African Expedition

Over at my e-hangout, Christian Paper Artist (CPA), I hosted an ATC swap of the African influence. I am actually hosting a reoccurring swap called "World Tour", we traveled thus far to Paris, Far East Asia and Africa.
This time for my hostess "gift" I decided to make a passport of all the places we have traveled. I will post those pics soon (still working on it). Anyhow, I am sharing my atc with you... I really wanted to use a variety of papers that might reflect the exotic feel of an african safari. The image is a vintage french image of "north africa". I liked the mosque like shaped peephole with camels and building in the background. I used some hambly screen-prints of cheetah and zebra prints. For the ATC background, I used a faux snake-skin paper.

My dear friend Nathalie, knew I was hosting this swap and out of sheer genius on her part altered this VINTAGE African Postcard.
I received it a few months ago (or at least it feels like a few months) and I read it... and I chuckled.... I recently looked at it again and I think I finally "got it" This postcard is soooooooo cleaver constructed. Click on it and read her story of Lion's visit to Africa. :)

Nathalie - you are a total GENIUS and an amazing artist. Thank you for amazing inspiration via your blog and art work, which I am lucky to have some of!! I am so blessed to have you as my friend.

Hope your blog-hopping takes you somewhere exotic today!
xo,
Anna

a quickie post......

Easter Egg dying party at Q's school....


Easter Egg hunt at Marz preschool.......




what I managed to squeeze in over the weekend.......
some sweet time with my boys.... we had fun :) cuddling, tickling, smiling, playing tennis and baseball, lego play, chocolate chip cookies and a couple of movies as well.......(can you guess what movie watched? hint.... check the shirt!)


a trendy book about a pair of SKETCHERS for Q....... turned out Qute......



some love scripture ATC's for Sharon swap at the CPA.....


Have a great week - we are off for our spring break......
Ciao!
Anna

one busy nester....

One busy family...... 4 baseball games a week, 5 days of school, couple of trips to the park, a couple of trips to the doctor's office, two therapy sessions, one birthday party....a few layouts, one mini album for a blog challenge, an ATC doll swap, and some card making from scraps.....

phew... I"m tired just about typing it...... I'm here..... just really, really busy. Thank goodness for spring break....... we will be headed north for the a while - so don't be alarmed if I don't post the next couple of weeks.....

here's a few peeks.... into our busy life...... (see last post for baseball pics)

mini tag album for the SS march blog challenge.......

a layout (lo) for SS design team.....

my first doll ATC.......

loads and loads of laundry........

the bday party.....a cultural event... our friends/ neighbors are from syria...... it was all out fun!! pony rides, middle eastern cuisine, cigar smoke, bouncy house, balloons, pinatas, cupcakes galore, face painting.....


when life gives you scraps...... make cards.... seriously - every one of these cards was made from my scrap pile..... and my "slice" - I even made MINI cards from the scraps of my scraps...... talk about going green.... sometimes I really rock :)

xoxo!

Asian ATC Swap

I am hosting an Asian ATC Swap over at the CPA.... here is a peek at the ATC's I made :)

Back in Dec. We spent a few days in China Town (San Fran style) and of course I needed to get a few souvenirs for my crafting habit.... and then the idea was born..... what am I going to do with these papers? Host a swap!....
I originally wanted to do something chinese (as the papers are from CHINA...). I also purchased a bracelet with a bunch of chinese coins (later cut them off -because I was only interested in the coin charms) so I set out to make a Chinese ATC with the coins attached somehow.... ? Not sure how I ended up at origami? Classic Anna style.... I constantly set out to do one thing but it's never what I originally intended.... I know this drives my husband crazy.... I try sooooo hard to plan ahead and follow my path... but I end up somewhere totally unexpected. Oh well - I am embracing who I am - Listening to my soul - and gosh darn it - I really love these ATC's I did not intend to make....... So it's ASIAN fusion at it's best.... chinese paper with a japanese yukata

As a "world tour" party gift - I made everyone in the swap these MOO cards..... They are my MOO cards I ordered from MOO.com but I altered them with more of the chinese paper and added the COIN that I really wanted to use with some fibers.... I enclosed all the moo cards in an envelope that says "GOOD LUCK" in chinese.

Side note: I had a super sick little monkey on my hands this weekend.... he had 102 "beaver" in his ear all weekend - beaver is a fever.... he decided yesterday that he needed to "shake that beaver out" Love him!

xoxo,
anna

Unmade ATC Swap

Over at the CPA... my friend Donna hosted an Unmade ATC Swap. (an ATC is Artist Trading Card - very similar to a baseball card... but you, the artist, makes it and traditionally trades it with other artist...) Anyhow back to the unmade ATC swap.... the directions were to gather the makings of an ATC, put them in an envelope and mail it off the the person(s) that you were assigned. Make the ATC that you were sent and then post it on the YAHOO group and see what creative genius the other person came up with....! I signed up for three swaps... Nathalie, Linda and Donna sent me materials to make an ATC..... here's what I came up with... there is a before and after of each ATC.....

here's the one I made with material send by Nathalie:

one I made from material sent from Linda:

lastly one I made from materials send by Donna:


I was having so much fun... I kept going.... I decided to dig into my scrap pile.... and here's what I came up!
I used some left over acrylic, three or four scraps... and glimmer mist! oh - and a rub-on - I actually REALLY like this one...


Now.... "go make some of your own art!" <---- ( quote by "An Artist's Legacy" :)
xoxo,
anna

show and tell...

OK finally I downloaded some pics....

For my valentines mobile I am making.... I made my own beads!! (the clay came with the project kit form scarlet lime...) I formed them... stamped an image and baked them - how fun!!

Below are all the little bits of cardstock hearts and mini pictures I am including in my mobile....

below are all the cards I made from a card class I took from my friend Jana Simply Scrapbooks... yummie kit from basic grey...

and last but not least... are the charms I made in a swap over at the CPA. It was my first time making charms so I kept it simple. I purchased some "fragment - charms" pieces from Tim Holtz and added aged (white washed) scripture stamped a heart on top then xeroxed a peace dove carrying some leaves in his mouth..... and cut out the word "peace" (from old scripture books). Then I glossy accented it all together..... I think tim might be proud of me :) Anyhow the swap was a testimony theme. I chose the classic peace dove and made an ATC to "tell my testimony" on for each participant. It was fun - I'll post all the charms I receive back - in late Feb.



As soon as I finish my mobile.... I plan to alter my "HOPE" book..... (wish me luck :)

xoxo
anna

I'm not playing with a full deck :)

Gals and Dolls -

One of my online groups (linda got me to join)...... Christian Deck, Linda is organizing a group to make ATC's equivilant to the number of cards in a deck.... 52 (i think?) anyhow..... we pick a card and a bible verse that has to do with LOVE and make an atc.... She scans them in- sends them to a printer.... everyone orders a few decks and the printer prints them out.... she mails them back.... we all get customized decks of cards with everyone's art. It's really cool!
This is my first time participating in a swap, as such, but I think this group has put out several decks of card. It seems like a lot of work for the organizer, no? (it is....) anyhow.... I was able to design two cards..... 6 of hearts and 4 of spades.
For my 6 of hearts card I used this image....

It's from 1920's (i believe) It's my grandmother and her godmother on her baptism day. Unfortunately since the card is 2 1/2 by 3/12 I really did not have a lot of room to work with.... so her godmother, Ramona (her aunt) did not make the actual ATC. I used my Grandmother and Jesus (with a gold crown... and the verse "1 Corinthians 13:7" {Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.} This verse really embodies how I truly feel about my grandmother. She amazes me everyday. She is a pillar of strength and has more love to give than I could ever dream up. I am fortunate to still have her in my life and I am soooooooo blessed that my two boys have grown to know and love her very dearly. She is a very special person in my life and I just feel so honored that I was able to make this ATC about her. She loves playing cards and so that will be an added bonus when she gets a deck to use with her friends down at the senior center :) Of course.... I forgot to scan the image/ photograph the image.... so right now it in en-route to Linda and well I'll upload it later.
My second card (4 of spades) is of this picture..... and yes I did photograph the ATC... but it too is en-route to houston and I want it to be a surprise.... for linda.


This last picture is the image of the ATC I made as an entry for the back design of the whole deck of cards......

I twisted the wire into a heart shape and glued silver metallic wings with a red rhinestone heart to the center and named the card as "Love conquers all" It was a fun ATC. I'm really getting into the whole ATC size for making paper art..... it's way fun :)