tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu » free goodies

Giveaway on Sew Mama Sew

linda — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:22:55 +0000

FYI, there’s a fabulous giveaway on the Sew Mama Sew blog…including a $25 gift certificate to my Etsy shop. Go comment for a chance to win! You can definitely grab yourself a lovely leather journal… sweet, eh?

Giveaway on Sew Mama Sew is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Check It Baby – Printable List of To-Dos

linda — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:04:06 +0000

Lots on my mind and lots to attend to. Of course, I’m able to stall time with a quick list of to-dos design. Hopefully this will give me the inspiration and energy to get through the day. I thought it would be nice to share the list I’m using…

Just click the image to open a window with the full-sized version, then right-click to download that image to print. There’s the colored version or blank for you to color-in line drawing as well. Let me know what you think. Now I’m off to check it baby!

Check It Baby – Printable List of To-Dos is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Handmade Prompted Leather Journal Giveaway – Create Fearlessly

linda — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:45:15 +0000

After playing around with bookbinding and creating journals for fun, I decided to go ahead with my idea of creating something more involving. Rather than a totally blank journal, I’ve decided to include some prompts to get you to start journaling and beat the blank page fear. A simple longstitch bound notebook, approximately 8.5 x 6 inches. Every journal is unique, a different piece of leather, a different cardstock lining inside. Pretty cool, eh?

I thought for the Independence holiday, I would give away one of these journals – in the spirit of freedom and letting go – in Art! I know there are many people out there who do not journal for fear of the blank page, for fear of judgement or what they think they should write or create inside. It’s time to let go of all preconceptions and just go for it!

Just comment below on what you look for in a journal or sketchbook for a chance to win. Open to anyone in the world, I’ll randomly pick a winner from the comments on July 5th. You can also buy one directly in my Etsy shop. Happy holiday weekend to those in the USA. Ciao ciao!

UPDATE: Giveaway has ended! Random.org came up with 9 – so the winner is Andrea – congrats!

Handmade Prompted Leather Journal Giveaway – Create Fearlessly is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Journal Giveaway Winner!

linda — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:54:32 +0000

Wow! Honored by the huge response to my handmade leather journal giveaway…and with the help of random.org the winner is…

Congratulations, Niina! Once I get your address, will send it out so you can journal away. Thank you to everyone for participating Is you want your own leather journal, I will be adding a new batch to my Etsy shop soon…take a peek at the progress here… yummy leather!

Journal Giveaway Winner! is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Handmade Leather Journal Giveaway

linda — Mon, 23 May 2011 07:50:06 +0000

[UPDATE: Comments closed, giveaway ended 2011/05/25]

To celebrate with the Sew, Mama, Sew May Giveaway event…I am contributing a handmade leather journal to one lucky blog commenter! This is a lovely luscious leather journal around 15cm by 21cm in size. The leather is a rich, dark brown color, super-duper soft to the touch with a cardstock lining for extra support. There are 96 pages of Fabriano ivory paper, sewn in with black cotton thread, ready for your journaling and doodling pleasure. There’s plenty of room to add ephemera as well, with a wraparound flap and braided mixed ribbon closure to keep everything together and safe from the elements. I think of it as a Victorian romantic style journal and the definition of “journal” is actually printed on the opening page. The last page has the phrase “create fearlessly” printed on it …hopefully to inspire and get you journaling!

Although bookmaking might seem like an exact science, I actually take a very organic approach to creating my leather journals. Each piece of leather has a style to it and rugged shape. I use it to direct me in creating a unique handmade journal…that will collect the thoughts and doodles of journalers like you. I love the rustic, rugged look, often using the raw edges of the leather piece as part of the journal. The ribbon closures have singed edges, hand-braided loosely to incorporate into the organic style of the journal. I always have a romantic sense in mind when finishing my journals because it is such a precious and important tool for many of us, collecting our thoughts, feelings and sometimes secret emotions. I’m always imagining old fashioned quill pens, scrawling in love confessions and such on the pages – oh how my imagination runs away!

I effectively “save” leather from being ground up or thrown away…because I use only remainder pieces from the leather producing companies here in Tuscany. Perfectly beautiful pieces of leather that just happens to be extra from client orders or test colors. Every time leather is made for clients (who order thousands of square meters at a time), many batches are created to ensure they get the exact texture or color for the particular product in mind. So that means a lot of extra batches that I can rescue from becoming ground up or thrown away. The leather pieces I use are truly one of a kind and unique…and I especially love the experiment batches!

