gina: News

My new 2012 Calendar is a flip calendar this year. New and vintage art 9" x 12" on sale on my website.
http://www.unicornartist.com. Limited quantities this year,m so order early.

Mother's Day was never more special for Gina as it was when she finally became a mother herself and shared that common bond with her mother Claire. "I started making unicorn calendars that next year after she died, Gina remembers, and she still inspires me everyday when I pick up a pencil to draw or jump into photoshop on my MAC." This year as a celebration of Moms everywhere gina wants to send you an autographed 2011 calendar FREE, packaged in a purple sleeve when you pre-order from calendars.com before Mother's Day. Please email Gina for more information at gina@befera.com

Quickiecards.com is now featuring dozens of high quality paper greeting cards created by Duluth, Minnesota artist, Gina Befera. "It is so much fun developing ideas and seeing them come to life." explains Gina, who is currently working on many high-concept art ideas for Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays and more. You will enjoy her clever designs and the Quickiecards.com concept of ordering ahead so you never miss a special occasion. For more information or to order Gina's greeting cards please email her at gina@befera.com or visit quickiecards.com.

Hi, Just wanted to invite you to listen to my new song. We Never Danced. Enjoy.

I carry your heart in my heart. So frail the spell of love. In me so colorfully black. The only thing it can bear to be. When this love ends the world will drown in the sea, when this love ends nothing will ever be. When this love ends it will end me. When this love ends.

Unicorn Calendar
A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Mother

From a few sketches on a notepad in her mother’s hospital room and a dream, to a bookstore quality calendar, Duluth, Minnesota artist Gina Befera’s inspired 2010 unicorn art calendar will be on store shelves this holiday season from coast to coast.

“The unicorns started out as therapy for both of us really, a way to amuse my mom.” Explains Gina. “I spent so many hours at the hospital with my mom I brought a sketch pad and drawing helped us pass the time.” Each unicorn marked the moods and emotions of the last days Gina would spend with her mom, Claire before she died from complications of COPD on December 7th of 2006. Her mom’s dream was for a calendar full of her daughter’s unicorns and it was Gina’s quest to make her mother’s dream come true.

After knocking on lots of doors, someone finally said yes and took a chance on an unknown artist with an unusual calendar. Rachel Dashnaw, Buying Manager for Calendar Holdings LLC bought Gina’s unicorn calendar for calendars.com and her calendar, Unicorns and Other Magic became a bestseller for them. This year Gina’s 2010 calendar, Unicorns Signs and Secrets, featuring all-new unicorn-fairy art, is on store shelves coast to coast in 165 Calendar Club Superstores.

“I just wish Mom was here to see what’s happening with the calendar. She would be thrilled.” Expressed Gina.

The art for Gina’s 2010 calendar was created using pastel and marker on recycled 80 lb. Strathmore drawing paper, photographed and digitized for layout using CS2 software. Gina does all the work herself, including custom-design of the calendar grids to match the art. Her new calendar also includes fairies and other creatures engaged in playful fantasy. The calendar is sweet-tempered and suitable for all ages. Each work of art is titled and every month includes inspired writings composed by the artist. The calendar is 12 x 24 inches, printed by Delario and retails for $12.99. For more information or a personal interview or signing appearance please call 218.349.9079.
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I am hoping to have my new album complete and on CD Baby by October 10, 2009. I have uploaded my favorite song from the album on my music page for you to download or just listen to. Enjoy.

After almost 4 years of making unicorn calendars and falling into holes trying to learn the calendar business, my 2010 calendar is going full retail and will be on sale in stores this November. My Unicorns Signs and Secrets 2010 Art Calendar has been purchased by my dear friends at Calendar Club Holdings LLC for Superstores throughout the USA. This is a huge opportunity for me and the future of making more unicorn calendars maybe even bringing back the days when a person could walk into any store and find one. They were lost or left behind in 1984 when the brilliant fantasy artist Michael Hague stopped making them and stores stopped selling them. I don’t know which came first. I have always believed that it is time for unicorn calendars again and so do Brown Trout Publications, a world-renowned calendar company and others like them who have produced unicorn calendars this year. Pomegranate Publications still publishes a calendar of unicorns featuring the masterful fantasy art of Susan Boulet even though she died in 1997. Right now I am just a small independent artist/publisher with a big unicorn calendar dream. So please buy my unicorn calendar, Unicorns Signs and Secrets this year from a Calendar Club Superstore near you. I want to thank Rachel Dashnaw with Calendar Holdings LLC, Barb Kohler, Atlasbooks, Megan Hinterman, Borders Inc., and Michael Malone, Barnes and Noble Inc., for taking a big chance on my little unicorn calendar.
Please visit http://www.unicornartist.com if you want to order a calendar online.

