Surprise!

The February/March issue of Quilting Arts magazine showed up in the mailbox yesterday which is always a good thing. Fortunately the mail runs late here because when a magazine arrives, I will stop whatever I am doing to sit and read it. At least there is half a chance for productivity before the postal carrier's appearance.
As I am thumbing through the articles, I see the results for a challenge I entered last fall, that I had totally forgotten about. And there on page 80 is my artist trading card, proudly displayed in the upper right hand corner!!! Right below is Veronica's card. YAY!
Thanks to her astute observation, she requested that everyone in the swap group she is facilitating, send a card into the magazine for the challenge when it was announced.
This month will mark the fifth year of the Fiber Antics ATC swap. We have 10 participants now. We trade once a month and the themes are posted on Veronica's website and blog (there's a link on my blog). She also posts photos of the cards every month.
 The themes are fun and sometimes thought provoking, always open to interpretation by the members of the group. Some months, I jump right in knowing exactly what my offering will be, even though my time is occupied by the petty details of life and I just make the deadline getting my cards in the mail. Other times, I just can't get inspired and have turned in cards that I am not so proud of, especially when I receive my package of glorious art works from the other traders. But it is always fun and I have bulging binders to prove it.
  I keep my cards in those clear pages made for sports trading cards in 3 ring binders. Any technique is allowed to create the cards as long as the size is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. Paint, fabric, photography, markers, crayons, rubber stamps, glue, tape, staples are all used to interpret the theme. It's a wonderful way to try out a new technique and an even better way to make friends.