Post Card Swap with Artists in Blogland

I recently participated in a postcard swap with a community of artists at Artists in Blogland.

I used a 12x12 piece of brown chipboard and cut it into 4 - 6x6 squares. 

I painted/inked it with different Distress Inks and then mod podged pieces of homemade paper to it. 

The swirl stamp was inked on with Staz On.

I added some vintage ephemera photos (copies) and then edged them with oil pastels.

The last thing I did was add the quotes. I used black Sharpie markers and white Signo pens.

"I did my best and it was enough."

"Believe you can."

"Do what you love."

"Sing your bravest song."

I have received two post cards in return so far and will posts those soon.  I had lots of fun and am always glad to do something fun and creative.

Doodle Challenge...

A few months ago, I joined a couple Yahoo Art groups so that I would be motivated to complete challenges and swaps and to learn and share new techniques. I have really enjoyed these groups and have learned so much. This one focuses on Art Journaling. The moderator is Sarah. She is so talented, but more importantly - she is generous. She is generous in sharing her knowledge, her inspiration, her personal art work and even in sharing things like this:

She recently had a doodle challenge over at the group and the theme was animals. Well, I doodle animals for my children all the time. So I doodled some of our favorites and posted them to the site. To my surprise, I was chosen as the winner for that challenge! Woo Hoo! Well, I had no idea what I had won. I was just so excited. This was the package that came for me.

For someone like me, this is a treasure chest of goodness. You can click on the picture to see up close, but there are so many wonderful things here. Vintage ads and comic book pages, stamps from all over, cool napkins and tissue paper, pages from some really neat books of poetry, music and even Alice!

My favorite item in the package was this original art piece from Sarah. I just love that she included this little piece of her. Of course, my girls were all trying to claim it for themselves. Very cool.

A closer shot....

I kept finding more and more treasures. There was a little paper bag that I thought was empty, but when I went through my stash for the third or fourth time, I felt that it was full. These adorable little cards were in there. Love the witty sentiments that go along with the vintage photos. There are also some Chinese playing cards and one with Frida on it.

Then I found the tiniest little baggy that must've gotten shuffled along with the larger pieces. I opened it up to find these wonderful stamps and curious cigar wrappers.
Lots of fun and inspiration in one package. I'm already using some of the Vintage Christmas sheet music for some ornaments I am working on for a swap.
You can follow Sarah at her blog: CASPIANA I know you will be as inspired as I was!

Got my button swap back!!

I love getting mail! Don't you??

Okay...so not all of this is from the button swap, but I also won a challenge from the same person that was hosting the swap - so she sent it all together. I will tell you about the other goodies in my next post. =) The little package with the angel fairy on it IS from the button swap though. It was an extra goody that Sarah through in there.

So, as you know, I sent 12 buttons in and I received 12 sets of buttons in return. Wow. How creative are these? I loved them all, but especially loved the ones that had a personal touch added to them. There were buttons sewn on material shapes, unique playing cards, library catalog cards, printed and altered images, cereal boxes, altered tags and canvas and even one tied to some really cool yarn. Fun!

Then Sarah added a little package of vintage ephemera. So essential to altered and mixed-media art. Just a treasure for those that use it. Very cool stuff. So glad that I participated. =)

Thank you Rita!!

A few weeks ago, Rita was celebrating her 100th blog post and decided to do a give away to one lucky commenter. To my surprise - I was the winner! I felt like I had won the lottery. Well, I guess I did win the Mixed Media and Altered Art lottery, huh? =D

I loved every bit of it, but especially loved the old post cards, envelopes and the cancelled check from the late 1800's. The vintage labels were really cool and I've got all sorts of ideas for the beads, buttons and other items. My favorite item in the bag though, has to be the Lillian Russell tag that says, "She dreamed." Just looking at this tag is an inspiration.

Head on over to Tattered Past and meet Rita for yourself! You'll be glad you did. Thank you again Rita. You were so generous. I will be paying it forward soon, so make sure you all check back!!