March Postcards

Our next guild meeting is this coming Thursday evening and I thought I'd show the cards I've made for our postcard exchange.
Last October, at our guild show I had purchased a multi-needled felting tool but really have not done a whole lot with it. I decided to see what would happen if I used some ordinary craft felt that I had lying about. From bright coloured felt I cut some simple shapes to needle "felt" and as you can see they really became well meshed with the base piece. Of course I couldn't resist doing some extra stitching on top, added beads and this is the result.

Oh, but I really wanted more than one card to bring so I repeated the process with different curving shapes that could go over and under before the felting process. Now I have been learning to McTavish as of late and I just had to "mini" McTavish the background of this second card. What is McTavishing? It is a "fill" stitch that looks wonderful on everything from very traditional quilts to ultra contemporary works. I find it very addictive, I just want to McTavish everything. If you want to learn how to do this stitch, I highly recommend the book Mastering the Art of McTavishing by Karen McTavish. This book comes with a 90 minute instructional DVD that is informative and visually stimulating.

Did you notice the edges of the postcards? Do postcards always have to be a boring 4 x 6 rectangle? Are there rules to this?
*click on the picture of the second card for a close up view of the background stitches.