ATC - Purple Cosmic Rain (Available for Trade)

ATCs are fun to make and trade. This one (Purple Cosmic Rain) is made from printed cottons, inks, sequins, seed beads and embroidery threads, backed by felt.

If anyone is interested in trading for another fabric ATC, please Email me at mandolin50 at hotmail dot com.

PLEASE NOTE that I only trade fabric ATCs.

(ATC) Solar Flare

Someone gave me this swirly fabric which made me think of the sun and solar flares that have been in the news lately. This is going as a trade to Jodie in Texas. I am working on Solar Flare II on a larger scale to hang on the sunshine yellow wall in our office.

ATC Pink

I made this ATC for an all pink challenge and swap. I am thinking too much pink is not a good thing, but I still like it or I would not be giving it away. It gave me a chance to use up some of the plastic "petals" I bought at a dollar store a few years ago. Some touches of glitter, which you can't see in the photo, jazz it up a bit too. Hope my swap partner likes it. :)

New ATC

I decided to post my latest this evening, even though I am not entirely pleased with the way the colours turned out on the photo. Natural light is way better. Tomorrow I'll take another snap in daylight and add it to this post for comparison.

I absolutely love the background fabric which, if memory serves me correctly, was given to me by Dot. :)


























Edited March 5, 2012.
True to life colours in daylight.

ATC Blue Leaf

I was working on the above ATC yesterday when the earthquake near Ottawa occurred. Although I am a five hour drive away from Ottawa, I still felt the aftershock, or rather I should say, I heard it. Both of the drop leaves on the large table where my TV sits, started flapping and making a clattery noise. This lasted about thirty seconds.

I thought it was the vibration from the large truck that had just delivered a dumpster next door. (My neighbour is having her house re-roofed and needs the dumpster to dispose of the old shingles, in case you wondered). It wasn't until a bit later when I tuned in to catch one of the FIFA World Cup games that I saw the earthquake news bulletin flash across the bottom of the TV screen.

As if that wasn't enough from Mother Nature, later in the evening we also received tornado and storm warnings. Fortunately, we only ended up with periods of heavy rains. Today is bright and sunny.

Back to the ATC. I wanted to do a little experiment with acrylic paint on fabric before tackling it on a larger scale. I like the result so I will be playing around with this paint and fabric theme for a while - in between making cats, of course.

ATC - Landscape

Somewhere I acquired a half metre of a very large pastel cotton print that I have used several times. I like to go back to it every now and again because it has such interesting possibilities. Today a small section was transformed into an ATC that looked like a landscape to me.

(This is available for trade with another fabric ATC only).

Below is what I did with the fabric last year.

ATC - 1950s Style and New Project

The latest ATC didn't turn out how I envisioned it. I thought about not posting it but it's not a bad idea to face up to the failures. Later on when I get better, I can look back and measure my progress.

I thought the background had a 1950s house dress vibe to it so I wanted a face to match. I used an old women's magazine from 1952 for reference, to remind myself how they did makeup and hairstyles in those days.

What I don't particularly like about this is the lady's hair. I must learn to paint hair. And her lower lip could be a bit fuller too, I think. Oh well, I challenge myself to make another improved version.

Below is the start of my latest project. I wonder if anyone recognizes this well known figure from the silhouette.

I started by weaving torn strips of two very similar cottons. I hope to find enough time on Sunday to finish it.

ATC - Moon and Stars

This brings childhood to mind. You know those decals your parents stuck on the headboard of your bed that you had dreams about. Or an illustration out of a storybook.

ATC - Burgundy and Rose Print

The idea here was to layer two fabrics together. The top layer was supposed to have cutout circles to reveal some of the bottom layer. I love this old fashioned print so much that I didn't want to put any more than the one hole in it.

ATC - Looking Ahead To Spring

Not only am I looking forward to spring, but when I wove the background for this ATC, the colours really made me think of spring. I love making ATCs because they're actually test pieces of ideas I can use for future larger projects.

On this one, I machine stitched pintucks on the ivory strips.

My new challenge is to make the weave resemble animal fur. Ideas are welcome.

(Traded with Margreet in the Netherlands).

