Well. it’s been a veeery loooong time since I was able to upload pics of my latest ATCs.  My style has evolved a bit – more use of acrylics and stamps.  Here are some of my more recent cards.

So, I finally got around to creating my Etsy Store. It’s named Cookalas House Of Cards and the url is http://cookalashouseofcards.etsy.com

There’s an Etsy link in the right column.

I’m selling some of my ACEOs,canvas panels in assorted sizes and other altered art items (assemblages, altered books and journals, accordian books, etc). I decided to try selling some of my artwork as a way to make some extra money to buy art supplies, which are expensive!

I’m hoping this will be a lucrative venture!

ATC – The Road To Adventure
(by me)

Sometimes really amazing, good things happen when you least expect it.

A little over a week ago I was contacted by Deb Elzie from CircleBack Studio, asking me if I’d be interested in doing an interview for CircleBack about the artwork I’m doing for National Crafts Month in March. CircleBack is the brainchild of Deb and her sister Wendy Todd, and it’s a website/blog/wiki. Their vision and goal is to give voice to the local creative – whether it is scrapbooking, stamping, or painting. with video and journal in hand they hope to capture the hearts and minds of the creative industry, and by doing this they want to bring the industry together as a whole.

Of course,I agreed. I can’t tell you how honored I am, and surprised, and excited! This is an amazing event for me. I’ve been very busy making ATCs, and some larger pieces on canvas panels in sizes ranging from 4×6 to 9×12 – that’s a big part of the reason you don’t see me posting here as much as I used to. I’ve become very active on several yahoo ATC groups with swapping ATCs, and also doing alot of private trading from the cards I post at my Flickr site.

I’ve always loved art, but strayed away from it when I started going to college. I just didn’t have the time or energy for it. Then the career in IT came along, and it was more of the same. But after my mom passed away in November 2005, I turned back to art as a means of coping with the grief of losing her so suddenly. I made my first set of ATCs for a swap in January 2006, and since then I’ve made over 1,000 cards and swapped all of them except for 120 which I’ve kept for my private collection. You could say there are pieces of me floating all over the world now. Heh. It’s quite an amazing feeling.

But anyway, it struck me suddenly that people really like my art, and I can’t even begin to tell you how rewarding that is. And now, this interview comes along out of the blue. I’ve got my fingers crossed that maybe this will be the start of some really good things for me, so say a prayer that it is. But imagine that, someone wanted to interview me. Me. How cool is that?

If you’d like to read the interview, CircleBack Studio’s url is below. Each day this week you’ll see some of my art and read parts of the interview. Somebody – quick – cyber pinch me, please! I need to know this isn’t just a dream!

http://circlebackstudio.com/blog/