Green with Envy

Good Morning my follower crafters,  today I am up on the Gecko Galz' blog sharing another ATC I made for our fantastic February Challenge.  There is still plenty of time to join in if you dare!!!

Here is the finished Card.

The supplies you will need are as follows:

1. Image from the Gecko Galz Visions in Green Digital Image Sheet
2. Base card 
3. patterned paper from my stash
4. ranger distress in Black Soot 
5. Wink of Stella in Clear
6. flower, mardi gras masks, sequins, mardi gras mask charm and jeweled flower from my stash. 

The steps are as follows:

 1. Cut out your base ATC Card to the appropriate size.  If you are unfamiliar with ATC Cards, you can go here to see what all the hype is about.  As you base card don't forget you can use old playing cards, recycled cereal or other types of food packaging boxes.  You can also use the packaging cardboard from your scrapbook supplies.  These make a good heavy weight for your cards.  You can either round your edges like I did or leave them square.

2.  Cover the front of your card with a patterned paper of your choice.  I found a nice green swirly paper in my stash but you could use this if you don't have anything in your stash. Don't forget to put a complimentary solid piece of paper on the back so you can add your information. 

The easiest way to adhere your paper to your base is to use a sticker maker.  Once your papers are adhered to your base you can move on to step 3. 

3.  The next thing I did was to fussy cut my image from the Visions In Green digital image sheet by Gecko Galz.

 

After fussy cutting my image I inked the edges with black soot using a ranger foam applicator. 

I then added fun foam to the back of my image so that it would be pooped up.  

4.  I then adhered the hologram mardi gras masks that I had in my stash on top of the patterned paper

5.  I added my image on top of the masks and then added my embellishments.  I finished off by adding a touch of Wink of Stella clear to the flower and fur trim on the image.  I think it added such an elegant pop!!! 

Here is the finished ATC Card again.  

That's it, simple as 1,2,3.  Hope you will join us in playing along with our other customers and friends.  Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the clock is ticking.  You only have 4 days left!!! 

Happy Crafting!!!

ATC's for the Curious

So what exactly is an ATC  An ATC or Artist Trading Card is nothing more than an original piece of art made by an artist then traded to other artists like you would pokemon cards or the old fashion baseball cards.  This type of art is very fun because the cards can be made using any type of materials, media or techniques.   These cards are usually made as a one of a kind piece of art, but sometimes the artist will make a series of cards all with a similar theme.  These works of art are not usually sold but should be traded instead.  

There are a few rules where ATC Cards are concerned and they are as follows

1. The ATC must measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches or the exact size of a playing card.
2. An ATC is meant to be an original piece of ART not a photocopy or print.  Some groups allow digital works of art so it would be wise to check the swap requirements. 
3. The cards must be traded for other cards—not sold.
4. The cards should be flat enough to fit into a plastic trading card sleeve. 
5. The artist should add their name, contact information, the title of your work and the date it was completed. 

So how do you make one of these beauties, well let me tell you!!

You begin by selecting a base for your card.  This could range from a cut up cereal box, to  watercolor paper, plain cardstock, canvas panel, playing cards, the cardboard you get in packaging.  After that you cut your base to the appropriate size.  Your artwork can be in a vertical or horizontal orientation. 

You would then need to decide what you will put on top of your base,  Here the possibilities are boundless.  You could cover it with a patterned paper, after adding gesso your base you could paint it, with either acrylics or watercolors, you could apply modeling paste through a stencil, you could use a rubber stamp with a glue base and emboss an image on top of your base.  Again, the possibilities are just about endless.  

After finishing your base card you can now begin the fun process of adding 2d and 3d items to your card.  These could include digital or photographed images, paper flowers, beads, sequins, glitter, ribbon, fabric trims, and small chipboard pieces.  Just remember that your work should fit in an ATC envelope or sleeve.

Once completed, you should definitely find a group of like minded people to trade your cards with.  If anyone would like to trade with me, I'm up for the challenge.  My only stipulation is that I can only do one a month.  So the first one to ask will be my partner. 

Here are some examples of my ATCs through the years 

Happy swapping my crafty peeps!!!

Let Your Light Shine

Well its New Year's Eve and I am sitting at home going over this last year in my mind.  I have had some fantastic ups and some horrific downs, but when the dust settles 2017 has been a very blessed year.

So one of the up moments in 2017 was being chosen to represent a fantastic online shop which offers high quality altered art and paper crafting supplies. They also offer a variety of items which includes papers, collage sheets, digital stamp sets and products which are sure to inspire your creativity. 

So its my turn to post an example of my art which is a mixed media tag that uses an image from the Misty Memories collection. 

