Alice in Wonderland ATC swap: Carol Murphy, California

WoW! Carol Murphy's ATCs for our Alpha Stamps Alice in Wonderland ATC swap arrived (the first ones in besides mine) and they look so great! I have a scan of all of them in their plastic pocket page, here to the right. Click on it for more detail. Carol used images from an Alpha Stamps' sheet of her own design, Sweet Alice. These ATCs are so lovely! Lots of layering with German Scrap Borders, punchella, thread wrapping, with brads and little flowers; simply beautiful!

Thanks so much Carol for the time you took with these and the extra one for me. Awesome!

***'Altered by Design' ATC swap!***

Mosaic of 'Altered by Design' ATCs for a swap I hosted! originally uploaded by creativelenna.

All of the ATCs for our swap due May 23rd have been swapped and SENT out. Hooray!
I try to wrap things up and send everything out to you within one week's time, that is always my goal. I am so glad to have accomplished that again!

The Mosaic I made that you see here is a sampling of the ATCs that were sent in for the swap. I tried to include one from everyone, and as the sponsor of the swap, Carol Murphy has 3 ATCs in this Mosaic! You can test your memory and see if you can remember who created which one . . . or just scroll down through the posts and easily match them up.

A personal note: My husband and I leave on Sunday to visit my parents in Florida for a week! My dad has been ill this winter with heart problems (a pacemaker, etc), a cancerous tumor in his color, an ulcer, arthritis in his back, 2 major infections, and because of this he has been hospitalized or in a rehab facility for THREE months.

My verY GoOd NewS is that my dad came home yesterday!! His infections have cleared up enough so this is possible and we are all so grateful. My dad still has 1 more operation to go through, but that won't happen until later this summer. He needs a break! What a relief and a wonderful treat that he is well enough to be home when we visit . . . thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who has been thinking of my dad, to those of you who added him to your prayers, and to all of you who sent me such supportive emails! I can't really even express in words how much this has meant to me!

yours creatively, lenna

Altered by Design swap's most creative ATCs ~ Shannon Sawyer!

I am pleased to announce that Carol Murphy as sponsor of this swap has chosen a first prize winner for the most creative ATCs in our Altered by Design Angels*Fairies*Divas swap . . . . . . . and the winner is: Shannon Sawyer!! See one of Shannon's incredible ATCs to the right. A big congratulations to Shannon! Carol will be sending you a copy of Bernie Berlin's Artist Trading Card Workshop. This is a wonderful book that I am sure you will enjoy. Carol also wrote an email that she would like me to share with you (below). . . and if everyone takes a peek at the post of your own art, you'll see that Carol also left a comment for everyone. : ) Here's Carol's email:

Hi Lenna- I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you hosting this swap and just how much I love everyone's ATCs. I never dreamed my little ladies would take on so many personalities and be so versatile! It brought tears to my eyes to view everyone's work- everyone taking so much care and time to make them just gorgeous!

It was such a difficult choice to choose a winner-I can't tell you how difficult- but I did finally settle on one artist - Shannon Sawyer. Your ATCs just blew me away-such attention to detail and they are all just exquisite! Lots of mixed media used and breathtaking color combinations. Also lots of techniques used- best all around and that's how I chose. All of the ladies are winners in my book and I am honored to have had all of them participate in my very first "Altered By Design" swap!

Huge hugs and thanks to everyone- especially to you Lenna for being such a gracious hostess and a wonderfully sweet person -Carol"

Carol Murphy: http://www.alteredbydesign.com/

Joggles Instructor: http://www.joggles.com/

Krafty Lady DT Member: http://www.kraftylady.com/

Altered by Design ATC swap: Carol Murphy

Carol Murphy is: Altered by Design! Carol is the designer of the collage sheets that we have been using, She sells them through joggles.com and a few other places. I have known Carol through email for some time; we both have taught classes at joggles and we have even taken each others' classes! One day Carol wrote me and asked me if I would like to do a swap using her image sheets. I am so glad I said YES! Carol's images are so varied, from really beautiful to very avant garde. I would not have become so familiar with her collage sheets if I had not hosted this swap. I am even making a set of ATCs for the swap, which I will upload soon . . . . that's how much I like them - I had to use them myself!

Carol is also an extremely generous sponsor. She has created a gift collage sheet for each participant and included a "snippets" pack of random images for each participant. She is awarding whomever she thinks made the most creative ATCs with a copy of the Artist Trading card Workshop by Bernie Berlin as a first prize! Wow.

