Experimental ATCs

An ATC for a swap with the theme of 'Experimental'. I made some background paper by laying a nappy liner (brands which work are Gerber in the US or Boots own brand in the UK) onto a sheet of non stick baking paper, the sprinkling small pieces of Fantasy film and snippets of Angelina fibre all over it. I then sprinkled Opals embossing powders in pinks and blues onto the nappy liner, covered it all with a second nappy liner and another sheet of non stick baking paper, then ironed it all with a hot dry iron. You can see the Opals melting, and can 'move' the liquid embossing powder with your iron. Wait until cool, peel apart. you can add more embossing powder, fantasy film or fibres at this point, and re-iron if you do.

The Opals melt into the nappy liner and the nappy liner will start to melt into holes, so be careful not to iron it all for too long! When you peel it apart it may not look too inspiring, but if you give it a quick blast with your heat gun, the surface will become shiny. You end up with a flexible sheet that you can use in a variety of projects.

I adhered this Opals paper to some lilac pearlescent paper using gel medium, then cut it up and layered onto ATC sized card.

The butterflies are made form tyvek. You can get tyvek 'paper' and tyvek 'fabric'. They both work, but the fabric is much easier to use for this technique and gives a more flexible result. I took a butterfly stamp, painted a piece of tyvek with watered down lumiere paint, cut it into pieces, and laid each piece on the stamp, covered with non stick paper and ironed it. The tyvek melts quite quickly so you have to keep a careful eye on what you're doing!

I peeled the tyvek off the stamps, and cut around the butterflies. The body is gold dimensional paint, left to dry overnight, then coloured with Treasure Gold in Royal Amethyst. I made some tine antenna from gold wire, and added those before finishing the ATC with a gold sun charm, and a stripe of Golden's gold mica flakes small.