STAMPHAPPY 1-4-1 SWAP

It's been a bit remiss of me not displaying the ATCs I've received in the StampHappy 1-4-1 swap that is currently running. Time to put things to rights. Hope you enjoy looking at the art made by others in the StampHappy group. These Artist Trading Cards are all 6.4cm X 8.9cm.

Opening the show, above, is an ATC by Carolyn Weiss. Those below are by Dorothy Leach & Danielle D'Onofrio.


The next three are by Roz Veevers, Barb Dare & Lynn Gosney.


Below are ATCs by Melanie Smith, Julie Price & Kaeren Sutherland.

The next three are by Janet Hamblin, Vikki Whittington & Linda Aldred, who's organised the on-going swap.

The final three are by Dorothy Leach, Diane Whatford & Dorothy again.

Thank you everyone for playing with me, & looking forward to more swaps.

New ATCs

My muse has been busy recently, creating both new jewellery and Artist Trading Cards for swaps I'm in, in 2 Aussie groups I belong to.

Above are the 2 ATCs I did for a Childhood swap. The 3 blondies are my nieces and nephew, in a photo I took about, maybe, 14 years ago.

Below are the 2 I made for a swap where we had to use wax crayons. I used them in the background, by ironing shavings from the crayons, using baking paper.


And finally an ATC for a Halloween swap and for a Blue swap.


If you are interested in trading ATCs, please leave me a message by clicking on 'comments' below.

New ATCs

Today, a bit of show and tell about some recent work I've been doing with Artist Trading Cards, and in particular,different techniques for backgrounds.

Above, are cards I made for an insect swap. I just love dragonflies, and believe they are my totem. Below are the cards made for a Dream swap I'm hosting. Amazingly, they are nothing like my original idea, and I'm not quite sure where that idea disappeared to. The original thought was characteristically dark and obscure, so the final result couldn't be more different.


These last two were done using a technique from the fabulous book by Bernie Berlin, "Artist Trading Card Workshop". 'Confronting ' is something I think I strive for in my work.



I'll be away for a few days.....I'm heading up to Tewantin, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, to spend four days with my two special friends from our exchange year in London, wa-ay back in 1985.

Recent work

I thought it was time to upload a selection of what I've made lately, and to have a little break from the Bundy photos. These are all Artist Trading Cards , known as ATCs, which you make and then swap with people from all over the world. It is HIGHLY addictive, believe me!

The two above were for swaps in the ATCoZ group, a penguin swap and Famous People. Of the next two, the first one was made for the My Corner of the World swap.

As in all areas of creative work, for the work to be 'authentic', the creator needs to invest something of themselves in the piece. In ATCs, as in most crafts and styles of art, there are fashions, styles and fads, and these are very hard to avoid, as the influences are everywhere. However, for me, there is absolutely no satisfaction or release in the creation of the work , if I haven't invested something of my own heart and mind.


The next two were also done as part of swaps, the first was an In Love swap and the second was an international money swap ATCoZ players did with artists from the Netherlands.

The last two were experiments with backgrounds. In the case of swaps, multiple cards need to be made, mostly three, but sometimes nine, and once, I had to make 12 cards! They are supposed to be roughly identical, but it is something I struggle with, as the creation of multiples doesn't sit comfortably with me at all. I really like to make one-offs, though I guess I find a compromise with doing variations on a theme.

New ATCs

Maybe it was time for me to upload a few of the new ATCs I have been making for swaps or just to add to my collection. A lot of what I make are a bit...well, 'dark', probably is an apt description and I have spared you those.

What I've Been Making

I've been spending a fair bit of time in the playroom recently, making ATCs, doing backgrounds and making a special little book for a friend's son's 21st birthday. So, here's a bit of a look at some of the results.

Above are 3 ATCs I made for an on-going blind swap...no particular theme unifies them...just what came into my head when I started fiddling.


Next are 2 ATCs that follow some of my oft-visited themes...you might be able to detect a thread or two running through my work.


Lastly, a friend who's son is turning 21 asked me to make her a card which included 2 pockets so that some pieces of writing she'd done could be incorporated within the card. I had a few ideas, but last Sunday,Di (my ...well, mentor is probably the best term for Di ) was showing us how to make a gorgeous little book. All the bells and whistles in my creative brain sounded and I thought...YES!! Perfect!! I think it's one of the best things I've done, and it goes without saying, the pictures don't do it the justice I think it deserves. My friend also loved it, thankfully.

Big Mess and New ATCs

In trying to work out why my place is always such a mess, with stuff everywhere, the penny finally dropped! The laundry is where I'm currently working on an altered box, so there's all those bits'n'pieces on my workbench AKA the washing machine. My beading area is in the lounge-room. My playroom work table is ALWAYS a total shambles with ATCs and cards in varying stages of completion, and the kitchen bench is where the heat-gun is set up at the moment as I play around with Opals.

However, these are new ATCs that have been completed in the last week. The one above is for the Breast Cancer ATCoZ swap and the two below are for a Starry Starry Night swap I'm hosting ( my first as host).
The four below were made with Opals and Fantasy Film at a workshop I did last week with the girls who own PipeDreamInk.

Current Work

Currently , I'm working on a set of 12 ATCs for a swap on a favourite flower, quite a daunting prospect really. Even though the 'canvas' might only be 8.9 cm X 6.4 cm, a lot of work goes into that small space, and in fact I've found it challenging to reduce the scale of my work so that it fits comfortably. Each ATC doesn't have to be identical, and mine never are, though they are pretty similar. Choosing the media to use is an interesting process too...this time I'm using watercolours, but some are done with watercolour paints, others, watercolour pencils or watercolour pastels, or a combination of them. Each one is a miniature painting of Eucalyptus miniata, the Darwin Woollybutt that I saw growing around the Tjaynera campsite in Litchfield NP, Northern Territory, in 2003. Actually getting the background right has been the trickiest....it needs to contribute to the picture, but not dominate.

Happy Tuesday

One of the Yahoo groups I belong to is ATCoZ. The group is pretty much member-directed, and there are always loads of swaps on the go at any one time, on a whole variety of themes or ideas. Just recently, I've participated in swaps on themes of favourite colour, starfish, love, my first name and kittycats. Above you can see my ATCs from some of those swaps