UK Scrappers Mixed Media ATC Swap

After the success of the previous ATC swap on the UK Scrappers forum we are having another go. You can see my previous ATCs here.

I recently took delivery of my first 2 Distress Oxides (DO) thanks to a voucher from the Craft Barn for my entry in the monthly challenge. I chose wilted violet and broken china and they have been sitting on my desk waiting to be tried out. I started with a larger piece of card and added some blue and green paint with my fingers, then some stencilling with abandoned coral and peacock feathers DI. I rubbed some of both DO's randomly over the card with a foam pad and added parts of a crackle stamp with Versafine smokey grey. The whole card was covered with gesso and when dry I stamped the 'curiouser & curiouser' text from Indigo Blu's Alice 1 set with wild honey DI and a Paper Artsy number stamp with a Kaleidascope inkpad. A bit more stencilling with peacock feathers and some splatter stamping with wilted violet DO was added before I cut the card into ATC sized pieces. Then I used TH's clockwork stencil with broken china DO and spritzed it with water. 

The first ATC on the left has a sentiment from Indigo Blu's wild meadow set and dragonflies punched from card coloured with both DO's. I doodled a scribbly border and added some gems.

The centre ATC has a sentiment that I had made into a stamp a few years ago and a stamped butterfly from Indigo Blu's wild meadow set which I coloured with the DO's and added Wink of Stella to.

The ATC on the right has some flowers from the wild meadow set stamped and heat embossed in the background and some TH diecut wild flowers in the foreground (dandelions? agapanthus? it's hard to tell). The text is a Sizzix die.

UK Scrappers Mixed Media ATC Swap

It's been a while since I last posted but I finally have something to show you. It's becoming quite a year for ATCs - I have my monthly Alphabet ATC swap which will be coming to an end in October, then there is the Theme & Technique ATC swap that I started this year on the Rebel Stampers forum. Now I have decided to take part in a Mixed Media ATC swap on the UK Scrappers forum. I have been a member since 2007 (not an active participant until recently) but this is the first swap I have taken part in.
I decided to start with a masterboard with no clear idea in my head:

I tried to keep a record of what got me to this stage:
Gelato scribbles blended with water.
Gesso roughly smooshed on with a credit card.
Torn book strips pushed into the wet gesso.
When dry, stencils with pigment ink.
Brushos - violet, lime green, vermilion & gamboge, a sprinkle of gold embossing powder and heat.
Flower stencil with glimmer mist.
Then I added white acrylic circles with a stencil and a lid and some splatters:

When it was dry I cut some ATC sized pieces. Using gloss gel medium I stuck some thread onto each ATC blank (not too sure I like this but impossible to remove), sprinkled some glitter and made this:

 

The bird is one of Tim Holtz's crazy birds, coloured with marker pens and covered with Wink of Stella. The text was computer generated and I scribbled a border with a white pen.

And this:

 

The image and text are from a Dina Wakley set.
And this:

The bird is a Sizzix die and the text is computer generated.
I hope the recipients are pleased with them.

 



 

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - Feb

The technique theme for this month's ATC Swap on the Rebel Stampers forum is Shrink Plastic. Luckily I could remember where I had put my shrink plastic as its ages since I last used it.
For the first ATC I made a pink and orange DI background. The cats were diecut from translucent and black shrink plastic. I added some diecut grass and stamped some flowers. The text is from a Cuttlebug die.
The second ATC had a background of picked raspberry, mowed lawn and ripe persimmon DIs and a stencil with Stazon black. I used a couple of Dina Wakley stamps on some shrink plastic and cut them out. The text is from a Non Sequitur set. I added some star shaped gems to finish.

Rebel Stampers ATC Swap - Feb

Lots of ATCs this month - in addition to my ongoing Alphabet swap I am also taking part in the Rebel Stampers ATC swap. The theme this month is silhouette.
My first ATC has a background of brushed DIs and a Katzelkraft text stamp. The main image is by Simple Expressions.
The second ATC has a Clarity stamp as its main image with a masked DI background. As it's Valentines Day this month I added some small punched hearts.

Craft Barn Weekly Challenge

I am trying to get organised for the months ahead and was just finishing off this ATC for the UK Stampers October Alphabet swap  (V for Vixen) when I read that this week's challenge on the Craft Barn blog had the theme of Animals. Unusually for me, this has no stamping on it at all just diecutting and colouring. I have used 2 different X Cut Build a Scene sets and coloured with Coloursoft pencils. The vixen is painted with Twinkling H2Os.

