Empty - Gone

A Scary Place

This week´s Wednesday Stampers challenge theme is Nest, so I thought that one of my ATCs made for my own Mona & Friends swap would qualify here.

(If you´d like to play in my swap, please let me know, there´s plenty of time left.)

The original painting is by Piero del Pollaiuolo.

Stamps used are from Cherry Pie, Scrollswork, Invoke Art, and Artful Illusions.

At Home

When I saw the new SPA challenge theme Storks, I didn´t like it at first - but then I remembered a photo I had taken last month, and I decided to alter it a bit.

Grungy Monday No. 8

This week´s Grungy Monday technique is one of my favourite ones that I´ve learned from Tim Holtz, and it gives this stamped bird collage a dreamy springy feeling.

Update No. 1: Mona & Friends

Hey, it´s already time for the first update on my Mona & Friends swap! On the left, you can see my first ATC for that swap using a woman drawn by Andrea Mantegna - you can see that woman (known as Barbara Gonzaga) in the middle of the painting below.

Let me tell you that I´ve already had 17 sign-ups from six different countries!

And some of you are unbelievably fast - here are the links to the first finished sets from Bine and Peggy; go check them out!

There´s plenty of time to join this swap, so come on and play with us!

5th Annual Blog Swap Announcement: Mona & Friends

I know that many of you have been waiting for my annual blog swap impatiently, so I´m happy to be able to announce it today!
You all know Leonardo´s Mona Lisa, and most of you probably have used that image in your art like I did in the sample on the right. Well - I must confess that Mona is not one of my favourite Renaissance paintings ... I prefer portraits of women painted by Botticelli, Bronzino, Ghirlandaio, Holbein, Rogier van der Weyden, Pollaiuolo and others. This is the reason why I haven´t chosen "Altered Mona" as my theme but want to include any Renaissance women to alter (you can see a variety of them on the left).
Let´s face the word "Re-naissance" and give these ladies a new birth by altering them and their surroundings!

And here are the rules:

Please sign up via personal e-mail (just click on the E-mail me link in the sidebar) and let me know your snail mail address. There´s no sign up date.

Then send 3 ATCs to my address (that I´ll send you when I answer your e-mail) before July 15.

As always, you´ll find updates on my blog with links to all participants´ ATCs. So when you´ve finished your ATCs, please send me an e-mail with the link to the place where you´ve posted them online, and I´ll add that link to the next update so that everyone can go to your blog or other website to have a look at your artwork.

I´ll send out invitations to all previous blog swap participants, but this swap is open to all my visitors. Have fun!

Make Room for DADA

This week I´m a guest host for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge, and I´ve chosen one of my favourite art styles, DADA, as this week´s theme.

Artists like Kurt Schwitters and Max Ernst have not only been among the first collage artists, but have also introduced mail art to the scene, and they even made some collages we´d call Steampunk today. And don´t forget the female DADA artists - Hannah Höch made some of my favourite DADA pieces!

DADA could be just anything, pure fun and nonsense as well as political statements as in John Heartfield´s artwork. So: Make Room for DADA this week and just play!

A Dog´s Life

At the stamping convention in Zeist I´ve found this lovely dog stamp in the bargain bin for one Euro - how could I resist?

My Garden Journal

I´m not a scrapbooker, so working with templates is not my cup of tea at all. Nevertheless I wanted to try the Creavil challenge template - and finished my card today which is one day late ... But look, there´s a butterfly on the left, and the new challenge theme is Butterflies, so here´s my card for it :-)

Pretty Queenie

No, I did NOT watch the Royal Wedding on TV today ... but I thought this might be a good day to make my ATC for the ARTchix lottery themed "Queen for the Day"!
In the background you can see some of the papers I´ve made during the last days: a book page dyed with egg dyes at the bottom, embossed and sanded glassine paper in the middle, another paper dyed with egg dyes on top, and on the left I´ve stamped on the hand made paper I´ve told you about in my previous blog post.

Hand papermaking

These are two papers I´ve made from old newspapers.
First you have to tear the newspapers, then soak them overnight with water, stirring and chopping it up until you get this sort of pulp.
Put a plastic net in a frame and dip your frame in the pulp, then disperse the pulp and take it out with your frame.
Put a second plastic net on it and press out as much water as you can.

Turn your frame over on a handkerchief, remove the frame, then cover with a second handkerchief and press again.

Remove the first net, then turn over and remove the second one.

Let your paper dry. That´s it!

A Busy Weekend

I´ve had a busy Easter weekend with my sisters here in Bremen. Yes, we´ve been searching eggs in the garden, sitting in the sun, and we took a walk in the lovely Rhododendron park. But moreover, we´ve tried some new techniques ...
First we´ve made our own stamps using a kit my sister had found on Ebay. Here´s my finished stamp with the foil covered photocopy that I´ve made as a first step in the process before the photosensitive material was exposed to light.

And the next photo shows the papers we´ve dyed, painted and stenciled with the remains of our Easter egg dyes. If you want to see more of the process, have a look at the video my BIL made.

Next, we made our own paper from old newspaper. Look at my next blog post to see the necessary steps.

Altered Eco Embellishments

These are thin Chipboard shapes that I´ve altered for the latest ARTchix swap themed "Altered Eco Embellishments". Once you´ve started, you´ll have a lot of ideas for decorating these blank shapes.

Grungy Monday: A New Dimension

Here´s my Foamboard ATC with a niche for this week´s Grungy Monday challenge themed "New Dimensions" - have a look at Linda´s blog to find all the other entries using this interesting Tim Holtz technique.

Hoppy Easter!

The theme for our monthly Zetti 4 x 6 page is Easter this time, so my Zetti page makes a lovely SPA Easter card, too. Wishing you all a hoppy Easter!

Video about ArtSpecially Event in Zeist

Have you seen my photos taken at the ArtSpecially Event in Zeist/NL last week? I wouldn´t have been able to get there without my BIL who drove me and my sister. And of course he made a film there for all of you who couldn´t attend that great stamping convention. -You can go to my Youtube page and have a look at the new video here to get some impressions.

Finished Seaside Swap

Here´s the complete batch of ATCs for the By the Seaside swap.

London Calling: Big Time Box

"London Calling" is this week´s theme for the Wednesday Stamper´s challenge - love that song!
And here´s a little box illustrating the theme; I´ve called it "Big Time".

Grungy Monday #4: Texture Fades and Distress

What an interesting technique Linda has chosen for this week´s Grungy Monday challenge: using Distress inks directly on your embossing plates is something I hadn´t tried before - especially as I don´t own a Cuttlebug yet. But as I´m with my sister right now, I could use hers and liked the results though I found it difficult to use them in a card. If you go to Linda´s blog you´ll find the link to Tim Holtz´ video demonstrating this fun technique.

By the Seaside

With the bright spring sun shining here in Germany, I just couldn´t resist joining a swap themed "By the Seaside" - here are my first three ATCs made for it. Looks like this will be a cheery, colourful batch of cards ...