Dystopia

Do you know what a dystopia is? It´s the opposite of the term utopia (first used by Thomas More in the 16th century) and means an undesirable society - think of 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and so on, there are so many great examples in literature.
For me as someone who loves literature and meaningful art, the new "Dystopia" kits from Songbirdy and Holliewood Studios at MischiefCircus.com came in like a bomb that made ideas explode in my head, and I just couldn´t stop creating.
Usually there aren´t many political artworks in the digital art community, and most sites and groups avoid political or religious themes. I´ve often missed that kind of art in the midst of all these pieces of beauty and affirmation because I´m someone who likes to discuss things rather than brushing them under the carpet ... so these Dystopia kits came in handy for me and are my new favourites!
If these collages aren´t your cup of tea, just wait a bit and there´ll be some colourful beauties soon, but for now I´m happy to show some darker pieces here.

Self Care

My friend Nancy from Crowabout StudioB at MischiefCircus came out with some beautiful new backgrounds today called "Blissful Play Paper Pack". I´ve used one of it for this collage and added elements from other kits of Nancy (New Day, Funky Couture, Being & Becoming and Where the Light is).

It´s been a while ...

I haven´t made a lot of ATCs lately, but when I saw the theme "Postage People" in one of my groups, how could I resist? So I sat down for an afternoon of playing with my postage as well as rubber stamps, some gelli plate backgrounds, washi tapes and quote stickers, and here´s my result.

This´n´That

It´s time for a new collection of coordinated kits called Monthly Mischief over at MischiefCircus.com. I´ve been playing with Songbirdy´s two kits This´n´That Papers and Elements only for these two collages, and I think you can see how much fun I´ve had making them ...

No Games

My favourite childhood memories are those of Sunday afternoons spent with my parents and siblings, playing all sorts of games. Even nowadays, I love playing cards and many other games with my friends. Playing games can help to get focussed or just to relax, and I´m playing games almost daily.

But then there´s real life, and that´s quite another thing for me. Especially when it comes to love, I don´t play any games - what you see is what you get, and what I say is what I mean. I´ve learned the hard way that this is not normal, and it´s not what people expect. There have been men who expected that I´d play games with them only because other women had done that before, and I wasn´t able to make them believe that I don´t.

So here´s my very personal card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Games", using a gelli plate transfer, a scan from my own stuff and words from (sadly retired) Tumble Fish Studio.

Registered

Faces are among the most interesting items to view, study, and draw, and there have been published lots of good books as well as online courses dealing with the problems of drawing faces especially during the last years (thinking of Dina Wakley, Pam Carriker and Jane Davenport here, to name just a few). And there are little helpers out on the market such as rubber stamps or stencils that you can use to get the main features of a face before you make it your own creation using colourful shading, adding hair etc. My card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Faces" was made with the help of a stencil from Pam Carriker for Stencil Girls, the rubber stamps are from Tim Holtz.

Don´t wait for your muse to come ...

 ... start NOW! That´s what all artists tell you, and they´re so right - otherwise you´ll get stuck with your projects and have to make Halloween and Winter journal pages in May ;-)
I received two letter journals from my sister Sabine in November and January (?) to make entries in them, and she said that I could take my time, but then came the new job, new worries followed the old ones, I didn´t have any time to create at all for many weeks, and then I felt completely uninspired. Well, today I felt uninspired as always, but at least I´ve had TIME, and so I just started making these and yes, finished them. And in fact, I don´t believe that the results would have been better if I had waited for my muse - sometimes things just have to be done, and you just have to like what comes out. I hope my sister will like these entries, too.

The Sky is the Limit

I really like to play with what´s already on my desk, so for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Crowns and Wings", I´ve used one of my Postage People again - and who wouldn´t like to see Audrey crowned and winged? So here she is, trying her new wings ... I´ve used stamps from BLine, Stampotique and Red Lead for my card this week.

It´s Party Time Again!

