Siri Opdal: By the Sea ATC swap

ATCs from Siri Opdal in Norway have arrived! Siri enjoys stitching fabric and has participated in my creative swaps a dozen times now. You can view her beautifully stitched & collaged previous swap pieces here. Siri sent in 2 sets of 3 ATCs, plus 1 extra for me, made with fabric and attached to cardstock. They are wonderful! 

Thank you for your continued participation, Siri! I love receiving your swap pieces created with fabric & stitching. 

Cheryl Roeske: By the Sea ATC swap!

Cheryl heard about this swap from her friend, Laura Hummel - so glad to have you join us for your 1st creative swap! Cheryl is also from Maryland and she sent in 2 sets of 3 ATCs as well as an extra one. Thanks so much! What a wonderful variety she made. Just click on the images to view them larger.

😊 To the group: hope to see your ATCs come swimming to me soon! 

The Due Date is: In my hands June 24th. This will be a great swap, so try not to miss it!

Laura Hummel: By the Sea ATC swap

A set of Lovely Sailboats and enchanting island cottages arrived in my mailbox on Friday, from Laura Hummel in Maryland! I'm not sure, but I think Laura used Tea Bag paper for her ATCs. She also added a bit of fabric and stitched it to her paper ATC. Wow, I just love the style of these! Thanks so much for the extra ATC for me, Laura. 

This is Laura's 13th creative swap! She told me in a note that she has kept everything from all the swaps she was in and treasures all of them. 💓so nice to hear. :o)

We are sailing towards June 24th! Send your swaps as soon as you can . . . 

Thank you! 

Julie Welsh: By the Sea ATC swap

From Julie in Michigan, 3 ATCs (and 1 extra) that I would describe as retro: Imitative of a style, fashion, or design from the recent past. :O) Julie is very talented at creating retro art! I love the strong colors and images she used. Plus her backgrounds are so fab. She wrote cute "Tips" on the back of her ATCs ~ I especially love this one: Clean hands and scissors regularly while gluing. That's a good tip for me! 

This is Julie's 8th swap with me, so glad to have her art here. 

Thanks, Jewels! You can view all of her entries HERE.

❤ creatively yours, lenna

Dottie Mucha: By the Sea ATC swap

From Dottie in Connecticut, 2 sets of ATCs have arrived for a total of 6, plus an extra one for me. (Thank you!) How exciting to see more ATCs being added to our swap. Dottie has created lovely vintage looking ones, done in soft colors -just beautiful! You can see for yourself below... 

This marks Dottie's 12th creative swap!! 

View all of her entries HERE. 

Thanks so much, Dottie! 

Nancy Roberts: By the Sea ATC swap

From Nancy in Florida we have a set of 3 ATCs: "Seaside Reads". The almost monochromatic look was a surprise to me at first, but then I decided it was so appropriate for this Vintage woman by the sea. Nancy enclosed a note describing how she created her ATCs, which I will share with you below. 

Materials & Methods: (1.) Watercolor on Media paper for the backgrounds (2.) Security envelopes (3.) glitter & glue (4.) Hand sewn, beaded sequins! 

This is Nancy's 9th swap with me. Thanks for joining us, Nancy. I love your take on the theme! Note: You can always view the images larger by clicking on them. ;O )

Keep those ATCs coming! It's so great to see them. 

Remember, they are due in my hands by June 24th. That's 1 month!

yours creatively, lenna

Update from Lenna: Studio Clear Out

Just to let you know, I’m downsizing my studio in anticipation of a future move (down the road) to a smaller home. I'm offering my gently used/new art supplies at reasonable prices covering the postage & handling. A few examples are shown here...

My wish is to send these items off to new homes instead of having to toss/donate them. I hope you’ll find something you’d love to have in your own studio or art corner …you'll be helping me out at the same time. I have accumulated more than enough supplies to last over a lifetime & cannot take all of it with me. Too much to move and we won’t have the space when we move to a smaller home. Come take a look and see what you find! Contact me via my website to ask for availability of items & instructions on sending the postage/handling fee. https://www.creativelenna.com/studio-clearout

Thanks! creatively yours, lenna 

Christie Juhasz: By the Sea ATC swap

 From Christie in Florida, a set of 3 ATCs plus an extra one for me arrived yesterday. They are wonderful. Christie created painted Rice paper collage ATCs and then added found sayings to each one like: "beneath the open sky, glittering in the sun, the music of my heart." She also made her own ATC sleeves, very cool. This is Christie's 1st swap with me via creative swaps... glad to have her included in this swap! 

Thanks, Christie! 

