Last weekend was spent making marbled fabrics.  What a great time we had.  Here is a small sampling of the fabric produced.

This one is printed on organza.

Here is a print on fusible stabilizer.

These are printed on white cotton.  The swirling effect is created by dragging a "rake" through the water/paint mixture.

These were printed on dark cotton.

CHRISTMAS ATC'S

I recently made some Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) for some friends.  

I started off by stamping an image onto blue and silver fabric.  Using fabric markers I added colour to the image.  A piece of poster board was sandwiched between the front and back (made from hand-marbled fabric).

The layers were stitched together using a zig-zag stitch.  A hole was pierced at the top of each card and a wire ornament hanger inserted.

Next, a bath using a mixture of 3 tablespoons of Borax (purchased at the local grocery store) to 1 cup of boiling water was made, then poured into a gallon bucket.  This mixture was made several times to fill the bucket to the top.

The ATC's were suspended from a dowel into the water/Borax mixture for about 10 hours.  Less time hanging  will create fewer crystals.  

The water mixture was then poured off and the ATC's were left to hang dry.  A workable fixative was then sprayed on each one, just to give the cards a little added life.

POSTCARD EXCHANGE

I have received another few postcards from around the world.  The November theme of the exchange group was "Pets".  I have two golden retrievers so this one from Barb in Ohio was a treat.  The colourful fish was from Lynette in South Africa.  

This card depicts the "Nguni" cattle from the Zulu tribe in South Africa.

Here is a postcard of a Basenji dog, coming from Alabama.

I've also started to receive the December themed cards - "Christmas".  

In a previous post I showed a few of the cards that I made.  Here are some more.  Strips of blue Christmas fabrics were raw-edge stitched overlapping edges.  The back of each card was stamped with Warms Wishes for the Holidays.

NOEL

I'm in a festive mood today.  I have itunes blasting out Holiday music and have even thought about putting up the Christmas tree..  A few weeks ago I went to a church bazaar and picked up some old burgundy ornaments for $1.00.  I thought that I may be able to do something with them as they weren't much to look at.  

Here's what I did:

I resurrected the local paper from the recycle bin and tore it into small pieces.  Next, I Mod Podged the surface of each ornament, Podging one at a time.

Using a foam brush, I glued the newspaper pieces to the ornament.  I let them dry but  noticed a few spots without paper and had to go back and redo a couple.  

I thought that I would just add a string, but the ornaments looked unfinished.  I decided to get out the glitter and coat each ornament.  Again, I coated each ball with Mod Podge and glittered away.

Now they were beginning to look a little better.  But something was missing - yes a tag and hanger.  I cut some poster board stock to my printer size and printed my tags.  The tags were distressed with Jim Holtz Distress Ink (antique linen) and edged with Stazon Ink (black).

I chose twine for the hanger, giving the ornament an earthy look to go with the recycled newspaper.  

I'm going to add them to the small twig tree that I have on my desk, but they could be used as a gift tag on a special gift to a special friend.

CHRISTMAS SHOW

I've been spending mucho time making quilted wall-hangings for a Christmas show.  I have 23 pieces hung.  I posted a couple previously and here are a few more: