White on Black

The months are rapidly creeping by we are already into our April ATC swap over at the Australian Art Swap Group and what a great theme we have this month-

~White on Black~

I played with simple zentangling with my tried and trusted signo white pens and I am ready for the swap- if you would like to join us pop over and send me a message on our Facebook Group

The Australian Art Swap Group.

Happy Mail

To give and to receive

it is one of the real joys of living, 

I get real pleasure in creating art for other people and getting happy mail in the post in among the bills and junk mail flyers is such a treat.

We recently had a lovely fun swap over at the
Australian Art Swap Group 

It was a supplies and ephemera swap,
we needed to fill and envelope with things we wanted to share
then our packages were sent all over Australia 

to bring joy and inspiration to each other.

It is amazing just how much can fit in one of these envelopes
and how much fun it is

 to include some art from our online friends in our own work.

We have lots of different swaps and not just for the big kids,
these ATCs were made by my 11 yo son and I,

Artist Trading Cards

ATCs or Artist Trading Cards are little mini art works and can be made for anything, to any theme and then swapped among fellow ATC artists.

I have been making and trading them for quite a few years now and it is always a thrill to see what arrives in your mail box :)

I have started a group to just trade art within

 Australia and we have been making ATCs,

 I am offering adult swaps and swaps for the little artists in our lives.

My son and I carved some stamps

 to use to make some bird themed ATC's recently.

These are our cards all ready and waiting for the mail out date.

If you would like to join in the fun and you reside within Australia

find us on facebook. Australian Art Swap Group 

and check your PMs once you apply.

ATCs can be made from any material,

the only rule is the size,

there is a fabulous PDF with so much information about ATCs 

you can look at online  it is called Art in your Pocket

I often recommend people new to ATCs to have a look at that guide.

Sometimes I like to create interactive ATC's

This one has a wrought iron garden gate,

I often make myself a card as well when I am doing a set for a swap,

and it is always good to clearly label your cards 

before you send them off. 

This amazing card comes from the incredibly talented Kalona

these cards were from an unusual shaped ATC swap.

This beautiful ATC was done by Mary Larner

And these pics are of my unusual shaped ATC 

I included my love of layers and intricate details 

Creating a Goddess Alter 

There is no end to what you can do with your ATCs

I regularly teach ATC workshops so keep an eye out if you are local.

Australian Art Swaps

Who loves getting Happy Mail?
It sure beats bills-
Who is missings Milliande's  wonderful Art Community for Women?
I know I am and my friends and family have been missing the art swapping as well.

I have been thinking about hosting some swaps again for ages, 

I started up an art journal swap to kick of in January 2014 and to save on postage costs and hopefully cut down on lost journals and missing people I decided to keep in in Australia only. This swap has been fantastic with a really great group of women and we all keep in pretty good contact on a private facebook group and share our work on our blog.

I was still hearing the need for art swaps-

From my fellow artists and from the homeschool community who wanted to make and swap ATCs and postcards and other little works so I started up another facebook group this one is The Australian Art Swap Group  I am really liking it just being for Australians as postage time is much shorter and costs much lower.

So far we have done a few ATC swaps,

 some for the junior artists- fun in the sun and animals

and a few for the grown up artists as well,
the little cutie at the top of the post came from Wendy and

 these are the three I made for the summer days swap.

We also share ideas and interesting things and are developing a nice little supportive community. One of our members posted about cheap erasers available in the back to school sales so we have been talking about carving our own stamps and I took a photo to share, of some of my well used ones.  

We welcome all levels of art and are open to all sorts of swaps.

So please come and ask to join The Australian Art Swap Group  on facebook.

As an added bonus you can use the gorgeous envelopes as pockets in your art jourals.

Gypsy ATC swap

I joined in the "Gypsy" ATC swap

at Milliandes Art Community for Women 

that Marilyn B Hughes was running.

Some of my gypsy fortune tellers

 had doors added to their gypsy wagons

They were decorated on the inside as well

Some of the ladies have been sharing

 their pics in the gallery

 over at Milliandes and the cards are absolutely gorgeous!

I received this beautiful card from Kathy

Thank you Kathy I love your card.

and I have received  this beautiful one from Marilyn.

Thanks for hosting this lovely themed swapMarilyn.

International Art Journal Swap

I have recently shared with you my Totem Animals Journal

that I have traveling with the 15 swap.

I also have another journal out there traveling the world,

This is my Sacred Feminine Journal.

I made and decorated its cover

 and introduction pages and sent it on its way.

It has been journeying since 2010

In the

  International  Art Journal Circle Swap

I included a gift of an ATC 

for each contributor in my journal.

This is a spread I did in

 Pearls beautiful

"Poems, Quotes and Verses" Journal

A section of my contribution in 

Milliande's "Connections"

I did a tree of life

inspired by Climt

in Claresters 

"Life on Earth" Journal

Euphaeidae chose a theme close to my heart

Feminine Fertility

So I loved playing in her journal

 and made some interactive pages

And here I have a basket full of journals

 to play in over the next while.

I thoroughly enjoy playing in these traveling journals

and I am eagerly awaiting the day they arrive back home

carrying all the art and dreams my fellow artists have shared.

Artist Trading Card Workshops in Yamba

I am doing a fun kids workshop

making ATCs in Yamba in January 2012.

The ATC  work shop will he held 

at Simply Crafts in Yamba

contact the lovely

 Lisa  and Gabrielle at Simply Crafts

29 Yamba Street

YAMBA NSW 2464 AUSTRALIA

TEL/FAX:6646 3388

This will be a full  5 hour workshop

on Friday 6th January 2012 

and will run from 10.00- 3.00pm.

Cost is $50 including materials.

These pics are from a kids workshop I ran in 

Grafton at the art club last year,

the kids had a fun day and went home with 

a stack of wonderful tiny art works.

A fabulous overview of what ATCs are 

can be found at Cedarseed

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

My Beautiful

Midnight in the garden of Good and Evil

ATC's arrived today

from the swap hosted by the lovely

Monika Schmid

at Milliande's Art Community for Women

I adore the work of Deedee Forrester

and was thrilled to see this beautiful card

by Deedee in my envelope.

This gorgeous card is made by Lynn Kelman

and features her beautiful stone angel

and I remembered the words from Monika's blog post

that Lynn included with her cards-

"AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT IN MY GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL,
JUST AS THE LAMBENT GLOW OF THE FULL MOON FLITS ACROSS THE FACE OF THE STONE ANGEL HER EYES SUDDENLY SNAP OPEN...
WOE BETIDE THE FOOLISH ARACHNID MAKING THE FATAL MISTAKE OF USING HER SLEEPING FORM AS AN ANCHOR FOR A COBWEB!

Anne Trudell created this pretty card

I wonder if that is a forbidden fruit?

I love this spooky card by Julka Vlajic

very atmospheric

and this last ATC is an amazing creation by Dawna

and she has made a fold out card with this quote from Rumi~

"Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent as a guide from beyond"

I love to see the variety and individual interpretations

of the themes we take and create with.

Thank you to Monika for hosting this fabulous swap

and to all of my fellow artistic women for joining in.