Art Swap

I was invited to participate in an art swap by a dear online art friend Aileen. You may know her as the talented lady behind Outside the Margins. The swap was simple in concept - sort of like an annoying chain letter. I had to create ONE art thing - and send it to the person who invited Aileen to the swap. then i invite 6 other people to send ONE thing each to Aileen, and they in turn invite 6 people each to send one thing to ME. So if all goes well, i receive 36 art things in the mail, potentially from complete strangers. So are you confused already? Or thinking - on-no, sounds like Amwayscam or something worse? I don't blame you. I am generally not one to forward emails that involve making wishes and send to 12 friends. (but by all means send them to me - i don't mind receiving them at all...!)

Anway - i decided to do it. I made this cute altered notebook and sent it to Christy. You could send anything you wanted - a collage, ATC, embroidery, whatever your artsy "thing" is. I used pages from an old dictionary with the letter C for Christy. Then i added some decorative floral tape, and a strip of silver tape. (like the copper stuff used to solder charms - did you know it comes in silver?) Then i stamped a big C on the front, and her initials inside.

Threw it in an envelope and sent it off.
Then i asked 7 people to participate along with me. One person said yes, one person said no, and none of the others said anything. So i was quite surprised to receive this in the mail! His name is Steven Russell Black and he is an illustrator. He connected to me through Julie, one of the people i invited to participate - but didn't hear back from! Check out his blog HERE.

He sent me a small 5" by 3 1/2 original sketch on a piece of heavy board. it is just lovely, looks washed out in the scan - it is more pronounced in person.
Then i received this - well, not sure what it is exactly - but i love it! Sort of a collage scrap tag with a little flap. It is from an artist named Shannon Wilson. I didn't think i knew her either - but here is the link to her flickr site, where i found an image of a beeswax collage piece she did in a class i taught at Julie's -place. Ah - how cool how all these things go around in circles!

Here is a picture of Shannon's piece with the little flap open - it is simple adorable!

Thank you Julie for passing my name along. I hope you receive 36 wonderful things in the mail from creative strangers! or even one or two!