OWOH Winner Announcement! (and OWOA news!)

One World One Heart has come to a close.

I have so enjoyed this year's event, with hundreds of familiar faces, and even more new talented bloggers to meet. I tried my very best to make it to all 850+ blogs participating this year. I think I at least came close!
I am very impressed with the turnout, and humbled by the lovely comments so many of you left here on my blog. I had no idea so many people would be interested in my little artwork and gnome!

For the past three years, OWOH has been my favorite blog event, one I looked forward to all year. I was very sad to learn that this was to be the final year.
Until, that is, the ocean dreamer herself, Ms Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian, and the mastermind of OWOH announced that she would be heading up a brand new blog event next year!
Our World Our Art looks like it is going to be even more spectacular! Artists from all over the globe coming together to share their work with each other. I am getting inspired already!
I do hope that all of you will consider hopping aboard this new blog journey and sign up for the reminder newsletter on Lisa's blog.

Now for the news everyone is waiting to hear.

I have drawn the winner of my OWOH giveaway.
The honor was done by my trusty assistant, random.org

The winner of BOTH my canvas art piece and the gnome pincushion is ...
Drumroll please...

the beautiful and talented Kristin of Twinkle Twinkle

Kristin, I will be emailing you very soon for your mailing address. I do hope you like your gifts.

I want to thank you all for participating in One World One Heart, and for visiting my little hiding place in cyberspace! I hope you come by again. I know I will be visiting many of you again very soon.

Big hugs,
Heidi
aka Digital Misfit

One World One Heart 2011 - Giveaway Closed! Thanks for visiting!

To enter, 

Welcome to my little hiding place in cyberspace!

This is my third year as a participant in the One World One Heart event hosted by Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian.  This is the 5th and final year of the event, so it is a bit bittersweet.
I have enjoyed meeting so many beautiful bloggers and "discovering" countless talented artists during these events.
A bit about me:
My name is Heidi, though I am more commonly known around thius land of bits and bytes as Digital Misfit.
I am a 35 (patooey!) year old woman freezing my ample posterior off up here in northern Ontario, Canada.. During my childhood, I was never without a crayon or pencil in my hand.  I loved to draw, play with clay, pretty much anything artsy.
Then for years I put away the toys, focusing on work and other mundane stuff.
A few years ago, when I became ill and unable to work, I stumbled upon a crafty website called Craftster (heyyyy to all my Craftster friends who are visiting!).  I was so inspired that I bought a sewing machine, stocked up on craft supplies from every genre and got my hands dirty again.  I have been experimenting with everything from doll making to mixed media art, hand embroidery to polymer clay.  I love it all!  This year I plan to take up crochet (I am DETERMINED to learn, dammit!) , purse making, and small scale quilting.  My current main crafts include felt, embroidery and embroidery design, and painting.

Now for the stuff you are all here for: the giveaway!
Today I am giving away 2 completely unrelated items that I made especially for this event.
First up is a mixed media painting on wrapped canvas entitled One World.

This goddess is painted with watercolor crayon, progresso pencils, graphite pencil, acrylics, and ink with decoupage bits from a vintage Dutch copy of Jane Eyre. The sides are painted so she is ready to hang as-is.

Secondly I have Gnome on a Knoll.  This lil guy and his mushroom pal are handsewn from felt and perch upon a felt pincushion.  Even if you are not an avid sewist, you should have a safe place to keep a needle or two handy for those emergency button-repairs.  I just love gnomes and toadstools, don't you?

To enter, simply leave a comment in the section below.  I would love to know where you are visiting from, since this is such a fantastic international event.
BOTH of these items will go to ONE winner, which will be drawn from the comments below using random.org on February 17th.   The last day to enter will be February 16th at 11:59 pm EST (GMT -5h).
This giveaway is open to bloggers worldwide.  You do not have to be a participant of One World One Heart to enter, but you MUST have an active blog (ie: not a blog you created this morning to enter the giveaways).
If your blog does not have contact information on it, please leave your email address in your comment so that I can reach you in the event that you win.  To avoid spam, you can write it as myemailaddy (at) emailprovider (dot) com
If you want to participate in One World One Heart, you can still jump right in! Just visit the website to find out how.  I look forward to visiting all of the OWOH 2011 participants over the next 2 weeks. Big hugs to all of you!

heidi
aka Digital Misfit

Happy New Year (a bit belated) and blog event news!

