MIxed media with maps ATCs

The theme for December's monthly ATC swap was 'Mixed media using maps'.

I had a plan.  It depended on a stamp. I couldn't find the stamp.

This is 'plan B', using maps in a much m ore subtle way, which I rather like!

I started with a background made by gluing newsprint to cardstock, then using an old credit card to apply paint in reds, blues and purples. Using the credit card to spread the paint means it goes on very quickly, in a very thin layer, and dries fast. My background was too bright for me to use, so I added a layer of white gesso, again using the credit card. This gave a much more subtle effect.

The background looked a bit old and dusty, so I thought I'd go with the flow and add some cracked areas. I used a mask to keep the cracks off the area I planned to add my main image to. I used distress ink, which looked lovely, but which didn't dry properly on the gesso, despite using the heat gun, so I sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heated to 'fix' it.

Next came the main image, which I stamped with versamark, and embossed with 'blue raspberry' two tone embossing powder, for dramatic effect.

She didn't have quite enough dramatic effect, so I decided to make her stand out from the background a little more. I drew around her with an inktense pencil in what looked like a dull dark blue.  I added water,a and it turned out to be a much brighter blue than I expected!  I should have tested on a scrap of paper before I used it on the ATC! Still, it makes her 'pop'. 

You may have noticed that there's not much evidence of maps so far.  I had decided to use the map for embellishments.  I took a vintage map, dampened it with water, and coloured it with faded jeans and picked raspberry distress inks.

I cut small strips of map to use as 'ribbons' across the bottom f the ATCs, then added a few french knots with hand dyed thread. Next, I used a paper punch to cut out lots of flowers. I assembled these, and used a small white brad to hold them together and attach to the ATC.

Distress Ink tags

I made some tags for a swap. I was really pleased with them, so I thought I'd put a short tutorial here on how they were done.

I used these 3 colours of Distress Ink, plus Walnut Stain.

Firstly, I used the ink application tool with sponge to apply a layer of the lighter blue, and some of the rusty hinge. I added the darker blue round the edges.  I ran two tags through my Wizard in a Cuttlebug folder, then used a stencil on the other two - one has moulding paste applied, the other was inked through the stencil  - I used all 3 colours of ink for this.

I added more ink to the raised areas of the two embossed tags,mainly rusty hinge but also some of the darker blue,  and stamped the stencilled tag to add more 'texture'.

I inked up the tag with moulding paste, again using all three colours of ink.

I didn't neglect the backs of the tags, the embossed tags were just inked with the rusty hinge, the other tags were inked with all 3 colours, and stamped with a distressed paisley stamp in the darker blue.

Finally, I added depth and texture by applying Walnut Stain ink around the edges, and sprinkling with Detail Clear embossing powder, and heating with my heat gun.  I wanted the effect to be subtle, so I rubbed some of the embossing powder off with my finger before heating - this made it thinner in some parts than others, and also blurred the line where the embossing powder finishes.

I created some backgrounds using the tag card and inks, and stamped them with the lighter blue ink and the same textured background stamp as the tags, before stamping Leonardo images onto them, and adding more of all 3 inks with the applicator tool.  I stamped some words onto offcuts. I layered the images onto very thin layer of wood, which I had coloured using the same ink, then added to the tags with the words.  I only have 3 Leonardo stamps with the right size images for the tags, so the last tag has a panel with some stick on letters spelling Da Vinci.

  

Close up of the front of the assembled tag book.