Linda Freeman: Vintage note card swap!

This lovely envelope greeted me today -

I don't know if Linda knows how much I love mail art, but this sure had me smiling. When I emailed her later and told her so, she told me she could hardly bear to send a plain envelope anymore! A woman of my same heart and mind.  And if that was not enough, inside were her swap pieces.

Linda made beautiful little vellum folios for her note card sets

Her cards are gorgeous and she has decorated the envelopes inside and out!

The colors, layers, lace, images and charms are all magnifique!

click for a lot more detail

Thanks so much Linda! To read more about how Linda created her cards, please go to her blog, Lambsworld. Wonderful vintage cards!!

Sarah Boblit: Vintage Note Card swap!

This is Sarah's 9th creative swap! That is a lot of creative swap work, congratulations, Sarah : ^ ). Sarah sends us 3 fabulous note cards from Iowa for the swap, plus an extra one. Sarah told me she tried something different for each note card and obviously had a lot of fun making them. Her note cards are very dimensional and layered. I enjoy seeing that. I guess I like variety and we have a lot of variety in this swap so far, yay!

Beautiful layered card

The dimension on this card is wonderful.
I've even been to Belize! 

Traditionally vintage with the photo, fabric, buttons & trims.
It looks great! Click for more detail.

I love this one with the man reading the paper! It is so great. 

Thanks as always Sarah, for your creative swap pieces sent in for our swaps. To see all of Sarah's creative swap pieces click here. The link goes to this post at the very top and then all of the other swap art that Sarah has done will follow underneath. You can get the link for your own swap art by clicking on your name at the bottom of your post after "labels" OR by looking in the sidebar for VIEW THE CREATIVE SWAP ART :: BY PARTICIPANT. You'll find your name there grouped by the number of posts you have had here. Just click on your name and copy the address in the browser window!! ; )

Andrea Millington: Vintage Note Card swap!

From Andrea Millington in Cornwall, UK we have 3 note cards for the swap, plus an extra card for me. Not necessary but so sweet. Thank you! I love the one with the Ship at Sea so I am sure I will choose that one. I'm really glad the images I sent via the pdf file with registration have come in useful for you. As I said earlier, I am enjoying seeing what everyone does with what I included!

the contrast between the roses and the sketch of the woman is wonderful 

Andrea added matching ribbon to her envelopes!

lovely how she put this together -the rose paper background is perfect

I love this image from the postcard especially with the lace

my favorite 

Thank you, Andrea! So glad you participated. 

Andrea's blog is called Indigo Blue. 

Go there to read a lot more about her note cards as well as her love of fabric and textiles. 

Mary Zimany: Vintage Note Card swap!

How wonderful to have Mary Zimany from Connecticut participating in our Vintage Note Card swap. We used to get together, back when I lived in CT. Mary might take a class from me, or we would meet and share artwork over dinner, or she would participate in one of my swaps! I was so happy to see her sign up and I think you will love her cards. And, they got here in just 2 days -imagine that!

I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of seeing the different ways many of you are using the vintage images I included, like the one above. It is so much fun and very inspiring -I am getting lots of ideas.

lovely stamped envelopes

beautiful coloring

great colors and lace

 Mary has a blog called Once Upon a Muse with more instruction on how she created her cards right there. She also has a Picture Trail site and I even recognize some of her previous swap pieces there : ^ ) thanks so much, Mary -great to have you!

Sabine Schneider: Vintage note card swap!

We have wonderful note cards for our swap from Sabine Schneider in Germany!

lovely lace and images 

beautiful stamped envelopes

and a gift for me - thank you so much, Sabine!
I am sure to put all of this to good use.

Sabine's blog is called ColorFly and you can read more about how she created her note cards HERE!

Becky Sunderman: Vintage note card swap!

My mail box was brightened yesterday by an envelope from Becky S. in Arkansas. Besides her participation in creative swaps, I know Becky from fabric-related groups where she arranged for me to teach the group members. It is a pleasure to have her here in the Vintage note card swap. Her cards and envelopes are a little bit different (which I love) and so beautiful!

wonderful set

I love the red trim on this card

 matching envelopes, mmmm!