A new ATC Swap

I thought I'd give everyone a heads up about a new ATC swap that is starting on UK Stampers. We have had a monthly swap hosted by Vonny for some time but from September we are starting an alphabet swap. Over the next 26 months (!!!) we will cover the whole alphabet in random order. Vonny has let us know the letters for the first 3 months so that we can work around any holidays etc in advance. The general ATC swap rules are here and the specific info for the Alpha swap is here. We are a friendly bunch of crafters and would be delighted if anyone else wanted to join in. The first set of swaps will not take place until the end of September so there is loads of time to take part. There is no long term commitment involved - you take part as and when you can. I hope you give it a try.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - June

This is the last in the series of song title ATC swaps on the UK Stampers forum. I think we are taking a summer break and returning with a new series of ATCs. This month's song title is 'walking on sunshine'.
I used a Tim Holtz stencil for the sunrays with squeezed lemonade, spiced marmalade and ripe persimmon DIs. The main image is a Non Sequitur stamp, painted with Twinkling H2Os with some computer-generated text and a metallic brad to finish.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - May

This month's song for the ATC swap on UK Stampers is Ebony & Ivory. It took me ages to figure out what to do and I finally went for an abstract interpretation using some lyrics from the song.
I used a poppy die by Memory Box over a grid stamp by Kaisercraft. A candi dot, a photo corner and some computer text finished the ATC.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - April

Continuing our song themes for the ATC swaps on UK Stampers, this month we have Solitaire, the old Neil Sedaka song. A tricky one to depict but Tim Holtz's umbrella man sprang to mind for some reason and I decided to add lyrics from the song. I made a background withvarious sprays and a circular stencil and added a tiny bit of moss green Brusho. All the stamps are from the same Tim Holtz clear stamp set except a Kaisercraft grid-type stamp which I used behind the text.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - March

This month's theme for UK Stampers ATC swap is 'dancing in the moonlight'. I started by sticking small strips of a book page onto card. I added Tim Holtz's scratches stamp and covered everything with a thin layer of gesso. When dry I used shaded lilac DI all over, some KTZ dots and some circular marks with a plastic bottle cap. The final layer was pewter Ferro paste through a Memory Box stencil. The moon is a punched circle and the dancing shape was cut from a Dina Wakley stencil. The paints I used were from a set of 5 I bought in Lidl a few weeks ago. They were called Neon Paints and I bought them hoping they would have sponge dabber tops but unfortunately they were flip tops with a hole. Also the colours are more pearlescent than neon but I quite like them. The silhouettes were overstamped with a Paper Artsy text stamp.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - February

The theme for this month's ATC swap on UK Stampers is 'Bicycle Race'. I only have 1 bicycle stamp in my collection (although I have got my eye on a new Crafty Individuals stamp). I made my backgrounds with Brusho spritzed with gold shimmer spray. I stamped the bicycle twice on each ATC and added the 2 text stamps which came from the same set as the bicycle. I filled in some blank spaces with a dotty stencil and added a punched arrow painted with Brusho.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - January

I love this time of year when the pressure to make cards to a deadline has ended and I can just play and resume the swaps and challenges I feel like doing. Continuing with song titles as themes, this month's ATC swap on UK Stampers is 'All That Jazz'. My background is made with 2 stencils - a diamond chevron and Memory Box's starry night with pumice stone DI and denim Adirondack. All the stamps used are from Non Sequitur's April in Paris set. The record player card had some punched music notes added; the singer was coloured with coloursoft pencils and Sansodor; the dancer was coloured with Twinkling H2Os. All the ATCs were edged with walnut stain DI.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - November

This month's ATC swap on the UK Stampers forum has a theme of 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas'. I decided to present a trio of cheery snowmen. I used the background I had made for yesterday's post and added my snowmen, some text and a few punched snowflakes. The middle ATC has a shrink plastic snowflake holding the text banner in place.

