Super Cool Special Mega Giveaway of 50 "Bulking Dummies" and 3 of our "LAB" series books

As the title of today's post says, we have 50 Bulking Dummies to give away!

One each to 50 people who leave a comment in today's post by Thursday Midnight EST, June 24, 2010.

And 3 special winners will receive a copy of

Print and Stamp Lab: 52 Ideas for Handmade, Upcycled Print Tool

or

Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists,

or

Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects

along with a bulking dummy.

Let me explain what bulking dummies are. When a book is in development, a sample is made with the paper in the size, finish type (matte or shiny) and hard or soft cover before it's printed so the designers can get a feel for the book. They are all different and could, as you can see, contain writing or be an actual printed cover with the inside blank. As Forrest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

These will make cool journals, and just think, you are recycling!

We do try to be "green" here at Craftside.

Now on to today's question that will get you in the running for one of these babies:

Do you use "Apps" ?

On an iPad?

On another platform?

Do you already use some kind of craft app?

Would you like a craft app? What kind?

Or any app-related comment will do! Really!

2 out of the 3 books that you are entered to win I haven't posted about. I will share with you an inside peek into one of them, Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists, now.

Pop on back to the links for inside peeks into Collage Lab and the third, Print and Stamp Lab: 52 Ideas for Handmade, Upcycled Print Tools will be included in an upcoming post!

Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists
52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun
By

Carla Sonheim

Carla Sonheim is an artist and creativity workshop instructor known for her fun and innovative projects and techniques designed to help adult students recover a more spontaneous, playful approach to creating. Her innovative ideas are now collected and elaborated on in this unique volume. Carla offers a year's worth of assignments, projects, ideas, and techniques that will introduce more creativity and nonsense into your art and life. Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists offers readers a fun way to learn and gain expertise in drawing through experimentation and play. There is no right or wrong result, yet, the readers gain new skills and confidence, allowing them to take their work to a new level.

Carla Sonheim is a painter, illustrator, and popular workshop instructor at art retreats such as Artfest, Art & Soul. She has been called a "gifted facilitator" and loves to help adult students recover a more child-like play approach to creating. Carla's "Girls" paintings are in showcased in numerous galleries nationwide, as well as in private and corporate collections around the world. www.carlasonheim.etsy.com,  www.carlasonheim.wordpress.com

Drum roll.....

Inside peek:

As Carla says on these pages, we were originally taught not to draw in our books... boy how things change!

Click on the pages to enlarge and read about Lab 49 and how to draw illuminated pages.

To see some inside pages of Collage Lab click here.

Collage Lab:

Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects

By

Bee Shay

Collage Lab offers artists and crafters a fun and experimental approach to making art. The book is organized into 52 different labs which may, but don't need to be explored on a weekly basis. The labs can be worked in any order, so that readers can flip around to learn a new mixed-media technique or be inspired by a particular collage theme or application.

The underlying message of this book is that artists can and should learn and gain expertise through experimentation and play. There is no right or wrong result for a given exercise, yet, readers will gain skills and confidence in collage techniques, allowing them to take their work to a new level.

Collage Lab is illustrated with brilliant full-color images and multiple examples of each exercise, offers a visual, non-linear approach to learning art techniques, and reinforces a fun and fearless approach to making art.

Bee Shay is a print maker, collage and mixed media artist, and longtime instructor. She has contributed to magazines, including the Artistic Stenciler and Somerset Studio. Her work has also been featured in several Quarry Books including:True Vision ,Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media, The Creative Entrepreneur, and Re-Bound. Bee lives with her husband in the Philadelphia area and is mother of three beautiful souls. When she's not inciting the muse in her students or working in her barn studio she lovingly calls her nest, she can be found roaming outside seeking the wonders of the natural world for inspiration.

Print and Stamp Lab:
52 Ideas for Handmade, Upcycled Print Tools
By

Traci Bunkers

Artist and popular workshop instructor Traci Bunkers can turn just about anything into an interesting stamp, printing block, or tool. In this book, she shows readers how to see overlooked, everyday objects in a new way, and how to "MacGyver" them into easy to use printing blocks and tools. Readers learn to create 52 print blocks and stamp tools, all from inexpensive, ordinary, and unexpected materials--string, spools, bandages, flip flops, ear plugs, rubber bands, school erasers, and a slew of other repurposed and upcycled items. The book also shows how to use those simple tools to make gorgeous, multi-layered prints and patterns that can be used to enhance journal covers, stationery, fabrics, accessories, and more.

Traci Bunkers is a passionate and quirky self-employed mixed-media and fiber artist living in Lawrence, Kansas. Through her one-woman business Bonkers Handmade Originals, she sells her nifty creations such as hand-dyed spinning fibers and yarns, original rubber stamps, handmade books, kits and original artwork. She also creates an artzine called Tub Legs, designs knitwear, and is a knitting, spinning, and crochet technical editor. She has been teaching workshops across the US since the early 90s and her visual journal pages, artwork, and knit designs have been published in numerous books and magazines. To learn more about her work, visit her web site at www.TraciBunkers.com

Comments

[Barbara Moore]

How wonderful is this giveaway? Fantastic! I don't currently use any apps and really don't know if I need one and....if I actually win a "Bulking Dummie" and a book and I get to choose the book, I'd love the "Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists" book. Woo Hoo this is just soooo great.

[Melanie K.]

I want a Bulking Dummy! Sounds like something I should have! LOL!
As for the Lab books ... well, I already have them (well the drawing one is one its way to me now). So just pick someone else for that (if I am a lucky one to win one). But i want a dummy!!! Thanks!

[Bonney]

Something new to learn every day! Bulkie dummy; who knew? All the books look interesting. I'd be happy with any one of them!

[Marjorie S.]

Apps and such are still kind of over my head (and price range) but I'm sure if I could use them, my procrastination tendencies would surely increase. Some of them look very cool. Some of them, not so much...
I can imagine how some of them might be very useful for crafting. what about a random cross-stitch generator? There are probably lots of picture/ graphic related apps too.

[Julie Luca]

My favorite app right now, on my IPhone, is Histamatic. Love the retro pics. Julie (in Alaska)

[NancyW]

I use app's on an iPad... so many apps and so little time! A Bulking Dummy would be a great way to spend some time. What a fun giveaway.

[Marion]

No iPad, no Apps here, just me, my craft room and my computer :-) Even my cell phone is one that is only good for phone calls; no camera, no internet, and I hate SMS.
Thanks for your great giveaways and the book reviews, always interesting!

[Rikki Mitman]

If I could dream up an app just for me, it would be something for drawing with a simple interface and lots of ways to alter your basic image -- sort of a distilled version of CorelDraw (my favorite graphics tool!) Drawing is my weak point, sadly.

[Janet]

I have an iPhone and love all the apps. I have a currency and unit converter, a dictionary, and a language converter. Art-wise I have ArtLife, NFB, Michaels and Shazam. I have never bought an app as there as so many free.

[Dawn]

If I had a smart phone or an Ipad I am sure I would be all over the apps. For now I sometimes use online converters and such.