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!

Mother Goose ATCs - Janelle Scollaro, CA

From Janelle Scolaro in California, 7 wonderful ATCs for our Mother Goose swap (an extra one for me, thanks so much)! Click on the scans for a close-up look!

Janelle has used fabric, paper, feathers, ribbons, stamping and maybe even a little wax to create these? She sent a note with her ATCs saying that she learned some new techniques, which is so great to hear! Her images come from the Alpha Stamps sheets Mother Goose Covers and Humpty Dumpty #2 . The rest of Janelle's ATCs are below and please visit her website to see more of her artwork. Thanks, Janelle!

Mother Goose ATCs - Norma Bullen, Australia

From Norma Bullen in Australia, some wonderful Mother Goose ATCs have arrived on the theme of: 'The Queen of Hearts' -mixed together with "the little dog laughed to see such sport!" Norma has made a pocket in her ATCs to hide the dog & the saying, how fun! She used images from an Alpha Stamps fabric sheet - Queen of Hearts #1. I love the red thread and embellishments Norma used, but especially the little dog!

Fabric Bag Swap - Frieda Oxenham

Frieda's fabric bag has not arrived here yet because of a postal strike in the Scottish Borders, but she has uploaded what she has created for our fabric bag swap on her blog! You are welcome to go view the photos there and read about how she created it using her new embellisher machine, a Pfaff Smart 350. I have heard of this machine, but never tried one. It sounds yummy!

Frieda is very cute when she writes about how the theme for her bag became very amorous with the Alpha Stamps Lovers fabric images, and she decided she must be thinking about my (Lenna's) "romantic life" while creating this bag : )) -- I know she is referring to the serendipitous way I connected again with Steven who was an old friend of mine at the time when my first husband left me for another woman just a few years ago. Steven & I fell in love almost immediately when I was 'single' again (preface this to say Steven has now revealed he had a crush on me since he was 16yrs old! Note: we are now 50 & 51). We were married very soon after my divorce, only some 9 months later . . . but Frieda watched all this via email & the web in 2004 & 2005 from Scotland, very approvingly I might add, because she knew the romance and marriage were meant to be!!! : )) Thank you Frieda for your fun comments. Steven & I will definitely come to the Scottish Borders & meet you one day!

Fabric Bags so far . . .

What a delight! Thank you all : ) Click on the photo to see them better! I'm expecting about 20 more of these beautiful bags before November 15th!

Starting top left, I have recieved from: Beverley Teichrob, Judy Bernard, Vicki Page - middle row: Susanne Wiebe and 2 bags from Amanda Smith - bottom row: Anne St. Louis & Dawn Sellers -keep them coming!

Fabric Bag Swap - Vicki Page, WI

From Vicki Page in WI a very wonderful Japanese inspired purse!! I literally gasped when I pulled Vicki's bag from the box! If you click on the photos you will be able to see more of the beautiful patchwork, decorative machine stitching in gold thread and hand embroidery Vicki did with beads. Vicki has also added a tag to her bag that explains that the butterfly she sewed on (green stone, next to the image of the woman) represents the human soul, the Koi fish she added to the other side of the bag represents fearlessness, and the Japanese writing on the bottom of the bag translates to 'artist'. There are even gold bells on this bag!

What more can I say? I think by looking at the photos, which are never quite as good as the 'real' thing, you will still agree that this is an exceptional piece of fabric art! Take a look at the back of the bag:

And a close up of the stiching & beads:

Mother Goose ATCs - Vicki Page, WI

From Vicki Page in WI come a series of amazing fabric & clay Mother Goose ATCs with a theme of Peter Peter Pumpkin eater! Vicki used the Alpha Stamps fabric sheet Peter, Pumpkin eater and layered her fabric on top of a cardstock base. She used decorative leafy stitching and also some sort of sculpty or primo clay (?) to create pumpkins & vines! see below - click on any photo for more detail.


















Below are ALL of Vicki's ATCs for the swap - WOW! Thank you, Vicki : )

Fabric Bag Swap - Beverley Teichrob: Victoria, BC, Canada

Beverley Teichrob's Fabric bag is here! It includes 16 different fabrics, fabric yo-yos, and multiple pockets that Beverley sewed herself. She said it ended up being so fun to create that now she was on a mission to make one for her daughter & granddaughter as Christmas gifts - lovely! I am so glad you enjoyed the challenge.

