New year, new swap(s) and the brown paper bag

Hello paper lovers!


The last days of  December 2015 and you still got 3 days for signing up for the January Swap.

You can also sign up for the brown paper bag.
This will be a kraftpaper bag (much easier to send than a box) full of papers in earth colours which will be sent round the world for give & take. It's the same game as the Collage Box, only that the paper has to be earth coloured this time, so every tone of brown, sepia, fawn, ochre etc. will be the right thing.
If you want to join in, let me know via e-mail. The project will start, when we are enough players.

If you are new to paper swap and will give it a try: you are very welcome, it's free and fun.

 I wish you all a very happy and creative new year!

The box is back!

Happy news from the Uplifting Collage Box.


It started its trip around the world in May 2015 und has now arrived back here.



I am so glad, it made its way round! This is box No. 5, two have made it, two have gone lost.

144  pieces of paper have been originally sent out and 144 came back! 30 of those have been in it from the start.
Thank you so much everyone who has sent this on! You've all done a great job!

Unfortunately somebody has taken out the (folding) box. Please return it to me, I need it for further projects! Thx.

I will put up another one in the beginning of 2016. The theme will be earth tones. You want to be in?
Sign up now! Start will be in January. But there will be more infos coming soon.

Important

It seems to me that e-mails have got lost recently.
So please have in mind: always use the lawendula@gmail adress to sign in. If you have signed in and there is no answer from me, please ask again. I am always answering to sign-in e-mails. If not, there is something wrong!

Please have in mind that I will not answer in the time between October, 28 2015 and November, 4th.
If you want to be in the next swap, please let me know soon.

Happy autumn days, FM

October swap- regular or small?

This is new in October 2015:

Please decide if you want to sign up for the regular swap (same as it ever was) or for the small (quick) swap with a normal letter envelope (to make it a bit less expensive for those with the high shipping costs).

Please let me know which one it shall be. You can of course sign in for both. If you have signed up for the whole year, you are automatically in for both, unless you tell me something different.

Questions? Just drop me a line!

PS: November and December swap will be regular ones.

On shipping costs and how much to send

I’ve got this e-mail today from a paper swaper who told me she received a box of papers from someone new to paper swap which has cost the huge amount of $66 to send!!!

Although this is very generous and brought real joy, I think, it is time to talk about shipping costs.

In fact when I started the whole thing, I adviced just to use small letter (the normal ones) enevlopes to send it, because I wanted to make it affordable for everyone. But soon I realized, that people are much more generous than I thought and they nearly all send real big enevlopes (the one you could send a magazine in, we call it DIN A4 here in Germany) filled with stuff.

So soon this was the usual amount to send. We are the lucky ones in Germany, wherever in the world we‘ll send it to, it's € 3.50- 7. And that's ok. But shipping costs have risen badly these times, esp. in the UK, but also in Canada, Australia and the USA. They always have been high in France and the Netherlands and it's not getting better.

So here is my advice:

-          Please always „talk“ it over with your swap partner how much to send and be honest, if you can’t send a big envelope.

-          Quality over quantity! It’s not about sending as much as you can, but sending some real gems and things, that you think, she/he will like to use in her/his art.

-          Before sending it, go and check the envelope at your local post office and ask how much it will be. If it’s too much, go home and take some things out. Maybe sending two envelopes is cheaper? Check it out, sometimes it can be the case.

-          If you are not able to send out what you’ve packed due to unusual financial strains, please let me know. We’ll find a way, I promise!

And: I will put up some quick swaps in the future, which means only filling the normal letter envelope (and there is much more fitting into it than one realizes at first). It's also a good chance for those who are tight with time and material to join the fun.

Any questions? Suggestions? Please write to me or comment here! Thx!

Next swap and new blog

The next swap will start on 1st September 2015.
Come on and join the fun.
Send me an e-mail: lawendula@gmail.com


And here are some news for the German Paper Swapers and Artfriends:

Seit 2008 führe ich einen privaten Blog auf blog.de, das nun im Winter schließen wird. Deswegen bin ich nun zu wordpress gewandert und führe dort unter LaWendeltreppe einen öffentlichen Blog. Der hat eigentlich mit Paper Swap nichts zu tun, wohl aber mit Kunst, Collagen, Journals und meinem persönlichen Alltag.

Ich würde mich freuen, wenn ihr mal reinschaut! Danke!

Paper swap starts again

The spring/summer break slowly comes to an end!

So if you want to join the paper swap in August, please sign in now via e-mail.



It will start on August, 1st!

Happy collecting!

The Uplift Box

We are 15 now! And the box will start on May, 15 2015. Isn’t that a great serendipity?!

The box will start here in Germany, going over to France, then the UK, the USA, Canada and at last South Africa.

Thank you all, who have signed up! I hope you will have fun with it. (The wee bags are my surprise for each of you.)

Fingers crossed, that post strike won’t delay the box for too long.

May this project be protected and bring only joy to the world!

Hugs from FM

Two new art challenges and exchanges- PLEASE SIGN IN SOON!

As you know, this year we have a longer break in our paper swap rounds, so from April-July there are no swaps, BUT there will be two new and –I hope- intriguing and exciting projects, YOU can join now.

1. The first one will start on 15-5-2015 and it’s called “The uplift box”.
   

It’s a bit like the old collage box thing (some of you may remember), but slightly different. The box will start from here, filled with 144 (12x12) scraps, images, cut-outs from my piles of magazines and art stuff. You will take from it and add to it and send it on.

Then you create a postcard with the material to send it on as an uplift for someone in need.

If you want to participate, you’ll have to sign in with your full name and mailing address.

You can sign up any time til May 1^st. The box will be sent out round May, 15^th  2015.

This project is for 20 persons only (or sending it round might take ages), so be quick!

For more infos please send an e-mail to lawendula@gmail.com

2. The second one will start on July, 1^st and is called “The question and answer oracle game”.
   

And this is how it works:

Everyone takes two blank cardboard pieces in the size of postcards and turns them into artful collages/artworks. One with a question on it, the other with an answer. It CAN be the answer to that question, but it doesn’t NEED to!

You can sign in now and start working on it, you have to be ready by July, 1^st. Then everyone will send her question card to one participant and the answer card to another. I will make sure that in the end, everyone has got a question card and an answer card and that they both were from different persons.

So finally everyone has an artful oracle with a question and the random answer to it.

Sounds like fun? You can sign in now til June! Please sign in with your full name and your mailing address!

You can of course sign in for both. This is an obligation; please make sure, we can rely on you.

Questions? Just drop me a line!

Sign in via e-mail please, as always it’s lawendula@gmail.com

Please sign up for the paper swap in March

The swap that starts on March, 1st will be the LAST SWAP for a couple of month. Due to travelling I have to skip April and May Swaps this year and the summer break will go all through June and July, so the next normal swap will be August, 1st 2015.

I think I will organize a quick swap in between and I was also planing a little art challenge, but I'm not sure if I can manage that.

So if you want to use the opportunity, sign up for March Swap. As you know: totally free of themes, total fun, free spirit, easy going.

Are you in? Great! Just drop me a line.

lawendula@gmail.com

Happy new year!

I wish you all a very joy- and artful new year!

Please sign in for the February Swap now.

You can of course also sign in for the whole year too.

lawendula@gmail.com

Attention: There will be no swaps between May and August 2015 due to travel and summer break.
Please stay tuned for special art projects during that time.

xox LaWendula