Advent calendar December 11

Especially during Advent you see angels everywhere. I hope you like this one:

Advent calendar December 10

Today a bit of Christmas magic:

Beginning

Mind Wide Open is a fabulous blog which regularly organizes challenge contests. From the website:

Anyone and everyone can enter. It doesn't matter your medium or your skill level. The key word in this contest is Challenge. We want you to challenge yourself! Maybe step it up a notch, or try something you've never done before. Possibly step outside your box and rethink a new way to do an old technique. Challenge, challenge, challenge is the name of the game.

I finally worked up the courage to make a contribution to the last contest of the year. You were given the picture of a little girl with butterflies and an inspirational word prompt which was beginning(s) this time. So now here's my entry:

If you have some time, visit the website and have a look at the other stunning entries. So much talent! You can even vote for your favorite artwork until December 15.

Advent calendar December 9

The Santa card was inspired by a challenge from the Small World of Inchies and Twinchies website. So now you probably wonder what an inchie is. From the website:

"An inchie is a square, 1" x 1" (2.54cm x 2.54cm). You can make something wonderful of an inchie. Use ink, stamps, paint, UTEE, embossing powder, lace, flowers, paper, vintage photos, etc. It's a fun challenge to work that small!"

A twinchie is twice as big, but still tiny! The two buttons on my card are inchies:

Fairy Sisters

Guess what? I stumbled upon yet another great challenge blog. This time you have to work in postcard format -- 6 x 4 inches. Sunday Postcard Art's current theme is fairies, so I couldn't resist showing you these fairy sisters who can be seen in the woods on rare occasions:

Mimi's favorite color...

... was red, but see yourself:

Another contribution to the current TMTA challenge "red."

Fear is red

This week Think Monday - Think ATC's topic is red. A while ago I made a digital ATC which perfectly fits the theme:

The face has been digitally painted and then grunged up. So what do you think -- is fear red?

Advent calendar December 8

I wonder when the next snow fall will come -- maybe later this week?

Lost in the woods

I found yet another interesting creative challenge blog -- Gothic Arches. The name tells the wanted format -- a gothic arch. The current theme is trees. I used one of my recent forest photos for the background of my first digital arch and then played until I came up with this little girl lost in the woods:

Advent calendar December 7

A friendly reminder to avoid holiday stress:

Suzy & Melly

Make a moo or two has a great theme which fits perfectly into the season -- presents! So here are my two moos featuring Suzy and Melly:

Cecilia was an angel like no other

The creative challenge blog named Thank God it's Friday has the theme skinny this week. The format of a skinny is 3 x 5 inches. Of course, I just had to give this format a try. I used the image provided by Art Creations Friday, and thus the lively angel Cecilia came into being:

Advent calendar December 6

Today is Nikolaus day in Germany. Saint Nicholas gives small presents to the children and those who have been good all year round. ;)

Advent calendar December 5

Theme Thursday's topic this week is ATCs with a child image. For my virtual Advent calendar, I recently made an ATC which introduces sassy Lulu whose snowball fights were legendary:

Advent calendar December 4

Doesn't the little girl look like she's dressed up for a winter walk? She was perfect for this vintage Christmas image:

Advent calendar December 3

The challenge blog Think Monday - Think ATC has the theme "Stone Angels" this week. I digitally altered a photo I took last year on the Holy Evening. As background I used once again the great and versatile texture from the challenge blog Art Creations Friday. Anyway, enjoy this angel image which is the third picture of my virtual Advent calendar:

Advent calendar December 2

There's only a little bit snow left at the moment, so I am really dreaming of a White Christmas while I hear Bing Crosby singing in my head.

Advent calendar December 1

What would Advent be without an Advent calendar? So please be sure to check out one of my winter/Christmas digital images each day from December 1 to December 24. I wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Believe

I just had to use the nice background from Art Creations Friday for another digital image -- this time in ATC format. It's a contribution to the current theme of Theme Thursday, yet another creative challenge blog. The theme is Santa -- just perfect to get into Christmas mode/mood:

Monkeys

Art Creations Friday provided a nice background for its new challenge. I used it in both moos I made for the Make a moo or two challenge blog with its new theme monkeys:

Among circus folk, Lizzie was affectionately known as Monkey.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks for being part of my life!

Majorie's lost love

Was it just yesterday that I found out all about moos? Today I happened to find another exciting challenge blog called Art Creations Friday. The organizers post a picture or background each Friday which you then have to use in your own project. I am thrilled that digital collages are welcome, too. I used the beautiful vintage photo of a woman for my digital collage:

Whenever Majorie took a stroll in fall, she thought of her lost love.

First snow

Over the weekend we had the first snow in Munich. This morning in the car while waiting for a train to pass, I took the first two photos of the snowy fields which are near my home.

Seraphine & Geraldine

Today I stumbled upon a website which asks you to "make a moo or two." Of course, I had to find out what a moo is -- except for the sound a cow makes that is. From the website:

"A Moo is a little card with the size of 2,8 x 7 centimeters or approximately 1,1 x 2,8 inches. Beside this fixed size it's what you make of it!"

That sounds interesting, doesn't it? Anyway, every Friday a theme is set to challenge you to make a moo. The most recent one is "pets," so I had to try my hand at it. So now I proudly present Seraphine & Geraldine:

Light & Shadow

Have you ever noticed how wonderfully November sunlight brings out the shadows? Amazing!

My first ATC swap

Normally, ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are more like AKCs for me (Artist Keeping Cards). However, I finally decided to try out a digital ATC swap -- what fun that was! Earlier this week I received the five stunning cards below made by Victoria, Raven, Elinor (who had organized the swap), Paula, and Jeff. Cool, huh?

Halloween decoration

Before I put away all the Halloween and fall decoration, I want to show you some of the stuff:

Halloween Pumpkin

Isn't a Halloween pumpkin a truly splendid thing? You get a great Jack-o-lantern, pumpkin soup, spiced pumpkin bread, and roasted pumpkin seeds. Oh, the joys of autumn!

Walk On All Saints Day

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
-- Albert Camus

How true is that?! Just have a look at the photos I took during a walk on All Saints Day: