Emboss Resist Shapes with Dylusions

THE BIG REVEAL, PART 7.

This is the first of two posts today.

Many of my regular visitors have been justifiably very frustrated and impatient with me lately because I’ve been working hard on several secret projects that I wasn’t at liberty to reveal until now. With her permission, I can now reveal that I have been making stuff for Shaz. As many of you will know, she is about to undergo major surgery and has been through so much over the past year. She and her lovely hubby share the same birthday and I have made cards for them both, a get well card for her (still under wraps) and a selection of bits and pieces for her to play with once she feels up to being creative again. She opened the parcel on her birthday (14th Aug.) and now that she has received them I can share the making of them with you. Until now, I didn’t want to spoil her surprise as she visits my blog regularly. Throughout my own cancer journey, this wonderful friend has been such an encouragement and support to me, and this is one way I can thank her, and show my own appreciation and support. I know that she would love a visit from you to wish her well for her surgery on 2nd Sept.

I shall be uploading a couple of posts each day over the next few days until all is revealed. Please scroll down for earlier posts.

Emboss Resist Shapes with Dylusions

I have made some shapes with emboss resist and inking. These were used as labels to go in some of the packs of goodies I sent to Shaz. I have deliberately made them like this so that they can be used as embellishments once they have served their purpose as labels! I didn’t use them all, and packed the blank ones separately.

I began by cutting two sheets of A5 card, and spritzed them well with water. I sprayed Dylusions inks onto one of them and spritzed again, and held it up so that the inks ran down the sheet. I used the second sheet to blot it off and then smooshed this a little on the non-stick craft sheet which had quite a bit of ink on it, so I ended up with two sheets for the price of one, but different in style. The sheet further away is the one that I originally inked, and the one at the front is the one created by blotting off, which also has water spatters on it which were blotted off with kitchen paper, leaving the paler design.

These are the stamps that I used. It is my new set from Chocolate Baroque, called Harlequin Fragments – it’s a fabulous set and brilliant for mixed media backgrounds. I used the stamp without an acrylic block, using Versamark, and then heat-embossed with clear embossing powder.

After this I revealed the embossing with the addition of distress inks, using Inkylicious ink dusters which blend beautifully. This is Sheet 1.

Sheet 2.

The completed Sheet 1.

The completed Sheet 2.

I wasn’t too bothered about creating a coherent design on the sheets because I knew that they would but cut up.

Punching the ovals and circles from Sheet 1.

From the remaining card, not wanting to waste anything, I used a couple of smaller punches to punch out some circles which I retained, to be used to embellish projects in the future.

From Sheet 2, I cut a series of rectangles, two of which were ATC-sized.

The shapes cut from Sheet 1, including the small circles which I kept, and didn’t add to the parcel.

The shapes from Sheet 2.

Because the backs were so messy from all the inks on my craft sheet, I backed each piece onto another piece of white card, using Crafter’s Companion Stick & Stay spray adhesive, making sure I’d got good adhesion by using my brayer.

Trimming off the pieces.

I inked the backs using distress inks.

After this I spattered them with water and blotted them off after moving them around to encourage the droplets to run a bit. I really like this effect. After I had dried them, I distressed the edges using Black Soot distress ink and a home-made ink blender.

The completed backs.

Detail of two of the backs.

Somewhere along the line I lost my small oval piece! I think I might have inadvertently thrown it away so I shall have to have a rummage in my waste bin. (Found it! It was in the bin!! Duh.)

I used some of these to make the labels for the small packages of fun stuff to play with. I made more than enough of these shapes, so I selected a few to write on. In a later post, you can see some more that I made, using my Chocolate Baroque Lace Fragments stamp set, using a cooler, blue colour scheme.

These shapes could be used to make small tags, or as motifs on a card, or to embellish a box or album page. I do not have very many punches, but other shapes could be made as well, such as simple flowers, hearts or polygons.

