Fun with ATCs

Mamma challenge: Stamp ATC, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

I am having a lot of fun making and swapping atcs. It is satisfying to have a way to use of all the odds and ends of recycled things that I have been saving too! I have it bad - I just don't like to throw things away that could serve some crafty purpose. Today I ran across a great use for recycled envelopes...bookmarks at Go Make Something.

There is a wonderful tutorial. Basically, you cut off a corner of an envelope and then decorate it like you would an atc. It forms a pocket that can fit over the top corner of a book page to mark your place. What a great idea!

MonoPrint ATC

MonoPrint Atc's for Swapbot Swap, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

I joined the "Easy Mono Print" Atc swap on swapbot. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I found that making a mono print that was acceptable for swapping was harder than it looked!

What is a Mono Print?  Well, it is the most basic form of making a print.  You apply color (paint) to the surface of something, then place another surface on top (paper or fabric), press down, remove your paper, and you have a unique painted print!   It has been described here as:

The monoprint or monotype is often thought of as a halfway stage between painting and printmaking. The process is simple: the artist paints, rubs, or wipes the design directly onto a plate, using a fairly slow drying paint or ink. The fleeting image must be printed before the ink dries. Printing may be by press or by hand, and as the name monoprint implies, one can usually get only one strong impression. The effect must be guessed right from the start; there will be no trial proofs or different states unless the design is redrawn for a second impression. This term is used to refer to any print made in one version and incapable of being repeated. A monoprint cannot be editioned.  

Mono prints are supposed to allow for artistic spontaneity which I found out pretty quickly.  In my usual "fly by the seat of my pants" way of doing things, I decided to give this a try using the directions on swapbot:

Use a roller or a paint brush to spread the paint over an area big enough for your work. You will have to work rather quickly before the paint gets too dry. Using a stick or end of your brush or a pencil, draw a pattern or a quick sketch into the paint. It will be printed in reverse so remember this if adding text. Now place your paper onto your glass and give a quick, even rub with your hand and peel off immediately.  

First, I tried flowers.

This didn't work out so hot.  My designs were too intricate and didn't show up well.  I decided to try something simpler, like an egg.

I used an old ipod box as my glass surface.  It is exactly the size of the atc.  You can see where I scraped off the paint for the print.

I tried this a bunch of times, some worked and some didn't!

I let them sit for a day, and then went back to them.  I thought that if I embellished a couple, they would be ok.  So, I picked one and added some glitter, gold and little jewels.  

For the next one, I figured that if I used something wider to lift the paint off the surface, it would make the design stand out more. I found a pencil with a nice round eraser on top and used that. It worked great on this little chick.

So, this was a fun, get your hands full paint, type of project.  Today, I did a quick search on how to make a monoprint and found some sites that would have been helpful to me before I started this project.

1. How to make a Mono Print
2. MonoPrint for Beginners and Children
3. Janet Clare's Tutorial
4. Making Monoprint Background Papers - I quickly discovered that all the rejects would make great backgrounds for other ATC's.  This little tutorial will show you how!
5. Take it one step farther with a Monoprint Mini Book!

If you like to see how rather than read it, you can find lots of tutorials for monoprints on youtube. 

Learning how to Paint?

sunflowers atc, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

Moving into untested waters, I decided to try my hand at watercolor painting an ATC. I quickly learned that, like most art, this type of media is more complicated that it looks and probably requires years of instruction in order to do it right. One website I looked at stated that the first 100 or so paintings don't even really count.

So, I am really going out on a limb here posting my first attempts at watercolors.  I may have overdone the sunflower theme, but I found that it helps to do it over and over until you figure out the best way to get good results. 

Ouch!

Ouch!, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

We had our first real snow storm today. It was absolutely frigid outside. The wind here is horrible on a normal day, but today with the snow it was like WHITE OUT! We had the mother of all icicles on our back porch. It was about a yard long and very SHARP!

Snappy, our miniature schnauzer, had fun running in the back field.  There were loads of birds at my kitchen window  feeder.  The cardinals are especially beautiful with a backdrop of white snow!

I stayed home on my first real snow day in such a long time!  Inspired by the birds at my window, I added to my painted bird ATC stash.

Easy Ragwork ATC

Sunflower ATC, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

I have been going crazy trying to get ATC swaps done before my boys get home for spring break this weekend.  But, I am have terrible glue issues.  I just can't seem to get rid of air bubbles, and it is driving me mad.  So instead of pulling my hair out, I decided to return to what I do best - FIBER!

