A look into swapping out the Mother Goose ATCs!

Here's what the floor of my office looked like, before I even swapped any of the ATCs for our swap. This was just the preparing stage! You can be very sure that the door to my office was closed at all times during this procedure to keep curious, playful kittens at bay! It really was not a bad job; I prepare by setting everyone's work out on top of their mailing envelope and then I usually figure out the swapping on paper first; making a chart of sorts. When doing the actual, physical swapping there always seems to be one piece leftover needing a swap, so I end up doing another swap with someone to make sure everyone gets different art in the exchange. It typically works out without too much of a hitch. : ) Packaging them up after they are swapped is another job it itself, but I don't mind doing it despite the work because of all the great art I get to see first-hand. Thank you for joining my art swaps! They were all mailed yesterday, November 5th, 2007 - and included a gift from Alpha Stamp's owner Leslie Elledge.

Below is a peek at the folders I told you I was making for the swap to hold your swap returns . . . . . they are stamped with Humpty Dumpty and Three Little Kittens rubber stamps from Alpha Stamps.

Mother Goose ATC swap - 1st & 2nd place winners!

. . . Well, everyone is a winner, really . . . . as each participant in the Alpha Stamps Mother Goose ATC swap will be receiving a free gift from Leslie at Alpha Stamps when I send your swaps home to you! Also, everyone will be receiving their Mother Goose ATCs in a little hand stamped and painted ATC Folder I have created for you, just because I felt like it! There is a photo of my first mock-up of this folder on my website if you'd like to see. I'll post some photos here eventually, but for now, I will let the actual folders for this swap be a surprise!

But, wasn't there something else, you say??
Wasn't there mention in the swap call of a special first prize for the most creative artwork; a Mother Goose Tote bag printed on 2 sides?? Yes! This was mentioned! And since the deadline for this swap was Saturday, all the swap entries have come in and I have just now gotten all the swaps scanned & uploaded - sorry for my delay! We are finally CLOSING on our new home tomorrow & I have been busy with that instead. Without further ado, I would like to announce the First Prize Winner, She will receive a Mother Goose Tote Bag, perfect for holding books, art projects or whatever ~ donated by Leslie Elledge of Alpha Stamps . . . . . the winner of the First Prize is the person who created this ATC:

SANDY BABB!! of Quill Cottage

I thought Sandy had the most creative and most exceptional Mother Goose fabric ATCs of the whole wonderful bunch. You will be amazed to learn that this was Sandy's first ever swap, and the first ATC's that she ever made, wow! Sandy did do some investigating & learned about ATCs via the internet, and you can read about it here on her blog, Quill Cottage - This is where she also tells us how she created her wonderful folded & pop-up ATCs!

* Congratulations to Miss Sandy! *

I will be sending you your Mother Goose Tote bag from Alpha Stamps with your ATCs that you'll receive in trade, later this week. : ) You'll also receive some collage bits from me!

***

Additionally, I thought there was one more set of ATCs that were really different & creative - enough to merit a 2nd place prize winner in this swap. A large goodie bag of collage pieces will be sent to the person who created these beautiful ATCs:

MARY ZIMANY!! : ))

Mary's ATCs are so wonderfully different and beautiful - so creative, I wanted to award her a small prize too. Congratulations, Mary! I will send you your extra special collage pack with your ATCs. I hope to get the swaps in the mail by Thursday or Friday . . . I still need to physically swap them & pack them up, adding the gift from Alpha Stamps. I will keep you posted on my progress, and please wish me luck that all goes according to plan tomorrow at the closing! We have been renting here until now when the owner was ready to close . . . it should go A-OK.

I so enjoyed this swap - you all amazed me at what you did with the Alpha Stamps Mother Goose images, wow! : ) creatively yours, lenna

Mother Goose ATCs - Vicky Martindale, MI

From Vicky Martindale in Michigan, this is the final scan for our Mother Goose Swap! We had 23 participants complete their Alpha Stamps fabric ATCs and get them in on time - hooray! Vicky used images from the Queen of Hearts #1 sheet in sepia; so lovely!! Thank you, Vicky.

Below are all of Vicky's ATCs - click on the scan for more detail!

