All Things Alice Blog Swap Update No. 5

What did YOU do last week? Did you use your free Easter days to finish your Alice ATCs?
Well, I did - I´ve made five more ATCs, and the one above is one of them. I´ve used rubber stamps from Carabelle Studio and VivaLasVegaStamps here together with a background paper from Crafty Button Designs and a mushroom from Hidden Vintage Studios.

(Of course I will not swap all 12 Alice ATCs I´ve made so far - I need them for illustrating my swap updates on my blog and for filling gaps while swapping all ATCs in the end, for sending extras etc.)

Last week, I received three more envelopes with ATCs from Liz Waring, Michele Storms, and Helene Huber. Thanks for sending your envelopes that early!

And Judith sent me a link to her finished ATCs posted here: ATCs 1, 2, 3.
Of course, all ATCs so far have been pinned to our swap board at Pinterest here.

Sooooo - 7 of you already sent me their ATCs, 3 more have sent me photos of their finished cards that are still on their way to me, and 9 of you haven´t contacted me yet. That´s no problem as you all have 4 1/2 weeks before your ATCs have to be in my hands; just keep in mind that they have to be in my mailbox before April 30.
Have fun creating!

Spring Awakening

Happy Easter to all of my blog readers! This week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge is "Springtime", and this time I´ve made a card with a lot of German text that needs a bit of explanation for most of you ... 

The card´s title "Frühlingserwachen" means Spring Awakening, one of those wonderful old-fashioned German words. The text in the background behind the nest is the beginning of Faust´s Easter promenade in Goethe´s famous play; the English translation is

Loosed from their fetters are streams and rills

Through the gracious spring-tide's all-quickening glow;
Hope's budding joy in the vale doth blow;
Old Winter back to the savage hills
Withdraweth his force, decrepid now.
Thence only impotent icy grains
Scatters he as he wings his flight,
Striping with sleet the verdant plains;
But the sun endureth no trace of white;
Everywhere growth and movement are rife,
All things investing with hues of life:
Though flowers are lacking, varied of dye,
Their colours the motly throng supply.
Turn thee around, and from this height,
Back to the town direct thy sight.

For my card, I´ve used Dylusions sprays and rubber stamps from Character Constructions, Red Lead and Karten-Kunst.

All Things Alice Blog Swap Update No. 4

It´s time for my next swap update, and there are some nice new ATCs for you to see:

Liz has finished her ATCs and posted them on her blog, as well as Helene and Sabine. 

(Sabine´s ATCs aren´t on the swap pinboard yet; I´ll pin them as soon as I´m back home.)

I´m glad to see that more an more ATCs are finished, and please remember that your ATCs have to be in my hands before April 30. But if you haven´t signed up, you should consider to do so because there are still several weeks to make and send your cards, and it´s not too late to join the swap - the fact that I ask you to send your ATCs in an unpadded business envelope means that they travel quite fast.

Have fun creating and please don´t forget to send me an email with a link to your finished ATCs once you´ve posted them.

Colourful Easter Eggs

Last weekend, I´ve been painting Easter eggs with a few friends; we´re doing this every year and always have much fun. This year, I´ve been a bit lazy and tried my Brusho and Bistre colours on white eggs instead of painting - I sprayed a little water on the eggs in order to make them wet enough to hold the colour powders, sprinkled on a few colours and spritzed on some more water, then let the colours flow and mix a bit. You can dry the egg with a paper towel or a heat gun once you´re satisfied.
On my photo, the egg on the left was made with Brushos, and the left one with Bistre colours. Obviously, the Brushos work much better; they really stain the egg and stay intense even if you use a paper towel to dry the egg.

All Things Alice Blog Swap Update No. 3

It´s time for our weekly swap update again. As Alice finds a hidden rabbit on my ATC this week, I find more and more Alice ATCs in my mailbox now: Last week, I received the very unusual ATCs made by Kim.
Rosie has also finished her ATCs. And Trudi sent me a link to her last ATC for the swap.
(Michele has hers finished and put in the mail, too, but they won´t be posted online before April.)
You can find all ATCs so far on our Pinterest swap pinboard.

I´ll be out of town for a few days next week, but I´ll have internet access, so I´ll be able to receive your emails with links and post them in my weekly update.

Delightful

Marsha´s name for her new Tumble Fish Studio image kit is "Delightful", and that´s what it really is! 

I´ve had much fun making these two digital collages with it, called "The Queen" (above) and "A Bird Whisperer" (below). Of course, you can also make cut and paste collages with this kit as it comes with printable collage sheets as always.

Ocean/Sunset ATCs

For another swap at Lenna Andrews´ Creative Swaps blog I´ve made these Ocean coloured and Sunset coloured ATCs - they´re already on their way to Florida!

All Things Alice Blog Swap Update No. 2

Since last week´s update, there has only been one more sign up, so we´re 19 artists playing right now.
But I´ve had the first ATCs in my mailbox already from Stephanie in Delaware, and they prove how fast your ATCs can travel if you use an unpadded business envelope - please remember that this is the only way to avoid weeks of waiting for envelopes that went to the customs.

I´ve pinned Stephanie´s ATC on our swap board where you´ll also find Jo´s ATCs now.

When you´ve finished your ATCs, please don´t forget to send me the link to your online album (blog, Flickr, etc.) where you´ve posted them so that I can share your ATCs in my next swap update.
Have fun creating!

Mad as a March Hare!

When you hear the saying "Mad as a March Hare", you probably think of Alice in Wonderland, and that´s why I´ve made an Alice themed card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge with that theme (credits for this one: Sherrie Drummond and Finecrafted Designs) - and I hope you´ve noticed that there´s an Alice themed ATC swap currently running on this blog (if you´re interested, just scroll down a bit ...).
But did you know that the saying appears in a book of proverbs in 1546 already? Originally, it recurred to the mad behaviour of hares in the springtime, and that´s the idea behind my second card for this week, using rubber stamps from Stempelmine, Red Lead, Catslife, and Stamping Fairies.

All Things Alice Blog Swap Update No. 1

It´s time for my first swap update, and I´m happy to say that this swap had a good start!
Right now, we´re 18 participants from 6 countries, and I´m sure there will be some more as there are loads of time left to join the fun ...

Use your imagination, says the Mad Hatter in my ATC above, and that´s the only thing you´ll have to do to make your 3 ATCs for this swap. Just keep in mind that your ATCs have to be in my hands before April 30.

You can see the first swap ATCs by Trudi on our swap board at Pinterest now, so go and have a look and maybe leave some comments if you like what you see.