I have been running local card-making workshops in my village for about 10 years now. Unbelievable .. it feels like about 6 months! Ove...

Once again joined a wonderful swap hosted by Marion Bockelmann (Germany ) http://bockel24.blogspot.com Here are my offerings Postage People Swap

for the second challenge over at A Vintage Journey On some blogs, I saw beautiful altered playing cards. All were equipped with a heart. It liked so much that I wanted to alter also playing cards. Thank you for looking.

Ciao a tutti! Spero abbiate trascorso una splendida settimana e siate pronti per la nuova sfida di Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog! Oggi il tema è MAKE AN ATC! Chi mi conosce da molto tempo sa che l'inizio del mio viaggio creativo parte proprio da qui! Fare ATCs è stata una delle mie prime passioni! L'unica regola da rispettare è la dimensione: 2.5″ x 3.5″, in cm 6,3 x 8,9. Il resto lo farà la vostra creatività, aspettiamo curiose di vedere i vostri lavori! Terza settimana per la nostra Designer Spotlight di Agosto che vi presento come sempre molto orgogliosamente: Simona Rebecchi aka Ginny and the sheep, non perdetevi il suo blog! Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Thank you for joining us for our Nautical Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too. This week we are challenging you to Make An Artist Trading Card Artist trading cards (ATCs) are miniature pieces of art that are traded around the world. The only official rule for ATCs is the size: 2.5″ x 3.5″. Third week for our August Designer Spotlight: Simona Rebecchi aka Ginny and the sheep, don't miss her blog! Non c'è nulla da fare: ormai non posso più fare a meno delle Paper Dolls.... ora ho anche quelle a tema Halloween...... vi lascio immaginare! It's a certainty: I can not do without the Paper Dolls .... now I have them also Halloween themed... I'll let you imagine! Ho deciso di crearne 3 con lo stessa schema ma colori diversi: Cartoncino Kraft , Distress oxide e stencil floreale di Tim per lo sfondo. Il kraft e i Distress oxide funzionano benissimo insieme, dovete provare! I decided to create three ATCs with the same sketch but different colors: cardstock Kraft , Distress Oxide and Tim's floral stencil for the background. Kraft and Distress Oxide work so fine together, you have to try it! Ho iniziato il mio lavoro tagliando della misura esatta del cartoncino Kraft Ranger. Poi ho utilizzato il mini stencil floreale di Tim con Walnut stain. Una volta asciugato ho riposizionato lo stencil e colorato in modo non uniforme con altri Distress Oxide in contrasto col marrone. Tolto lo stencil ho spruzzato un pochino d'acqua, poca per la verità, altrimenti "annegate" il votro sfondo! Il colore resta in parte sullo stencil e in parte ne esce creando un effetto sdrucito e invecchiato che a me piace molto. I started my job by cutting the exact size from Ranger Kraft Cardstock. I used Tim's mini stencil with Walnut stain Distress Oxide. Once dried, I repositioned the stencil and I colored irregularly with various Distress Oxide in contrast to brown. I removed the stencil and splashed a little bit of water, few absoluely few, otherwise your background "drowns"! The color partly remains on the stencil and partly flow out ( I don't know if "flow out" is exact!) creating an aged look that I really like. Come sfondo per le Dolls ho usato un timbro dal set Label di Tim, anch'esso colorato con i Distress Oxide. In questo caso ho usato Ranger Archival Potting soil by Wendy Vecchi perchè volevo una timbrata non alterabile dall'acqua. As a background for my Dolls I used a stamp from Tim's Label Set painted with Distress Oxide. In this case I used Ranger Archival Potting soil by Wendy Vecchi because I needed a stamped that couldn't be altered by water. Per rifinire le mie ATCs ho cucito con un filo dorato in modo totalmente irregolare( l'unico modo per me!) e ho aggiunto qualche frase dal pack Idea-ology Clipping Stickers e qualche abbellimento alterato con Alcohol ink (il cuore) e Prima Acrylic paint Sparkle( il globo e la freccia). To finish my ATCs I irreguarly stitched (the only way I'm capable of it!) with a golden thread, I added some phrases from the pack Idea-ology Clipping Stickers and some embellishment, altered with Alcohol ink (the heart ) and Prima Acrylic paint Sparkle (the globe and the arrow). Ora tocca a voi! Come sempre partecipando alla nostra sfida potrete vincere un buono a estrazione da 50$ da spendere sul favoloso store di SIMON SAYS STAMP! As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store! So now it’s YOUR turn to get out your inks, paints and all things arty and start creating! We are looking forward to seeing what you make! Seguite SIMON SAYS STAMP su INSTAGRAM Follow SIMON SAYS STAMP on INSTAGRAM Se usate Instagram potete aggiungere #sssmchallenge così potremo vedere i vostri lavori! Do you use Instagram ? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too! Ci sono favolosi Giveaways e ispirazioni ogni giorno dai nostri favolosi designer su Simon Says Stamp Blog, se non l'avete ancora fatto iscrivetevi via e-mail per essere sempre aggiornati. Avete tempo fino a Lunedi 08:00 ora Ohio. 13:00 UK tempo, 14:00 CET per postare i vostri lavori! Saranno scelti alcuni progetti come Designer Spotlight , essi riceveranno uno special badge da aggiungere al loro blog! Potete leggere tutte le regole per partecipare alla sfida sul nostro blog nella side-bar! There are fabulous Give Aways and inspiration from fabulous designers on a daily basis over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog , if you haven’t subscribed by email you may want to so you don’t miss out You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in We will also be choosing 3 of our entries to put in the spotlight – a special honor where we talk about why we loved that entry in particular and award a special badge too! For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog. Vi ricordo che su Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge è in corso il challenge annuale per ragazzi dai 2 ai 16 anni inclusi! Ci sono ben 3 premi meravigliosi! Il challenge durerà per tutto il mese di agosto! QUI la pagina con il regolamento! I remind you that on Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge there is the annual challenge for kids. This challenge is open to all children between 2 and 16 inclusive i! There are 3 great prizes! The challenge will last throughout the month of August! HERE the page with rules. Grazie per essere passati, ci vediamo qui presto! Thanks for stopping by, see you soon here! Barbara Ranger 8.5 x 11 Kraft Cardstock Ranger Distress Mixed Media Heavystock Idea-ology Paper Dolls Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Label frames Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Graph and Croc Tim Holtz Distress Oxide set 2 Ranger Tim Holtz DISTRESS OXIDE Tim Holtz MINI STENCIL SET 25 Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mirrored hearts Mushroom - Alcohol Ink Tim Holtz Idea-ology ARROWS Adornments Metal Charms TH93127 Prima Marketing SPARKS MERMAID SPARKLE Tim Holtz idea-ology Souvenir Adornments Prima Marketing SPARKS FAIRY WINGS Art Alchemy Idea-ology Clippings Stickers European Ranger Heat It Craft Tool Ranger Glossy Accents Glue Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET 15 X 18 Reusable NSC20677

