Fleur ATC

Another ATC that was made a while ago, but never made it to the blog.

This is a lovely stamp from IndigoBlu.  It was inked up with Distress Ink brush markers, applying the palest colours first, then the darker ones to the expanse of rubber, blending them into each other.  The image was stamped onto the pre-cut ATC size card and Weathered Wood Distress Ink was applied around the edges of the card with a foam applicator.

The image was repeatedly stamped in various colours on scrap card, which was then used to punch out a number of flower shapes.  These were glued together, layering them up and embellished with some self-adhesive half pearls.

A further embellishment; the word 'Fleur' stamped in a co-ordinating colour, mounted with foam pads along side a few more pearls.

Clarity Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes

For this Clarity Stamp Challenge, I decided to use one of my favourite stamps with along with one of my favourite techniques.

I've used Clarity's Windmill stamp in loads of projects and it usually ends up in a blue colour way, it is so reminiscent of the images on Delft pottery.  This time I went all-in with the Delft theme and made a tile.

The other stamps used for the tile was a clever corner stamp and a bloom from the windmill clear stamp kit. Archival ink in a royal blue colour was used for the stamping which was done directly onto a 10 x 10cm piece of mountboard.

The windmill was masked with sticky notes and blue dye ink (Adirondack, Denim) added using a stencil brush underneath the image.  A watercolour brush was used to add a little colour to the main image, again using the blue dye ink. 

A brush marker in a beige colour, was run around the edge of the mountboard. 

Once the stamping was complete and any added colour was dry, a thick layer of clear Distress Crackle Paint was applied and left to one side for a few hours.  

Once completely dry and crackled, clear embossing powder was triple embossed over the top.

Roses and Pearls ATC Swap

Some very simple ATCs for this month's swap, layered, stamped elements in a single colour.

While searching out rose stamps from of my collection, I thought this might be the opportunity to try out some pearlised card recently ordered from papermilldirect.co.uk.

It has a really subtle sheen and keeps it's true colour (some pearlised papers and card shine pink or green, which I didn't want for this project).  At 300gsm and smooth it is perfect for ATCs - I always think they should feel like 'card', not being too flimsy.

I also made use of my wonderful new Dahle trimmer, cutting the base cards to standard ATC size of 2.5 x 3.5 inches along with topper and backer cards slightly smaller at 2.25 x 3.25 inches.  Using a corner punch the corners of all the elements were rounded off. 

Being pearlised card, I like to use a permanent alcohol based ink pad to prevent any smudging of the ink once stamped,  I used Staz-On in Jet Black and it dries almost immediately on this card. 

A background, made up of flourishes and swirls, was stamped on four of the base cards. 

A different rose design was stamped on each of the topper cards. 

One of the roses was larger than the card - this was mounted a plain base card, the other toppers were mounted on the stamped base cards.

The toppers were mounted on the base cards with dimensional glue.

The figure embellishements were made using stamps with 'Fig.' and random numbers from various little stamps.  Stamping on the scraps of the pearlised card, specific areas of the stamp were inked up with a black Sharpie pen.  These were then cut out and mounted onto the topper with foam pads.

To finish off the front of the cards, self adhesive half pearls were applied.

As with most of my swaps, the card backs get some decoration too, a little collage of stamps. The backers were stamped with 'ATC', my name, blog, a 'limited edition' postmark and a rose.

IndigoBlu Challenge: Tag.......You're It

For this challenge I used a nummber of rubberstamps from two stamp sets by IndigoBlu.

All the colours are from the Distress Inks palette and any black stamping was with Versafine archival ink.

I used an oversize tag for the base, stamped with music score and fluorishes in black and brown.  The stamped and water-coloured images were collaged, mounting some of them flat and some with dimensional glue and foam pads.  Walnut Stain Distress Ink was applied around the edges of the tag and the rest of the stamped elements with a foam applicator.  The words were cut into singles and a red brush marker was run around the edges.

The embellishment is Ultra Thick Embossing Powder melted in a Melt Pot, poured onto a craft mat and stamped into while hot.  Once cool, this was trimmed then mounted onto the tag.

The lace was dyed with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain.

See the other entries and the design team tags at indigoblublogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk

Sherwood Art Week 2014 ATC Gallery

Another wonderful selection of  swaps this year at the Sherwood Art Week ATC swap.  Each year we seem to get such a great variety of styles, materials and techniques.

All ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are 2.5 x 3.5 inches and can be made from any material.  They should be swapped and never sold.  For our swap, each artist made 10 cards and the swaps were sent out by post.

Along with the mixed media, print making, handmade paper, punch art, photographs, rubberstamping, papercutting and painting, this year we got yarnbombed!

 

Thank you everyone who took part again this year, we are looking forward to next year already!