Send All My Love To You

My very awesome friend Dee Dee is hosting the April/May ATC Swap at Artsy Fartsy.  For this swap she gave us a photo prompt and we are to make three cards inspired by that photo.  I'm not going to post the picture, you can visit our Events Page for all of the swap details and hey, there's still time to join this swap! 

I decided to make three identical cards.  I think looking at the cards you can figure out the theme --handwriting a letter and sending your love to someone via mail.  See the post marks I stamped on the upper right hand corner? 

I think the pen nib ties this whole theme together.

I haven't been as crafty as I'd like to be but I have a whole weekend to myself coming up and I intend to craft, craft, craft!  I have backorders and I'm getting some very awesome new jewelry making material!  I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE!  Hopefully it arrives in time for my weekend. 

I am also trying the technique of sealing an image with diamond glaze by pouring it into a bottle cap.  I poured about half an inch into each bottle cap and I KNOW that it's going to take at least a day to dry.  Ummm, yeah, I poured the glaze two hours ago and I have run in to my craft room FOUR times to check on the glaze --like it's magically going to dry in two hours???  Hey, at least I didn't stick my finger in it.  Well, not yet at least.  :D

That's all I've got for now.  I will leave you with this awesomeness.  BTW --LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her dress.  I have one that is semi-similar but not this cool or flattering for that matter.  "We'll call her Nebraska...Nebraska Jones..."  If this song doesn't make you move, check your pulse.

Artsy Fartsy Swap

Our most recent swap at Artsy Fartsy was an Artist Trading Card with the theme "Self Portrait".  I didn't want to give someone a project with a picture of myself on it - who would want that?  lol.  So I decided to think a little outside the box.  So here is my rendition of "Self Portrait".

The paper is by Graphic 45 from the Steampunk Debutante line.  I made the flower using Maya Road trim and then adhered a clock pendant to the center.  Pretty cool, huh?  I hope whomever gets this beauty will love it. 

Don't forget that you can follow me and all of my work on Facebook.  There's always networking and creative talk with old and new crafty friends at Ms. Ruin's Playthings!  Click on the image below to "LIKE" my page. 

Halloween ATC Swap

Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me Halloween ATC's!  I am hosting a Halloween Artist Trading Card Swap at Artsy Fartsy.  Click on the picture above to join in on the fun!

Artist Trading Cards

We currently have two swaps going on at ARTSY FARTSY.  Remember, anyone can join - just need to have a facebook account.  One of the swaps is for recipe cards and is being facilitated by Genie Smith.  The other is an Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap that is being facilitated by yours truly.  We are each making a total of 3 cards which means we have three themes. 

The themes are:

1. Childhood Memories
2. A Favorite Song
3. Surprise Theme (you pick a theme)

So far I have completed Childhood Memories and A Favorite Song.  Details below.  For those of you that are not familiar with ATCs – they are “a tiny original piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist, not selling it. The one rule an artist trading card must adhere to is the size. An ATC should be 2.5 x 3.5 inches. ATCs can be made in any medium and using any technique, whether it's painting, drawing, or collage. You are really limited only by your imagination and materials."

This is what a card looks like when you purchase it – and heck, you don’t have to purchase these, you can simply use cardstock.  I buy the ones with the punches on the side so that I can put them on my Artist Trading Card carousel by 7gypsies.

Now…on with the magic.

ATC No. 1 of 3:  Childhood Memories

Who didn’t watch The Wizard of Oz as a kid?  Every time it comes on television I am mesmerized by the magic of oz.  It reminds me of the unique beauty in the Land of Oz and the journey of Dorothy and company along the yellow brick road.  I was able to capture the enchantment of Oz in this ATC with the help of Graphic 45 and their new line “The Magic of Oz”.  Scroll past the pictures to read steps/products.

    

Steps and Products for ATC No. 1:

• Using a VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad I juiced up the gorgeous vintage frame stamp by Glitz Design.  The stamp is from the “Fancy Frames” clear stamp collection.
• Stamped image onto a large tag.
• Covered with black embossing powder.
• Embossed with heat gun.
• “Generously” distressed with “Stormy Sky” distress ink by Tim Holtz.  When I say generously I mean I distressed the entire image – the embossing will serve as a “resist”, trust me, you don’t have to worry about getting ink on the embossed portion of the tag.
• Cut image out with scissors.
• Distressed a cream colored ATC with black archival ink (they also sell black ATCs).
• Adhered frame to ATC with scrappy glue.
• Using a glue gun, I adhered two layers of off-white colored lace to the center of the frame.
• Adhered Dorothy image from “The Magic of Oz” paper by Graphic 45 to the lace (I did use hot glue on this as well)
• “The Magic of Oz” title came from the cover of the paper pack (crafters don’t waste –hahaha!).  I cut it out and distressed the edges with a distressing tool and then inked it with "Vintage Photo" distress ink by Tim Holtz.
• I don’t care for stickles but I did use red stickles on the hair bow and shoes because it’s the Wizard of Oz and hello – YOU NEED BLING!

ATC No. 2 of 3:  A Favorite Song

I am a music fanatic and listen to all sorts of music.  Some you would like, some would terrify you.  HAHAHA.  One of my favorite songs is “Perfectly Flawed” by OTEP.  This ATC is about empowering yourself when faced with adversity.  Scroll past pictures below to read steps/products.

Steps and Products:

• Distressed ATC with “Fired Brick” distress ink by Tim Holtz.
• Applied “Mod Podge” to the entire card and then placed an ATC transparency by 7gypsies over it.  Let it dry.
• Applied “Zipper Trim” by Maya Road to the edge
• Printed a picture of myself that I graphically distressed and added the words “Perfectly Flawed” to it.
• Took a scrap piece of patterned paper and used it as a border for the picture.  Around the frame I hand wrote the following lyrics from the song:  “You’re perfectly flawed.  You’re perfectly incomplete.  A work in progress.  Imperfection makes you unique.”
• Adhered the mat with the writing to the ATC using pop dots (I love dimension!)
• Adhered picture of self to mat also using pop dots (more dimension – yay!!)
• Using hot glue I adhered a red rose by Prima to the picture.

ATC No. 3 of 3 is yet to come…stay tuned.  And don’t forget to join us at Artsy Fartsy!