This journal giveaway let’s me share a piece of “my Italia” with you, lovely leather and handmade goodness straight from the Tuscan hills of Italy.

Just comment below for a chance to win – I will pick a random commenter – open to everyone in the world! If you can’t wait for the giveaway, please do check out my Etsy shop to buy one for yourself or as a gift to a dear friend. I would really appreciate your support! Now go on and check out all the other giveaways for this event! Good luck to all – ciao ciao!

Handmade Leather Journal Giveaway is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Casa Mia Mama Printable

linda — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:43:39 +0000

For those into digital scrapbooking and papercrafting, I want to mention that my Owl Tree Studio store is going away and I’ll be exclusively at CatScrap from May onwards. I’ve been designing digital graphics and products, learning so much these years. It has been so exciting to see my work used by others in their memory keeping and so now it’s certainly sad to see Owl Tree Studio closing up. I started with them, so it’s especially hard hitting…but I suppose these things happen for a reason. It made me think about how much work it takes to run these membership clubs and online stores…and how hard it is to keep going forward. I suppose looking on the bright side, I can now focus on just one digiscrapping shop…which fits very well with my goal of focusing up this year. As I looked at my old designs, from novice attempts in the beginning to today…I started feeling so nostalgic and noticing how some of my old designs could be improved as well. Maybe that will be a project one day…

For now, I wanted to share an old design from my first Owl Tree Studio digital kit – Casa Mia Mama. One of my first colored digital illustrations, now turned into a printable. It can be used for stationery or to write up a list of some sort. Whether a shopping list, goals for the year or just regular chores to be done…it’s always nice to have a pretty graphic to look at it while you work away at. I hope you will enjoy! Download Casa Mia Mama Printable ZIP

Casa Mia Mama Printable is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Winner of the OWOH Giveaway – Leila!

linda — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:57:04 +0000

Picking a number from commenters via random.org the winner of the OWOH giveaway is Leila!

Congratulations! Your handmade journal is on the way.

If you have a moment take some time to visit Leila’s blog http://myartsycreations.blogspot.com/

Ciao ciao lovely readers!

Winner of the OWOH Giveaway – Leila! is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

One World One Heart from Torta Gialla

linda — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Ciao ciao from Italy! I found out about a great blog hopping event called One World One Heart and it’s actually the 5th and last year, so I had to participate myself. Moving from Los Angeles, California to Tuscany, Italy really opened my eyes to new worlds and experiences…but has also made me realize how wonderful it is to be able to connect to anyone in the world over the Internet. I’m so thankful to be able to blog and share my experiences with others. Although I love my new home and Italian culture, it’s nice to be able to read, speak and listen to English from the USA as well. I’m all for technology, but of course it’s the people behind the computers that are really doing wonderful things. We are all using technology to communicate and support each other, which is just uber cool. That’s why I love the spirit of this event, One World One Heart… it’s for active bloggers to meet with each other, discover each other and connect. Officially, this all starts midnight Jan 30th and ends on Feb 17th.

You can see the list of all participants here and thanks for stopping by my blog whether it’s the first time or if you are a regular reader. I am so thankful and grateful as always.

Everyone participating in this event provides a door prize…so I’m giving away a simple leather journal I made for sketching or writing. Measuring 6×8.5 inches, this journal is sewn together by hand using blue embroidery floss. It’s one of my prototypes from a while back, super simple black leather with blank white Fabriano 90 g/m2 paper inside. The closure is a vintage button with an anchor etching (marine theme) that you slip through the front flap to secure. A random commenter will be chosen on Feb 17th to receive the journal, so comment away and good luck! Anyone in the world can participate – I’ll send it anywhere

To learn more about my, check out my About page. Thanks and enjoy all the great blogs out there!

2011-02-17 – COMMENTS CLOSED!

