Creative Souls Greek Myth art swap

Pandora ATC by Jeanne Draachreider

As soon I heard there was a Greek Mythology art-card swap over at Creative Souls,  I just had to play along. Good thing I did - now this lovely collage from Jeanne Draachreider is in my collection. I've been playing so much in the digital realm lately that it was with great pleasure that I opened Jeanne's puffy package! The pillar and grape vine add a fantastic 3-d element to this lovely card. They even  grow on the backside.

Pandora ATC back by Jeanne Draachreider

Now how cool is that

Perhaps it was fate that Pandora found her way into my mailbox... as the ATC I send to Jeanne was of Pyrrha, Pandora's daughter:

Pyrrha ACEO

If you've been around these parts for a while you might remember this piece from the Artarazzi mix-orange-&-Waterhouse challenge back in '09. If not, here is a bit of info about the daughter of Pandora:

Child of Pandora, Pyrrha was also the niece (& daughter in law) of Prometheus. When Zeus decided at the end of the Bronze Age to flood the world, Pyrrha & her husband Deucallion built an ark, survived & repopulated the world by tossing rocks over their shoulders. The rocks became the next generation. For more info, here is a link to her wiki page. 

The plan had been to create something new for Jeanne, but life caught up with me. Instead I embellished a print with markers and inks before sending it off. A nice bonus.... this challenge finally made me get around to printing some of my digital art, something I have been procrastinating for a loooong time. So, double thanks to you, Jeanne!

------------

A quick note: Last chance to enter the eye-spy contest. Identify the pieces which feature the eyes in last Friday's post. The person with the most correct answers by 8/12 will win a print. Click here for image & details.

Also any comment on this blog before 8/18 enters you in the random drawing for a Mary Shelley ACEO . Click here for details & photo.

Time Travelers ATC swap

It has been like Christmas in July at my house. This summer I've renewed my love affair with Art Trading Cards and have some fun pieces to show you.

from DecadentDelusion.etsy.com

The latest swap cards in my mailbox were from these members of the fabulous Time Travelers Team on Etsy.com :

from Kuhlwhip.etsy.com

This was great fun! I love the mix of styles and materials used.  Many thanks to participants for sharing your exciting pieces of mini-art.

from AgentofChaos.etsy.com

  

Want to see a few more ATCs? Pop back tomorrow for some other beauties that hit my mail box this summer.

Are you new to Art Trading cards? ATCs (also called ACEOs or Art Card Editions & Originals) are mini pieces of art. These are original or reproductions and can be created in any medium or style. They just have to measure 2.5" x 3.5".  ATCs are great fun to make and collect!

Portrait of Mary Shelley

By the way, I am having a random drawing for one of my ACEOs, Portrait of Mary Shelley on 8/18. Leave a comment on my blog before 1 a.m. on Aug. 18th to enter. For details click here.

the eyes have it

I'm also hosting an eye-spy contest this week. The person who correctly identifies the most drawings featured in this 8/5 post before Friday will take home a free print. (if more than 1 person guesses the same #, I'll have a random drawing for the tiebreaker). Visit the 8/5 post for contest details.

Flowers For Mother's Day

ATC for swap

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”– Claude Monet

I'm participating in some great groups over at CreativeSouls.ning.com. May's Art Trading Card swap has a fun flowers theme. 

I came across this wonderful Claude Monet quote recently & it seemed to a good starting point for new ATC.

The photo of Monet is from Wikimedia Commons. The lily photo is one I took years ago. When I stuck the two together the melange reminded me of handcolored antique postcards, so I tossed in some faded hues to complete the vibe.

Happy Mother's Day!

Goodies from July ATC swap

Bird Love ATC from LemanchiDesigns.etsy.com

I'm finally posting all the lovely little pieces I received in last month's Art Trading Card Swap. I'll also include links to the artists' Etsy shops. If you would like to see more of their creations, just click on the caption below each image.

Encaustic "Wild Rose" on handmade paper from LizAnnasOnTheLake.etsy.com

By the way, if you are wondering "What is an ATC?" click here for more info. Basically it is a playing card sized (2.5" x 3.5") piece of 2-d art. Art Trading Cards can be created using a variety of materials.

No.1 Beauty from Whyte.etsy.com

The artists who participated in this swap are also members of the Melange Team On Etsy, a mixed media Etsy Street Team. So for this swap, the only requirement was that the pieces be mixed media.

from MidwestieLady.etsy.com

If you haven't tried your hand at ATCs yet, I highly recommend it. But beware - both creating and collecting them can be very addicting!

from ElenaMary.etsy.com

Once you've made a few cards go find some other folks to trade with. You can find many people trading online - search around google or your favorite artsy forums. You may even find a swap-group in your own back yard. I just stumbled upon a local trading group this weekend while dropping off some drawings for a juried show.

Ornament from ElenaMary.etsy.com

Or if you are an organizer, start up your own swap. This little something extra was included in my package from the sweet Elena Mary Siff who started this fun trade. Thanks so much, Elena Mary! And thank you to everyone else - this was a blast!!

