March Northern Lights ATCs

I love the cards in this swap! Funnily enough, I am really behind in writing a blog post about it (a whole month + behind as it happens, but we won't go on about that) and we have just experienced a rare phenomenon in the UK where the Aurora Borealis was visible in back gardens throughout the country! I am really gutted that I missed it myself, I had fully intended on staying up to see them but it was a long day and I complete forgot and slept through the whole thing! It's maddening. The photos that suddenly flooded social media the following day were pretty spectacular though. I did stay up for the following couple of nights to see if they'd come back as there was an amber warning for a light show but I don't think they did. 

I suppose I don't need to see the real thing though when I can look at these beautiful interpretations of the lights! There's a really lovely selection of techniques used here, patchworked fabric layers with glittering sequin stars, felting and machine stitching, ribbon work, satin stitch textures, fabric painting and silhouettes with, what looks like, angelina fibres providing the wispy colours, and of course lots of lovely hand embroidery stitches. 

There are so many lovely colours in these cards, and quite a lot of transitions between dark and light so my camera was having a hard time trying to process it all and take a good picture. 

The use of sheer ribbons is a really lovely idea, and definitely gives the kind of rippled effect that you would expect with the lights. I wonder how many people who have made a card for this swap had actually seen the Northern Lights in person or whether the ideas have all come from photographic sources? Of course now would have been a brilliant time to have this swap theme, and they would probably be a lot pinker, rather than the colourful mix we have, as the ones just seen over Sussex seemed to be mostly pink and purple with some green. 

There is such a beautiful collection of colours here though, and a lovely attention to detail as well. The full photos for these is already up on my website if you wanted to have a look through to see them more in full. 

I am really enjoying this year's swaps so far and I hope you are enjoying following along too! Don't forget that if you are inspired to have a go you can join in at any time, for as many swaps as you like. Just pop me an email at sales@dottytextiles.com and I'll forward you more details.