Yes! It´s that time of the year again to celebrate Mischief Circus´ birthday, and it´s the 8th now. As someone who isn´t interested in traditional digital scrapbooking but loves to make digital art, this is really a reason to celebrate - where else could I get the basic images for my kind of digital art?
The theme for this year´s birthday collaboration is "Altered Reality", and I´ve already been shopping tonight ... I´ve made these two samples with Beth Todd´s Songbirdy kits Altered Elements and Papers.

There´s a wonderful sale at Mischief Circus right now, and of course Nancy Baumiller from Crowabout StudioB is having a sale, too!

Mail Art

My sister Sabine is hosting this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, an her theme is Mail Art. Well, tell me "Mail Art", and all I hear is Postage People - so here´s Martin Luther´s wife Katharina von Bora taking a trip to the early 20th century, and it seems like it´s your job to say if this is mail art or not ... all I can say is that I´ve had fun making this card.

Friends for Today

Thanks to my brother-in-law´s help, I´m finally able to print images again, and I couldn´t resist making my first cut and paste collage again immediately ... The background is from Nancy Baumiller´s new release Gratitude Artist Papers, and the other images from her older kits Dear One, Being & Becoming, and Free Spirit Alpha.

Sunday Evening Fun with my Gelli Plate

Yesterday I´ve had time to play with my gelli plate and try a few techniques I hadn´t tried before. I´ve always wanted to make a bird print inspired by Barbara Gray´s lovely video, and here´s my first attempt:

 As you can see, I didn´t follow the steps in the video exactly. Next I´ve tried a transfer technique from a Birgit Koopsen video:

I´ve also made a few backgrounds just to cut them into postcards and ATCs later, but I´ve also scanned them for using them in my digital projects:

These may not look spectacular and have no eye focus, but I´m pretty sure they´ll make great backgrounds - you´ll probably see them used here on my blog sooner or later ...

It´s Postage People Time Again!

Mandy from the Sunday Postcard Art challenge blog suggested that I could do a Postage People theme once again, and that was a great excuse to pull out my postage stamps album showing heads again (yes, I have a special album for those head stamps ...).

Usually I just try the postage stamps that I have in my collection on several stamped images, but of course you can also use collage images or just draw your own persons. I always end with a bunch of different characters like these ...

Some are too small for a 4 x 6 postcard, so I`ll use them for ATCs, and those that are too big will probably end on an art journal page later. In this case, I´ve picked two characters that seemed to correspond, and I´ve built a story around them, led by the theme of the left postage stamp, chess. As I own several chess stamps and had some appropriate papers and tapes in my stash, the design came together step by step. I really can´t wait to see your Postage People!

Tonight I´ve put together a quick digital Postage People card just to show you that you don´t have to use real stamps if you don´t have any - for my Lincoln and Eisenhower meeting (a historical sensation worth documenting!) I´ve used images from Angie Young, Vicky Robinson, Emily Abramson, Sissy Sparrows, Marcee Duggar, Paula Kesselring, and Little Butterfly Wings.

Mauveine

Lovely colour harmonies in pink, purple and green, beautiful backgrounds and a dreamy atmosphere characterize the new Mauveine Elements and Papers from Songbirdy that I´ve used for these two digital collages.

Sunday Fun

What is your favourite aspect about Sundays? Mine is that I usually have a bit time to create on Sundays. Today I just played with what I´ve found on my kitchen table instead of tidying up and putting all that stuff away ... I´ve had much more fun that way but need to clean up during the week now because I need more space next weekend for the annual Easter eggs painting event.
But as I need a few more ATCs in my trading album for the upcoming Art Specially Event in April, I´m happy to have had some playing time today.

Sisters

In celebration of the International Women´s Day, Sisters is the theme for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge. I´ve made my card using rubber stamps from Dina Wakley, Red Lead Paperworks and Klartext.

Springtime?

Last week, we´ve had the meteorological beginning of Spring, but also the coldest nights and days for this winter. Springtime seems to be far away, but as it´s the theme for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, I´ve had a hot cup of tea and pulled out my Springtime stuff early for this collage: the background is a hand-dyed book page with song lyrics and the title "Spring Greetings", and I´ve added elements from Marta van Eck and Holliewood Studios to express what Spring means to me: fresh colours, singing birds and new beginnings. I really cant wait to see and hear the birds again on my balcony!

