Garden ATC Swap is CLOSED!

ALL of the ATCs are in, that I expected -wow! I did receive alot more sets of 9 than I thought I would . . . I just did a quick count, and approximately 266 Garden ATCs came in with 37 players participating in the end. Congratulaions to everyone as that is quite a fine swap! Now I have to get to work, and I am sure you don't envy me!! But it is so lovely to see all the cards in person. And thanks to all of you who were able to make an extra ATC for me - wonderful!!
Don't be surprised if it takes me a week or so to swap these cards, package them up again & mail them. I will start tomorrow, but probably do them in batches & it will take some time. I will email you to let you know of my progress - thanks so much for playing and creating. Yours, Lenna

Garden ATC Swap - Joanie Hoffman, MD

WOW! The LAST arrival for our summer Garden ATC swap came in from Joanie Hoffman in North Beach, Maryland. Joanie's ATCs are really different. When I picked the package up, they made a noise like there were seeds inside the ATCs! I later discovered they were small, clear, hole-less beads that she somehow got in-between the base and the outside clear layer. Very ingenious!! : ) You can see them a bit when you click on the scan for more detail.

Garden ATC Swap - Linda Schultz, PA

Linda Scultz sent in 3 wonderful garden ATCs. She was also thinking of the same song that Cynthia Weed was when she created her ATCs. It's a great song & a perfect fit for this theme. Click on any photo for more detail.

Lovely! Thank you, Linda.

Garden ATC Swap - MAry Goodrow, MA

Mary Goodrow, a student of mine : ^ ) -sent in 6 ATCs and an extra one for me, thanks Mary! I love your take on a summer garden and that you tried more than one way to approach it. Thanks for playing!!

Garden ATC Swap - Mary Zimany, CT

My friend and student, Mary Zimany's ATCs got here just in time, yay!! Tomorrow is the last day for swap arrivals - after that, I willl be busy swapping all these gorgeous Fabric ATCs on a summer Garden theme and packing them up to mail. WOW! Keep me in your thoughts! I will have to count & give you a total of the number of ATCs that were sent in to swap.

Mary always does wonderful creative work and these fabric ATCs are no exception to that rule. Click on the scan for a closer look - they are all different, and I love how she added the info on the back!

At this point I have 34 sets in and hope for 4 more sets tomorrow. Thanks to those of you who let me know youu could not make the deadline; it helps me keep the swap organized. STAY TUNED for 2 new swaps that will be announced next week! : ^ ) - Lenna

Garden ATC Swap - Norma Aquilar, OR

I love these soft, sweet ATCs Norma sent us from Oregon! Theu almost tell a story when lined up like this! Really lovely job, Norma . . . click on the scan to see her work close up!

Garden ATC Swap - Vickie Trancho, NY

From Vickie Trancho in New York, we have a summer garden theme a la "sculls & roses" or 'day of the dead' -- click on the scan for a closer look! Vickie's ATCs are very dimensional with flowers attached as well. She calls them: Goth Garden, I love it!! : ^ ) Thanks, Vickie!

Garden ATC Swap - Vicky Martindale, MI

Gorgeous ATCs from Vicky Martindale! I believe she used actual Baseball Trading cards as the base of her Artist Trading cards. Thank you for the extra ATC, Vicky! Not a requirement in this swap - but oh so nice : ^ )

Garden ATC Swap - Rena Matus, CT

9 beautiful ATCs have made it to my mailbox from Rena Matus in East Hartford, CT - hooray! Click on the scan for more detail on these lovely Artist Trading cards.

Garden ATC swap - Cynthia May, California

Here are Cynthia May's bright summer Garden ATCs. They are created all from fabric & they are very soft and touchable. Cynthia's ATCs are the 29th set to arrive! I hope to find 10 more sets in my mailbox in the next 2 days . . . and then I have my work cut out for me swapping these beauties out. I will be sure to keep you posted!

Garden ATC Swap - Barbara Roberts, FL

Barbara Roberts sent in some great ATCs she made following a technique she learned in a book I recently got and was reading on vacation: Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin. This is simply a fabulous book! I bought it because there were so many techniques inside that I wanted to try! Barbara tried out the technique where you fuse fibers together with a bit of fusible wonder under or pellon- one of the techniques that really caught my eye! If you click on the scan of Barbara's ATCs you will get a larger, much more detailed view. I flipped one of Barbara's ATCs over so you could see the cool way she did the back. Thanks so much Barbara!