Artist trading coins from Alpha Stamps! Here's some Controlled Mayhem to brighten your day: five coins and five pockets decorated in a circus theme. I used some metallic paint to brighten up the edge of each coin in shiny gold. Grommets were added to the upper left corner of each pocket, and they were all bound with a binder ring. A tassel made with fun and fuzzy fibers (and a sweet silver elephant) was added to the ring for maximum circus fun. Here are the pockets and coins before binding. I used a rubber stamp to make the title on the first pocket. Old tickets look fab on the fronts of the rest. Let's take the coins out! Circus fun! Mixed colors and patterns. Of course I had to decorate the backs a bit as well. Here are a few in progress photos and comments about how these were made. My first step was to choose which images I wanted to use on the coins. Once those were chosen, I picked paper for the background and glued it on. Each coin then got a border. Some of the borders were made using black sharpies, and some were done with paint and a spotter, which is actually a tool for decorating fingernails. That's one at the lower left. You can get inexpensive sets of those on Amazon. Here's what my table looked like when I was choosing the papers for the pockets. You can see the chipboard pocket at the top center. I painted all the edges with a gold metallic paint for a bit of sparkle. IMPORTANT: When I folded up the pocket and adhered the flaps to form the pocket, I did it with a coin inside to make sure I left enough give in the pocket. If you skip this step, your coin may not fit. Using double stick tape insures the pocket will stick firmly. The photo below shows the three steps I took in covering the pockets. They can be a little tricky because of the rounded corners, but here's an easy way to deal with that. 1. Put double stick tape all around the straight edges of the pockets. 2. Glue the paper you're using, and line it up with the tape at the top of the pocket. Then flip the pocket over and cut as shown. I used an x-acto blade to carefully cut around the corners. Put double stick tape around the edges of the back of the pocket (I did not want to trust glue to hold those edges!) and carefully fold the edges over. 3. Flip over your pocket, and voila! Use an ink pad to darken the edges if you wish. I went around later with a dry brush of the gold metallic paint and added that to the edges as well. 4. Choose the paper you want to use behind the pocket, and glue that to the front of your pocket. Use and x-acto knife to trim around the top edge. Once that's done, cover the back, and add a grommet to each pocket. Thread a binder ring through the grommets, and you've got a fun little trading coin pocket book. Don't forget to add a tassel! For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Artist traiding coins benutzte Stempel: PSX, Craft, Hersteller unbekannt creatvefriday nur drei Farben

