Heart Garden

The theme for Colette´s tip-in book is Heart Garden, and she wants it to be a "peaceful garden sanctuary" with vintage flowers, no real feathers and seeds allowed, no red and black on one page, no biblical stories or nudity. Well - that wasn´t easy for me, especially as my first thought was about taking the theme literally by using hearts and flowers, and when using a black stamp pad I couldn´t use any red on my pages. So I tried a blue and green background and added some bright yellow and some vintage feeling with brown stamping and edging. I hope she won´t mind that I didn´t use flowers to surround my little family but went for images of weeds from old books because weeds haven´t been sown at all, and in the meantime I had fallen in love with that quote by Thomas Fuller, an English physician who lived from 1654-1734, from his book "Gnomologia".

Wonder

My entry for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Fish".

Letter U ATCs

Time for another German lesson - well, not really: I don´t have to explain the word "Underdogs" of course, but it´s also often used in German, and everyone knows it.
The second ATC is a bit more difficult: It illustrates "Ungleichheit" which means "disparity". In German you don´t say "like two peas in a pod" but "wie ein Ei dem anderen" - so I´m asking here if really one egg is like the other (which is obviously not the case here) or if maybe you should just look a little closer to see the differences ...
The third card illustrates a word with two meanings: "unlustig" means "not funny" as well as "listless, halfhearted" - like the boy on the left who doesn´t like to be photographed.

Which image are YOU?

I´ve bought some wonderful rubber stamps by Red Lead recently, and when I saw them announcing a swap themed "Which Red Lead image are YOU?" I felt a certain itching in my fingers ... of course I´m a bird! I have combined three different stamps with a photo of myself as a child. Usually I don´t participate in swaps that ask for more than six cards, and usually I don´t do duplicates - so what? I just couldn´t come up with nine different ideas, and by changing the colour scheme I avoided to make plain duplicates I hope. I have used different shades of Glimmer Mist for the backgrounds as well as for the bird piece at the front, then coloured each ATC with watercolours. What a pity that the scan doesn´t show the shimmering colours!

Together

Here´s my entry for this week´s Wednesday Stamper´s challenge "Dogs" as well as Mixed Media Monday´s and Crazy Amigo´s challenge "Together". The quote is by Corey Ford.

Party Girls

It took me days to make them, but now I´m quite happy with my Party Girls and I think we can go out tomorrow. May I introduce Sunflower Girl, Beauty Queen, World Traveller, Bird Lover, Night Owl, and Secretary? I´ve made them for an ARTchix swap, and most of their elements are ARTchix, too. What a fun swap!

C as in Childhood

My letter C pages in my Alphabet Discovery book are about my childhood. I´ve written the text in a stream of consciousness, and I`ve written it in two directions so that it´s hard to read for other people. The point is that it says what childhood has been for me. It has been very much black and white, not only because photos and TV have been b/w then - the whole life seemed to me as a picture waiting to be coloured when I grew older. It´s amazing that I´m looking quite happy on most of my childhood photos, and these are two of my favourites.
Isn´t that a wonderful phrase at the upper right? It really gives hope, so it deserved a bit of colour.

Turquoise

ATCs for a Turquoise themed swap.

Us

This chipboard house is a wedding card that I´ve made for one of my oldest friends, and it´s my entry for Helga´s blog challenge: She wants us to use her masterboard for our own pieces of art. I have glued pieces of her masterboard to my chipboard house, added the circle U piece, covered a chipboard heart and letter S with her paper and added them together with an ARTchix men´s image and the phrase "you belong to me" which is also from an ARTchix sheet. A bit of distress ink and crayons, and this 3,5 x 6,7 " piece was finished.

City Heat

Last week I received one of the latest Tim Holtz sets that I´ve won at the Stampers Anonymous Yahoo group. When I noticed that this week´s Gothic Arches challenge is themed "Cities", I thought it would be perfect for trying my new stamps.

I´ve always lived in big cities and love that because I need museums, cinemas, concerts, and all that stuff around me, and because I don´t have a car ;-) I even like to spend my holidays in big cities like Berlin or Munich. So my arch is not about any specific city but big cities in general.

