The challenge for this ATC was to have a White Background. So really this was an open theme and any art could be used on the card.
The weather in Oklahoma is turning nice. The sun is out and it is getting warmer. When that happens it makes me think back to when I was a kid and mom would have us hang the laundry out on the clothes line to dry. I loved how the clothes would smell when we took the clothes down. It also saved money to dry the clothes outside! lol
Thinking about the good old days made me want to create that same feeling on my ATC.
Watch the following video to see how the card was made.
What does this sunny weather remind you of from your youth? If you could do something that you used to do as a kid what would that activity be that you would do today?
The challenge for this ATC was to use something that we “found”. I was lucky, one day while walking to my truck I looked down and found a hoop earring on the ground. I picked up the earring and decided that I would keep it to use later.
The first thing that I did was use my silver leaf paint pen to paint the earring silver. It had been a nice shinny silver at one time, but since the earring must have been outside for a long time, it was worn and tarnished.
I found some awesome paper from K & Company and use that as my foundation 2.5 by 3.5 inch card.
Love was stamped in black Stazon ink and then punched with my McGill label punch. I used a little Distressed ink around the edges and my glitter gel pen to finish the look of the word Love.
I found the lock and key charms in my stash and added jump rings so that these could hang from the earring. The earring was glued to the paper using Glossy Accents from Ranger Inks, as well as the rhinestones.
The green heart is a metal heart. The metal is from an aluminum soda can, I cut the shape, emboss the metal and then painted this green. The heart was mounted using pop dots or also known as 3D dots.
Next time you walk by something that you think is trash on the ground, stop and pick up the item. You never know when something just might become a treasured art piece.
Have you ever made art from something that you “found”? If so tell me about what you found and what you made with the item.
The theme or challenge for this ATC (Artist Trading Card) was Primary Colors for the OFB ATC swap group. I chose to use a collage technique that I love because it uses up scraps that I have on hand…
So grab some scraps of papers and you can make one too even if you don’t have all of the tools that I have!
The basic idea is to gather the colors you want to use as the foundation of your art. Since this was a Primary Colors theme I chose papers that were red, yellow and blue. Then I pulled out my rubber stamps and black ink and started over stamping on the paper. It didn’t matter if the paper had a design or not, I was adding another texture to the paper. Once I stamped all of the scraps I then cut the paper in to strips, and again the size or width of the strips didn’t matter, this is a random design.
Once all of the strips were lined up I used carpet tape to adhere these into a design. If you don’t have carpet tape a double sided tape would work, or you could just glue each piece down (which will take a little longer and you have to put glue on the entire strip of paper). Then after I got the tape filled with paper I filled in the spaces with glitter. I cut the piece down to the size I wanted the finished art to be and proceeded to embossing.
Embossing with regular powder is easy or even UTEE (to make the artwork shine). If you don’t have either you could use Glossy Accents or Diamond glaze or other finishes that will dry clear and shinny, another favorite of mine Golden Gel medium in low and high gloss.
Take this project and use it to make something out of your scraps or even your trash. It is a great projects for kids – use magazines or junk mail. Free items are great to use in art for kids! Could use a laminator or even packing tape to make the pieces shiny if making this project with kids..
Then let me know what you created. Leave a comment telling me about what you have done. How you changed up your project etc…
The following ATC was made for the OFB ATC swap group. The them was Actress. I chose to use an image of Nicole Kidman from a magazine that I happen to have at home. This would be a great project to do with kids or a bunch of friends. Grab a pile of magazines that has a lot of photos and choose photos that please the eye and have fun.. I used mainly scraps of paper that I had on hand, that’s what I love so much about ATC’s you don’t have to use a lot of supplies to make one.
I hope you enjoy this project. Let me know if you try making an ATC out of magazine images, I would love to see what you made.
This weekend I’ve been busy.. If you were around me you might have thought I was nesting.. Well that couldn’t happen if you know my life story… Really I was just tired of my studio looking like a storage room with an 10″ by 10″ workspace.. As It seems I pull everything I own out and since I don’t have a storage place to put extra supplies it piles up around me…
So I gotta have faith that I can get some order in that room! And just so happens I opened a box that had watch tins. The tins were made for watch makers / repairers. The tins would hold the tiny parts needed in watches.. A few years ago I ordered a couple hundred and I stored away those that I hadn’t used or sold.
I started looking at the tin and thought hey why can’t I make this into a miniature art? I measured the tin and the one I chose just happened to be 1 1/2″ in diameter. I found some paper that I had painted and punched a circle. Then I found a oval punch out with the word faith stamped on it and thought that would fit inside… Feeling pretty good about what I was doing I remembered that I cut out some tiny hearts out of aluminum (from a soda can) I found the perfect size and color and proceeded to assemble my mini collage.
I glued the punched out circle in the back with some glossy accents. Then I put an edge of purple around the oval and then put a round pop dot on the back of that. I then put a double set of pop dots on the heart.. I decided that it need a little bit of glitter around the inside edge so I ran a bead of glitter glue around the inside.. Ok so now I wanted some feet. Henry and I have been going to the gun range and we have picked up the spent brass before we left.. I dug through the bag of brass and found a couple of silver colored shells and thought those would make great feet! Got out the epoxy and glued it together…
I think it turned out pretty cute for my first one like this.. I have enough to make at least 3 dozen more in different sizes. I think I’ll sell these for $4.00 to $6.00 depending on the size of the tin and what else I put in side..
