Midnight Garden Postcard Winners!

Here I am picking the winners this morning:

The two winners are :

Kathleen C. and Vivian Love!

Congratulations! Thank you all for participating - I really wish I had a postcard for everyone, but that's just not possible right now! Kathleen and Vivian, please email me at: sbanks "at" metrocast "dot" net with your mailing address and I will get the postcards into the mail this week!

Q/A: Lisa wanted to know how the postcards are made. They are very easy to make and are the perfect size for trying out new techniques.

First, you'll need two rectangles of fabric, one for the front and one for the back and a rectangle of Timtex, Fast 2 Fuse or other stiff stabilizer. The postcard finished size is 4" x 6". If I am going to serge the edges, I cut the pieces 1/4" larger on all four sides (4 1/2" x 6 1/2"). If I am going to satin stitch around the edges, I cut the pieces the exact size.

Embellish the front anyway you'd like, remembering that embellishments too close to the edge may not be easy to manipulate through the sewing machine.

Bond the front and back to the stabilizer. Some stabilizers are fusible already, but you can also use any sort of bonding product to keep the layers together.

Finish the edges, either with a serger or with a satin stitch on the regular sewing machine. For these cards, I finished the edges with the serger because of the two different types of fabric and because I wanted to try it out. (You'll notice that the crickets aren't on the cards yet - they would have been in the way of the serger, so I stitched them on last.)

Lastly, sign or address the card. A purchased postcard back stamp can be used for the backs or you can print mailing labels for the cards. As long as the embellishments are not too delicate or too dimensional, the cards can be mailed right through the postal system as is, with proper postage, of course. These I will actually mail in envelopes to protect the fabrics, beads and crickets, so I only signed the backs.

Parting Shot: Hat Box. Here's a close-up of the hat box. It's not extremely old, but I like it. It was part of a gift from my husband's aunt.