A Smattering of ATCs

My muse has really been making me work lately - she's been no help at all.  I struggled mightily to come up with cards for my mixed media group themes - arrows and metallic/vintage/embossed.  While I've looked longlingly at several challenges the past couple of weeks I just haven't gotten the mojo going to participate.  Hopefully SOON.

I finally came up with these for the arrows theme:

I started with a base of crumpled tissue paper which I painted over with Distress paints.  I stenciled arrows over the top and then left them sitting there for two days.  Finally I pulled out some Tim Holtz masks (remember those??) and used Cupid with some black acrylic over the top.  They sat for a couple more days... Embossing paste was next (through a stencil) and then I painted over the pasty hearts with some Dylusions.  Eh...they're alright, but I keep thinking I missed something.

The next theme was to use embossing, vintage and metal on ATCs.  Easy, right?  It should be! I finally came up with these:

It is a little funny to me that my projects rarely turn out the way I initially envision them.  I never had a butterfly in mind when I made the gear background for instance.  I do love how the butterfly turned out though.

So that's it.  If you've been wondering where I've been you now know that I was sitting in my creative space willing myself to be creative.  ;)

Cheers!

Hawks are in the Big Game!

The playoff game between the Seahawks and the Packers was SUCH a nailbiter. Wow, what a comeback!  I was up in Canada with my boys for hockey but the team and parents all got together and found a place to watch the game.  Good times.

I couldn't help myself.  I'm hanging this baby over the TV to prep for the big game vs. the Patriots on Feb. 1st.  If you're a Seattle fan and would like one, I listed one HERE in my shop too.

Go Hawks!

Gettin' Steamy With Some ATCs

My mixed media ATC group has a steampunk theme going right now.  I love steampunk style but my muse was snoozing on the job.  After much struggle (and thanks in part to The Octopode Factory) these are what evolved.

I had to adapt with these.  I thought I had lots of wonderful little keys and clock hands in my stash but apparently I've used them.  I bought a clip art sheet from The Octopode Factory for the first two girlies.  I just added a little coloring with Copics and metallic paint.  I was inspired by these ATCs from Pawsitively Creative to pull out the Inka Gold (totally forgot I had that!).  I borrowed her metallic embossing technique on the first ATC up there.

I'm entering these in the Wicked Wednesday challenge "Girly Stuff". These are kinda girly in a fun and funky way.  :)

Thanks for stopping by today.  Wishing you a very happy Friday and a lovely weekend!

PaperArtsy: Fragile challenge

When I saw the inspiration pics over on the PaperArtsy blog I couldn't resist playing along with their current "Fragile" theme.  I dug into my tissue and phone book stash to create this ATC.

I layered strips of the phone book page on the background and then colored it with Distress Stain.  I stamped our lovely lady onto tissue paper and colored her with Copics and white pen.  A little bit of charcoal pencil around her helps distinguish her from the background.  (In retrospect I should have a used a different background color - live and learn).

Kind of perfect sentiment for a Monday morning after Winter Break, yes?  ;)

P.S.  I just revisited this and as I glanced at the post title and then at her face I had to chuckle.  She does't look very fragile, does she?

Unmounted Stamp Storage

I spent this morning cleaning off my work desk. At least that's what my family thinks I was doing.  I meant to, and was feeling really proud of myself, until I realized that I mostly just moved stuff around and dumped a bunch of papers that I wasn't sure what to do with in a big bag to go through later.  Reality is that I really need more than a morning to tackle this project.

Anyway, I noticed that my unmounted stamps are pretty much bulging out of my current containers and are difficult to go through. I know stamp storage has been addressed a bazillion times in a bazillion different places, but I'd love to hear how you manage yours.

Here's my 'system', to use the term loosely:

If I get them packaged with the company info I usually keep them in the packaging and toss them in the basket on the left (larger ones) or the container on the right (smaller ones). I like knowing at a glance who made them.  If they're still too big I wedge them between the basket and the jewel cases which contain the stamps that don't come in sturdyish packaging.  My plan is to get 3 matching (wouldn't that be nice?!) bins in the near future.

As soon as I get them I stamp the image on a piece of paper and slip it into this binder which is jammed full of 9-pocket page protectors and regular page protectors.  Once upon a time they were organized in here by theme, but then I started keeping some of them together by manufacturer and then I just started filling in empty slots.  Oops. Looks like another organization project to add to the list...

I also have 'swatches' of every ink pad, embossing powder, Distress Paints and Stains, and Stickles in this binder.  The front has samples of most of my punches and somewhere else in my room (still working on the cleaning!) is a binder full of samples of all of the dies I have.  I suppose it doesn't do me a whole lot of good if I don't where it is.  LOL...yes, the organization project is not going to be a one-day deal.

I'm not sure this works for me anymore.  It's kind of a pain to rifle through these baskets when I'm looking for a specific stamp.  The up-side of this system though is that I often find stamps that I've forgotten about.

What works for you?