Beatles & Stones ATC Swap

Well, I saw this ATC swap being hosted by Marion in Germany...and I decided I had to play.  I love Beatles & Stones music...but it was easy to come up with 2 favorites.  The ATCs are due in Germany by May 15th, so they're off to the PO tomorrow.  The swap is 3 for 3, so I made 3 of each...I'm keeping one of each for my collection...and 4 are winging their way over to Germany.  Marion can decide which one she wants to keep for herself & swap the other 3.  It will be interesting to see how many countries the artists of the ATCs I receive are from.

Remember...if you swap, it's always very nice to include a hostess gift for your hostess...I've hosted many swaps & it is a lot of work.  Fun, but a lot of work.  I've had fun gathering some US ephemera to share with Marion, too.   

Have a good weekend, y'all!

A Swap for All Seasons...Tussie Mussie Swap

Be still my heart!  The latest swap at A Swap for All Seasons was a Tussie Mussie Swap for May Day!   If you love vintage & handmade goodies, you should check out this swap blog.  You have until April 30th to sign up for the next swap.  It's a fun & high quality swap...you are assigned a swap partner & you get to know them through their blog & email...quite fun. 

My partner for this swap was Linda F from Lambsworld.  You should visit her blog, too...it's always a delight & she has graciously posted pics of what I sent to her there.  Linda & I have never met in person, but we have known each other on line for quite some time. 

Here is what I received from the lovely Linda...thanks, Linda!!!

It started with this beautifully decorated box...even the mail guy commented on how much fun it was!

Inside was this gorgeous hat box...in a favorite color combo of mine...blues & browns.

So many wonderful goodies inside...wrapped in heavenly aqua tulle.

The beautiful Tussie Mussie Linda made for me...please excuse the ugly, shiny, almost orange woodwork...it's all over this house...guess it was fashionable in 1954...which is hard to believe.

The most lovely pink Depression Glass sherbets for my collection...both were full of yummy chocolates when they arrived...I had to get this pic before they were all gone!

The cutest little salt & pepper shakers ever!

Handmade May day cards & a beautiful handmade pendant.

Handmade tags...beautifully packaged, too.

A vintage hankie & gloves...they fit!  Adorning the gloves are a pair of vintage clip on earrings...

my favorite kind!

A bottle of Pacific NW beach sand and shells & sea glass...so different from the Southern CA sand I know & love...and still "kissed by the Pacific Ocean" !!!

Vintage sewing supplies...awesome!

And finally...WHEW!  A sweet little Kitten Tea Set...sort of out of focus, sorry...but you get the idea!

Linda sure knows how to fill a swap box, huh?  I'm one lucky girl to have had her as my partner this time.  Sorry to my previous swap partners...I'm way behind on posting pics of what you sent, but I'll do a catch up post one of these days soon.

So...playing in swaps is a good thing...and getting to know on line friends better is the real treasure.

Published!!!

I knew it was in the works, but last week my Artist Comp copy of Somerset Memories Spring 2010 arrived in the mail.  Back in November 2008, I submitted a project in response to their call for art with the theme "With One Image".  It was a group project by the Hannah Grey Design Team.  We used a beautifully gnarled lonely tree image taken in Tanzania by one of the team members, Karine Ardault.  It was part of a collage sheet she had done & it was sold on the Hannah Grey Curiosities & Drygoods website run by artist Shoshanah Jennings. 

To participate, the members who were interested created a postcard using that one tree image.  All the postcards were mailed to me & I created an altered cigar box to hold them.  I tied them up with brown silk ribbon, as if they were a bundle of old love letters & submitted our project. 

The article turned out wonderfully & I'm quite happy with it.  The photos below are ones I took before I mailed the project in...if you're in the stores & see the issue, take a look at pages 24-26 & you'll see great photos of some of the postcards as well as my cigar box. Or you could buy the issue if you're so inclined...it's beautifully done with lots of great eye candy & 8 free sheets of scrapbook paper designed specifically for the magazine.

The "Tree" postcard on the top of the bundle was created by my dear friend & talented artist, Tracy Tatro.  She doesn't have a blog, but her art has been published in manay of the Stampington & other pubs as well as a book or two.  I'll have to work on her for that blog thing!!! 