But that is not all . . . Carol created an ATC for each & every participant! She made 24 beautiful ATCs that I will show you here. Amazing!! Are you ready?? I will shown them to you below and I'll be back later with my own ATCs and the announcement of the winner that Carol chooses. : ^ )

Also -Please look in the side bar of this blog (at the top) as I have installed a new "email notification" service. It is a FREE service and seems very well organized (I even signed up myself!). This will send you an email only when I update the blog with new swap art or perhaps more importantly, new swap calls! You can set the message delivery preferences too -check it out, it's called FeedBlitz!

Here are all of Carol's very creative & beautiful ATCs -one for everyone in the swap!!

Thank YOU, Carol!

New Swap #5: ‘Altered by Design’ Angels, Fairies & Divas ATC swap 6 for 5

2008 - swap #5 - An ‘Altered by Design’ sponsored Angels, Fairies & Divas ATC swap due May 24th!

Think “Diva Darlings” and create 6 ATCs on the theme of angels, fairies and/or divas for 5 ATCs in return, using any of Altered by Design collage sheet images. The extra ATC will go to the sponsor/hostess of the swap. This swap is due in my hands May 24, 2008. Late entries will be returned.
Requirements: Your ATCs should be 2.5 x 3.5 in size, landscape or portrait orientation. The base of the ATC can be created from fabric, cardstock or both. Each ATC must have one ‘Altered by Design’ collage sheet image by Carol Murphy incorporated into it's design. These images can be found for purchase at joggles.com where there are many beautiful sheets to choose from on all different themes. Participants in this swap can create Angel ATCs, Fairy ATCs or Diva (beautiful women) ATCs using Carol Murphy’s wonderful collage sheets. Create some of each kind or create all on one theme. I will leave that decision totally up to you! You will receive a variety of ATCs in return.

Please look at Carol’s collage sheets and you will certainly be inspired to create for this swap! You might recognize the “Be my Valentine” collage sheet, as Carol used these images for her Valentine Ornaments in our recent creative swap (left). There is even one collage sheet called “Darling Diva Potpourri” – it would be just perfect for this swap.

An Important Note!! Each participant will receive an ‘Altered by Design’ limited edition collage sheet created just for the participants by Carol, along with a "Snippet Pack" (random images from Carol’s collage sheets) with their swap returns. One lucky artist will be awarded a special first prize for the most creative ATCs. Carol Murphy, the sponsor of this creative swap, is awarding this first prize participant a copy of Bernie Berlin’s fabulous book, the Artist Trading Card Workshop. WOW!

*Because participation is limited you must email lenna to check availability and to sign up for any of the creative swaps. Please include your first and last name along with your preferred email address for correspondence. After I receive your email I will let you know promptly if there is room in the swap you desire to join - and sign you up, if there is/or put you on a waiting list, if there is not. Once your participation is confirmed, I will send you via email the full details of this swap including mailing instructions. Your swaps must arrive to me -by the due date. Create your swaps and send them along with your label/envelope/shipping funds. All swaps will be mailed to you promptly in early June, 2008. As the swaps arrive, I will post your artwork on the creative swaps blog for all to enjoy. If you have a personal blog or website, send the address to me with your swap pieces and I will add that to your post of your swap pieces.
This swap is limited to 35 players. I'm looking forward to this! : ) lenna

Valentine Ornament Swap: Carol Murphy

This is a close-up scan of one of Carol Murphy's valentine ornaments for our swap ~ wowser! So beautiful! Carol hails from California and is a mixed-media friend of mine & fellow instructor at joggles.com! Carol used beautiful images from her own Altered by Design sheets - you can find these at joggles too. She also used UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) for the coated/crackly look. So wonderful, thank you Carol.

Click on any photo for a larger picture. Directly below are the 3 ornaments Carol created for our swap:














Carol created this blue one especially for me . . . amazingly beautiful, isn't it?? I feel very lucky!



And lastly, a close up below to show more of the detail of Carol's ornaments -wow!

Well, I have uploaded a lot of files lately and the valentine swap is winding down with just a few more days to go. I am just waiting for about 5-9 more packages and will be enlisting the kittens help to sort and swap soon - NOT! (I close the door!)
They also help me with laundry a lot . . . as you can see below!

Circle Book Swap - Carol Murphy, CA

Carol Murphy, a talented mixed media artist & instructor from California is participating in our Circle Book Swap - lucky us! She really blew me away with her creative approach to these pages . . . she has utilized encaustics - she teaches a great class on this -- and Carol used some of her own papers, artchix and other images, transparencies, she added an edging to the pages - wow! She sent 15 + and extra page for me so I have two scans of her pages for you to see - click on them for more detail!!! Carol also wrote in with some answers to Jo~Ann's question on HOW she created her circle pages - check at the very bottom of this post - click on COMMENTS.

Thank YOU carol!!

~To enjoy all the great work that has been coming my way, scroll down a few more posts . . .

Deadline for all pages is Friday, September 7th!