Stamped Houses

I had not done any houses for a while, so the House themed swap in a stamping group was a good excuse for me to play with this shape again.

Zetti Blog Swap Announcement!

Here´s my Letter Z spread for my Alphabet Discovery Book - of course I´ve used Zettis! And that´s a good moment to announce my annual ATC blog swap. This time the theme will be Zetti. That means that you can use Zettiology stamps or collage images, or you can make something zetti-style yourself (you know what that is: bright colours, stripes in black and white, weird and odd stuff). Sign up by commenting here or email me, make three ATCs and send them to me until August 15.

Coming Home

I have chosen "On our way home" as the new ARTchix lottery theme, and here´s my entry.

And the winner is ...

Irish3! Please email me with your name and address so that I can send my ATC to you!

New Orleans

New Orleans is where we stopped our Travel around the World swap this month. Almost everything that comes to my mind when I´m thinking of this city has to do with music - Jazz, The House of the Rising Sun, The Lakes of Pontchartrain ... and the rest is too much water.

A Little Giveaway

Yippieh, I´ve won the ARTchix bi-weekly lottery, and 25 lovely Garden Party pieces will fil my mailbox!
You can take part in this celebration and win my own lottery ATC by leaving a comment here. I´ll draw a winner on June 26 in the evening (CEST) and send my ATC to him/her!

Architecture

I´m hosting an Architecture ATC swap in one of my German groups. Here are my first three ATCs for it.

Postcards

... is this week´s theme for the Gothic Arches challenge.

With Words

Now here´s the whole set of ATCs for the swap.

Two more of that weird stuff

These are titled "patronized" and "been hurt" and tell more explicit stories.

In A Weird Mood

I admit that these two ATCs for a swap themed "with words" are a bit weird, but the good news is that you don´t have to know why their titles are "untied" and "never wanted to be a butterfly" - hope you like them nevertheless ...

Rules for Happiness

Here´s the cover of my new altered book themed "Rules for Happiness" that I´ve started today. It will be sent to six German artists during the next months.


My first spread even has three rules of happiness that usually work for me: Listen to the Birds, Sing your Heart Songs, and Grow where you are planted. Can´t wait to see what makes other people happy!

Emboss Resist

I have learned the Emboss Resist technique from Nancy Curry´s stamping techniques book, and this card was my first attempt trying it - this week that technique is the theme for the Saturday´s Workout challenge, so have a look at all the samples busy stampers will show there!

A Birthday Present

Here´s a little book that I´ve made as a gift for my goddaughter Antonia´s 13th birthday. I have used a book kit from Tattered Angels that I´ve won at a stamping convention in March.

I know that I had a lot of secrets to write down when I was thirteen, so I just can hope that Antonia will like and use this book.

An Italian Affair

What a wonderful theme Sharron has chosen for her tip-in book! At the bottom of these 6 x 6 pages I´ve used three original photos taken at a trip to Florence that I´ve altered by soaking, sanding, scratching, and painting over. Sharron said that she likes weathered doors and windows, so I´ve rubber stamped these. All in all, these pages are a memory of my Florence trip a few years ago, and I hope that they´ll match with Sharron´s image of an Italian Affair!

Garden Party

... is just the theme of our ARTchix lottery ... but as it´s under 15 °C, rainy and grey today, I´m glad that I don´t have to be outside in the garden!

Travel Season

No, I´m not going on vacation - but here are my ATCs for a travel themed swap.

B as in Bird

B is our next letter to feature in our Alphabet Discovery books - of course I just HAD TO choose Birds! I have used two of my friend Mary´s Logomachy cards, some of my new Catslife Press bird stamps, collage images and watercolours.

The Song of a Bird

... is this week´s theme for the "Dans ma maison il y a ... " challenge. Well, today I´ve been sitting on my balcony in the morning, listening to a certain bird´s song for hours. I snatched my binoculars and had a phone call with my mother but couldn´t find out which bird it was - the only thing I know is that a bird´s song never fails to make me smile and is certainly something that makes me happy.

Magical Garden

The theme for Linda´s 6 x 6 tip-in book is "Flowers, Fairies, and a Magical Garden" - not one of my preferred themes usually. But that´s the good thing with round robin projects: Sometimes you´re challenged to do a theme you wouldn´t have chosen yourself, and in the end you´re really satisfied with the result. This is what happened here. The face in the rose is an image from a tapestry made by Edward Burne-Jones. I have sanded it and overworked it with the same watercolour pencils that I´ve used for the rest of the pages.

Postage People

I´ve made both of these 4 x 6 cards a while ago, and this week´s TGIF challenge themed "Postage People" is just the right moment to show them.

Fashion

I´m not too much into fashion myself, but I like crazy hats, especially when it comes to rubber stamping ;-) So here´s my fashion vicitim of the sea for this week´s Wednesday Stamper´s challenge. And as the Gothic Arches challenge has an open theme right now, it´s also qualified for that one.

Seven Songs of Sorrow and Sadness

Here´s my Letter S entry in my own Alphabet Discovery altered book: Seven Songs of Sorrow and Sadness. After I had used a layer of gesso, I used a square stencil and stippled inks on with stipple brushes. I stamped the images (including a star), then the text and added some swirls/scrolls in the corners. I have used watercolour pencils and distress inks to give the pages a pale look.

Nightswimming

Nightswimming, remembering that night

September's coming soon

I'm pining for the moon

And what if there were two

Side by side in orbit

Around the fairest sun?

That bright, tight forever drum

Could not describe nightswimming ...

My entry for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Vintage Bathing Beauties".

What do you see when you close your eyes?

My front and back page for Peggy´s tip-in book themed "What do you see when you close your eyes?". Lovely theme, but what a challenge!

Soldered

I´ve made this brooch some time ago and wear it a lot. It´s made from a postage stamp that I´ve cut to a circle, added a pebble and then soldered it. I´m not sure if I´ll ever become a soldering fan - I´m glad that you can´t see my bad soldering on this photo ;-) However, soldered art is this week´s theme for the Saturday´s Workout challenge, so I thought I could show you my brooch now.

Alphabet Moos

"Alphabet" is this week´s theme for the Make a moo or two challenge.

Dreams

... is this week´s theme for the TIGF challenge, and here´s a somewhat disappointing story for you about dreams.

Four Faces of Frida

Here´s my Letter F spread for my Alphabet Discovery book - as it´s illustrating Four Faces of Frida, it should have too much of everything ;-) So these pages are not only colourful but I´ve added paper flowers and letter F brads, different papers and stamps. Gesso and watersoluble crayons hold it all together.

Untold Story of the Fairies

Whenever I put my personal information in a group´s database, I write "fairies" as something I don´t like at all. Well, maybe I like modern fairies, but their story hasn´t been told so far. Here´s another spread in my own altered book themed "Untold Stories", and it´s my entry for this week´s Wednesday Stamper´s challenge "Fairy".

Alphabet Discovery Book

I´ve joined a new group last week to start an Alphabet Discovery Book. Mine is an altered book (edited 1907), and I´ve started with the Letter N spread: I have covered the pages with newspaper, gessoed it, and stamped more newspaper clippings on it. Then I masked the pages with numbers and sprayed on Glimmer Mist in two colours. Then I stamped the nest and the words starting with an n and added the birdy woman. I drew the line she sits on and masked the letter in the upper right corner and dabbed distress inks around it.

Egypt

My ATC for this week´s TMTA theme "Egypt" - Zetti meets Nick Bantock here.