Circle Book Swap - Frieda Oxenham, Scottish Borders, UK

Frieda Oxenham from Scotland, UK is the first participant to send in her Circle Book pages for the swap!!! Frieda created 20 pages in various colors, using a fabric collage on the front and stitching it to the page, and then painting the back of the page the color she was working with. They are very beautiful pages done in Frieda's yummy style, and oh so colorful - thank you, Frieda!! I wish my scanner was hooked up now as it would show these circle pages and all the ATCs I just added so much better . . . . when I returned from our vacation, my hard drive promptly died on me - oh no! Fortunately my husband protects & saves data on computers for a living, so I was all backed up & did not loose anything. We still have to get all the programs installed and change the operating system to one that works with my scanner .... long story, but the photos will have to do!!! With out further ado, here are Frieda's circle pages - oh so yummy!! Thank YOU Frieda!

Garden ATC Swap - Vicci Henderson, California

Vicci took photos of her garden flowers and transfered them to fabric for our Garden ATC swap . . . such a wonderful idea & looks great!

Garden ATC Swap - Cat Dodt Ellis, Idaho

Lots of fragrant poppies from Cat Dodt-Ellis in Idaho! I love how Cat did the backs of her ATCs . . . . .

Garden ATC Swap - Susan Metcalfe, TX

I love Susan's quotes and how she did all her ATCs different . . . click on any photo for more detail.

Garden ATC Swap - Linda Garcia, NM

We get the treat of a Southwestern garden from Linda Garcia!!

Garden ATC Swap - Victoria Talcott Wormell, CT

Even though Victoria was recovering from shoulder surgery . . . and she told me that since she had her 3rd child, the children in her family out-number the adults (!!) Still, Victoria managed to participate in this swap most beautifully :^ D - lucky us! Victoria used her shade garden for inspiration.

Garden ATC Swap - Cynthia Weed, Wyoming

From the creative miz weed in wyoming, "we are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden . . . " Thank you, cynthia!!

Garden ATC swap - Melissa Woolsey, Oregon

Melissa Woolsey sent in some wonderful hand stamped, completely made of fabric, Garden ATCs!

Backs of Lenna's Garden ATCs

As promised, here's a photo of the back of my Garden ATCs that shows the back of the floral beauty cards!

Garden ATC swap - Maggie Hannigan, Canada

Here is a close-up photo of the ATCs you see me holding in my hands in an earlier post - Maggie Hannigan came over to Wolfe Island and delivered these Garden ATCs to me in person, while we were visiting Canada! Aren't they just lovely??

Garden ATCs - Lenna Andrews, CT!

Below, Lenna's garden ATCs, created with the ARTchix Studio Floral Beauties cards in the middle of them. The floral beauties cards were designed by members of the ARTchix Studio yahoo group - some of you who designed them are in this swap!! Click on any photo below for more detail. I created these ATCs so you can still read the back of the floral beauty card . . . I will have to take a photo later to show you. My scanner is out of commission at the moment ever since since my hard drive died -- but because of my smart hubby who does this sort of thing for a living, everything on my computer was saved and is recovered. I have a new hard drive too! Steven thinks we will have to change the operating system (he tried a server version) & then the scanner should hook up again!

I created these for this swap (and a couple extra) while we were away in Canada. There were a couple of stormy, rainy days that made it a good day to sit at the table, gaze at the river & do artwork. We had a wonderful vacation, and used the good sunny days for lots of boating & sailing on the river. Because we were away, and then I lost my hard drive, it feels like forever since I have posted anything here on the swaps blog. I have some catching up to do too. I have also received ATCs from Melissa Woolsey, Victoria Talcott Wormell, Cat Dodt-Ellis, Susan Metcalfe and Maggie Hannigan -- as well as a package of 20 beautiful Circle Book pages from Frieda Oxenham in Scotland!! Tomorrow I will get out my camera & share them with you.

While I was on Wolfe Island, one of the Thousand islands (the largest one) I had a special treat of meeting one of our swap participants in person and receiving her Garden ATCs - HAND DELIVERED to me! Maggie Hannigan was across the river in Kingston, Ontario for a surface design course at one of the colleges and made arrangements to meet with me the last night of our vacation. She took the ferry over, we had a lovely visit and Steven took some photos of us and Maggies ATCs. I will take some close up shots tomorrow & share them with you soon!

Garden ATCs - Vicki Page, WI

I received some wonderful ribbon embroidery ATCs from Vicki Page in Wisconsin today, wowser! You all continue to amaze me. Each set of ATCs is different and so beautiful. Thank you *all* for putting your best effort forth and making this such a great swap!

As I think some of you know, I will be away from my computer for the next 10 days or so . . . . please continue to send in your swaps as my mail will be safely held for me until my return. You do need to deliver your fabric ATCs for the Garden swap to me by July 31st in order to have them be part of the swap! Don't miss out - let that dealine drive you to create, if you have not already. I will be away from my computer, but busy making art along the St Lawrence River - creating my own 3 sets of Garden ATCs for our swap over the next week or so - yay!

