Fur, Feathers and Scales swap...

Just finished these. It's fun getting these cards in the mail, but hard to let go of these mini paintings! I'm learning to share.  :)

(I did add a little pen to this fish painting after taking the photo.)

 



I have two in the "fur" category, so the host can have one as a gift.

This one is for a personalized trade. That means the receiver requested a certain theme and I gave her a theme for my card in return. I told her to make me something with a Messianic Jewish flavor and I decided to do the same because she said for me to ask God what I should make for her. I plan to make more cards in this vein, with scriptures.

 

Hunger calls! Shalom!

It's a BEE swap!

I can never remember the names of these swaps off hand...something like My Sweet Honeybees swap. Anyway, here are the four I made (one for the host).

It's a bee skep. I'd never seen one like this, so I thought it would be interesting to draw!

 

I learned that only bumblebees have long enough tongues to sip the nectar from red clover.

 

 

And my zentangle bee...

 

This swap was tons of fun. Now to get them ready for mailing!

 

Love y'all! Shalom!

WOYWW!

Wow! The weeks are flying past so quickly! Which means that our LIVES are flying past quickly. Which begs the question, am I ready for what comes after this? Yes, I do wax philosophical sometimes when I stop and really think about how the days are speeding on.  I love to see my workday speed by, but I'd like the home time to SLOW DOWN.

Anyway, here are my two desks today.

I'm working on a new swap which has a honeybee theme. Since I learn by trial and error I'm trying out various combos on the slick paper I'm gluing to my ATC. I took a sample piece of the slick paper and applied some Gesso to it... (well, actually this is the side without Gesso)

I asked many questions. Does watercolor work on it? Nope. Does pen? Yes. Does the pen work on Gesso? Yes. Does the pen work on top of colored pencil? Not so much. Etc, ad nauseum until I had copious notes on each combination. Now this is elementary stuff to all you collagers out there, but to me, one who almost exclusively does watercolor on watercolor paper, it's a mystery how all of these materials act with one another. So...I'm learning! (See copious notes below.)

 

And something you'll rarely see on my desk...a large jar of Gesso. Maybe I'll use it more often after this.

 

 

So, I have lots of ideas dealing with bees. I'll keep you posted!  If you want to visit more exciting desks like mine (cough) go to Julia's Stamping Ground blog and hit the links!

Happy summer and much shalom to each of you!

Watercolor Nouns-the set

Here are the four ATC's I'm sending in for the Watercolor Nouns swap. I needed a person, place and thing. I made two things so the host could have a card as a thank you for hosting.

 

 

These were fun to make! Tomorrow is another early day at work, so I'll say good-night!

Shalom!

Watercolor nouns...

The ATC swap I'm working on now is Watercolor Nouns. It requires 3 paintings in watercolor: a person, a place and a thing. Here is my place painting...

Wish I had a copier! I kind of hate to let this one go! :)

It's getting late, so I'll sign off for now. Have a great Father's Day tomorrow!

Shalom.

WOYWW! (even though it's Tuesday!)

Day off!!! We are having fun playing in the sun today. It's been so cold and rainy this spring and summer that many of us are just getting out to plant our gardens. Hoping for a long fall! Planting the garden and working in the yard is our favorite play. I should incorporate some of that into my art!

Anyway, here is my desk for WOYWW. I'm working on some MOO's for a swap. In case you don't know, MOO's are little cards that measure 1" x 2.75". This particular swap calls for making them into bookmarks. You can see the beads on the right that I'm going to use at some point. (Wish I was more creative with collage!)

 

BTW, here are the MOO's in their finished state...

 



I hope the beads don't make them too bulky in the mail! (The moderator okayed them.)

Although I mentioned it in my previous post, here again is the ATC I received from Heather for the WOYWW-4 swap. Love it! (And the beautiful card that came with it!)

So, if you want to peep around other desks worldwide please go to Julia's Stamping Ground and follow the list o' links!

Shalom all and have a sunny summer!

An envelope from across the pond!

When I got home from work tonight there was a suspicious looking envelope on the counter...

I was a little puzzled because, although I'm involved in several ATC swaps, I wasn't expecting any cards this soon. I guess I had kind of forgotten one very special ATC swap!

