Finished Leaf ATCs

Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them justice. The satiny black background caught the light of the scanner and the glitter is no where as interesting as in real life.
I tried to photograph them and that was even worse than the scan!
I hope the recipients are happy with them and I hope I get some nice ones back.

the fun about making ATCs

A friend asked me: " why would you make beautiful things for strangers?"
My quick reply was: " it isn't just about giving, it is about receiving beautiful things in the mail from all over the world"

But there is much more to that: because ATCs are so small, signing up for a swap of 10 isn't too overwhelming and that is what I have done. The theme is "Leaf".
First I found a piece of peltex (it could have been fast2fuse) in my stash. I had bought some black rayon satin and I fused it to one side.
Next decision: put an all over quilting pattern over the lot or cut them apart now?
I decided to cut them apart. The only guideline in the swap was: think of the composition and I reasoned that by working with a 3" x 4" piece, that would be easier. Because heavy stitching can distort a piece, I always cut a work a bit bigger, then trim it to size nice and square ready to finish the edges.


I had 10 pieces, black satin-ed. I started to free motion some leaves on a couple of them. I added some embellishments to a couple. But soon I was getting bored and needed to look for something different.
Rummaging through my stash I found a piece of rust felt. I cut it into a leaf shape, stitched it on.
Mmmm....what else does it need? Found some thick yarn and stitched that on. I work on a Bernina and have a cording foot: it has a hole in front to feed the yarn or cord through, so that you just stitch and it attached the cord easily. I used clear thread through the needle, but in the past I have done that using metallic or complementary colours.

It still needed something else and I stitched on some "chips". Chips are little piece of stone with holes through them. I have them in a number of colours, I used the pale ones to bring some light in what was a fairly dark composition.

Here are the 4 in progress pieces. I'll take a proper photo when they are finished.

When you do ATCs, you'll have to do a back.
It needs some info on who you are.

 You can print them on card, but I printed these on cotton.
No address as we are changing back to a postbox soon.

 

ATCs

That stands for Artist Trading Cards. They are 2.5" x 3.5" . They are fairly easy and quick to make, much quicker than fabric postcards and you can swap them.
I have joined a few different swaps, but I'll share with you some old ones I did. I didn't actually swap them, but just gave them away.

You get the idea.....

Sorting my bead collection

Well, that took ages. I kept finding more containers.
But it is looking good now.

This is my worktable in the middle of the process.