Love, Love, Love

This month I joined in a swap by the always delightful MARION BOCKELMANN in Germany. This year the theme was BEATLES SONGS. Who doesn't love a beatles song?! The swap is for 3 ATC's (2.5 x 3.5 inches) in that theme. Here are the little cards I made:

The first one is called: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand...In Strawberry Fields Forever". I was just going to do the first song, but about 2 1/2 hours in I decided it had to have strawberries in it too. So I figured it would be ok to combine the two songs. These were done digital and I added crystal embellishments to them afterwards. The sweet graphic elements (boy/girl/bird/talk bubble) were created by one of my favorite artists: MINDY MURPHY LACEFIELD and they were sold through www.scrapartist.com during the month of Feb when she was guest artist. Unfortunantly, they no longer carry them. But you should check out Mindy's etsy store! She has wonderful originals and prints of her artwork (and dolls, too!) that will make you smile!

This next card was done to the song "In My Life". As soon as I listened to the song, I had the idea to put a lot of the same man on the card and have a woman catching the eye of just one. I also put blue crystal embellishments on this one. I think this may be my favorite because it is something different for me - a new avenue. I like the edgy, quirky look of it. I may have to see if this one will translate to a larger background and print one out for our bedroom. I was going to embroider on this one, but they were just way, way too small for me to figure out how to do that with. So I may try on the larger one. :)

This last card is called "Octopus Garden". Aren't you surprised?! Heh Heh. This one has little star crystal embellishments on it and I think a copy may have to fit in my bathroom somehow. The cool octopus was found at Scrap Artist (link above) in a steampunk kit. Very cool! I changed his color and he just made the whole thing.


I know there are a still a lot of people who don't believe that digital art is "real" art (ie: paper, paint and glue). But let me tell you - I actually spend MORE time on digital pieces than glue and paper pieces! Because not only do I change/tweak/configure just about every component that goes into it, I spend a lot of time picking out just the right things to add. Not to mention cutting images out, which I'm still learning how to do with confidence. So, if you are of the naysayers, I say, buy yourself some digital scrapbooking/art elements, open up your photo shop and see just how long it takes you to put something together that sparks your soul. :)


And lastly, but certainly not least, I wanted to direct you to a really wonderful and generous jewelry artisan in New South Wales. During the One World One Heart Blog event that takes place every Feb., I won an amazing pair of earrings from CARONBC. I was allowed to choose my pair and I chose ones called The Beach, because I have a very strong connection to the ocean here in California. Here is a picture that Caron took of them:


They are one of the prizes that I knew I would keep for myself if I won because I thought it would be really special to have an ocean connection on the other side of the world! Please check out her new Etsy Jewelry store CREATIONS FROM MOTHER EARTH BY CARON CHESTER. I will surely be adding to my collection when I have some extra fun money! I know you'll find something wonderful there too! :)