#40.Mary Zimany - Little Book swap!

From my friend Mary Zimany in Connecticut, USA we have 3 lovely, lovely additions to our swap! Mary also has shared a bit about them on her blog, Once upon a Muse so do check that out!

This little book has such a quiet loveliness about it.

filled with interesting tags . . .

I don't know what kind of paper it is,

but it felt almost like leather.

Look how teeny tiny this one is!

It is a baby "star" book! This is a class I have taught many times -

the full size version!

 The 3rd book

beautiful colours and tags

I love the look of this!

so super, Mary!

Thanks as well for this w o n d e r f u l  gift, Mary! 

I have never seen this selection from Prima before

and look forward to using them. xox

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!

12x12 Fabric technique swap #16: Mary Zimany, Connecticut

Wow, is all I can say! Opening the mail these days is quite a delight! It should be busy here for the next two weeks as all quilts are due in my hands on April 22nd, 2009. We have 39 participants and 23 (12x12) quilts left to come in. I will try to keep up with the posting as best as I can! Here are some details on Mary's beautiful 12x12 piece:

Please click on the photo above to read about the techniques Mary used. You can also visit Mary's Blog where she has a great post and more photos of her 12x12 for this swap. Thanks so much, Mary. I totally love your contribution to our swap and Steven does too!!

White Quilties! Mary Zimany

We have even more Shades of White Quilties! This beautiful set is from Mary Zimany in Cornwall, CT. Mary is a student and also a friend of mine : ) Mary has created 5 beautifully textured quilties that make you want to touch them! I am enjoying how the "white" theme is encouraging you to branch out & try more texture in your work. I am so pleased Mary created an extra quiltie! Thanks, Mary.

I also love the ingenious way Mary has wrapped each quiltie up . . . she sewed together a simple wax paper bag to fit each quiltie! Click on any photo for more detail. Mary also labeled the back of her quiltie by printing her info onto a transparency sheet and sewing it on to the back of each quiltie --this looks really great!



Here's a close up of Mary's Quilties . . . .

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 - 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.

Circle Book Swap - Mary Zimany, CT

Mary sent in some really interesting and beautiful circle pages for our swap . . . . she says she made the 'fabric backgrounds' in the different color waves you see, but they feel almost paper-like to me! Maybe she can leave a comment & tell us more how she created them (she did! Look in the comments for this post, below - thanks, Mary!). Here's a picture - enjoy!! I expect to receive quite a few more sets over the next few days. > : ))

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