ATCs for Victoria

Ok.... finally...here are the two ATCs I made for Victoria in the "Theme of your choice" swap at LMAO.

The top one is called "Seahorse" and is a water colour and pen painting. "Slithering Snake" is painted in acrylics. The snake is cut out and glued to the card and the text is cut from an old book.

Finally

Yay.... I've finally managed to finish the two ATCs for that other swap I'm in.... yeeeessss!! I sat down yesterday and decided to just doodle a bit to loosen this stuckiness I'm in.... and voila... I'd made a card!! I guess deciding to just doodle took the pressure off and just loosend me up a bit??

Well, after the first card was done, I found my long lost acrylics.... and made another card with them.... I haven't got round to scanning the cards yet, but I will later on today (I hope).... and I'll post them here.... so Victoria; stay away if you don't want to see them.....

Struggle....

Uhhh.... now it's been more than a week since last I updated here.... I'm having some kind of block at the moment..... can't seem to get anything right... I've made a few ATCs, but none of them are anything to brag about.... but I guess I learn from that too....??? Hope so!

I have finished two of the cards for the swaps I signed up for at LMAO... still have two to go though.... and.... as I said.... I'm struggling! BUT there is still a week and a half to go.... so I'm pretty sure I will have worked through this silly block by then...

These are the two cards that I have finished:

The theme was "cityscapes".... These two are for Jessye. I hope she likes them.....

I'm surfing the net quite a bit now... just to get some inspiration to get over my block..... Follow links whenever I can/have the time..... My friend Victoria always has lots of great links on her site.... and she is also a very talented artist that inspires me loads..... Thanks for having such a great blog, Victoria!!! By following a link on her site I found Audrey Kawasaki.... wow, great artist!! I also happened upon Annette Lindner.... wowza! I like her use of colours....

Well, I hope I get myself sorted out with this block thing..... I'm starting to feel the neeeed.....

Another week gone....

Where does the time go??? It's been a week since last I updated this spot.... So, what have I been up to?? Hmmm.... Oh, yeah.... I've made another deco. A creepy crawlies deco. I haven't put it up anywhere for people to work in it yet.... guess I'll have to do that.... I made this one from that book I found a bit too small for my first deco. It's just over ATC size.... lets say about....*going to next room to find a ruler to mesure*... 7.5 x 10.5 cm. And here's a picture of the front:

I hope someone will want to work in it... Well, I guess it's up to me in the first place to let people know I have it so they can sign up.... will put it in a flight list somewhere soon me thinks....

I've also signed up for a couple of swaps over at LMAO. I wasn't going to sign up for anything just now since I'm off for my summer holidays soon.... but I couldn't resist... so I've been working a bit on those cards.... will post pics when they are done (or maybe not until the recipient have got them....) It's only 4 cards to send off, so I guess I'll make it before I go to Norway.

I've also received a few things in the post; a few lovely ATCs from different people (pics of them in my yahoo album). I also got a couple of lovely paintings from Kim in Saudi (haven't scanned them yet, but they will be in my yahoo album when I get round to do that...) It's the first time I've gotten something other than ATCs.... very exciting!! Will have to get more into that side of mail art.... maybe sign up for some 4x4 or postcard swaps when I'm back from my hols....?

All my received ATCs...

As I promised in an earlier post..... I've uploaded pictures of all my ATCs that I have gotten from other people to my Yahoo photo album.... you can have a look at them here. I spent most of the day today scanning them.... there is something wrong with the settings on our scanner, so it doesn't scan the colours right.... and I can't figure out how to fix that.... so I have to go and fix every single picture that I scan...... phew.... I couldn't get all of them quite right though.... never mind... now it's done... and if I scan things as I get them from now on, it won't be such hard work. Yea, that's a plan!

I DID it!!!

I finally made a deco!! Yay! Here is the front page:
It's a little book, 10,5 x 10,5 cm. It has 8 pages, so I'm gonna try to get 6 people to work in it.... The first and last page will be used for people to sign the book so I know who has been working in it. The theme is .... well... doh... Owls. I'm sooo excited! I've put it in the Deco flight list over at LMAO, so I hope someone signs up to work in it.... This is fun! Will have to make another one now... I guess I could get addicted....

Trades and stuff

I just sent out two envelopes to two different trades today! I have another envelope ready to go out this afternoon or tomorrow as well. So hopefully, I'll get something in the mail again soon... It's sooo exciting.... waiting waiting waiting... and then BANG there they are.... more beautiful cards...

One of the cards I sent out today was this:

I made this one specially for Kim in Saudi Ariabia. I hope she doesn't see it before she gets it... We were doing a trade with a card she saw in my gallery, and then she wanted a cat card as well, so we decided to do a 2:2 trade.... great... I like 2:2 trades because it doesn't cost much more to send two cards than one... so you kind of get more for your money, if you know what I mean..... and I like that.... I'm always on the lookout for a bargain....

I've also been working on these cards:

The image of a triangle with holes in it, is something I started drawing a few years back. I kind of like the floppyness (if there is such a word) of some of these triangles. I made them to experiment with markers on. I'm not quite sure if I like working with markers.... I like the intensity of the colour it gives.... but I think I need to work more on my technique. I don't like the way it makes marks where you overlap the colour.... but I guess working with really cheap markers doesn't really help..... I wonder if more expensive markers are the same??? Hmmm....

Anyway.... that's a bit about what I'm been up to the last few days.... Oh, and my deco..... well.... I started making one, but I think the book I made is a little bit on the small side.... I'd like it to be a little bit bigger.... so I guess that will be my next project.... I hope.....

More of my recently received ATCs

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to show off a few more of my recently received artist trading cards. I don't think I will put in all the cards I've received until now, maybe just the last few.

I got these two first ones from my new pal, Victoria, in USA. I met her on the ATCards forum, and she's the one that invited me over to the LMAO forum. She is an amazing artist.... sooooo inspiring. This first card is called "View from atop". It was kind of a surprise when I opened the envelope... not what I'd expected... but I LOVE it!! I really do. Maybe even more because it's not what I expected...?

This is the other card Victoria made for me, it's called "South Seas Island Pippi". I think this one is sooo funny. I love the colours, and the composition is great....

The next two is from Marie, also from USA. The first one is called "Race Track" and it has "confetti" cars under acetate (so the cars move if you shake the card....).

And this one is called "Storm".

They are all lovely cards, and I've got many more that I really like. I would really like to show off all of them, but I think that'll be a bit much just now. Tell you what.... I'll make a folder in my Yahoo photoalbum for all my received cards.... when I've done that, I'll post a link to it in my blog. Yay, that's a plan!

Redheadelf

I received this ATC in the post today. It's from Leah Felicity in USA. This one is called "Redhead Elf". Isn't she cute?

I traded this ATC through the ATCards forum. It's a great place to trade ATCs, great people and lots of fun.

Yes!!

I decided I wanted to make a deco.... but then I had soooo many questions.... I'm so glad I joined the LMAO group over at Yahoo! I've been bugging them with questions about decos for a couple of days now.....and they have given me great informative answers. What a great bunch of people! I've even had a couple of offers from people that want to work in my deco.... and I haven't even made one yet..... wow!

But why am I so insecure??? There is no right or wrong, really! It's MY deco, and I should be allowed to do with it as I wish. Ok, I'm gonna do it tomorrow!! I'm not gonna ask any more questions until I've tried it out.

I've got a pretty good idea on how I want to make the book itself. Now all I have to do is to decide on a theme for my deco....... hmmmm.

I've just started again

I've just started a journey... or am I just continuing my journey?? I've "rediscovered" art throug a couple of internet groups where I've met a bunch of great people that inspires me to do something creative again. ATC- or Artist Trading Cards is what started this whole process again... It's great!

Where will my journey bring me? I've already joined another group where they not only do ATCs but also decos.... another thing I've never done before but wants to try.....

I read about ATCs in a magazine a couple of months back, and thought it would suit me.... boy, was I right! Didn't know it could become sooooo addictive! Both the process of making the cards in themselves and trading them..... exciting! I love it. I think I spend faaar tooooo much time on the internet, making comments and looking at other ATCs . There is lots of other things I rather should spend my time on.... creating art, playing with my daughter, doing housework, reading books...... I could go on and on....

But.... I must say it feels good to create again. Something was missing, and I've found it.... I can continue my journey. I just wish I was better at drawing.... hmmm.... will have to practice a lot....