Mix It Up With Melange Challenge - Heavenly

Calling All Angels ATC

I made this ATC for a swap & (lucky for me ) it kinda fits this week's Mix It Up With Melange prompt. If you have any Heavenly mixed media art you've created, click through & add your link in the comments. If you just want to check out some cool art pieces, that is where you'll find them.

This atc started with a photo I took years ago that was altered in P.Elements. The angel was then printed onto textured paper & enhanced with watercolors. This was trimmed & glued to a piece of red mat board. The whole thing was worked over with colored pencils,pastels & metallic gel pen. Then colored swarovski crystal pieces were glued on. Unfortunately I had a hard time getting a good photo of the little sparkly bits

On different note, I finally had a sale on Etsy - feels like it has been forever! It is easy to come up with excuses, but the reality is that I've not listed anything new in ages. I've just been making stuff & setting it aside.

My drawings have not been selling, so I've pulled out the mat cutter and am busy making acid free mats. These will allow the art to fit easily into standard sized frames. I'll be adding these to ArtSnark.etsy.com this week & sure hope this helps make them more appealing.

By the way, If you haven't signed up for tomorrow's 2 random drawings, you have until noon (EST) on 9/24. Click through for details:

1 winner receives a custom printed 18" x 24" poster from Uprinting.com - US only

The 2nd winner chooses 1 print from Koniver.etsy.com - Worldwide

Musical Monday's Muse - wiggle & no

Butterfly/faerie tag front & back

Good Mourning Glory is adding prompts to Musical Monday. Today is "Makes Ya Wanna Dance"

Click the button above to hear what's got folks moving this Monday. Then add your own tune.

I've gotta go with Jaan Pehechaan Ho - always gets me wiggling, especially with the video.

Each Week, Maternal Spark asks what's your muse?
Today I'm going with "No".

In order to get more done, I've got to commit to less....kind of sounds weird but is too true. Instead of trying to keep up with the hectic pace that evolved this summer, I spent the last week saying "Sorry, no thank you" a lot. It was hard at 1st but I think it will be worth it.

I fear that the Muse gets even more annoyed with playing catch up than I do. Hope to knock out a few more overdue commitments (some fun, some not). Then reevaluate how I am using my time. For instance how useful is it to google saying "No in over 520 languages" ?

Hopefully then I'll clean the studio (for real this time!!!). It used to look like a bomb dropped. Now it looks like the border dwellers built their post-apocalyptic city on top of the rubble.... and then another bomb dropped.

In the meantime, here are some more tags for Queen Bee's swap. They were tea died and stamped (the text & butterfly outline stamps are from Judikins). And then watercolor pencils & ink were added.

yet another tag front & back

Hope to finish the last 2 tags tonight. But before that I need to go hike Mount Laundry, put away about a bazillion toy trains & reclaim the vacuum from the cobwebs......

-------------------

By the way, there are 3 random drawings happening here this week:

To enter the 1st, just leave any comment on this blog before noon (EST) on 9/10.
1 piece customized jewelry from Etsy seller Jewelry By Solange

For the next 2 leave a comment stating how you would use each prize if you win.
500 custom business cards to 2 winners - ends 9/10

&

A 24" square custom wall sticker to 2 winners - ends 9/13

Trying Out Tags

Hello all. This week's Mix it Up with Melange Challenge is Abundance. Bitten of a bit more than I can chew this week, so I may have to pass on this one. To post your own interpretation or view others click HERE & go to comments section for links.

Last year I bought a bunch of altered Tags from the etsy shop QueenBee's Altered Needs for gift wrapping. They were so cool, I had a hard time parting with them. Each measured about 2.5" x 5" and had a fun vintage look as well as a sweet vanilla scent. I did keep a couple for myself. Here is 1:

I then picked up a few from another of my favorite etsy shops, Glimmering Prize. These are mostly vintage images stitched onto tags with text and fiber embellishments. Here's my fave of the lot:

So now I've got the bug! Carol over at QueenBee is hosting a tag swap that I managed to get in on. While I've been having fun with ACEOs, I kept meaning to play with tag. This is getting me jump started at last.

Woo Hoo - Finished my 1st tag! This is front & back of a mermaid tag. Need to add some string & I'm afraid I didn't leave much room on the back for anyone to write ....

Decided to tea stain 5 of the blank tags. I like the old look.

Left more room on the back of this 1 but didn't realize the ink would leak through once I sprayed a protective coating.

This is the last 1 I played with before bed last night. Same ink problem on back...harumph. I also need to decide if I'm going to embellish these with any fibers & sparkly bits too....

That's about it today. Day 2 of Kindergarten for the little guy. Now that I've some extra time on my hands, I'm trying to catch up on all of the tasks left unfinished this summer. After that & a deep studio clean I hope to schedule a bit more art time in this fall.

By the way, here is your last chance to enter tomorrow's noon (EST) random drawing for 1 of Felicia Kramer's Liquid prints! Just leave a comment before then to enter. To view some of Felicia's colorful artwork & read her interview CLICK HERE. If you'd like a virtual tour of her Studio, click HERE.

Also over at her blog, Felicia Kramer has another bright idea, Felicia is holding a random giveaway of my original drawing/painting Idle Hours. Winner will also be picked at noon tomorrow from those who comment on her blog before then. CLICK HERE to view this one of a kind prize & enter her contest