Kate North: mail Art Swap!

From the UK, Kate North has sent us 4 completely different envelopes. I love this! It is very interesting when the envelopes (or any swap pieces) are different from one another, but it is never a requirement with me. When I do multiples for a swap or exchange that I am participating in, my pieces are usually made the same, with variations. If you create all your swap pieces the same for one of my swaps -it is fine by me! Some people work better if they can try out different ideas, so I welcome this as well. Below are the fronts and backs of all 4 pieces of mail Art Kate sent in. Thanks so much for the extra one for me! I love, love, love the Winnie the Pooh postage stamp you chose.

Kate has an active blog where you can see more of her art: Kate's quilting and other Fiber Arts. She also hosts exchanges! I have signed up to be part of her journal quilt exchange (1 for 1): Another little Quilt swap. I am looking forward to getting busy with this project when I complete this swap!

ATC Swap: Love gone wild set #22: Kate North, New Malden UK

oh my, I think things are growing wildly in Kate's English Garden!!
Truthfully, what a great idea Kate came up with for our swap. I love her fabric and paper ATCs. Thanks so much, Kate for participating in so many of my swaps.

Kate has a blog, Kate's Quilting and other fiber arts - go there to see and read a bit more!

Sneak Peeks: Kate North and Margriet van Tol

Kate North in the UK let me know that her ATCs for the Love Gone Wild were done, and she'd be sending them to me soon! Check them out one her blog, Kate's Quilting (& other fibre arts). I definitely think they are wild enough Kate, and i love your 'overgrown garden' idea.

A few days ago, Margriet van Tol, from the Netherlands let me know she had created her ATCs - in fact she had created 9 and has chosen 4 for the swap. Which 4 are a secret until i recieve them, but you can see all of Margriet's ATCs in this flickr set she created. It is really fun for me to see that Margriet used some of the images i provided in the mini-ATC lesson pdf file i sent out for the swap!

Great job, both of you! When your ATCs arrive, I will scan or photograph which ones you sent for the swap and get them up here on the swaps blog for everyone to enjoy! : ) lenna young andrews - January 21st, 2010 -p.s. there are still some spots left and all ATCs are due in my hands February 15th!

12x12 Fabric technique swap #10: Kate North, New Malden, UK

A lovely 12x12 quilt is from Kate North in the UK. Thanks so much for participating Kate -- this makes 10 creative swaps you have completed! Please click on the photo above to read about how Kate challenged herself for this swap. To see more of Kate's work, please visit her blog!

WINNERS for most creative ATCs . . .

Well, as you can imagine, it was a most difficult task for me to decide on "the most creative" ATCs for our Alpha Stamps sponsored, Alice in Wonderland Artist Trading Card swap. Fortunately, Leslie Elledge, the owner and woman extraordinaire behind Alpha Stamps, sent me 2 Wonderland Tarot Decks! This has made it easier for me to choose. I am awarding TWO first prizes for the 'most creative' and each winner will receive a Wonderland Tarot deck, thanks to Leslie. Here's a peek at what the decks look like:

(drum roll . . ) First prize #1 goes to Sharon Walworth from Rhode Island! See her work below.

Sharon created her own background for her ATCs out of pretty recycled shopping bags and silk flower petals, then copied it all onto card stock for a smooth look as her ATC base. I love the way Sharon stitched on paper to make it look like fabric. Her composition is very appealing, the layering she did is wonderful, and she made very creative use of embellishments, like ribbons, trims, fibers, beads & buttons and even a round paper clip. Fantastic! Congratulations, Sharon! Your Wonderland Deck will be included with your swapped cards : ))

First Prize #2 goes to Shannon Sawyer from Arizona!! See her work below.

Shannon's work always amazes me! It is hard to know where to begin to point out all the creativeness in Sharon's ATCs . . . The way Shannon puts together images is really amazing. On the top right, she combines Alice from the I wonder sheet with a tea cup from the Teaspoons clear stamp set by having Alice link her arm through the handle of the cup! Top left, Sharon puts Alice standing on a brass tea cup. The Alice image is cut out and placed on the ATC with foam tape for even more dimension. Below that, bottom left, is my favorite of Shannon's ATCs. She has used rubber stamps from the Teaspoons clear stamp set and placed both a rabbit and Alice balancing on one of the teaspoons! The legs sticking out of the pitcher is Shannon's creativity showing up again; you will find it is a plain pitcher on the Teaspoons clear rubber stamp set! Congratulations, Shannon! Your Wonderland Deck will be included with your swapped cards : ))

. . . And I have a runner-up prize that I would like to announce too, and it goes to Kate North in New Malden, UK!

I thought the way Kate combined her fabrics, fibers and mesh to create her ATCs, then embellished with beads, buttons and charms was top-notch! I had to give her a mention. Kate will receive an assortment of fabrics & images from my stash with her swapped ATCs, to supply her for her next project : ))

Thank you ALL! Now it is my turn to get busy on swapping the ATCs as my office looks like this:

We had 22 participants complete the swap, all of whom will receive a gift collage sheet from Alpha Stamps. To everyone who is IN the swap, I will email you when the packages are sent -sometime this week. Thank you.

