REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: An art print prize pack (complete with a custom portrait of yourself) from Inky Notions

If a genie, fairy godmother or other benevolent imaginary being with the ability to bestow wishes - or perhaps more accurately in this case, talents - came along, I've always maintained that high up on my list would be the ability to draw and/or paint like a gifted artist.

I like to joke that even my stick people don't look like stick people and while that is a bit of an exaggeration, as much as I adore art, did well in art class, and consider myself to be an artistic person in general, I am by no means a talented drawer or painter.

Thankfully however, there are plenty of folks in this vast, wonderful world of ours who have been blessed with this fantastic talent. One of them who resides in our own online vintage community midst in none other than Sabrina from the lovely, photo filled blog Vibrant Vintage.

Earlier this year Sabrina took the exciting step of launching an Etsy shop by the delightful name of Inky Notions, where she sells prints of her original artwork, much of which is deeply imbued with a charming, memorable old school quality mixed with a distinctly appealing style all her own.

Around the time that Sabrina launched Inky Notions, she became a Chronically Vintage sponsor and very, very kindly offered to create and send me a custom print of my own. As Tony and I were on the cusp of celebrating our next "loveiversary" (the date that commemorates the day that we first meet back in 2004) around then, I instantly knew that I wanted my custom print to be a present for my beloved.

While a drawing of me might have seemed like a natural choice, as Tony already has tons of photos of his vintage wearing wife, I suggested instead that the portrait depict our two adorable pets, Annie (a black and white Bulldog dog) and Stella (a grey tabby cat).

I wanted an illustration of such for Tony not only for its own merits, but because while Annie loves everyone and everything on the face of the planet, shy little Stella is not as keen on her canine sister and the likelihood of an actual photo of the two of them “playing nice” in the same frame is exceedingly unlikely to ever happen.

Sabrina was game for this idea and did a marvelous job, using photos of the two of them (separately), to create an image on paper that will probably never be captured on camera. The piece is a true joy and testament to Sabrina's artistic talents (see the iPhone photo that I took of it below).

Tony loved it to bits and was so surprised by this hand drawn present (you just about could have knocked him over with the feather!). We're still looking for the perfect frame for it, but for now it is carefully displayed sans frame on a tall bookshelf – safely away from the inquisitive critters that it depicts.

We're both so honoured to have this custom piece of art in our home, and today I'm thrilled to be able to offer one lucky winner the same opportunity, as I've teamed up with Inky Notions for a great giveaway. Read on to get all the exciting details!


Giveaway Details:

This giveaway is the winner's choice of any three art prints that are currently available in the Etsy shop Inky Notions, as well as a custom 5 inch x 7 inch sized self portrait of yourself or someone else to be included with the three prints of your choice.

As per the sponsor's guidelines, this giveaway is only open to those in the US and Canada (though international readers are welcome to comment on this post still, if so desired).

The giveaway will run from today's date (July 12, 2016) until 11:59 PST on Monday July 18, 2016. The winner will be drawn using Raffle copter's random winner selection tool after the contest has wrapped up and will be notified via email shortly thereafter.



{A sample of three of the more than fifteen different original vintage inspired art prints that are currently available in Sabrina's shop, Inky Notions. If you're the lucky winner of this giveaway, you'll be able to choose any three prints of your choice, plus you'll receive a custom original 5" x 7" portrait as part of your prize as well.}



There are 11 different ways to enter this giveaway, the only one of which is mandatory is that you share with me what your favourite print currently available in Sabrina's shop is. The more ways in which you enter - all via Rafflecopter - the greater your odds of winning become.

If you have any questions about this giveaway, please don't hesitate to email me.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Sabrina was a true joy to work with on my own custom print. She not only "got" my vision, but executed it to a tee and created an adorable original piece of art that my husband and I will treasure for the rest of time.

I really appreciate and want to thank Sabrina for so generously offering up this prize pack, including a custom portrait print, to one lucky Chronically Vintage reader, and likewise want to sincerely thank all those who enter this fun giveaway.

Best of luck to everyone who takes part!

