Birds in my heart ...

I don´t have enough bird ATCs for the second swap yet, so here are the next two of them.

Fleur de Lis

... is this week´s Wednesday Stampers´ challenge.

I didn´t know how this would turn out when I pulled my Fleur de Lis stamps out of their drawers. It all began when I realized there was a small fleur de lis in the corner of the Mona postage stamp ...

Stamps by Cherrypie and Oxford Impressions.

Chipboard Letters

I´ve bought a package of chipboard letters two months ago - this is my first attempt to use them on an ATC.

Birds

Two more bird ATCs I´ve made last week.

The background of these had been on my desk after I had stamped and dyed the whole afternoon some time ago.

Even birds can be rusty ...

Again I´ve used a rusted acrylic background, combined with metallic copper ink and wax pastels and two lovely feathers Christiane has sent to me ... I´m glad that both bird swaps I´m in aren´t International, so I could use real feathers (which couldn´t been sent to Australia).

Cacophony Postcard

This altered postcard has been sent from Budapest to Offenbach in the beginning of the 20th century - now it´ll be sent on to Bavaria for a swap ...

Rust never sleeps

Two ATCs for a Rust swap, made with wallpaper, acrylics, rusting solution, wax pastels and rusted metal found in the streets.

Another bird

... for one of those Bird Swaps going on everywhere now - I can´t resist to join them all!

More turquoise

You´ve been warned that turquoise is one of my favourite colours, so here are two bird ATCs on a turquoise distressed background - perfect for this week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme ...

Turquoise - At the bottom of the sea

Turquoise is this week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme. This card is titled "At the bottom of the sea", using a lady from German painter and designer Heinrich Vogeler. The background is a collage made of tissue dyed with egg-dyes, scraps from old book pages, wax crayons, radiant pearls, pearlescent ink, and embossing powders - and various fish and swirl stamps of course.
Turquoise is one of my favourite colours, but I´ll have to go and wash my hands now before I go to work ...

Egypt

This week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme is Egypt, so here´s my entry - I love making reliefs by stamping in thick layers of golden embossing powders when it comes to Egypt themes ...

My first 4x4 page

This is the first 4x4 book page I´ve ever made, and it´s for a Paper Traders´ group project called "Counting Crows": One for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for a birth, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.
I´ve missed the chatter of the crows in my mailbox today after sending the Crows swap out, so this was sort of a substitute ... I have to make six copies of this page, so bye for now ;-)

Last Crows Swap Update

All entries for the Crows and Ravens swap are packed and ready to fly back to you tomorrow! Hope you´ll all be happy with your returns, please let me know.

Many thanks to all 13 participants for this successful swap - it´s been my first attempt on a blog swap and I think it won´t be the last.

This bird has flown

O. k., it IS another crackle card, LOL, but it´s for one of the bird swaps going on in several groups. The title of the ATC is the alternative title of the Beatles´ song `Norwegian Wood´.

The last of my Crackle ATCs

My German Crackle swap is due now, so here´s my last entry for it.

Stampbord

I´ve played with the new Stampbord, a surface you can stamp and scratch on. On the right you can see the scan of the finished ATC which shows the scratched Stampbord piece better and which has better colours. On the left is a photo of the ATC which gives a better image of the embedding of the piece in the background.

Blog Video

My brother-in-law has made a video from a bunch of pictures I gave him. You can see a lot of ATCs, some cards, journal entries and altered postcards if you want; you´ll find it here. Please let me know what you think about it.

More Crows and Ravens

In the meantime, I have the ATCs from Gisele, Tine, Mija, Barb, Ute, Sabine, and Doris. Audrey, Heather, Gaby, and Stefanie have theirs finished and on the way to me. Maybe some more will be sent within the deadline.
You can see Ute´s and Stefanie´s . Aren´t they lovely?

Crows Swap Update

Just a little reminder that there´s only a bit more than one week left to join the Crows and Ravens swap - just send three ATCs until May 1st and you´ll be part of the game ...

Puzzled again ...

I´ve had so much fun with the puzzle pieces ATCs lately that I made three more today. They are up for a trade if anyone is interested.

Soap-bubbles

So far I had only made ATC in the grungy style, but when I saw the image of a man blowing soap-bubbles (thanks to LuAnne for sending it!), I thought it might work for a card. So here´s my second entry for this week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme Grunge.

Grungy but bright

Grunge is this week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme. This ATC shows that this style does not necessarily have to be dark but can be colourful and bright.

I´ve made some other grungy ATCs lately which you can see here.

(Got the collage image from LuAnne yesterday, many thanks, LuAnne!)

Seeds

Some packages of seeds with a card made for a swap at Künstlerdecos - a little different from what I normally do ...

Zetti Monday

I never know which colours my Zettis will have when I´m starting some. These three for Sarah (if she´ll like them) maybe got their colours because of the summer-like weather we have in Germany today ...

My Secret Garden

My entry in Svenja´s journal "My Secret Garden".

Cars

This week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme "Cars/Autos" is a real challenge for a person without a driving licence. But a cautious stamper at least has a few rubber cars in store ...

More Zettis

Of course we´ve stamped some more Zetti ATCs - always addictive.

A little workshop

On Sunday, we´ve had a little sisters workshop trying grungy ATCs. Much fun, many cards.

Dying eggs and backgrounds

We´ve had green and blue eggs this year (as always, LOL), and there was so much colour left after dying the eggs that we used it to dye loads of backgrounds on all sorts of paper. Here are two examples.

Out of the trash

After a few hours of stamping sometimes the sheet of paper you´ve used to cover your table looks so beautiful that it makes a nice background itself. This is how mine came out.

Busy Easter Days

I´ve just returned from my short Easter vacation at my sister´s house. We´ve been busy stamping and making backgrounds, and I´ve finished cards for five swaps and many others you´ll find in my for trade album (see the link in the right sidebar). Just let me know if you like to trade.

I´ve made a series of cards with puzzle pieces on them for a swap, and these are two for my trading folder.

Crow Swap Update

This black friend wants to tell you that the due date for the Crows and Ravens swap is approaching - please have in mind that your ATCs should reach me within the next three weeks!
Time enough to make three ATCs and sign up for this swap of course ...

Envelopes

This week´s Wednesday Stampers´ theme is "Envelopes". Though I´m not someone who sends cards too late, I always want them to be in the mail as soon as possible - so I don´t embellish my envies very often. And some people told me that their embellished envies got lost in the mail more often than plain ones ... but I have received some very beautiful envelopes which I treasure in the same albums as the ATCs or cards sent to me.

Crackling again

Two more crackled ATCs - these are for a swap I host in a German ATC group.

The Letter T

I´ve made three ATCs for a "Letter T" swap today. The last one is my favourite - I love to use words found in newspapers and to put a story around them ...