Bird and Vintage Cage in Brown

This is a card I made for trade. It is a so called Arch ATC card, which means its dimensions are those of a standard ATC (2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) but the top is round shaped. Also, I wanted to give a try on a monochromatic card, using just shades of one colour. This week's challenge at Collage Obsession was Brown, so that's what I chose.

The collage image of a brown bird, song thrush, was a good starting point. I don't have a die cut machine of my own, but had a few previously cut cages to choose from. The brown of the cage was a bit dull at first, but as I added stamping, I was happy with the result. Brown was a bit of a challenging colour to do monochromatic, and I felt it needed a hint of other colours. Green pigment ink in the background and the poppies to add some reddish brown did the job well, I think!

Song Thrush (Turdus Philomelos) Laulurastas

Mediterranean Island

I recently found this outdated road atlas at the free stuff department of our Recycling Center. I’d been eager to try it as ATC background and I’m quite happy with the outcome! The island is made from scraps of magazines and painted cardboard.

On the background I added some gesso mixed with acrylic & watercolour paints, with splashing seawater in mind. Borders are made with paper scraps in Mediterranean-inspired colours, terracotta, turquoise, blue and white. The leaves stamped on top are, in my mind, either from an olive tree or a lemon tree.

With this, I am participating in the Islands challenge at the Collage Obsession blog.

Sister Sunflower

This week's theme at Collage Obsession was Anthropomorphism, meaning attribution of human characteristics to other animals, plants or non-living things. It's sunflower season here so I thought of making a face of a sunflower. I had a suitable stamp in mind and the rest is collage at its simplest. The flower "body" is drawn with watercolour pencils and outline pen.

Background is painted with acrylics, and the technique is the easiest you can think of: just drop paint here and there, and apply with a credit card. I do this a lot to use up rests in the palette when I'm done with painting, and quite like the nice surprises that turn up!

Fairytale Mushrooms

These collage ATC cards were inspired by Collage Obsession's this week's challenge, Mushrooms. It looks like some edible mushrooms have popped in the middle of a fairytale forest!

This was the first time I made ATCs with decoupaged napkins as the main element. With a bold design such as this (from Ikea!), it became quite a dominant element. The stamping and the vintage edible mushroom pictures sort of disappear in the background. Still, I quite like the harmonious result that sure demonstrates my passion for mushrooms of all sorts!

The vintage table of edible mushrooms from a Finnish Home Encyclopedia(published by Otava in 1935) was given by Eila of Collage Obsession Blog. Thank you!

In the Summertime

Here's my entry for an ATC swap "In the Summertime". My inspiration came from my recently bought stamp set of old-fashioned chairs and lamps. I imagined a nostalgic summer house by the sea, with lots of light and fresh flowers in every room, and pretty coloured shoes and dresses waiting for their owners to come back from swimming.

I first toned the backgrounds lightly with watercolour on a good thick watercolour paper, then stamped the furniture and lamps with a chalk ink. The focal images are made using magazine cuts, acrylics, watercolour pencils and black pen. The swap is due in mid-September so I might then make another post on what I receive in return!