Colorful Stenciled ATCS

Since I made some mini stencils for one of GPP's crusades, I've been waiting for an opportunity to use them on ATCs. TMTA's colorful theme this week was the perfect excuse! The shapes were stenciled all over the card stock, using acrylic paints. Some everyday items, like nylon mesh and foam placemats were also impressed on the card stock. Then words and embellishments (brads jewels, clips, mini feathers) were added to these fun fantasy cards.

ATC Received

It's been a l-o-n-g time since my last post! Seeing that this is basically an art blog, I didn't think I had much to post. Then again, I could've posted all the serendipity backgrounds I made . . . . or the inchies I've received . . . . or a few "art junk" items that I found . . . .maybe I'll post all of that stuff soon!

Today I received an ATC from Lia. The picture shown is Lia's charming ATC - the lady seems to elegant to deadhead her own roses, doesn't she? In return, Lia ia getting my "Bird & Boy" ATC, which I posted previously for a TMTA challenge.

Lia is otherwise known as "art junk girl", and she had a great blog here. Lia's blog was one of the first that I started following regularly. Her "artjunk" blog, along with a few others, became an inspiration to start my own art blog. Lia also inspired me to try inchies, which I now love! Thanks, Lia! :)

Texture Effects, Purple

This time, I created two ATCs, for the themes at TMTA (texture effects) and Wednesday Stamper (purple). The texture effect is Bernie Berlin's painted paper towel technique. The paper towel was painted with metallic acrylics, torn in pieces, and glued to the card stock. Glitter glue was added to the stamped flowers. I'm not sure I like the one with all the glitter; I think I went overboard with all the different glitters! ;)

RAK for a Friend

I don't know if I should post this, because it's a surprise ATC for a friend - oh, well, even if she sees it, she won't know that she's "the one" until she receives it! Anyway, she's so busy, she probably can't find the time to read my blog! ;)

The card stock base is scraped with acrylics, the second layer is wrinkled, walnut inked and punched. The third layer (colored circle) was created using a technique similar to Bernie Berlin's "Inky Layers" technique in her book, Artist Trading Card Workshop. (Of course, I can't do anything exactly like the instructions say, I've always got to put my own spin on it!) I hope my friend likes it! :)

Valentine ATC

Wednesday Stamper Challenge: OK, I like pink, but this time I wanted to do something different, not your typical old-fashioned Valentine. This ATC is stamped with flowers, then brushed with magenta, orange and yellow inks. The vellum is stamped with a heart, torn edges are rubbed with magenta ink, then everything is attached with hot pink mini paper clips and a hot pink flower brad. My funky Valentine! :)

Bird and Boy ATC

It's fun to take time out of my day to do the TMTA challenge, but it seems like I'm always trying to do to many things at once - many of you probably know what I mean!

Anyway, for the "child/children and bird" challenge, blue papers and torn music sheet is layered on card stock, with boy image and cut-out paper bird; everything is tinted with sand dye ink. It sayys, "Please, litle birdie, sing a sweet song to me"! :)

Asian ATC

Wednesday Stampers' theme this week is Asian. A difficult one for me, because I only have one Asian rubber stamp. But it's good to make art with a no-so-favorite theme, because it builds skill and character, right? Well, I don't know about that, but here it is: On black card stock, large small Asian characters from printed papers, stamped and colored bamboo postage, two black mini brads. The large Asian characters mean "Harmony". I need to get offline, so I'll check out everyone's Asian art tomorrow! Thanks for looking! :)

Cats ATC

I don't have any cats, but I like animals, so here is my answer to this week's TMTA challenge. The green paper was randomly stamped with assorted rubber stamps. I chose a portion of the paper that had a mouse stamped on it, very fitting for a cat ATC!

The large image is cut from wallpaper, the one to its right is a postage stamp. The top two images are cut from bottle cap stickers. (Design Originals has lots of different bottle cap stickers here.) Thanks for looking at my kitty card! :)

Geometric ATCs

This time I completed two ATCs with geometric designs for the TMTA challenge. The first has a vintage look, with a collage paper image, linen scrim and rick rack around the bottom, and circles and diamonds stenciled on the background. Unfortunately, the diamonds are mostly covered by the scrim, and the circles show up much better in person then on the scan.

The second ATC has a 1950's/1960's look featuring a man and woman image, two star brads, diamonds on the background paper and circles on the torn paper strip. The words are: "Close To You" and "The pleasure, I'm sure, is mutual", since these two people look lik they are having a great time!Thanks for looking!

Blog Revival

I knew that it was a long time since my last post, but I didn't think it was THAT long! Well, it's time to revive this old blog - it's not dead, it was just sleeping!

