Wanna Trade, Anybody?

Here are my first three ATCs, ready to trade, if anyone is interested.

ATC Test

I wanted to make a quick test of my printed watercolor paper backings, so I zigzagged one to the back of a small stitchery from last year’s TAST.

Printed ATC Backs...

Been über busy, lately - with business stuff and family stuff… Anyway, I finally designed a backing for my ATCs. That was something else on my to-do list. Here is a page of backings ready to be cut out and zigzag stitched to fabric ATCs (or glued to card stock ATCs). The backings are ink jet printed on heavy watercolor paper. I like the idea that I can change the background color behind the logo to coordinate with the fronts of my cards. (I have been toying with the idea of customizing my blog for quite some time and originally designed the logo for that purpose.)

Still Experimenting with ATC Backgrounds…

The first image is a painted, glazed and stamped card inspired by a technique in Traci Bautista’s cool book, Collage Unleashed. The second image is another attempt at a fused fiber background. So far, I think that’s my favorite technique – because the results are totally unpredictable.

Yet Another ATC Background…

Have I mentioned how much I love the Artist Trading Card Workshop book? Every time I open it up, I’m tempted to try another quick technique! I made this background last night from fused fibers and embossing powder. I’m not even sure I did it correctly, but I’m kinda sorta pleased with the results…

More Fun with ATC Backgrounds…

I decided to try another simple technique from the Artist Trading Card Workshop book. This is crumpled, painted tissue paper. I’m not altogether sure what I’m going to do with these backgrounds, yet – but I figure when inspiration strikes, I’ll be ready. At least, I’ll be halfway there… and not staring at a blank card. I’m so very easily entertained….

ATC Backgrounds

The other day, I treated myself to Bernie Berlin’s fantastic book on creating ATCs, Artist Trading Card Workshop. It is chock full of simple and effective background ideas that could also be translated to altered book pages and collage. I took a little time (and I do mean little) and played with the painted and torn paper towel technique. One ply of one paper towel yielded enough scraps to cover six cards (with scraps leftover). Here are mine, ready to stamp and embellish… Fun!

FLU & ATC...

For the first time since we were married (in 1973), DH and I were sick at the same time. We had that flu thingy that’s going around (although, at the time, DH swore it was the bubonic plague or some rare disease we picked up from the cats!). Whatever it was, I don’t remember ever feeling quite that run-down before in my life! It felt like the entire dance troupe from Riverdance was stomping through some of their more energetic routines in my head. I’m happy to say that the tour has finally moved on to another city. I am unscathed, too, except that I can’t smell anything. But that may be a blessing in a house full of cats. While we were ill, we had to take turns feeding them and scooping the litter boxes, as well as bringing in the firewood. It was awful. Then, to add insult to injury, Trixie (the littlest kitten), went into heat. Ironically, we had just called the vet a few days before we became ill to arrange for her to be spayed and her brothers to be neutered. We knew we had to separate her from her curious (but clueless!) brothers, so we brought her into our bedroom, and she thanked us by peeing all over the comforter… and emitting the loudest yowls you ever heard! The whole experience was like a nightmare. In one fevered conversation, DH and I talked about what would happen if we died – and wondered who would be the first person to discover our partially eaten remains… Thankfully, we had plenty of supplies in the house for ourselves and the cats so I guess it could have been a whole lot worse…

Trying to get back into the swing of things, I stitched a little ATC in honor of the inkberry holly. I used the embellisher to create the background from scraps of cotton fabric and wool roving.