International Art and Soul Challenge 146

 The challenge for this fortnight was set by my team mate Christine, and she wants us to make a Christmas card. 

The amount of time I spend on Christmas cards varies depending on how close to Christmas it is, but there's still a while to go now, so I've been making some stitched cards. 

The tree and pot pattern is from Stitching Cards and is copyright to them. I bought the pattern a few years ago, and I love it, so this year, I've done several in different colour schemes, and I've added the stitched frame to complete the effect.

The varigated thread I used each time is from Sulky. I do love their Blendable range. The gold thread is from Anchor.

The metallic thread this time is silver and from Krenik.

In each case, I've varied the way I've stitched the pot, and I've added some glitter gel pen to complete the effect.

So, quite a good start on my Christmas cards, but I've still got a fair number to do. I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 142

 The challenge for this fortnight was set by my team mate Craftygirl, and she would like to see projects with a Transport theme.

I struggled a bit with this. My stash contains a multitude of flowers, butterflies, landscape bits, fairies, but not a lot in terms of modes of transport. I solved the issue by going to Stitching Cards where I picked up a couple of patterns I could use. I made this card for my brother-in-law.

The stitching design is called Sunset, and while it suggests using all metallic threads, I used what I had to hand. For the clouds, I used some holographic gold thread, and for the rest I used various shades of Sulky varigated thread. I love how that gives that random shading to the sun, reflections and even the sails on the yacht.

The spotty paper if from a very old Papermania pad, and the sentiment was stamped using Versafine Clair ink and a stamp from a Creative Expressions set.

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 138

 The challenge for this fortnight was set by my team mate Maggie, and she wants projects which are Masculine.

I decided to use one of the Tonic stitching die sets I bought a while ago, but haven't used a great deal. But, once I'd done one card, I carried on until I had three - one with each set for my husband, my son, and my daughter's partner on their birthdays.

Colours were chosen for the different recipients. I cut three layers for each, stitched the top two together, then added the third, and that's about it! (The blue one has an extra square mat because the light blue didn't give enough contrast to the white card.) I've used Sulky varigated thread throughout - greys for the black/white and blue cards, and gold for the green one.

These make very easy cards - a little time-consuming - but I stitched the layers while watching TV, so it didn't seem that way.

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 113

 I'm hosting this fortnight's challenge at International Art and Soul, and I've chosen the theme, 'Use Thread or Beads'. One obvious option is something stitched, but if you don't want to do that, there are lots of ways of using thread and beads that involve other techniques - including beads as flower centres or eyes or just for decoration. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I kept things fairly simple, stitching a couple of designs from Stitching Cards. I like a lot of their designs and given my love of all things Mackintosh, it's not surprising I chose this one.

I used two different types of thread here: the flower heads use a general machine embroidery thread in a crimson shade, and for the rest I used something new to me - a Sulky no. 12 which is varigated in shades ranging from pink and blue through to lilac and grey. To complete the card, I used a Sue Wilson Mini Striplet die to cut out of the white card and placed a silver panel behind. The, I matted with red, and that was that.

This is another Stitching Cards design, but this time I've gone full rainbow! The petals and leaves use machine embroidery thread, but the pots and frames use another Sulky varigated thread - this time in a rainbow range. I used the same striplet die, but this time just mounted the top layer on to some green mirror card directly.

And, for something completely different, I made a Valentine card. (I know, that was months ago, but I tend to make my cards well in advance and then schedule my posts, and I'm typing this on 14th February.)

This card uses a different source - a book called Fold and Stitch by Christa Bushousen. It's an odd mixture of pricking, stitching and tea bag folding, but there are several heart designs. I adapted this from a three-heart design in the book. I'm kind of traditional in my Valentine cards - they've got to be anonymous, although I daresay my husband isn't fooled by the cards that turn up each year. This uses just the Sulky thread I used in the rose card above. To complete, I cut 'be mine' using a set of Tonic dies. The top layer of each uses some card I shaded using a gelli plate and distress ink. I wasn't happy with theoverall result, but I think it worked well for this. I'm just disappointed the set doesn't include punctuation as this really needs a question mark!

I'm looking forward to seeing your thread and bead creations.