So this was my first ATC. I created it in April for a swap at a local stamp store, A Small Cleverness. I'm not sure how long my latest addiction will last, but I'm having a lot of fun doing it!!
In case you are not familiar with what ATC's are ...
2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch artistic cards that communicate who you are as an artist. I'm finding they are a quick way to try out new techniques and to get a quick creating fix.
This little card is filled with lots of different products that were new to me and I was dying to try ... glazes, watercolor paper, twinkling H2O's, border punch. It took a while to make, but was worth it. It's the combinations of so many different elements that make a one of a kind piece of art. I challenge you to try some of these products!
Supply List : Rubber Stamp by Hero Arts, clear stamps by Technique Tuesday : butterfly and "you make me smile", Border Punch by Fiskar, small flower punches by McGill, glazes by Golden, Twinkling H20 Water Colors (you can get these at Scrap N Stuff or A Small Cleverness), Chestnut Roan Chalk Inkpad by ColorBox, water color paper, and Clear Stickles.
Technique :
CREATING YOUR OWN COLORED PAPER USING GLAZES / WATER COLOR PAPER:
- I had just taken a card class that introduced me to glazes. I love that they are semi-transparent and look like water colors, soft, romantic. They spread on nicely and a little bit goes a long way. So I had to try these. So I created a shade of pink by mixing Crimson and Pearl, brushed it over the water color paper (a little bit goes a long way), creating my own "cardstock" so to speak. Create an area large enough to stamp the phrase, and to punch 4 small flowers later. Since I knew I would be working with the twinkling water colors and glazes, I thought water color paper might be best for this project. I recommend 90lb water color paper for punching, the heavier stuff is to hard to punch. I liked the idea of creating my own colored paper and loved the look. OK so I could have just bought cardstock or a solid pp, but I never do things the easy way and I don't think they would have looked as good as the glaze on water color paper.
- Base 1 : Cut/trim a 2.5 x 3.5 size rectangle from the water color paper to be used as your base and set aside until we are ready to colorize the top edge with twinkling H2O and assemble the card.
- Base 2 : Cut/trim another peice that is a little larger, 3 x 4??, whatever works for you. This one will be used to stamp your rubber stamp image on and trim down further later.
STAMPING :
- Stamp the rubber stamp on white water color paper, Base 2 from above, (cardstock may work, but I didn't try it. ) using Chestnut Roan or your choice of brown ink. I know some people recommend heat setting your ink when you are not using a permanent ink and are going to water color, but I did not. It seemed to work fine without heat setting after I let it set for a few minutes. I had a lot to make and didn't want to add any steps that weren't necessary. I was going for a vintage look anyway, so if a little ink smeared, it just added to that look. Trim this down to 2.5 x 3. Trim along the top first barely cutting off the top of the first diamond by about 1/6". Ok I know your thinking I'm a detail freak about right now. But trust me it's all about the little details, and one of the reason's I like this card so much is because of all the dimensions and overlap. If you look closely you will see that the first diamond extends past that line on the finished card because we will add the popped up layer later. Then measure down just short of 3" to cut the bottom edge. This cuts off the "Thanks" and part of the last diamond as well. Set this aside until we are ready to colorize and ink.
- Stamp the large flower portion of the stamp a second time on white water color paper, you'll be cutting/disecting this portion later so you can pop petals off the card.
- Stamp the diamond portion of the rubber stamp twice (I'll explain why later), and the butterfly using brown ink on white water color paper.
- Stamp the phrase stamp on the pink paper you just created after it has had time to dry. I tried to use Chestnut Roan ink for this, but it wasn't dark enough over the glaze for me and I wanted my phrase to stand out, so I ended up using a brown Staz-on ink to get a crisp look.
PUNCH :
- Use a small flower punch to punch 4 mini flowers from the pink glazed water color paper you created from above (or solid pp if you like. Basic Grey makes some beautiful shades of pink). I like to punch 2 for each flower I will be making and then glue one to the other, after rotating/layering them. with a dot of glue in the center. Then I lift some of the petals of the top layer adding dimension. Set the punched flowers to the side for now and hold off on gluing until later.
- Punch a decorative border from white water color paper to be colorized and added to the lower edge later.
COLORIZING :
- Use the light pink glaze you mixed above to color over the inked images, diamonds and butterfly and set aside to dry. I didn't worry about cover the entire images with the glaze, it toned the brown down but because the glaze is semi-transparent, it still comes through. You will cut these out later.
- After figuring out where the placement of my mini flowers would be, I used a brown pencil to draw on the stems for these. Now use a green H2O to trace over the stems. Because they are semi-transparent you will be able to see the brown part of the stem as well, adding dimension.