We all are several "persons". I am a mother, then a wife, an artist, a friend, a sister, an aunt, a daugther...not always in the same order. And there are days for example when I would like to be more of an adventurer than having to do my household stuff or walk the dog along the same old paths. Sometimes this feeling from inside breaks through and I end up for example having bought a piece of clothing I thought was perfect for feeling and showing my inner adventurer's nature....not daring to wear it, because the feeling from that day has gone. Do photographs show what we really "are"? And are we aware that we see more than a one-dimensional person when we look at photographs? I'm not so sure. And my series of four altered playing cards is an attempt to make the beholder think about the persons he sees... I used Distress stains and Distress marker ("ground espresso"), designer papers, ephemera, washi tape, used and dried tea bags, DecoArt Decou-Page, DecoArt media black modelling paste and stencils and word stickers for my four cards. For a larger view click on the images. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and happy crafting, Claudia xxx

Приветствуем вас, дорогие читатели и гости блога! Вчера мы вам представили нашу обновленную дизайн-команду, если вдруг вы еще не видели, скорее загляните сюда! Но с новой командой мы не изменяем наших традиций, и сегодня новый выпуск всем полюбившейся рубрики "АТС в подарок". Напомним наши правила, они очень просты: 1. Наши АТС-ки мы будем дарить наши постоянным читателям! Поэтому если вы еще не в их числе, то скорее присоединяйтесь! 2. Вы должны написать отдельный пост у себя в блоге, рассказать о наших подарках. В посте необходимо показать фото разыгрываемой серии АТС и наш баннер. Так же баннер проекта необходимо повесить у себя в блоге на боковой панели. 3. Ссылку на ваш пост необходимо добавить в InLinkz в конце поста до указанной даты и ждать розыгрыш среди всех желающих в течение нескольких дней после закрытия Линка. Карточки для розыгрыша приготовила Юлии Поспеловой, слово ей. Здравствуйте, дорогие наши читатели!Хочу вам представить мою вторую серию АТС под названием FEELINGS (Чувства). Данная серия представляет вам не те самые сокровенные теплые чувства,а наши порой неизбежные, подсознательные страхи. Карточка FEELINGS, в переводе как Чувства - это главная АТС, которая содержит в себе все остальные три карточки. Показывает нам их объединение. АТС PAIN, что в переводе - боль. Нет-нет, это не физическая боль, а душевная. Думаю, многие из нас ее испытывали. Именно поэтому на карточке молящийся ангел. АТС FEAR - страх. Страх будущего, неизбежного, настоящего. Это все те страхи,которые мы ощущаем на подсознательном уровне. Карточка LONTLINESS - одиночество. Думаю, здесь не стоит расписывать что да как...одиночество всем прекрасно знакомо. И в наших силах пускать его в свое сердце или нет. Вот такие довольно необычные, но в тоже время не малоизвестные темы я затронула в своих АТС. Желаю вам удачи и хочу сказать вам напоследок- открывайте двери в свою душу только тем чувствам, от которых вы светитесь. До новых встреч, дорогие друзья! Желающие получить одну из карточек добавляйтесь в InLinkz до 31 марта, а позже мы разыграем эти карточки с помощью рендома и определим имена 4-х счастливчиков! An InLinkz Link-up А позже загляните к нам в блог узнать имена счастливых обладателей АТС от Наташи Бойковой из предыдущего розыгрыша)

Created for a swap at a local gallery with the theme Journey

Hello friends, it's been awhile, as life has taken me different places, but today I have a little something to share. A few days ago I spent a wonderful day with my friends, Annie and her lovely mum

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Thank you for joining us for the …

Hi, I'm Vero (@ Vero.kt) and I welcome you to today's inspiration. How's everybody ? I've been playing with Mixed media ...