Happy New Year to all of my beautiful bloggy visitors.

I know I am the laziest blogger ever, but hey - it saves you time when catching up on your blogroll, right?
I wanted to let everyone know about the One World One Heart blog event hosted by A Whimsical Bohemian.
This is the 5th and final year of the event, so it is rather bittersweet.  I was a participant in 2009 and 2010, and I will definitely be participating again this year.
OWOH is an international blog event where bloggers of all kinds get together and go on a massive blog hop.  Each blog will be hosting a giveaway, and last year there were over 1000 participants, so it is a REALLY big event.  It is an opportunity to meet artists (and non-artist bloggers) from all over the world, and maybe even win some beautiful prizes!
You do not need to be a participant to enter the giveaways, but you DO need to have an active blog.  It is an event meant to help us all get to know each other, after all.
I am working on my super-secret project for the event giveaway (super secret because if it turns out poorly, I will be whipping up something else entirely).
The event begins on January 30 and runs until February 17.  There is no cost to participate or enter the giveaways.
Please consider joining in the fun.
The short list of rules for the event are on Lisa's blog - A Whimsical Bohemian.

Big hugs! Hope to see you there!

Stitch Witchery - FREE Halloween Witch Embroidery Pattern

Today I am the guest blogger over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom as a part of the 31 Days of Halloween celebration.
Please stop by for a visit and read my post.
There are also giveaways of some great goodies going on, so don't miss out on that!

As a part of my guest post, I am sharing a new, free hand embroidery pattern.  I want to share it with my readers here as well.

Meet Kamilla.
Kamilla is a sweet little witch who does not understand why everyone wants to call her "wicked".
She likes tea, cupcakes with lots of icing, brooms with smooth handles, and full moons.
She rides her broom sidesaddle because she is a lady.

Download Kamilla Witch Pattern HERE

The link will take you to MediaFire, which I use to host my PDF pattern files.  You will need a PDF reader to view the pattern.  If you require a high res jpg instead of a PDF, please just leave a comment with your email address or email me and I will send a copy to you.

Kamilla would be adorable stitched up onto a trick-or-treat tote bag, a festive wallhanging, a blanket or onesie for your favorite sweet witch, or even just used as a coloring page for the kids!
As always, this design is available free for your personal use.  Please do not sell this pattern in any format, or sell items made using this pattern without express written permission (my email is on the sidebar).
I had actually intended to add a few more stars to the design before I posted it, but then I forgot (ahhh the joys of short term memory loss!).  I think adding a few more stars in embroidery, or even in beads or sequins would be fun.
If you stitch her up or color her, please share a link to your work in the comments below. I would love to see!

Hugs & Happy Halloween/Blessed Samhain/Happy Autumn to all of you!

ps: I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes during my illness.  The flu has finally gone, leaving just a cough in its wake. Still dealing with a toothache, but that gets dealt with in a week :)

Flu. Tiny word for so much misery.

Image from Big Fat Blog

Hi people!

Wait.  That exclamation point implies far more enthusiasm that I am currently capable of feeling.  Let's try that again.

Hi people.

(much better)

I have so many things I want/need to blog about, but it would appear that I have been slammed by that ugly bug. The Flu.  I don't know if it is of an avian, porcine, or regular variety, all I can say for certain is that it sucks, it hurts, and I am feeling quite whiny. I only leave the house a couple of times every month, and yet the stupid bug STILL managed to find me.  

I hope to be back up and feeling alive soon.

In the meantime, I would like to do a little public service announcement, reminding everyone to get their flu shot this season.  Not only does it help protect you, but your loved ones as well.  Needles aren't fun.  This is less fun.

Hugs,

Heidi

PS: If I am not perky in time, please don't forget to check out my October 18th post at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom during the 31 Days of Halloween event over there.  I am sharing a brand new free hand embroidery pattern (perfectly festive!).
See my sidebar for the button.
Also, check out the button for the awesome FREE art e-course Art, Heart & Healing that begins on October 18th.  I am just a fellow attendee.  I want to learn some new techniques and how to color and shade.  Sign up and be artsy with me (and about 700 other wonderful people!).