By the Seaside

For May, I hosted an ATC swap on our Paper Traders group with a "By the Seaside" theme.  I left it pretty open and there was a wide variety of creative art from our participants.

For my card, I used a version of Tim Holtz' "rusted enamel" background technique, as described in his book A Compendium of Curiosities.  It's hard to tell from the photo but the entire background is heat embossed.

My Stuff, Your Stuff

 We held a really fun swap on Paper Traders this month.  It was a "stuff" swap and we sent our swapping partner an envelope full of random ephemera; then their challenge was to make one ATC using some of the items, sending the finished card back to the person who's stuff they used and keeping the extra ephemera for themselves.

Well, I was having so much fun, I couldn't stop... and I ended up making THREE ATCs from the stuff I received.  I forwarded the top two shown here back to my swap partner and am entering the card shown below in this month's winner-take-all ATC lottery.  (For this last card, I added the picture from my own stash.)

Not Quite Summer

Another fun banner for a swap on Paper Traders.  This one is for Summer using half circles which were the perfect shape for some fresh watermelon slices!  It's difficult to tell from the photo but these are very sparkly - with glitter accents and generously spritzed with glimmer mist  =)

Live in the Sunshine

My friends and family are having a chilly Spring but here in San Diego it's mostly sunshiney and getting warmer all the time.  Soon the heat of summer will be here (ugh!) but until then, I am enjoying the pretty blooms all around me and the mild weather of the season in Southern California.  Happy Spring, everyone!

Surfer at Sunset

I am really loving being back in San Diego again and am enjoying the beautiful Spring we've been having.  I know that Summer is just around the corner and then I will be complaining about the heat (ugh!) but I will enjoy this cooler season while I can.

Next month, I am hosting an ATC swap on our Paper Traders group.  The theme is "By the Seaside" since I am really feeling the love of living in an ocean-side community.  I made this ATC as an inspiration for the participating artists.  I used my watercolor pencils to paint the background and added some sandy texture at the bottom by combining acrylic paint with some resin sand texture gel.

Spring is here

Baseball is starting, the weather is warming up, the ice plant is blooming, the rain is tapering off, everything is green everywhere you look... Spring is here!

To get into the spirit of the season, we had a pennant banner swap on Paper Traders.  Here is a picture of the one I made (which is now winging it's way to Linda)...

... and I was the lucky recipient of Darlene's beautiful creation which I will be hanging up in my studio to get my creativity blossoming  =)

Beeswax & Butterflies

So, these are boring.  I was having trouble regulating the temperature of my beeswax and the layers not building and I'm not thrilled with the results.  BUT, I am hoping to learn how to do this technique properly and then maybe I can stop fighting with the medium long enough to let my creative muse out to play... next time.  Moving on...