August ATC Session @ Bishan Library - Papercutting

I explored another craft with our participants in Aug ATC session - papercutting.  Although I have done some papercutting on my own previously, I have never really read up on it.  This time, I read a few books and did more online research, and shared the history and characteristics of papercuttings from different cultures and more importantly, tips on papercutting.

Some time back, we did round robin ATCs during 1 of our sessions, we are doing it again but this time, 7 of us are doing them for swap and for 3 consecutive months. The 1st month (Round 1) is completed - all different and a number of interesting backgrounds! 

Here are my new papercutting ATCs. 

The theme for our ATCs was "Red & White". Couldn't resist doing the merlion. I crocheted a small little red heart and placed it on the white merlion done by layering paper.  And guess what, the background was done with food colouring!

I tried to drop the colours on this particular paper, but it didn't absorb fast enough, and my girl played with it behind my back (more like messed with it). Ruined for a background as I originally intended it for, but amazingly, I just saw it as another intuitive drawing as the colours dried!

Swapped for some fantastic cards - Country Side by Doris, Potted Plant by Maureen, Red & White At the Beach by Cheo Hiang, and Red & White Kit Kat by Selina. 

The theme for Sep session is "Autumn".

Mainly ATCs

Just received my paper-cutting ATCs - (top left corner going clockwise) from Florinda, Susan, "Bean Sprout #1" from Melissa, and "Wild Hyacinth Blubell" from Edie. Thank you, everyone!

These were what I did and sent.

For this month A*Live ATC session in Bishan Library, we tried perspective drawing. Long time I didn't try drawing! Got the "Kite Entangled" from Rita (middle card on the right) - love the concept and the drawing! The top 3 are from Joey, and the bottom 2 are from Kristine in exchange for my Easter fabric ATCs.

I did these "Eat with the Family" ATCs; we made our favourite dessert, tang yuan, together one afternoon, boiled them and everyone ate and enjoyed them. I don't made them very often, it is a treat every now and then, as I made them differently from those selling outside.

This is a Chinese New Year lantern my boy did for his school earlier in Feb - his concept and work, and with some input from me. Won a prize too!

Paper-Cutting ATCs and TIAS Day 7

Thought I have lost them, but fortunately, they arrived after travelling out there for a whole long month. These are the paper-cutting ATCs I received for the Dec swop. Going from top left corner clockwise: "Poinsettia" by Mary Lou Sulecki, Unicorn by Edie Johnstone, Reindeer by Susan Hahn and "Rudolf" by Melissa Clark. Aren't they beautiful! Certainly well-worth the wait.

Think I haven't posted these that I cut for the same swap. They were all Chinese designs, and my tatted lucky clover paperclip to thank the hostness, Susan.

And my Day 7 of Jane's Tat It And See. My first thought was a rooster as I tatted Day 7, but looking at the 1st part, I'm guessing a peacock. What do you think?

Clyde's Tatted Bookmark, Oct Paper-Cutting ATCs and Nov ATC Session

In Sep, I was a lucky last winner in Clyde's Garden Tour Giveaway, but due to events and medical problems, Clyde only managed to tat and send the prizes out recently. I was so thrilled to receive this fine bookmark Clyde tatted in size 100 HDT, and the skein of thread too! Thank you, Clyde!

In-between tatting and others, I'm enjoying cutting and trading these paper-cutting ATCs on the Paper Cutters Trade group. Our sweet host, Susan, gets monthly trading in the going, and sets the theme to open, which makes it easier for beginners like me. This is only my second trade, but there will sure to be more! I cut these using scissors and knife on 80 gsm acid-free papers.

And what I received: going down from the top, and from left to right - A Christmas Tree from Joan Sulecki (this has a most interesting background), a white tree from Susan herself, the Blue Flower from Ursula in Germany, Places I have hiked this summer: Capitol Reef National Park from Melissa, and the last one from Florinda. Thank you, everyone, love all the cuttings!

Last Thu was our local monthly ATC trading session. This time, Pei Ling showed us what is gesso and how to apply and texture it on the base card. We also tried our hands at painting with acrylic paints over card primed with gesso. Interesting! These were what Kristine (bottom 2) and I (top 2) painted - not too fantastic, but I'm thinking of embellising them with some paper-cuttings.

The theme for the month is "Going to the Movies". Not a lot of cards done as everyone was busy, only traded these few. I quite like this movable kitty playing with the tatted butterfly, which I cut using a free cat pattern I found on the internet. This was traded with Laura for her "Sound of Music" card she drew.
What Kristine drew and traded for the quote from the movie, Spiderman:

A Pleasant Surprise, Gifts and ATCs

I had to mention this first - I received a package in the mail and was pleasantly surprised to receive it. A Thank-You package from Randi, the winner of my blog giveaway. She had sent me some of her hand-painted thread and a sweet pink beaded butterfly, and some postcards. Thank you, Randi, I love everything you sent! Let me see how to assemble something into an ATC. Watch out in the next post how I have recycled and assembled the little stickers, cards, postmarked stamps and what-not I received from tatting exchanges into ATCs. Some of you may recognise some stuff ; )

I tatted this up for Daphne Yap, whose last day with the company was on Thu. These alphabets by Anna Valeire, are quick to tat up and the effect is just great. And a little cute Sun for Wen Yng, who also quitted on Fri.

We had our monthly ATC trading session on Thu. Moses asked for a tatting demo, so I did a short one, giving a brief introduction to tatting, explaining some tatting terms, showing some tatted works and demonstrating the execution of the double stitch. Hopefully, everyone who was present would be able to recognize tatted works when they see it in the future. And here I was presenting a tatted bookmark to Richard, as a prize for a little lucky draw for the session. (Photo taken by Moses.)