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Finally the time of year has come when living on sixth floor and looking out of our flat's windows feels as if the world outside has simply vanished at times. I love fog! Well, not exactly when I have to drive a car, but when walking the dog and finding ourselves being somehow "wrapped up" in a blanket that cannot be touched but that reduces sounds and makes me feel as if the existing world was only just within that small bubble around us that somehow "moves along" as we walk on. Today I tried to capture this feeling in images and (my own) words. I hope at least some of the meaning gets through to you. ;) Have a lovely weekend! xxx Stamp used: Indigo Blu - "Bare Forest I" Stencil used: Tim Holtz - Sizzix - "Birch Trees"

Thank you for looking.

Hello all, Today, I am sharing with you all a set of Artist Trading Coins that I made with the TCW Ocean Window Stencil (TCW809) and a few items that I picked up from my local Creative Reuse Center…

for A Vintage Journey #13. Thank you for looking.

2018 Topic 15: Artist Trading Coins Hi everyone, it's Chris Cresswell from loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk with you today, and I'd like to share with you my Artist Trading Coins and Holders, using some of Kay Carley's recent stamp sets and stencils. I was really excited earlier this year to catch onto this new version of Artist Trading Cards when I saw a FaceBook post which featured some examples of Artist Trading Coins. I was intrigued. I then went onto Pinterest to see if I could find more, only to find very few had been uploaded. Only six in fact and a short Process video created by Joanne Hodges (aka Craftyhodges) who got this idea while taking a shower! Of course, there are hundreds now but I clearly entered this mini world at its very early stages. I'm very grateful as I adore making them. I have particularly enjoyed creating these for PaperArtsy, using Kay's lovely stamps and stencils because the flowers fit the 2.5" size so well and because they achieve the same purpose as the original Artist Trading Cards, which is to provide samples of an artist's work: in this case a sample of a PA designer's work! I have also created a 'Holder' for storing the ATCoins. The small size Pringles tin is a perfect fit for these Coins. This quickly became a Mixed Media project. I knew that I wanted to make several ATCoins but I wanted to keep them fairly simple to really show off the beautiful flowers, butterflies and dragonflies that Kay loves to design. I always start with a Masterboard and die-cut the Coins once the background is complete. I first put down a layer of Distress Oxides followed by various PaperArtsy Infusions, sprayed with water to create a lovely watercolour effect. Infusions work so well on top of the Oxides. There are more process steps of this stage on my blog tonight if you haven't yet tried this technique, here I used 340gms PaperArtsy Smoothy Card for these backgrounds. This is the 12" x 12" size, so I was able to die-cut a lot of Coins from these three colour combinations. Having made the backgrounds for the Coins, I then started on the backgrounds for the ATCoin Holders, again using the same size PaperArtsy Smoothy Card, but adding some texture using PaperArtsy Grunge Paste and two stencils: PSO34 and Kay's new stencil PSO97. First I used PSO34 to scrape grunge paste through the stencil, all over two sheets of the card, in its natural form. Once dry, I brayered several Fresco Chalk paints across each surface. On one sheet, I used predominantly pinks and oranges, on the other sheet I used a mix of blues, purples and greens. Again, I have listed the colours used on my blog. The raised stenciled circles resisted a lot of the colour so quite a bit of white space was created. Once I was happy with the colour blends, on each stenciled sheet, I used Kay's new stencil (PSO97) to add further grunge paste on top of the coloured background. This is such a pretty stencil and wonderfully firm to take heavy media. This time I wanted to add colour to the grunge paste before applying. This was when the surprise happened. In the photo you can see I used Magenta Infusions on top of the pink/orange background. I had hoped by using the Infusions I would create a vibrant raised set of stenciled images. However, to my surprise, I found that when this dried the colour had paled down considerably. At first I was disappointed but gradually found that I loved the new colour that the mixing with the grunge paste had created. The same happened when I mixed Violetta Infusions with the grunge paste for the blue/green background. The little daisy is from a much earlier stamp set: EKC03. As you can see I added further doodling to the raised stenciling and used a Sharpie white paint pen to colour in the daisies.These were now ready to cut to size and wrap around the Pringles Crisps tins to transform them into Mini ATCoin Holders. The tiny butterfly and dragonfly are from sets: EKC03 and EKC06. The next step was to stamp out some of the gorgeous flowers from Kay's new stamp set: EKC19 and my all time favourite stamp set: EKC15. I used Black Archival ink for one set and Memento for the other set, again stamped on PaperArtsy 340gms Smoothy card. One set would be coloured with Copic markers, thus the need for a Memento ink pad, and the others would be coloured with Derwent Inktense Blocks which I grated into little pots and added water to. These three Coins (which are my favourite) were coloured with the Inktense Blocks, cut out and adhered to the Coins: Each Coin is embellished with stamping, doodling and mark making before the final image is adhered on top. The final flourish in the three above was to add some text and a little DecoArt Media Liquid Glass in the centre of each flower. Once completed I generally adhere them either to black or coloured card or some of the many MDF Coins I have in my stash! The fun part is always the final stage, deciding on the focal image and final embellishments. You will already have seen many different ideas for completed ATCoins this week and there are many more on Pinterest. For some of these, and as a tribute to Kay's preferred style, I've added some glitter to some of my Coins. Often I will add Collage Pauge to ensure all layers are firmly attached, especially if I've added beads and tiny fragments. At other times, I will add DecoArt Crackle Glaze or Distress Collage mediums. The choice is yours. In the photo below, you can see a close-up of some of the Coins with added glitter and three Coins made from one of the left-over sheets that I created for the Holders: These little mini art works are quick and easy to make and there are a number of Swaps organised by various groups, including my own facebook group: Mini Marvels. I hope the ATCoins you have seen tonight and throughout the week inspires you to have a go yourselves. Kay Carley's stamp sets are a great way to get started. Any of the Coins shown here are available for swapping if you're interested! Blog: www.loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk Facebook: Chris Cresswell Twitter: @artmadnana Instagram: artmadnana Pinterest: Chris Cresswell To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher: Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page. The current topic link Topic 15: Artist Trading Coins will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 16th September 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00. All links go in the draw to win a PaperArtsy £50 voucher. Please make sure we can contact you as a prize winner - it helps if you share your contact info from the platform you opt to use. Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