WOYWW!!!

Heather, of Algera Designs, really knows how to build the suspense! Okay...what's in side?

 

A GORGEOUS card!

 

 

Inside that...a little package...and a wonderful note from Heather. Yes, your package arrived safely in the U.S. and is much treasured by this WOYWWer!

 

 

Ta-dah!! A beautiful ATC full of wonderful blingyness!

 

 

Your ATC is only the second I've ever received! It now has a place of honor in my ATC notebook.

 

 

And your card graces my bookshelves...

 

 

Thanks so much for all of the creativity you put into this beautiful gift! It is exciting to have a little piece of England here in my home. Thanks again, Heather! :)

 

Shalom!

 

 

ATC from Becky!

My very first ATC! Thanks Becky for trading with me on ATC's for All. It was so exciting getting that envelope in the mail. Here are a couple of photos...

Your card ensconced in my ATC notebook. It fills the first spot on my "ATC's Received" page!

And now your card will live in my messy art room.

Becky lives in Katy, TX near where my folks live, so we already have a lot in common, right? :) Hope we'll be doing more trades in the future, Becky! Thanks!

It's getting late, so I'm off to bed. Shalom, y'all!

WOYWW!

So, I hear that one of my WOYWW-4 ATC's has reached it's destination! Hope you enjoyed it Robyn! :)  When I receive mine I'll be sure to post pictures! How exciting!

Welcome back to my desk where I'm working on ATC's for a swap called Watercolor Trees. Right up my alley since I love trees and watercolors, TAH-DAH!  The ATC's are in the lower right of the picture.

On my computer wallpaper you will find the model for one of my ATC's. I have a fascination with pollarded willows. Go figure! My bookshelves in the background are becoming a gathering place for photos of kids, cards from them and my mom and all sorts of odds and ends that give me joy when I look at them.

 

This is an old book I bought recently from the library book sale. It's quite interesting and I'm hoping to learn something about mixing colors and coming up with the right one!

 



I just learned that my daughter has a walking/skating friend who has an Etsy shop and blog! I'd love to learn more about selling art. Have any of you had success selling through your Etsy shop? Any advice would be wonderful! This gal's blog is called Dancing Fork.  I'm sure she wouldn't mind me giving her some free advertising!

Addendum: After some playing with my watercolors this is what my four ATC's look like...so far. They still need some tweaking with pen...

 

 

 

Anyway, have a swell time visiting desks and blogs around the blogging universe. You are all an inspiration! To join the fun go to Julia's Stamping Ground blog!

Shalom!

Getting organized and making a few "cover" cards...

The whole ATC trading game has my head spinning a little just keeping track of cards being sent out and those I will be receiving sometime in the future. What to do? Get organized!

First of all a three-ring binder must be sought out. This one may look familiar. It has had many uses over the years, but hopefully it will help me keep track of things for years to come!

But what's inside? Aha... The front pocket holds some precut ATC cards, a baggy of plastic card sleeves and a little card containing my log in info for the ATC's for All website. The first page of plastic card protectors contains cards I've made for one-on-one trading. Not many...yet. The card you see in the top middle slot is actually on the second page and is one I'm working on for a group swap.

 

 

After the pages for cards to swap and cards received I have a few page protectors for lists of "Cards Sent Out"...

and "Cards I'm Expecting".  On these two pages I can keep track of swaps and I have checklists to be sure I don't forget to give itrader points or reputation points to other players and hosts. It also acts as a reminder of what I've done and how many of my cards are "out there" in the world at large. :)

 

 

After these pages I have a few pocket pages to hole odds and ends that have been scribbled on random pieces of paper. I have lots of that kind of stuff!

 

 

Since I had three ATC's to send off I decided to rev up the painting station (complete with roll of tissue for blotting) and make cover cards for the ATC's. Just a little extra protection in the mail and another excuse to make art!!

 

 

And here they are...

 



 

And here are the ATC's I'm working on for the "Books are Quotations" swap. I've done the collaging part and now I just have to print off the quotations to glue on each one. These were fun to do this afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

And now they are safely ensconced in my ATC notebook until I can finish them...

 





So, that's what I've been doing this morning/afternoon. Hope you're having a great day!

Shalom!