Here is an ATC I made for a nice swap hostess; shhh, don't tell her! The background is acrylic-painted paper towels, torn and glued onto cardstock. The black and white images has some words, purple iridescent flower sequins and gold brads added.

Christmas Tree ATC

I missed last week's TMTA challenge, so I wanted be sure to do this week's challenge! The theme is "under your Christmas tree".

My ATC has "peace" under my Christmas tree - the 1969 Christmas Seals show children joining hands around a Christmas tree, and below, there is a stamped dove and Christmas message. Decorative ribbon and button stars provide added embellishment. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all!!!

Santa Claus Fest!

I made this ATC especially for Santa Claus Fest, take a look! I added 4 different holly-print papers around the edges of a tape transfer of Santa with children. The ATC is embellished with a brad holding a decorated vellum tag (I drew the holly on it) and the word "Merry" on torn paper and paper ribbon. Santa Claus Fest is great! :)

Faith ATC

Seems like I haven't done a Wednesday Stamper challenge for a while, I'm not sure how long it's been! This week's challenge is "words", a good one for me, since I like using word stamps. I made an ATC with background text and "faith"stamped on tissue paper, "wonder" and "love" stamped and torn, plus a gold glitter-embossed dove over gold mesh ribbon.

Hat ATCs

Right now, my favorite art challenge blog is the "Think Monday, Think ATC" blog. Even if I'm not able to participate in the challenge every week, I still love to go over there and check out the challenges. This week's TMTA challenge must have been especially inspiring, since I made two ATCs this time!

The challenge is to use any type of headwear in on an ATC. For both of mine, I chose a hat. "The Girl in the Little Green Hat" starts with a white cardstock base stamped all over with pine boughs. Torn speckled paper, mesh paper and two square studs adorn the corners. The hat is cut from green paper, and her fur collar rests on torn mulberry paper. "The Lady in Red" is on red cardstock with torn music sheet over wrinkled and ink-rubbed Tyvek, with photo anchors and heart brads in the corners. Her hat is cut from red paper, and her outfit, earings and lips are colored with Glaze pen. Both ladies are lightly tinted with colored pencils, and both names come from old song titles.

Home ATC

Since I haven't had the opportunity to participate in the TMTA challenge for a couple weeks (seems like forever!), I'm glad to be able to do it this time. Houses are the theme this week. My "Home Sweet Home" ATC is made up of pastel cardstocks, music sheet, tiny images of children, outlined with a black marker and topped off with a heart brad. Of course, the song on the music sheet is "Home Sweet Home"! So much of my artwork ends up with a "cute" style, I guess that's just me! Thanks for looking! :)

Friends ATC

While waiting today, I found a few minutes to make a friends-themed ATC for this week's Think Monday Think ATCs challenge. The image is from Renoir's painting, "Reading". The flowered print behind and in front of the girls is from a wallpaper border, and the crochet is cut from an old handkerchief. poetry words and two heart brads top it all off. Have a great day! :)

Masked Lady ATC

This week's challenge from "Think Monday, Think ATCs" is masks, in honor of Halloween, but the ATC doesn't need to be Halloween-themed. I chose to give my ATC a "party" look. I added a mask and glitter glue to a black/white vintage costumed woman image, with a song line and sequin stars over red cardstock wrapped with 3 kinds of fibers. The words from the song are: "hot time in the old town to night". Unfortunately, the glitter glue doesnt show up very well on the scan.

Spooky ATC Art

After finishing some projects that I wanted to get done, I went over to the GPP Street Team blog to check out Michelle' new challenge. Crusade No. 13 is a "Get Gothic" challenge, to show spooky (Halloween) art or decor. I decided to make an ATC. On black cardstock, I applied parts of a Halloween napkin (haunted house, tombstones, web), a vintage woman image, and found poetry, with scrim (a loosely-woven linen fabric) on the back. It's hard for me to do gothic or spooky (everything I make seems to come out "sweet" or "charming", Maybe it's my personality, LOL! Thanks for looking! :)

Fish ATC

This is my entry for the Wednesday Stamper challenge - better late than never, I always say! As you may notice, the theme is fish. I didn't have any fish stamps, so I used other stamps for the background and added the fish afterwards. Stamped green paper is layered on tan cardstock. The ATC is embellished with a strip of scrim (airy, linen-like fabric) under the fish and two spiral clips on opposite corners. It's a wonder you can see the stamping under all that, but thanks for looking! :)

Gold Gothic Arch

I decided to try the gothic arches challenge this week; the theme is gold. I created an arch ATC on cardstock layered with gold flower print paper, gold cardstock, gold mesh ribbon, wrinkly gold handmade paper, music sheet, angel image and gold brads. I like the ATC-size arch; it's not too big, but there is still space to put on plenty of stuff!