It’s ATC time!
This month I joined a second ATC swap over on the Splitcoaststampers forum. I ended up doing 9 sets total, so I’ll split my monthly ATC post into two posts.
First up are my ATCs for the Scrapbook.com forums. The themes this month were Halloween, an ATC based on a fall photo, Sweets and Ancestors. I chose all but the Ancestors theme. I really had no inspiration for it.
I actually ended up doing three Halloween sets. For my first set, I inked up my cards with Carved Pumpkin, Crushed Olive and Seedless Preserves Distress inks, then spritzed with a little water. I inked up the Tim Holtz X-Ray ATC stamp with VersaMark and applied Midnight Copper embossing powder from Lindy’s Stamp Gang. I was having problems with the stamp, so the embossing powder didn’t stick in random places, but I think they turned out OK. I added some Prima flowers, a Tim Holtz metal skull and a quote from the Small Talk Occasions pad to finish.
For my second set of Halloween ATCs, I had planned these for months. I bought the free-standing ATC tombstone bases from Retro Cafe Art months ago, and was glad to finally get to play with them! I started by gluing down a piece of paper from the Pink Paislee Spellcast paper pad on both sides of the base. (Since these were free-standing, I wanted to do both sides… though I don’t have a photo of the back, since it’s just plain.)
I inked the edges with some Black Soot Distress ink and added a bit of texture with a text stamp on top. (For the tombstone with the spiderweb, I painted the base with black gesso first.) I then added the black chipboard frame and the skeleton cameo with heavy gel medium and set it aside to dry overnight.
I added the metal spiders with hot glue the next day, as well as the epitaphs from the new Tim Holtz Halloween Clippings stickers.
For the bases, I simply used hot glue with some brown moss and added a skull bead and a tiny mushroom.
Thinking I was done with my Halloween cards, I moved on to my Sweets ATCs. A week before I started these, we had gotten the (not really) surprising news that one of my dear cousins, while on a trip to Norway with her beau of over a decade, had eloped while there! So in honor of their marriage, I decided to do wedding cakes as my “sweet.”
I used the Cottage Cutz Tiered Wedding Cake die to make all three. The die comes with a lot of options for paper cake decorating! I inked the edges of the cakes with Antique Linen Distress Oxides and used various shades of blues, pinks and greens for the decorations. I also added some Wink of Stella brush pen to the decorations to give the cakes some glimmer. I attached them to the background using foam tape. The sentiments were from the Tim Holtz Small Talk Occasions pad. I glued on some crystal gems for the final touch.
Our swap hostess had posted a photo of a fall scene for us to draw inspiration from for the Photo Inspired cards. It was a photo of a cabin on a lake surrounded by fall leaves with deer in the yard. I went a little literal with my interpretation!
I used Distress Oxides in Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade on the base to give my cards a kind of sunset background. I then added a pieces of vellum to the lower half of the card to simulate my lake.
I die cut my scene using various dies from Memory Box/Poppystamps (listed below) and inked them with Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo Distress Oxides. I tried the bridge in brown at first, but decided I rather preferred the white bridge instead. I did add a little texture to the bridge with a text stamp though.
The tree frame is a die by Cottage Cutz called Tree Frame. It’s the perfect size for ATCs. I added some dots of glue to the branches and sprinkled on some autumn-colored FlowerSoft. I added the frame with some foam tape and glued the deer in front. I added spots on the fawn with a white Sharpie paint pen.
Dies used:
• Memory Box Country Hills Oval Frame
• Memory Box Little Pines
• Memory Box Little Bridge
• Memory Box Mama and Baby Deer
• Cottage Cutz Tree Frame
At this point I thought I was done with my September ATCs. And then my new Hero Arts stamps arrived…
I just had to play with this stamp set, Luna the Halloween Cat, as soon as I opened my package. I had been inspired by a Halloween card on the Hero Arts blog for these ATCs. I taped off the bottom and the top of the ATC base and sponged on some Faded Jeans and Wilted Violets Distress Oxides. Then I taped the cards into my MISTI and spritzed the Hero Arts Starry Night background stamp with a shimmer spray. The water in the spray reacted with the Distress Oxides, leaving a beautiful shimmer behind in the shape of the background stamp.
After drying, I stamped the cats and sentiment with VersaMark and heat embossed them with some black embossing powder. I added a few sequins to the background and a star sequin on the cats’ butts, because why not? 😀
I had to make myself mail my September cards the day after I finished my last set, because I was sorely tempted to make more for Halloween! (And I did for my other set of ATCs for Splitcoast… but that’s a post for another day!)
art by moonlight 