Introducing a fun new post series: Links, Life, Love

 Soooooo, you guys remember back in early January when I decided to retire some of my long standing reoccurring blog post series? (As discussed in this post.) Though I've not yet regretted that decision for a moment and have greatly been enjoying exploring other writing channels in place of where they once occurred, the more time that goes on, the greater the sense of longing for some sort of regularly occurring link sharing post becomes.

I didn’t want to revive my "Vintage Link Love" series however, as I stand behind the reasons why it was handed a gold watch and sincerely thanked for its diligent years of loyal service. Instead I want to launch a new post right here, right now, that will combine elements of that past series with others topics that I often want to discuss with all of you, too, but don't always have the ability to set aside a whole post for right in the moment.

By the same token though, I don't want these posts to be a million miles long, nor will they necessarily be occurring here on a month-by-month basis. In fact, I want them to be as "on the fly” as possible.

They're going to combine a small smattering of (mostly vintage related) links from around the web that have caught my eye lately, include a (likely) brief look at some of what has been transpiring in my personal life lately, and also share some of things - online or off - that I've been loving and/or feeling deeply inspired by in recent weeks.

Generally speaking all of these are points that most of my readers really enjoy hearing about, so without further ado, may I present you to the first ever edition of Links, Life, Love.


Links:

I swear it was you, my dears, and your plethora of awesome posts in the first few weeks of 2016 that ultimately birthed this series. Try as I may, I couldn't stop bookmarking articles that spoke to me and that I, in turn, wanted to speak to each of you, my lovely readers, about. There's just too much awesomeness being created each day, week and month of the year online not to shine the spotlight on at least a wee fraction of it here.


-Detroit in the 1940s: Then as now, Detroit has not been without its highs and lows, struggles and beauties, as this striking photo filled piece from The Atlantic about the Motor City and its inhabitants during the mid-twentieth century heyday.


-The Ultimate List of Maternity Friendly Retro Clothing: Recently the immensely lovely Bethany from Miss Betty Doll gave birth to her second child, a gorgeous new daughter and little sister to her first sweet girl, and as she rocked vintage/repro/retro styles through her pregnancy, she decided to put together an excellent and very thorough list of some of the best sources for just such fashions when one is expecting. It's a must bookmark no matter if you ever plan to have wee ones of your own or not.


-Women of the Big Band era that everyone should know: My good friend - and fellow Canadian gal - Liz from Vintage Inn excels at penning informative, exciting, and just plain awesome history filled posts and one of her latest, which takes a gander at some of the female stars of the big band era, is no exception.


-Things Pale Girls are Sick of Hearing: Given that I've actually been called "a vampire" before in public by complete strangers, even when I wasn't wearing goth fashions or makeup, simply because of my light complexion, this great Forever Amber post hit home for me big time!


-How to alter clip-on earrings into post earrings: Let's face it, objectively, few people find clip-on earrings to be as comfortable as pierced styles, provided you have holes in your lobes, so if you've ever wished you could comfortably sport a pair of clip-ons without their pinchy pain, this wonderful DIY tutorial from Christina, that shows you how to convert clip-ons to post style earrings, is definitely for you!


-Vintage stocking guide: In need of a vintage stocking 101 class or just want to brush up on the details of sporting old school hosiery. Emeleigh to the rescue with this terrific entry on the subject.


-6 ways to temporarily trim a plain hat: Ever wanted to jazz up a ho-hum hat without permanently altering it? Enter these six stellar tips from endlessly talented milliner, my dear friend, and fellow vintage blogger Tanith Rowan to the rescue!


-And speaking of vintage hats (something that one should do often! :)), how fabulous is this detailed look at How to refresh vintage hats/veils from none other than the thoroughly lovely Emily from Emily's Vintage Visions. You'll never look at a bedraggled hat the same way again!


-And last, but definitely not least, a really sweet Facebook friend, and fellow old school adoring lady, of mine, Elizabeth, recently took the plunge and launched her own mid-century fashion blog called Gloriously Vintage. If you haven't caught wind of it already, I highly encourage you to go check Elizabeth's site out and shower her with love and comments as she begins her own exciting vintage blogging journey.

{Those hats though!!!}

Life:

First and foremost, thank you very, very much to all those who shared their thoughts with me in the comment section of last week's post about some of the substantial changes that Etsy has been making lately.

I won't lie, I was pretty shook up by the major overhaul of that site (chiefly in terms of how seller's shops now look) and am still battling some stress and anxiety from it, but being a glass half full kind of gal, I'm trying to just buck up and make the best of things, believing wholeheartedly that when the reno dust has finally settled (even if that takes a few months) things will largely get back to normal there and my shop and I will have weathered this suddenly storm intact.

Secondly, it's spring! I know, stop the presses! But seriously, it is and that has me beyond jazzed. Though I was going through a rather rough patch on the health front throughout all of March and very early April (I was only well enough to leave the house twice in six weeks and then only for a little while each time; this sort of thing is super common for me, so it didn’t phase me too much, but I was starting to get cabin fever a bit as the sunshine rolled back into town and I really hope that April will be kinder to me in so much as my health is concerned).

Things are well here in our wee abode. March 19th marked the three year anniversary of the day that we brought home our darling dog, Annie, and the following day marked the 12th anniversary of when my husband, Tony, and I first met back in 2004. How time massively flies!




Speaking of my Italian cutie pie, he's headed to Austin, Texas at the end of this month for a brief work trip. It's not possible for me to tag along with him (it just doesn’t make sense for us to spend several hundred dollars on a ticket for me when he’ll be there for such a short time), but I'll definitely be saying hello to the Lone Star state in spirit and can't wait to here his first impressions of this very famous corner of the U.S.A..

With spring's arrival, even in the face of not doing too well health wise in recent weeks, I've been in a very creative, energetic mindset lately and have been a seriously productive panda in many areas of my life and work. Trust me when I say that, thanks to such, there are so many fun new posts coming down the pipeline this spring and summer - and I can hardly wait to share all of them with you!



Love:

Before I go any further, I would be truly remiss if I didn't thoroughly thank my beautiful friend Vanessa, from the blog, Nessbow, for inspiring this portion of my latest blog post series care of her own terrific ongoing series called Things I Love Thursday (in which she details some of the various things that she's been wild about lately).

These posts of hers have long struck a chord with me and I always knew that it wasn't a matter of if, but when, I finally took her lead and implemented something similar here on my own site.

So far spring I've been seriously crushing on the following things:


-Purple - as in the colour: Suddenly, I can't get enough of it in any form. Clothes, flowers, desserts, craft supplies, home decor, you name it, violet is my new game!

-The fact that, for the first time ever, my Instagram account hit more than 5,000 followers. This has been a milestone number that I've been working diligently to reach for quite some time now and I can't thank every who follows me enough for making it happen.

-Baby/new potatoes: A timeless favourite, I've scarcely been going more than three or four days without serving these scrumptious little nuggets up garden grown goodness - often with fresh mint, dill, or chives, a ribbon of butter and a glorious springtime sunset cascading over our dinner table to help make things even more sublime.

-The smell of fresh cut grass wafting through the breeze again (it is, after all, one of my top ten favourite scents of all time).

-Fellow vintage blogger Sabrina’s super cool newly launched Etsy shop, Inky Notions, which abounds with her splendid hand drawn illustrations, many of which are thoroughly vintage focused (watch for a collab post between Sabrina and I a little later this year – it’s going to be a blast!).

-The latest season of House of Cards. Action packed, riveting, and so full of that characteristically conniving, brilliant, megalomaniacal Frank and Claire Underwood goodness that we all adore.

-My new oversized blank page notebook that I've been cramming full of hand written notes and simple sketches for blog, Etsy and crafting related ideas that have been flowing like a waterfall from my mind in recent weeks.

-The Daily Otter. No matter what life throws my way, this site never fails to perk my mood back up in 0.005 seconds flat.


{To learn more about a specific image used in today's post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

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So there you have it, sweet darling, links are back, you get to find out more about what's taking place in my life outside of the vintage realm, and I cap off the whole kit and caboodle by sharing a wee array of things that I'm crazy in love with right here and now. Delightfully fun, oui?

Again, I'm not setting a schedule for these posts. They'll appear here every so often, once I've built up at least a few entries for each of the three sections they entail and, you know, the fact that I have a place to share these things with you all again is my final "love entry" for this inaugural edition.

Have a marvelous Monday and gorgeous week ahead, everyone!