Metal ATCs

For this swap, I needed to make 3 ATCs which featured metal. 

I decided to use metal tape, but to add image and texture by putting peel offs onto the card bases before applying the metal tape.  I also used Dyna tape labels for the words.

This is the first stage:

This is the next stage:

The first ATC is coloured with alcohol inks - butterscotch and lettuce with a touch of pesto.  I applied them all separately, but they pretty much mingled into one colour.  I added some more to mottle them, but it just blended, so I took the hint and left them alone!

The second ATC - 'oak' - was painted with several colours and coats of Pebeo glass paint, sanded with a fine sanding block, then overstamped with a tiny oak leaf in Brilliance Coffeebean ink. I wasn't thrilled with the outcome so put it to one side for a while.

I added some alcohol inks and felt it had improved.

The distressed damsel was also peel offs under metal tape, but this time I added a second layer of metal tape, and trapped a chipboard frame and image between the layers. I then painted the metal tape with Stewart Gill Byzantium paints, then sanded it down, and added a little Treasure Gold here and there, then sanded again to make the high points more prominent.

Proverbs ATCs

Three ATCs on the theme of 'proverbs'. The backgrounds were all created by stamping glossy white card with Brilliance ink (white, silver or platinum all work), then drying with a heat gun, before using a sponge to rub dye inks over the top, then polishing firmly with a dry baby wipe.

The words are stamped onto a background paper created by randomly adding paints and spays to some cream card, and the images are stamped and embossed onto the background.

Conjoined ATCs

Another swap, another theme.... 3 ATCs joined together in some way, so that they can stand up without any support.

I used 6 pieces of mountboard, painted with Ecopaints in Clay.

For the fronts, I stamped and embossed the left hand side of each ATC with Stewart Gill metallic copper embossing powder. The stamp is 'Stately' by Acey Deucy. I then overstamped with a Stampers anonymous stamp and Brilliance Lightning Black ink. I found 3 images, and'framed' them with very fine copper peel offs.

For the backs, I used the same two stamps, but embossed the Stampers Anonymous one, and overstamped with the Acey Deucy one. The ATCs were glued together, trapping some bronze glittery ribbon between the layers.

Inspirational women - Beryl Taylor

This ATC was made for the theme of 'inspirational women'. I thought about who I found most inspirational in terms of my artwork, and decided Beryl Taylor's work always makes me feel like creating, and I love her style so much that I am happy to create similar work (as far as I am able).

Random ATCs

Made various ATCs for swaps recently. The first set were for the theme of 'beauties'. I wanted them to be dramatic but not morbid, so I hope the gold touches lift them far enough out of looking funereal. The images have been trapped under some subtly gold organza. Remember you can enlarge the images by clicking on them if you want to see more detail.

These - on the theme of black and white - were created by fusing and marking man made fabrics with a heat tool - the Margaret Beal heat tool has consistent temperatures and fine points, which makes this type of work easy.

This ATC was made for the theme of 'Abstract'. I used tissue paper which had been used for mopping up excess ink when using colourwash sprays, and dabbed it with painted bubble wrap. The glitzy bits are glitter glue, and the orange squares and small circles are painted and stamped cardstock.

Hanging ATCs

I am in a swap where we made a set of 3 hanging ATCs - any theme, colour scheme, media or way of hanging. I decided to combine metal with paper, and made 3 ATCs in my favourite colour combination of turquoise and copper.

The hanging 'mechanism' is 5 pieces of copper wire, twisted together and curled at the ends. I patinated the copper lightly so it has some areas of light turquoise verdigris. The ATCs are attached to the twisted wire 'hanger' using jewellery findings - eye pins, head pins & bead caps.


The ATC backgrounds are deli paper sprayed with colour wash sprays, glued to cardstock. Old sheet music which has been stained with watered down Crafty Notions Creative Colour Spray in turquoise, plus some which has also been dry brushed with white gesso, are layered onto each ATC. Tags sprayed with Sticky Fingers Maple winter ink colourwash spray and the turquoise are wrapped with more sheet music with words stamped on top, and punched flowers with tiny brads were added . To finish the ATCs, I glued on copper coloured metal embellishments from the US, and a letter 'A' triple embossed on cardstock.

I hope Annie likes them!

A selection of ATCs

I usually forget to take pictures of ATCs, and share them here, even though I often make them! Here are just a few I have made recently.

The first set were made for a 'metallic embellishments' theme. The backgrounds are deli paper, sprayed with Starburst Stain colourwashes (actually overspray from other projects, I just line my spray box with paper to catch the spare spray, rather than waste it). I stamped the papers with Versamark embossing ink, then used detail gold embossing powder. The photo doesn't show the deep rich range of shimmering colour being set off by the gold, but if you click on the image you might see it in the enlarged version.