Gina used to make her mom homemade cards for her birthday, and Mother's Day and other special occasions. She always used to say "someday you'll sell your cards at Hallmark." Hallmark did said yes to Gina's 2010 Unicorns Signs and Secrets calendar and you can get a copy of your very own at Hallmark in the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth, Minnesota.

My new calendar is ready on calendars.com. For my dear friends I am offering a summer special. Order one from calendars.com and I will send you an autographed calendar from Idea Works Studio as my gift to you. Just go to http://www.calendars.com/Fantasy-Art/Unicorn-Signs-and-Secrets-2010-Wall-Calendar/prod126659/?categoryId=cat00011 to order. This calendar is book-store quality and I am so excited to have had such amazing help getting it printed by my friends at Delario! I hope you enjoy the new calendar. It was so much fun to make and is full of signs and secrets waiting for you to find.

Thanks to Patrick Garmoe who wrote this magical story in the Duluth News Tribune and of course the magic of unicorns, my 2009 calendar sold out at Calendar Club at the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth and I delivered more yesterday. You can read the story and see pictures at http://web.mac.com/rbefera/iWeb/idea_works/Faeries.html While I was unpacking the box, a woman from Canyon asked to buy one right then and there and had me to sign it for her. I wish my Mom was here to share this with me but it still feels good knowing that her spirit lives on in the whimsical unicorns she inspired me to create. The calendar has also sold out at unicorns.com. There are still a few available online at http://www.calendars.com. Thank you, everyone for this wonderful response. I have already completed 11 of the 12 designs for my 2010 calendar and look forward to being able to offer them worldwide next year through Barnes & Noble and Borders.

Please quit your job and drive to my house. Forever.

gina

For Immediate Release Date: August 24, 2008

Duluth Artist’s Unicorn Calendar Makes Best Seller List

Duluth, Minnesota artist Gina Befera’s Unicorns and Other Magic Art Calendar is on the best seller list at calendars.com, Calendar Club L.L.C.'s online store. “I worked on the art for this calendar for over 2 years. My Mother Claire was my inspiration. Even through her illness she never stopped believing in me and encouraging me.” said Gina.

In February the calendar was complete and Gina had a small amount printed with the help of Superior Print in Duluth and began the process of sending them out to bookstores and publishers. It was an arduous process and very disheartening at times, but then an email came from Rachel Dashnaw, Vendor Relations/Buying Manager for Calendar Club L.L.C.

“I’ll never forget how I cried tears of amazement and joy and how I wished my Mom was here to share it with me”. I could hardly read the email.” explains Gina. The email said they were interested in purchasing her calendar for calendars.com and that if the sales were strong, they would reorder.

Unicorns and Other Magic Art Calendar is a 2009, 16-month full color 11” x 17” wall calendar featuring Gina’s original artwork. Some might say the calendar is quirky refrigerator art. Other’s say it’s a brilliant tribute to her Mother Claire. You be the judge.

Gina’s calendar is on sale for $12.99 plus tax at http://www.calendars.com. Search ‘unicorns’ and you will find it or you can visit Gina’s Fantasy Art Website at http://web.mac.com/rbefera/iWeb/ideaworks/Unicorns.html and click on the dragonfly.

The calendar is printed in the USA by Superior Print in Duluth, Minnesota and published by Gina’s company, Idea Works Studios. To arrange a personal interview with Gina please call 218.349.9079.

Gina adds, “It really is magic, how this all came together. I thank my all my friends and family and everyone at Calendar Club L.L.C. for taking a big chance on a little unicorn calendar from Duluth, Minnesota.” Oh, by the way, sales were strong and as promised Calendar Club L.L.C. is ordering more. Calendar Club L.L.C., is owned in part by Barnes and Noble Bookstores.

