Artist Trading Card Swap

Copyright A Little Sew and Sow - Small Things Artist Trading Card

For a long time I have been a regular reader of the Very Berry Handmade Blog by the lovely Ali.  Through her blog Ali organises an Artist Trading Card Swap and back in October I signed up to participate for the first time. 

An Artist Trading Card is a small art piece that you design and make measuring 2.5 x 3.5 inches.  In this case it is mainly made of fabric and you are allocated a swap partner by Ali.  Once you have finished your card you post it to your partner.  There is a theme for each swap and this time it was Small Things. 

I was attracted to this little project as it was an opportunity to try something new – push myself to work on a small scale – and I was excited to see what other sewists made. 

When I read the theme I instantly thought about bees and decided I could use some tiny English Paper Hexagons to look like honeycomb.  At first I wasn’t sure about how I could add a bee to the honeycomb.  When I was a teenager I did quite a lot of cross stitch but haven’t touched any for many years.  I wondered if I could remember how to do it and so embarked on creating my bee from cross stitch.  I ordered some Aida Cross Stitch Fabric in a tiny gauge and set to work.  It didn’t take very long to create the bee but it was pretty hard as I could barely see the holes in the fabric.  It finished up being about the size of my little fingernail. 

At the beginning of December I mailed my finished card to a lovely lady called Beryl, who has since emailed to thank me.  I then received my card from Dorothy, which was a beautiful winter scene with tiny beads added.

I have really loved participating in this swap and will definitely do another one in the future.  A big thank you to Ali for organizing and to Dorothy for my card.  You can look at some of the finished cards from this swap on Instagram using the hashtag #veryberryatcswap  

Artist Trading Card gifted by Dorothy