Alice in Wonderland

My sister Sabine is hosting this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, and she has picked the theme "Alice in Wonderland", so here´s my card for this week. If this theme inspires you to make your own 4 x 6 card, please don´t hesitate to join the challenge and share your art!

One rubber stamp, two ATCs

What I love about working with rubber stamps is the challenge to use a certain stamp in as many different ways as possible. I´ve found the stamp with the three guys during my vacation and fell in love with it because of its uniqueness, and I couldn´t wait to use it when I got home - here are my first two ATCs, and I´m sure you´ll see this stamp used on more projects soon ...

Venus

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Venus" I´ve made a rubber stamped postcard using an image of the Venus of Milo. (I´m a bit late this time because I´m on vacation right now and didn´t have internet access for the last few days.)

If this theme or my card inspires you to make your own 4 x 6 postcard in any medium, please don´t hesitate to join the challenge and show us your art - the more artists enter the challenge, the more fun we all have!

Art

I´m a bit late for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, but it´s still Sunday ... so here´s my card for this week´s theme "Art". I´ve bought that quote stamp just recently and still had it on my kitchen table, and I thought it was just perfect for this challenge. (And of course it´s the exact expression of what I think about art - it´s absolutely necessary in today´s life!)

The Best of Summer

How is your summer? Here it is still hot, too hot to work - I can´t wait to see a bit of rain and to feel the need to wear trousers again ... But usually I really like summer, the warm colours, the warmth (not heat!), the life outside ... With the beginning of the new month, Mischief Circus came out with a new Monthly Mischief collection, and I´ve used only Songbirdy´s part of it to make these two digital collages called "A Dream" and "Done". Have a look at Beth´s Monthly Mischief August papers, elements and beauties and get some inspiration for your summer themed artwork.

Some like it hot ...

This summer is hot hot hot, and most of us (at least those who have to go to work every day) can´t wait for a few colder days, some rain, and cool nights that allow us to sleep again.
But to make the best of these temperatures, you could have a look at the new Songbirdy kits called Summer and Summer Characters that I´ve used to make these two collages. They reminded me of the good things usually connoted to Summer: Bold colours, refreshing water, bathing beauties etc.

Stripey Legs

From time to time, I´m hosting the Sunday Postcard Art challenge, and for this week, I´ve picked "Stripey Legs" as my theme as I love a Zetti look. For my sample, I started with some Zetti legs and ended up with two close friends who like each other so much that they try to get as close as possible ... I can´t wait to see your version of stripey legs, so I hope you´ll join this challenge!

Do You Believe in Fairies?

"I believe in everything until it´s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it´s in your mind. Who´s to say that dreams and nightmares aren´t as real as the here and now?" - John Lennon

Though I´m a rational person, Lennon´s words resonate with me, and I like the idea that there´s just something in the air that we can´t explain completely ...

This postcard was made for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Fairies", using elements from Tumble Fish Studio (sadly retired), Crowabout StudioB and my own background scans.

Themed Postcards

Recently I´ve been on vacation for almost two weeks, and I´ve had some more time for my favourite pastime then of course ... so here are three postcards I´ve made for some special occasions.
The first two pics above show my retirement card for a dear friend in the U. S. - hope it has found its way to her in the meantime!

The second card above was made for a "Postal" themed challenge organized by a German rubber stamp company. And the last one below went to the same company for their challenge themed "Shopping". Of course I´ve also decorated the back (addressed) sides of these cards.

Cats (or Dogs?)

No, I don´t have a cat - the only pets I´ve ever had were canaries when I was a child. Nowadays I feel lucky when a couple accepts the bird house on my balcony ... But I also like dogs and cats (though I´m allergic). I´ve often thought about the way they see us humans and the world and what´s going on in their brains. Are you a cat person or do you prefer dogs, and why?
I´ve made this card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Cats" - maybe you´d like to join the challenge!?

New ATCs

As I´ve been on vacation for more than one week, I´ve had some time to play with some of my favourite rubber stamps, so I´ve made a few ATCs for my trading album.

Dolls

I never liked dolls, not even as a child, but I´ve always liked paper dolls. Here´s my card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Dolls".

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.