ATC Swaps

I hope everyone had a spooky Halloween...I did! I love vintage Halloween images so I really enjoyed seeing all the ATC's from my two swaps this month. The first set is from the SDA swap...this is such a great group of swappers. I'm always delighted with these cards.






Top: Kris, Julie, Lyneen
Middle: Alice, Kathleen, Sarah
Bottom: Pam, Louise, Mine


The second set is from the swappers at Red Lead Paperworks. This is another great group! I feel so lucky to be part of both of these groups!










Top: Jan, Sally, Kim
Middle: Linda S., Linda B., Nela
Bottom: Debbie, Denise, Becky

Vintage Veranda

The Vintage Veranda is a new online community dedicated to creating in a vintage style. The site was created by Pam, Sarah and Louise as a resource and a place to share our love for vintage style creations. Twice a month they hold a challenge...the first challenge this month was to create something using a recipe. Lucky me...my entry was randomly chosen to win a wonderful package of vintage goodies! My Vintage Veranda fun pack arrived today and just take a look...there's all sorts of vintage things...buttons, ribbons, lace, foreign money, photos, lots of wonderful paper ephemera, tulle, golden doilies, flowers, playing cards and a big beautiful bingo card! Thank you ladies...what a treat! Here's a photo of all the goodies and the atc I made for the challenge...Making Cookies. If you love a vintage look be sure to stop in for a visit at the Vintage Veranda!

Make a Moo or Two

This week's theme on Make a Moo or Two is "Tone in Tone." My favorite color is red so here's my little red moo. You can see all the other colorful moos here.

Red Lead Charm Swap

I received my charms from the Red Lead charm swap and they're just great. There's a lovely microscope slide charm from Laura with wonderful images on both sides, a colorful domino charm from Kathy reminding me to Laugh and an adorable charm from Andra with an Owl (sorry for the glare) on one side and the Pussycat on the other...too cute! I forgot to post a photo earlier of the charms I sent this round so here they are. I used brass chick charms from Red Lead and pieces of an old ruler to make "art chicks rule" charms. As usual, Kitten included some fun goodies when she returned the charms. Just look at that bony hand! I thing I'm going to have to just drill a hole in it, hang it on a chain and wear it to work on Halloween!

Digital ATC

Here's my first attempt at creating a digital ATC. I used a vintage photo that I had, then added elements from a digital Halloween kit from Tangie Baxter Designs. I had fun making this and learning a little more about how my Photoshop Elements program works but I realized I missed the actual cutting and pasting. This is my October atc for the RedLead group.

Two more atcs...Halloween and Day of the Dead

Here are two atc's I made recently...the first one for our lunch group and the second one is for the October SDA swap.

TMTA - Halloween

Don't you just love Halloween? It's always been one of my favorite holidays. There are so many Halloween-y ideas and projects I always want to do and never enough time to do them all. Kris from A Nostalgic Halloween has the right idea...an entire blog devoted to all things Halloween...all year long. If you haven't seen it go take a look!

Red Lead Workshop

I had the opportunity this past weekend to take a workshop at Red Lead Paperworks in St. Louis. It was called "The Teeny Tiny Mica Metal Book Lace Workshop." It was so much fun get to shop in the store in person. I had the pleasure of meeting Chris and Sharon who own the shop and are the creative pair behind all the wonderful creations there including their own line of gorgeous, whimsical rubber stamps. I spent a couple hours Friday afternoon wandering around the store looking at all the art work and treasures, asking questions and peeking over their shoulders...it was wonderful! The workshop on Saturday was attended by a great group of women...some I have come to know through the Red Lead Yahoo group. It was a real treat to meet in person some of the people I've been trading ATC's and charms with. The workshop was great...Chris shared her recipe for adding patina to copper and I learned so much about working with metal and mica. Plus, I just love the way the book lace turned out! Chris and Sharon were such fun and gracious hosts, everyone had a great time and turned out some beautiful pieces...I can't wait to be able to go back again!

Blog Award

Beth at the Salvage Studio was sweet enough to bestow on me this blog award. She was so funny in her note to me saying..."they're like Oscars...you can never get enough!" She's so right and I'm tickled to be given this by someone I like and admire so. Do go visit Beth and Lisa and Amy at the Salvage Studio if you're ever in Edmonds...it's a trip that'll change the way you look at things for sure! In the mean time check out their site and blog here. I'm going to ponder who to pass this on to for a bit...there are so many of you out there who I peek in on routinely or by chance who inspire and amaze me! Thanks for being out there creating in your own corner of the world!

Soldering Party - Part 2

Here are the pieces I made at the soldering party in addition to the large house shaped piece I showed you a few posts back. I didn't get all my pieces soldered...too much chatting and probably one too many trips to the dining room! But, now I have a feel for it and can solder them here at home when I have a free afternoon. Plus, now I have all sorts of ideas for new pieces! Thank you again Cathy for such a wonderful day!

Soldering Party

I finally had a chance to get the rest of the photos from Cathy's soldering party off the camera and on to my computer. This was by far the most fun I've had in ages! What a great bunch of women... some I was meeting for the first time. From the moment we arrived though, it seemed like we'd always known each other. Cathy and Jo graciously opened their lovely home to all of us and the fun began. There was delicious food, good conversation, lots of concentrating on wrapping copper foil, a crash course on soldering and using patinas, laughter, a burnt finger here and there and of course...tiaras! Here are some random shots from the beginning of the party. Once we got started we were all so intent on what we were doing I never picked up the camera again! There's something so magical about getting together with a group of people all intent on creating. There was a constant buzz of energy the entire day! I can't wait to do it again!