Kitty Squad, Lavender Sachets and WOYWW 313

What’s on your workdesk (this) Wednesday? I have to say there’s not much on mine, because I’ve been too exhausted recently to sit up in my ARTHaven studio, and have decamped downstairs so I can be creative with my feet up! My poor hubby, what he has to put up with. Look at the state of our sitting room.

Zooming in where I am doing most of the actual “work” (if you can call it that), here is what my table looks like when I’m busy.

I have two things on the go at the moment. I always find the smaller the project, the more stuff I need to make it. First of all, I have started a project using my new Stampotique Originals stamp “Kitty Squad.” I bought this last year, and because health issues overtook me in the New Year, this is the first time I’ve used it.

The first thing I do with Stampotique Originals stamps is to unmount them from their wood blocks. I hate wood-mounted stamps. They take up far too much room, and it’s difficult to see exactly where they are going to stamp. So I broke out the adhesive remover and found some EZ-Mount Foam and set to work. Very sticky job, and it gets all over my non-stick scissors from Tim Holtz, too. Anyway, job done, I started to stamp whole sheets of card with this stamp.

Then I fussy-cut them out. What a job. I still haven’t finished. Here are some of them laid out randomly on my brown masterboad/background sheet. (It can only be called a masterboard if one intends to cut it up and use it in projects, something I can never bring myself to do.)

They look a bit like bugs… More photos later, when I reveal what I’m going to do with all these kitties. It’s an experiment and I have no idea if it will work. Still, fussy cutting is quite therapeutic!

My other project is to make little lavender sachets for all my fellow chemo “cows” sitting patiently in the milking parlour, chewing the cud and waiting for their chemo infusions to finish. It’s a bit of a glum experience, and my friend Maria in the US has told me about her cancer-survivor friend who started “Happy Chemo!” by giving people small gifts. I felt inspired by this and thought what nicer than to give each person a lavender sachet to sniff. Lavender is so calming and healing and lovely, and last year, our neighbour gave me a whole armful of clippings from her lavender hedge and there is still masses left over after making quite a bit of infused lavender oil.

I’m good at pretty, but not so good perhaps at the more manly style, so I decided that alongside the pretty ones, made with scraps of lace and ribbon and pretty embellishments, I’d make some plain calico ones for the chaps. I have never stamped on fabric before (except for a brief experimental foray into stamping on teabags), so I used sepia archival ink, using my other new Stampotique Originals stamps, “Medium Bee with tiny bee.”

I love the look of the sepia on the unbleached calico.

My plastic tray full of goodies for making the bags. I’ve also got several large boxes and quite a few smaller ones littering up the place (see first photo) with all the stuff I “might need” for this project!

These are the seven bags I’ve finished so far. Each one has some form of embellishment, and each one has a tiny heart charm sewn on which reads “made with love.” You will notice that each bag has a little loop. You can hang this over your thumb for sniffing purposes, and later you can hang the bag on a clothes hanger if you want.

I have a lot of recycled embellishments, including bits and pieces from sabotaged cheap jewellery from the village fete. Some of my little bags have a disc of abalone shell from a necklace I took apart. The iridescent colours of these shiny shell fragments are beautiful. I’ve also got a couple of plastic “charms” that came out of a Christmas cracker – bright red plastic – which I have painted with black gesso with the idea of rubbing gilding wax on them – great for this project.

I couched some white cotton cord (which I smooshed in some Gathered Twigs distress ink on my craft sheet) around the edges of the calico bags, and frayed the ends of the loop to create tassels.

I’ve still got a lot of them to make. Eventually each one will be tucked into a little box – I found the design online and downloaded the template – a pretty box cut from a single piece and assembled in such a way that it remains closed until the recipient desires to open it. I am going to use thick watercolour paper to make these (probably) and they will be embellished with mixed media – each box will reflect the design and/or colour of the sachet within.

It was my birthday on Saturday, but as with my hubby’s birthday on 19th and our 29th anniversary on 24th, it was a low key affair as I didn’t feel up to celebrating. Let’s hope that we will be able to celebrate big time next year! My friend Marlene sent me a box of crafty goodies for my birthday which I unfortunately put away before I remembered I hadn’t photographed it, but there were lots of fabby embellishments, gems, rubber stamps, die cuts, etc. etc. What fun! Some will be incorporated in the lavender sachets project.

