National Craft Month - ATCs!

So as part of National Craft Month we wanted to share with you some simple little projects for Spring that might get you thinking about trying something new. If you like the look of this project, check back on the last day of March, Wednesday 31st, for news of an ATC swap and competition!

Now, I am a huge fan of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) - it was my first step away from the more formal scrapbooking/card-making that I started with, because there were no real rules apart from the size of the space I was working on (2.5 inches by 3.5 inches). It's a small space to work on when you've been working on 12 by 12 pages, but a fun challenge nonetheless and I think less intimidating to work on when you don't have the 'rules' to follow (such as including a picture, a title, journaling etc).

Our theme for this month is springtime and blooms, so I worked on a flower themed ATC using a flower stamp - I used a couple of different techniques so I'll explain as I go along!

Starting with a plain ATC card measuring 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches...

...and a flower stamp (this one is made by Papermania)...
I stamped two flowers onto the card with embossing Distress Ink....
...and sprinkled on some Tim Holtz Distress embossing powder (this one is Walnut Stain).
This is what you get when you tap the card...
...and then heat with a heat gun and leave to cool. You can then rub the image with your finger to remove some of the powder to get that distressed look.
I stamped the same image onto the card in Fired Brick and Mustard Seed Distress Ink, and added some gold Stickles to the main two flowers to emphasise them...
I edged the card with some Fired Brick Distress Ink....

...and accented some of the background flowers with orange and yellow Sharpies...

I went over the petals of the two main flowers with Glossy Accents...
...left it to dry and then spritzed with Glimmer Mist...
After it was dry, I outlined the two main flowers with a white pen to make them stand out from the others...
...and inked the areas around them with a sponge, using the Fired Brick and Mustard Seed Distress ink, and this is what I ended up with!

The main thing I love about ATCs is that it's a small space to have fun trying some things out - why not give it a go!

Join us again tomorrow for March's Art Journal Friday challenge! This will be running all weekend and we'd love to see your take on this month's theme which will be announced tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!

Gayle