I have been having a lot of creative fun with ATCs since being introduced to them March 2010. Collage with pretty papers, magazine images, now experimenting with zentangles and watercolour and fabric. After all, I have been a fabric a holic for nigh on 25 years now! So I hope to slowly use up some of my fabric stash and ephemera. As these miniatures are just that, 2½" x 3½", I can't see the stash disappearing in a hurry, goodness only knows our lovely rumpus room table has become a casualty to collage and ephemera, with nowhere to put all this lovely stash.

Jach and Celia. This is the only photo of my maternal grandparents on their wedding day, so I thought it was worthy of embellishment. I included an Australian postage stamp with bridal roses. It is a mystery as to the flowers Gran may have carried on her day, or perhaps, none at all in lean times and being one of 16 children. I will have to find what year this was! Maybe early '20's?

This photo used to hang suspended from a very high picture rail in their tiny poorly lit loungeroom mostly devoid of ornamentation, encased in a very big oval wooden frame. I often used to stare at this photo as they stared back at me, frozen in time. The couple in the picture seemed to bear no resemblance to the hard working grandparents that I knew in the '50's, '60's and '70's. Gran always in her 'pinnie' and beanie, milking cows on the freezing cold mornings just a smidgeon past dawn, in Bullarto Sth Victoria; scrubbing and rubbing clothes on the wooden washboard until she got a new Pope washer with a hand wringer.

I have fond memories of hanging the washing on the line on a wire propped up on a pole working with Gran. Not the most sophisticated clothes line, but serviceable. Like everything my grandmother had. Their married life was all about hard work on a dairy and produce farm, thrift and recycling as much as possible.

The end of my 8 week rest

Reading 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' in hospital.

It's time to go back to work after an extended post-operative recouperation time. I have done everything that the doctor prescribed and will now reap the benefits of rest and creativity. Whilst I was mostly confined to home, I was not lonely or without company.

Thanks to the social network of sms, blogs (Thanks Roz, Diana and Britt-Arnhild et al from Armchairtravellers group and fellow Artist Trading Card artists), Facebook, Yahoo groups of fellow artists and friends and emails from friends from all over the world, it has been a time of connectedness and 'virtual' support. These connections have become an important part of my daily life in the past few years and helps stave off homesickness for friends, to say nothing of news and inspiration I gleen vicariously!

In this recouperation time, I had a chance to read without guilt, having been banned from doing housework. I read some enjoyable books.

My favourite 'reading' application has become MP3 downloads to iPhone or portable MP3 books from the library. Being so portable, it allows me to read *and* play with ATC's, knit, cook or do the ironing! As they say, time flies when you are having fun! More and more I can see myself converting to this medium to 'read', but of course nothing will ever take the tactile place of a book book!

I try to always be a conscientious reader and purchase downloads from official sources and I am a keen supporter of our local library, particularly for audio books.

During March and April I read:

The Friday Night Knitting CLub by Kate Jacobs (SlimInk)

Me by Charles (Bud) Tingwell (CD)

The Thief Taker by Janet Gleeson (PLayaway)

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (SlimInk)

Down under by Bill Bryson (playaway)

Rules of Engagement by Anita Brookner (Book mooch)

The Boy by Julian Davies (borrowed from Kerrie)

The Georges Wife by Elizabeth Jolley (Bookmooch)A

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern (playaway)

An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy (library)

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (SlimInk)

The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood (MP3) (F2F bookclub)

The Road to NAB End by William Woodruff (Playaway)

The 19th Wife (SlimInk)

When purchasing physcial books I try to be a conscientious buyer and source from independent bookstores. It is very tempting to buy books so cheaply from big department stores, so when yielding, I try to buy one for one (i.e one from independents and one from Big W). It is important to be a patron of your library also, as stats prepared from visits and borrowings support future funding.

I am a keen Bookmoocher for the exchange of used books and many titles I have on my shelves are from Bookmooch.com. I also rent books online from Slimink.com.au and look forward to my monthly exchange of latest titles.

I have resisisted buying a Kindle to date. I don't like the thought of being restricted to Amazon.com for downloads. But as with everything, I will have to do some more research to see who owns websites such as Audiobooks.com and others that I currently favour for purchase of downloads.

Certainly ebooks in audio or electronic reader form are the way of the future. For me, the chance to read audio books is the chance to enjoy more books than I would ever have time to physically read. I am restricting my e-choices to fiction and non fiction stories. My already groaning bookshelves hardly have room to fit a mouse, let alone more fiction and bio books so this is a good option for me! And imagine the whole moving house concept sans books, or rather, minimal books. These two factors make enjoying eBooks a pragmatic choice for me in the future.

I do however love my reference and text books and coffee table books and could not imagine replacing them with electronic copies. I must admit more and more if I want a recipe I will first look online if I don't have the recipe. I have not bought a recipe book for many years, but then in saying that, I do have some beautiful classic cookbooks which I would not part with.

I will always have bookshelves groaning with books of all genres. And borrowing or exchanging eBooks? Hmmm... nothing will take the place of real books it seems...

ATC's - Roses

Graphics and photos from IClipart and Rubys Blossom.

ATC's - corrugated/Metallic

A sample of the swap. Tim Holtz lock andkey, Webster scrap paper, Itkupilli letters, Kaiser scrap paper, stamping etc.

Heat emboss ATC's using stamps from Clearly Vintage (Etsy), V&A new stamp collection.

Tea and coffee ATC swap

ATC - Tulip and Vintage art swap

Having fun, making friends, dragging out beloved art materials, downloading public domain vintage photos, drawings... whiling away the hours...more time off work... creating ATC's seems like good therapy?