Nature's Neutrals ATC Set

Hello everyone! Today I'm posting a set of ATCs I made for a swap at ATCs for All, for a Neutral Colors theme.



I began my collage background from some magazine images with flower pods and leaves in a wintery garden. These lead me to think of autumn, early winter even, after a first snowfall perhaps. So I ended up with a palette of white and shades of brown and yellow.



I added torn paper scraps from book pages and paintings I no longer wanted to keep, and then used gesso to fade the edges.



The edges are coloured with Distress Ink colors Brushed Corduroy and Black Soot.



For embellisments, I chose mistable fabric stickers that I tinted with different yellows and browns, and Wycinanka chipboards that I embossed with WOW embossing ink, color Earthtone Nutmeg.



These cards went for a swap, but I'll let you know in the blog if I make more in same style for trade later on!



I'm entering my ATC set in the following challenges:

Mixed Media Monthly: Vintage. I was inspired by the vintage colour palette, and also had the lace in mind when I applied the subtle, uneven coat of white gesso.



Memuaris: Palette #28, Orange & Brown or Sand & Brown



Mixed Media World: Anything Mixed Media Goes.

And Eclectic Ellapu: Flora and Fauna / Nature



Last but not least, here's a photo of the little extras that I included when mailing the swap. I love getting happy surprises like this so I often include some collage elements myself whenever there's room in my swap envies and the postage limit allows!



Happy weekend to everyone and thank you so much for your visit and comments!

Mixed Media Greenhouse ATCs

Hello springtime, flowers and greenery! To welcome the new season, I enjoyed joining a Greenhouse swap at ATCs for All. This was a mixed media swap and another cool twist was that the cards were to be actually house shaped. They were so much fun to make and I can't wait to see the returns I get!



I was inspired by the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper: Springtime
Crazy-Lab: Spring Feeling
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Layer it Up!
We Love 2 Create: Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes



For the spring themed challenges, the inspiration is quite obvious, I guess! As for Simon's Layer it Up challenge, I actually tried something new with layering. I'll get back to that a bit further down!



In all the four cards, I began cutting the background and roof from different papers. I included both DIY papers, like Gelli prints, and scrapbook papers and magazine pages.



I then added collage elements like postage stamps, washi tape, magazine cuts...



And some colour with Gelatos and Crayola crayons.





And then to the last layer! I had done some stamping on tissue paper and other nearly see-through papers earlier this week. I've been wanting to build a pre-made stash for beeswax collage, which is where I have previously used stamping on tissue. The thing is that the paper becomes invisible with wet media, and only the stamping shows. This is a cool way to add stamping on surfaces where the stamping ink alone might not show very well, or might bleed, depending on what you're going to add next.



I usually only make beeswax collage when I can dedicate a whole day or longer stretch of time for it, since it takes a while to take the supplies out and clean afterwards. Mainly it is that I use the same ironing board that I use for clothers so I need to cover it properly before I get started. Anyway, I'm glad I thought of using the stamped tissue in another way! And acrylic medium worked in a similar way as beeswax - the paper seems to completely disappear.

Remember that for both beeswax and acrylic medium, the stamping ink has to be permanent! I always use Staz-On.



Thank you for your visit!

Mixed Media Christmas ATCs for Scrap Africa

Hello again, and happy December! I created this set of Christmasy ATCs inspired by the December Mood Board at Scrap Africa.



I was particularly inspired by the textures, glitter, festive mood and shades of red. The rose in the top left corner made me think of using a stencil, so I started the background with stenciling some structure paste.



I worked the background in one large piece, about A3 size. I actually started it with a scrapbook layout in mind, but couldn't think of an inspiring photo to combine with it, so I decided I was more in an ATC mood this time.



When creating with a paper of the size A3, there's actually enough for both scrapbook layout and a row of ATC backgrounds. A3 short side is a quarter inch short of a regular 12x12 scrapbook paper, but I don't mind a difference this small in my projects. I think it's handy and economical to buy art paper for mixed media scrapbooking, even though the sizes have not been created with scrapbook albums in mind.



