Herr von Ribbeck

Probably most German pupils have to read and/or learn Theodor Fontane´s ballad "Herr von Ribbeck" by heart at school - I remember I did ... and while you usually don´t like what you have to do for school, this poem from 1889 is so lovely that you even like it and remember it if you didn´t choose it yourself. What´s not to love about a poem that´s about a man who likes to give the pears from his favourite tree to children, and when he dies, even cares for them by making sure that there´ll be another pear tree for them after his death? 

I´ve made this card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Fruit".

(For my interpretation I´ve used rubber stamps from AALL & Create, Paper Artsy, Oxford Impressions, LaBlanche, Red Lead, Hero Arts and Stempelmine.)

Domestic Goddesses

I hate housework. Period. But I love the new Songbirdy kit "Domesticity" and made two digital collages with it, the one above with a quote from Maya Angelou, the one below with words from Virginia Woolf.

But the best thing about this kit is that it makes a perfect couple with Holliewood Studios´ kit Collage Capers v. 3 Domestic Goddess that comes with printable collage sheets. For my two moleskine journal pages I´ve transferred a background from Songbirdy with Transfer Ink, then collaged with
Hollie´s images and finished with a bit of watercolour -
much more fun than housework!

Frida Art

As this week´s Sunday Postcard Art theme is "Art", this was a good opportunity to use my new Dina Wakley Frida stamp set on a background that´s all about making your marks.

Brecht - Der Liebende nicht geladen

For a typewriter themed postcard challenge, I´ve been waiting for this new typewriter stamp, and it came together with a custom made Bertolt Brecht stamp and several postal stamps. The poem was typed directly on the card with my old typewriter. It has always been one of my favourite poems, and I´ve had it on my wall when I was a teenager. Please click on the image to enlarge it, and you´ll be able to read these timeless words written in the late 1930s.

Lynne Perrella Inspired ATCs

It seems that many people have more time for their hobbies right now, but I haven´t. I´m still working 40 hours a week and more outside my home, and as canteens are closed and there are waiting lines at the supermarket, I don´t have much time left for myself. So I´m really happy when I´m able to make something in my studio aka my kitchen table that is worth to be sent to a swap host or to be posted here on my blog.
I´ve had the lower row of Lynne Perrella themed ATCs shown here finished on my desk for weeks, and I´ve had two of them from the row above almost finished, but I just haven´t had any time left to finish my project that was on short-term for the end of May.
Yesterday I´ve had an extremely busy day at the office and even had to stay there longer, but in the evening I snatched two CDs with new music from my library and sat down at my kitchen table with a glass of wine, and I´ve had a great evening - and in the end, I had this batch of ATCs that I´m quite satisfied with and that goes in the mail tomorrow.
Sometimes it just takes a plan, one spare evening, and some music and wine to make you happy, and "art" always does ...

Distance

All we can do during these unhappy times is try to find something funny in all this and don´t lose our humour. While I´m trying hard doing this in my everyday life and mostly fail, I´m happy to have art and social media to find things that make me smile and maybe put a smile on other people´s faces ...
These digi collages have been made with a new Songbirdy kit from my friend Beth Todd that´s called "Candy Floss".

Talking about Challenges

If you know me just a little bit, you know that I´m not into pastels at all! So when I read this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge, my first thought was "Oh no - see you next week!"
Then I decided to play and learned once more that I can´t make anything that I like when I don´t like the theme ... So last night I decided to put this card away and don´t post it, but this morning I thought that this could be an interesting point to discuss on a blog - and SPA is really about blogging, I think.

So here´s my question for all you challenge bloggers: What do you do when you´ve made a piece you don´t like - do you show it nevertheless and discuss your problems, or do you hide it and only show your successes?

Faux Postage - Under the Sea

Faux Postage is this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge. I´ve stamped my card with rubber from ArtSpecially, Makistamps, Mirkwood, and Darkroom Door.

Castles

This week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge is "buildings", and as I always have songs going on in my mind, these words from Freya Ridings´ song inspired me to make this card using rubber stamps from Stampers Anonymous, Visible Image, Paper Artsy, Carabelle and Craft Emotions.

Egyptian

I haven´t used my Egypt themed rubber stamps for a loooong time, but as this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge theme is "Egyptian", I´ve pulled them out again. I didn´t want to make the usual brown and gold stuff but decided to let the colours pop, and I tried to combine the stamps in an unusual way.
Part of this concept was to use words that aren´t usually used with this theme but go with it nevertheless.
When we think of ancient Egypt, we think of mummies, and I´ve used some stylized ones as my focal point here - but think one step further, and they illustrate the human wish to be immortal. This is where the quote stamp came to my mind (that also seemed quite up-to-date to me in days of Corona ... even if there are many, many rainy afternoons, a stamper and reader won´t have to fear boredom).
I have uploaded a big version, so please click on the image to see all the details.