a blog showing almost daily paper craft and mixed media projects with a vintage style

It's been quite some time since I have done any altered playing cards for my 52 cards pickup project. If you don't know that "52 Card Pickup" means, learn more about it here. This time my group of four cards look a bit less "lighthearted" and "fun"...which mainly is caused by the fact that I have been struggling with constant nervousness and sometimes also panic attacks from out of the blue for the last months. And although I still try not to let it take me down too much, I have reached a point where I can feel the exhaustion quite a lot. (The source for this still isn't found yet, but my doctors and I are getting closer it seems...). You will find that the quotes I used on these four cards indicate some of the struggle I am in at the moment. But then I think: in that hectic life most of us have they should be helpful to others too sometimes. #17 #18 #19 #20 Materials used: Paper Artsy Eclectica Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics "Chutney", "Chartreuse", "Seaweed" and "Tikka" alongside some scraps from the Prima "Cartographer" paper stash. Washi tape, some Bo Bunny, Kaisercraft and Prima stamps for texture and Distress markers "black soot" and "broken china" to shade in the word tiles and hearts. Hugs, Claudia x

Cards, Crafts, Cats and Coffee

Wills's Cigarettes "Time & Money in Different Countries" 1908. #16 Greece

Crafty goings on from Katy Leitch

Hi! Suzz here. Welcome to our latest challenge! The challenge this time is to create an Artist Trading Coin. I was inspired by a new way of capturing a little bit of art to share with others. Your challenge is to create a trading coin which should be a circle shape 2 1/2 inches in diameter. The winner will earn the chance of a guest spot here at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. In addition, the Design Team will select three further outstanding entries and those creators will receive a Top Pick badge to display on their blogs! The guidelines for entering are simple; create a new vintage or shabby chic project following the challenge theme, link it below to your post (not just your blog) and also include a link back to this challenge in your post. You can combine our challenge with up to 10 challenges (including this one) to be in with a chance of winning. If you are entering through a public forum (such as Instagram) you'll need to include the words Frilly and Funkie Challenge. Also, please be sure to turn off your Word Verification so our Design Team can leave comments on your blogs. Make sure you follow these rules as unfortunately we have had to eliminate entrants from the prize draws in the past. To give you even more ideas we have the Funkie Side of the team's amazing inspiration: Sara Emily -- sarascloset Suzanne Czosek - Suzz's Stamping Spot Jenny Marples - Pushing The Right Buttons *************************************************** WEEK ONE To get your artistic juices flowing we have the Frilly Side of the team's fabulous inspiration: Maggi Harding - Scrap, Travel & Bark! Cec Wintonyk - CW Creations Kathy Clement - Kathy by Design Come join us in all the fun and create some art to share with your own Artist Trading Coins! Don't forget to come back next week to see what the Funkie Side of the team has created! Suzz

Happy Saturday! This post is a special one as I did it as a guest to Broucek blog. Here is the link to the original post (link) . ...

