Gallery
Featured Artist: Anne St. Louis
 

About Anne
	Introduction My name is Anne St. Louis. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with my husband of 15 years, our 5 month old baby girl, and our 11 year old Jack Russell Terrier, Oreo. Ever since I can remember, I have always enjoyed creating. Whether it be cutting, pasting, taping, folding, stitching, you name it, I had my hands in it. I studied art in university, where I was exposed to various art media. However, it wasn't until 10 years ago that I finally found my medium of choice: textile and fibre. I started with traditional quilting and then eventually branched into art quilts. Recently, I rediscovered the joy of working with paper with ARTchix products. Combining fabric and paper is occasionally a challenge, but the process is incredibly satisfying. It is important to learn from the experience of creating each individual piece of artwork.		Anne's Top 5 ARTchix Products 1. Fairy Dreams collage sheet 2. ARTchix Cards 3. Wonderful Wings collage sheet  4. Mini Star Charms, Silver collage sheet 5.  Black Paper Mesh

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Artwork #1: Mixed Media Artist Trading Card Book
	ARTchix Products Fairy Dreams collage sheet Wonderful Wings collage sheet Wish You Were Here collage sheet Amazing Archways collage sheet Door to Door Collage Sheet Blue Collage Sheet Velvet Leaves Moss Mini star charms, silver silver patterned hand charm
	Instructions 1. Create and/or collect Artist Trading Cards. 2. Black pages: Layer snippets of fabrics, threads, funky yarns, etc. on a piece of background fabric. Lay a piece of black tulle on top. Free motion quilt the entire piece to "trap" all the tidbits under the tulle. I start with a piece about 18"x22" (fat quarter), and then cut into pages when the quilting is complete. The pages in my book are 7"x7". 3. Blue pages: From a selection of coordinating fabrics, cut out squares and rectangles in various sizes. My pieces ranged from 1"x1" to 3"x4". Layer these pieces on a piece of coordinating background fabric. Allow the pieces to overlap. You may need to pin these pieces prior to sewing, or use basting spray such as 505 spray. Sew "straight" lines through the entire piece so that the stitching catches the squares and rectangles. The edges will be "raw edge" which gives the pages interesting texture. 4. Attaching the ATCs: All the ATCs in my book are paper. Wrap a piece of black tulle around the ATC. Place on desired area on fabric page. Carefully stitch around the ATC, catching only the tulle, not the card. This creates a "trap" for the ATC. 5. Couch fancy yarns around the edges of the pages and on the pages, as desired. I used hand stitching to do the couching. This can also be done by machine. Attach charms and other embellishments, as desired. 6. When all the embellishments are completed, arrange the pages to your liking. Then sew the front and back pages together, wrong sides together. 7. Attach eyelets to each of the pages. 8. Bind the book using ribbons and yarns.

Artwork #2: Altered Denim Jacket

ARTchix Products Divas Love... ARTchix cards Instructions 1. Select a jacket that doesn't have any pleats in the back. 2. Create a panel suitable for the back of the jacket. Select your background fabric, a coordinating fabric and the images you wish to have on your jacket. I used the "Diva Loves..." art cards. I enlarged the images 140% on t-shirt transfer paper. This particular jacket is a size small. Please keep in mind the scale of images and size of jacket. I like "Click-n-Craft Iron-on Transfer II for light and dark colored fabrics." Follow the instructions on the package for the iron-on product you choose to use. 3. Transfer images to the coordinating fabric, leaving about 1/2" of fabric around the image. Turn under 1/4" of fabric and applique to background fabric. You may wish to "audition" the areas where you want the appliques on your jacket. Hand or machine stitch applique. 4. With the appliques stitched, layer a piece of flannelette on the wrong side of the panel. This will give a little bit of "body" to your work. I do not use quilt batting as this can be too bulky. Quilt as desired. I like to free motion quilt by machine. You may also wish to embellish with beads or charms. Keep these away from the edge of the panel, at least 1/2", as this area will be stitched to the jacket. 5. Place over back of jacket, turn edges under. With the edges turned under, the panel is butted up against the existing seams of the jacket. Pin in place, then top stitch. 6. Stitch a piece of coordinating fabric over the front pockets, with the edges turned under. The top edge (just under the shank button of the pocket) will need to be hand stitched in place.

Artwork #3: Pendants

ARTchix Products small memory glass small silver memory frame tall memory glass tall silver memory frame Fairy Dreams collage sheet Wish You Were Here collage sheet Amazing Archways collage sheet Wonderful Wings collage sheet silver patterned hand charm   Instructions 1. Create a mini collage to fit your memory glass and metal frame. 2. Sandwich finished collage between glass and fit into frame. 3. Attach charm to top of pendant.