This and That

Well I have not been as busy as I would like to be creating art but I haven't been a total slacker either. I just finished my ATC's for the latest trade - Sew What's Buggin' You? Mine are dragonflies! The write up for them is on the blog - http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com/

I am also working to get some pieces ready for submission to Art O Mat. I have two ideas but need to get them sent off and have them ok'd before I post pics. Wish me luck!

Art In the Cards Trading Group

I was invited to join an ATC group a few months back and you have seen the pieces that I have done. Well now we are doing a blog so that you can see what the whole group is doing. Some pretty amazing pieces are coming out of such a tiny group! We will be starting with our All Cracked Up theme and going forward from there. I am thinking we should post our other pieces too because they are amazing!! Anyway, here is the link if you want to check it out!

http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com/

Cracked

So our artist trading card group had another challenge and the theme was Cracked. Hmmm. I decided I was going to do mine based on the Crack of Dawn!

So I used backings from a previous failed ATC attempt. I painted the fabric midnight blue and then went back into it with shiva paintstiks in yellow, orange and green. I sewed around the "clouds" to add more definition. I then drew on some yupo paper with colored pencils and ink. Once dry, I painted over it with gel medium in three layers. Once dry, I used gel medium to adhere it to the backing. It wasn't as transparent as I wanted. So I had to add more details back in with fabric dye pens. It has a rubbery feel to it and was hard to sew the edges to finish off the piece. The 6:08 is the time my husband keeps waking me up for some reason!

Rebirth Challenge piece

Well I have finished the third piece in our 12"x 12" challenge series. The theme this time was Rebirth and it could be interpreted any way we wanted. I created mine based on the butterfly. When the challenge word was revealed, we had just received our caterpillars at the preschool and we watched each day as they got bigger and then went into the cocoon stage.

I found some great fabric my friend Christine had given me and used it for the background. I quilted around the piece to give the feel of tree bark. I used rust dyed and hand dyed fabric to create tree branches. The leaves were two fabrics fused together and then cut out to look like leaves. The cocoon was from more fabric my friend Christine gave me - she thought it looked like mud and I of course said I would take it! I added some angelina fiber over the top and machine quilted it to add more texture. I then stuffed it with fiber. I created the butterfly wings by fusing to pieces of white fabric together and then drawing in the wing patterns using fabric markers. The edges were faced so there would not be a border (I hate making borders if you haven't noticed!! LOL)

Waiting

I have made an entry for the Stitch This! Challenge. Quilting Arts and Bernina are hosting. You can vote for as many pieces as you like but you can only vote one time for each.

I saw the photo and just fell in love with it so I had to enter. Not sure why but I really like swans. The challenge was to interpret the picture posted but showcase stitching. Uploads were to begin on May 3rd but I found out about it on May 5th. So I got to work and started creating!

First I drew the image on to white cotton fabric. I used the Neocolor II watercolor pencils and then blended the colors using the textile medium. Terri Stegmiller had used this instead of water so I decided to give it a try! LOVE IT!!! Going to do this again! Anyway, I then thread painted the entire piece. The feathers at the bottom were thread painted on separate fabric and then cut out and added to the piece. I love the colors and the entire piece.

Wish me luck!

Rust/Metal ATC Trade

I did these in half the time as last. Some designs take time and others just flow out quickly. Our challenge was to incorporate something rust or metal. I used rusted fabric. I was inspired by my visit to the Field Museum in Chicago and took a bunch of photos of the fossils. The fish grabbed my attention so that was my inspiration. I made 8 up on a page and printed out on my color ink jet printer. Then I photocopied it on a copier. Each fish is printed on the card using the citra-solv method. I found the lavendar version at the IQA show in Jane Davila's booth. I wanted to make them look like they do in the museum - saved in the rock they found them. Didn't quite work so I added black puffy paint to add dimensionality to them. I stitched around each and then FMQ the background to make it look like a rock. Didn't really work but I do like the fishes!

Warped Challenge

Finally finished my ATC's for the latest challenge and I am about 10 days behind schedule. What can I say. Life.

Anyway, I was inspired by the meteor that flew over Illinois and landed in Wisconsin, as well as time warp and the images of the volcano from above. So I was thinking "What if a meteor ripped through the fabric of time?"

I painted white fabric with black puffy paint, let it dry and then puffed with heat gun. I then painted the "islands brown and green and the water around in various shades of blue. I painted a thin lutrador with midnight blue acrylic paint and smeared a glitter glue in areas across it to simulate space and stars.

When dry, I sewed to the top of each card and hit it with a heat gun to "Tear" through the sky. I added some small silver beads to create little meteors and then a silver washer - hand numbered to make a clock and had a small white cardboard circle behind it. I edged each with black/blue thread.