Mother Goose ATCs - Rena Matus, CT

From Rena Matus in my home state of CT, 6 very cute Humpty Dumpty fabric ATCs! Rena hand stamped Humpty Dumpty onto fabric to create her ATCs. You can see the rubber stamp she used that's offered by Alpha Stamps, HERE. I really like these, Rena. Thanks for your great ATCs! Rena also included a funny poem on the back of her ATCs. Click on the scan below to read it! (hmmm, it's still kind of small!) It reads ~ The Rewrite ~

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, this little egghead was just too darn cute to have a great fall. So out came the blankets and out came the sheets, and the Royal eggcatchers caught Humpty before he hit the street." : ))

Mother Goose ATCs - Melissa Woolsey, OR

From Melissa Melissa in Oregon - hand stamped and sewed, 'Laugh Little Dog' fabric ATCs! I love them!! Melissa used the Mother Goose Little Dog Laughed rubber stamp from Alpha Stamps, so cool! She added embroidered flowers and beautifully hand-stitched them together. Thanks so much, Melissa!!

Mother Goose ATCs - Vickie Trancho, NY

From Vickie Trancho in NY - ATCs with a door! This close up, above shows a fabric sheet image Vickie used from Alpha Stamp's My Lady's garden. Don't you just love all the fibers Vickie has added to her ATCs? See the photo below to get an idea of ALL of Vickie's fabric ATCs - click on any photo for more detail. Thank you, Vickie for your contribution!

Mother Goose ATCs - update

Just a note to let you know I have a few more packages here to scan, but I have run out of time tonight!! I will finish uploading the rest of the ATCs & updating you by monday . . . . if you have any questions let me know. I have to finish my little folders to contain your 5 ATCs you'll receive . . . I am waiting for the gift sheets for each participant to arrive from Alpha Stamps (on their way) and of course I have to physically swap all these babies & package them up! Not to worry, it will be great fun. I will keep you informed, but plan on sending everything out to everybody by Thursday at the latest. You have all done a fantastic job - There will be an announcement too, after the final scans are uploaded for the first place winner of the Mother Goose Tote bag from Alpha Stamps for the most creative artwork!! Stay tuned - I will be back with more scans soon to finish this swap up - thanks!! : ) lenna

Mother Goose ATCs - Cynthia Zdanzukas, CT

Cynthia Zdanzukas dropped these beautiful ATCs off in my mailbox to make sure they got here on time! Wow, I love the sweetness of them. Cynthia said that she was quite busy and really had to carve out time to create these, but she was so glad she did. She had a lot of fun! Cynthia used fabric sheet images from Alpha Stamps My Lady's Garden, Quite Contrary #2 and Queen of Hearts #4 - wow! Really so soft and pretty. Thak you, Cynthia!! Here is more of her art below; click on any scan for more detail . . .

Mother Goose ATCs - Ginny Ballou, MA

From Ginny Ballou in MA, her first fabric ATCs. We would not know this if you didn't tell us this! : ) Ginny used images from the Alpha Stamps Mother Goose Book Covers fabric sheet. This sheet and also the Queen of Hearts sheets, fabric or cardstock - seem to be very popular with my Mother Goose swap participants!

A close up of one of Ginny's ATCs is below. Thanks so much, Ginny! Click on the scan for a close-up view.

Mother Goose ATCs - Cynthia Weed, WY

Cynthia Weed has sent in TWO sets of very cleverly designed Mother Goose ATCs. Two sets of 6 is really fine with me . . . there are plenty of MG ATCs to swap with and I can send 10 back to Cynthia, have an extra one for Leslie at Alpha Stamps -- plus an extra one for me - Wowser! Thank you, Miz Weed!
Cynthia used images from the fabric sheet Queen of Hearts #3 - see them along the bottom left of this "just cooking"ATC??

I really like the way Cynthia combined various images and you'll see that the words she used are really different too. Even the BACK of her ATCs are really interesting!! I will show you . . . click on this scan to see it better.


Shown here are the fronts of the 2 sets Cynthia made : )

Mother Goose ATCs - Janice Perkin, UK

From Janice Perkin in the UK, hooray! Despite postal strikes there, Janice's lovely ATCs have arrived here in the States in plenty of time. Janice chose images from the Alpha Stamps fabric sheets Quite Contrary #1 and #2 AND she added pressed flowers and real shells!! Here is a close-up of one of my favorite ATCs of Janice's below - click on the scan for more detail.

Mother Goose ATCs - Victoria Wormell, CT

From Victoria Talcott Wormell in CT (another talented student of mine!) we have 6 beautiful fabric ATCs using the half-sheet from Alpha Stamps called: My Lady's Garden. I love the fabric Victoria chose to pair with the strips of music score and flowers that come on this fabric sheet. Thanks, Victoria! I'm looking forward to receiving your fabric bag too. : ) The scan of ALL of Victoria's ATCs are below; click on any image for more details.