Women

Here´s my entry in Samatti´s altered book themed "Women". The quote is by Timothy Leary.

Zetti Blog Swap - Update No. 11

All Zetti swap return envelopes are closed now and will go postal tomorrow. Hope you´ll like your returns! It hasn´t been easy to swap them, and I hope I didn´t make any mistakes - and that none of them will be lost in the mail!
Please let me know when your returns arrive, and please leave a comment here or on the other artists´ blogs (or via private e-mails if you have the addresses) if you like what you get!
Thanks for another wonderful swap, I´ve had much fun with it! Hope to see you again in my next annual blog swap !

... still swapping ...

... and enjoying all those colourful ATCs!

Zetti Blog Swap - Update No. 10

Here they are: 35 swap entries in a box! Today the last envelope arrived, so I´ll start swapping tomorrow. It may just take a while because there have been so many participants this year.

Celebrate Poe

I couldn´t resist this Edgar Allan Poe swap hosted by Kris, and thinking of his 200th birthday my next thought is about ravens of course!

Ordinary Lives

This week´s TMTA theme is "Saurians", and as I´ve found this lovely girl with her lizard just today on Tammara´s blog , I decided to use it for my entry.

Zetti Blog Swap - Update No. 9

Here are the last two links to some fabulous Zetti ATCs by Ingeborg and Ilka - and both packages have arrived today, thanks, Ladies!

I´m still waiting for three international envelopes that may take a little longer due to the summer holidays or customs issues. I´ll let you know when your cards are here, don´t worry too much.

Hope I´ll be able to swap all those beauties soon, and I´ll use your comments on other people´s blogs as a help then - so if you fell in love with some cards especially, don´t miss to leave the artist a nice comment!

Medieval Times

Susan´s tip-in book is themed "Wizards, Dragons, Medieval Times" - well, I´m not a big fan of wizards and dragons and any fantasy stuff, but I love medieval themes, so I´ve only illustrated that part. I hope she won´t tell me I´m cheating - at least I´ve used castles and knights as she wants us to ... At first sight this spread could have been titled "Love and War", but in fact the knights are only training for times of war by fighting in a tournament. The four words I´ve stamped around them are medieval keywords that are hard to translate from the Middle High German language; "minne" is a special kind of platonic love, "êre" is what the knights are fighting for, "triuwe" is what they owe to their king, and "mâze" is how everyone should live, something like temperance - but all these definitions don´t really work because there´s been a whole system of virtues in the Middle Ages that doesn´t fit our modern times.

Exquisite Corpse Project Finally Published!

I´ve just read that our Exquisite Corpse Book will be published in the September/October issue of Somerset Studio - yeah! You can read more about it and have a look at all the other pages at Ingrid´s blog here. Ingrid has planned that project and did a wonderful job organizing the group and the publication. Thank you so much, Ingrid!

These are my own two pages, but you should really look at all the others because this book is the amazing result of the collaboration of several very diverse artists.

Acey Deucy

A set of ATCs all using stamps by Lynne Perrella (Acey Deucy).

More Birds

The rest of my ATCs for the bird themed swap.

Zetti Blog Swap - Update No. 8

All good things come to an end - so the ATCs for my Zetti swap are due next Saturday. I´m still waiting for five envelopes but I hope they´ll arrive soon.

In the meantime, you should have a look at the finished ATCs from Christa and Ulrike which are fabulous!

If you´re not sure that you´ve seen all the other cards, just use the "Zetti swap" label in the sidebar and follow all the links I´ve given so far.

And since my last update I have received cards from Sarah, Trudi, Kate, Christa, and Ulrike, thanks to all of you!

Hard to satisfy

This guy isn´t completely satisfied with his new wings. He´s my entry for the bi-weekly ARTchix lottery themed "winged".

Birds

Six ATCs for a bird themed swap - I think I´ll do some more ... can´t get enough of them.