- Base 2 - stamped image : Ok it's time to play! I love the twinkling H2O's. It's difficult to see in the photo above, but they are shimmery, but go on like a water color. I'll be honest, it's been about a month since I made this card, so I cant' remember what shades I used. But I know I used a pink color and a darker purple on the flowers, top edge of Base 1, and on the lace border. I used a green on the stems. I did learn that sometimes the color in the little jar isn't what it always looks like after you mix water with it. I plan on making a color card to guide me in the future for selecting which pot to use. Just play with them, you will love the shimmery look! Start by coloring the flower image on Base 2 with the light pink and then highlight with the darker color to add depth and texture. Now use the same techinique to colorized the petals on the image you stamp to layer on.
- I added some of the darker shade to the mini flowers as well to make it match the larger one. I also used the H2O's to colorize the lace border punch and upper edge of base one. Do that now. Set aside to dry
DETAILED CUTTING :
Ok so this part is not so much fun, but the look is great and once again, it's all in the details. I highly recommend cuticle sissors for this kind of detail trimming on curved edges.
- Cut that cute little butterfly out using cuticle sissors and set aside.
- Cut the large flower using cuticle sissors, eliminating every other petal so that the large flower petals on Base 2 will be visible once we assemble.
- Cut your words into small blocks. Use straight sissors for this.
- Cut 5 diamonds using straight sissors. Remember I said I would explain why you stamped to extra diamond images ... that's because the center diamonds have part of the flower overlapping them, so we can't use them. So we needed extra to have a total of 5 diamonds without the flower overlapping.
DETAILED INKING :
Inking the edges or distressing anything adds depth and makes a huge difference in your project. I do it a lot. You can accomplish this technique using paint as well. You can apply the ink along the edges using various tools. We are working with small pieces, so I used an eye shadow applicator for this project. If you have taken one of my classes you will remember that you can get a dark crisp line by running the ink pad directly along the objects edge. Or you can get more of a suttle, distressed look by picking some of the ink up on your applicator and lightly flicking it along the edges. I usually add a little more on the corners. Practices first. It's bettter to start out light and add a little more. At this stage of the game you don't want to mess up all your hard work by covering it with too much brown ink. So if you have never done this, PRACTICE ON SCRAP PAPER FIRST ! I also added some of the ink across the entire stamped image of Base 2, very lightly, using a make-up sponge to dirty it up or distress it. I highly recommend you practice this as well before doing it. After adding some ink to the make-up sponge I always wipe it across a scrap peice of paper first to remove some of the ink first because I'm going for very light coverage.
- Use brown ink along the edges of each word block.
- Ink the top and side edges of Base 2 and lightly distress center as well with technique described above with brown ink.
- Ink top and bottom edges of Base 1 with brown ink.
- Ink edges of diamonds using a green ink that matches the green you used on the stems with the twinkling H2O's.
ASSEMBLY and final touches !!!!!
You made it through all the little details and now it is time to assemble all your little parts and see the end product of all that hard work!
- Adhere Base 2 to Base 1. The top edge of Base 2 should fall about 1/6" from the top edge(colored) of Base 1.
- Adhere your colored lace border along the bottom edge of the card, slightly overlapping the bottom edge of Base 2.
- Carefully bend the wings of the butterfly on each side of the butterfly body so that it will not lye flat against your card. I also slightly curled the upper wing so that it would "come off the card". Adhere the butterfly at the body portion only to overlap the left upper wing actually going over the edge of the card a little. After it is dry, I used a brown pencil to color in the center and draw on it's antenna's.
- Use 3-D tape to adhere your diamond shapes over the diamonds on Base 2. Notice how the top and bottom diamonds extend over the edge of Base 2.
- Adhere the cut-up large flower at the base only. Rotate it so that the petals are seen from underneath the one your are adhering. After this dries, use small peices of the 3-D tape to pop the petals up.
- Adhere base layers of your 2 punched flowers. Then using a small dot of glue adhere the top layers of both of these flowers, rotating so that the bottom petals are seen from underneath.
- Using 3-D tape, adhere your word blocks.
- Add a little Clear Stickle to center of smaller flowers and larger flowers. On the larger flower I did it as little dots at the base. On the butterfly I used a pink Stickle over the entire surface.
Waaaa laaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!! One small ATC packed with a lot of stuff!! Whew I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a nap. It took me hoursssssssssss to make these for the swap and now a couple of hours to go back down memory lane and write up the instructions. So I would love to here if this inspires you, if you try any of the techniques and like them becuase that's why I did this, to share my love for creating with others who love it to! Enjoy and stay tuned. I already have my ATC for May done and hope to be posting soon!
Stamps : lady bug/flower Great Impressions E567, background unknown.
I was dying to use my new embossing template (polkdots) and border punch!
I love these little frogs from Penny Black!