ATC In Black and Flesh Tone

I wove the background with uneven cotton strips and secured it with one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. Actually, that stitch looks like the one you see on crazy quilts. (I must remember that - stitch #18 on the sewing machine dial). Then I sewed on the face and added some embroidery scribble. A few matching beads on the black patches, a felt backing and blanket stitch around the edges to finish it off.

Playing With Texture

I'm still playing with the music score fabric that was recently gifted to me. I am finding the wrong side of the fabric is as useful as the right side. The print shows through just enough to create some texture that is not overpowering. Add a few simple embroidered stars and some acrylic paint in the background and you're done.

I have to confess this started out all wrong. I was trying to do something else and it wasn't working and I was ready to toss it. But I hate to give up and thought I'd try and salvage it. I'm glad I did because I'm very pleased with the final result.

(Available for trade for another fabric ATC only).

A Cat?

When I was working out the composition of this ATC, staring at it from a distance, it suddenly dawned on me that there were a pair of ears on top the head.
Now all I can see when I look at it is a cat. :)

(Traded with Angélique in France).

Second ATC

This is the second ATC for my swap and boy did I struggle with it. I don't know how many times I had to change it to get a result I could live with. Again, the emphasis is on the mouth as outlined in my previous post.

An ATC is supposed to be 2½ x 3½ inches so I am "thinking outside the box" maybe (?) with the three fabric strips. My swap partner can cut them off if she doesn't like them.

ATC

I'm participating in a body parts ATC swap which features the mouth. You'll have to trust me when I tell you that the mouth is highlighted here because you wouldn't be able to tell from this scan. In fact, the mouth is emphasized with glitter paint and it sparkles. Instead of the gloss sealer that I usually use on my faces, I tried a matte sealer to further enhance the mouth. I still have another one to make for a second swap partner.

Belinda's Art

Belinda at Metallic Dreams and I did a Doll ATC swap. Look at these beauties I received from Belinda. I am so taken aback, I don't know what to say.

There is so much lovely detail in both of these pieces. The sculpted faces, felted hair, glass beads, seed beads, metallic turquoise and purple, gold metallic thread and rice paper are some of the elements that have been so artfully arranged.

I had to go back and take a second look at all the art that Belinda has posted on her blog. After seeing her work in person, I see the photos on her blog in a new light and now have an even greater appreciation for what she does.

I've had a few days away from my own creative endeavours as other things demand my attention right now. I am currently working on something I wish to post on Easter Sunday, and if time permits, I may have something else to show before then.

Belinda Butterfly

Now that the above ATC has reached it's destination, I can reveal her. I did an ATC swap with Belinda at Metallic Dreams and suggested we use dolls (what else?) as the theme.

Someone gave me this gorgeous piece of orange/rust quilting cotton with all these beautiful butterflies. Right away, I thought "Butterfly Doll". I can almost feel the warmth of the sun when I look at these colours.

ATCs are pretty small and I was just lucky enough to be able to cut out one of the butterflies to fit. When you have such a striking design on fabric, you can't do much to it if you don't want to lose the design. Aside from the beading around the face, I dabbed on some glitter paint and a few hanging threads for decoration, and that was it.

Belinda is such a pretty name. I decided to name her "Belinda Butterfly".

I haven't made that many ATCs, but so far, I have to say, this is my favourite.

Fabric ATCs For A Swap

These fabric ATCs are going in the mail to my swap partners. The purple one at the top employs some more of that wonderful quilting cotton that my niece gave me.

The bottom card is a tiny Dotee. She's got some beads around her and a bit of glitter paint. I'll have to do more of the Dotee ATCs as they are quick and fun.

Valentine Card

This is the photo layout for my Valentine Card. Once I get the photo developed and am sure I like it, I will put each of the hearts on an ATC or a mini pillow.

Blue Woman With Veil ATC

For my part in our crafting session, I decided to make an ATC because I promised myself I wasn't going to start another doll until I finished the two Icicle Dolls I still have outstanding for a swap.

All the fabrics used were leftover scraps from other people's projects. In addition to the huge amount of scraps my neighbour K gave me last week, another friend gave me twice as many leftovers this week. The more you have, the more possibilities you have for co-ordinating and matching colours. It's wonderful.

I had drawn the face earlier and messed up the mouth, but the eyes were good. I didn't have the heart to toss it out and figured I could use the eyes somehow and, voilà.

The word "misterioso" is Italian for mysterious.