Embroidered Collage

I created a new piece last night which I intend to submit for Somerset Studios' Girlfriends theme.  I decided that the piece with the gate on it from two weeks ago was done, but added a couple more skeleton leaves to the green collage.  Both are now posted in my Gallery section.  I also did a couple deco pages, which I did not upload.

I've been decorating paper for a swap.  The purpose is to trade papers to be used in collage or bookmaking.  My purpose in participating is to practice background creation and techniques for use in the same, expanding my repertoire, both in making mine and looking at those I receive in return. 

I did some rubbings with a colored pencil stick then added drawn highlights.  I used inkpads to dab patterns and highlighted with pen markings.  I outlined a cd and a credit card in pen to pile on some regular patterns.  I made a pair of monoprinted sheets, as I had done with the earth atcs. These are not necessarily the most creative options, but they are a good start.

All done!  Ready to be addressed and swapped out.

This set of cards made a very useful exercise for me, to keep pushing an idea and going in different directions and building on what I'd already done.  I'm going to have to do something similar on my own sometime.

Original post is here.

 I learned a few things last night.  Some months ago I discovered that dimensional fabric paints made neat monotypes on cardstock.  I'd put down some squiggles, squish that piece against a blank piece, pull them apart, and have two interesting looking squares with textured paint patterns to use for atcs.  I thought about the technique for my Earth cards in a 9 Planets swap on Art of Science.  So I bought blues and green and brown and some stiffened blue felt. 

When you put globs of paint on an absorbant surface and squish, well, the paint doesn't spread out.  Nooooo.  It soaks straight through the felt and decorates your entire hand.  Blech.  Not what I wanted.  I suppose it could be useful if you want a more exact duplicate, as the little squiggles I'd made before transferred nicely, just not giving the effect I was looking for.

So it was upstairs to discover, happily, that yes I did still have blue cardstock.  I did the blues, squished, then did a little green and brown, squished, then added streaks of puff paint to become clouds.  I puffed that out this morning and this set of atcs was done.

I think I've completed the squares for my Metal Triptych piece and they are shown below. 

I've done a little exploration in regards to whether my original thought for arrangement will really work best.  The three I'm considering are below.  Any suggestions?