We went to a stoma open day today (yes, such things DO exist…) – see my Gutless Bag Lady blog if you are interested (link top right of this blog). My stoma is now settled enough for the nurse to set up a prescription for me (saw her last Friday, when I also saw the surgeon, who is well pleased with my progress). Oncology appointment tomorrow, and then my next chemo on 12th June. It’s all go. I am now feeling a lot better after the first treatment’s effects are starting to wear off, and I’m trying to take full advantage of these “good” days.

Sorry not to be able to take part in the WOYWW 6th anniversary ATC swap, but I am hoping to send one to each of the people who have very kindly sent me an ATC to cheer me along my road to a cancer-free life!

Happy WOYWW, everybody, and may chaos reign in our creative spaces, and may God grant us enough of His creative spirit to enable us to bring a small modicum of beauty out of that chaos during the coming week.

A Seahorse for Marlene

Great news, folks! Mr. Mojo and Mrs. Muse have returned at last from their extended holiday/absence without leave! Since my cancer diagnosis in mid-January, I have been so preoccupied and unsettled, and with my mind so full of it all, that I have not been able to focus on anything creative. Today I am really feeling a lot better – it is now over 6 weeks since my surgery, and although I still tire more easily than in my normal M.E. state, I do feel more myself. I am about to embark on six months of intensive chemotherapy and am determined to take advantage of those periods when I am feeling better in between.

Recently a friend of mine contacted me to say that she was exploring the idea of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and asked if we could swap. I was thinking perhaps I had an ATC in my stash that I could send her, but there was nothing suitable. She said she had done a seahorse one so I decided to do the same.

Her ATC arrived yesterday and I love the colour, and the addition of a little bling, which I am pleased to see how well the camera picked this up for once – it is usually really hard to capture sparkly surfaces!

I decided to do another of my signature teabag stain ATCs. I’m afraid I didn’t remember to photograph the stain before I drew on it, but it was one on a sheet of watercolour paper that I used to dry teabags on – they leave such lovely marks.

I used a fine Faber Castell sepia pen to do the drawing, and added some Zentangles around the edge, and after completing the drawing, I cut it out around the outline.

I shaded the drawing with a brown pastel pencil and blended it with a paper stump.

I took one of my ATC blanks and inked the edges with Tea Dye distress ink.

I used Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to stick the drawing onto the back piece, and added a little more drawing around the edge.

I wrapped the ATC in a scrap of tissue paper which I stamped with some of my seashell stamps, using sepia archival ink, and repeated this motif, adding a little seahorse, on the small cream envelope I chose to send Marlene her ATC in.

I included one of my little fans in with the ATC – I made a whole lot of these to go with ATCs for the last ATC swap I took part in. These were stamped with Versamark onto black card using one of my favourite fan stamps, and then brushed with dry Perfect Pearls, adding a little tie of ribbon on the handle.

I tied up the little parcel with some co-ordinating fancy yarn. I hope Marlene enjoys her ATC.

OK, so it’s a small start, but the creative block is down, and I am excited about getting back into my ARTHaven again. Watch this space – I hope it isn’t just a flash in the pan!

My New ARTHaven–Tidying Up and Getting Organised at Last

My cousin came to visit us today. She is a keen crafter, and I was looking forward to showing her around our new house and showing her the renovations, but most of all, taking her into my new ARTHaven and watching her turn a bright shade of green with envy! In advance of today, I knew I had to tidy up and try and get somewhat organised in there, so that she would get a proper impression of it as a working space, and not merely a dumping ground. Although there is still a lot of organising and sorting to do, it is all definitely taking shape now.

The office section probably needs more organising than the ARTHaven proper, but at least it is workable. After my latest tidying, this is how it looks now.

