Three ATC's

David finally got another shed key made for me and today was my creative appointment with myself! Oh boy, you should have seen the mess that greeted me!  My sweetie, bless his heart, took out all the stuff I had collected and wouldn't you know, he put a bunch of it in the one free space I had which was on top of my crafting table, so I spent the better part of the day trying to find homes for some of the stuff. I had one little spot to turn around in and sit down in. LOL!

Merry, you wanted to see the atc's (artist trading cards) I'm sending to Mark Montano's swap. Seriously, you ought to join me. Never know, might get one of mine. *smile* I made these some time ago for an atc swap club that met here in my home town once a month at a scrapbook store, which has since gone out of business. I always made a few extras just in case somebody wanted to swap with me. One of the rubber stamp conventions that came to town had a swap meet sometime during the weekend and everybody would be lugging their tins and notebooks around hoping somebody would eventually swap with them. It was amazing that I could put my hands on my notebook as messy as the shed was.

So the envies are addressed and waiting for postage to be added to them. I also addressed a stamp set that was supposed to go to a friend in Scotland months ago (oops!) and a mail art envie for a sick friend. So the day was productive and I was able to check off some of the things I had on my list.

 

So here's how I made my atcs:

 

# 1 is a "fabric" ATC = that was the theme that month. I used a brass template as a mask and sprayed the pink and green inks until the fabric was wet. Then I let it dry, cut them out and stapled it to the cs background. I also stamped it and stitched it and added a safety pin. Added the pertinent stuff to the back and done.

Tip: I made my own spray inks. Got the recipe from Colorbox video I picked up from a thrift store. It's 30 drops of reinker in a 2 oz. mister bottle (Walmart) of water.

 

# 2 is also spray-painted = on cardstock. I think the theme was "travel." Then I stamped sentiment (aloha) and the flower. Cut out the hibiscus flower, punched the little flower and glued them down. Added a little glitter and gotta remember to do the back. Finished!

 

# 3. is distressed. I think the theme that month was "buttons and bows" (or ribbon). I scanned a button card with the buttons still attached, printed it out in black and white , then scuffed it a bit with a sanding block. The edges were cut with decorative scissors and glued down to the grey cardstock that had been distressed along the edges. Also glued down a real button, pinned a tiny safety pin on, punched holes to thread the ribbon through and added the tiny tag with a Fiskars teddy bear punched in it.  Signature on back and presto! The End.