Stitching, Paper, and a Trading Card

It’s been awhile….The first photo shows the bluebird sampler that I purchased from Charlotte Lyons  in her Etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/charlottelyons .  She has this sampler as well as two others in her shop.  I am having to sharpen my embroidery skills as I’ve forgotten how to do some of the more intricate stitches. I haven’t done any stitching, except counted cross stitch in many years.   There are several online sites that show how to do stitches. Charlotte’s website is House Wren Studio.  This photo also shows the denim jacket I have been working on for several weeks…I am stuck because I don’t know what to do to the sleeves.  The crocheted flower I picked up at a yard sale, I think it’s perfect for this jacket.

A few days ago, I received an ATC in the mail.  It was from my new friend, Brigitte, who lives in The Netherlands.  She told me she wanted to send me one but I’d forgotten all about it, so, it was a wonderful surprise.  It is all hand painted and detailed. I am getting quite a collection of Artist Trading Cards. I plan to send her one back in return…after all, you are supposed to trade.  Thanks Brigitte!!  Pay her a visit at her blog: http://scrappassiedesigns.blogspot.com/

This last photo shows some papers I got from Lee at http://leekre.blogspot.com/  We both took part in a paper swap for September…Lee and I exchanged papers.  I got lots of great papers that I can use for collage.   Thanks Lee!!!  Lawendula at Woven Letters is the one who coordinated the swap.  She has another for November….sign ups will end soon.  The theme of the next paper swap is postage and mail.  Go here to find out more:  http://wovenletters.blogspot.com/

Inner Diva ATC

I made this last night. I started with collaged papers and then painted over it. I didn’t like that so I painted with India Ink over that leaving parts showing through. The diva is a bit of paper towel that I altered.

More ATCs

October is breast cancer awareness month. I finished these atcs for the Doodler’s Haven swap group at Yahoo. I used markers and colored pencils to do these.

ATCs Afterwards

I said I didn’t know what I was doing. This is supposed to be mosaic-like. I think it looks more like stained glass effect. It was difficult to make the drawing fit the space. When I get my trades in the mail I can see how some of the others did their mosaic tiles.

ATCs for Doodler’s Haven

I’m in a Yahoo group called Doodler’s Haven. It is mostly about swapping artist trading cards and doodling using the zentangle method. I made these two cards for a swap that is supposed to be mosaic tile look. I have no idea what I’m doing. This is what I came up with. I’ll cut these into tile pieces tomorrow and glue them onto a background. I drew these with black Bic Mark It Markers. I also used Bic Mark It Markers for color. The tiny circles were drawn with the new Sharpie pen…it’s different from the markers. I love it!  Anyway, tomorrow I will cut these apart and do the tile thing. I’ll show you what they look like after I finish that.

60′s Artist Trading Cards

I’ve been working this afternoon to do the ATCs for a 60′s swap I said I would take part in about a month ago. I wanted to get them finished so I can concentrate on the Suzi Blu workshop. I used Bic fine point Mark-it markers because the colors are so bold and bright.

Artist Trading Cards

I made these two ATCs yesterday. The Suzi Blu mixed media group is going to do a swap. I have been reading about ATC’s and apparently folks keep their cards in baseball card plastic sleeves. That would protect them. I’ll have to look into getting some. If you want to try ATCs, they measure 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.

Roman Toga

I completed this Roman Toga ATC that I started several days ago. I used permanent marker pens, oil pastels, collage from the old dictionary. Don’t ya wonder how they kept these robes on…must have been very uncomfortable (or not, who knows?).

More ATC’s

Here’s two more artist trading cards I finished today. The one below has an altered magazine face on an altered magazine background with an old dictionary caption.  The other one has an acrylic painted background accented with oil pastels and inks. The soap picture is from a magazine and the other cutouts are from wrapping paper.

Artist Trading Cards

Yesterday, in the midst of barking dogs and our bathroom being wrecked, I made my first ATC’s. I should explain about the bathroom, we are having our bathroom totally remodeled. The men were here working and that, of course, upset our two dogs. ATC’s are the same size as baseball cards or other sports cards (2.5 x3.5 inches). I will have to find someone to trade with or maybe I’ll just keep them for awhile. I used old dictionary text and pictures, magazines, acrylic paints, inks, and lots of oil pastels.  It was fun.  I can see how it could become addictive.