Mad

This card was just made for FUN because I loved this head stamp from Stempelbar so much! I combined it with my favourite arms and legs from Zettiology, a book image from Stamperia as the body and Venetian house stamps from Heindesign - a little bit of text, a postmark, and there we are.
 

Arrows - Take Chances

Arrows is this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge. For my card I have combined stamps from Visible Image (text and arrows) and Paper Artsy/ Kate Crane (fishies)

 

Space and Big Alpha - stamp art projects

Heindesign has two rubber stamp mail art projects this summer themed "Space" and "Big Alpha". Both arrived in their mailbox today.

For my first card "You are not alone" I`ve combined stamps from Globeland, Visible Image, Picket Fence, Viva Las VegaStamps and Stamperia. 

My alpha card "Ein X für ein U" (a German saying) uses large stencils and a clear stamp alpha from Concord & 9th.

 

Owls - The Look

 
Look who´s watching you! I couldn´t resist Sabine`s theme for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Owls". I love their eyes, their mysterious life (even for a night owl like me), their ability to bend their neck and so much more. I´ve painted a cute on here with crayons and watercolour on a magazine photo.

Who I am

The Sunday Postcard Art challenge asks for our favourite quote this week. As someone who studied literature and collected quotes from books I´ve read since I´ve been 16 I don´t have a favourite quote, there are just too many that speak to me. But someone I always get back to is Lewis Carroll, so my card for this week features one of his Alice quotes. 
When you´re young, you have an idea of who you are and think that you will get nearer to this person the older you get, but that´s wrong. When you get older, you explore more possible selves and changes, and that´s not bad but part of the adventure of life.
 

Tiger

This week´s Sunday Postcard Art theme is Tiger, so my big cat reminds you of not stepping back when you see a beast in front of you but to fight your fears - not easy of course.
 

Adventurous Alice

 
Alice put on the Madhatter´s hat and is going out for another adventure!

This week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge is "Put a hat on it", so I´ve put the Madhatter´s hat on Alice using stamps from IndigoBlu.

My Beautiful Friend

"Faces" is this week´s Sunday Postcard Art theme, and of course I had many ideas for it. I ended up with a lovely face and a quote that makes you think about her sad smile.

I`ve always been more on the dark side, even if it concerns beauty. I never liked those shimmering young beauties without any background but preferred a bit of mystery behind a beautiful face. Every life has its own story, and I believe that it should be recognizable on your face, and that it intensifies its beauty.

(Stamps used here are from IndigoBlu and StudioLight.)

Shakespeare

I´m hosting the Sunday Postcard Art challenge today and have picked Shakespeare for this week´s theme. 

I love many works of Shakespeare, especially Richard III., Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Tempest, but I don´t like most of his comedies. However, his wit and beautiful language sound (I often read his words loud) show up in those, too.

We don´t know much about The Bard who lived from 1564 to 1616, and only the Chandos portrait from about 1600/1610 probably shows us how he looked like. For my card, I´ve chosen a stamp that reproduces the portrait from Martin Droeshout, an engraving from 1623, that is based on the Chandos portrait and was used as a cover for the first folio of Shakespeare´s works.

Have you seen "Hamnet" already? I had watched another film about the same theme recently, "All is true" from Kenneth Branagh, but I prefer "Hamnet". What about you?

The Shakespeare stamp is from VLVS, and I combined it with stamps from Paper Artsy (Alison Bomber and Seth Apter), and Zettiology, and papers from Stamperia.

Do you like Shakespeare, and which is your favourite work? I can´t wait to see your interpretations this week!

Happy Easter!

 
For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge themed Rabbits/Hares I couldn´t resist using Tim Holtz´ lovely Mr. Rabbit who´s sending Easter Greeting to all of you.

Dragonflies

 
My Dragonfly card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was made using a stamp set from Visible Image and shimmering watercolours - what a pity that the shimmer and glitter can´t be seen in the scan!

Having Fun

I almost forgot to post this card using an Andy Skinner stamp and that I just made for fun, inspired by the lovely stamp.

 

Strong Women

 For this week´s Sundy Postcard Art challenge´s theme "International Women´s Day" I had sooo many ideas! In the end, I´ve combined stamps from Dina Wakley and Jane Davenport.