The heart and flowers are all made from metal mesh, punched and layered and attached with mini brads. The ATC on the left has a copper strip wrapped around it, with the word 'art' punched into it, and a leaf peel off above. The ATC to the right has a hammered wire embellishment with spirals at each end, and an etched metal charm wired to it.

The ATC below was a mini experiment - the base is thin canvas, painted with acrylic paint, then stencilled with gloss medium mixed with green PearlEx. The letters are die cut form gold cardstock, and the little butterfly is made from moulded polymer clay which had a layer of metal leaf added and rolled out to crackle before placing it in the mould.


This ATC has a light background made by using Starburst Stains on smooth watercolour paper. This was then stamped with a face stamp by Lost Coast, and masked using a sticky note cut to the same shape, before darker ink was sponged all around the central image. Once dry, the central image was masked again, and a numbers stamp from Paperartsy was stamped on top using Brilliance Moonlight White.


I'll try to remember to post my ATCs here more often!

ATCs

Here are a few of the ATCs I've made recently. I love the small scale of ATCs as a 'canvas' to try out new ideas, techniques, and products, before using them in bigger projects where mistakes would be more costly in terms of time and materials.

The pear on this ATC is made from polymer clay, painted with acrylic paints and stamped onto. It's set onto textured card, which I painted with fluid acrylics then rubbed with metallic rub on wax to bring out the texture.


This ATC was a way of testing out Brilliance white ink on colourwash & distress ink backgrounds. I used watercolour paper which had been sprayed with several colourwash sprays, then stamped the main image using black Stazon. I used a mask to cover the centre of the image, and added distress inks around the edges using cut and stamp foam. Finally, I stamped using Brilliance Moonlight White.


This was another new technique try out. I created 'luminous paste' by mixing PearlEx with glossy soft gel medium (one of the variations in Julia Andrus's Paper Transformed book), and applied it to painted canvas through a stencil. The letters are die cut. The butterfly is polymer clay - using clay which was rolled out, had a layer of metal leaf added, coloured with alcohol ink, then rolled out thinly so that the metal leaf 'cracks'. I had leftovers from my mian project so put them into the small buttefly mould to see how they looked. Works for me! I'm not sure I like my design here, but it is a little record of the techniques I used, which will act as a reminder for me.

Masking ATC

I am in a swap where we are required to use 'masking' as part of the process. I had fun with these. I had bought lots of distress inks when they first came out, but they never really inspired me. They seemed a bit dull. I did watch a couple of demonstrations by Time Holtz and realised that the blending, layering and activting the inks with water were important steps , but even armed with that knowledge I never managed to make anything I liked so they have been sitting in a box for some time now!

Annie showed me a new (to me) way of using them - I finally tried it out last night and now I am in love with distress inks!!! I took a craft sheet, dabbed the ink pads onto it (colours next to each other, not on top of each other), spritzed with water, and dabbed my white cardstock onto it. Repeat as often as you need to cover your card. I used Spiced Marmalade and Broken China. I ended up with the most beautiful combination of blues, bluey greens and rusty colours blended into each other. I cut the ATCs from this using the Wizard - so much easiert o get perfect ATC size and shape than knife and ruler, or paper cutter!



I stamped my image with Stazon, then stamped it onto a 'post-it' sticky note, and cut that out. I laid the mask I'd made over my stamped image, and added more Spiced Marmalade to the background around the mask, then lightly spritzed with water to blend the inks. I dried it with my heat gun before stamping a numbers background using Brilliance Coffee Bean, and the words in the window in Ranger's Snowcap pigment ink. I finished the ATC with a few white dots around the edges, using a Ranger Inkessentials white pen.

The interesting swap results

Here are the first sets of the interesting swap ATCs. 4 stampers, the same stamp, and all the freedom in the world. Don't they look different? Mine are always bottom left, Rosie's are top left, Carol's are top right, and Annie's are bottom right.




Notice how Rosie has reversed the image - great idea!

A few ATCs

A few ATCs I have made for swaps:

The theme was chinese proverbs. I used pre printed mirror card, coloured red with alcohol ink. The central panel was black glossy cardstock with an image stamped and gold embossed, and finally the proverb was printed onto copy paper and edged with red.


This was for e 'flight' theme. The background is a photo I took of the landscape in mid Wales, the foreground is a digital collage I made and printed onto a transparency.


This ATC was for a 'techniques' theme - the background is stamped with gold Brilliance ink on glossy white card, then rubbed over with eggplant and cranberry dye inks. The image is a piece of fantasy film, which has been ironed onto an inked stamp.


This was done for the 'jigsaw' theme. The background is cardstock painted with Golden iridescent copper paint, then stamped and embossed using a grungy number stamp. the small jigsaw piece was painted with Golden micaceous iron oxide, and dotted with an Inkessentials white pen, before being mounted onto a piece of folded card which opens out so that you can see the following quote:

There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle. (Deepak Chopra)


This is another digital collage, with some stamping and glitter on top - the theme was 'postal correspondence'.

