Last month I took a fabric collage class that featured a bumblebee pattern (I have since finished the bee collage and will post it under its own topic once it is quilted and finished). My mom was really interested in the collage process and wants to make a bee of her own, so I decided to mail her the fabric kit and supplies as a fun surprise. But, I felt like I needed a card and before I knew it the collage bug (which definitely bit me during that first class) took over. Last night I thought, ‘why not use up the collage scraps to make a fun card?’ So, that’s exactly what I did.
Then this morning, I was overtaken by that collage bug again when I decided that I wanted to make a card for the class instructor. She has been very accommodating and I really appreciate it and want to let her know.
The irony is that I loved the first card that I made and while making the second card, I felt it had almost too much going on (though, busy bees make for a busy card). When I finished the second card, I was happy with the outcome and upon looking back at the first card, started to feel that it needed a little more, lol. I did then add the ‘bee inspired’ sentiment to the first card, but chose to simply leave it at that.
I’m pleased with the cards, buuuut I was originally planning on working on a different project and I have yet to even pull it out of my project bag and it’s just about time to pick my son up from school. Oh, the woes of being inspired, lol.
Lol, you’re pretty handy with the bee puns (I saw another bee related comment that you made yesterday, both made me smile).
I used steam-a-seam 2. It’s a double sided fusible that’s perfect for these collages. You fuse your fabric to one side, cut it to the shape you want, then peel off the paper backing on the other side to reveal adhesive that allows you to stick your fabric down and move it around multiple times until you get it where you want it. When everything is right where you want it, you hit it with the iron and the fusible melts (this is how I attached the fabric to the cards). You would then use steam to make it permanent (which I think basically makes it so you can wash items since it already seems fairly permanent once you iron the fabric).
Apparently steam-a-seam 2 is the only fusible that the bee collage artist uses or recommends. When I took the collage class, the instructor said that there was a steam-a-seam 2 shortage a while back, so she called the artist and asked if she could just have the students use ‘lite steam-a-seam 2’ (which as the name applies, is the lighter weight version), the artist told her no and that she would have to cancel the class .
Thank you, I enjoyed making them .
Thanks! I used some of the same techniques from my bee collage quilt .
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This sweet project is one of this week’s featured projects! Woot!