These are some more ATCs I made using layers of stamping and lots of ink. (Yes, I now have multi-coloured fingers that won't come clean). The star on the top one is triple embossed chipboard which I've stamped into, and on the bottom one I've used some tiny bits of Stickles to highlight the flowers on the tree.
This is a stamped ATC I made a couple of days ago. I created the background using three colours of ink and the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Timeworks Masks, which I got for Christmas and absolutely love! I stamped some text on the background in turquoise and stamped the main image in Timber Brown Stazon then added some brown around the edges. I stamped the words "tick" and "tock" on separate card and tore them out then inked them in turquoise, and then finally added some turquoise seed beads at the opposite corners.
Well, I just realised I haven't blogged for over three weeks! There are a few reasons for this, but mainly I've been very busy with Christmas and also haven't been feeling too good and have been totally lacking in inspiration. 
The background on the second one was done using two different types of mesh. I painted over it with a thick layer of acrylic and heat dried it to create some texture, then added copper embossing powder around the edges. I made a tile from Makins Clay, which I rolled with a piece of lace on top to create the texture. The face was also made using Makins Clay. I made it in a mould and then pressed a flower bead into it three times, leaving it in place the third time. I painted the tile and the face the same colour as the background, stuck them on and then went over the whole thing with some copper metallic rub-on to bring out the texture.
The background on the third one was done in a similar way to the second, except that this time I dry brushed it with two different colours of acrylic rather than using a metallic rub-on. I used aluminium mesh on this one. The house was stamped onto aluminium which I coloured with alcohol inks and then embossed. I rubbed over it with some sandpaper to bring out the embossed lines and make it look distressed.
This is my journal page for Susan, on the theme of "Woman". I started off by inking the background in shades of purple, blue and aqua, then spritzed it with water and heat dried it. I then sprayed on some gold Cosmic Shimmer powder and heat dried it again, then stamped the text in shades to match the background. I stamped the man image in black Stazon and added a piece of sequin mesh at the opposite corner I then added the flourish and the word "woman", which are Grungeboard which I've painted with acrylics then added crackle medium with metallic rub-on over the top to show up the cracks (unfortunately this doesn't show up well in the photo). Finally I addded the flower and leaf at the corner of the stamped image, with a button for the centre of the flower.
These are for a Friendly Plastic themed swap being hosted by Sheena (Doggrooomer) on the DoCrafts forum. I absolutely love using Friendly Plastic so this was one I couldn't miss, and it also gave me the chance to make some nice textured backgrounds using my new gel mediums and moulding pastes.
For the second one I created the background using Golden light moulding paste which I made wiggly lines in using a coarse bristled paintbrush, and then painted over it using some lovely shimmery watercolour paints, and addded some metallic rub-on over the top to pick up the ridges. The Friendly Plastic is done in three layers. For the bottom layer I started with three strips, which I spiked the edges of using a needle tool and then pressed some mesh into the middle of. I pressed the mesh in using the needle tool so the FP would ooze up through the gaps. Next I created a layer of marbled FP by heating up strips and then pulling a marbling comb through it, first in one direction and then in the other. I then heated the bottom layer again and stuck the marbled layer on top. Finally I made the face using a mould. I had a slight mishap with this one, in that I ended up with a bit at the top of the head where the black showed through. (I didn't quite position the FP correctly in the mould). I don't do wastage, so instead of throwing it away I decided to make a feature of it by sticking a gem in the middle of the black bit. (I think it works even if nobody else does). Finally I heated the FP again for about 20 seconds and stuck the head onto it. I left it to cool and then stuck it onto the background using silicone glue.
I created the background on the third one using Golden extra heavy gel medium, left it to dry, (OK, I admit, I helped it out a little bit with my heat tool), and then painted over it using the same shimmery watercolours as on the one above. I rubbed over it with silver metallic rub-on and added a narrow border of silver embossing powder using Versamark ink to stick it. I created the Friendly Plastic flowers by cutting some small triangles of FP and arranging them in a circle so the points were touching in the centre. I heated the FP up and then pressed a medium sized plastic gem into the centre. I placed a small piece of shiny mesh in the centre of the ATC and then stuck the FP flowers on top of it using silicone glue, which also holds the mesh in place. The shimmer doesn't show up well on the photo of this one and it looks much more colourful in real life. If anyone knows how to take good photos of shiny things and doesn't mind sharing, please let me know your secrets!
For the last one I also used the extra heavy gel medium for the background, drew hearts in it using the end of a paintbrush and painted over it in bright pink acrylic. I left it to dry(!), and then painted over the top with metallic acrylics in shades of gold, blue and purple. I used two layers of Friendly Plastic on this one. The first layer was made using four squares of FP which I placed together to make a bigger square, heated and then made the holes in it using a wet embossing tool (I dipped it in cold water before making each hole - this stops it from sticking to the FP). I put this aside and then created the heart. I started by marbling some strips of FP in the same way as above except that this time I placed the strips so they were touching. I didn't have a heart shaped cutter, so I let the FP cool a little bit and then used my needle tool to cut to FP into a heart shape, wetting my fingers and pulling away the bits around the edges. (I've put these bits aside and will use them for another project on another day). I heated the bottom layer of FP for about 20 seconds and then stuck the heart on top. I stuck it onto the background with silicone glue and then added a heart at the bottom using micro beads.
