Wild

Marsha from Tumble Fish Studio at Deviant Scrap has two fabulous new kits, Wild Things (with all sorts of wild animals) and Wild Birds (those hard to find not-songbirds). All these four collages have been made with Marsha´s images only.
Apropos Deviant Scrap: As they´re celebrating their second birthday, there´s a huge sale going on this week!

Turquoise Dream

Here´s my turquoise postcard for this week´s SPA challenge. I wanted the colour to stand out, so I didn´t use too many elements here. It´s a digital collage, but I´ve hand stenciled and sprayed the background. I´ve added elements from Nicole Young, Holliewood Studios, and Palvinka Designs.

The Key to my Heart

Here´s my digitally altered photo for Nancy´s texture challenge - look how the photo below changes if you use three of her cemetary textures! (The Word Art I´ve used  is by Pebbles Jones.

My Body is a Cage Blog Swap Update No. 1

Here´s one of my own ATCs I´ve made for this swap - you´ll see more with each of the updates for this swap.
(This one has images from Tumble Fish Studio combined with stamped wings, cages, and words.)
I´ve already had 14 sign-ups from six countries, and considering the names of the artists, I expect some lovely artwork! So if you want to join the fun, please have a look at the swap announcement here and just send me an email - you have plenty of time to make just three little ATCs.

May Flowers

Hidden Vintage Studios have uploaded a new kit named "May Flowers" and giving some lovely vintage images of girls with flowers. Here are two samples using that kit - for the first one I´ve added images by Tumble Fish Studio, for the second collage I added elements from Tumble Fish Studio, Holliewood Studio, Finecrafted Designs, and my own scans.

Acey Deucy Ladies

These are nine ATCs for a swap, using Acey Deucy / Lynne Perrella stamps. Once I had started with the set, I just couldn´t stop ...

Faces

This fortnight´s Creavil challenge is themed Faces, and here´s my 4 x 6 postcard for it.

6th Annual Blog Swap Announcement: My Body is a Cage

Yes, it´s that time of the year again - time to announce my annual blog swap, and it´s the 6th one already!

If you´re a visitor of my blog for a while, maybe you remember the skinny page titled "My Body is a Cage" that I´ve made for Marsha many months ago. It has been inspired by an Arcade Fire song that had just been covered by Peter Gabriel when I made the collage. I had been immediately drawn to the title, then found the inspiring lyrics online:

My body is a cage that keeps me
From dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

I'm standing on a stage
Of fear and self-doubt
It's a hollow play
But they'll clap anyway

I'm living in an age
That calls darkness light
Though my language is dead
Still the shapes fill my head

I'm living in an age
Whose name I don't know
Though the fear keeps me moving
Still my heart beats so slow

You can easily find the rest of the lyrics online if you need more inspiration. The ATCs below are some samples from the past that use cages as body parts. They´ve been stamped and collaged, but for this swap, as always, you can use every technique you want - you can stamp, collage, draw, stitch, or work digitally (if you use at least one tactile element).

You don´t have to illustrate the song lyrics, just use a cage as a body part as you like!

I hope this theme inspires you as it did for me!

Now here are the rules:

Please sign up via personal email (just click on the email me link in the sidebar) and let me know your snail mail address.

There´s no sign up date.

Then send 3 ATCs to my address (that I´ll send you when I answer your email) before June 15.

As always, you´ll find updates on my blog with links to all participants´ ATCs. So when you´ve finished your ATCs, please send me an email with the link to the place where you´ve posted them online, and I´ll add that link to my next update so that everyone can go to your blog or other website to have a look at your artwork.

I´ll send out invitations to all previous blog swap participants, but this swap is open to all my visitors. Have fun!

Vision

All images by Tumble Fish Studio at DeviantScrap.com, based on Marsha´s fabulous new kit "Lowbrow".

Wishing You a Zetti Easter!

"Zetti Easter" is this week´s SPA challenge theme and my wish for you - have a fun weekend and enjoy your time off work!

One Fish, Two Fish?

I´ve made a big bunch of Fish themed ATCs tonight, some of them a bit weird, but that´s the way my mind works. If English is your mother tongue, maybe you can help me with a question that came up for me: At school, I´ve learned that there´s no plural form of fish, so you say "one fish, two fish". Well, we´ve been taught British English of course, so when I got older surfing a lot of U. S. websites, I´ve been surprised to see "fishes" so many times. Can you tell me if that´s just American English or if British people also use that plural form nowadays? I know that there are other British specialties that will vanish soon, but I´m not sure about this one.

Spring Market

The weather is even worse today, so I´m not only longing for sunshine and higher temperatures, but also for light and colours ... it seems to be the right time to play with these colourful new images from Tumble Fish Studio at DeviantScrap that give a bit of a Spring feeling.

April Showers

"April Showers" is the name of the new kit from Hidden Vintage Studios - well, the weather we´ve had since my short vacation started looks more like Winter has returned ... I´ve seen much rain, a bit hail, and very few sunrays since, and the nights are even frosty. So my first collage fits the season perfectly, I think. (Credits: Hidden Vintage Studios, Finecrafted Designs, Magical Reality Designs, Tina Chambers)

The second one uses the same Hidden Vintage Studios kit but in a totally different, more whimsical way. (Papers by Tumble Fish Studio, clouds are a freebie on the Hidden Vintage Studios blog.)

Be Yourself

Here are two ATCs for a personal trade with someone I don´t know well - always a challenge for me.