Connected ATCs

I am hosting a 'Connected ATCs' swap,
where 4 ATCs make one large 'picture'
but where each ATC also stands alone.



I am not sure if I have achieved this to my own satisfaction,
I guess I will hang onto these for a couple of days
to see if I can improve them.

The clock in the middle is a printed transparency.

31 May - I have added some watch parts to these,
and like them much better now!!!

Flourish ATCs

I made 2 ATCs with 'flourishes'
for a swap on CC Swaps.

I have seen lots of ATCs using flourishes recently,
including some absolutely stunning examples
(just scroll down Kelly Burton's blog:
http://artsyvisions.blogspot.com
and you'll see what I mean)
but most seem to be the same
'vintage' style - very nice, but not quite 'me'.

So, here's my slant on flourishes:

This one uses silver mirror card,
a flourish stamp, versamark,
some Stewart Gill 'lead patina' embossing powder,
a tasteful nude image, some background paper,
a fabric flower and a little brad!

This one uses some pre-printed
background cardstock,
a piece of Tyvek (painted with colourwashes,
run through a Wizard in a cuttlebug folder
& highlighted with Stewart Gill paint
and Brilliance ink),
a Paper Whimsy image and border,
plus a transparency stamped with a
Crafty Individuals flourish in Brilliance ink.

Quotes ATC

I had all sorts of ideas for an ATC with a quote on it. then I sorted through my quote stamps, and found that almost all of them were too big to put on an ATC. I was short of time, so decided to go with this quote. I felt it needed an organic looking background, so out came the citrasolv & national geographic paper again... I used Stewart Superior India Ink to stamp the quote, and added a punched blackbird that somebody sent me as a gift. I wish I knew where I could get the punch - or is it a die cut?

Complementary colours swap

These 2 chaps are my
Complementary Colours men - for
a swap I am hostessing on CC Swaps yahoo group.

I had planned to use burnt orange & light turquoise,
but everybody else seemed to have the same idea,
so I thought I'd see if I could use red & green
without creating a Christmassy feel.
I think/hope I've managed it!

Z to A ATCs - updated 15-1-08

I have been taking part in an alphabet swap on Inkyfunstampers ATC yahoo group, where we began with Z and worked our way to A...

Here are all but one of the ATCs I made for the swap.

Z is for zebra - the plaque was air dry clay,
painted black then rubbed with silver ink

Y is for yellow - inks direct to paper, a yellow skeleton leaf,
and a splatter of yellow Opals embossing powder,
stamped into while warm.

X is for a kiss - stamped lightly
into clear shrink plastic while warm

W is for woven wood background - plaque is fun foam,
heated and stamped into whilst hot, then patinated
(see end of this blog entry for information on patination)

V is copper embossing powder on a selection of patinated cardstocks


U is for Unscanned... (oops) and Unable to remember

T is for time tag

S is for siblings

R is for red hot - background
made with alcohol inks on roof repair tape

Q is for quaint

P is for Paris

O is for ocean - embossing powder resist
coloured with colorwashes - shells made
from black hot glue in moulds,
coloured with rub'n'buff

N is for nib - stamped into black air dry clay,
rubbed with copper acrylic paint

M is for marcasite mirror man - made with Stewart Gill
marcasite embossing powder on mirror card
shame the scan doesn't show the shine or contrast

L is for lily - gold embossing powder on patinated cardstock

K is for knight - background is solar gold Radiant Rain
spray on black glossy - spray lots on and it beads up
and dries to create an interesting background!

J is for jigsaw - background is black gesso applied thickly
with a paintbrush, stamped into with a bold stamp when wet,
and rubbed with rub'n'buff once dry

I is for inspire - all created using roof repair tape,
coloured with alcohol inks and stamped into with Stazon
then wiped off quickly which removes the alcohol inks where you stamp

H is for heart - stamped roof repair tape
on a rust patinated background

G is for (ghostly) gessoed green man - air dry clay
on a black gesso & rub'n'buff background
(terrible picture)

F is for fairy - stamped and embossed
on tissue paper and a dictionary page

E is for egg

D is for dream, discover, destiny - Stazon
& Brilliance inks on pearlescent cardstock

C is for Christmas

B is for blue button, beads & brads...

..and A is for Artichoke!!!! Background is a page from a
National Geographic magazine where every page
had been brushed with concentrated Citrasolv,
then the magazine closed and left to fester overnight.
Lovely patterned papers appear as if by magic,
but you have to do lots of pages or it doesn't work!

The patinated cardstock used in some of these ATCs was made using Modern Options patinating solutions - these can be used on plastics, metals, card - you paint the card with a base coat (copper, bronze, iron) and then a second coats which reacts with the first to produce a patina (rust, green verdigris, blue verdigris). Modern Options make a neat little starter pack of 8 small bottles, at a reasonable price (if you live in the USA)