July Beach Hut ATCs

I'm only slightly behind on writing this blog post about the Beach Hut Stitchscape Swap cards which were all photographed and sent back out to their new homes at the beginning of August! It's nearly October, currently dark outside (at 8.30pm), we have candles lit and Baby F and I bought our first pumpkin of the season today so it's a far cry from the long summer days that saw these cards created. 

They make wonderful memories and picture postcards though, perhaps some of them were inspired by holiday destinations or recent summer trips to the beach? I like how the scale differs with some being fairly small and far away and others just filling the whole space! We even have an interactive one with a surprise behind the door. 

If you look up the definition of a beach hut, they are described as a shed near to the beach for privacy or storage but these beautiful ones seem more than that! They are so brightly coloured and decorated, some stripey, some block colours, all with a pointy roof. What I've loved is, if you just Google 'beach huts' and go to images, the Google page has all of the same colours and styles as the collection we have here - between us we have exactly captured the essence of a beach hut!

It's the little details that are so lovely in these cards - a tiny tiny bucket and beach ball in the seafront above. When you think that the entire card is only 3.5" x 2.5", these are small beach huts, and even smaller beach accessories!

There are some lovely sea interpretations as well. The texture of the waves with the broderie fabric and ribbon trimming below is a beautiful combination to make it look like the tide is on the way in and will shortly be lapping at those colourful doors. 

These ones look like quite fancy beach huts with almost a decking area out the front and beautiful pots of planted flowers! They remind me a bit of the beach chalets right at the end of the Eastbourne promenade, before the cliffs. (If you know, you know.)

There's lots of sunshine in these cards which is nice to see too, especially as we've had a lot of rain and hail and just mega angry cloud weather in the last couple of days. Autumn has hit with a bit of a depressing bang and it's cheering me up looking back at these sunny, summery cards. 

Look at those tiny stitches creating pebble texture in the sand! 

The card above is so neatly made and stitched - although I realise now I look back, the starfish had flipped upside down for the photos, there is some texture on the other side so that's a shame. I have a feeling I realised for the individual photos so if you have a look on the dedicated ATC page on my website, you can see what the front of the starfish looks like. 

The below card I believe has been painted onto some kind of heavier weight vilene or similar. It had a kind of felted texture but isn't thick enough for felt so it would seem that the hut has been drawn and painted onto an iron on interfacing. The printed fabric textures in the background are ideal for this project! 

I tried to get as detailed a photo as I could for this one. It was so jangly and sparkly with lots of stitching and beads around the hut for pebbles and shingle, with more beads stitched onto the holographic sea layer so it just lit up like a disco ball when I got it out of the envelope when it first arrived. I love the bunting too. 

And finally we have the interactive, openable beach hut card! What a brilliant idea, it never even crossed my mind. I think the letter that came with it said that the inspiration was more Victorian bath hut than a modern beach hut, but they are all kind of the same thing so it definitely counts, even if this one has been wheeled into the water. This dapper chap looks like he's about to have a jolly good time in the waves - I wonder if he'll keep his hat on whilst he bobs around?

So, another amazing collection. Bold, bright and beautiful! Well done to all who sent a card in, and thank you for joining us for another month of Stitchscape swapping.