La Vie Bohème

Take a Risk

using lady from HVS kit "La Vie Boheme"
additional elements from Eena´s Creations, Finecrafted Designs, Rucola Designs, Art by January, Marta van Eck, Downunder Studio 

Deviant Scrap have come out with another fabulous designer collab this week themed "La Vie Boheme". Here are my digital samples for Hidden Vintage Studio (above) and Tumble Fish Studio (below).

Boheman Life

all images from Tumble Fish Studio kit "La Vie Boheme"

My Home is my Castle Blog Swap Update No. 5

It´s time for my weekly swap update, and there´s a lot of news today for you!

After two new arrivals today from Ilka and Fiona I now have 7 artists´ entries in my hands already, thanks ladies!

And as you may have seen on the Pinterest board, several of you have finished their entries last week: please have a look at the lovely ATCs from Joy, Ilka, Bevlea, Connie, Valerie-Jael, and Trudi, and leave some kind words if you like what you see.

There won´t be an update next week as I´ll be on vacation then, but I´ll be back with more news after my return - hope my mailbox will be full with your artwork then!

We Find Our Way

This week´s SPA challenge theme is "masculine", so I started my card asking myself what that means ... Are men really more ambitious, goal-oriented and straight forward? Or blind for the things out of the way?
On the other hand, I don´t know many women who are able to just enjoy the journey and take it as the reward ... People are different, and I don´t think that there are feminine and masculine characteristics at all. But if you have a look at the most successful people, you´ll see a lot of men and very few women, so it seems that men always find their way (or are found by other successful men, but that´s another story ...). That´s what my card is about.
(I have used stamps from Stamp Camp, Creavil, Stampers Anonymous and Artful Illusions.)

My Home is my Castle Blog Swap Update No. 4

Exactly half the time you have in this swap is over now, so I´ll send out my first blog swap reminder to all participants today. So far I´ve only received four envelopes from you, so I hope there´ll be more soon. But there are four weeks left for your ATCs to arrive, so it´s not even too late to join the swap ...

I have two more links to finished ATCs for you today: Please have a look at the fabulous cards from Fiona and Marilyn and leave them a nice comment if you like them! (You should have seen them already because I hope you´ve had a look at the swap board on Pinterest here.)

Have fun with your ATCs!

Girls of Summer

Hidden Vintage Studios have come out with a new kit today that´s called "Girls of Summer". I´ve made two cut and paste samples this time: "Destination unknown" above is a 4 x 6 postcard, the tag below is a standard sized one. The clouds in the background of the tag are taken from the new Tumble Fish Studio kit "Send in the Clouds" - hope you´ll check out these lovely new kits at Deviant Scrap!

Art Journaling 4 x 6 sized

Today has been a wonderful sunny day. I´ve spent most of my day sitting on my balcony, reading a great book. In the afternoon, I´ve listened to a band playing great songs from the 70s just beneath my balcony, being part of a cultural event in my hometown. Then in the evening I´ve been watching "The other F word", a wonderful documentary about aging punkrockers, and I finished my Saturday with a documentary about Ozzy Osbourne ... What a happy day this was!
But be honest - when did you ever write a good poem on a happy day? I know I never did. I´m old enough to know that I need sadness and darkness to be creative. That´s why my postcard sized art journal page for this week´s SPA challenge celebrates the dark side of my life. Obviously I didn´t make it today ...
For this card I used a watercolour background on watercolour paper, then applied a magazine photo that I then altered in any possible way - I sanded it, scratched it with a knife, smeared gesso over it, painted and drew over it to make it my own and to intensify the broken look and make it all mine. Then I stenciled the theme, stamped the raven and wrote a few words in black at the bottom and in white around the face on the left ("Why do I feel that broken?"). Quick and easy, but very intense, this "page" will always remind me of the necessity of those days.
Maybe some of you prefer bright pages with uplifting messages, affirmations and such - but what´s an art journal for? It´s for YOU, and if you´re not feeling optimistic today, why should you hide that? Make art from the feelings life gives you every day, and it will be good art, and it doesn´t matter if anybody else will have a look at it and will be able to read your words or not. That´s art journaling, and I can´t wait to see what you all come up with for this week´s challenge. I´m planning to make more postcard sized pages and then bind them in the end - and you?

My Home is my Castle Blog Swap Update No. 3

It´s time for my weekly swap update, and as it´s the third one you can see that three weeks have gone and five weeks are left for you to join this swap and have fun with us!

I´ve already received cards from Martina, Birgit, Sabine, and Laura - thanks, ladies, for sending your entries so fast and for the wonderful extras each of you has sent!

I hope you´ve all read the previous updates and had a look at the swap board at Pinterest here.

Before I´ll give you the links to more finished ATCs, I´d like to remind you to follow the rules of this swap: Please make sure that your cards have buildings as body parts or headdresses! 

And here are this week´s new cards from Jo, Nancy, and Peggy. Please have a look at them and leave a nice comment if you like them.
Have a creative week!

Love on the Lam

Tumble Fish Studio and Holliewood Studios came out with a wonderful collab kit called "Love on the Lam" - think Bonnie and Clyde, Chicago gangster movies and so on!
The two samples above are cut and paste collages using Marsha´s kit only; "For You" is a Moleskine journal page, "Caught by Love" is a postcard.
The two digital samples below combine Marsha´s and Hollie´s kits; the first one ist called "A Short Rest" (additional elements from Cryztal Rain and Jessica Sprague), the second one is called "Fingerprints"
Hope you´ll have a look at Deviant Scrap´s gallery to see all those other fabulous samples made with these inspiring kits.

Where Summer Hides ...

Making these Beach themed ATCs for a swap that my sister hosts has been a surrogate for the real sun - seems like my cards get more colourful the more the sky gets grey ... I´m desperately waiting for summer!

No Place Like Home, ...

... said Dorothy, and it´s this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge. Houses, homes and nests are my favourite themes, so how could I resist to participate this week?
We have an art exhibition with this title just now in my hometown, so I took the words from a city magazine. The stamps I´ve used are from Paperbag Studio, Catslife, Ma Vinci´s and Darkroom Door, the lady is from Hidden Vintage Studios, eggs and nest from Elisha Barnett.