Head 'em up and Move 'em out and Let's get some New Inspiration!

After nearly 18 months of struggling with an absent muse, an ailing body, a mixed-up mind, a stressed heart, a busy job, the combination of Too Much Stuff and The Tax Man Cometh made me finally sort through my vintage goodness and start listing some items in my Etsy shop again.
The above pictures are just a sampling, and to the right is a live link to my Etsy shop and a preview of some other things. I finally decided if these items weren't inspiring me to create, it's time to move them on and possibly find some new inspiration. I hardly ever keep anything very long, unless it has personal meaning. These are all vintage finds I had been saving for my next great mixed media or altered art project which, sadly, hasn't been forthcoming.
You may remember I blogged about lack of inspiration here. Well, a lot of that STUFF you see will soon be available in my little shoppe. My frustration is your Aha Moment perhaps. Even my Etsy shop has been neglected, with the same sad four handmade items sitting there for a year. Sheesh.
I've also gotten busy and sorted through my vintage Barbie stash and listed nearly three dozen items on Ebay here. Maybe it is "out with the old, in with the older." Or perhaps less clutter (can an OCD person even have clutter?) will inspire me. What do you think? Is it hard to part with treasures you "might" use or might "need" some day?

Direct from France, er, California

I received this lovely canvas this week from Kathy Jacobson in our Marie Canvas Swap, hosted by Maria Rodarte. It is 8" x 10" with bits of charm in every square! Can't wait to figure out where to hang it. The photo doesn't do it justice. Other goodies came in the mail this week. I'll have to get them posted. Stay tuned.

ATCs, ACEOs and Sneaky Sneak Peeks: It's All Code for Art

First off, I hate how my camera angles make my ATCs look crooked, but trust me, they're not! They are perfect rectangles as prescribed: the size of baseball trading cards. I made 24 of the little buggers this weekend for no reason. Usually I do a batch for swaps when I'm headed to an art event, but I had all this good collage art from some folks that I wanted to use. By the way, in case you don't know, the 'collage art' means they post or sell or give-away images for other artists to incorporate into their own images, like I have done here. Often 'their' images are from vintage photos or vintage cards, which they have enhanced digitally with color or other effects. Then they have made the work available for the next round of artists (like moi) to cut up, embellish, digitally alter more or whatever.

I have had a project looming, which I'll describe in a minute, but to ease into it I started playing with images and ended up making artist trading cards (ATCs) or ACEOs: art cards, editions and originals. ATCs are always traded, not sold, and ACEOs are considered miniature works of art and may be sold (or traded).

So I gathered some of my newest favorite images from Teesha Moore, Sandra Evertson, Lisa's Altered Art and iTkUpiLLi on Etsy and began creating. The Dresden foil trims I used are from both ArtChix Studio and Paula's Kit Club.

The bottom picture is a 'sneak peek' for Kathy Jacobson of an altered art canvas I made for her and will be mailing this week. Kathy was my assigner partner in Maria Rodarte's Marie Canvas Swap. The task was to divide an 8.5" x 11" wrapped canvas into 12 sections with Marie Antoinette-inspired art. Like Marie, the assignment was intended to be 'over the top.' And I think I did that.

This little sneak peek contains a copy of one of Kathy's own pieces of artwork, a Marie-inspired altered letter 'M' that just appeared on the cover-no less- of the April-May 2009 issue of Stampers' Sampler magazine. It was also featured on page 37.

After painting the canvas in shades of blue, green and cream, I used vintage ephemera like an old postcard, old prescription, French book pages, Marie images to make a collage. I sectioned it off with new and vintage trims and added an old bottle for a vase, vintage jewelry bits and baubles, new and old buttons, lace and fabric scraps, rhinestones, a key, a keyhole, vintage millinery and of course, lots of glitter.

I'll post a full picture after the swap is complete. Of course this means I have something yummy coming from Kathy, too. Can't wait!

Mermaid and Seaside Swap in Progress, SIP

My SIP is not a WIP any longer, as it is now packed and on its way to O, Canada. But, I can't post a full look, just sneaky peeks, in case Lilli http://makemineblissful.blogspot.com might be reading. I figure these two pics don't give much away, and the bottom picture is a redux of some of the goodies Flickr swap hostess Michelle http://michellegeller.typepad.com of Hold Dear sent to me when we first tried a Mermaid and Seaside Swap. I am still enjoying those treasures! A mo' betta view after Lilli gets the goods!

On to Heather's http://www.speckled-egg.com nest swap, my Valentine swap with Teri/PumpkinSeedMama on ebay and Flickr, and my Easter swap with Viv of http://vivs-whimsy.blogspot.com. I think the USPS loves me.

Oh, Delight! She exclaimed!

oh, delight!
Originally uploaded by Sea Dream Studio

The kind fellow ZNEr Dale at Sea Dream Studio http://dalemclain@blogspot.com/ in sunny Texas posted this photo of the goodies I sent her for being one of three randomly drawn winners in my 100th Blog Post gala. She arranged them so nicely in her photo on Flickr that I had to borrow it to make this blog post. No peeking, Karyn and Laurie! Can't wait to see what Dale makes with all this. She's been doing the coolest Bird and Bingo collage art. I've also enjoyed the ephemera packs I've purchased from her on Etsy.

I Got Tagged by Dale at Sea Dream Studio

This morning I was tagged by the Dale Zan McLain of Sea Dream Studio http://dalemclain.blogspot.com. She has a lovely blog with lots of art, photos and currently a music video from one of my faves, Jimmy Buffett. I also like to frequent her Etsy shop for ephemera. Dale is a fellow Zne-er too.

Anyway, getting "tagged" in blogland goes like this: link to your tagger and post these rules. 2. Share 7 facts about YOU: some random, some weird...all devastatingly interesting. 3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them). 4. Let them know they've been tagged by comment to their blog.

I procrastinated all day on this because seven devastatingly interesting things are hard to come by, but here goes......1) I despise popcorn (I would have said "hate," but that is not a nice word. 2) I also despise beer. 3) My name on my birth certificate is technically Gina-Mari-not nearly as interesting as all Dale's family names on her blog. 4) I was born with a funny little bump on one ear and my tongue attached to the floor of my mouth. That was fixed on day one, and I've been yapping ever since. 5) I did the books and taxes for my brother's antique shop, starting when I was in junior high - thankfully the period for litigation has long-since passed. 6) there was a time when I was fluent in three languages and 7) I've driven 455,000 miles for my job in the last 13 years. Whew, done!

I am tagging, you lucky girls, Jen Konz http://simplygigidesigns.blogspot.com; Michelle Geller http://michellegeller.typepad.com; Kat Tarra http://alteredkat.blogspot.com; Bernice Wagnitz http://www.myspace.com/berniceanthologyofart; Laurie Blau-Marshall http://loudlife-laurieblaumarshall.blogspot.com; Katey D http://blueyeduckstudios.blogspot.com and Cris Marsh at http://sassafraslass.blogspot.com. Have fun! Sorry if you hate this kind of stuff. Normally I might, but it's my first "tag," so I am honored!

Fairy Dreams kept me Awake

I started on these 5 artist trading cards for the ARTchix Fairy Dreams swap about 9 p.m. last night, finishing about 1 a.m. I was so excited to see how they would turn out after drying, that I woke up about 4 a.m. to check (or maybe that was when the noisy adult daughter came home).

They looked so great, but needed a little additional sealing and a few other touches. I also decided my pocket fairy needed a magic wand. So, instead of going back to bed, I have been tinkering for the last 3 hours and finally decided they were ready to photograph and upload. Mind you, the swap is not due until Oct. 15, but when inspiration strikes, who wants to shut it down? I guess it sounds like I like my results, which I do. I am always so amazed and pleasantly surprised when something turns out the way I hoped. As well, usually when I fiddle with a finished project, I end up ruining it. So, all is well and that must mean I need to work only in the wee hours.

Travel ATC Swap-Off to 1950s Florida!

I am so excited about the cards I finished last night for my ArtChix travel ATC Swap. These were so fun to do with the vintage images I had from ArtChix Studio plus bits of nautical ephemera I had. I am waiting on a great batch of old Florida postcards from ebay (16 for 99 cents!!), so I can make some more. Upcoming projects include a sepia swap, Art and Scent swap (hmmm), pet faux postage creations contest (time for Larry and Lester to get famous) and, yes, a Halloween witch hat swap with Heather of speckled-egg.blogspot (check out new link at right).

Art Treasures and More

When checking for my next book club assignment with the international ZNE book club, I was thrilled to see my results from assignment #1 posted on the home page of the Book Club http://www.znebookclub.info/. It not only is gratifying and makes me feel my art can't be that bad, but it helps to bring other visitors to my blog. So, the art world continues to go 'round and 'round. I was pleased to have this same artwork featured on another related site ZNEBlogz. Also, a great new feature at the bottom of this page on my blog is the ZNE Site Ring. Click on next or random to be directed to other wonderful ZNE members' blogs.

If you're loooking for other inspiration, Stamping Day and Night, in Fort Wayne, Indiana (linked at right) is having a week-long garage sale of other artists' and crafters' cast-offs of supplies, rubber stamps and scrapbook materials, publications, etc. The sale started today and lasts a week. I am trying to keep myself out of there, so I can just show up next week and reap (and spend) my rewards. I took a great batch of stuff, so hopefully someone will want it all!

Speaking of shopping (I should blog just about that!)....I had the opportunity to go to Schoolcraft, MI yesterday. The cute old downtown is lined with antique malls and shoppes. I hit the jackpot with a box of antique dominoes still sealed in their original package for $2 and three old magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens from 1933 and a fabulous McCall's from 1955. I was sad the Betsy McCall paper doll page was missing - that was a monthly highlight from my childhood. I don't know who looked more forward to the subscription arriving each month- my mother or me. I also found a glass baby bottle and a very old hair dye box.

My other treasure, which arrived today, was a package of ephemera I had ordered from ArtChix Studio, possibly the most wonderful source of collage and ATC supplies ever! Check it out: http://www.artchixstudio.com/.

I will post some pictures here soon. I just took a break from reading the old magazines and tearing out pages for collage (which I sort of felt bad about, but that was always the plan). The reading is so entertaining as well....BH&G in 1933 was encouraging readers to break out of their ration habits and start spending more to beautify their home and yard, to help the overall economy after the war and crash...little did they suspect another war in the offing.