Can you guess what other media I have used?



There are quite many layers actually. Over the stenciled paste, I first painted some parts with tube watercolours and other spots with acrylics. You can perhaps see the fluorescent red that pops out a bit. That, for example, is an acrylic paint.



I used two different lettering stamps that are among my very favourites at the moment: historical script-looking Liesbeth's Letters from Art Journey and an old one that looks like scribbly handwriting.



For the main embellishment, I used wood veneer Christmas trees that I had first gessoed white and then heat embossed with a white gold shade.



I also used paper scraps, washi tape and a velvety flourish fabric tape.



I am also joining the following challenges: Christmas at the Artistic Stamper, and Merry & Bright at the Mixed Media Monthly.



Thank you for popping in! Do check out what the rest of the DT did and join our challenge at Scrap Africa until the end of December!

ATCs with Hearts of Collage, Stitches and Yarn

Hi! This set of ATCs is for a Heart Collage themed swap at ATCs for All.



I got so excited with collage work with the background that I didn't want to cover it up completely. Thus the sown thread heart that allows the background to show a bit! I made the background with really small bits and pieces, used a couple shades of green mists to colour it and was quite happy with the result! I did use some white crayon for the hearts to pop out a bit more.



My background paper was not too thick so I mounted the collage onto scrapbooking paper. Torn edges and machine stitches are good for a shabby look, I think.



I was inspired by the May colour palette at Tando Creative − although I went with slightly darker shades.



Thanks for popping in and happy weekend!

Beeswax ATCs in Detail

Hi again, and happy Sunday! I just realized I didn't include these detailed images in my Beeswax ATCs post on Friday, so here they are! (For more information, check also all earlier posts labeled Beeswax here.

I made these for a swap at ATCs for All, and kept also a few to myself, as I feel I have maybe kept a bit too few in the past.

However, cards number 3, 4 and 6 are still available for trade - if you're interested, just let me know either here in the comment section or on Facebook. I'm happy to trade!
Edit: All cards are traded now!

1 and 2




3 and 4


5 and 6


7 and 8




9 and 10


Thank you for coming to see my cards!

Beeswax ATCs with Chipboard

Hi! I'm participating in a napkin themed ATC swap at ATCs for All, and decided to make it beeswax collage again! I wanted to add something extra on my cards this time and chose to use pieces of this tiny heart patterned chipboard from Wycinanka. I painted the pieces black to begin with.



I cut smaller pieces from the chipboards, which would have been wiser to do before the painting, but I didn't. So I had to add paint onto the edges where I had cut. I then sorted suitable pieces for each card and used Glossy Accents glue to attach them.



I am also joining the Dimensions themed challenge at Mixed Media Monthly.

ATCs are a bit of a challenge in regard to 3D embellishments, if you swap them internationally like me and have to think of packing them for mailing. So I was super glad to realize these chipboard decorations from Wycinanka are thin enough for ATCs!



For more information on beeswax collage making, check this old post of mine and all the others under the label beeswax!





Thank you for looking and happy weekend, everyone!

Things with Wings

Hi again! One of my ATC trading friends collects an altered postcard (APC) deck themed Things with Wings. Owing her some cards, I was inspired to create characters that don't have wings normally, so please meet my Cat King and Vintage Miss Teacup!

I made them inspired by the style called Zetti - see yesterday's post with some more about it! I've also written about APCs before. Check these posts, if you're interested!



Both APCs have beeswax collage backgrounds, using napkins and book pages among other scraps. In the Cat card I also used metallic acrylic paint and added some more napkins for texture.

With the first card, I'm participating in the Creative Gym challenge at the Mixed Media Place blog. This month's theme is Wings and you can join until January the 19th!



The butterfly wings are free downloads from the Graphics Fairy, and so are the teacups actually!

Here's another flying kitty wishing you a happy, fun and creative New Year!