Garden ATCs - Catherine van der Hoeff, The Netherlands

We have beautiful Soul Flowers ATCs from Catherine van der Hoeff in the Netherlands! Click on them for a closer view.

I just love these! Catherine enclosed a note describing HOW she made them: They are made on Kunin felt and she used a method described in the book, "Pretty Little Things" by Sally Alexander. The author described a technique called "abracadabra collage technique" where you list tasks on little pieces of paper (paint, cut, chalk, wipe, ink, etc) - put them in a bowl and draw them, then do what it says!! Catherine says she translated some of the tasks to fabric (like stitch, sequin, etc) and she said it was so much fun. Then Catherine ironed on polyfilm (plastic) to keep everything in place. Catherine writes that she hopes I like the results - I DO!!! I am so happy you made an extra ATC for me!! thank you : ))

If you are in this swap I am eagerly awaiting your ATCs as 25 more sets are due to arrive . . . remember I will be without computer access July 14th - 22nd, so I won't be able to tell you until after that date that your swap art has reached me . . . . ALL ATCs must be here by Tuesday July 31st and then I may be enlisting help to swap all these gorgeous cards!

: ) yours creatively, lenna

Garden ATCs - Fiona Brockie, Scotland UK

Gosh, everytime I get the mail (almost) it seems there is another package with ATCs inside. I guess that is because it is just 2 weeks until they are all due. Click on this photo of 3 beautiful ATCs created by Fiona Brockie from Scotland, UK, to your left. Fiona worried if hers would be up to par -- you have no worries, Fiona!



They are all wonderful. I love the titles Fiona gave each ATC - click to read . . .



Fiona also sent an extra ATC for me, thank you!

Circle Book Swap - a link

I know it's still some time until the circle book pages for that swap is due (Sept. 7th) but I was looking at Frieda Oxenham's Blog tonight and WOW! She has some circle pages done! The ones she shows are extra ones for her own Circle Book - but they are very inspiring & I cannot help but send you there with this link to: Circle pages on her Blog. Thank you, Frieda! I know she is also working on the ones she will send in for the swap - I can't wait to see those as well. She writes on her blog, "Ended up with green, turquoise, orange and one yellow page so far. Want to do more in red so that I can mail 20 pages to Lenna in due course." Oh happy days! I was thinking of using fabric on my circle pages as well (at least some of them) so Frieda's pages are giving me ideas . . . . . something Frieda seems to do for me a lot! : ^)

Also just to let you know, I have received 2 more sets of Garden ATCs today - one from Fiona Brockie in Scotland, UK - and one from Catherine van der Hoeff in the Netherlands. They have arrived safely! I will be posting scans of the ATCs in the next day or two, thank you for your patience.

Garden ATCs - Dottie Mucha, Connecticut

Dottie Mucha from Avon, Connecticut (that's my town too!) has sent in 3 sets of 3, beautiful white, soft as summer breeze Garden ATCs. Her central image is so interesting; I am not even sure how she made it? I welcome her ATCs and hope to see the rest in my mailbox soon. So far, 15 participants have sent in. We are down to 42 total in the swap, so I am waiting for 27 more! Click on any image for more detail.

Garden ATCs - Janice Perkin, UK

From Warrington, UK we have 3 more lovely fabric/garden ATCs from Janice Perkin. Thank you Janice for getting your ATCs in with plenty of time to spare, and thanks too for the beautiful old lace you sent in leiu of postage - much appreciated.

Garden ATCs - Pamela Chasen- Montreal, Canada

Another wonderful set of three ATCs for our swap! This set has come in from Pamela Chasen in Montreal, Canada. They are very beautiful and different, made with some kind of open cloth as well as other things. Thank you, Pam for participating! I am glad you had 'huge fun' making them. Pam writes that these were her first ATCs she ever made; again, I am in awe. Click on the photos for a closer view.

Garden ATCs - Frieda Oxenham, sets 2 & 3

Frieda was the very first participant to send in one set of 3 garden ATCs back in May. She has now has sent me two more sets, plus one extra ATC for me - wheeee! I feel very lucky. Frieda wrote to me recently and said, "I saw all those stunning cards on the Creative Swaps blog, and SO wanted more, so I set to work!!"

: ))) I am so glad she did, as I love Frieda's fabric art and know you will too. You can read more on how she created these beauties on her own blog. Thank you, Frieda! (You can view these ATCs in more detail if you click on the scan, enjoy!)