fabric ATCS

i made these in the beginning of september, but i was waiting for their recipients to receive them before i posted them, and then i forgot. oops!

i had been feeling crummy, and they were the perfect thing to keep me occupied while i sat on the couch in front of countless episodes of CSI.

(oh, as usual, click on the picture and the full image will open in a new window. if you know how to make my blog wider so it'll stop cutting off my pictures, let me know!


the first three were made for round 2 of the fabric ATC swap on craftster.org.

hail mary
the one on the left was supposed to be mine, cause i screwed it up (the text is upside down!), and i made it first to figure out how exactly i wanted to do the beading.


i forgot to print two backs onto the iron on paper, so mine doesn't have a back. i was going to add a loop and hang it in my bathroom, but a friend fell in love with it on sight, and i couldn't say no!

i made up the background in photoshop, it's "hail mary" typed out enough times to fill the rectangle. then i printed the background and the inside picture, cut out the picture as an oval and cut an oval out of the background, ironed them on at the same time. before i removed the paper i ironed some batting on too. then i pressed the edges under on the front and the back. i did the blue beading before i joined them, one bead at a time, and the scattered pink ones. then i hand sewed the front and the back together and sewed the pink beads on the edges (3 beads at a time, going from front to back). for the second one i added another shade of pink beads to the border cause i thought the other ones were too pastely.


day of the dead
for the second one i added another shade of pink beads to the border cause i thought the other ones were too pastely.

embroidery and sequins! i did some embroidery with metallic thread too...
i was pretty proud of my skull, i always get stressed out about day of the dead skulls, i can never draw them properly! i used regular embroidery floss, and the metallic machine embroidery thread.


spider web

embroidered web and one of the fabulous buttons i bought at jo-anns in portland. (jo-anns has SO MUCH cool stuff!)

the spider one is simpler than the others i did for the swap, because i was having inspiration issues. i really love it though!

i got totally into the beading after the hail mary card, and made this one for my friend joanne.

i found this fabric with little women's symbols on it at a fabric outlet in burlington, wa and i couldn't resist buying a yard of it... i have no clue what else to use it for, but i thought it was fun for joanne. she's been so active is women's organizations and women's committees over the years, i think she'll love it.

mexican mini-shrine atc. it's atc size, but it unfolds.
this one was originally going to be for the ATC swap, but i decided it was way too complex compared to the others, plus i really didn't want to give it up!

all sequined on the front (with a green skull bead and a loop of pink elastic for closure)

opened up. lots of embroidery! everytime i thought i was done i'd be like "oh, but i think it needs a bit more of this colour...."! the swallows are iron on transfers. the banner at the bottom says remember, and the empty square in the centre is actually a little vinyl pocket to put a photo in. i adore it.

and the full back! you can see all the sequins, and the tag, which is actually wrong now that i'm not using it for the swap!

and then i made this card as a thank you for kittykill and her hubby after i stayed with them for a few days in portland earlier in the month.

embroidered thanks, black and orange sequins and beads, balsa wood skull
i put a string of beads on it in case they wanted to hang it, but i threaded them loose enough that they can fall down behind the card if they want to just lean it against a shelf or something.