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My unicorn calendar just made the top seller list. It is the number one selling Fantasy Art Calendar on calendars.com. Thank you to everyone who bought one. Here is a little game for you. Go to my website http://web.mac.com/rbefera/iWeb/ideaworks/Unicorns.html and click on the purple and gold dragonfly. Do what it says there and I will send you a FREE Unicorns and Other Magic Calendar or one of my music CDs. Just send me an email: gina@befera.com. Besides the holidays are almost here and Unicorns and Other Magic Calendars make great strange and unusual gifts....and who wouldn't want something like that. If you help me sell through and the calendar gets to B & N's Mall Kiosks I will be donating $2.00 per calendar to Animal Allies of Duluth. Click on the link to see my 15 Minutes of fame. http://www.calendars.com/xq/asp/PID.1/MGID.2597/qx/category.html

"Unicorns and Other Magic" , my 2009 art calendar officially became a part of the big calendar world on July 4, 2008 with it's debut on calendars.com, Barnes & Noble's on-line division.
This is a monumental break for my art, making it to the mainstream like this. All I have to do now is sell a ton of unicorn calendars. Please visit the website and buy a calendar or two. Here is the link to get there. http://www.calendars.com/xq/asp/PID.1/MGID.-1/IID.49702/qx/product.html. Please google unicorn calendars often and then come and find me on calendars.com.

My Unicorns have made it through the "big door" into Barnes and Noble's Calendar Club division online at calendars.com. My 2009 calendar is called Unicorns and Other Magic and will be available soon. Now when you google Unicorns at calendars.com you won't get a 'sorry' page. My calendar will be there...yay! This is the most exciting news I could ever imagine. My 2009 calendar is a collection of my unicorns and new art featuring faeries, mermaids and other creatures. You can see a sneek preview on my website: http://web.mac.com/rbefera/iWeb/idea_works/Unicorns.html Please visit and let me know what you think. I am self publishing again this year and have a limited amount available. So order early and please visit my wonderful friends at calendars.com and be sure to ask for Unicorns and Other Magic at Barnes and Noble book stores and their calendar kiosks at a mall near you.

Unicorns.com, the most widely known online website for unicorn art, jewelry and keepsakes has added International selling Duluth, Minnesota artist Gina Befera's Limited Edition 2008 Unicorn Calendar to their online store. Unicorns.com is showcasing the piece under Stationary and New Items. The calendar is described as 'beautiful and large with 12 unique prints by Unicorn artist Gina Befera. Each month/page is 12 inches by 18 inches and contains a framable 9 inch by 10 inch Unicorn portrait with the calendar underneath on heavy weight paper. Makes a wonderful one-of-a-kind gift for the Unicorn lover/collector."

The 2008 Unicorn Art Calendar has been a labor or love, inspired by and dedicated to Gina's Mother Claire, who died on December 7, 2006. "Having my calendar on unicorns.com is a dream come true for me, something I know my Mom would be so proud to see." Unicorns.com features artist's speciality merchandise from all over the world.

Local stores featuring Gina's 2008 Limited Edition Unicorn Art Calendar include Peasantworks above Hell's Kitchen in Canal Park, Sunhillo books on 5th Avenue East and 4th Street and Lady Ocalat's Emporium in the sky walk level of the Historic Hunter Building. For more information please contact Gina Befera at gina@befera.com or call Idea Works STUDIOS at 525-2076.

I will be a Peasantsworks in Duluth, Minnesotas historic Canal Park with fellow artists as we showcase our wares on Saturday, December 8th from Noon to 4:00 PM. Please join the Gallery Tour event on that day and come upstairs to this amazing shoppe right above Hell's Kitchen on South Lake Avenue.
It will be unforgettable I promise.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I just finished a year-long project..My Unicorn Art Calendar. They will be on sale in Duluth at Peasant Works next to Hell's Kitchen in Canal Park, Sunhillow Books, 510 East 4th Street and Lady Ocalat's Emporium next week. This Saturday I will be debuting them at the Festival of the Season in Duluth at 14th Ave. E and 3rd Street, Saturday, November 17, 10AM-4PM.

Remembert to check out Jazz @ the Toga in Duluth, Minnesota every Saturday 3-7P. I will be singing on November 24th. Come on down and celebrate the Holidays with some awesome jazz.

Please feel free to download my new song: My Guardian Angel, written for my Mother Claire. It's part of a solo project I am working on. Thank you again so very much for listening amd for supporting independent art and music.