Monday, March 16, 2009

Valentine's Challenge Postcard

This is my fabric postcard entry for 2009. I used my Amethyst Dream woven fabric as my background. I really love making and using that stuff.

This is a close up view of the larger heart. The center is fabric paper I created, the middle one is sewn with RickyTims razzle Dazzle thread and the outer one in metallic elastic cording that I couched down.

This is the smaller heart on the right side. It is three hearts sewn using the Ricky Tims Razzle Dazzle thread. This thread on my machine has to be sewn from reverse by using the bobbin as it's so thick.

This is a detail shot of some of the decorative embroidery stitches that I used on the woven fabric background. I used a varigated purple thread for this stitching which gives it a neat effect.

Fiber Arts magazine invited people to send in a fabric postcard valentine. The Valentine was then mailed from their hometown post office in Loveland, Colorado. Loveland offers its own special postmark for the holiday each year, along with a poem, that is lovingly handstamped by local volunteers.
This was their third and most successful year yet. They received over 300 cards to pass along which came from across the United States and Canada and some from as far away as Australia, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

The link to the showcase of 2009 Valentines as an e-book is bleow. I'm on page 9 of the e-book as far as I can tell. It's printed on the bottom right corner of the page.

It was a fun challenge and although I didn't win any of the cool prizes, I did get printed in their magazine and on their website. I also got my postcard cancelled with an interesting postmark from Loveland, Colorado and it was also stamped with a short Valentine's poem. I plan to enter again next year.