Blog Posts - I've Been Framed

Art store field trip

8/18/2015

(Pictured above is the beautiful Art class of Newberg High school with their teacher Stashia Cabral)

For the past few years, we've had a couple of High School art classes that visit on a field trip. We always look forward to these visits because it's a lot of fun to have our little shop packed out with young excited artists. Usually, the classes will also go visit local galleries and do other related activities before they come to visit us.The idea is to introduce the students to their local art store and the supplies that are available to them. If the class calls us ahead of time and let's us know how many students they'll be bringing in, we'll make sure we have enough staff on duty to help assist and answer questions. We'll also make up little IBF goody bags for all the students!

This is something that we've enjoyed so much for while now, so I thought it'd be fun to share the idea in case there were other classes or groups that wanted to stop in during their field trip sometime. We'd love to give you more information, offer up some history on the store and also make you up some goody bags as well! Just give us a call or write us an email for a heads up, or if you have any related questions.

June Giveaway!

6/16/2015

This month's giveaway is for our young budding artist customers. The winner will receive all of the summer fun pictured above. Entering is simple...

* You have to be between the ages 2 and 12

* Show us the current art project that you're working on! It can be anything from a coloring page to a sculpture made out Popsicle sticks, sky's the limit!

There are a few ways to enter your art...

*Have your parents take a picture of your project and post it to their Facebook or Instagram account making sure that they tag us in the picture so we see it.

*Another way to enter is to bring your project into the store and we will take a picture of it for you!

The contest runs for two weeks so that means you will have until the end of the month, which is the 30th, to enter. The winner will be chosen at random and will be featured on our blog as well as winning the above prize. Thanks in advance for all of our participants!

May Giveaway Winners

5/22/2015

Congrats to Tim Reed and Lisa Wilde for winning our May giveaway and a huge thank you to everyone that entered. There will be another giveaway next month so check back. It was great to see the art projects that some of you are working on!

Here is the work in progress that Lisa Wilde shared with us. Be sure to check out her work in the 88 Strong show at the Goodfoot, June 25th!

This awesome drawing was shared with us by Tim Reed. Lovin' it! As a tattoo artist, I know the pens and sketch book he won will be put to good use!

May Giveaway

5/8/2015

Thank you to all of our recent Instagram followers!
I think it's time for a giveaway...

We currently have two Derwent Graphik Inspire notebooks with two different Graphik pen sets. There will be two different winners, each will receive one notebook and one pen set.

To win, all you have to do is:

1. follow us on Instagram, Facebook or both.

2.Take a picture of the current art project you're working on, post it on Instagram and/or Facebook and tag us in the post!

Contest starts today and ends in exactly two weeks 5/22/15.
We're excited to see all of your projects as we love to see our customer's beautiful talents and creativity. Once winner is chosen we will contact you to let you know, as well as post your entry picture on our social media accounts and website.

Thanks in advance for participating. We love you guys!

See following links for entries.
Facebook fan page
Instagram Account

Gifts for Mom

4/28/2015

Another Mother's Day is here,
Bringing joy and pleasures new,
On this special day, Mother dear,
I want to remember you.

With Mother's Day just around the corner I wanted to share some items that would make lovely gifts for your lovely mum.

~Gift Cards~
A gift card is always a great option if you have an artsy mother that likes to pick out her own supplies, or if she has some picture she'd like framed. I always like to add that if you don't live anywhere near our store but would still like to purchase a gift card, we can also take payment over the phone as well as mail the gift card out to whoever you wish with a personalized note. Cards available in any amount.

A few more gift ideas: Beautiful Watercolor Moleskines. Scrap paper bundles (as well as lots of full sheets of decorative paper from around the world). Beautiful art and reference books. Watercolor blocks and pads. Soft cover sketch and drawing pads by Strathmore. Travel size watercolor sets. Colorful pocket notebooks. 150 Prismacolor pencil set over $30 off!

These are only a few gifty ideas so come in and visit us this week! We have a lot of different sales going on and would love to help you find exactly what you're looking for.

Thanks for reading!
Love from the IBF team,

~Heather R.~

Beautiful marbled papers

4/23/2015

This week I would like to showcase a very special item that we currently have in our store. If you're a sucker for beautiful handmade papers like I am, then you will love these hand-marbled papers and envelopes that we purchased from a local paper artist. They are so incredibly intricate and gorgeous, the pictures hardly do them any justice.
We have business size envelopes in all different designs for $2 each as well as full sheets of paper that are anywhere from $6-$8 depending on the design. So, if you're looking for a good way to impress somebody with a hand written letter, this would make the perfect stationary to do that on! Mother's day card perhaps? You can also use the full sheets of paper to cover your journal or create a one of a kind handmade book.