Trust Your Wings

This is a collage piece I made at Cathy's birthday party this past weekend. Cathy provided the gorgeous house shaped beveled glass...it's 4 in x 6 in! As you can see here I have the copper foil on it and it's all ready for soldering. My problem is I really like the look of the copper foil with the colors in the collage so I can't decide if I want to solder it or not! Hmmm...I'll just have to keep looking at it for awhile. For fairy woman in the collage is from Divas D 'Este. Be sure to take a look at their site...they have some wonderful collage images. More on the birthday party later...

SDA Halloween ATC's

What a fun week I'm having. The atc's from the SDA September swap were waiting for me when I got home today...aren't they wonderful? Halloween is one of my favorite holiday themes and it's so much fun seeing the variety of interpretations...I love it! In my group there was one swapper who chose a harvest theme (there are multiple theme choices each month) and her card is the bottom right...isn't it lovely?






Kris, Alice, Louise
Lyneen, mine, Pam
Sarah, Kathleen, Julia

Message in a Bottle

I joined Lisa Vollrath's Message in a Bottle mail art project a few weeks ago and now I've received my first bottle! The bottle was sent by DaNelle in Phoenix...thank you so much DaNelle.! It was such fun getting this regular plastic water bottle in the mail...my first piece of mail art! Sadly, I was so excited to see it that I forgot to snap a photo of the bottle before I tore into it! Ah well...As you can see it was filled with all kinds of goodies...a 4x4 page, a post card, a cork, stamps, charms, collage bits, fibers, flowers, beads, metal thingies, an inchie and a playing card! How fun is that? Now, I have to make up two bottles of my own to send out. If you'd like to play just let me know and I'll include your name in one of my bottles and one day soon you'll find a message in a bottle in your mailbox too!

Artsy Autumn Swap

Here are the photos of the basket I received in the Artsy Autumn Swap...isn't it something?! This is the first round of swaps in Linda's year long A Swap for All Seasons. My swap partner for this round was Julie from CupcakeDD. She created this gorgeous basket filled with edible treats, luscious yarns, vintage goodies, a beautiful hanging card and the MOST adorable little happy baby!! Sign-ups for the next round begin on October 1 if you'd like to join in the fun!






















Isn't the Happy Baby just the cutest??



















Artsy Autumn Pendant - a gift from the hostess!

Red Lead School Days ATC's

Here are the wonderful School Days atc's I received from the Red Lead swap. I love the cards with the actual school photos on them. Doesn't Eddy Smith have the most adorable face?













Linda Smith, Liz Friedmann, Denise Mitchell
Helen Stevens, Debbie Metti, Chris Schwartz
Kim Solinas, Sally Paul, Becky F.

Mail Art

As far back as I can remember I've always loved decorating mail. Whether it was with stickers, rubber stamps or doodles I just couldn't seem to let an envelope go unadorned. I think that's one of the reasons I always buy commemorative stamps instead of the ones that come in a book...they're just more fun! I mentioned to someone that I always decorate my boxes when I send out a swap. She asked to see one so I'm posting my two latest packages. These were the boxes I sent out for the Artsy Autumn Swap...one to my partner and one with a small thank you for our hostess. I bet you decorate your boxes too, don't you??

Artsy Autumn Sneak Peek

Today is the first day of Fall and the day we're supposed to mail our packages to our swap partners in the Artsy Autumn swap. Here are my two sneak peek photos. My package is heading out to Julie at CupcakeDD. Be sure to check out her blog and her Etsy shop...she has some wonderful Halloween things! I'm off to the post office....

Catching Up

Well, I've become a little lax in my posting I see. I've been working on all kinds of things with not too much to show for it yet. Here are a few ATC's I've made for swaps and a large arch I completed for an ongoing project.











SDA September swap




















Lunch group swap





















Faustino - sorry about the glare

New ATC's

Here are two new atc's I've finished for upcoming swaps. The first one is for a "Shades of..." swap. I chose shades of black and white. I used one of the new photos I picked up recently.













The second one is for the Red Lead School Days swap. I love this boy riding his fish and thought it would be perfect on my back to school card! This cute image was generously shared here.

Spreading the Love...

Linda, a blogging and swapping friend, surprised me by nominating my blog for this award. Thank you Linda! Linda's blogs, Grace Filled Moments and A Swap for All Seasons, are filled with constant delights and inspiration! Be sure to stop by and take a look. Now, I get to nominate others...up to seven... for the same award. Here are three blogs I'd like to nominate today:

Robin's blog: A Robin's Nest
Cora's blog: Paper Flowers
Cathy's blog: MudBay Musings

Robin has a great style. Cora is so generous with her vintage images and has a new stamp line coming out soon. Cathy is a wonderfully creative artist who has just started blogging. I'm sure you'll be inspired...take a look!

Latest Thrift Store Finds

I had fun visiting some new thrift and antique stores while I was in Oregon. I saw lots of gorgeous spendy stuff that I petted but left behind. Here are a couple of photos of things that made it home with me. I love my new doll head...it's the first boy 's head for me! Charlotte and Emily will be suspicious at first I'm sure but I know they'll come to love him too! Now, what will I name him...hmmm?



New instant ancestors!