Nevermore

Edgar Allan Poe is this week´s theme for the Gothic Arches challenge - of course I couldn´t resist! My arch measures 3,5 x 5 inches.

Counting Crows

My 4 x 6 card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Nursery Rhymes".

Fun with Maps

... is the title of this swap, and that´s exactly what I´ve had tonight! 5 ATCs are for the swap and the sixth is for our hostess Beckie.

Miracles Happen

This is my card for Helga´s blog challenge "Here Kitty Kitty" - the feathered lady and the bow are ARTchix images. The card is 4 x 6".

Zetti Blog Swap - Update No. 7

This swap will end next weekend, and I´m waiting for 10 more envelopes. But 24 are already here, and they´re all gorgeous!

Here are some more links for you - go and have a look at the fabulous submissions from Angela, Johanna, Barb, and Tamara!

And in the meantime I have received packages from Angela, Johanna, Elizabeth G., and Gaye - thanks, ladies!

If you haven´t already sent your ATCs for this swap, please do now, or if you can´t meet the deadline, please let me know.

Challenged

Barb has forwarded a challenge to me that wants me to upload the fourth picture from the fourth album of my own artwork on my computer - whatever it may be. Well, the album was "Altered Postcards", and this card is from May 2007. I remember that I´ve tried a gel medium transfer from a transparency for the first time here ... As I´ve just used the same picture last weekend, you can see that it´s one I really like.
It has been fun to go back to my old pictures again - I don´t forward challenges, taggings, or awards, but maybe you want to go to your own pics and show us the fourth piece in the fourth album? Then please do and let me know :-)

Letter T ATCs

Time for another German lesson!
You don´t need to see the girl´s second eye to recognize that she´s sad = traurig. Even when I put the word over both eyes, her mouth told about her sadness - but I like her eyes too much to hide them completely ... The words at the top say "for friends", but the arrow shows that this place is anywhere else.


For the ATC called Technik = technics or engineering I have used a part of a painting by George Grosz.

I don´t know what the lady in the upper right corner did and what the newspaper tells us about her story. But if you ever have to say that phrase in German just say "Diesmal sagen sie die Wahrheit"!

Friendship

... is this week´s theme for the TMTA challenge - I have used stamps from Hampton Art Stamps, Paperbag Studios, and Tin Can Mail here.

Book Wisdom

Heather´s tip-in book is themed "Book Wisdom". She wants us to use favourite passages from books, quotations about books, or our favourite books. The quote I´ve used is by Paul Sweeney.

The vintage photo in the background is from my personal collection, and don´t they look like a bit left alone now that they´ve finished reading the book lying in front of them?

These pages measure 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 " each.

A Bookmark

just a little gift to send with a swap

Toys

My 3,5 x 5 " arch for this week´s Gothic Arches challenge.

Ageing

My entry for Ute´s altered book themed "Poetry".

I´ve chosen Ulla Hahn´s poem "Ageing". I couldn´t find an English translation, so here´s what it says in my own words:

Hesitating in the middle of a sentence

Asking when you believe

you´ve understood

Not being in a hurry

wanting to know

Holding a stone a glass a hand

longer than necessary

Touching your vis-à-vis´ sleeve while talking

to feel you´re still there

Losing a book a view a skin

and not wishing to find it again

Remembering instead of longing

Training the idea: all this will still be there when I´m gone

like a muscle

Feeling like someone were in the room

The Farmer´s Wife

This is my Bingo card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge.

Zetti Blog Swap - Update No. 6

The due date for this swap is approaching, and more and more envelopes fill my swap box.
I have received submissions from Mandy, Fatma, Marsha, Jennifer, Charlotte, Deirde, and Glenda since my last update.
And here are some more links for you to see: Have a look at the fabulous cards from Katrin, Gaye, Trudi, and here´s a new link to Fatma´s cards.
Now 20 envelopes are here, and I know that six more are on their way to me, but I still haven´t heard from 9 participants. Just keep in mind that your cards have to be in my hands on August 15, that´s in two weeks exactly. Have fun with your Zetti cards!