Moo Cards 50's Glam Star swap announced

This swap is for Paper Traders Members only but we would love for you to become a member and join us. Click the purple yahoo button in the sidebar for more information and how-tos.

Moo Cards 50's Glam Star Swap
5 for 5 moo card size swap
Theme: 50's movie stars ie: Marilyn Monroe, Kathryn Hepburn, Grace Kelly, etc. Male stars included: Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Rock Hudson, etc.
Skill level: 2-3 Budding and Blossoming
Due: Postmarked by May 31st
Hosted by: Cathy Calamas

During the blog hop, I came across this wonderful Moo Card Challenge site that was in the sidebar of Gigi Lorenc's blog. (Thanks, Gigi.) http://moo-mania.blogspot.co.at/.  We did a moo card swap last year and it was a lot of fun. So, let's do it again. What is a moo card? It is approximately half of a business card (lengthwise) : 2.8 x 7 centimeters or 1.1 x 2.8 inches.  Please include $1 for postage.  International members please send ephemera in lieu of postage. Please include return shipping label with your cards.

~Cathy

Chirp, Chirp ATC swap announced

This swap is for Paper Traders Members only but we would love for you to become a member and join us. Click the purple yahoo button in the sidebar for more information and how-tos.

Chirp, Chirp ATC swap
6-for-6 ATC swap
Skill level: all
Due: Postmarked by May 24th
Hosted by: Connie Holso

Spring is here.There are birds outside my window flitting and hopping and busily making nests. A woodpecker awakens me each morning by rat-a-tat-tat-ing on the metal shield of our chimney. I think he is showing off for his mate because it really echos when he taps there! So in celebration of warmer days and all that spring brings I am going to host an ATC swap featuring eggs, nests, and / or birds. Please use these images in your ATCs.  Put your creations in the mail to me by May 24th and include a dollar for return postage, or if you are international you may send ephemera in lieu of postage.

~Connie

Gallery: Washi Tape Greeting Cards

Beckie H

Connie H

Gigi L

Letha R

Melissa W

Pam P

Pattie M

And the Blog Hop Winner is............

List Randomizer

There were 20 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

Beverly - Our Winner!! One of our newest members!!
Lisa
Michelle
Connie
Leann
Jo
JoAnne
Sam
Cathy
Gill
Lynn
Beckie
Cynthia
Jo
Patty
Letha
Pam
Donna
Amanda
Marion

Timestamp: 2013-04-27 14:59:54 UTC

Your prizes will come in separate packages as the PT Mods all live in different areas of the country.

Thank you all so much for stopping by our blog and

hopping around our member's blogs.

We appreciate all of your sweet comments and

 hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Come back and visit us often.

PT Mods

Connie, Beckie, Cathy, and Melissa

It's Here!! Our First Blog Hop Has Begun !

We are excited to announce our First Paper Traders Blog Hop.

We hope it will be a way for you to get to know a 

few of our group members better, see our art, 

and get a chance to win some nice prizes that are being offered by our members.

Maybe you'll even be inspired by what you see and want to join the group.

This blog hop officially opens at Midnight EST, April 19th.
Due to our international members being 5-6 hours ahead 
of us, some blogs will have already gone live with
their blog hop posts. If you find some members have
not posted their blog hop post, please check back with them.
Everyone should be coming on line by midnight.
Thanks for understanding.

The Blog Hop will be open the entire weekend of April 19-21, 2013. 

 Be sure to start here and follow the blog hop list of 

participating members below:

Each member will share a little bit about herself 

and offer either a handmade art piece or other quality prize

 that will be randomly awarded to blog readers 

who leave a warm, fuzzy comment.

The Mods are offering few prizes ourselves.

 Just comment below and provide a way for us to contact you 

and we will pick a randomly drawn name from those

 who leave a comment. 

 One entry per person, please.

We'd love to hear what you think about the new look
of our blog and our fabulous header designed by
our own Connie H.
(with thanks to Studio Manu who gave her permission
 to use her CU old books kit.)

Have fun on your journey and come back to visit us soon!

The Prize package from the PT Mods.

A Tag from Cathy C.

Gypsy Ribbon Doll from Beckie H.

Ephemera pack from Connie

And more to be added!!

Life Mantra #4 Word Prompt Art Journal

We are on to our fourth Life Mantra

Word Prompt for our Art Journal Challenge.

We hope you are enjoying this as much as we are.

