book winner alert

Just a quick popping in kind of post to say I remembered {just} to draw a winner last night and it was… {tiny drum roll}

tidy studio

A place where I am not making art at the moment

Rachel Andrews! 

Yay! Rachel please send me your address and I’ll be sending you your copy as soon as the shipment arrives.

Thank you hugely to everyone who helped spread the word. If you’re at all bummed to not be Rachel Andrews at this moment, you will be pleased to learn that there will be another opportunity to win a copy over at Do What You Love on Thursday. {Don’t worry, I’ll remind you.}

giveaway: a creativity book i wrote for you

So peeps, the book is now published! It’s been a long and twisty road for sure. Like anything you do for love, it’s had its ups and downs. But now, if you pop over to Amazon, you can see it in its full glory, take a look inside {love that feature!}, and even purchase it if you feel so inclined.  It’s available on all the Amazons {.com, .co.uk, .fr etc} so you don’t have to have it sent half way across the world at great expense.

Creative Spark by Tara Leaver; front cover

In honour of this exciting and strange and frankly quite scary moment in my life, I’d like to give away a free copy of the book to someone lovely.

All I ask is that you help me to spread the word about my little art and life manual to your peeps, especially those you think might benefit from a creative nudge. If you use Facebook, Twitter, or have a blog or newsletter, or can think of any other ways to get the word out, please share the link and then leave a comment here.

I’m not going to check or ask you to tell me how you’ve done it; as you probably know I’m not too keen on the whole ‘earn it and prove yourself’ method of entering giveaways. Besides the idea is to get this baby far and wide, not limit its journey by making annoying and restrictive rules. :)

Entries will close on Monday 6th May.

book interior

Thank you so so much from the bottom of my heart for all the support and encouragement you have sent my way up to this point. In particular to dear Pauline, without whom this book would NOT be so pretty or so beautifully laid out inside. Fact. I cannot recommend her highly enough if you are thinking of writing a book yourself.

And also to you for reading, for taking the time to come by and say nice things.

Let’s get this show on the road!

lettering for lorinda

I’ve been waiting for this to arrive in Canada with Lorinda before posting it here, so as not to ruin the surprise. :)

It’s the mini quote art I made for her as part of my Four Questions thingy. Her name came out of the bowl first and this was the quote she gave me:

Quotes are bandied about these days so that some start to lose their meaning from over use {or maybe that’s just me spending too much time on Pinterest}, but I do love this one. It has a sort of forthright but comforting vibe. And I love to do lettering, it has a meditative quality, and of course you can do it anywhere.

four questions, three winners

So MASSIVE thank you hugs to all of you who took the time to answer my four questions. Not to underestimate you guys but I actually wasn’t sure anyone would respond, so I am very happy indeedio that so many of you did.

And more to the point, it was SO helpful! As I’m sure you know from your own experiences, even with stats it can be hard to know for sure who’s reading, how many there might be, and whether they actually LIKE what you are saying.

I have always said I started my blog for me, to track my own progress and because I love to write, but as the blog has developed it has become more and more a little community, and I have made friends all over the world through it.

And now that I want to step it up a notch and offer something more concrete and useful, it is invaluable to have feedback to know whether I’m going in the right direction!

None of you who came by and left comments are strangers to me, so of course I’m aware of some bias, but actually isn’t that rather the point?! If you come here often it’s for a reason. I want to expand on that reason and I am just very grateful to have genuine feedback. It’s given me great confidence to move forward.

SO! See below for the first three names to come out of the bowl!

Lorinda, send me your favourite quote or any words you’d like me to use, and I will get cracking on your mini art original! And Pauline and Carissa, send me your addresses {you too Lorinda!} and I will post your cards to you pronto. Please use the contact form if you don’t have my email.

To everyone, thank you again; I hope that you continue to visit and enjoy what you find here.

BIG HUGS.

xoxo

question time, followed by treats

Ok lovely peeps, today I would like to ask you a few simple questions and I would genuinely be filled with joy and appreciation if you would take a few moments to answer them. I know surveys can be a pain in the arse, but karmically speaking, filling them in gives you heaps of bonus points. Fact.

Please feel free to respond in the comments or privately if you prefer, via my contact page or just email me: tara_km@hotmail.com. {You may like to do a quick copy and paste for speediness.}

Even if you like to pop by but prefer not to say anything {totally cool, I read several blogs without ever saying a word on them}, your input today will be very gratefully received.

Even if you have never been here before and don’t know me from Adam ~ please weigh in with any and all opinions! First impressions do count.

Even if you don’t necessarily feel that what I talk about is something you’d be interested in, you can still vocalise.

Seriously, don’t hold back. I know you’re busy and that To Do list is tugging at your sleeve, so I’ll be as brief as I can. Plus there’s a bribe.

{Really, how can you resist?!}

Quick Background For Context Purposes

I have spent the last few months HONING. Well, not just honing, but there definitely has been a lot of honing involved. As you may or may not be aware, I’m moving soon. Which is exciting really only to me, BUT part of that move will also mean a bit of a ‘career adjustment’, and for that I have been honing; ideas, dreams, plans, brainstorms, offerings, the works.

I’m so full of ideas now that it’s starting to get quite cramped in my brain, and I am at a point where I need to call on my peeps for some input to find some clarity.

Bribery Section

And because I’m not above a bit of bribery, all respondees will be put in a hat {by which I mean your names obvs, not your actual selves; that could be awkward} to win a one off original small painting featuring the quote of your choice. AND, two runners up will each receive two cards {with envelopes} of my art, to keep, frame or send.