On the right, you can see the magnificent bronze casting of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, created as an apprentice piece in my grandfather’s foundry works in the post-WWII years. It is one of my most treasured possessions and I have not been able to display it until now.

When we were clearing my parents’ house prior to selling it, I saved a lot of Dad’s things, many of which are going to feature in the album I am making about his life. I have collected together some of the objects that he made, and things that were precious to him, or which were of particular interest to him, and I have created a little gallery of “Dad’s Treasures” on top of one of my book cases. Some of these objects look very strange!

There is a story behind each one, which I cannot go into here because it would make this post much too long! One day I may detail some of the items if anyone is interested. Suffice it to say that every one of these items has become precious to me, and reminds me of a different facet of Dad’s character, life and interests.

Moving through into the ARTHaven proper, here is how the main papercrafting area looks now, with Sheba (my Cougar cutting machine) on the left, and the display area to the right of the picture..

I have now set up my video camera, and the two clip-on lamps which I had in my old ARTHaven – the lighting in the new room is extremely good, with LED spots all around, but I thought I would add these two PureLite lamps to help with filming and photography. Not having tried this setup in real life yet, I am not sure if it will be OK, or whether it will need some tweaking.

Here are some detail shots.

The video clamp with the flexible gooseneck came from Maplins (very cheap!) and I bought two right-angle brackets with camera fixing screws from the USA on Ebay. I have used one of the bases of the old video rig to clamp this arrangement to, to bring it slightly further out over the work area, and have had to add a bit of wood packing to correct the angle of the clamp. We will have to see how it works! The camera is a new one, which I chose on the recommendation of Lindsay the Frugal Crafter – she has this camera and gets excellent results from it. All I have done with mine so far is try it out, and I haven’t done any serious filming with it yet – it was bought for the new room, as a replacement for the old camera which was a nightmare to use because it kept making my computer crash. The new camera has an SD card instead of tapes, which is an improvement, and it will film in HD.

Moving on around the room, I have now set up my display area around the old fireplace. After fixing up the shabby chic shelf unit that I got on Ebay, I began to have second thoughts about 3 shelves instead of 2, because they are so close together that you can’t really use them for many items to display, but the unit is so attractive that I couldn’t bear to replace it! Instead, I have put some antique china pieces on the top shelf, some jars of paper flowers that I’ve made on the second shelf, and on the bottom shelf are some boxes and other small items. On the drawer handles I have hung various items received from online friends, and there are more on the mantelpiece below – those of you who have sent me things may recognise some of them if you look closely!

Mixed in among these treasured gifts are some items I have made myself, including the binder on the right which I created for a craft show I took part in several months ago, detailing some of my past work. You can also see my small leather art journal with the “Tyger Tyger” page displayed, and pages from my Fine Art album (both works in progress).

This zone will be in a state of flux, with new work being added as time goes on, and the display changed. I have too many ATCs to display them all at once, so these are something which will get changed periodically. I am so thrilled to have an area where I can put out works where I can see and enjoy them.

Further on around the room are the sewing, textile and drawing zones. Yesterday I spent a long time starting to sort the cardboard boxes containing all my fabrics, embroidery materials and equipment, sewing supplies, crochet, etc. etc. There is still a lot to do. Some of this is now stored in the storage zone, and I am hoping to get some more Really Useful Boxes to house a lot of it – these look much nicer than cardboard boxes, and being transparent, you can readily identify the contents, and they are more durable.

On the work surface below the wall unit you can see a stack of three small vintage suitcases. These came from my parents’ house and I intend to store supplies in them – embroidery threads etc. They are all in need of repair, but I love the shabby vintage look of them.

To the left of them I have put my two German wooden buckets – I was originally going to display these in my new bathroom but found that I had more than enough stuff for in there, and thought I could use them as decorative containers in my ARTHaven. Here I have used them to contain some fancy yarns which are far too beautiful to keep hidden away in a box! To the left are two vintage boxes from Mum. The large one now contains all my decorative braids, and the one on top is a Chinese camphorwood box which at present contains some small family mementoes that Mum had collected over the years.