If you just stumbled upon us,

stay and play with us.

You can join at any time.

For info. on the complete challenge guide lines go here.

This month's prompt is "Choose Love"
and the requirement is to
use a napkin or tissue paper in your design.

Some inspiration:

Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.

~David Augsburger

The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom.

~Bell Hooks

We are People who need to love, because Love is the soul's life, Love is simply creation's greatest joy.

~Hafiz of Persia

by Beckie H.

by Cathy C.

Member Spotlight on "Fairyrocks"

by Pam C.

Welcome to another Paper Traders Member Spotlight. This month we are shining the light
on Pam Colosimo aka Fairyrocks.

How did you find Paper Traders?
I was googling around after I finally got high speed internet. I typed in 'Paper Ephemera'
 visited a few sites and then stumbled upon Paper Traders. I haunted the site
 for a few months before making the commitment to join the yahoo group.
I think the first thing I did was trade some real paper ephemera with Beckie.
 I had a look around at the challenges, swaps and artwork. I was hooked.

How long have you been a member?
I think I have been a member for approximately 2 years, give or take a few months.

Where do you live?
I live in Central Alberta, Canada. I am a country dweller and have
to drive about a half an hour to the nearest town and an hour to
 the nearest small city.

How have your surroundings affected your art?
I live in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and can in fact
see them out my kitchen window. I don't draw mountains,
 but nature is a kind of muse for my soul.
I garden through much of our short summers.

I have a lot of time to myself, in fact I am very selfish with my time.
I am one of the very very lucky women who does not have to work
full time any more. My husband supports me
in any endeavor. In fact he always has the right answer
"why yes dear, I can see why you need that"

Please share a little about your own art experience.
I never ever considered myself an artist. I simply play with paper,
glue and paints. I love collage type assemblage. Paper traders is
allowing me to stretch my mind and try a hand at many new things.
By trade I am a memorial stone carver, more about that later.
But, it involves planning and doing graphics for the stones.
I think that, more than anything, made me want to leap from
stone to paper arts.

There are so many real artists and so much fantastic product
that makes it possible for me to put a personal swing on my creations.
 'Debbie Travis' was my first big Paint Star Hero.
 I still use many of her techniques just on a smaller scale.

What are some of your favorite techniques or genres?
The first actual big deal painting I did was acrylic on the floor of
our old fixer upper farm house. The kids were little and we were
short on cash. so instead of replacing the carpet
we pulled up, I painted the boards and then did a copy cat mural
 on the floor. I think it was that 'Kolhr ad with the tulips' I love that artwork.
It turned out good enough. I have done trompe l'oeil on at least a
 few walls of every house  we have lived in as well.

I love to make big plans and then see them through to
the finished item. Smaller things I do for paper traders
type ATC's and artsy bits are sometimes a jumping off point
for larger things. I am primarily a scrap booker, because I need
to tell the stories and preserve the memories. I have made
cards, but really don't enjoy them. My hat is off to the card makers.

 I am an accomplished sewer, I have sewn wedding dress and
patched heavy canvas tents, and everything you could imagine
 in between. Having had 4 daughters, I made them all their
 little girl dresses. But, they grow up and now I just mostly
sew art journals or on my scrapbook pages.

I also love to take old items and make them into something else.
Printers tray's, old wood boxes. You name it, if am idea hits me I will alter .

What inspires you?
Inspiration? I love other peoples work. At first,  I feared I would
never have an original idea, but it seems, the more I see, the greater I reach.
I am always inspired by a good poem, story, song and do
frequent interviews with my children and grand children.

Who are some famous artists whose work you admire and what especially appeals to you about this?
I love the realism of 'Bev Doolittle' Sephen Lynman's landscapes
Tom Cross for his fantasy fairy work of course. We have a gallery collection
of their numbered prints; da Vinci drawings and sketches.
{can only dream of owning a print of that caliber}
I guess I love any fairy that looks real.

On the flip side, cave paintings and stone symbols fascinate me.
 I think the cave -man gets credit for those.
However I am of the opinion at some point his wife said to him
{in cave language} Look Thagg, if I have to live here for one more
winter with nothing but bare walls to stare at, I am going to
go positively mad!! Put something on that wall would you? And he did.
Ruin stones with markings as well.
That in a nut shell is how I see our human need to have beauty around us.