The theme for the session was "Self-Portrait". These are what Kristine and I did.

More ATCs drawn by Kristine
What we traded.
"Fishes" by Pei Ling, "One Man's Mess is Another Man's Art" by Terence, "Lotus" by Moses.

"Pieces of Me" by Laura, "Joe Cool" by Becky and "Flower" by Pei Ling.

I was particularly excited I received my ATCs from my first group trade. They are paper-cutting ATCs with an open theme, and so interesting to see different styles and varieties in the paper-cutting from across the world.

From top left going clockwise: "Tiger" from Florinda, "Putting on the Glitz" and "Lighthouse Stairs I" both by Susan S Hahn (our hostess), "At The Ball" by Melissa Clark, Birch Bark Cutting by Edie Johnstone, unnamed by Florinda. Susan sent me extra for a tatted bookmark I sent. Thanks, Susan!

The ones I sent were more of a Chinese style - all cut using 80 gsm acid-free papers. Going clockwise from the top left-hand corner: Poeny, Chattering, Floral Spray, In The Dusk.

A special mention of Ambitatterous's Giveaway, you need to put on a small thinking hat but a fun one to read what everyone wrote!

A Long 100th Post - ATCs from Laura, Motif No. 4 - Owl on Paper Clip, Tatted Gifts, And A Giveaway!

First of all, I'm so happy and glad to receive Laura's ATCs. These 2 cards have travelled to and fro Australia and Singapore at least twice, and God knows where else or what happened between Apr to June. But finally, they made it to me! Look at the beautiful fabric ATCs adorned with tatting, and the beaded flower!

More ATCs I did. Again, the top 2 are tatted motifs mounted on scrapbooking papers, while the 3 bottom ones are paper cutting using 80 gsm acid-free paper.

NEW paper clip pattern for the month: an OWL! Isn't he cute ? Not quite difficult to tat him up if you know pearl tatting, but you'll need to go through your stash to find some felt and plastic eyes. This will be Motif No. 4 for my Round 2 of the 25 Motif Challenge. You can find the pattern on Georgia's Online Tatting Class, or click here for the pattern.

More tatting gifts for a few more colleagues who quitted, and these are not the last.

Last but not least, remember the giveaway I promised for my 100th post? How about this tatted periwinkle bookmark and some Flora threads in size 20? Just leave a comment for the draw. I will get my girl to pick a winner on National Day (9 Aug). If there are more than 20 comments, I hope to pick one more winner, but the Flora threads will be spilt among the 2 winners. So, 1 will get the periwinkle bookmark and 3 balls of Flora threads, while the other winner will get 3 different tatted paper clips and 4 balls of Flora threads.

Note: This giveaway is already closed. Winners will be announced shortly.

A Farewell Gift, A Free Gift, A School Project and ATCs

Some months passed without anyone leaving the office, I mean, quitting from the job. A string of resignation now. This owl bookmark and card was tatted and given to Mariam. This owl bookmark is one of my favourites from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks - A Tatted Zoo.

I'm not often lucky, but this is one of the times. I won this book - "1,000 Jewelry Inspirations: Beads, Baubles, Dangles, and Chains" over at Craftside. I have noticed these 1000 Series of books previously, they are each loaded with 1000 coloured photos of the subject, giving you literally, a thousand of inspirations! I'm drooling all over simply leafing through the book!

My boy has to submit another school project again. Mummy has to helped again, and even his sisters were roped in to help with some typing work!

More ATCs done with tatting and paper cuttings. And I just found a local ATC group which meet monthly, more about that later!

This is my 99th post! I'm thinking of a giveaway in my next post. Watch the space!

Iris Folding and Paper Cutting

I haven't been actively trading my ATCs, so this is only the third ATC which I traded but first one received - "A Peek Inside the Fairy Garden" by Carlin from USA. I love flower fairies, especially Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies. I believed Carlin used rubber stamping and applied the stones and ladybird sticker on the background picture, which was cut from some box. It is a nice composition.

And look what I have here....

Well, these are not done by me, but how I wish they are! These colourful pictures are actually Chinese paper cuttings which I bought and lightly mounted on acid-free cards. The paper cuttings are very, very delicate. It is so amazing how they were cut with such thin papers and how they were coloured. I would think they were hand-cut (unless someone knows there are machine-cut Chinese paper cuttings!)

These are my fist attempts at paper cutting. These three paper cuttings in black paper are Western style, very unlike that of Chinese style in my opinion. And the ATC on the top left is an Iris folded pot with tatted flowers.

Iris folding is not a new technique, but it is certainly new to me. It was an accidental discovery for me when I was browsing the books in the library with my children. If you don't know what is it and want to find out more, Iris Folding is a paper folding technique that resembles the iris, or lens, of a camera. The patterns are typically circular and focus around a central point. Here's a pretty good website on Iris Folding:

http://www.irisfolding.circleofcrafters.com/

I think children should be able to handle this technique well enough to create complicated-looking cards that look more difficult than it really is.

Thumb Print Art ATCs and Paper Cutting

My children just discovered a new art - thumb print art. Faber-Castell recently launched a kit with the book and ink pads, and with that, Joey and Kristine created the following ATCs.

These are done by Joey (10-yr old).

And these by Kristine (7-yr old).

I didn't get much done myself. I hope to finish the animal motif for Becky soon, and move on to try something else. I'm quite pleased with these 2 ATCs. The heart is Martha Ess's pattern tatted with metallic thread and mounted onto an acid-free paper cutting which I cut myself. Yes, this is one of the things I want to try.