2 o'clock knock knock

This is my next-to-last set of pages for the round robin journal swap, for Deatra's journal. Her theme is "Dreams for Insomniacs," and boy, can I relate to that! This spread talks about the recurring insomnia that seems to plague most of the creative people I know. My nighttime images literally wake me up and keep me up for hours at a stretch.

Harry Potter ATC

Hermione is probably my favorite character.

"Etal" & Hanging ATCs

I "discovered" this new material called "Etal." I got mine from www.animadesigns.com, but there's also a website at www.etal.com.

It's hard to describe what it feels like. It's a fabric-like paper embedded with real metal fibers - copper, aluminum or bronze. You can tear it, if you work hard at it. You can cut it, sew it, melt it. I zapped it with a heat gun and got a really distressed look.

I made these Hanging ATCs for a swap on CC Swaps. I meant to do something around autumn leaves, but the etal got me going in a...heavy metal direction. I call this piece "skeletons." Skeleton leaf, skeleton key, actual stamp of skeleton (middle piece). Hope Adrienne likes it - it's pretty grungy, little on the dark side, but it's where the muse led.

House of Cards fun day!

I got to visit the "House of Cards" ATC exhibit this weekend as it (and curator Lisa Ohmer) visited Placerville. I have submitted Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for both the first and second years of this exhibit, which features something like 4,600 cards by 800 artists in 12 countries. It was pretty impactful to see the sheer number of ATCs, as well as their diversity. For more information about the exhibit, please visit www.europeanpapers.com.

Placerville is an historic Gold Rush-era town located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada (used to be known as Hangtown), and the exhibit was in a beautiful old hotel. I enjoyed the 45-minute drive up to the foothills, as well as getting out of the Valley heat and smog. I also enjoyed chatting with Lisa, buying her wares and getting a glimpse of what she was preparing for her next workshop. I unfortunately only found out about this event (part of a weekend-long event called the Sierra Art Affaire) a few days ago, and I did not have time to stay for the workshops.

I did walk down the street to a wonderful stamp store called Stamp it Rich. Walked away from Placerville with quite an assortment of art goodies, including some fun rusted bits and bobs, papers and lots of charms. I also met a fellow Creative Cards list member and ran into an ATCer from Davis there.

Here are three shots of the six walls of cards. The second shot features one of mine--the one with the eyes that says "yes."

Shabby Chic Gesso

A card for a swap on CC Swaps. If you sponge clear gesso on glossy cardstock, let it dry, then sponge dye inks over it, then rub those with a Kleenex (tissue), you get a nice distressed "shabby chic" look--which of course doesn't show up well in s scan.

Inky Layers tiled card

Here's one of the ways I used some of these backgrounds.

This is a card for an intern who's finishing up her last week at work. The front of the card says "a question for nora to soberly consider" and the inside is a stamp that says "what if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?"