ATC Tutorial and Give Away

Well September is here which means our Guild will be kicking into gear again for the 2009/2010 season. It also means time for my monthly Artist Trading Card (ATC) exchange with three of my Guild peeps. I thought I would not only give you a “look see” what I’ve done this month, but also share the steps on how I actually made it.
We always do ours in fabric, but ATCs can be made of pretty much anything as long as they follow some basic rules:
2 ½ x 3 ½ inches in size (just like a Baseball card)
Exchanged not Sold
Vital stats on the back
(You can GOOGLE ATC to find out more but WARNING - you will also pull up stuff on Air Traffic Control – who knew). After that, it’s pretty much up to you how you make it. I know the gals I exchange with all have their different styles and approaches so you are only seeing my take on how to make them.
First off – what’s your muse! Fortunately we have a theme already lined up for each month – but even then I either get overly ambitious or stuck for an idea. This month it is “underneath the sea” – I went back and forth on mermaids, treasure chests, fish…finally settled on a Seahorse.

I love scanning images or finding them on the web (but be sensitive to copyright) I usually copy into Microsoft PowerPoint (do I need a copyright sign here?) so I can ensure the size is right and adjust. I usually print a paper copy first (black and white) to check.

Then print on to fabric. You need an inkjet printer for this (though there are lots of creative ways to transfer images on to fabric). I get my trusty Michaels coupon to buy the fabric I use to print on – mind you there are many ways to prep fabric to go through your printer (some definitely more economical). I typically design my back label the same time and print those out as well...

Books have been written about it!
Once that is out of the way – my card usually consists of 1. Fabric Layer 2. Batting 3. Paper back (Heavy Stock). Have fun choosing your fabric layer (you can get really creative).
This fabric looks watery to me – a very pretty batik (which Carol will like ;->) – it is actually more purple then it looks in this shot.
First step is to adhere the fabric to the batting – I use either Wonder Under or Steam a Seam(whatever is at hand). TIP – do NOT get carried away with the Iron! Too much heat results in a lumpy top! (been there, done that)
Then you get to “play” and see what kinds of embellishments will look best – looks sea weedy to me! TIP – you need to decide what order you are going to adhere/sew things into place – especially if you want to achieve a clean finish on the back – more on that.
I decided to sew my little fella into place first and then sew around the edge edge of the whole card – including through the paper backing (Don’t worry, I will show you how this gets covered – though some times you can just leave as is).
Then I fussed and got my “seaweed” in place – whatever glue works for you. Since the gals I exchange with like to use the plastic baseball sheets for storing their cards I normally try not to go over the edge (though I may buck a trend some time this year just to be different!)
I also like to set my cards under a stack of books overnight to “flatten” out (unless there is an embellishment I don’t want to do this to).
Finally, I adhere the labels on the back – which covers up that sewing you saw earlier!
So there you have it – by the way notice that I made SIX this month instead of four? If you want to own an original piece of Jewels art work let me know (but I don’t want to see you making millions on EBay with it LOL) and I will send your way (first two folks who ask will receive)! Meanwhile, hope you enjoyed some of the other cards from past exchanges – enjoy!

This and That

It's been a dreary day here in Michigan - overcast and cool - very Fall like weather and wayyyyyy to early for us. So I've been catching up on projects. WARNING - one is not for the faint of heart...

You may remember Daisy from an earlier posting. She went to a very good home via a Silent Auction. However, her new owner (a proud Grandmother) decided the eyes need to be changed so that Daisy was "baby safe". The only solution - surgery (log off now if you are squeamish!). And so it had to be done. It took me awhile to decide what to do, but searching the Internet helped - amazing the things you can find! Unfortunately, I copied and pasted the instructions I found into Word and failed to keep a link to the blog (so I can't give credit). Anyway, I like the added eye lashes....
So now Daisy has her sight back and can return home... Another project - well there is nothing like a deadline to get you motivated. My niece will be celebrating her birthday next weekend and I have been remiss in finding her something. So I made the following

I hope she likes it! (Kate, if you're reading this - don't tell Syd - will be in the post Monday). Now on to ATCs for September 8th when our Guild starts up again - where DID the summer go!

