ATC Set & Holder

I made this set of ATC's and was inspired by the talented Natalie to make a holder to go with it.  Although Natalie was very kind to send me instructions on how to make the holder, I kind of went off and did my own, but thank you very much for the inspiration!

Here are a few photos of what I made:

The ATC's were all made with Alcohol Inks for the backgrounds, Hero Art Stamps, a splatter stamp from Stampers' Anonymous, some lovely patterned paper trims from Basic Grey and K & Company, gems from my stash, jute from Michaels and stickers from Cosmo Cricket.

Here are a few pictures of the holder I made from one standard sheet of Kraft cardstock and some long envelopes for the inside pockets. (I cut off the two ends of each long envelope which gave me two pockets.  I made 5 of those as there was an additional ATC in there which is on my previous post.) I decorated the front with some Jute, some die cuts that Tiffany had sent me and a brad from Recollections.

 I stamped the above envelope pockets with a beautiful stamp from Hero Arts.

This is what it looks like filled with 5 ATC's. I was very chuffed with myself, that means happy / pleased where I come from.  The truth is, I really love that patterned paper!

Have an awesome day!  The humidity here has suddenly decided to say HELLO in a big way!

Hero Arts ATC Swap

Heather over on the Hero Arts Flickr site organised an ATC swap, a one-on-one swap, so you just had to make an ATC for the partner you were linked up with.  I got sweet Judy as my partner.  Her and I decided that we wanted to be kids again so we opted for a fun ATC.  Here is mine, I should be receiving the one she made me in the next day or so.

Paper: Neenah Solar White; Basicgrey; ATC (7 Gypsies)
Ink: Copic Markers; Memento Tuxedo Black; Black Soot DI; Hero Arts Soft Pool
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Vellum; Stickles; Glossy Accents

I made the waves with the lovely Basicgrey patterned paper, freehand cutting, there are three layers of waves, the middle one is vellum.

Love those alphabet stamps, they allow you to create your own sentiments, sometimes you need that!

I will be back later with a set of ATC's and a holder that I also made to present to Judy as a gift and I am so thrilled that she was excited to receive it! See ya!

ATC Fever

I have a long list of crafty items I need and want to make! Do you? Now to find the time.

I have been playing with my alcohol inks this morning, thinking about making some backgrounds for some ATC's.  I made one background that I really liked and decided to make something with it which I will enter both for the current May Hero Arts contest and the new Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday challenge which is to use stickers or rub-ons.

Paper: Glossy white cardstock; K & Co. (patterned paper)
Ink: White Stazon; Versafine Onyx Black; Adirondack Alcohol Inks (Denim, Stream & Aqua)
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Jute; Bead (stash); Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type Sticker

I created the background with Denim, Stream and Aqua Alcohol inks and some blending solution on glossy white cardstock.  Next I stamped the rose from the Hero Arts "Two Birds" cling stamp with white Stazon.  I paper pieced the ladybug from the Hero Arts "Antique Engravings" clear set.

I added a little strip of patterned paper from K & Company at the bottom and a bit of Jute plus a black pearl.  And the final touch was the sticker from Cosmo Cricket.  I love what it says, "unique", that is what we all are!

Wishing you a fabulous Sunday! We could not have asked for a more day!

I will however leave you with this personal picture today!  I was not sure whether to cry or laugh on Thursday night!  Take a guess, here is a clue, it involves a 5 year old!!!

Beautiful Paper

(Before I forget, I am going to be featured on the OWH Blog tomorrow, Friday 13th!  Quite exciting, especially when you have no idea what card/cards they pulled out in order to post it on the blog!  So pop over there tomorrow if you want.)

Onto today - I have to say that K & Co. make really the most beautifully romantic patterned paper, and great quality too.  I decided to use some for this card and ATC.

Paper: Kraft & Rustic Cream cardstock (PTI); K & Co. patterned paper; Neenah Solar White
Ink: Tumbled Glass DI; Rich Cocoa Memento ink
Stamps: Hero Arts; PTI (sentiment)
Other: Gems (Hero Arts); Sewing; PTI Edgers Die #1; Spellbinders Nestabilitie die

I used the PTI edgers die on kraft cardstock and then stitched the patterned paper to that before adhering it to my rustic cream card base.

I used a circle Spellbinders die and die cut two circles, one in white cardstock and one in patterned paper, which is the reverse side of the blue patterned paper.  I partially stamped the Hydrangea on the white cardstock, added a pale blue gem and adhered that to the card.

I used a PTI long sentiment from a Year of Flowers stamp set and after stamping cut the paper strip in three so that I could fit it on the card.

I think I might send this one to my Mom because that is how I feel!

Now, here is my ATC.