"Hello all, It's me, Ellen Vargo, here again for my last project share for February. Today we'll be working on a master board and cutting it down to make 9 ATC's (ATC = Artist Trading Card with a standard size of 2.5" x 3.5"). We'll be creating a brayered background (shocking!), adding some stamping and lots of stamped collage papers in bright contrasting colors, and adding some paint marks and pen work". Here's one of the finished ATC's ... We'll start with our master board (Heavyweight Smoothy Card) and create a background. This time we'll start with some stamping to create a pattern. I chose the scratchy rectangle from EEV02. I stamped it over and over again, staggering the line-up so it looks sort of like bricks. EEV02 Now it's time for the brayer. I used the following Fresco paints (in the order they appear below) to create a nice background over the stamping. Now we'll stamp some patterns over the painting. We'll use the bold stripes border from EEV03 and Wendy Vecchi's Potting Soil Archival Ink. EEV03 I stamped in both horizontal and vertical patterns over the whole sheet. For the small sections in the middle I just inked up a portion of the stamp. Now it's time for some collage. This is where I started really having fun. Instead of choosing collage papers that coordinated with the background, I decided to purposely choose some papers that were really bright and bold and would contrast with the background. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I've learned that when you cut it down to smaller pieces, everything sort of clicks into place. Hold onto your hats! Turquoise, green, magenta, red, yellow! There are stamps from EEV01, EEV03 and EEV04 represented in the collage papers. Then I added some painty markings using the edge of a flat paint brush. I filled in some open areas and painted over some of the collaged areas as well. Then I decided to outline some of the collage pieces. This is where my happy accident took place. I was outlining one of the large collage pieces and went WAY beyond one of the corners ... YIKES! I started to panic a little, but then realized I could just turn it into a new pattern! So instead of one dramatically OUT of place line, I created some fringe with little dots at the end... you're probably seeing a "pattern" emerge with me ... I LOVE patterns! Here's the whole sheet, all marked up, and trimmed down to ATC size, including the little extra bits. I outlined each ATC with a black sharpie paint pen (oil based). I love outlining with this pen. The oil-based paint gives a shiny finish to the border. I like the contrast between the matte chalky finish of the fresco and the glossy border. Now... those extra bits .... what to do... I've been accumulating quite a stock of "extra bits" and didn't know what to do with them. I didn't want to use them as collage because they are on quite heavy card stock. I finally had an A-HA moment! Combine them all together for some patchwork ATC's! I love the random combination of patterns and colors. I stapled each section onto a lightweight card base and VOILA! You may recognize some of these "extra bits" from the samples I made for the debut of my Eclectica stamps for the Stitches trade show. OK... now that we have all these ATC's - what can we do with them? Here are a few ideas... 1. Place card for your next fancy dinner soiree (does anyone have those any more???)... 2. O r... lose the folded tent card, and it's a name badge to wear at the next trade show... (hmmm... think she would wear it? hint, hint). Same lettering style as our journal cover yesterday, just more sketchy / messy style. 3. A custom business card. (used the smallest scratchy shape stamp from EEV02 with Sap Green Archival Ink) 4. The feature of a card front. With more "extra bits" cut into skinny strips for a border. You could add any greeting or sentiment to this (birthday, miss you, thank you - whatever the occasion calls for!) 5. Mount your three favorites onto some white card for some framed art! I know this was a *MONSTER* post, but I sure had fun and hope you got some good ideas for how to use some of my stamps, and the many ways to use ATC's for different projects. Thanks for such a warm exciting welcome into the PaperArtsy Family! I won't be back on the PA blog until March 16, 17, 18, but if you want to follow along in my arty adventures, please come and follow my blog at http://1036art.blogspot.com. I'd love to see you and hear from you! 'til next time.... Ellen. Leandra Says: Huge thumbs up Ellen on this week's projects, creative, bold and inspired art. Can't wait to have a little play time with these stamps. See you again next month. Gillian Says: Awesome art Ellen, love love love the boldness not only of the stamped images but also the colour palette you chose to work with. Many congrats again on your new releases. See you next month. If you would like to join in this week's challenge and play along with Ellen's techniques, then do link up your creativity here, and go in the draw to win some PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by 17:00, Sunday February 23rd 2014.

Made for a Pin-Up swap. Available for trade. September 2014.