"Anchors Aweigh" Swap :: Sign up!

Hey people! Wow, I have a serious swap problem. I just created a new swap on swap-bot.com for ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) with a nautical theme.

You should sign up so I have other people indulging in this fun addiction with me. Below is the low-down on this swap. It contains some swap-bot lingo so if you are confused just let me know. You have to create an account on swap-bot - but it's easy, don't let that turn you away.

For this ATC swap you will create one (1) ATC each for two (2) partners.

The theme of this ATC is "Anchors Aweigh" which is the song of the US Navy, but this swap theme can include anything nautical - sailboats, speedboats, anchors, US Navy, sailors, anchors....whatever you feel is a nautical.

Be careful not to make it patriotic themed if you go the US Navy route - that's not a bad thing, but we're going "simply nautical" for this ATC.

You can use collage, drawing, or whatever to create your ATC - no limits, but please put some thought & creativity into your card.

REQUIREMENTS:

This swap is open to all with a rating of 3.5 or higher and no no-sends within the past 3 months. Newbies are welcome with a full profile.

I will be banning anyone who doesn't meet the above requirements.

Please sign up only if you fully intend to follow through. Thanks!

New to ATCs? Please check out this http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html website for lots of good info!!

In general, ATCs (artist trading cards) are miniature works of ART. The size of the card must be 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches...the size of a baseball card. Just about any media may be used (paper, yarn, photos, magazine clippings, paint, pen, pencil, rubber stamping, fabric...)...mostly use your imagination! The card should be sturdy so don't use flimsy paper for the backing/background. Please send something to your partner that you would like to receive yourself.

Here is the swap link: http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/16608

What Colors are You?

I just read about this quiz on How About Orange and decided to take it too.

I am #1 White Spaces and #2 Al Fresco. It's pretty accurate for the color options they offer. I definitely like a lot of different colors, but these two make me feel good inside.

The questions you're asked made me wish I was sailing in the Caribbean or camping somewhere.

Father's Day Gift Ideas

That's right vinyl lovers, thanks to the ingenious USB Turntables you can put all your LPs, 12"s and singles straight into your digital library.

This is what I'm going to get my dad for Father's Day. He and my mom have a bazillion records that are just sitting up in the attic. He's pretty good with a computer so I don't think he'll have a problem setting it up. It's a little more expensive than I would normally spend for Father's Day, but I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of this too! I love listening to records, but they take up so much room so I have to stick to the ol' MP3 and my computer/iPod.

http://www.firebox.com/product/1401/USB-Turntable

I hope he doesn't read this. I don't think he keeps up with my blog.

Next item on the list...converting old home movies to DVD.

My First Swap

Eeeek! I was on a Swap-Bot.com rampage yesterday and after signing up for a couple swaps I decided to also host a swap. I made one called "Cat Lovers ATC's". The participants will create two Artist Trading Cards featuring a cat of some kind (domestic or wild) and send one to each of his/her 2 partners. I swear, when I was typing the description for the swap I didn't even recognize my voice. I totally turned into the old lady who sits at home in her recliner wearing support hose and snacking on wet cat food while watching "Johnny Carson's replacement".

But whatever, I love cats. So sue me. So far 12 people have signed up - awesome! I love reading profiles on Swap-Bot. I get to "meet" sooooo many types of people that I would never normally meet in person. No matter how different someone is from me and the people I normally socialize with, I discover that they all have such interesting lives in their own way. It's really fun and awesome.

Parents Weekend II

Abe's dad and stepmom are visiting NYC this weekend and today we took them to the Brooklyn Museum and then we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was about 80 degrees and sunny so it was really a perfect day to do both things - and a perfect June 1!

The Brooklyn Museum has a big exhibit going on right now showing Murakami's work. It wasn't a big hit for our group with the exception of me. I don't know if I like it as fine art, but standing in a room of colors just jolts my senses and really inspires me. Plus, even though I'm not into manga and anime, I have always loved the culture of Japanese cute, or "kawaii".

The rest of the museum was great, especially the Japanese prints room, and of course the Botanical Gardens are a crowd pleaser. Abe's dad bought me a a new plant. I say "me" and not "we" because Abe was like "Nooo more plants." Whatever, he knows we can never have enough plants.

Anyway, the new plant is Trumpet Honeysuckle and it should crawl and wrap around the railing of our fire escape. It's going to look awesome. I did some rearranging so there is more room out there and maybe I will even be able to sit out there once in a while.