UK Stampers ATC Swap October

Continuing with the musical theme for our ATC swap on the UK Stampers forum, Vonny has chosen The Beatles. I couldn't decide which song to do so I chose 3.
1 Eleanor Rigby - the photoreal image was in a grab bag I bought some time ago. It's stamped in Archival grape. The border is another grab bag find which I felt needed some coloured highlights.
2 Ticket to Ride - sorry a bit obvious but there's a nod to 'With Love From Me To You' on the ticket. The background is a TH ticket stamp and the horse head is a KTZ stamp. The large ticket is a Papermania stamp.
3 Here, There & Everywhere - a scrap from an old map and 3 arrows with different lettering. Although 2 look very similar, 1 is stamped and one is stencilled and doodled. The third arrow is a stencil.
So 3 ATCs and not a sprinkle of Brusho on any of them!

UK Stampers ATC Swap - September

It's been a long time since I last posted here - I've been away on holiday and since my return I have been occupied with a personal matter that has put crafting on the back burner but today I felt I needed to get onto my desk and make something.
This month's theme for the ATC swap on UK Stampers is 'Three Times A Lady', a perfect theme to use this old Stamp Magick stamp called Geisha Rushmore. I used a Memory Box stencil (texture rhapsody) and tumbled glass, broken china and faded jeans DIs on the background and flicked Glimmer Mist over. The stylised cloud, border stamp and butterfly are from an unidentified oriental set and some punched dragonflies finish the ATCs.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - August

I am struggling to keep up with swaps and challenges at the moment but I missed last month's ATC swap and was determined to take part this month. The theme is 'trains, boats and planes'. I stamped Hero Arts aged background block with tumbled glass DI and added the Clarity main image with Versafine ink and a marker pen. The travel label is a Tim Holtz stamp. I stamped the whole ATC with a water drops stamp and highlighted the drops with a white pen. The lettering is done with a stencil and I added some punched silver photo corners which I embossed with a roller for a little texture. I punched some tiny hearts and covered them with Wink of Stella.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - June

For this month's swap on UK Stampers Vonny has chosen the theme of 'different decades'. I initially thought of the 60's but then I remembered I had a Paper Artsy stamp which I had not used much which had a 50's vibe to it (well it does to me). I am a 50's baby (just) so it seemed an appropriate  decade to do. I was trying to go for a retro 50's American diner feel and thought the checked paper from a range called Kitschy Kitchen matched well. The stamp fitted nicely into a Spellbinders oval die. It has some nonsense text across the centre which I covered up with some decorative tape. I raised the man's head onto a foam pad for added interest and added some photo corners.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - May

This month's challenge for the UK Stampers ATC swap is to make a one layer ATC. I diecut the flower silhouette and used it as a mask.  I applied picked raspberry and ripe persimmon DIs with a piece of foam and then brayered over the bases with a mesh roller and raspberry ink. The background text is by Paper Artsy and the main word was a stamp from a grab bag. I stamped the Inkylicious grass stamp in Adirondack ginger. Some eyelets finished the ATCs.

UK Stampers ATC swap - April

This month's theme on the UK Stampers forum was the thought provoking 'nothing to do with age'. I wasn't too sure what that meant but it was clarified as being things that old age shouldn't prevent one from doing. Sometime last year I purchased a greeting card book from my local charity shop. It was a folder with a pocket for every month and space to write birthdays for that month. Each pocket contained cards and envelopes with black & white pics of old people. I used one of these images for my W for Wrinkles DPS in the Craft Barn dictionary challenge last year. These images were too large to use on an ATC but on the back of each card was a smaller reproduction of the image on the front which was the perfect size. I used wet watercolour paper and sponged picked raspberry, shaded lilac and squeezed lemonade DIs through a stencil and added some gold shimmer spray. Some lilac ric rac, a few die cut leaves and rolled flowers from some background scraps finished off the ATCs. Although you can get dies to make these rolled flowers they are easy enough to make. I punch a circle (@1"), pencil in a very rough spiral and cut it out - it doesn't have to be perfect. Then I start to roll from the outside with the help of a thin pair of tweezers. A blob of PVA at the end (which is the base) and they're done.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - March

I was in the mood for something a little lighter in tone after a few rather heavy and serious pieces of work and this month's ATC swap on the UK Stampers forum fitted the bill nicely. I have the perfect owl themed stamp and die set and present (drumroll) Woohitney Hootsun with her classic song 'Owl Always Love You'. OK sorry but how could I resist?
The background is DCWV patterned paper with my favourite KTZ text stamp, a few orange blobs with a Uni Posca pen and some tea dye DI. Woohitney is stamped in Archival teal and has googly eyes. I've used a piece of fabric tape for her to perch on.