The netting is brilliant : ) It really adds to the Vintage appeal.

Wonderful!

Thanks so much, Becky!

Artful pages - A new workshop

Shame on me for not mentioning my new project on the creative swaps blog yet! It's a collaborative book arts class that will be taught online by 4 different artists, covering 4 different aspects of book arts. Can you guess that one of the collaborating artists is me?! This new workshop will be taught "live" from February 20th - March 18th with a Flickr group for sharing your art as you move through the lessons. The instructors and your fellow classmates can comment on the class work you upload and in my experience, this has been a friendly, caring, nurturing environment. I've always learned a lot and often been very inspired by what I saw in similarly organized classes by Mary Green of Green Paper. She is organizing this workshop too! The 4 artists 4 ways password protected blog used for distributing the lessons will stay open indefinitely, giving you plenty of time to work at your own pace. If this sounds like your cup of tea, go to Artful Pages - 4 artists 4 ways to learn more about what we will be offering and to sign up! I'll give you an idea, a sneak peak of some of the things covered in my lessons below. My portion will be 3 lessons (out of 12) on Artful Altered Books and I can't wait!

I will teach you about gel medium transfers -
this one was done directly in my sample book.

various page backgrounds for your artwork will be discussed
 -this is just one i will teach you!

And LOTs more!!

I hope to see you in this workshop!

I will leave the 4 artists 4 ways banner at the top of the blog for you.

Click on the banner or the link above to find out more! 

Frieda Oxenham: Vintage Note Card swap!

I received Frieda's note cards the other day and they are so delicious. The note cards and envelopes even smell good because she coffee dyed them! It did take Frieda's package about 3 weeks to travel from the Scottish Borders to Florida . . . so please make sure you plan accordingly, especially if you are mailing overseas. You have 5 weeks to get your note cards delivered to me! You'll see 4 sets below, as Frieda made an extra for me. Thank you so much, it will be difficult to choose . . .

beautiful envelope and card

back of card  : )

gorgeous fabric, lace and beading

a famous beauty in her day

Beautiful!! 

Read more about these cards including the images Frieda used, the coffee dying of the papers . . . here:
 http://friedaquilter.blogspot.com/2010/12/vintage-notecards.html

: ^)))))) thank you, Frieda!!

Joanna Urbani: vintage note card swap!

Joanna's note cards took a little while to get here from the UK, I think because of the huge amount of snow they had? Her package spent 11 or 12 days traveling instead of the usual 5-7. But what a delight when the cards arrived yesterday! I must share the mail art envelope Joanna sent them in, as I love it so much. Click for detail.

Thanks so much, Joanna!

And here are the lovely cards and envelopes that were wrapped up inside . . . .

The back of the envelopes and cards, below

I love the thumbprint seal on the back of the envelopes.
Joanna labeled her cards very nicely too. 

Beautiful Note Cards!

Joanna explains how she made her note cards and tells us some of the materials she used on her blog, Fiddlesnips! Go give her a visit : ^ )

Margriet van Schaik: vintage note card swap!

Wow, we have some beautiful note cards making their way to my mailbox already! These are from Margriet van Schaik and have traveled all the way from the Netherlands. Thanks soooooo much for joining us, Margriet! If you have a blog or a website please let me know and I will share it here.

A beautiful mix of paper and lace

I really like Margriet's handmade stamp
that she put on the back of each card

She decorated the envelopes and lined both
the envelope and the card

just gorgeous! the music page is such a great background.

I love all the buttons & lace

Thank you so much for the sweet goody pack,
not required, but very appreciated!

What a wonderful start to our Vintage note card swap. Between Susan, Marnie, Jo Ann, Donna, Nancy & Margriet we have a great variety of awesome cards already here and posted on the blog! Frieda & Joanna have sent theirs from the UK, but with the unusual amount of snow they are having, their parcels are still en route. Make sure to leave plenty of time for your cards to arrive BY February 26th!