By or Under The Ocean June ATC Swap

I am so impressed by the fantastic creativity that this theme sparked within everyone; the cards for this month are just fantastic and I love how the theme is broad enough to get a really lovely range. 'By or Under the Ocean' could be anything really considering how much of the planet is ocean and the vast amount of wildlife, plant life, microclimates and human interaction with the sea there is. 

You can really see this in the cards themselves actually as we've got beach huts, lighthouses, beaches, boats, coral reefs, creatures, plants and one that reminds me of the unexplored depths with its slightly mysterious shapes. Can you tell which one it is? 

As always there's a lovely variety of stitches and textures. I'm pretty sure that the lovely fish is created with a needle lace technique which is really clever, and the delightful crab is a stumpwork technique? I'm trying to sound knowledgeable but I'm not entirely sure, it's beautifully padded and those bead eyes give it real character and just a touch of sass! 

One of the cards incorporates real shells and one has very cleverly fussy cut around printed fabric sea creatures to entangle in some chain stitch seaweed. The card with the lighthouse and sun looks like it's a printed scene which has been embroidered over to bring the print to life! 

Embroidery stitches I can identify are picot stitch, fly stitch, chain stitch, french knots, bullion knots, feather stitch, stem stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, back stitch, woven wheel stitch, blanket stitch, straight stitch....so many! There's machine stitching, couching, layering, beading and sequin-ing - if that's a separate thing.

They are just all stunning (as always) and it seems to me like the ladies joining in with this swap are almost growing in confidence and relishing the opportunity to use any technique and potentially push themselves to try new things. Not everyone had made an artist trading card before, and some hadn't done that much embroidery or felt that they weren't all that creative in coming up with ideas from a theme but were willing to give it a go. It may just be me but it almost seems a bit journey-like which will be interesting to see when we reach the end of the year and they can compare all of their own cards as well as those created and swapped from others.