100th Post! (and the Alpha Stamps gallery)

I keep forgetting to tell you that I am also posting all the Mother Goose fabric ATCs for our swap sponsored by Alpha Stamps, on the Alpha Stamp on-line Gallery. Click on the link and look under Swaps for Lenna's Mother Goose Swap! It's nice to view them all together, and Alpha Stamp aficionados can make comments there too, so check it out! : ) lenna

Mother Goose ATCs - Dottie Mucha, CT

Dottie Mucha was able to hand deliver her ATCs directly to my mailbox, wow! Since we have moved, Dottie is now a neighbor of mine, what fun! (and so easy for art swaps!) In fact, Dottie will be attending a local workshop I will be teaching called "Quilties" at Sew Inspired in Simsbury CT in just about 2 weeks. : ))

Anyway, Dottie so kindly dropped off 7 ATCs; an extra one for me, 1 for Alpha Stamps - and then Dottie will receive 5 in exchange later this month. Dottie's ATCs are created from The Peter, Pumpkin eater fabric sheet from Alpha Stamps, and she has stamped "The PICK of the PATCH" over the images - it looks just right! Thanks Dottie.

Mother Goose ATCs - Fiona Brockie, Scotland

From Fiona Brockie in Scotland, 6 wonderfully stitched and put together Mother Goose ATCs have arrived, despite the postal stikes in the UK. Thank goodness Fiona snuck them through during a break in the strikes, which were declared illegal! Fiona has used Alpha Stamps fabric sheet images from the Queens of Hearts 1, 2, and 3 sheets! She has also used a great decorative heart stitch to embellish her ATCs.

The 2 ATCs above are my favorite, but you can see all of her ATCs below. Just click on the scanned picture for more detail. Thank you, Fiona!

Mother Goose ATCs - Mary Zimany, CT

Mary Zimany is a student of mine who has taken quite a few classes from me in person here in CT. I have not taught a lot locally over the past year or two -- some of the local stores have closed and I have moved (twice!!) but Mary has kept in touch with me and I consider her not only a student, but a friend. My husband Steven & I always wait with anticipation to see what Mary will do with my swap themes! Steven is quite partial to Mary's art because she has created a number of personal pieces for us . . . I will add some photos of a pocket tag book she made for us below. ANYWAY, Mary never ceases to amaze me with her creativity! I waited for Steven to get home from work last night & we opened Mary's package of ATCs for the Mother Goose Swap together, and ooohed and ahhh'd! Click on the scans for more details . . . these ATCs are so different. I love the way they are put together a little 'off-kilter'. They are stained (tea-dyed??) and layered, with perfectly wonderful messy edges and Mary has used netting to hold shrink plastic pieces in place! wow, Mary!!!

Below (blue, with stars!) is Mary's Book she made for us. It was an extra book she included when sending in her swaps for a Book Swap I hosted in 2005... right before Steven & I got married! I remember her enclosing a note explaining she had copied the photos off of my website - ONLY for the purpose of creating the pocket book for us - it was a surprise!! This is one of Steven's Favorites! I should explain that the cover of the book is a copy of a small canvas collage I had quickly made and gave to Steven the first week of our courtship. Looking back, we both marvel that the rubber stamp I used "What If?" was more appropriate than we knew at the time! Thank you, Mary.

Mother Goose ATCs - Linda Eustace, CA

From Linda Eustace in California I have recieved lovely, soft to the touch, fabric ATCs featuring the fabric sheet of Mother Goose Book Covers! They are all so wonderful, but my favorite of Linda's is the Humpty Dumpty one. Linda added little "glasses" and a cute triangle hat! Click on any photo for more detail, and I will add a close up of my favorite below. On the back of her ATCs Linda backed them with additional Mother Goose Story Covers, this time in paper. Way cool!!

Mother Goose ATCs - Sandy Babb, AR

WoW! I had a peek at these on Sandy's blog earlier this week, but when they arrived of course, I found them to be even more incredible in person. Sandy Babb from Arkansas has created 6 ATCs that *open up* for our swap; some of them are even pop-ups! These ATCs each have their own decorated holder too. Here are some photos. You can click on any one of them for more detail. Your work is amazing, Sandy. Your use of stitching & pop-ups is so wonderful. Thank you for participating!!

Mother Goose ATCs - Renee Shedivy, WI

From Renee Shedivy in Wisconsin, 6 fantastic fabric ATCs from Alpha Stamps' Mother Goose Book Covers fabric sheet. Renee wrote a note and said that this was her 1st online challenge - wow! I would not have known. Renee used ribbons, a charm, angelina fibers and some good imagination to create these ATCs - and did a wonderful job!
I am going to have a lot of fun swapping these out . . . I always try to trade artwork between artists whose work I think the other will love or appreciate . . .
thank you, Renee!