I have had this book checked out from the library for several 3 week cycles, but have never gotten around to trying anything.  Today, as I was cleaning, I found a bag of old t-shirt pieces, an old burlap ham bag, and the book.  I decided it would be a good day to try my hand at ragwork.

The book, Beautiful Ragwork: Over 20 Hooked Designs for Rugs, Wall Hangings, Furniture, and Accessories has easy directions and good pictures (important for visual people like me)!  I was able to come up with all the supplies from my stash (burlap, tshirt strips and a crochet hook (fake rug hooker but it works!)

I make a quick design and was done before I knew it!

Very Easy!

Appreciation ~ Kate Greenaway

Language of Flowers, London,
Routledge, 1884. Engraved and
colour printed by Edmund Evans.

Kate Greenaway was an illustrator of children's books in the Victorian era.  Her work depicted children as dreamy little figures who play amid the English countryside, dressed in frilly smocks, mob caps and sunbonnets.  I own several books with drawings by Kate Greenaway, including the one above, Language of Flowers.   

This morning I was pleasantly surprised when the weekly Dover Publications design sampler had some downloads from the book Kate Greenaway Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art).  If you haven't signed up for this weekly download, you can do it RIGHT HERE.  Each week you get an email with a variety of downloads from different publications.  The offerings are always great, and they are also perfect for use in many different crafts like Atcs, scrapbooks, and homemade postcards.  Here are the samples from Kate Greenaway that are offered this week:

I think they are just wonderful!

ATC Wallet Tutorial

I have been getting so many Atcs in swaps, that I needed a quick and easy way to keep them safe and tidy. I also wanted to have quick access to admire them. So, on a Dollar Store run today, I found a little photo album that I thought would work perfectly for storing my treasures.

Here is a little tutorial on how I did it.

I probably should have gotten a picture of me gluing the large piece of fabric to the cardstock here. Just use your imagination - position the fabric on the gluey cardstock and press it down real good. You might also need to let it sit in the middle of a thick book for a few minutes, to get rid of the curling page...

Once it is reasonably dry, you can embellish the front with a label. I rubber stamped ATCS on a little piece of ribbon and glued onto the fabric.

Once it is all dry, just slip the front into the vinyl sleeve. You can repeat the process for the back, or just leave the back clear and empty if you are lazy like me.

Here is the finished product.

Artist Trading Cards

I have been working on my own Atc's. I am a "newbie" at this, and the whole process is a little daunting, but also very addicting. There is lots of help along the way, however! First, there are many wonderful images on flickr. All you have to do is search atc and lots of wonderful images will pop up. Googling, "how to make atcs" will also bring up multiple guides and resources for making these little works of art. You can use just about any media you want to make an atc. I tend to want to use fabric or some sort of fiber in my cards, probably because that is what I am used to working with!

Here is a series I just finished. The challenge was to use a brown bag on most of the card. I had a lot of fun sewing the newsprint to the fabric.

Lucky Week!

It was my lucky week, as I received a bouquet of Atc's this week from my various swaps. Here is what made it my way:

This one was from jenken for a February Quilt Atc on swap-bot.  I think the pearls are just lovely!

This one made it to me in time for Valentine's Day!

It was made by Lisa at Ivory Blush Roses. Her blog is beautiful! In addition to her pretty Atc, I am also in awe of her crazy quilted fairy flower garden blocks. They make me wish for spring!

The last two I received were from a Brown Bag Atc swap. For this one, the challenge was to make cards and use recycled brown bags in your design. Barbara on swap-bot sent me these:

I am hoping that my luck continues.  I signed up for a give-away at Amber Alexander's Blog.  Her drawings are amazing!  The contest is outlined at her Etsy Shop.  Here is one of her prints, perfect for Valentine's Day!

Vintage Valentines

Who doesn't like vintage valentines?  I just finished doing up some vintage valentine ATC's for a swapbot swap. There are unlimited resources on the Internet for vintage inspiration and lots of freebies.

The Frugal Crafter has this sheet of valentine kewpies for downloading here.  She made lovely little lollipop covers with them. 

Altered Stuff has a wonderful collage sheet of vintage valentines that can be downloaded in pdf or jpg format. 

Scrappiles has digital scrapbooking freebies including a sheet of cute vintage cut-outs.

If you want to send vintage ecards, West Virginia University Library has put together a selection of valentine cards and postcards.    This is a sample from their collection:

The valentines that I used fort my ATC's were from Zwani graphics.  This site has html code ready to cut and paste so that you can add a wonderful vintage valentine to your site!

My ATC looked like this