Radiance-Hardware ATC Challenge

I would have done this sooner but my email account seems to have disappeared. Of course, everything was attached to that address and my last week of life has been somewhat of a nightmare! GGrrrr

But I managed to soothe my jangled nerves and produce a piece for this challenge. We were supposed to be using hardware. Stuff you find at the hardware store. Keeping in mind that this is a small piece and that it has to go through the mail, really limits what you can use!




I started out with a piece of hand stitched rust dyed fabric. The piece was started and blown off a while ago. It just wasn't working. So I measured out my cards on the fabric with a black marker and screwed one of them up by not double checking the size before hand! That's why I make extras for mistakes such as these. I wound some copper wire that was from a picture frame hanging kit (at least I think that is where it came from!) Boring. Painted some washers in metallic blue and hand stitched them on. Better but still boring. Looked at the one that I wrote on and realized if I made an intersecting line running down, I would create a focal point. Hmm. More washers, and blue metallic thread gave me the wonderful masterpieces I finally ended up creating! Please note that this is the second ATC in a row that was not a TREE!! I am really growing! Hee-hee

Balance

This months challenge was Balance. I picked the challenge and it was based on my life being as crazy as it is now. It is to remind myself to stop and breathe once in a while and enjoy the moment. My son just made the school soccer team for 7th grade and he has all of us in a frenzy he's so excited!

I chose the water drop as my image. It always reminds me of peaceful images and focus. I made an extra one for myself and have it sitting by my computer. This may be one of my favorites.

I used commercial fabric for the background because the colors were gorgeous. Then I drew in the circles using water color crayons and the water drop is made using glossy accents! Fun stuff! then I sewed in some of the edges to make it more dimensional.

Check here for everyone's interpretation: http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com

Death/Rebirth - Opposites Challenge

Time for the monthly posting of my ATC trade! See the rest here: http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com

This month was Opposites. I thought it would be an easy one to do but I ended up struggling with it. I was not feeling very creative as the day before this was announced, we learned of the sudden death of my BIL Paul. My husband was devastated as he had just lost his father 8 months prior. Events like this always gives us pause to contemplate the cycle of life and other things.

Driving home from the store, my attention was caught by a dead tree spiraling quite high into the sky. It was quite striking against the blue sky with fluffy clouds. I am sure it was a very stately tree with a very interesting past - kind of like my BIL. Below the tree, there were tiny trees, shrubs and flowers growing up all around the dead tree. So that became my theme - death/rebirth. Interesting how after death, other things show up to fill the void.




I used a fabric I dyed with blue dye and a flour paste resist. The trees are made from black and white puffy paint added on top of one another. At the base of the tree, I couched green yarn to create to shrubs and silk scraps are held in place with beads to create the wildflowers. I beaded some additional sprigs of orange flowers to add to the image.

Rest in Peace Paul Cox.
Your outrageous personality and quick wit will be dearly missed.

Sunflowers and Lemonade ATC Challenge

I had to take our newest challenge and change it up a bit. We went down to Louisiana for my hubands father's memorial service. Between the heat and family, we were getting a little crazy. So once we were free to go, we jumped back in the car and headed to New Orleans - the French Quarter to be exact and the Court of Two Sisters. Love that place and we ordered a hurricane! Just what the doctor ordered! So leaving there inspired, I decided to make my ATC's using the adult version of lemonade! LOL

I sketched the design in colored pencil, colored everything using sharpie markers and then over the table and background with oil pastels - blending with my fingers. I sketched over the whole design with colored pencils to add in all the details. The word was stamped on and then highlighted with oil pastels. The final touch was adding Glossy Accents by inkssentials to create the "sweating" on the glass. Enjoy your summer!

Fabulous Fakes Challenge

Here is my latest challenge for our ATC group. I did a faux stained glass window. It turned out so much better than expected. I had other ideas but this one seemed to come together on its own. I am not as productive as I would like to be lately. My MIL is staying with us and we are helping her put together a memorial service for my FIL who passed away last November. Kids are finishing up school so lots of loose ends to be finished. Start and end of school is always crazy business. I am off for the summer as the preschool ended last week. Woo-hoo! Fun but exhausting.
Anyway, this was created with vellum paper, markers and puffy paint. I love how this turned out! And for the first time in months, it's not blue in case you hadn't noticed. LOL
Check out the rest of our challenge pieces here at http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com/

Sacred Threads - Accepted!!

I got the news last weekend that one of my pieces was accepted to Sacred Threads!!! So exciting! After a slew of rejections, this one finally got the proverbial high 5!!

My piece is for the area of spirituality. I named it "In The Silence I Have Seen Him." I had done this for the black and white challenge but wasn't done in time for last entry into Sacred Threads so I had to wait until now to try. This was a whole piece white fabric and I sketched on the angel with pencil. I worked in layers using black setacolor and aloe vera gel to get the saturation and different layers of gray. Then "sketched" the details using my sewing machine. I went in with shiva paintstiks in white and black to add details and additional shading. I love this piece and hope others will too.

Spring - Kinda

Lot's of crazy stuff going on in my life right now! So I have a few things to post about. This is the latest of my ATC trading cards. Looking at them now, they really look so much like a set I did last year. I must have really liked that one!

The theme was in Just Spring based on ee cummings poem. I just didn't have anything springlike happening. We have had nothing but rain and overcast days. It has been depressing to say the least. Everyone has been just in a funk and it is well represented in my latest ATC's.

I used hand dyed fabric and did a rubbing on it with a leaf plate. It was boring. So I fused it to the peltex and cut to individual cards and stamped leaf prints using commercial and hand cut stamps in brown and light green. I really liked them at this point but then was at a loss on how to proceed. I just wasn't in a spring frame of mind. Finally I decided to just go with it and used fabric crayons and sequin waste to add in "flowers" in red, blue and yellow. I smeared on a sparkly glitter glue to represent the standing water. I heat set, then free motion stitched grasses as this seems to be the only thing growing right now. My single shot is a little blurry again. I think I may be having some problems with my camera. It is also tough to get good shots when the weather is so dark and dreary. But we are on our 2nd day of sunshine so things are looking more like spring! Finally!!