ATCs Unity style

Today I've been making ATCs using Unity stamps from the store kits "Quiet Essence" and "Life Becoming" available in the shop here.

I used various mediums to make the bakgrounds - distress inks for one, oil pastels for another and chalk pastels for the third. Prismacolor pencils were used to colour in the details:

Materials used: scrap cardstock, Unity stamps (as above), black Versafine ink, Ranger Distress inks, Pentel oil pastels, Reeves chalk pastels, Prismacolor pencils.

The Play Date Cafe - PDCC73

I've had a few days away from crafting due to terrible itchy eyes - conjunctivitis/hayfever but managed to make this for The Play Date Cafe challenge 73 before it got too bad.

The colours this week were:

which do look gorgeous together here but totally threw me so I decided to mess around with my felt appliqué stuff and came up with this textile ATC.

Not quite sure what I think of it yet but it was fun to play with LOL!!

Better Late than Never!!!!

Merry Christmas to you all!!!!

I haven't updated for so long as I've been busy organizing for Christmas, getting a cold the week before Christmas which has still left me with a hacking cough and generally feeling lousy, Mother-in-law coming to stay, Christmas and the aftermath!!!!

I haven't been near my craft corner in a couple of weeks but am hoping to remedy this later today as it's the first time I've felt like making anything. I do have a set of ATCs to share which were made for a Christmas swap:

Materials used: white cardstock, Ranger Distress inks, clear embossing powder, Fancy Pants stamps, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Stickles.

Who stole the crown?

I bought some fab image sheets from Lisa's Altered Art (Etsy shop) and made my first ATC with them yesterday. The words are actually the title of a story in an Enid Blyton book LOL! Materials used: glossy paper, alcohol inks, Magic Mesh, words cut from old Enid Blyton book, Craft-T chalks. All images from Lisa's Altered Art.

Recycling old jewellery - IACW

Here's my post from the It's A Creative World blog today:

Back in the 90's (and the days of being a rock chick!) I used to wear huge dangly earrings and various bracelets and bangles. I kept them all in a tin with various other bits and bobs that I didn't want to throw out. Today I found that tin again:

I decided to try and use some of the jewellery on craft items and first up I made a card and used part of an old earring as an embellishment.

I cut off the dangles from the bottom and also the actual part that goes through the ear before glueing the rest of the earring to the centre of the flower. For my next project I started with another earring and this time used a variegated perle cotton to cover it in blanket stitch: When this was finished I threaded some more perle cotton through the ring at the top and added beads to it before removing the ear-piece. I then added the earring to a textile ATC I'd made as an embellishment.

Have you got any old costume jewellery lying around that you could use? I'd love to see the results if you do.

(EDITED TO ADD) Materials used for card: Papermill card, HOTP papers, Delish Designs background stamp, Stampbord, Distress inks - black soot, mustard seed, worn lipstick and dusty concord, black Versafine ink, Crafty Individuals stamp, Prima flowers, Crafty Notions Rainbow Drops. Antique lace, beads and earring from stash.

Materials used for ATC: antique white felt, dyed silk fibres, KARS metallic thread, Anchor variegated perle cotton, old earring and beads.

My ATCs

I've decided to set up a seperate blog for my ATCs here so they're all in one place. If anyone fancies traqding with me then my email link is on both blogs. Of course you may hate them in which case I'll just keep them LOL!!!

Another ATC and one in progress....

Well, it's nearly the end of the month and I still haven't completed a single layout! Hopefully that will change tomorrow as I've just cleared my desk in (hopeful) readiness! I've felt a bit disillusioned with my scrapping skills recently and fallen back on the cardmaking and started needlework/textiles as the creating bug was still present. I finished another ATC yesterday:

I used some gorgeous hand-dyed evenweave, machine stitching and French knots in silk thread, perle cotton and stranded cottons. The whole piece is backed with a lovely deep satin -like fabric.

In progress at the moment is another tiny piece to be used for an ATC:

Not sure about the "tufting" at the bottom of this one and think I may have to trim it to make it less bushy! I also need to try and blend the silk fibres at the top a bit more as at the moment the top looks like an afterthought (which of course it is!!).

Been playing...

....with felt, beads and things LOL. Here's a couple of ATCs I made:

For this one I painted the canvas with three different Shimmerz paints then sewed on various beads and backstitched a border.

For this one I started with a piece of antique white felt then added various wool and silk fibres using my fabulous new Clover needle felting tool. I then added a few beads, sequins and decorative stitches before using blanket stitch around the edge.

IACW - Going with the Flow

Here's my post from It's A Creative World this week:

Recently I've found myself being drawn to some of the fantastic textile work on show on the internet particularly the work of Stef Francis which I find inspirational.

All of my previous embroidery ( saying that, I haven't done any for 10 years) has always been fairly "regimented" up until now - cross stitch was always counted, needlepoint was always preprinted or counted from a chart. I decided that I wanted to try some more textile/needlework but without a chart in site.

I started by buying a few "inspiration packs" of threads and fabrics and then sat down with them and a "book of stitches" to see what I could do.

My first item was just a test using a very fine fabric and various threads to get back "into the swing" of having a needle in my hand again!

At the moment this is only about a 3 inch square section of the fabric but my aim is to fill the entire piece (about 12 inches square) with different stitches over the coming months but keeping them in the same colour scheme to make a "sampler".

Using just one skein of a variegated perle cotton I've been working on this piece of evenweave. I started off with the centre "Byzantine stitch" and then added stitches around it. My plan for this piece is to complete a 2 inch square piece and then incorporate it into a fabric ATC.

My final piece I've worked on is this felt ATC:

I cut a piece of felt to ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") and then used gold thread in my sewing machine to attach fused Angelina fibres to the felt base. I then used random hand stitching around the edges and then attached beads and sequins by hand.

Expect to see more needlework from me in the future as I'm really enjoying myself just "going with the flow".

If you have any textile work to show or a blog/site to share be it yours or someone elses' please leave a link either here or on my own blog. I love to see the huge variety of work out there!

ATCs

I've been playing with distress inks and Tim Holtz stamps and have rediscovered a love for making ATCs so expect to see lots more in the future:

Materials used: Distress inks (peeled paint, tea dye and aged mahogany), Tim Holtz stamp (from Flights of Fancy set), image from Ebay CD, Prima flower, rhinestone and cotton trim.

IMaterials used: Distress ink (milled lavender, worn lipstick and shabby shutters), Prima stamp, black Versafine ink, Distress embossing powder (milled lavender), CraftWork adhesive lace, MM tiny alphabet stickers, pearl from brad.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know it's a day late but hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Here are the ATCs I made for a swap on the Pad: I used: DCWV paper, Melissa Frances cut-outs,various ribbons, trims and laces, Prima flowers, Stickles, beads, buttons, vintage letraset rub-on letters, rhinestones and chalk ink.

Oooh- a card!!!

Made this card yesterday from a sketch on Card Studio Designs I used: Bazzill Doodlebug cardstock, Amy Butler Sola paper, Scenic Route paper, paper downloaded from CreativeDelights.com, Scenic Route sticker, button and ribbon.

Yesterday was Jamie's 8th birthday so my parents came over to have a birthday tea with us. Then today we went to Toys R Us with the boys clutching their birthday money and came back with a ton of Lego (mostly Star Wars). We also had to exchange the Roboraptor that my Mum had bought him as it was as dead as a dodo! Tomorrow will now be spent making up the rest of their Lego models while I try to keep Jess occupied and out of the way!

Will leave with a couple of pics of some ATCs I completed for an ongoing monthly swap: