Paper Cowgirl Swaps Progress

The craft table is cluttered here at El Rancho Not So Grande--I'm working on my swap items for the up-coming Paper Cowgirl Altered Art Retreat, which will take place in Waxahachie, Texas in two weeks.

I'm nearly done with my Rodeo Queen Sash.  I just need to corral my daughter, who is the sewing expert, to help me finish the edges on the sash's bottom end and sew down some trims.  My Sash Partner likes mermaids and sweet color schemes, which means I'm using a different color palette than my usual orange-browns and neutrals.  It's been a challenge, but it's fun, too.  I've re-made a vintage horse show ribbon (I have a huge stash) with a mermaid theme, including a string of "pearls" and have created several faux flowers to cluster around the ribbon, which will accent the bottom of the sash.  I just need to locate my felt letters so I can add a special word--I'm leaning toward "CREATE" or "ARTFUL".

I'm embossing designs on my herd of paper horses.  They have paper and silk flower details, and I plan to add eyelets so I can thread "reins" through their mouths.  My 16-year-old daughter thinks they are cool.

All my swap items need to be attractively packaged, so I'm playing with treatments on some cute pre-made paper cones I plan to use to hold one-yard bits of vintage trims for one of the swaps.  My flower blossoms will go into little mesh pouches, and I want to add a cute detail to those as well.  I found a nifty padded hanger to hold my Rodeo Queen Sash.

 The biggest outstanding task is the design for my ATC cards.  I plan to use old road maps for the background and I have created several cowgirl "buttons" in Photoshop to use in the design.  One is featured above as a gift to my readers!  You don't have to be a Paper Cowgirl to use this, just don't re-distribute it or sell it as your own artwork--I created it from scanned images in my personal collection.

 This is a sample of one of the buttons I have created to use on the tag I'll attach to my swap items so my partners will know who made them.  I love this cowgirl--she's the author of a book on barrel racing that was published in 1961 in Cypress, Texas.

My Paper Cowgirl pendant, made by Ms. Dale of SeaDreams Studio has arrived.  It is so cute!  And my Cafe-Press order with my official tee-shirt (featuring the same design as shown on the pendant arrived tonight.  All I need is a real horse!

Excitement Builds for Paper Cowgirl Retreat

The 2010 Paper Cowgirl Altered Art Retreat (June 24-27) is drawing closer, and my excitement is building.  I received a wonderful little packet from Ms. Lisa of Tarnished and Tattered--she's teaching a class on mixed media tag-making and she sent each of her students a letter with a handmade resin embellishment attached.  I feel like doing the "zoomies" (what my dogs do when they deliriously whirl around the house with joy)--I'm going to learn so much from her!

I've signed up for several swaps--and I'm working on all of them.  I'm saving cardboard TP rolls to transform into "baskets" to hold trims for the Vintage Trims swap.  I'm putting together my ATC design--I'll use the same design on all my cards because I have to make a bunch.  I've finished my "blossoms" and just need to add "leaves" to them.

And I'm exploring color palettes for my swap partner in the "I'm a Rodeo Queen, Now Where's My Sash?" swap.  My sash-partner loves aqua and pink, and this is a new color combo for me.  You can see a selection of trims I've gathered so far, including an awesome vintage horse show ribbon in soft, shabby pink.

To top it off, I created a swap--the "Faithful Horse" swap, using the templates provided so generously by Ann Wood, here.  I chose one from the three templates she offers, and enlarged it just a bit.  I'm cutting my horses out of file folders by Cavalini printed with a luscious image of vintage United States map.  Of course,  I'm making sure that Texas shows up on the horse's body!

If you're signed up for Paper Cowgirl, let me know!  If you haven't signed up, you have to HURRY--registration will be closing soon!  Want to see what PC is all about?  Click here.