ATCs

A bunch of us have been doing ATCs lately and we're having a swap in which we have to make twelve each so that we can send two to each person in the swap. I started to make them and now I don't know where to stop! I keep thinking of techniques I've wanted to try for a while and even made one or two up along the way. The beauty is that, with the small size of the ATC, they're so quick to do and nothing much is lost in the way of time or money if you mess up so you can afford to experiment a bit.

I have, of course, experimented a bit with ATCs in the past but haven't made many. I made a couple using Crazy Quilting for a swap. These can be seen here and here. I also made one using a paper background, a Norman Rockwell image of Cinderella and some Beads and Flowersoft here and, lastly, one with Angelina and Stitching here. That was about it until now!

So, with my latest ones, the first set I did I used Collage.

Then I had my first try at Needlefelting and made a felted cupcake ATC and a cross between an elephant and a lamb.

After my altered bottle class with Carol Murphy in which I learnt quite a few techniques involving texture and also after watching some videos on YouTube, I experimented with Colour and Texture and made three or four ATCs by basically embedding lace, torn up scraps of muslin, sequins, etc, into mod podge and then painting it. An example of one of these backgrounds is here. With a couple of them I added a butterfly made from angelina fusible film with white angelina fused on top. I made a sheet of this and then stuck butterfly peel offs on top, cut around and then coloured the angelina with pens.

Next I made backgrounds using one of Beryl Taylor's techniques, Foiled Brown Paper. This involves crumpling up a brown paper bag, colouring and foiling it. I then adapted it somewhat by including some embossing in the form of one of Tim Holtz' Texture Fades and I added some decorative stitching to the finished ATCs. Afterwards, I played around with the paper placement. For instance, with one of them (top right in the pic below), I cut the paper into strips and wove it.


The next one incorporates some Napkin Art with a bird cutout on top and I used some glossy accents in the centre of the flower to add dimension and added beads the same colour as the centre before it dried.


Then I tried an experiment with some paper flowers and a sheet of acetate which I suppose I could call Capturing Objects.


This is what I did. I trapped the flowers behind the acetate and added some sparkle mod podge to make the flowers look shimmery. I suppose this is a bit like the captured fresh flowers that I've done in the past except here acetate is used instead of organza and mod podge fixes the whole thing together instead of Bondaweb and an iron! I can see myself trying this with fresh flowers that are flat enough to be trapped and that will hold their colour well and autumn leaves would be nice aswell. It works with skeleton leaves, too.


Basically, I think it will work with anything that is flat and thin enough to be trapped without causing any bulging beneath the acetate.

Then I got in the mood for a bit of recycling/repurposing and made the following two ATCs using Dryer Sheets as backgrounds.




Since I started my interest in mixed media, I've become a bit like a baglady. I don't throw anything away that I can see a use for and so, still in recycling mode, I used up some of my pretty Chewing Gum Wrappers for a background for this cherub ATC.


I used a mould for the cherub and some Flexplast which is a kind of very light modelling paste that is air-drying. When it was dry, I painted it with halo pink gold Lumiere paint. The decorative corners are rub-ons.

I had plans for an ATC using Flowersoft as I have that in several colours and this, coupled with my experiments with acetate, got me thinking that I could make a 3D ATC by using the acetate as a window and make a scene where the observer was looking through a window and seeing a vase of flowers on the window sill.


I drew the window on the acetate with a peel off pen. The acetate window is raised up from the background with 3D double sided tape but I'm pleased to say, despite the fact that it's raised, it still fits into an ATC pocket which can only be a good thing.

What can I say? I just can't stop! I have tons more ideas! The last time I got like this was with the Dorset buttons and, as some of you who have been reading my blog for a good while will know, those buttons even turned into turkeys, penny farthing bicycles and goodness what else!