FAE Solstice Swap Gift from Night Lily Design

Carapace waved her digital paintbrush wand again and organized the second annual holiday swap amongst the Fantasy Artists of Etsy that flutter frequently in our monthly team thread. You may still be tinged mossy green with envy from the gleaming glass sea treasures that Julie of Mermaiden Creations bestowed upon me last year, but just wait until you see what shimmied to my doorstep this time!

Our swap partners are secret, so when Cara contacted me to ask for a high resolution image of my Winter Fairy Princess drawing on behalf of an unknown fae, my curiosity intensified threefold. The swappers that were participating have such a range of creative talents that I didn't have a clue who it could be or what it'd be used for. The wait for my gift to arrive was well worth it - look what danced from the graceful fingertips of Kimberly of Night Lily Design!

Isn't it the most whimsical bag you've ever seen? The shape is awesome - it'll certainly shield my possessions well. She used a printable cotton fabric to transfer my art from pixels to reality and then edged it with a sparkly braided gimp trim.

The brown faux leather she chose for the exterior of the bag is exquisite. The photo to the left is taken with the cover open, so you can see the vibrant butterfly print inside. It's such a pretty fabric combination!

Kimberly even included the pattern, in case I want to try to recreate the design myself. I haven't touched a sewing machine since home ec class in middle school, but it is tempting! I doubt I could ever sew one as well as Kimberly, though! Just take a twirl around her shop - she has so much experience in creating fanciful costume gear like horns, masks and this dashing mulberry lace and satin jacket.

I have been thinking of attaching my art to pre-made tote bags for awhile, so I'm definitely going to experiment with that newly discovered printable cotton fabric. I've used iron on inkjet transfers to make shirts in the past, but haven't been happy with the result. Any other artists out there have relatively inexpensive suggestions on ways to transfer art images to fabric?