Bloom where you are!

My finished piece!

I am participating in The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap again this year with Beth Nichols of Do What You Love for Life.  This is the fourth year she has put this together and I know it must have been an overwhelming task.  I believe her final tally of participants were 180 people from over 20 countries around the world! I can't imagine having to organize everybody, thank you Beth for doing this.

Happy to be participating again!

The idea was to have a theme, this years was BLOOM.  You were to be creative and have fun.  She would send to you where your postcard would be sent to and you in turn would receive one.  She also created a Flicker site where we could post the picture of the postcards that we received.  How fun it is to be a part of it.  I have been working on collage pieces so much lately, to open my Etsy shop, that the creative diversion was a welcome!  I had fun with this little piece.

So I thought I would share with you my creative steps in making it.  First painted the background with Liquitex acrylic, then tore my flowers from vintage pieces of wallpaper I had purchased at Art and Soul Market this year.  I drew with my Pitt marker the stems of the flowers, then painted a few of the leaves with Golden Leaf Green (I love that color), I added sparkles in the center of the flowers, used some of my Washi Tape and vintage lace to represent the ground.  Splattered down some Titanium White acrylic and splashed on the flowers.  Then added the word b l o o m.  I always have a small dictionary at hand I use for my collage, so I added the definition!  I used my pastels to antique the words, and rub the postcard edges, I used bubble wrap and painted some extra texture.   I sealed the card with some modge podge and then stitched the entire border on my sewing machine.  I made several, so here is a small peak at the other postcards I finished.

It was definitely a work of love . . . and as I did last year, I made a few extras to send in the mail.  I love to send a small piece of myself in the mail to let others know I care.  We are forgetting the beauty of a handwritten letter or postcard.  Emails are great, but there is nothing like receiving love in the mail.  I challenge you to do that this week, send a piece of love to someone you know, make their day!

B l o o m . . . where ever you are planted . . . grow from deep within . . . let life's experiences grow your heart and mind . . . love your life and be happy in every way . . . flourish in your walk everyday . . . thrive to be your best . . . grow in wisdom . . . bloom in your life and in your talents and in love!

My received postcard from Pauline of New Brunswick, Canada!

Photo compliments of Do What You Love Flicker Group
A Sampling of the finished work!
Thank you Beth for a wonderful experience.