One World One Heart from Torta Gialla is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Let’s Make A Weekly Planner

linda — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:50:36 +0000

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend! Although perhaps many of you are traveling or still on vacation – lucky! The holidays are falling on weekends this year, sort of reducing the amount of vacation time my husband gets…so it’s pretty much a normal week in our household. I suppose it’s a good thing, as I need the time to catch up on many projects. Nevertheless, every December I make myself a weekly planner for the new year. I always make my own planners, sort of like a date book that just keeps me aware of deadlines and events as well as my list of tasks per week. It’s really a simple process to create your own planner and the best part is customizing it to your particular needs. I never like to buy them because the calendar layout will not suit me or the lines are too close together for my giant handwriting…little things here and there. In terms of planner pages, there are so many variations possible – that’s why making your own tailored to your needs really helps to maximize usefulness.

I like to have a weekly view for my planner pages, just so I can see any major events and deadlines at a glance. Then I like to have a task list, so actionable items can be written down in small bits making it easier for me to accomplish and cross out with full satisfaction! When it comes to project notes or art sketches, I have journals and sketchbooks for those purposes because it’s something I will keep in the long term. My planner gets recycled at the end of the year as I use them for date keeping only. Although there are lovely digital calendars on our computers…I still like the old fashion pen and paper. It just works a whole lot better for me. Maybe I’m an old-fashioned gal, but everyone needs their old school date book, right? I created a custom page for my planner using my diary project graphic submission for the task list and boxes for the week at a glance.

It’s a simple grid and you can readily create your own grid by hand and just photocopy or create it in a graphic program to print out. There’s also many freebies out there like Amanda Hawkins’ DIY planner templates – many are free. Using a regular sheet of paper, I’ve just printed my planner page on both sides of 27 sheets of paper, giving myself enough space for 2011 and beyond. If you create a whole stack printed front and back, you’ll notice that the left half will match up with the right half of the page when folded. So no special order or binding method is required, just stack ‘em up, fold in half and attach somehow. You can see that I’ve used regular copy paper which is a bit see-thru being printed on both sides. If that is something annoying for you personally, think of using a heavier weight paper.

The binding I chose is a simple longstitch, nothing fancy. Since all the papers are stacked and folded in half, you could also just staple the center fold or punch a few holes and tie tightly with string. The important thing is to bind in a tight fashion as your planner will be used every day. If the middle binding that cuts through your planner page bothers you, just make sure your design is on the left side and right side with ample margins. In my case, I’ve purposed arranged my boxes so the center is the line between the date boxes…so it blends in nicely. If you choose to bind in a different way, just make sure your pages and ordering will turn out right in the end.

For my cover I used a thicker cardstock paper, but when you fold so many sheets of paper together, you’ll notice the inner sheets sort of sticking out over the edge of the cover page. To expand your cover paper, I usually just add another tab of paper around the edges. This makes your cover slightly larger and reinforces the paper edge as well, protecting the planner for everyday use.

I also decided to print out a little manifesto type of write-up for the opening page of my planner. I like to have a little statement or word at the beginning of planners, so everytime I open it I’m reminded of that thought. If you like mine, feel free to download as a freebie printable JPG below. I chose the Pantone color of the year, honeysuckle as well. I think it’s a very sweet color

Download 2011 manifesto ZIP file of JPG image

Finally, I decorated the cover of my planner with decorative paper, a tag and my own Home on the Head Rose artwork…as you saw in the first photo. Wah-lah! A simple DIY planner that is totally tailored to my specific needs. I hope you’ll try it out and make yourself an old fashioned datebook or calendar item. It’s easy to use the same idea and make a hanging wall version or desktop version calendar as well. A fun and easy project that will be very useful for your date keeping, I’m sure. Have fun!

Let’s Make A Weekly Planner is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

Bear Hugger Printable Holiday Tags

linda — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 13:19:05 +0000

The holidays are super busy and I have way too many things going on… but at the same time I couldn’t help drawing up some cute little holiday tags and post them up. I wanted to participate in the holiday tag printables list on We Love To Illustrate… so that gave me a good excuse to astray from work duties. We all need creative playtime, right? Otherwise, I need to get back to drawing, designing, editing, bookbinding, making minibooks and scrapbooking away… eek!

Download Bear Hugger Printable Holiday Tags PDF

I hope you can use them for your handmade holiday gift giving – happy holidays! Ciao ciao…

Bear Hugger Printable Holiday Tags is from tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu

tortagialla.com - the virtual creative journal of Artist Linda Tieu » free goodies

Giveaway on Sew Mama Sew

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