Fun Link

Here is a link to a site that will spell out your name with photos from flickr: http://metaatem.net/words/. Thanks to Goatgoddess from ATCsforAll.com for the tip!

Altered Rolo

I've been trading altered rolodex cards with friends from ATCsforAll. When I trade with someone that I don't have a rolo for, I cut out the return address portion of their envelope, paste it to a blank rolo card, and file it. I thought my rolo holder looked a little boring, so I added some stripes with white electrical tape.

Make It Mondays - April 14, 2008

Lisa Vollrath is putting up a new challenge every Monday on Go Make Something. This week's challenge was music. I did a 4x4 page based on REM's song "Night Swimming." I glued on some background papers, smeared on acrylic paint, then drew on top and colored with markers and colored pencils. This song always reminds me of a fun time I had with some friends in Saratov on the Volga river, so I drew the bridge that crosses the Volga there, and one of the pretty lampposts that are on the embankment.

Inspirational site

Yesterday I spent a lot of time on Lisa Vollrath's site Go Make Something. Lisa Vollrath is a member of ATCsforAll and I've seen links to some of her pages in the past, but never explored the site much before yesterday. Wow is there a lot of great stuff there!! Fun articles, great templates, lots of how-to's with excellent photographs. I loved the videos she had posted, especially the ones on organization. Very neat to see and hear the person who's been giving you instructions. It makes it so much more personal. Will definitely spend some more time on that site during my vacation (which starts this Friday, woooooooooot!).

Tunes

I'm not sure why, but I haven't been listening to much music lately. Maybe it's because my iPod broke, but maybe I've just been in a funk. I signed up for a fun 'Mixtape' swap on ATCsforAll.com and had a blast going through my CDs and putting the music up loud to pick the songs for my cards. Here's what I ended up with:



These cards were really fun - for the backgrounds I used some of the paper that I cover my table with and draw/paint/whatever on that collects lots of colors.

Today I signed up for Amie Street - my BFF sent me an invite about a year ago!! It's lots of fun to hear new music. I'm glad I finally registered.

WIP ATCs

Here are three ATCs I made for a personal trade. The theme: Under the Sea. First, I cut printed papers into strips and glued them on to ATC blanks with a glue stick:
Next, I smeared on off-white acrylic paint, put on a few accents with permanent markers, and covered the cards with two different acrylic glazes; blue on top, brownish on the bottom:

Then I used solvent ink over stencil waste to add some "bubbles." I drew fish, an octopus, and a mermaid on copy paper (used stamps for the mermaid's hands and tail), colored them in with markers, and glued them onto the cards with gel medium. I painted tissue paper for seaweed, and added a few highlights with gel pens. Then I stuck on a few words with my label maker:

Very fun to make! The end result was a lot different than I expected in step one, but I like them a lot.

Stamp Fulfillment

Last weekend I needed some stamps. I went to the post office, even though it was closed, thinking I could buy cute stamps from the stamp machine. No such luck. They took out the stamp machine and now have some ATM-looking thing that sells postage stickers for Priority and Express mail, and sheets of the not-so-attractive Forever Liberty Bell stamps. I got a sheet of these, but was disappointed about it (I've been wanting more of those Star Wars stamps).

Well, later I read online that the cost of mailing a letter will go up to 42 cents in May. So those ugly forever stamps aren't looking so ugly now. I also found out that you can buy stamps online from the post office website (usps.com). They charge a dollar to mail your stamps, no matter how many you order. I ordered me some cute stamps! Plus some more forevers, plus a bunch of one cent stamps. Looking forward to getting these cute stamps back from mail art trades.

My order came in today. Return address: Stamp Fulfillment Services, Kansas City, MO. Boy do I feel fulfilled. Plus, each sheet of stamps comes on a nice, clean piece of cardboard *perfect* for cutting up for chunky 4x4's :) Even more fulfillment.