The steps needed to complete this project are as follows:  

Supply List: 

Image from the Gecko Galz collection Misty Memories. 

Brick stencil from Crafters Workshop

Palette knife. 

Modeling paste (any brand will suffice) I used one with a sandy texture. 

Fire Brick wax from Finnabair.

Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink from Ranger. 

Foam board square

Lamp post cut out (used my Cricut) 

Leaves and vines cut outs (used my Cricut) 

Dresden foil trim, flowers, pearl bead, glitter, watered down white paint and various ribbons from my stash. 

Step one. Apply the modeling paste to the tag and let it dry completely. 

Step two brush on Finnabair wax or any deep red metallic paint, using a stiff bristled brush. 

Let it dry completely. You can speed up the drying process using your heat gun. 

Step three:  cut out your Misty Memories image and ink with your favorite dark brown ink. I used Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink from Ranger.

Used a small square of foam board, cardboard or fun foam to raise your image up off the tag for added dimension.  

Step four:  Add the lamp post and the other embessishments. As you see fit.  The words were printed out using my computer and home printer inked and glued down onto the tag. The last thing I did was to add a touch of iridescent clear glitter to the flower and splattered the watery white paint to mimic snow. 

Here is the finished product again. 

a little page from my fall mini album

It's that time of year.  Fall, Autumn, Harvest.  Whatever you call it, its my favorite.  I love waking up to a crisp cool autumn day.  There is a smell on the breeze that promises cooler days are ahead and I begin to look forward to "The Patch"  So I decided to create a mini album for the photos that we always take at the pumpkin patch.  It is a grandchild, Nana and Pocky tradition dating way back to 2005 when our grandson, Logan, was born.  He and his brother and now their cousin, absolutely love going to the pumpkin patch.  The patch is not only for pumpkin buying.  There is a small fair that last for about 8 weeks with all proceeds going to the church for its missions.  There are hay rides, photo opportunities galore a child friendly version of a corn maze, opportunities for petting goats, holding rabbits and picking out the best pumpkin for the front porch.   Here are a few photos from past trips.

It's obvious from the photos that I'm a bit obsessed with fall photos.  The saddest part is that we don't really have a Fall Season here, its October in all of these photos and the boys have shorts and as Liam call them, up sleeve shirts (Sleeveless)

In the past I would scrap a layout for each of the boys for their books and then the rest of the photos would just stay on my computer.  So this year I decided that I would make a small fall album to put all my favorite photos in so that we could look at them all year.  Here is a photoless page that I did. I used gecko gals digital paper called Autumn Harvest and one of their fabulous images from the Be Thankful for Fall Jewel It collection.  

Fall Harvest

I am also going to be entering this into the Gecko Galz fall challenge.  You can check out all the photos over on the blog at geckogalzscrapbooking.blogspot.com.  I won the challenge in June with a circus ATC Card and my prize was $25 worth of product from the Geckogalz etsy store.  You can check out her amazing empemra packs and digital papers  Here.  

Well, my cute little grandson, who calls me Nani instead of Nana, is here for the night,  I usually have him 4 to 5 nights a week because his dad is working a 5:am shift and that's way too early to be dragging a 3 year old out of bed.  

Will post more later!!!

ATC Star Book

With all the ATC swaps I have been participating in lately, I decided it was time to create a new Star Book to store my little treasures in.  During the summer I attended CKC in Houston, hoping that I could audit a couple of classes and learn some new techniques while I recovered from arm surgery.  Well, let me tell you, I was introduced to a wonderful new company called Gecko Galz.  Leanne, the owner, specializes in vintage digital ephemera that is breathtaking.  She is sooo sweet and talented.  The class I attended was for a little tag book entitled Cowgirl Divas.  Anyway, I have since purchased tons of her sheets for my little ATC addiction.  So, it was only natural that when I wanted to make a Star Book of for my ATCs I headed over to her online shop.  Below is what I created, now not all of the photos are from Gecko Galz, but with the theme I had in mind, I had trouble finding a lot of the pictures anywhere.

 Can you guess the names of all the famous "Divas" I have included. The Image on the front of the book is from Gecko Galz (Haute Couture Collection).   The Distressed leather technique was one Leanne taught us in Houston.  I also used up some left over paper from the Cowgirl Diva's class for this book.

These photos were some I found online.

 Again, I had to find these diva's online

 The Diva on the right was from Gecko Galz (Frankly Scarlett Collection)

back cover, again embossed and distressed

The Star Book tied in the open position for displaying your ATCs.  

Hope you enjoyed looking at my Star Book,