Please get any and all opinions, compliments, curses and otherwise in by November 7th and enjoy the good karma that will surely follow. This is a heartfelt request and I really will value and use anything you tell me.

And now I will get to my Actual Point

Here are some things I would really love to know your feelings and thoughts on: {please answer any or all}

1. If you are a regular/frequent visitor here, why is that? {If it’s more than one thing, great. If it’s your first visit, same question!}

2. What is/are your favourite thing{s} that I write about? {eg: process shots of paintings, stories about things I’ve noticed/learned, other artists, techniques to try, photography, beach related things…}

3. Can you name anything you’ve found here that has inspired you to try something new, have more confidence in your desire to be creative, or otherwise prompt some kind of creative action from you?

4. Is there anything you DON’T like around here, or anything you have noticed that makes it a less than easy or interesting experience to hang out here? {Don’t be shy, I can take it. And if I don’t know, I can’t fix it.}

*************

And… your work here is done! Fabulous, thank you so very much indeed! Go forth and be joyful, knowing you have done at least one Very Kind and Helpful Thing today and made someone really grateful.

And don’t forget you’ll be in the running to win an original piece of mini art or some art cards…

new winner alert +

So there’s some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, I’m afraid, that Kat never did get back to me. I’m so so sorry Kat if you ever see this ~ I just couldn’t wait indefinitely!

The good news is, we have a new winner! I re-randomized, and the name that came up was:

Sharon at Plumrose Lane

Yay! I’m so happy that this gorgeous print will finally find its new home with you Sharon.

Thank you so much to all of you who entered and showed such enthusiasm for the prize.

Happy weekend to you!

xoxo

{For future ref, all giveaways will require an email address so I can contact you if you win! And a deadline by which you must claim your prize!}

giveaway revisitation!

Eek, this feels really icky to me, but I am going to have to take a decision.

KAT FILBY, if you see this, PLEASE get in touch with me so I can send you the Flora Bowley print! If I don’t hear from you by FRIDAY 7th SEPTEMBER I will do a redraw. So please email me!

If anyone knows Kat, can they please let her know she needs to contact me as tomorrow it will be a week since the draw and I am still holding said print in my grubby little paws with nowhere to send it to! On the offchance that she is away I am pushing the date to Friday 12pm {UK}, but after that, everyone is back in the running! I will post Friday afternoon with the new winner if this is the case.

I am reluctant to do a redraw as it seems unfair, but the print needs a home.

 

winner alert!

Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to spread the word and enter the giveaway; there’s certainly a LOT of love out there for Flora! :) I’m only sorry there isn’t a print for everybody.

I’m very happy to announce that the winner of the beautiful print is….. {drumroll}

KAT FILBY

YAY! Congratulations to you Kat, please email your address to me at tara_km@hotmail.com and I’ll get that sent out to you forthwith.

********************

PS. I used the randomizer thingy but managed to delete it before I could use it as proof of the randomness of the winning name. I hope you’ll trust me on that one! x

flora bowley giveaway!

You may remember that last year I was very fortunate to place the winning bid on Flora Bowley’s painting from our class with her at the Do What You Love retreat.

If you already know about Flora you may also know that Papaya! produce various products using her paintings; they wanted to use the aforementioned painting, entitled ‘Release and Grow’, so I’ve been busy getting it reproduced in digital format.

As part of the service, the printers I went to created a GORGEOUS 30.5 x 30.5cm photographic print of the painting. The colours are exquisitely replicated and it will look amazing in a frame. Now obviously since I have the original, it’s only right that someone else should own this print.

And thus I am doing a giveaway of the print!  Hooray!

It really is a beauty.

If you fancy your chances, just tweet/blog/FB or otherwise spread the word and then leave a comment here to let me know you’ve done so.

I wouldn’t normally be so strict but as well as seeking a new home for this print I am also spreading the word for Flora about her second online class, starting on September 10th.  So please mention that too ~ she would be most grateful!

Plenty of time to sign up if you’d like to treat yourself to what will undoubtedly be one of the most creatively rewarding things you’ll ever do. As someone who has been fortunate enough to be taught by Flora in person I can unreservedly guarantee that you would LOVE her online class. You only have to have a quick read through of the page about it to see how much work has gone into it, and how beautifully put together it is. The content is certainly the most packed I’ve seen, and Flora’s teaching style and philosophy are accessible and inspiring.

So. If you’d like to win the print, which will be carefully packaged and sent to you wherever you are in the world, please do spread the word and let me know.

:) xx

Edit: It might help if I gave a deadline, right?! Deadline for entries is Tuesday 28th August at 12pm.

drum roll please

I have just spent the last ten minutes trying to copy the result from random.org onto this page to prove I did it fairly, but my techie skills just aren’t up to it so I’m afraid you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

I typed in the numbers, pressed generate, and the result was:

Theresa at MSArtist!

HOORAY!
Theresa please send me your address details so I can post your winnings to you. :)

*************

You have no idea how much I wish I could send you all something; I feel I know everyone who entered personally having visited all your blogs (if you had them) and leaving messages about the place. I have been completely overwhelmed with the response and so touched and heart warmed by all the kindness out there.

Anyway, enough gushing, it’s SO unBritish ;) I will definitely be doing another giveaway before the year is out. I just want to give away all my work to nice people! (Which may be in some way connected with the fact that I don’t make a whole lot of money just now.)