All Inked Up!

...for those of you who follow my "creative capers" -  you would remember me posting about an ATC swap challenge I was participating in...with a group of "Scrappy Friends"??!! Today I would like to update you on that journey... and share some of my Artist Trading Cards with you. Initially I found it really difficult to work on such a tiny surface - I am big 12 x 12" girl myself  ;) but now I am amazed by just how much detail you can place on a 2.5 x 3.5" piece of cardstock!!...and I have been experimenting with "inks" -  they are a very popular medium amongst my "Scrappy Friends" but not one I have had much to do with...but I managed to use them on all 3 of my latest ATC's

January's Theme was "Sizzlin' Summer" and my ATC was created using hybrid techniques - the base is cardstock from Creative Memories called Mediterranean and using a digital kit "Cheerful Tropical Additions" from Creative Memories I made a "sun, sand & sea" scene and embellished with seagull diecuts and twine. The edges were inked using "Antique Linen" from the Tim Holtz range of distress inks and "stitched" with white gel pen - a small introduction to ink LOL!

February's Theme is "Show us some LOVE" - I got a lot more adventurous with the ink! I was struggling to find background paper for this challenge so again, I thought I would create my own. I printed up the word "love" in a variety of fonts on plain old white 210gsm card and then set about turning it into a vintage pink colour using "Victorian Velvet"  Tim Holtz Distress Ink....then I embellished with some Vintage images from "darkroom door" called Love Letters from the Filmstrip range, some cobweb lace, paper flowers and adhesive pearls all compliments of a visit I made to my friend Karen & Co at Scrap2Relax 

....and then I was hooked!! LOL!! so I decided I would keep ahead of the challenges and tackle March's Theme which is "Autumn Antics". One of the things I have loved about creating ATC's is that anything goes! and I have discovered all sorts of "goodies" in my craft room. In my stash I found some old BasicGrey paper called "Tangerine" from the Fusion collection it matched perfectly with some Paper Flowers from the Creative Memories Reminisce Power Palette and I thought they were the perfect colour to base my ATC around.

I found a little poem about Autumn that was really sweet, so I adapted it and printed it up on little tags....I then inked these tags along with some more white background paper in an assortment of Autumn tones - "Bundled Sage" from Tim Holtz Distress Inks and "Really Rust", "Close to Cocoa" and "Apricot Appeal" - Stampin' Up Inks. Added a yellow adhesive rhinestone to the centre of the paper flower and some leaf punches and I was done!! - now I wonder what ink I can add to my April ATC - I think I am a bit addicted LOL!! -  stay tuned!

ATC's - a new addicition!

Artist Trading Cards have always intrigued me! - everytime I have attended an Art Show or Craft Fair  I have admired these miniature pieces of Art Work...and wondered what it would be like to create my own. Just recently a lovely group of "Scrappy Friends"  decided to begin their own little ATC swap group and I accepted an invitation to join them. Wow! - what  a world of new discoveries did that open up for me! I "googled" ATC's and was simply "blown away" with all the inspiration to be found - mini oil paintings, paper folding, digital, and mixed media art work all done on a 2.5" x  3.5" base - just amazing!! The first challenge was to adapt myself to working on this surface size....very different to my 12 x 12 Scrapbook pages and the large square cards I use for cardmaking. The second challenge, was the theme for our first  ATC swap - "Shabby Chic Christmas" - eeeks!! I love the look of Shabby Chic but find it so hard to master...but I gave it a go....and here "blog readers" is my 1st ever ATC!!

I know it looks a little more vintage in appearance than Shabby Chic - but I am pretty happy for my first attempt. My background paper is called "Brown Sugar" - the music print is from Kaisercraft's Vintage Timeless collection - sprayed with "Coffee Shop" Glimmer Mist and inked with "Antique Linen" Distress ink. The little pearls in the centre of the snowflakes were coloured with a Copic Marker R37 to match my red paper.

As soon as I finished making this ATC - I was hooked.. and couldn't wait to do another one....so I'm all organised and have December's Swap Theme of "Anything Goes" finished - LOL!!

I adapted to working in miniature a little easier the second time around, even enjoyed cutting up tiny strips of patterned paper. The papers are all from my Creative Memories stash :) - the pink twine is from Jillibean Soup and the edges were inked with "Tempting Turquoise" from Stampin'Up.

Both ATC's have now been packaged up and sent off to our Swap Co-ordinator - can't wait to see what awaits me in return!!??

....and while I was experimenting with the Shabby Chic theme. I decided to create this card.... be sure to check it out at the Mad for Markers Blog for info on all the embellishments that I coloured in using my "treasured" Copic Markers :)

Tomorrow is a public holiday for the racing of the Melbourne Cup... famously termed the "horse race that stops a Nation" - I plan to spend my day in my "happy room" surrounded by paper, photos, stamps, copics etc!

Enjoy!

A "Distressing" Good Time

I did say I would be back today with a few more cards to show you....remember?? I said I was spending the weekend with my BFF... and she was going to introduce me to something new -  well not really "something new" but something I hadn't played with before! I had a lesson in the variety of uses for Distress Inks - it was fun to get my embossing powders and heat gun out again..... and rediscover the huge stash of stamps I have collected over the years - and shhh!! don't tell anyone but I did find some stamps and inks that I had never used - they were still  wrapped in their packaging!!  ;) I did enjoy creating some different looking cards but this form of card making is a lot messier than my beloved Copics and not nearly as theraputic as colouring-in....but it makes for a nice change now & then....and I can see myself playing a bit more with them.

These are two of the cards I made....

and a closer look at "You Amaze Me"

The stamp set I used is For The Luv of Art "La Mode" Stamp set - available here online at http://www.fortheluvofart.com/ForTheLoveofArtLaModeStampSet.aspx The flourish in the corner is from a SU set called "Baroque Motifs" - the pink patterned paper is from Echo Park's Love Letter range - I used some "Old Paper" Distress Ink to tone down the brightness of the pink.....the other ink colours I used were "Victorian Velvet", "Peeled Paint" and "Walnut Stain" all from the Tim Holtz Ranger Ink range.

...and "Thankyou"

....this card was created with a selection of my "Stampin' Up" stash the only name I can remember is the background stamp - "French Script". I embossed the flower and leaves with clear detail embossing powder and used "Antique Lined", "Bundled Sage",  "Walnut Stain" and "Tattered Rose" to create my background. The pink spotted paper is from the "Chicks Rock" collection by "Three Bugs in a Rug" - really cool girly papers in this range!

As we enter into the Easter weekend and the prediction of rain, I expect you will find me in my "happy room" playing with Paper, Ink, Stamps and Copics - stay tuned!!.... to see what I come up with LOL!!