janis

ATC

Do you ever make ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)?   I've done a few, but I must admit that I'm nowhere near expert status in creating and trading these little gems.  My primary experience has been to make them for a swap at a few retreats.  Last summer our assignment was to create something that represented our home state.  Well, what better than a gecko!   Afterall, we have them all over our backyard! 

So, took out my Critters Stamp & Stitch set and sure enough, the gecko fit perfectly on the card.  (All ATCs are 2.5x3.5" in size.)  I stamped it in Ranger Distress Ink, pierced the holes for the ridge along the back, then, instead of stitching, I decided to do Tricia Morris' faux stitching technique.  This involves using an erasable pen to create the "stitches", then adding embossing powder for the raised effect.  What I forgot was that Distress ink stays wet much longer than regular dye ink, so when I sprinkled the pewter embossing powder on the ridge, it created little speckles all over the gecko!  That's what I call a happy accident!  You can't really tell in the scan, but the result is a shimmery look that I just love.  I finished it off by stippling teal & copper ink on the background and added AZ (for Arizona, of course!) in copper diecut letters.

If you like ATCs, you'll have a couple of opportunities to see a whole collection of them soon.  For you retailers, be sure to stop by our CHA booth #5080 in Anaheim in February.  And if you live in New Mexico, you'll want to be sure to check out a brand new store in Farmington next week.  Altered Art Memories is having their grand opening celebration next Friday, January 25th, and our very own Donna Kauffroath will be there to share her knowledge and expertise with our products.  Altered Art Memories carries our full line, so if you see something on our website, you're sure to be able to find it there.

A few cards

As promised, here are a few more cards to show you.  Once again, Dana Florence is the one who shared her talents with us.  For the first one, she created a background using several colors of Glimmer Mist, then stamped the butterfly from the Critters Stamp & Stitch set in a random fashion.  Then she used the matching butterfly from Greetings and stamped that on an oval that was cut and matted using the Nestabilities dies from Spellbinders.  Instead of stitching on all of the butterflies, she added interest to the sentiment by stitching only on that one.  You can't tell it in the scan, but it's all assembled on top of a long, tie-clasp envelope!   

For the second card, again created by Dana, she once again used a stamp from Critters, this time the cute little bumble bee. Instead of stitching on this one, she shaded in the wings and then used Stickles to add some shine and sparkle on the wings.  I love how versatile the stamps are.  You can choose to stitch accents, or just use them as regular stamps.  And did you notice that she used those Nestabilities again?  I think I'm going to have to get some of those!  I just can't imagine trying to get scallops like that with decorative scissors.  It makes me cringe just thinking about the time and wasted paper it would take for me to get it that perfect!

If you have signed up for our monthly newsletter, the January edition just went out this weekend.  It includes information about upcoming events as well as an easy Valentine's card to make.  If you're not on the list, head on over to our home page and sign up.  It's free and you'll get regular updates on ways to use our templates and tools.

Leaf notebook

Over the holidays, I was super busy making gifts for family and friends.  That's right:  I made all of my gifts this year.  Fortunately, my list wasn't very long and I truly enjoy being creative.  After I was done, I noticed a little spiral notebook that I had received in a trade show bag a couple of years ago.  It had a camera company logo on the front and was black...hardly what you'd call attractive, but it was free and I still had it.  Hmm...time to spruce it up a bit!

Since it was spiral, I knew I'd have to remove the binding to be able to alter the entire cover.  I carefully bent back all the little coils just enough to remove the cover.  I had thought about covering it with patterned paper but then I saw the Forest Stamp & Stitch set still on my table from another project and decided to use that instead.  I envisioned a pile of autumn leaves, but I didn't want just a mixed up jumble of stamped images so I decided to mask a few of the leaves.  This technique gives the appearance of some of the images being in front of the other.  I pulled out the Eclipse Tape that I had purchased at a convention awhile back, stamped a few images and cut them out.  This worked like a dream, even with the skinny stem of this leaf.  If you haven't tried the masking technique before, it's well worth the few minutes it takes to cut out the mask.  In a nutshell, you stamp the "front" images first, cover them with the mask, then stamp the rest of the images.  The mask keeps you from stamping over the previous images and makes them look like they're on top (or in front of) the others.

When I was done stamping the leaves, I inked the bare spaces between them (this started out as a white piece of cardstock), then stitched my "top" leaves.  I added Zip Dry glue to the back (awesome glue...I use this whenever I know I want it to last) then put it on the cover.  Since my cardstock was about an inch larger than the cover, I turned it over and used my Multi-Tool to cut around it.  Then I repeated the entire process for the back cover (but I didn't stitch on that).  When I was done with both covers, I put them back on the notebook and squeezed the wire binding back together.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  Instead of being a generic black notebook (with an advertisement), I now have something I'll enjoy using.  And, it was fun to do!