Altered Mona

Did you ever think that Mona Lisa is beautiful? Well, her smile is a little mysterious, but since I was a kid I always missed her eyebrows ... maybe that´s why I gave her Marilyn´s eyes for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Alter Mona"? It seems that she wanted some more accessories from Paula Kesselring, Itkupilli, Beth Rimmer, Crowabout StudioB and Songbirdy - hope she´s feeling better now after all these years!

Bingo!

When I saw that Cindy is our host for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, I immediately knew the theme she has chosen, as she´s the queen of BINGO cards!
Here´s my own attempt on the theme, using an original bingo card as my background.

Love is Everything

I´m not a big fan of Valentines, so give me a kit called "Love is Everything" and I´ll make something not really uplifting and definitely no Valentine cards ;-) But in my opinion that´s what makes image kits so interesting: they´re always so versatile; you do NOT only put some images together and all artwork made with a kit looks the same in the end, but you can put your own character and feelings in the artwork and make it your own. These digital skinny pages have been made with Nancy Baumiller´s new Crowabout StudioB kits Love is Everything Elements and Dream in Color Papers.

Air Mail

Thanks for Air Mail! I remember well when I started sending letters, cards and mail art items overseas, I´ve been amazed by the short time it took most of them to arrive, and every attempt was an adventure ... After more than ten years of sending international mail, I´m still fond of finding envelopes in my mailbox that went such a long way.
This card was made for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Air Mail", and I´ve used rubber stamps from Zettiology, Crafty Individuals, Character Constructions, Catslife Press, LaBlanche, Artistic Stamper and Tim Holtz/ Stampers Anonymous here.

Hanky Panky

When days are that dark as they use to be right now, it´s so nice to have the opportunity to play with some bright colours. I really like the pink and teal tones in the new Songbirdy Hanky Panky kits. For both collages I have used all three sets of papers, elements and word art.

Eat your Vegetables!

My sister Sabine is hosting this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, and the theme she has chosen is "Fruit/ Vegetables". Here´s my card for this week, made with rubber stamps from Stampers Anonymous and See D´s.

Lots of Colours for Dark Days

There´s hardly a single day right now without rain, storm and darkness. That´s why I´ve been especially fond of the opportunity to play with some very colourful stuff from Nancy Baumiller last weekend. She came out with her "Transformation Papers" today that you can see used in these two collages - for the first one, I´ve added elements from her older kits "Genesis" and "I Believe In", and for the second one pieces from "Tree Lovers and Things", "The Bird Whisperer", "Soul Whispers", "Relax" and "House Blessings".

Travel

Do you like to travel? Most people would say "YES!", I think, and so would I ... but in fact I even prefer to come back home ... Nevertheless it´s true that you learn a lot while traveling and that it really helps to understand not only the world but also yourself.
This postcard was made for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Travel" using rubber stamps from Paper Artsy, Darkroom Door, Limited Edition, Lost Coas, Hampton Art and Art Impressions.

What is DADA?

I think it´s a great rule of thumb, that for Christmas, you should pick gifts that you´d like to receive yourself. I´ve found a lovely and rare Dada rubber stamp that I gave to my sister, but I´ve made a few prints on ATC backgrounds before I wrapped it ... and this month, I´ve been finally able to finish these ATCs, adding other rubber stamps (all from Heindesign), stencils, and images (some Tim Holtz people for the ATCs above and a tape transfer of an Yves Tanguy photo below.

If you want to know more about Dada, you can find info and more art on my blog here and here.

Finding my Way

New years often bring new challenges, and finding your way in a world that is different from the one you´ve known before is one of the biggest challenges life can give you. I´ve started a new job after 23 years in my old one, and so everything has changed for me. I don´t have much time left for my creative hobbies right now, but I hope that I´ll be able to post more often when things have settled a bit ...
So my card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Add a Tag" really tells you something about my everyday life - wish me luck!
(I´ve used rubber stamps from Hero Art, VLVS, Carabelle, Joggles, and Nick Bantock here.)