ATC's for EG Swap

I'm taking part in the ATC swap at EG Scottish Regional Day 

This year it will be held in Dundee Caird Hall on 27th April.

The theme is 'Diamonds'

Participants should make two or four ATC stitched / textile cards

I lost my email with all the info on this and kept reminding myself I had to find it to print off the entry form.

I only found it this yesterday morning and realised that I had to make my two cards and have them posted off to reach Glasgow by 1st April!

I am going to regional day and had it in my head that we could just register to participate and just bring them along on the day...not so.....what I had read was that you could collect your swap on regional day and would not need to send off an extra envelope for them to be sent to you. 

I knew there was a reason I needed to find it!

So here are my little offerings for the swap

#1 ' Night Sparkle'

This was my first attempt, a bleached black fabric background overlaid with organza ribbon then fabric edged with lace and embellished with sequins, bugle beads and crystals.

 It didn't really turn out as I imagined, but its quite shimmery & sparkly.

I was more pleased with how number 2 turned out,

#2 'Sparkle & Lace'

I prefer #2 I really enjoyed working on it, I cut out the diamond shape from fusible buckram and sprinkled it with iridescent glitter and ironed between baking parchment. I ironed this onto the lace and fabric background then stitched over it. I used one of my lovely Caron wildflower threads called 'Williamsburg'

with such a patriotic colour theme it could easily have been called 'Blighty' 

I couched some sparkly stretchy trim up the side and added a little line of bullion knots and a sprinkle of french knots over the lace pattern.

After adding the backings I secured the edges in blanket stitch with DMC Ecru, 6 strands for a nice finish.

Hope they please their recipients.
These will be posted off today so they should make the deadline.

Looking forward to hopefully seeing all the entries on the day!

Arte y Pico Award ~ Me? Thank You!

Yesterday my lovely friend Sue awarded me the Arte y Pico Award. Her journal pages and thoughts are in inspiration to me and you must visit her flickr pages to view the wonderful images she captures with her camera. Thank you Sue :o)
This award is for blogs filled with art and creativity ~ there are some rules attached to this award and in passing it on to others they are as follows;
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico’ blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. To show these rules.
Here are the 5 wonderful blogs I have chosen whom I feel deserve this award for inspiring me.
Firstly to Judy I know you have been awarded this before but I can’t not include you because when I first started my blog your blog was and continues to be such a wonderful source of inspiration and colour and your kindness and personality shine through everything you do :o)
Secondly to Susan Lenz a wonderful fiber artist who is organizing what must be the largest fiber art ATC swap and exhibition which you can read all about here at Cyberfyber. I was delighted to be able to swap a fiber ATC and Postcard for one each of Susan’s
Next I send this award to Aileen a fab fiber artist who works with felt and fused fabrics & who started a wonderful flickr group called Handmade in Scotland inviting so many wonderful Scottish artists and creative people to join together & display their work.
The Lone Beader is my next Choice, a dedicated beader who has the patience of a saint and creates the most fabulous works of art. Watch her build up a picture from day to day Check out The Hijack & Fire Truck.
And to Julia a textile artist who’s day to day stitching and beautiful modern designs are always a delight to see check out her Etsy shop Materialised
I hope you all enjoy a visit to these blogs….

Cyber Fyber Swap

Im delighted! my ATC & Postcard swap pieces have arrived from Susan Lenz, they are just beautiful. I chose both of these because they were made from the same larger work which Susan compleated for an exhibition in 2004 the original was called 'Last Light Before Vespers' which you can see & read about here be sure to click on the image for an enlarged view...it's a beautiful piece and now I have two little bits of it!

Click the picture for a larger view.

The ATC & Postcard I made as swaps for these are shown in post 15th Feb & if you want to see a little of how they came about see post for 14th Feb. If you havent been to visit 'Cyber Fyber' yet to trade why not have a look you might see something still up for swaps.

ATC & Postcard for 'Cyber Fyber'

Following on from yesterdays post showing my fun with fabric crayons, here are two of the fabric pieces which I have worked on & finished.

Both of these pieces are now on their way to Susan Lenz and are my swap pieces in exchange for an ATC & Postcard from the 'Cyber Fyber' exhibition. I'm delighted to be taking part and looking forward to seeing my swap pieces from Susan.

Postcard fabric piece was overlayed with organza & machine stitched with a variety of colours. Hand embroidery and beads were then applied. I added some stamps and angelina fibers to the ATC and overlaid with chiffon and machine stitched. Hand embroidery and buttons were then applied. Click on the picture for a closer look.