19 Envelopes

... filled with beautiful Mona & Friends ATCs will go postal tomorrow - thanks to all players, and please don´t forget to let me know when your returns arrived.

See you next year for another annual blog swap!

Mona & Friends Blog Swap Update No. 6

Today´s the due date for my Mona & Friends blog swap. 18 of your 19 envelopes are already here, but I´m waiting for the last one that couldn´t have been sent earlier because of the Canadian postal strike - so please be patient, I´ll swap them out as soon as this last entry is here.
In the meantime, you should go and have a look at the last four entries for this swap and leave your comments; I´ve told you before that I´ll use your comments as hints when swapping ...
So don´t forget to visit the pages of Tamara, Ulrike, Fiona (you´ll find them on the left side), and Ingeborg to see what they´ve created.

Mona & Friends Blog Swap Update No. 5

This is an older Mona ATC of mine just to illustrate my latest swap update ...
Time is approaching, and there are only two weeks left before due date, so if you´re from outside Europe, your ATCs should be in the mail very soon, but if you´re anywhere from Europe, there´s still time to join my swap.
Here are three more links to the lovely entries for this swap made by Sabine, Trudi, and Ilka. Have a look at them and please leave a comment on their blogs if you like their cards - this swap is not only a swapping event but a nice opportunity to meet new online art friends!
Have fun creating, hope to see my mailbox filled with your ATCs soon.

Mona & Friends Blog Swap Update No. 4

Today it´s time for Mona herself to enter the stage of my blog, so here´s what she´s dreaming of when staring at the Louvre visitors gets too boring.As time is approaching, more and more of you participants get your cards finished and in the mail, and I hope the others will do that soon. Remember, the due date is July 15.
In the meantime you really should have a look at these fabulous entries by Xela, Barb, Ann, Janet, and Glenda. Hope you´ll get inspired by their fabulous ideas!

Mona & Friends Blog Swap Update No. 3

Here´s another of Mona´s sisters, Leonardo´s Lady with the Ermine, but she has found an ermine-sitter for one day as you see here to be able to follow her dreams.

You´ll find another version of this painting when you´re clicking through the entries of the other participants who have finished their entries - please go to the blogs of Marnie, Astrid, Wendy, and Abby to see their wonderful ideas.

One of you had to drop out of the swap, but eight of us already have their cards finished, and two sets are already lying on my desk. There´s exactly one month left before your cards have to be in my mailbox, so I´ll be sending an e-mail reminder to all participants today. Have fun creating, but do it soon!

Mona & Friends Blog Swap Update No. 2

It´s time for another swap update!

Botticelli´s Venus didn´t like standing around naked any more, so she decided to put on her garden clothes!

And what are your Renaissance ladies turning into? Can´t wait to see more of your samples!

Look at Martina´s Steampunk ladies here to get an impression of the possibilities.

I´ve had three more sign-ups since my last update, so now we´re 21 players - but there´s still plenty of time to sign up and make your three ATCs for this swap! Please don´t forget to send me the link to your ATCs when you´ve finished and posted them.

A Scary Place

This week´s Wednesday Stampers challenge theme is Nest, so I thought that one of my ATCs made for my own Mona & Friends swap would qualify here.

(If you´d like to play in my swap, please let me know, there´s plenty of time left.)

The original painting is by Piero del Pollaiuolo.

Stamps used are from Cherry Pie, Scrollswork, Invoke Art, and Artful Illusions.

Update No. 1: Mona & Friends

Hey, it´s already time for the first update on my Mona & Friends swap! On the left, you can see my first ATC for that swap using a woman drawn by Andrea Mantegna - you can see that woman (known as Barbara Gonzaga) in the middle of the painting below.

Let me tell you that I´ve already had 17 sign-ups from six different countries!

And some of you are unbelievably fast - here are the links to the first finished sets from Bine and Peggy; go check them out!

There´s plenty of time to join this swap, so come on and play with us!

5th Annual Blog Swap Announcement: Mona & Friends

I know that many of you have been waiting for my annual blog swap impatiently, so I´m happy to be able to announce it today!
You all know Leonardo´s Mona Lisa, and most of you probably have used that image in your art like I did in the sample on the right. Well - I must confess that Mona is not one of my favourite Renaissance paintings ... I prefer portraits of women painted by Botticelli, Bronzino, Ghirlandaio, Holbein, Rogier van der Weyden, Pollaiuolo and others. This is the reason why I haven´t chosen "Altered Mona" as my theme but want to include any Renaissance women to alter (you can see a variety of them on the left).
Let´s face the word "Re-naissance" and give these ladies a new birth by altering them and their surroundings!

And here are the rules:

Please sign up via personal e-mail (just click on the E-mail 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 e-mail) before July 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 e-mail with the link to the place where you´ve posted them online, and I´ll add that link to the 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!