Summer Swap

Swap cards that I received from Mel with the theme of Summer, Beach, Sun. I just love them! She and I have been swapping for the last couple of months and I just love my collection of cards that she has sent. Thanks Mel, I absolutely love them!!!

 

RAK

It's been so much fun swapping cards and sharing work with other artists, but it has been so nice to get cute little envelopes and lots of little extras from my swap partners. I have had lots of fun putting together little bags of goodies for my partners too.

Isn't this little package that Laura sent me adorable!? I have been participating in many Summer themed swaps lately and I am loving all the cards that I am getting!!!

Button Up

Here is a ATC for a swap that I mailed out today called Button Up. The challenge was to use buttons as the primary design element. I had a hard time coming up with a good idea but ended up making this cute little tree.

Fancy Fish

This is for a swap called "Fancy Fish" and the challenge was to create a card featuring your favorite fish. My favorite is the Koi, I find them so beautiful and I think this card came out pretty. Makes me want to start a collection of Koi ATC's, lol...

I used Acrylic paint on smooth cardboard for the background and used Distress Ink to make it look like wood. I rubbed Perfect Pearls all over it and then adhered my image which is a scanned photo of a Tattoo Artist's drawing of a Koi. I finished up with more Distress Ink and added some pretty blue Micro Beads.

Tim Holtz Style

0602011526, a photo by vanne_paris on Flickr.

This card is for two different swaps coming up. One is a challenge to use a Tim Holtz stamp and the other is for Tim Holtz Style using Blue and Green. I used all Tim Holtz products, starting with Tim Holtz patterned paper and coloring it with Distress Ink. Then I used two different stamps and finished up with Perfect Pearls and Tim Holtz embellishments.

Pink Princess

This is an ATC that I am working on today and I am calling it Pink Princess... I am doing a swap that is a color theme and this month is "Pink". I painted Acrylic paper with a baby pink paint, used Ranger's Distress Ink and gold Embossing Powder with a clear stamp by inkadinkado to create a pretty background and then adhered a princess image that I found at www.thegraphicsfairy.com. I finished the corners with Perfect Pearls to give it a very vintage look. I am still deciding how I am going to embellish her but I am loving how it's coming out so far. I am a total sucker for super-girlie challenges like this, haha...

Recent ATC's

I have been lost in the world of ATC Swapping the last couple of weeks, lol... I have sent out about 50 cards in the last couple of weeks and I am having so much fun connecting with other artists and creating all these different cards, with different themes and mediums. It has been very cool!!! Here are some of my latest cards...

Best Dressed

I am getting ready for an upcoming swap on www.swap-bot.com that is called "Best Dressed". The challenge is to make two ATC's for one partner, one with your favorite female fashion icon, and one with your favorite male fashion icon who you think has the coolest style!

My choice is Russell Brand and Katy Perry. They are known for their individual sense of style and are Hollywood's happiest couples. Both card backgrounds are collages that I made a couple of week's ago as "Master Boards" and cut into ATC size. I painted and used Ranger's Perfect Pearls as well as Distress Ink and then placed my images. I used Matte Modge Podge to seal the edges and stiffen the card. Next comes the embelllishments and title...

Card #15 Glamour Bird

Participated in Simply Artistic's ATC Challenge "Glamour Bird"... The hostess of this challange posted an image that our cards would be inspired by. There is still time to participate and they are hosting a contest to people who enter for a special gift from 7 Gypsy's... www.simplyartistic.com.

The layout of the card matches pretty closely her image of the bird in terms of how the bird is positioned and the diamond pattern. I have been wanting to add sequins to a card for a while and I think they are really pretty...

Think Monday - Think ATC

This week's challenge from Think Monday was an ATC with the theme of "Perfume". I love to create projects that are really girlie, so this was a fun one to create. I am going to add more to it but I think it's pretty cute so far...

I used vintage sheet music for the background. I love using sheet paper, it is the perfect weight and has a smooth finish. I downloaded an image I found on thegraphicsfairy.com and printed it out on lavender card stock. Scanned the "perfume" page of my dictionary and printed it out and trimmed to size. I used Ranger's Distress Ink in Tea Stain and Walnut for the aged look and the rubber stamp is a clear stamp by Tim Holtz.

Collage Options

I have been doing lots of Collage projects all of a sudden. I am loving the blend of papers and all the different things that you can do with the finished design. After I finish the basic Collage, I have been scanning them and printing out copies to use for patterned paper on Scrapbook layouts or backgrounds for Mixed Media projects and ATC.

This is today's Collage paying homage to my current celebrity crush Russell Brand. This is the beginning of a cool looking project and I can really do a lot with it. Also, I created a second copy and I am going to cut it into 2.5 X 3.5 pieces to make a series of ATC's.

Life in the Water

Here is this week's Artist Trading card and the challenge was "Life in the Water". I created a couple of fish doodles and colored them in using Ranger's Distress Ink. I cut them out as well as some hand drawn seaweed and adhered them to a background with two different colors of ink to create and under the sea look. I followed up with some clear stamps from Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection.

http://tmta.wordpress.com/
I am really loving this blog called Think Monday. It is focused on stamping techniques and uses different techniques. It's in German and English and participants can post a link to their project... It has been fun.

Artist Trading Cards

I have been addicted to creating Artist Trading Cards and thanks to one of my Facebook friends, I have found this cool blog that features a weekly challenge. This blog is hosted by an Artist who lives in Antwerp and most of her followers are from this area. How cool to make friends with ladies from all over the world!!! This week was called "I Love My Bicycle"...

Hybrid Layouts

So far this year I have been doing many pages that include both traditional scrapbooking and digital elements. I love how my design style and techniques are always evolving and it's been pretty cool to watch over the last six years that I have been scrapping.

This is one layout that I was working on today that I started several weeks ago. I started out by creating a new image in Photoshop for the background. I used a large photo on low transparency against a grey base image and finishing it by adding the caption at the bottom. Printed it out and then added the photos that I punched with a large square punch and found a cute litle embellishment from K&Company. I also added a cardboard star that I just cut out and added an antiqued brad.

This is a second version of the same thing. I am also kind of inspired by the bright pink type and I think I will be using it again. I also think these layouts have a very spring-like quality to them and will lead me in a new direction.