(stamps used here are from Zettiology, Nick Bantock, Carabelle, Hero Arts, A Capella, and Darkroom Door)

Hope

There isn´t much good news nowadays, but Mischief Circus' new collab "Enchanted Forest" was a little ray of light this week. This digital collage was made with Songbirdy´s part.

The Raven

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, my sister Sabine has picked the theme "Typewriter", and though I don´t know if Edgar Allan Poe has written his famous poem "The Raven" by hand or with the help of a typewriter, this is what came to my mind tonight. If you know my usual kind of artwork, you might be surprised by the lack of colour, but maybe that´s not only what a typewriter is able to produce but also my current mood ...
(I´ve used rubber stamps from Red Lead, Visible Image, Hero Arts and My Favourite Things for my card.)

Lightbulbs

Sometimes it just takes an interesting theme to let your mind explode with ideas - and that happened when I´ve read "lightbulbs" as the theme for an ATC swap. I knew that I have several bulb stamps in my stash as well as bulb shaped brads, and so these four ATCs came together quickly.
(For those of you who don´t speak German, here´s what the German words mean:
"Everything is Illuminated", the title of a book from Jonathan Safran Foer, "It dawns on me!", "Lights out, spot on!", a phrase that a German music show moderator always used back in the 70s)

Theatre - what´s on your stage?

Right now, we can´t go to the theatre because of that Corona, but that our imagination is able to put on stage whatever we want ... "An honest tale speeds best being plainly told" says Shakespeare´s Richard III., and for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge, I want to see what´s on YOUR stage.
(For my card, I´ve used rubber stamps from Character Constructions, Zettiology, and 100 Proof Press.)

Mother

What is good poetry? Why do you love a poem and don´t feel anything when you read another one? That´s a personal question, and this is a personal post.
Sunday Postcard Art asks for our favourite poem this week, and as I studied German literature and wrote down my favourite poems and quotes for more than 40 years now, I don´t have just ONE favourite poem. But in every moment of life, there´s one poem that speaks to you, and there are always words that make you think and maybe cry.
One thing that makes a poem a great poem is that it´s "ambiguous", which means that you can read and understand it from more than just one perspective. That´s one of the reasons why I picked Gottfried Benn´s poem today - if you carry thoughts about a lover you´ve lost, it speaks to you, but if you know that this poem´s title is "Mother", your thoughts will take another direction - and that´s what makes it perfect for this challenge.
Benn was a German poet and physician, and many of his poems are disturbing, but this one goes right to my heart. It´s not easy to translate because a lot of it gets lost, but here´s a simple translation: I carry you like a wound that doesn´t heal. It does not always hurt. And the heart does not die for this reason. Only sometimes I´m blind and feel blood in my mouth.

What I love about rubber stamping is that there are always some suitable stamps even for the hardest challenges - in this case I´ve used stamps from PaperArty, Visible Images, and AALL&Create.

In loving memory.

Snarky Cats

On this special weekend I´ve been in need of a little fun, so I´ve picked my new Snarky Cats stamps and made a few ATCs with them.

It´s Wine o´Clock!

It´s been a while since I´ve made a page in my Moleskine journal, but Hollie Haradon´s latest collage sheets inspired me to do some cut and paste again and combine the images with some rubber stamps from Tim Holtz, VivaLasVegaStamps and Makistamps. Cheers!

Dancing in the Moonlight

My friend Beth Todd came out with two lovely new Songbirdy image kits today consisting of men and women, also available as a combo at MischiefCircus.com.
I couldn´t resist to let those two have a little dance on the moonlit street (hope they don´t forget their pram when they´re finished!).
And the somehow "holy" look of the lady below led me to my collage "Aunt Mary", a strange raven lady.

The World is my Oyster

I love to follow a given theme and let my intuition do the rest ... this is how this card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed "Vintage Cars" came together. I knew that I wanted to use the lovely car stamp from Red Lead, then I put together a background from two papers and a map strip. Next I added a lady made from junk mail combined with legs from Holliewood Studios. I decided to use the English quote and the house from Red Lead and added their pencils on the right, then the German quote and the postal stamps. Do you remember that song from Frankie Goes To Hollywood that started with "The World is my Oyster"? My mind really meandered tonight ...
This card is dedicated for my long-time friends at Red Lead - many thanks for years of friendship, ladies!

See the World

This week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge asks us to use maps for our 4 x 6 postcard - that´s what I´m doing all the time! So here´s another card using a strip of a map that I´ve found on my desk and collaged with trees from junk mail and a self-dyed background. I´ve added a car brad as well as some rubber stamps from Tim Holtz and Klartext, and now I call my card finished.