Let me know what you think of this one.. Do you know of other words you would like to see inside the tin? Got a favorite color?
I like making small things like this because these could be placed close to where a person sits most of the day – near a computer or just on their desk, anyplace you have room for a small work of art…
Thanks for stopping by.. Please leave a comment love to read what you think..
Having Faith is something that everyone needs, and a little reminder never hurts…
The following ATC was for the OFB ATC swap group. A group that was formed a year ago where I work. We started with only eight people and there are over 20 people that will participate in the weekly swaps. The theme was Spirituality or Spiritual. I chose to make two cards and the Rainbow ATC is one of the cards.
I used Black Embossing powder, a custom made stamp and water color crayons on water color paper. After the rainbow was painted and dried I used glitter glue/paint over the surface to give it a nice shimmer. Trimmed the card and mounted on a purple ATC card – 2.5 by 3.5 inches.
The following is a video of the whole process.
Please feel free to ask questions. I love sharing my knowledge with others and trying to help as best I can..
I have been embossing for years and it is annoying to get the stray specks of embossing powder on your project.. I had a purchased anti static bag, but I knew there was a cheaper way to make my own.. I started looking around at the supplies I had on hand and also on the web.. Here is what I came up with…
Supplies used:
One leg from a clean pair of pantyhose ( one side had a runner in the leg, so I usually wash these and keep them, never know when I might need one for a project! lol)
baby powder
Scissors
I glass or wide mouth jar
Method:
I cut one leg from the clean pantyhose close to the very top.
Then I pushed the toe of the hose into a glass and pulled the top over the lip of the glass. This made it very easy to then dump baby powder into the hose. I put about a 1/4 cup of baby powder into the hose. Could put more or less. It depends on how much baby powder you have, and if you want to make more than one anti static bag. I made two so that when I’m teaching a workshop or if my friends come over I have extras and we don’t have to wait for someone to be finished…
I pulled the hose out of the glass and tied a knot close to the powder. Just one knot, as there will be three layers of hose to protect the powder from spilling out of the hose…
Next I pushed the whole thing back through the leg of the hose and tied another knot, repeated one more time and tied a final or third knot. This kind of reminded me of a hacky sack that we used to play with back in the 80′s.. lol I guess if you changed out the powder for little beans of some kind you could make your own hacky sack to play with. lol…
Once the final knot was tied I cut off the excess hose and the anti static bag was ready to use. Pretty clever huh…
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I hope this helps you in saving money. Because I know that I would rather spend my money on an item that I couldn’t make myself!
If you have questions regarding how to make your own anti static bag, please feel free to leave a comment below.
I was asked how to use embossing powder with rubber stamps via my youtube channel. There are so many supplies out there that can be used. It took me a little time to decide how I was going to choose which supplies to spotlight in my instructions…
Things you will want to have:
Embossing powder – any brand, but consider the project at hand. You may want detailed embossing powder if you are doing a fine detailed stamp, or you may want ultra thick embossing powder if you are doing a solid stamp that is large.
Heat tool – Not a hair dryer. Back when I first started stamping, we tired all kinds of things to heat up the powder so it would melt. Trust me, the best investment is a heat tool. It doesn’t matter which brand. Just pick the one that fits your budget. I even have a commercial heat gun, that is used for removing paint, just have to be careful and not use that one on high, it will burn the paper! lol…
Pigment ink – a juicy pigment ink will hold the powder in place. If you have an old pad, consider getting the reinker for it so that you can reapply the ink to the pad before you use it in your project. I do this for most of my common ink pads.
Anti static helper – could be a dryer sheet or an Anti Static bag. This you will rub on the paper, before you stamp and apply the powder. It helps to keep the powder from sticking where you don’t want it to stick… (instructions on how to make your own anti static bag)
Item to be embossed – paper, canvas, or just about anything that can stand the heat…
Basic instructions: prepare the surface with the anti static product of your choice. Ink stamp with pigment ink, stamp on item. Coat with generous amount of embossing powder, tap off excess powder onto / into a container so you can reuse powder. Turn on heat tool (if you let the heat tool run for a moment before you apply it to your project the powder will melt faster.) Point heat tool towards project. When you start to see that the dull powder look changes to a shiny surface move the gun to a new location. Don’t keep the gun too close to the project or it will burn or discolor the project. If you keep the gun on the project too long the powder will melt down into a porous surface and will look dull. Which could be a look you are going for, but most of the time people want the shiny raised look of embossing. Keep moving around the project until all of the powder has changed. Turn off the gun and let the project cool. The powder will be very hot and you will get a nasty burn if you touch it before it cools off! Now look at your embossed project and pat yourself on the back! You did it! Great job!
Want to see embossing in action check out the video:
Have questions regarding embossing, please feel free to ask, just make sure to give all the details you can in your inquiry…
The challenge for this ATC was to have a White Background. So really this was an open theme and any art could be used on the card.