This is my entry for this month's UK Art Raffle (there's a link on the right). This month's theme is circles - whatever you make must have a circle on it somehere.
I made these ATCs using a fantastic Mona stamp that I bought from Cherry Pie a year or so ago. Two of them are for this month's swap on UK Stampers, which is on a Da Vinci theme. I'm also using one of the Da Vinci Santa ATCs which I've posted pictures of below somewhere.
These are all done in a similar way. Firstly I made a Versamark resist background by stamping the background in Versamark ink and then inking over it. I then stamped over it with a text stamp, and finally added the main image over that.
I made these for a swap being hosted by Carol V on DoCrafts. The top one was made using two different types of image transfer. The background is book text which I coloured using distress inks. I then added the flowers using a Mod Podge image Transfer technique. The main image is a gel medium image transfer onto a piece of linen, and Iadded some cut out flowers at the corners. I actually changed this slightly after I took the photo by the addition of the words "little flower", but I'm far too lazy to take another photo (and it's too dark anyway), so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like. 
Anyway, back to the ATCs. On the second one, I alcohol inked the corners of the card. (They're shiny cards and it was the only thing I could get to stick). I again added book text for the background and coloured it with distress inks. I cut out the circles and inked them in distress ink as well, then stuck them down and spritzed the whole thing with water so the ink woudl run a bit around the edges of the circles. I cut out the image of the little boy and stuck him on and then cut out the jester's hat from pieces of book text and inked it. Finally I stuck some more inked book text to the back of the metal star, added the works "little star" and attached it using a brad.
For the last one, I again used book text and distress ink for the background, and then layered on some paper that I created whilst experimenting with Mica powders a couple of days ago. It's done in the same way as the backgrounds on my mica powder ATCs below but using a light beige coloured paper. I then layered on the musical notes, the picture of the girl, the crown and the words and added a heart gem to finish it off.
These are ATCs for Sheila's swap on DoCrafts. I created both of the backgrounds by scrunching up some black paper, dropping various colours of mica powders into a mixture of PVA glue and water (they float on top) and then painting the powders on, picking up some of the powder and some of the PVA and water on my brush, and picking up a different colour powder with each dip of the brush. The effect doesn't really show up very well on the pictures - in reality they are very shimmery and shiny. For the top one I cut flower petals and leaves from the same paper I used for the background and edged them and the card with gold metallic rub-on. I added a gold button for the centre and turquoise wire which matches the turquoise tones on the paper for the stem
These are my ATCs for Cazro's December Colour swap on the DoCrafts forum. I've made them a bit early, but I want to send them with the November ones to save on postage costs.
I decided to have a go at making some really grungy looking backgrounds using acrylic paints. I think some have turned out better than others but I decided to post pictures of all of them! I've been working on these over the last couple of days, as I've had to wait for bits of them to dry (ergh!) I think I might experiment a bit more and see what I can come up with.
Number two was done by painting acrylic paint mixed with PVA glue through the holes in some sequin mesh and layering it on in various colours. I've done a gel medium image transfer over the top which I wanted to look really grungy (although I'm not sure if maybe I've overdone it a bit). The hearts are grungeboard which I've painted with the champagne gold paint and heat dried to distress. The words and border are painted on and heated too. (And I didn't strategically place the hearts to cover up where I messed up the image transfer, honest!)
For the third one, I again used a mixture of acrylic and PVA in shades of blue, purple and green, and painted it over a piece of book page. I then scraped a flower design into it using the end of a paintbrush, although this doesn't show up well on the finished ATC. (If I did it again I'd use a smaller stamp to make more of the background). This is another one where I've used an image stamped on tissue paper then added paint around the edges. I've also added a row of cut out butterflies along the bottom.
These last two were done in the same way, and the background effect shows through much better on these. I've used paints in shades of red, green and gold, and again I've painted a thin border and heat dried it to make it bubble up. Sam is hosting a Da Vinci themed swap on the UK Stampers forum and I'll probably enter them for that but I'm not sure. I've borrowed the stamp from Nicks, who kindly offered to lend it to me after I fell in love with it when she sent
me an ATC made with it last year. I thought I'd better post some pictures of things I've made using it so she knows it's safe! (There will be more to come as my desk is a mass of works in progress. For some reason I seem to be flitting from one thing to another at the moment).
These are my ATCs for this week's challenge on TMTA.
has a background made using resist embossing, distress inks and water.
This is an altered slide mailer that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks. It was originally going to be my replacement entry for October's UK Art Raffle (link on the right) after Matt nicked the first one, but unfortunately I didn't get it finished in time so couldn't enter.
This picture shows a close-up of the detail on the front. (I love my new camera!)
I covered the inside left with tissue paper and painted with acrylic and added metallic rub-on over the top. The letters are stamped into clay and painted with copper acrylic with a black acrylic/PVA wash, and the skeleton is stamped and cut out. The inside right is painted in black acrylic and heated for texture, again with metallic rub-ons over the top. I painted the slide slots in copper acrylic and added a stamped on slide in the right one and some grungy mesh, micro beads, a plastic spider and a Grungeboard skull in the left one.
The back is a thick later of UTEE over black acrylic, which I've stamped into and covered with metallic rub-ons.