Paper: K & Co; Neenah Solar White
Ink: Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar, Tea Dye & Vintage Photo DI
Stamps: Hero Arts Digital printout; Hero Arts "Antique Engravings" set & "Simple Frame" & the "Hydrangea"
Other: Gems (stash); Lace (stash); Pin (from my friend Tiffany); Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

I used a digital printout from Hero Arts for the heart. When I looked closely at that image I saw that there was actually a heart within a heart, which is what made me cut it out and ink it in pale blue (Tumbled Glass DI) and pop it up with pop dots. I love the sentiment on the blue heart, it says "woman of spirit".

It's very faint, but I did partly stamp the Hydrangia in the top right corner and also partly stamped the Simple Frame on the left edge of the ATC.  I added the lace using the tiny attacher is that I could make those ruffles.  I hope you like it!

We had maybe a teaspoon or two of rain yesterday.  It's still windy and greyish today. It felt good to be out having a run, I took my dear Sahara (Rhodesian Ridgeback) with me, she just loves being out. We brought her over with us from South Africa, so today I will leave you with a picture of her.

Have an awesome day!

Three in One

Before I get to today's post I  have to share my excitement....Just a little past 8am this morning my cellphone rang and on the other side of the phone was the sweetest, kindest, warmest voice...I was so touched...my "cyber, Flickr friend" Jacqueline called me from the South of France!!!!  I have been admiring her work for the last year and we have exchanged a card or two, a few e-mails and of course, we comment on each other's blog and flickr site,  and now I actually got to speak to her!  What an awesome feeling to hear a real voice!  So now I am plotting how I can perhaps get to actually meet her next year as my dear hubby is talking about a trip to the South of France!  What a super person, you know, when you can "see the person" in their voice!!!  Thank you Jacqueline!

Ok, as I mentioned in an earlier post, this months' contest over at Hero Arts is Flowers, ATC's and Coloured Pencils.  So, I did all three!

Paper: Neenah Solar White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Tea Dye & Scattered Straw DI; Prismacolour Pencils; Copic Markers
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Gems (Recollections)

I first stamped part of the rose from the "Two Birds" stamp set, and then stamped it again to add another rose at the top.  I coloured that in with some Prismacolour Pencils (I went and purchased a small 12 colour set at Michaels this morning to see what all the rave is about).  They definitely are creamy, but so are my Derwent coloured pencils, however, the lead is much thinner, whereas the Derwents are much thicker making it difficult to get into tiny places.  I could not do much shading as it only had one purple and two greens, but  I tried by using different pressures as Shari suggested in her video HERE.

I then tore a piece of post it note, stuck it on my ATC and then stamped the Dictionary Definition for Friend over it so that I could only get a bit of the text.  Then I stamped the Envelope Pattern (2nd generation stamping) with some Tea Dye DI and inked the ATC with some Scattered Straw DI being careful not to go over the roses.  Next I coloured the bird from the Antique Engravings set with my Copics and adhered it with pop dots.  Lastly I added 3 tiny, tiny gems randomly.

That's it.  I just realised that if someone asked me why do I craft in a certain way and put images in a certain place or use the colours I use, I basically would have no theoretical answer, I just do.  Sometimes it feels 100% right, other times only 80% (like today), then sometimes it starts hovering closer to only 50% satisfied!  Anything lower and basically you won't get to see it!

Have fun today, and as Susanne's grandmother's poem says, notice the small things in life that are just there, all around you!

An ATC for a Change

As I was creating cards for OWH, I needed a break, I just wanted to be able to make something small, and quick, and believe it or not, I love ATC's.  I just make them for myself, I have never participated in a swap, I do them sometimes as my way of recording different techniques that I have learned and picked up from all you talented people. 

Before I left South Africa I made my sister a gift of ATCs that would just remind her of me, and how much I love her!  She was also starting out with stamping so I used different techniques on each one, all of them learned from Jennifer McGuire's blog and Thinking Inking videos, and I tried to put a meaningful sentiment on each.

I digress, so, I needed to just make something small, and I was thinking about my husband and how much I truly love him, and this came out of the process:

Paper: Pre-cut ATC (unknown source)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Shipped Sapphire & Vintage Photo Distress Inks, Copic Markers
Stamps: Unity, Stampers Anonymous
Other: White gel pen, gem (Hero Arts), Flower (from my stash)

I first stamped the bird image which comes with the swirl and the lined background, it's such a pretty image (from Unity's KOM).  Then in the top left corner I stamped a half border from Stampers Anonymous, and then I also used their Splatter stamp and stamped around the bird.

The sentiment is stamped seperately on Neenah Solar White.  I inked up all the edges with Chipped Sapphire and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Lastly I inked up a little white flower with the Chipped Sapphire ink, added a gem, and I also added some white dots with my gel pen here and there.

It's nothing extravagant, but it's what I needed to do right then, and it got me back on track creating for OWH.

I just wanted to share.  I hope you are having a great day!  My friend Lisa and I are off to go and see The King's Speech this morning, I cannot wait, it looks like such an awesome movie!

See you all later.