Describe your work area... Do you have your own studio or craft room?
Here again, I do have my own space. I am lucky luck girl.
I currently can be found most days in the farthest room
of our basement. I planned it and my DH did much of the groundwork
so I could have extra plugins.
I did all the finishing my self. It is a light robin egg blue on 2 walls
and a sand on the other 2. I have two nice size windows that let in
a lot of day light. It is my happy place. You can see
photos in detail on my blog.
I have a huge home made work desk top. And enough supplies
that if I was locked in there for years, I would only have to come
out to get food.
{I have a secret stash of extra dark chocolate on hand in the room} 

 
What tips or tricks have you found to help carve out a niche
 for your supplies and art?
This is a hard question for me. We have a large house, my husband works away,
so I just take over where ever I feel like working. Garage, basement wherever.
Depending on what I am working on.
I have a high rate of starting and getting things done.
 I am one of those people that will never have
'nothing to do' I dream big dreams and go to sleep
 planning what I am going to make the next day.
I only purchase items that are on sale. even if it is only 10% off.
I do the research before I buy now. I didn't always and have made
 some pretty bad purchases on a whim.

Please share a little about your family and pets...
Currently in house, I have 2 late teen daughters. We share our house with 2 cats,
1 large dog, 1 snake, and many dust bunnies.
Out of home, I have 2 grown daughters
and 5 grand children. . Outside we have one mini pony, one mini donkey
and a mini hiney which is the mix of the aforementioned two.

If you'd like, please share a little about your childhood,
 where you grew up, and when your creativity began.
I grew up not far from where I live now. However I have traveled
with my husband and called home to many provinces in Canada
even if it was only for a few months at a time. I come from a time
when indoor plumbing was something the neighbors had.
I think I was 12 when we finally got indoor facilities.
I have an appreciation for creature comforts.

My first artistic love was a huge thick coloring book and a
large box of crayons. I packed it everywhere with me.
It was my favorite toy. I know why now. I wasn't much of a color-er,
but that didn't stop me trying. When I was in grade 4 art class the teacher
drug me to the back of the class to look at the mountains,
and point out how my purple triangular peeks with white tops,
looked nothing like the real mountains....she was right of course.
Ah, well I am almost over it, and I still don't draw mountains. LOL

Do you have any other hobbies or interests?
I read I usually have 4 or more bed time novels going at once.
During the day I will read any thing that tells the story of mankind,
archaeology, things like that.
I write down the family stories and my fondest memories current and childhood.
I do love to tell a good story, and one day I may write a book. 

I love to travel to any where hot.
I am working on a full size 'Playhouse' renovation.
You can also read about that on my blog : fairyrocks.blogspot.com

I garden, scrapbook, sew, paint , building type construction, drywall,
I can do basic plumbing, pour cement, refinish furniture,
make memorial stones for cemetery's. I have a link to my 'Romancing the Stones'
blog on the sidebar of my Fairy Rocks and Things Blog
I have collected literally tons of rocks. Some of them I have been
packing with me since I was 8 years old.


Why Fairyrocks?
When I first started learning how to make memorial stones
I opened a small store. I needed a business name to register.
So, I called my self "Fairy Rocks and Things"
I just liked the name so much I kept it for everything and eventually
dropped the things off the end. I run under the pseudonym mostly
because I am a fairly private person and would
rather build a character for my creative outlets with that name.
It helps me keep my personal life private.
I know, sounds a little hokey, but it works for me.
And its fun.

April Freebie

This month's Freebie is a collection of images courtesy of Connie Holso, one of our moderators.  She is sharing this great collage sheet for your personal use in your art.  Please click on the link BELOW the image to download the full size file.  Have fun!

Use link BELOW to download...

Download HERE:  https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=4CC7F78541694F93&id=4CC7F78541694F93%21154

Coming Soon.... Our First Blog Hop

We are excited to announce that Paper Traders

will be hosting its first Blog Hop.

We hope it will be a way for you

to get to know a few of our members better,
(and maybe you'll want to join our art group)
;)

see their art and get a chance to win some

nice, handmade prizes.

The Blog Hop will be the weekend of April 19-21, 2013.

Come back here for the start on the 19th

and you will find our blog hop list of

participating members.

Each member will share a little bit about herself

and have a handmade prize that will

be randomly awarded to blog readers

that leave a warm, fuzzy comment.

How fun is that??

So put the 19th on your calendar and

we hope to see you then.

PT Mods.