A Meeting of the Creative Minds

When you spend a lot of time in Blog Land, writing posts, receiving comments, and visiting other people's blogs, you make lots of online friends you feel you know pretty well even if you've never met one another in person.

I finally had the chance to meet one of my "Bloggy Friends" (as I like to call them) just yesterday:  Laurie of Lone Black Bird came to Philadelphia with her friend for their annual summer trip, and she met up with me and the girls in the lobby of her hotel for a bit of a chat.

Laurie and I

When I entered the lobby, I found her sitting at one of the tables, working on her travel art journal--of course!  She greeted me and the girls so warmly, and presented Katy and Bayla with little iCarly stationery sets, including a pad of paper, pencil, and pencil sharpener. They were thrilled, and settled into doodling.

I thought that would keep them busy so that Laurie and I would have time to chat, but before I knew it, Bayla was showing Laurie each individual tiny little item she had brought along with her in her backpack.

Laurie patiently and graciously pretended to eat plates-full of toy food.

She read pages and pages of the book Katy brought along.

Thanks goodness Laurie works with children just the age of my girls!  She showed them more patience than they get from their own mom!

I am so thankful for the chance to meet Laurie in person.  It is so fun to see the living, breathing person who has been visiting and commenting on my posts, and providing me with creative inspiration on her own blog.

I hope I'll have a chance to meet some of the rest of you in years to come!  If you're ever traveling in Philadelphia, PLEASE let me know.  :-)  Maybe I'll get a chance to come chat with you WITHOUT the children in tow!

Bookmarks with Postal Flair

Side one of my bookmarks for an upcoming MMSA swap.

If you do not yet know Karen Isaacson of I Am Rushmore and Mail Me Some Art (MMSA), then it is time for you to visit her web sites so you can know and love her as the rest of us do!

Side two of my bookmarks for an upcoming MMSA swap.

Not only does she share an incredible number of personal projects, but she also facilitates swaps of all kinds of fun items, including bookmarks, postcards, ATCs, tags, and mini zines.  She has a deep reservoir of great ideas, and a seemingly endless supply of creative energy!

Bookmark detail.

As I was making my postal-themed ATCs for this weekend's CREATE Mixed Media Art Retreat, I noticed several upcoming MMSA swaps that I want to participate in.  I transferred the style of my ATCs to bookmarks, and created four bookmarks for an upcoming MMSA swap.

Bookmark detail.

If you are interested in participating in the bookmark swap, or any of the other upcoming swaps, visit the MMSA web site, and click on the Open Swaps tab to find out all you need to know.

Bookmark detail.

AND, if you need another reason to participate, Karen's projects will almost always qualify for a post on Aimee's Glue It Tuesday link-up.  When I get going on the MMSA swaps, I usually spend lots of time with scissors and glue stick in hand!

Here are some more details of those fabulous postage stamps, layered onto vintage documents from the late 1800s and early 1900s, embellished with decorative tape and postal-themed rubber stamps:

Here's the whole group together, front and back:

Happy gluing and art swapping!

Art Retreat Postal ATCs

When I go to the CREATE Mixed Media Art Retreat next weekend, I am going to want to share contact information with all of the new artists and friends that I meet along the way.  So I have been creating a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) to exchange.

I am back to working in the tiny little square area that remains on my work table, as materials from other projects encroach on my space!

The cards began with a background made from delivery documents from 1893 and 1905.  Would you dare to cut them up into ATCs?  I did!

Then I added postage stamps and lots of decorative tape.  Finally, they got a smattering of postal-themed rubber stamps.

My contact information will be on the back, and I have a big stack ready to travel with me to Somerset, New Jersey, at the end of this next week!