I decided that the whole final section of work top was probably more than enough for sewing and textile work, so I have designated the final zone as the drawing zone. Here I have put out my Zentangle album and sketchbook. On the shelf above are my pens and Inktense pencils and various other drawing bits and pieces, with the larger items like my dressmaker’s curve underneath in the floor unit. The curved metallic object just below the power point is the last remaining part of a lamp that Mum had for embroidery – it was in a seriously dilapidated state and had to be disposed of, but it had a magnifying lens (in the white bag) on a gooseneck. You can see part of my second retort stand with it, and when I find the upright for this, I will be able to mount this lens for fine work. I also have my dad’s glasses with telescopic magnifiers which he used to use for ophthalmic surgery before the hospital introduced their first operating microscope. Maybe I will be able to do my ultra fine 22+ stitches to the inch again!!

Finally, the storage zone, along the wall dividing the ARTHaven from the office.

This still requires considerable re-organisation but at least it’s a bit tidier than it was! The cabinet on the left was in the original bathroom, and was moved through into here when the builders started the bathroom renovation – in the nick of time, actually, because after this, my hubby asked if he could have it for the garage, and I told him no – I’d already snaffled it up for my ARTHaven! (Considering that he grabs all the plastic Chinese takeaway boxes for his Man Cave before I get a look in, I felt justified in taking a stand over this cabinet!!) The cabinet is brilliant because the central, open part, has shelves which exactly accommodate that size of Really Useful Box – unfortunately these won’t go in the cupboards because the door occupies half an inch of cupboard space when closed, but it doesn’t matter because when they are closed you can’t see what’s n them anyway – which is probably a very good thing, given how crammed with stuff they are – bits of fabric, loads of old sheeting, rug wools, etc. etc.!

On top of the ex-bathroom cabinet, and running the whole length of the wall, is a huge deep shelf for storing large flat things like mount board, cutting mats for Sheba, etc. This is often a storage area lacking in studios simply because of lack of space, and I feel very fortunate to have such a lot of good storage for all sorts of things!

Even though there is still a lot of work to be done to get the room how I want it, it is now certainly a workable space, and having got on top of most of the rest of the house (apart from some odd bits of painting etc.), I can now start being creative again!

With this in mind, here are the art deco doorplate replacements I am working on – at present in the Heat Zone, but there is a certain fluidity between the zones, and I shall need to use this area for mixed media as well, I think.

You can see the mould at top left, and the two I made from Friendly Plastic at the top. I have been experimenting with Polyfilla One Fill as a substitute (being very much cheaper) and although they are extremely light and feel fairly fragile, I think this will be a good option – they do not require any strength once in situ, and if I have any failures at the painting stage, I shan’t shed any tears over wasted materials! I shall probably melt down the Friendly Plastic ones and use the material for other projects.

The mat which they are sitting on is my new Presspahn ultra-heat proof mica mat – my original one is only A3 and not really large enough for my heat zone, so I bought this one which is approximately A2 in size. (For details of these amazing mats, please see the description in my sidebar.) You can see my melting pot just in-frame on the left. In use, this radiates quite considerable heat downwards, and was the cause of one of my (too many!) warping accidents to my self-healing cutting mats! I will also be able to do work with the soldering iron and other heat tools on this, and if I want to prevent the build-up of material and stains on it, I can always put a non-stick craft mat on top. The smaller Presspahn mat is now back under the non-stick craft mat in the Papercrafting Zone, protecting the surface underneath from my heat gun.

In the main work area, I have today resurrected the album I am making about Dad’s life – I opened up the box and showed the project to my cousin, and thought I would leave some of it out so that I can start working on it again.

Having the large moveable floor units will be great when working on this project, as they will provide me with a lot more surface to work on, and to spread out the materials.

When the room is properly organised, I propose to do a video tour.