Spring ATCs & Tags

I've been busy with some spring themed art...some for a Red Lead swap & some just because I'm waiting not-so-patiently for Spring to arrive & STAY!

First, the swap ATCs...The theme is Spring Story & we needed to use certain spring/Easter themed collage sheets & stamp images from Red Lead Paperworks. 

Awfully cute, huh?  Cute is not my favorite style, but these images ARE cute...and I think it works.

Now for the Spring tags...

I made a couple more, but must have sent them off to the Red Lead girls without taking pictures.  Oh well...that happens.

And finally, they're selling some wire hangers over at Red Lead.  They come in a package with 2 sizes of the hanger.  Usually wire hangers would bring out the Joan Crawford side of me..."no wire hangers!!!"  But the larger of the 2 hangers along with some mini clothespins turned out to be a great hanger for displaying an ATC.

That's all for today...and, BTW...we do not have ANY wire hangers in our closets...told you I have a Joan Crawford side!

My Cooking Blog

Just a quick post to let y'all know I've actually updated my cooking blog...Kitten Cooks.  It will be interesting to see if I keep both blogs updated...I'll be back here with some new ATCs tomorrow.

The first crocus of 2010!

Well, Spring shouldn't be TOO far away...yesterday we enjoyed temps flirting with 70 degrees here in Parma, OH...and today most of the snow has melted (YEA!!!) and the first crocus have popped their sunny faces out to welcome the warmer air.  It's cooler today...low 60s, and the clouds are moving in...we could have thunderstorms over the next day or two.  But it's always a highlight of my sorry life here when the crocus start to pop out. 

Years ago, probably back in the 1960s, my Dad tilled the lawn to reseed it & start over on the grass.  A beautiful magnolia tree which had been in the middle of the lawn died over a particularly harsh winter, and the crocus used to surroud the tree.  Well, when the soil was tilled, the crocus bulbs were scattered throughout the yard.  Now, each March, the first sign of spring is the crocus that scatter across the front lawn. 

The bits of green in the foreground are crocus that have not yet bloomed as there has not been enough sun there...the house faces north & most of the sun this time of year is from the south, so it will be awhile before they bloom.   This is what the lawns look like after the cold harsh winter...all gray & brown & lifeless...but hopefully that will change soon, too. The narcissus in the back yard are just starting to poke through the ground, as are the first signs of life for the day lilies that will bloom come summer. 

Now let's hope it doesn't snow again...at least not until next January or so...

or NEVER again would make me even happier!!!

More art from Game Pieces

I really do not like board games...except for maybe Scrabble from time to time & Trivial Pursuit was a hoot when it first came out.  Now they're just BORED games & I will find an excuse to get out of any gathering where they will be played.  Anyway...I do look for games if they have intresting pieces that have art potential.  Thrift stores & garage sales are fabulous sources for these on the cheap.  SkyBluePink has quite an assortment of game pieces, too.

One game I never played but I knew immediately it had art potential was Rummikub.  The tiles are a great size for magnets & even pins. 

The picture above shows the original tile. The next shows a tile colored with Ranger's Alcohol Inks. The last one is a finished magnet with a fun image & a word I thought related to the image.  The final tile is coated with a layer of Inkssentials Glossy Accents to protect it & add a nice finish.

Dice are another great art supply.  I made this ofrenda with supplies from Hannah Grey Curiosities & Dry Goods, as well as some of my own items.  An ofrenda is a Mexican altar commemorating & honoring the life & favorite things of a dearly departed loved one, typically to welcome the loved one for Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. 

Dice can also be used as legs for a box or other item.  You can just barely see them on the bottom of this altered cigar box.  I no longer have the box, so that's the best photo I have.

And, of course, there are Scrabble Tiles.  These are probably my favorite game pieces.  I love to use them to make charms for bracelets.  I use a hand drill with the smallest bit I have to drill the holes for the jump rings.  The bracelet below uses Scrabble tiles to spell out "Ancestors" on one side & then I've added a minchie, which is a little 1/2" by 1/2" image, to the back of the tile.  These minchies are from Red Lead Paperworks.  The finished charms are coated with Glossy Accents again to protect & seal the image.

So the next time you have a game with missing pieces that you think is headed to the trash, think again...it's a great source of art supplies.  Think green & recycle those game pieces into little works of art...or send them to me!