you have an inspired week ahead!