WOYWW 3rd Anniversary ATC Swap, August 2012

Last year, to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday, we had an ATC swap.  I made a blog post and saved it into my drafts folder, but never got round to posting it, because my father was taken ill and we were then taken up with selling their house etc., and then life sort of got in the way and I started posting about other things. I have just visited Jozart’s blog and read that she’d also recently posted something that had laid dormant in her drafts folder, so I thought I’d take a leaf out of her book and do the same.

Warning: Picture-rich post!

…At the time of the swap, I wasn’t well enough to take part, but asked if I could join in late, and as a result, I probably ended up with more ATCs than if I’d followed the rules and done it properly! The swap has been so much fun, and I have swapped with people all around the world, from the UK, USA, S.Africa, Australia, Spain and the Philippines!

In case you don’t know, an ATC is an Artist Trading Card. This idea originated in Switzerland. The only rule is that the cards should measure 3.5 x 2.5 inches, and be traded or given, not sold, and that details (artist’s name, date etc.) should appear on the back. After that, your imagination’s the limit! Working at such a small size is a particular discipline all its own, and there is something exquisite about such tiny works of art, simply because they are so small. ATCs make our art accessible to all.

Week by week we see each other’s work on the computer screen and lots of “ooh!” and “ahh” goes on, but to receive an actual piece made by someone, to hold it in your hand, to see the colours and any shimmery effects as they were intended to be seen, and to feel the real texture, is the most amazing experience, and creates a real bond between us. It reminds me of our first visit to view the Bayeux Tapestry. The pictures are so familiar to us all, and I wondered at the time whether it would be worth visiting, but to enter the viewing gallery and see this incredible embroidery in its original form completely blew my mind. I felt a connection with those mediaeval ladies stitching away, depicting a key moment of our nation’s history… There’s nothing like an original!!

I would like to thank everyone who agreed to swap with me. It has been such fun, and brought me so much joy and pleasure! All your ATCs are quite wonderful, and mean so much to me.

First of all, here is everything I have received. As you will see, it’s not all ATCs!

Here are the ATCs from which I chose ones to send. Most of them are zentangles, because this is what people asked for.

Here, individually, are the ATCs I received, together with any other ancillary goodies that came with them, followed by the ATCs I sent in return. Click on each person’s name to go to their blog and see the lovely work they do.

Barb

Barb lives in the USA. I wish you could see just how gorgeous this ATC is, but as usual the photograph doesn’t do it justice. It shimmers with the Twinkling H2O’s she painted it with. She says she really loves these, and I can see why! I love the sentiment. With my health as it is, I never know from one day to the next (or even from one moment to the next) how I am going to be, and I have learnt to live in the moment, and enjoy those moments when I can be creative!

To accompany the ATC, Barb also sent this adorable little tweety-bird card!

In return I sent her a zentangle ATC. I entitled it “waves” – it is really an abstract one with colour added (Derwent Inktense pencils) but suggested a wave of the sea.

Bella

Bella is from South Africa, and her ATC has a very African feel to it! I love elephants. The embellishment on this ATC is stamped onto shrink plastic.

I love the background, with the blending of the colours, the swirls and text. It has a definite feel of the African landscape. She has put the WOYWW on the top to remind me that this is a WOYWW anniversary swap ATC. She didn’t realise it, but she made it very special for me, because the date she made it is my birthday!

This is the beautiful card she made to accompany the ATC. You can see she used the same stamp as on the shrink plastic.

Isn’t that text just gorgeous? So reminiscent of the beautiful textiles the African people wear, with the bold geometric patterns.

I sent her a drawing of some red and yellow flowers, coloured with Inktense pencils as before.

Bridget

Bridget is from Australia. She sent me this very rich ATC with a face decorated with glitter, and a border of micro-beads. This is another one that shimmers, and the photo really doesn’t do it justice.

In return I sent her my “Pebbles” zentangle ATC because she said she particularly liked that one!

Claire

Claire is a fellow-Brit. She asked if she could send a postcard rather than an ATC as this is her preferred size to work. It has the most gorgeous embellishments attached, with many different media and textures, all in the most lovely subtle colours. Beautiful!