Lisa Mallette: By the Sea ATC swap

-Today from Lisa in Florida I received 2 sets, for a total of 6 ATCs, plus an extra one for me! Thanks so much Lisa. I just checked my list of swaps by participants in the sidebar of the blog and found out that this is Lisa's 13th swap with me! She participated in 6 swaps during 2008, 4 in 2010, 1 in 2011, 1 in 2016, plus this one in 2023. That's impressive! I always enjoy seeing what Lisa creates.

To see all her wonderful art on the creative swaps blog, follow this link. 

Lisa's ATCs are on the theme of 'Sea Sounds'. Take a listen...

Thanks again for your participation, Lisa!

creatively yours, Lenna 

Catherine Mommsen: By the Sea ATC swap

-From Catherine in Virginia, 2 sets of by the Sea ATCs have arrived! So fun to see the swaps as they come in. I hope you are enjoying this too! Catherine made cyanotype ATCs (a slow-reacting, economical photographic printing process sensitive to light) for one of her sets, and beautifully stitched fabric ATCs for the other set. She also made an extra of each set for me. Thank you SO much Catherine! This is Catherine's 5th swap with me. ;O)

I am really impressed with the wonderful variety of all the ATCs so far! 

yours creatively, lenna 

Margriet van Schaik: By the Sea ATC swap

Yesterday, I recieved from Margriet in the Netherlands, 2 sets (total of 6 ATCs) plus, one extra for me. How lovely! It is so great to see these wonderful ATCs arrive in my mailbox. I like sharing them on the blog as an inspiration for all. 

Margriet told me she lives close to the sea and enjoys walking along the beach. Here are her ATCs, created with the theme "Treasures of the Ocean". This is Margriet's 6th creative swap!

Thanks so much Margriet! So great to have you participating. 

​​​ ​​lenna young andrews 

Art Swaps: https://creativeswaps.blogspot.com

Website: www.creativelenna.com

True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each ​day as it goes by. 

~ E. S. Bouton

   

Sabine Busch: By the Sea ATC swap

From Sabine Busch in Germany, we have 3 'Treasures From The Ocean' that are delightful! This is Sabine's 9th swap with me since 2010 and we are lucky to have her participate. Sabine enclosed a note & said she had a fantastic afternoon with her rubber stamps (and a friend). I can tell! Sabine made 2 extras for me, one on the theme & one special one illustrating where she lives. Remember extras are not necessary! I do appreciate them very much, but the important thing is to get your 3 or 6 ATCs done! 

I hope you are enjoying seeing the ATCs as they arrive. 

If you would like an email notification when new entries are posted on the blog, just sign up here on follow it! 

 

Care Hansen: By the Sea ATC swap

 From Care Hansen in Ohio, we have the first arrival! 

Care decided to play with seashell colors. I love the collage ATCs she has made with small painted peices. She made 3 to swap plus an extra for me, thank you! Care is a talented painter and beautiful mandala maker. So glad she joined this swap. This is Care's 2nd swap with me.

And we're off and running! 

I'm looking forward to everyone's ATCs on our By the Sea Theme.

Creatively yours, Lenna

Announcing a new swap! 'By the Sea' ATCs

 Hello! I am happy to announce a new creative swap. You can find registration info on the Swap Registration page of this blog. When you are on the blog, you can always find that link at the top of the page. This is the 37th swap I've hosted on this blog!

I have made a set of 3 ATCs to swap and will include them below. They are an example of my take on the theme 'By the Sea'. As I explain in my registration info, the theme is a starting point. You are free to interpret it anyway that you are inspired to! Have fun and enjoy. 

The first ATC I created in fabric, both front & back. I sewed the top to some thin batting so the stitching showed on the front. Then I sewed the back to the front, only on the outside edges, so I could write my info on the back with a fabric marker. 

This ATC is an example of paper and fabric glued to a watercolor paper base. I used Fabri-Tac glue, but regular Tacky glue would also work. I used the Fabri-Tac glue to attach the small flat shells & a bit of sand! The Vintage images are from RubyandPearlxo Etsy Shop and the exact page is here (she has many image sheets!). All of her sheets are digital downloads & Heather includes instructions on how to do that. What's great about digital downloads is that you can print them out any size you want!

The 3rd ATC I made was created with inks srayed onto watercolor paper. There is a bit of handmade paper added to the left corner with matte medium. I sprayed my watercolor paper with water first as this helps ink to spread around. I sprayed 2 colors of Shimmer Ink by Dylusions (just a bit) and tipped the card to move the inks around. So fun, I love to do this! Here's a pic of me making the ATC:

I hope this gives you some ideas to start creating! Be assured you can take the theme and run with it. 

I have more ideas written down for you when you register.

Here's to a fun and delightful swap! 

creatively yours, lenna