Recycle spring

Various bits and pieces done today, amidst the laundry, gerbil tank cleaning, mini-golf, roast chicken and other miscellany. One of the things was to do some ATCs to a recycled theme ("Recycle Spring") - this is a FAT swap, where we were to use only things on hand and recycle where possible. I have pretty much only used recycled items, except for the thread and a few pieces of vilene, though some of those are pieced from scrap.


I started with some pre-made backgrounds - these were from an abandoned project which was essentially some silk crazy pieced blocks with embroidery and beads on them - having decided I wasn't going to complete the project I cut all the partially completed blocks into ATC backgrounds. There were 9 of them left in my ATC box, hence 9 ATCs. I then added some plastic fruit netting in various colours, a metal punched shape (the metal coming from a tomato puree tube (a lovely goldish colour) an empty hand cream tube and the old standby, diet coke can) and a large focus piece, most of which came from deconstructed costume jewellery (my mother buys me big bags of the stuff at yard sales - most of it, I wouldn't wear if you paid me, but it's great for art and every once in a while, there's a nice piece in there to actually wear). The backs (which I haven't photographed) are also recycled, coming from my scrap paper drawer - I think they are bits of painted wallpaper which a friend passed along to me when clearing out some of her stuff.


They are all different (a requirement of the swap, but also, the nature of the design dictates some differences in this instance), but I have only given a closeup of one - you get the general idea.




I also put together the purple roses (actually I did this first, but whose counting) - in the end I went for a fairly straight layout with lots of white (or cream, technically) space around it so Sophie can adjust the block however she likes.


And later in the day, I even managed another set of ATCs - this was while I was keeping an eye on Alex in the bath - he doesn't need anyone there with him except to help wash his hair, but I do like to have someone keep a general eye or ear on him to make sure there are no tsunamis in the bathroom and so on. So I often take the opportunity to either fold and put away laundry or do some work - in this instance, the laundry was done, so I made another quick set of ATCs. These have paper at bottom - more of the paper I bought the day of the bloggy picnic - fabric at the top, a nice bit of Tilda ribbon, a skeleton leaf which I sprayed with Adirondack colour wash and a few bits and pieces. Sometimes less is more...


In another few days, I think I will post some ATCs to trade - I want to keep a few in reserve for the next few months of the birthday ATC swap, but it doesn't need to be all of them. But I have another set I want to make first - a monoprint challenge for Textile Challenges - I won't do an ATC sized monoprint, so I'm sure there will be several ATCs rather than just the one I need. Anyway, watch this space...