Again, the sentiment is lovely. This is something I have had to learn to do. Before I was ill, I had very little time or inclination to pause, but now I can soak up the beauty around me and enjoy each moment. Claire has added lots of butterflies to her postcard, another favourite of mine!

I sent her one of two ATCs entitled “Three Fish with Seaweed.”

Di

Di is another fellow-Brit. She sent me a beautiful ATC with a dandelion clock on it – what happy memories this brought back, of “telling the time” by blowing the seeds off the dandelion clock when we were children! I love the delicate colour of this ATC, and the addition of the little pink pearls. My hubby said how much he liked this one!

She also sent me a very pretty card to go with the ATC. Lovely colour scheme, beautiful papers, and of course, my favourite butterfly motif!

I sent her the first of my poppy ATCs.

Helen

Also from Great Britain, Helen sent me a wonderfully patriotic ATC to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.

Note the London landmarks, the bunting and the red rose, together with the ever-popular “keep calm” motivational message from WWII – with a slight variation! If you look carefully, you can see that this red, white and blue ATC is embellished with Glossy Accents, but they don’t shine as much in the photo as in real life.

To accompany this ATC, Helen sent me a super little DIY pack of goodies, all on the same patriotic theme! It comprised a sheet of bunting ready to cut out, and some little embellishments. Such a fun idea! The whole thing came parcelled up in tissue paper tied with some nice patriotic ribbon.

In return I send her my second poppies ATC, with some zentangle on it.

Jan

Jan, also from the UK, is in the minority in the WOYWW family in that her skills lie with her needle rather than with paper, so instead of an ATC, she sent me a fabulous little pincushion that she had made. The top is made from a cathedral window patchwork piece, and I just love the colours. Until I received this pincushion, I didn’t know I needed one – I’m always looking for the odd pin, for example to pierce the top of a Stickles bottle that’s got blocked, and have to dig out my sewing box each time, but not any more! The pincushion now sits within easy reach, and I’ve also added some hat pins – I’m hoping to make some more of these eventually, as I’ve seen such pretty ones that people have made, with beads etc.

You can see what very pretty tissue paper it came wrapped in.

I had already started an ATC for Jan when this arrived, and I abandoned it in favour of this:

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!!

Judy

Judy, from Australia, is another who is generally more comfortable with a needle than with paper. She and I have agreed to do a flower swap, but this hasn’t happened yet. I shall be doing a blog post about that when the time comes. She makes the most delicious fabric flowers that are really OTT and dripping with beads and gorgeousness, so I can’t wait to get my hands on some of those! I am making her some paper ones.

Subsequently… Here are the flowers Judy sent me:

This is what I eventually did with them – you can read full details here.

Here are the flowers I sent her:

Julia

Now for Julia, our loveliest of the lovelies hostess of WOYWW. I feel very honoured to have an ATC from her! She has made me this gorgeous one with a die-cut bicycle on it – so unusual!

I adore the colour scheme, and the texture, and all the lovely postmarks and things. I know one is limited when it comes to the strict size of an ATC and the size of dies, but I really love the way the bicycle extends beyond the edges of the card – it brings it right into the foreground and is sooo effective!

She sent it with one of her own printed cards, which is also very gorgeous – lovely rich colours!

When I asked her about the bicycle, she said she would cut some for me with the die. They have just arrived, and so many of them! Enough to fill an Olympic velodrome, and then some, lol!! I am thinking of drawing a bicycle and creating a svg file for cutting on Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine. I think there’s lots of potential for this motif, especially since it has been so popularised by the success of Team GB in the cycling.

They would also work well as masks for spraying and inking, and embossing… Any more suggestions? Answers on an ATC, please!!

I sent Julia a zentangle ATC with WOYWW’s birthday cake on it, and another take on the “Keep Calm” theme.

Kate

Kate lives in Spain. She loves working with alcohol inks, and is also very talented with parchment craft, and she has combined these skills to make this stunning ATC for me. I simply adore the colours, the richness of the alcohol ink, and the delicacy of the parchment work, all combined in an Oriental theme which I love.