If you've never seen how marbled paper is made, check out this cool video of an artist in Florence, Italy showing his process.

Thanks for reading friends!

Love from IBF,
~Heather R.~

November Thankfulness

11/12/2014

Our thankful tree is set up and ready to be decorated with leaves! Next time you're in, make sure to decorate a leaf and write what it is you're thankful for. Take it home or tie it on the tree for everyone to see here at the store.

We've done this every November for the past four years in a row and it's so much fun to see the tree filled with all it's wonderful thankful leaves at the end of the month.

Because everyone else is sharing with us what they're thankful for this month, I'd like to share with all of you what we're thankful for, or I should say, who we're thankful for.

We're thankful for our store founder Mr. Bob!
Without him, I've Been Framed would definitely not be the store that it is today. It's been a few years since he's been able to greet everyone with his smile, but he still loves to hear from all of his long time customers. So starting this month through December, we'll have a box at the front of the store where all of you can write Bob a little note and leave it for us to put into a card to present to him on his upcoming birthday.

Thanks in advance to all who help make Bob's birthday extra special!

New items - great gifts for Holidays!

10/22/2014

Beautiful new handmade papers in rustic Holiday colors. Make a book cover, wrap a gift, create handmade cards.....

We've recently received quite a few new journal/sketchbook options, all different styles and sizes. Fantastic prices.

9x12 Bristol pads and a Bulk set of Cretacolor studio pencils priced at 80% off Retail!

Cretacolor AquaStic water-soluble crayons. Set of 10 for $8.50ea

Pair a set with one of our beautiful notebooks for a lovely gift.

We've also started putting together gift sets for the Holidays. There will be lots more to come but for now, check out these beautiful drawing sets!

The Holidays are coming!

10/15/2014

With only 10 weeks away until Christmas, it's time for us to start building gifts sets again! And time for everyone else to get started on those handmade gifts for your loved ones. But don't worry, there's still plenty of time and we have plenty of ideas to help you out. From now until Christmas, we will be posting plenty of handmade gift ideas using products we sell at the shop, so bed sure to check back!

If you are not familiar with our in-house art sets, we custom pick items from our store and piece them together to make one of kind sets to suit every kind of artist. Acrylic, Oil, Watercolor, Drawing, Kids, Pen & Ink, Pastel, Collage, Calligraphy, Journaling, Doodling... you name it! We limit packaging while still making it look gifty and pretty. PLUS, we discount items even further in order to save you as much as we can. Pre-made set prices can range anywhere from $5-$50. We are also more than happy to work with you to create a custom set so that you get exactly what you're looking for in whatever budget you're working with. All you have to do is come on in and ask one of our friendly employees!

Stay tuned for DIY gift ideas and keep any eye out for our custom sets!

New QOR Watercolors by Golden

8/8/2014

If you haven't heard the news or seen these in your local art supply shop yet, Golden Artist Colors has released a new watercolor of their own called QoR! We are going to phase them in slowly like we do most new products, so for now we carry the 12 color set that comes in a pretty tin for $51.99 as well as a basket full of individually priced colors priced at 20% off retail. The more they sell, the more we'll stock! Which means that we want to share with you just how awesome these are. The following information was taken from Golden's website. If you would like to learn more, click this link.

The unique formulation of QoR Watercolors accentuates the luminosity and brilliance of pigments even after drying. QoR provides the subtlety, transparency and flow of a great watercolor, with colors that have as much vibrancy and fire as the best acrylic or oil paint.

QoR (pronounced 'core'), has been formulated to embody the essence of watercolors and also comes from a technical acronym meaning Quality of Results. Unique QoR qualities:

Incredibly smooth transitions
Flows well, maintaining liveliness on paper
Excellent resolubility in water
Excellent glazing qualities
Vivid depth of color in one stroke
Greater resistance to embrittlement
More density of color than traditional watercolors
New watercolor Grounds & Mediums
Easy clean-up
Exclusive Aquazol® binder used in conservation

Three of our employees attended a Golden Workshop a couple of weeks ago where they learned about and play around with these new watercolors. So, if you have any questions or want to see our sample boards, pay us a visit soon and we'll be happy to assist you and answer any questions you might have.

Author

Heather Reed is the Assistant Manager/Buyer and office rockstar at IBF. She writes all of our emails, blog posts and and manages all of our social media sites. Heather is also an artist and has experience in lots of various mediums. You will usually find her researching new products, finding the best bargains, writing, painting, enjoying nature, all while chasing around her two vivacious little boys.

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