An ATC

A quick post today! After our Jubilee tea in Burnice's cabin we each made a jubilee ATC with some topical papers that Linda brought for us to play with!

Altered ATC

Over at UKStampers I have just taken part in an altered ATC swap. We could use any material EXCEPT paper/card to make it so I used felt.

I started by stacking 5 colours of felt and drawing a simple design on the what will be, bottom one.

Then I machined round it twice to make it extra strong. 

Then I cut through the layes, up tight to the stitching to leave different colours showing from each layer. So on the first layer I cut pretty much all of it away to leave the black out line. Then I cut everything but the fin..

Gradually I worked through the layers until I had white showing just for the face and I embroidered an eye and mouth. This is called reverse applique and I have never done it before but once I worked out what colours I wanted between the top black and bottom white it was very easy.

Just a shot from the side so you can see all the layers.

January ATCs

Oh my, 2 posts in one day! Bit like buses, none for ages then 2 at once. ANyway I am waiting for the next prompt for the UK Stampers Art Journal. Whilst I wait I made my ATCs for the monthly swap. I really thought that I needed to use some of my overflowing ribbon stash and last week at school we did paper weaving......so this killed 2 birds with 1 stone. I merrily wove 2 and then suddenly remembered that the ATCs were meant to be different! I hope Sam will accept that they are at least different colours!

Just a close up of that lovely ribbon. What a brill way it was to use up all the little scraps left from other projects (and snipped out of clothes!) that I just can't bear to throw away!

December ATCs

Here are what I have been up to over the holidays. As predicted I am waaaaaay behind with my Journal but I am catching up slowly and will post pics of that soon. Meanwhile the UKStampers December ATC swap was to use 3 things the same on each ATC.

I am all Christmassed out so whilst having a rummage I found these stamps that I actually got last Christmas as a present and have barely used, even though I LOVE them.

So three home-baking inspired ATCs raised slightly on silicone glue and just a touch of sparkle added too. Hope they will be well received.

Getting messy again.

Finally I get to get inky and messy again! I have been very unproductive as of late. That is because I have been tripping all over the countryside to University Open Days with Jess. So far we have been to Edinburgh (plane), Nottingham Trent (trains) and Bournemouth, (automobile...ha ha couldn't resist!). Last one is Sidcup and I don't think we can go by boat so short of hiring a helicopter it will be car again!
Anyway....I digress. I HAVE managed to finish my sister's wedding album so I might take some pics of that later. I have also been getting on with Postcrossing. Remember I told you about the site where you get random postcards from all over the world. Well one lady sent me one from Finland and said that one of her hobbies was ATCs. Soooo we arranged a swap and these are the two I made for her. I did them at the same time as the November ATC swap on UKStampers too. I am just too organised! I did all the backgrounds the same; beige mountboard painted with white, ochre and sienna paint. Then a blast of cosmic shimmer. These two I then overstamped with a postcard stamp and some other postal bits. I triple embossed the frame/swirl with pewter powder and then popped it all on with some vintage images.

The November theme is "Stamped Collage" Now a few of you might be thinking "hang on where did the October ones go?" The theme was Halloween and I posted them before I remembered to take a pic!
So back to November..I already explained the BG bit; for these I decided to collect random, linked stamps and put them all over the BG, masking as I went.

I then picked one image that stood out a bit more and re-stamped that, rubbed on the back with an embossing tool and attached over the original with silicone glue to make it stand out.

Finally I embossed that lovely pewter around the edges in a "shabby" styley! Once again not great photos but the light is just rubbish this time of year and its too cold and windy to try and take pics in the garden!

ATCs

I know, don't faint! I have done some ATCs! Now some of you may or may not know (or even care) but ATCs are what got me into papercrafting. I was reading a magazine and there was an article about them with a website address....and the rest is history! I moved from ATCs to Inchies and then after a long while I took the even bigger step to Scrapbooking! Now I probably have not done an ATC for a couple of years. UKStampers was where I did a lot of ATC swapping and after a short break their swap has re-started with the theme Shades of Blue. As I am on my hols still, I thought I would join in and who knows....maybe I will be able to do some each month now. So a quick BG using spritzed Distress Inks then stamped over with a flower stamp and spritzed with a blue glimmer mist.

I cut out the fabric flowers from some scraps I discovered kicking about and then stitched beads in for the middles. Finally I added the dymo tape strips.
I really enjoyed doing these so let's hope I can keep up with the swaps. I am anticipating that now all the children will be at the same school and my hours have changed slightly life might provide me with a little more free time!