Ode to Owls

I like owls – not sure why. We have one fellow who has lived in our back tree lot for some time now. I have never seen him but we certainly hear him on a regular basis. The other morning (5 am) he was loud and clear with his “Tu whit, tu whit, tu whooing”
Maybe I like owls because of my days as a Brownie. Leaders were known as Brown Owl or Tawny Owl or Snowy Owl.
Or maybe it was my fascination growing up with Grey Owl – a man who rescued beavers and made quite a name for himself as an early conservationist though it turned out he was not a North American native after all , but an Englishman who immigrated to Canada. It really is an interesting story. And it has nothing to do with the fact that Pierce Bronson played him in a not so great movie (but who cares with that kind of eye candy - he's a real slurpie, if ya know what I mean)... I don’t think it was Harry Potter – but owls certainly play a role in his story which made perfect sense to me when reading the books. I don’t understand why Rowlings had to knock off Hedwig (oops, should have included a Spoiler Alert – sorry)…
It could have been this cookie jar that my brother gave my Mum many years ago. It sat in her kitchen until she finally gave it to me. Whatever the reason, I like owls and over the years I seem to have amassed a small collection. Besides the aforementioned cookie jar, there are the following:
A lovely t-towel from 1987.



I love the “retro” looking owls.
A couple of owl vases. And the flowers came from the Farmers Market on Saturday - aren't they gorgeous!This lovely corsage I got from Elisabeth over at Words and Whimsies (I’m a big fan of her pin cushions to).
And most recently, my blogging peep Beth sent me this darling pin…

Whatever the reason, I like owls – what about you?

How Sweet is That!

Okay, here's the thing. Every year about this time I have an annual eye appointment where my pupils get dilated - I really look like something from a horrour movie. And they give you these really ugly pieces of plastic to fill in as sunglasses until you get home (I know no one is watching but I still feel like such a dweeeb wearring them). Anyway, that really has nothing to do with the next part of my posting - but it does explain why I am at home in the middle of the afternoon and not "workin hard for the money". I can barely see the screen so if there typos you will know why (I'm really looking forward to reading this blog with normal vision ;->). You may remember awhile back my "baby" aka Sewing Machine went MIA for a few weeks (now I know how separation anixiety feels fro poor Master Gryphon). I asked my readers to figure out what had gone missing from my Fun Room and Lovely Leslie was the first to guess it right. Well, her "award" was a nice piece of redwork I found thrifting and look what she did with it! Way to go!

When she sent me the photos, Leslie shared the following: "Look what I did, that is my daughter and I. I changed out a wall hanging in my sewing room in exchange for the wonderful red work piece that you gave me. I just love it and will enjoy it each time I walk by it. It really is the sweetest piece of red work and thank you again very much. "
I'm very happy LL enjoyed my "find" (you just never know if folks like what they get, but in this case I seemed to have made a good match!)- I did confess to her the multiple $$$ I spent on it (NOT!). I only have one question though LL, what happened to the Smarties????? LOL

Born to Shop

Really, I blame it on my parents. After all, look what I did on my first birthday!

I went shopping. And I'm no dinosaur (yes, I know you can do the math on that date stamp), but when WERE Rice Krispies invented? So we've established I was introduced to the shopping bug quite early - but what about thrifting?


I can only attribute that to my father, a real "thrifty" Scotsman if you ever met one (you should check out his garage - my siblings and I have nightmares about the day we get to clean it out).

Which is also the only possible reason I can think of for those plaid pants

;->...

Favorite Illustrators

Growing up I was fortunate enough to receive books from British relatives. Some of my favorite were by Lucie Attwell (you may have noticed my reference to her in my side bar). I don’t have many books, and the ones I do have are pretty well worn.
But look at the pictures – how sweet! I love the colours and the images.
I have even taken one of her pictures and used it for some Bluework embroidery with a matching retro fabric.
My mother in law (Agnes), was kind enough to let me have a picture she had hanging in her kitchen (it is in mine now).
She also brought back an old Attwell postcard from one of her trips to England.
There are many great female illustrators - another I like is Jessie Willcox Smith.

Whose your favorite?

Garden Visitors

Sunday was unusually hot – 90 + and very humid. I had to do some “damage control” in my poor garden that was hit hard by the recent rain storms. I couldn’t help but notice some interesting visitors (besides the slugs and earwigs). A “gang” of salamanders have taken up residence on my front porch – they seem to like my little red wagon – I lifted a pot out of it and three of them went scurrying for cover.

Lots of dragonflies. I also heard the summer crickets and saw a couple of small frogs. We have toads to – I’m sure because we live in a woodlot and have some ponds nearby.

Later this month our grass will “come alive” with lots of baby frogs jumping up and down – its something to watch G&G figure out what the heck is going on! Frankly, I always feel bad about having lawn service this time of year ( Oh the humanity!)
And last but not least a hummingbird moth. The first time I ever saw one was at our cottage and I could not for the life of me figure out what it was. The power of the internet educated me, so when I had today’s sighting I knew exactly what I was looking at! Unfortunately I can’t lay claim to these photos as my fella was too quick for me - but he looked a lot like the second pic. I know many of you have gardens – have you had any interesting visitors lately?