Listen to Your Heart ATC

Just goofing around in the studio late last night. Had the itch to make something – something at all – because I cannot manage to get started in my 2010 handmade art journal. It’s too pretty and neat and clean right now. I don’t want to ruin it! So I made this instead.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope each and every one of you has a safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving!!

As for me, I will be at my mom’s place eating things with lots of butter in them.

Remembrance ATC

The MAMMA flickr group theme last week was “remembrance”. Preparations for my craft show took precedence, and I did not get my entry done in time for the swap. But I thought the theme was worth spending some time on.

My mom has all these great photo albums of my relatives, lots of neat antique photos. Looking through them reminds me of where I’ve come from. Both my maternal great grandparents came off the boat from Sicily. I hope someday to visit the place of my ancestors.

This photo of my mom’s parents reminds me of how much they loved each other. They were together for 64 years when my grandfather passed a few years ago. I miss both of them greatly. I like to do things to honor their memories. I made a big shadowbox collage about my maternal grandmother I’ll show you someday.

The background was made a few months ago with gel medium and acrylic paint. Then I stitched the border on my sewing machine in brown thread. The lace was a gift from my grandmother. I have a box of old buttons I like to draw from for my ATCs. The metallic element that says “parents” came from my hunt at the Dollar Store for collage items. Nice score, I think.

I’m not sure when this photo of my Grandma Ann and Grandpa Chris was taken. Maybe when he was on leave from Korea or just returning home or right before he left. Aren’t these two just beautiful?

Vintage Tag ATC Swap

photo by nayski - used with permission

I received my vintage tag artist trading card (ATC) swap from nayski on Saturday. Isn’t it lovely? So sweet, so vintage, so pink! The butterfly is such a nice touch. I’m a sucker for paper lace, and this one has some at the bottom. Now I really need to string my line up to display my cards! This one is too wonderful to just leave sitting on my desk.

I should note for all you ATC traders out there: please put your cards in a plastic bag or sleeve when you mail them. My mail got soaked from a bad rainstorm, and this card would have been ruined were it not for the plastic bag in which it was shipped. I just ordered some ATC sleeves that seal up for this reason.

Nayski included some extra goodies for me as well. She sent printed paper, little playing cards, a ticket, ribbon, and some words that are little brads. Joy! Thank you, nayski!!

The rest of nayski’s flickr photostream has some amazing artwork. Her paining style is unique, and I love it.

Dreamer by nayski

Time Flies ATC

The MAMMA theme this week is “black and white”. When I read it I thought, “There’s just no way I can nix color!!” But I did my best, and here is the result.



The clock face with wings was stamped on white cardstock with clear Versamark ink and then embossed clear over it. I colored in the image with a black marker to create the inverse effect. The rest of the card is lace, more stamping, eyelets, a bow, and words printed on my printer. Not too complicated, but on the whole I am happy with the overall effect.

Off to the MAMMA photo pool it goes and gets assigned a swap partner on Saturday!

First Swap Arrival!

My first Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap arrived today from the United Kingdom. shadfan66 created this card. I really like it! The theme was “home sweet home”. This swap was part of the Maggie’s Monday Musings (MAMMA) flickr group.

I was really honored today to discover that Maggie had given my vintage tag ATC an award! All of the entries this week were out of this world. The members of this group really shined.

I’m sending my vintage tag ATC to nayski. I already peeked at her photos to see the card I am going to get from her, but she entered two. I don’t know which one I’ll be getting. Looking up my swap partner’s card is killing the surprise for me, and I’m going to stop doing it!

Queen of Hats ATC

This is my MAMMA artist trading card (ATC) entry for this week’s theme of vintage tags.

I created the background with book pages torn and collaged with gel medium. Some rusty brown paints added “age” to it. The woman is from some flickr collage image group, if my memory serves me. Her hat is festooned with a lock of fancy yarn. Vintage lace and buttons adorn the bottom. A brass grommet holds the opening for all the frilly lace and ribbons at the top. The words were stamped using brown dye ink and steel letter punches.

I have not made a tag ATC before this one. The fluffy bits at the top make me happy. It makes the card seem more full.

I’m almost tempted to not trade this one, as I would really like to hang it in my studio. Maybe I’ll make myself one, too. I should just start making these in batches of two, one for me and one for the swap!

Home Sweet Home ATC

On flickr I happened upon a group called Maggie’s Monday Musings (MAMMA). Maggie posts a theme for the week and the group members answer the call in Artist Trading Card (ATC) format. Here’s my entry for the “home sweet home” challenge.



Maggie posted a house template on her blog and I really liked the proportions of it so I used it for my ATC. I collaged scrapbook paper for the house background. Then I added some paper lace, a print of a bird and a nest, and some words from a vintage book. On my sewing machine I stitched the red thread border around the house. The blue sky background was collaged from book paper and gel medium. Then I painted the sky blue.

I’m looking forward to participating in my first ATC swap through this group. When I get my swap I’ll let you see it!

Felted Artist Trading Cards

I got this idea from a magazine that I now cannot remember the name of or I would link to it here. This woman made the loveliest Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) from felt and wool roving. So I decided to try it out as some of my work has leaned me toward fiber arts and felting. The ATC biz is something I’ve been interested in as well.

Pink Flowers

This is the first one I made. Needle felted simple round flowers with French knot details and embroidery on a purple felt base. “Hey,” I’m thinking to myself. “This isn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be!” 

House

Needle felted onto black craft felt. Embroidered with glass beads. I added the little bird because the house looked lonely.

Bird’s Nest

I got a little wild with this one. The brown roving nest needle felted onto the cream was boring to my eye. My mother gave me some brown sparkly eyelash yarn from a project she had done. I wasn’t sure if it would stick, but I tried it anyway. I’m really pleased with the results. The green leaves and other beads just makes this one pop. It’s my favorite so far. 

All of these still need a backing sewed onto them with my information for an ATC swap I might try. I just cannot decide what fabric to sew onto them. Plus getting out my sewing machine is hard when my studio is such a mess.

Another First

Last week at work, I made my first Artist Trading Card. At work? Yes, I had to fill in for the art therapist while she was away. Poor me. Not doing my own work and making art instead. Someone should call the Department of Labor.

We had a group of artists who have wanted to learn about these for a while and some who knew nothing about ATCs at all. It was strange to run a group about something I know about but never actually did. So I was kind of winging it. 

Last year I bought a book called Artist Trading Card Workshop. I highly recommend this book to all ATC enthusiast and beginners. The book is filled with techniques for backgrounds and collages from easy to more advanced. Some projects included are painting on paper towels, stenciling, transfer techniques, embossing resists, and using resin. Directions for making an accordion book to hold all your cards can be found at the back of the book. Hundreds of full color images of ATCs are sprinkled throughout to add more juice to your imagination. 

I passed this book around the room so the artists would get a visual sense of what I was talking about. And then we spent two hours creating. Nothing beats being in a room full of artists working on art and talking. The air is electric with ideas and creativity. Sometimes I like to just watch them work and interact with each other. It's so important to belong to a community and where I work we strive to provide that for artists who struggle with mental health issues. 

Now my brain is full of ideas for more ATCs. Since the working area consists of only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" I think some designs might translate to my work with the 1" x 1" pendants. 

I made the card above on a piece of heavy watercolor paper. A tag, a picture of a model with fairy wings, and the number 6 were collaged onto the card after I painted the background pink with Lumiere paints (my favorite!). Then the fairy got teal polka dots. The back has my signature, the date, and the edition of 1/1. 

I think I am going to keep this one since it is my first. But for future reference, does anyone want to trade?