Paulanne

I love ATCs and I belong to a group that has been meeting for over three years. We have a rubber stamp designer who leads our group. We meet once a month except for July and August. We create 5 different cards and learn and share new techniques. We also swap each month. Once one of our members brought a visitor from Japan. We then swapped with five of her friends and it was exciting to get cards from Japan. I am new to this online stuff and am loving online swaps as they push me to create. I look forward to learning and sharing with people around the country and world. Ain't technology grand?

I am an elementary school principal. I have had a variety of jobs and I have loved most of them: letter carrier, optical lab tech, book shop owner and bus depot operator. I have lived in & was raised in California ( San Fernando area) but I have lived in Idaho, Montana and currently in Utah. I have 4 dogs, a cat & a hubby. My friend left her husband & also lives with us. The kids have left home and live in Oregon, Idaho & California. We visit often and a grandchild is always visiting.

Travel and art are passions with reading a steady part of my life. We live in a 1930s house that needs constant fixing. Life is very good. Hope this gives a bit of insight to me.

I love to read and to travel but HOME is my favorite place to be and it is where I sort out the world, safe in my own. I have traveled with student groups to England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland (maiden name is Kirk so I really loved Wales and Scotland). I have also traveled with other educators to France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey and across Mexico. With friends I have cruised to the Bahamas, Alaska and the pacific coast of Mexico. I love cruising but my favorite place (oh, I cannot pick just one is Hawaii, Kauai, and Italy, Sorrento but Greece Telso was wonderful too. Next summer hubby and I are taking granddaughter to London and Paris (she loves art).
ATCs are my current passion and I am attempting an altered book which I will share with others in my ATC group and ask then to create their own pages. I love the idea of cooperative projects that are passed and art is shared and they eventually move back to the same artist (owner).

I just joined a Postcard art group, where we create our postcards based on a chosen theme and then send them out to 5 other people. I am also just joining an altered tin group, Same idea but we only exchange 2 tins everyother month.

Frida is one of my favorite artists not because I like her art I am drawn into it and it has changed my view of the world. Van Gogh and other Dutch artists of the 1500-1800 hundreds are wonderful, especially to look at in person. Once I visited Paris and I have been back twice...again next summer. I cannot describe the feeling of looking into a masterpeice. It is life changing.

Just in case you don't receive my swap, please let me know so I can make it good. I would hate to disappoint anyone and the mail does sometime mis-deliver things. I would want the chance to remake and resend, so please... Just let me know. Thank you.

ATC's are my first choice for art, followed by cards (usually based on an ATC) collage and then shrines and altered books. ATC subjects dear to my heart: steam punk, vintage, tri-fold, transparencies,anatomy, historical, whimsical, holiday, and other fun, unusual themes that I twist around.

Collage is my new art and it is so very exciting. I love to pick up old magazines, or just scraps and find a way to put them together to say or express a thought or feeling.

Shrines are so deep and thought provoking. They are very personal and complex. I am currently creating a shrine for my niece based on her master's thesis: Home. Shrines take me a long time but they really "push the envelope for me." Perhaps it is my insurance against losing the "little grey cells."

Altered books, ahh, what can I say. I drive my friends crazy about these beauties. I am currently dreaming of a bird altered book. I have purchased three old Audobon type books and I am looking for connections for my ideas.

I just joined a paper doll group and I had a blast with the French woman and her Frenchie men doll set. The French fashion sense, in my opinion, can't be beat. But then, hey, I love Paris, Cannes, and travel, so of course I love "Frenchie" things! (no disrespect meant.)

I don't look to send goodies as by the time I finish my project, I am spent. I do, however, love to see a fun print and copy and add it to my mailing envelopes. The letter carrier always smiles when she sees I have letters (swaps). In my letter box to send. Maybe she thinks I am crazy...she would be right, I am crazy for ART!