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It´s quiet here, isn´t it? My computer is down since last Thursday, and I don´t know when I´ll be able to scan and post again. Hope you´re patient and I´ll see you here soon!

Home is the Sailor

Sea Voyages is this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge.

Water Stamping

Have you noticed the new Compendium of Curiosities challenge? If you´ve bought that book by Tim Holtz you´ll know what this is all about - every Monday there will be another challenge from this great book of stamping techniques. Have a look at Linda´s blog here.

This week´s challenge is water stamping. I like to combine water stamped images with regular stamping to get more contrast.

Beatles Swap finished - finally!

Maybe you didn´t notice, but this year my annual blog swap didn´t go as smoothe as in the past years. Four (!) envelopes to the U. S. got lost in the mail - so if you didn´t receive three thank you mails for your cards it may be possible that your ATC has been among the lost ones.

Those wonderful participants who sent an extra ATC for me made it possible for me to send all four patient U. S. players a second bunch of ATCs so that everyone has received three return ATCs now.

So let me say thank you to all those who sent an extra ATC - I wouldn´t have been able to send out 12 extras without your help!

Hope to see you all again in next year´s swap.

Sanding - two new videos

I´ve just uploaded two new videos on Youtube - both about sanding as a mixed media technique.
On the left you can see a postage person whose body was made by sanding a magazine image.


On the right is a 4 x 6 card which is completely sanded. The first video shows how it was made. Have a look here to see the whole process.

And this spread in my altered book themed "Untold Stories" also has sanded elements; the second video shows how the altered photo on the left and the postage person on the right were made using sand paper. Have a look here to see the process.

Steampunk

I´m going to attend a stamping convention in Hamburg tomorrow - it can´t be wrong to take a few more ATCs for personal trades with me ...

No. 39

Here´s another one of those lovely 5 x 7 chipboard houses - this time it´s not for the Red Lead Altered Houses swap but will be used as a gift I think.

Questions (no answers)

You may have wondered what happened to my Alphabet Discovery Book. I just haven´t had the time to work in it for a while, but today I finally got back to it and made my letter Q spread. It´s not my best work, but as this book is my personal journal, it´s the journey that matters in the end - and to finish a project that´s big fun.

Hurt

Song lyrics are one of the greatest inspirations for my collages. Sometimes I just can´t get some verses out of my head until I´ve "illustrated" them - which can be very loosely and intuitive like I did here. This skinny quotes the song "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, wonderfully covered by Johnny Cash.
"I hurt myself today / to see if I still feel. / I focus on the pain, / the only thing that´s real."
If you want to see more songs used in art pieces have a look at this week´s Three Muses challenge.

Insects

What do you think when you think of insects? Don´t bug me? Carpet Crawlers? Well, I´m not a big fan of insects in real life (I´ve been bitten too often - ouch!) but like to be reminded of another small world completely different from ours - so George Eliot´s words quoted here gather up my amazement when it comes to our small coinhabitants. This 4 x 6 card is my entry for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge.

To-Do List

Here´s my monthly skinny page, this time for Lorraine. I´ve tried hard to do something less negative but failed ...

So here you can find some favourite verses of Russian poet Anna Achmatova (1889-1966). I thought that the mysterious look of Botticelli´s Simonetta Vespucci fits perfectly with these words.

Home Sweet Home

... is this week´s Gothic Arches challenge theme.

Orange

Seems to be a week of special challenges for me - after having to do a yellow piece, now orange is this week´s Wednesday Stamper´s theme. I don´t like orange very much but like to use it for some special occasions and themes and mostly in combination with black and a little bit of pink. So here´s my orange 4 x 6 card for this challenge. The stamps I´ve used are by Cherry Pie, The Artistic Stamper, Beeswax, Stamp Francisco, and Flamingo.

Ships

My ATCs for a Ship themed swap.

Yellow

... is probably my least favourite colour, but as I love a challenge I´ve had fun making a yellow ATC for the bi-weekly ARTchix lottery. Looks like we´ll have some sunnier days from now on!

Swapped Out!

It´s over now - 21 envelopes are packed and waiting to be put in the mail tomorrow. Please let me know when you receive your return cards! Hope to see you again in next year´s blog swap!

Beatles Swap Update No. 8

Look at these great buttons that Tamara sent as an extra with her Beatles ATCs - aren´t they lovely?

Then have a look at the last two entries from Tamara and Ingeborg 1, 2, and 3.

Today is May 15, the due date for my swap, and I´ve just found the last two envelopes in my mailbox, so yes: this swap is complete and ready to be swapped out! I´ll do this over the weekend and put the returns in the mail on Monday.

We´ve been 22 participants this year, 8 from Germany, 8 from the United States, 2 from Australia, 2 from Canada, 1 from England, and 1 from Malaysia. Thanks to all of you, you´ve made the last weeks much more colourful for me!

ARTchix Tag Swap

For this swap we were wanted to use Helga´s most recent collage sheets on our 2 1/4 x 4 3/4 tags. I have used her lovely sheets about moons, tea, cats, and poppies here.

Beatles Swap Update No. 7

Time for another swap update, but as you can see I´m running out of ATCs for these updates, LOL! So here´s a 4 x 6 card just to illustrate the theme ...

Last week I´ve been watching a DVD with the musical "Across the Universe" - do you already know that movie? I like it a lot and sang and whistled half of the time because the soundtrack is a compilation of songs written by The Beatles, but sung and arranged quite different from the originals. The DVD extras show that the actors sang all the titles themselves, sometimes live, and that´s what makes this movie so lovely. I even recognized Bono as Dr. Roberts :-) If you still need some inspiration for your Beatles songs ATCs, just go and watch that movie! But hurry up, your ATCs should be in my mailbox before Saturday!

Since my last update, I received ATCs from Charlotte, Katrin, Debbie (sorry, I e-mailed you twice to say I got them, but my mails both came back to me!), Linda, Marnie, and Sabine D. So there are now 16 entries in my swap box, but I´m waiting for 5 more - hope théy´ll arrive this week!

And here are more links for you to finished ATCs from Fatma 1, 2, and 3, Charlotte, and Sabine D. - have fun looking at them!

Sunnier Days, Please!

It´s May now, but it´s still cold and rainy - can´t wait for sunnier days!

This week´s SPA challenge is Umbrellas, and this is just the right theme for the weather we have right now ...

My card goes to Barbara D. , my partner in the ARTchix sisters postcard swap. But though my naked Steampunk postcard made it to Illinois in two days (!!!) I don´t dare to send this one naked again - it´s just too wet outside!