Here is another photo that shows the lined inside & pockets - click on any picture for more detail:

I am going to have to get a few more things in my studio unpacked and ponder what I might do myself to participate in this swap!

Mother Goose ATCs - Caroline Hay, MS

I have received 6 wonderfully creative Mother Goose ATCs from Caroline Hay in Missouri. Click on the photo to see them better. She used an Alpha Stamps Nursery Rhyme Stamp on fabric, puffed the moon up and added a long ribbon proclaiming "Over the Moon" - ingenious! Caroline also added a pewter 'cow jumped over the moon' charm : )

great job, thanks Caroline!

update & a Link!

After sending out an update email to my swap participants, I have gotten quite a few replies that Mother Goose ATCs or Fabric Bags are on their way to CT - yay! It is always so exciting & inspiring when the swaps start rolling in near the deadline. Today I received an email from Sandy Babb explaining that her ATCs were finished and she was sending them off. She told me she had posted photos of them on her blog, if I wanted to take a sneak peak before they arrived. I did!

You can too! Go HERE to her blog. Sandy did some studying about ATCs before she got started and includes in her post some great history & information. Plus, her ATCs are just grand, and she is having a "Give away" in celebration of creating her first ATCs and participating in her first Art swap! You can find out more details and enter if you wish by going to Sandy's Blog, but this is what Sandy wrote to me in her email:
"In conjunction with this swap I am hosting a give away in celebration of my first art swap and ATC's. I will be giving away a children's book themed collage book box filled with goodies and will include one of my quilted pop-up ATC books. If you think your participants would be interested feel free to post about it on your site. To enter all you have to do is to sign up under the post titled: "A Give Away and a Reveal" Sign up will be until October 27, 2007, and a winner will be drawn using a random number generator on October 28, 2007."

I love it! thank you, sandy : ) Lenna

Fabric Bag Swap - Dawn Sellers

From Dawn Sellers in Oregon, I received a wonderfully lined fabric bag in beautiful fall colors for our fabric bag swap. Thank you, Dawn!

Below is a close up showing the trims & the beautiful image Dawn used. This swap is getting more exciting as the bags come in! The in my hands due date = November 15th. Remember, all of the participants will receive a small gift from me from my fabric stash, and I will also award one person a special first prize for the most creative & beautiful bag! This swap is still OPEN and there is ONE spot left if you are interested in joining us!

Mother Goose Swap - Susanne Wiebe, BC, Canada

Yay! More wonderful ATCs for our Alpha Stamps Mother Goose Swap have come in from Susanne Wiebe in BC, Canada. As an aside, you may not know that I had applied for, and have been accepted as an Alpha Stamps Design Team Member! More info in a recent post on my creativelenna blog. Alpha Stamps carries so many great images and products, I am very proud to be a member of the design team! From the Alpha Stamps Blog: "If you’re not familiar with the term, a “Design Team” is a group of artists who get free art supplies — and some other perks, including access to a private group area to share ideas — in exchange for creating sample artwork and helping with marketing efforts." : )) Do you think I might be able to use free art supplies? Would I enjoy creating sample artwork?? You bet!

Back to the Alpha Stamps swap -- below are ALL of Susanne's Mother Goose ATCs - click on any picture for greater detail. Susanne used images from 'Quite Contrary #1', 'Humpty Dumpty # 2' and 'Queen of Hearts #3' - available through Alpha Stamps. Great job, Susanne! Many thanks.

Fabric Bag Swap - Susanne Wiebe - BC, Canada

Susanne Wiebe sent in this really COOL bag she made for our fabric Bag swap -- Susanne knitted, felted and sewed her bag! It has a fabric lining, fabric handles, and a pocket. I love that Susanne enclosed a note in the bag describing that this was a "well-travelled" bag . . . . She writes, "The wool for this handbag was purchased while vacationing at Ocean Shores, Washington. The knitting was done in Seaside, Oregon, and it was felted in Victoria, BC!! On the front of the card there is even a piece of the wool she made the bag with! Click on any picture for more detail.

The photo below shows the card, the inside of the bag (it has a zipper pocket) and the matching eyeglass or sunglass case Susanne made - wow! Thank you, Susanne.