Alice in Wonderland ATC swap: Kate North, Surrey, UK

Kate has sent in so many different and interesting "Alice" ATCs I'm finding it difficult to narrow down what I share with you! Kate has her own blog, Kate's Quilting . . . where you will find a post about these ATCs with a link to her flickr account for more pictures of the full set. In the meantime, indulge me here!





Kate's ATCs use the image sheets I Wonder, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party #1 and the Mad Hatter's Tea Party #2 -- all found at Alpha Stamps.

I was also delightfully surprised to receive the coolest little hostess gift from Kate . . . see the two photos below. Thank you so much Kate - you really made me smile!




The "drink me" bottle is filled with micro beads!! : )

Star Ornament Swap! Kate North - UK

From Kate North in England, we have received some really wonderful and creative 6-sided fabric stars with poly clay faces and lots of danglies! Kate was so kind and made an extra one for me, thanks so much. I love Kate's moo cards (mini business cards). You may see them peeking out behind her stars -they have a tiny photo of one of the same poly clay faces!

Kate has a blog where she posted her ornaments & wrote about them. Check it out here! Her blog is filled with lots of interesting art, mostly quilt & fibre -she is very busy and prolific! A close up of Kate's stars is here:

Shades of Sunshine Quilties: Kate North ~ UK

I am really loving all the different "shades" of sunshine we are receiving for this swap! From Kate in England, we have a number of lovely, rich shades combined with quilting and buttons and stitching all over, oh my! Kate made a wonderful bookmark for me the same way she made her quilts, and then she tucked in extra fabric in for me to play with! Thanks so much, Kate.

Take a closer look at Kate's creations for the swap by clicking on any photo.

Row House Swap: Kate North ~ Surrey, UK

Oh, I love these bold houses sent in by Kate from England! She wrote a bit about making them, complete on her blog and she also has a lovely set of close-ups of each house on her flickr account. One of my favorites is the one with the gears, shown here to the right. All of Kate's houses are very dimensional and very interesting. Instead of making an extra swap piece for me, Kate gave me a delicious goodie bag of fabrics and collage bits plus a cool ATC. Thanks so much!

Shades of Spring/ Brown + Blue Quilties: Kate North

Kate North from the UK has been so patient with me! I believe I received her Shades of Spring -Brown & Blue Quilties over a week ago. I let her know, but I had so much to do with finishing up the Grimm Fairytale collage swap that I just had to wait until now to photograph and add her quilties to the creative swaps blog. Thanks for your patience, Kate.

Kate has done a lovely job with her Shades of Spring Quilties and enclosed a note saying "what a nice swap theme! I had fun with it." Kate was also very kind and created an extra quiltie for me - thank you! I love all the free-motion stitching Kate has done. You can see more of this on the back of her quilties, below -- and you can click on any photo for more detail.



Kate has her own blog and wrote about her quilties in a post last month -go here to read it. This is so great -Kate sent me the link to her blog when she sent off her swap pieces to me. My new plan is to scan or photograph one or two pieces myself for this blog and then add a link (if available) to more of the participant's art. Participants can upload their swap art to their own blogs, PictureTrail, or Flickr account if they like and I will share the link. This will save me tons of time scanning, cropping, resizing and uploading the swap pieces. Phew! Plus you'll get to visit fellow participants blogs and photo sites!

Thanks for understanding.

Altered by Design ATC swap: Kate North

Wow! 'Red Divas' is Kate North's first set of ATCs sent in for the Angel-Fairy-Divas Altered by Design swap and I must admit I am in love with them! Red is not a favorite color of mine, but I just love the stiking beauty of this set of ATCs Kate created for our swap. See a few close-ups below . . . . .

Kate created a second more angelic set which you can view below -click on the photos for more details. Thanks so much for the extras, Kate!

White Quilties! Kate North

I have received 5 lovely, lovely white quilties from Kate North, across the pond in Surrey, UK. Thanks so much for making an extra one for me, Kate . . . your quilties are so textural and quite unusual! What a treat I get to keep one for myself!

Kate does a lot of traditional quilting -I know because she has been an on-line student of mine, but I consider these particular quilties very "arty" with all the texture and the feathers. I love them! Kate has even incorporated paper into her quilties. Look for the more off-white sections. . . click on any photo for more detail.

Kate blogged about making her white quilties on her own blog. Go here to Kate's blog if you'd like to read her post and check out her other fiber art.




Kate labeled her white quilties by writing on a piece of paper & sewing the paper to the back of her quilties - see below:

And here are ALL of the quilties with the photo taken at an angle so you can see all the texture. : ) definitely click on this one for the larger photo!

Valentine Ornament Swap: Kate North

From Surrey, England - our first International arrival of Valentine ornaments for our swap! Kate North has sent 3 wonderful ornaments for the swap and an extra one for me -- thanks so much Kate! I am showing the front of 3 of her ornaments here, and the back of one of them, as I love how she put these hearts together. You can click on my scan for greater detail, and also visit Kate's own Blog, Kate's Quilting (& other fibre arts) for her own post on how she created her ornaments!

These are due in my hands February 2nd - THREE weeks from this post, so I expect to be inundated with love & hearts soon!