I’m afraid the photo simply doesn’t do it justice. In reality it shines and shimmers. It was accompanied by a letter written on some lovely paper with co-ordinating colours – beautiful work!

In return I sent her my “Herbaceous Border” zentangle ATC.

Kemma

Kemma lives in the USA. She sent me the only zentangle ATC I received in the swap! She knows how much I love them. Lovely selection of patterns, which follow the string really well.

Of course, she got a zentangle back from me, in return! I sent her my “Vortex” one.

They are So Much Fun to do!

Laura

Laura is another fellow-Brit. She sent me a beautiful ATC with blue butterflies.

Again, this one has “WOYWW” on it, this time in silver glitter. I love the background of this one, and the beautiful colours on the butterfly wings.

The ATC was wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with washi tape with butterflies on it! I keep coming across washi tape, and I think I must make some. She also made a lovely card with more butterflies on it, and the words “Have a happy smiley day” which I certainly did when I opened this lovely little package! (Goodness, this has been like Christmas…)

In return I sent her my “Fields” zentangle ATC – another one that started as an abstract one but as it developed, the theme revealed itself, so I went with it.

Lisa

Lisa is also from the UK. She sent me a beautiful ATC with one of my favourite flowers on it – wisteria. We have some on a trellis outside our patio doors but it doesn’t flower much yet – once they get mature and have those wonderful thick, twisty trunks, they can be dripping with flowers – just like Lisa’s ATC!

In return I sent her my “Leafy Garland” zentangle ATC. I couldn’t really think of a suitable title for this one but I think this fits OK!

Peggy

Peggy lives in the Philippines, and paints the most beautiful pictures of Filipino ladies, and I am now privileged enough to own one of my own! It’s a little gem, isn’t it.

In return I sent her my Seahorse zentangle ATC.

Sandra

Sandra is from Australia. She sent me an ATC made using gesso, one of my favourite materials. It has such interesting properties and acts as a resist to many media. Sandra has used it to great effect on this ATC, stencilling it on.

Again, the photo really doesn’t do this ATC justice. It is has a shimmery finish, and little gems in the flower centres. I love the way the colours blend.

In return, I sent my second zentangle ATC entitled “Three Fish with Seaweed.”

Sarn

Sarn lives in the UK, and sent me an ATC with a very special sentiment which really touched me.

I think this whole ATC swap has borne this out. So much love has gone into the creation of these little cards! I love the colour scheme of this one, with the gorgeous background paper and the dark red, which has to be one of my favourite colours. She teamed this up with a little card with the same “Friends” stamp, and also stamped the corners of the envelope very attractively.

In return I sent her my Blue and Pink Abstract zentangle ATC – I couldn’t think of a suitable title for this one at all! Truly abstract…

Susan

Susan is from the USA. she sent me another very British, patriotic ATC to celebrate all the good things that have been going on in our country this summer! Another example of the ever-popular “Keep Calm” messages, this time in its original format, “Keep Calm and Carry On” which was a Ministry motivational poster put up around the country during World War II.

This sentiment is on a small plaque made from faux porcelain. I was so taken with this that I looked into it, and found a tutorial online, and have already made two pieces – it’s such a fun technique, and the result looks so realistic! Look at that crazed surface… I love the addition of the piece of scrim under the porcelain which suggests the fabric of the flag underneath – this is a brilliant, patriotic ATC for us Brits! Love the distressing around the edges too.

I sent Susan my Octopus ATC.

Well, are you still with me? Quite a marathon, wasn’t it (to keep with the Olympic theme!).

I think you will agree that I have been sent a treasure trove of a collection of ATCs. Each one is a little jewel, and so much love, care and attention has gone into it. Somehow their small size adds to this.

Thanks again, everyone who has swapped with me. I shall treasure your works of art always.

It has been a real pleasure looking at this post again, and I hope you’ll forgive me for taking over a year to upload it! When I get my new ARTHaven set up, I shall be displaying these beautiful ATCs which I have received in my special display area, so that I can continue to enjoy them.