We are all very different, but we shouldn´t forget that we are all women and should support each other!
(In real life, I´ve experienced the opposite, such as female "colleagues" fighting against me and mobbing me for years. So I really wish that this won´t happen again in the future. Probably just a dream.)

Wild Horses

 

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Horses" I drew a horse and then stamped one above it, illustrating the song lyrics "Wild Horses can´t drag me away". 

(Horse stamp is from Visible Image, Alphabet stamps from Darkroom Door.)

Letting Go

 
Letting Go is the hardest thing. There´s a "small" letting go when a relationship ends, and a big one when a person you loved leaves earth forever. Both are hard, and I´ve never been good at letting anything or anyone go.

Making a sympathy card is always a hard thing, and I remember that it made me happy when I´ve made one for a stamping friend years ago when her husband had passed away, and when I met her again, she hugged and thanked me for my card. 

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge Rein asked us for a sympathy card, and it was the hardest thing to make one for a future farewell. When I make a sympathy card, I usually have the person on my mind that has left us, and making the card is part of the process of letting this person go.

I love to use images for sympathy cards that aren´t made for this purpose. Of course you can use falling leaves, bare trees etc., but there´s so much more. I´ve even made sympathy cards with images expressing love only, and they can bring hope, I know. 

The German sentence on my card above means "Letting go costs less strength than holding on, but nevertheless it´s so much harder."

Lavender

 

For this week´s Sunday Postcard Art theme "Lavender" I thought about lavender and what it means to me. I´ve always had lavender on my balcony that I loved to touch and smell, and it seemed to have sort of a therapeutical effect. So I created a story about a woman searching for calm and peace of mind. She´s standing in front of a book shelf, drinking tea and enjoying the smell of lavender. What does bring YOU down?

Stamps used here are from PaperArtsy and Makistamps.

All Things Alice

 
I thought it´s time for another Alice challenge as we all love Alice, don´t we? So here´s my sample card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "All Things Alice". I´ve chosen it as my sample as I love this Madhatter stamp from IndigoBlu, but wait, I´ve made more ...

The Queen of Hearts is another interesting character in "Alice in Wonderland", but instead of letting her yell her usual "Off with their heads" I let her insist "A Rose is a Rose", an iconic sentence from Gertrude Stein. 

(Stamps are from Penny Black and PaperArtsy)

And finally we have Alice herself in a nature setting, combined with a wonderful quote that is not from Lewis Carroll - but I don´t care as I really like it and I always collage pics with words that don´t come from the same source (both stamps are from IndigoBlu again). I´m not a Lewis Carroll curator in a literature archive but an artist, so I chose quotes that fit in terms of content, not history. 

Other people DO care if a quote used with Alice illustrations really is from the book - for those of you here´s an interesting blog post where you´ll also find my quotes that aren´t originally from the book - so what? A Rose is a Rose is from Gertrude Stein but seemed appropriate, and so I used it. As I have studied literature, I love words and literature and care for history, but as a collage artist, I`m free to combine whatever I want.

What do you think about Alice quotes? 

I´m curious to see your Alice cards this week and read about your opinions.

Live in the Present

 

My sister Sabine picked "Playtime" as this week´s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge. 

I´ve always loved playing, as a child I loved Hopscotch and the skipping rope and all kinds of parlour games, today I prefer a lovely evening with friends having fun with our monthly pub quiz. Having fun doing things that you do just for fun is very important for your soul, I believe, and so playtime should be a fixed element in our calendars.

Like Friedrich Schiller said: "Man is only truly human when he plays." Life is short, so live in the moment, live in the present and do things that you don´t have to do but that make you happy.

For my card I´ve used stamps from Andy Skinner and Visible Image on a gessoed magazine background, coloured with watercolours.

Blue Monday

 

When I read this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge theme "Blue Monday", I had New Order in my ears immediately. Their song came out when I finished school and became an adult, so it will be always on my mind. 

How does it feel to treat me like you do?
Tell me how do I feel?

It´s interesting that the song title "Blue Monday" doesn´t appear in the lyrics of this song, but this is just part of the mystery of this great song.

I´ve made my card with stamps from Visible Image and an alphabet from AALL & Create.

Feathered Friends

 

In my opinion, we´ve had enough winter, and I´m longing for warmer temperatures and listening to the singing of my favourite feathered friends. 

Feathered Friends is this week`s theme for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge, and my card was made with stamps from Hobbycompleetdeduif and Red Lead Paperworks.