Art Project Updated

There are a few projects that I made when I was first new to rubber stamping (2000) that I still have around! This little box is one of them. I made it with my two sister-in-laws and that makes it worthy of saving. It originally held a small book made from one sheet of paper with pockets that held messages. When I removed the book, I realized it was the same size as ATC's and that became perfect for my collection of cards I have made called "Mrs. Brady". I added the red ribbon at the bottom of the cards to make it easier to remove the ATC's from the box.

ATC Storage

I have three different antique sewing machine drawers full of awesome ATC's. I am looking forward to many more drawers to be filled!

ATC Supply Box

The altered cigar box makes for fun storage of blank ATC cards ready to go for when I am in the creative mood.  The sculpted face was made using a mold and paper clay and headdress are of black feathers.  I painted it with Claudine Hellmuth's paint which also made a great sealer.  I hung a tag made by one of my art friends on one of the keys - just a reminder of how nice it is to have kindred spirits.  I love the Tim Holtz drawer legs.

 Front

 Top

 Side

 Back

 Side

Inside View

Happy Birthday Sis!

Each year my sister and I exchange birthday gifts and among all the packages...we promise to have at least one handmade item.

We both usually start collecting unique finds throughout the year for each other. I had found her a gift from an antique store in Mountain Home last year and she also found me an item from the same area during the same time period. Funny how that worked out.

My sister made me all kinds of goodies which I will post at a later date. She is so very clever!


The gift I made were ATC's that are personal for her. I forgot to scan them before I mounted them into their frame.

The letter "A" was Zentangle inspired on Arches Text Wove. I watercolored the background before making the design. I added red rhinestones for bling.


This ATC shows my sister in a "Back to School" picture that my dad had taken. I cropped out everyone else. I added butterflies and a sentiment of "Fun & Funny".


I had made ATC's using Dada poetry a couple of years ago and this particular one was in my collection. The background is a photo of the farmhouse that was our Great Grandparents and the woman is a great great aunt.

I thought the poem was perfect for the photo!

I used antique buttons to embellish the ATC.



I collaged this ATC and specifically selected the words that best describe how my sister views life!

She loves lace so I added a border with tiny little pearl drops on top.




This ATC is one of my favorites that I made. I used dyed fabric that I made when we were together last year over July 4th. The photo is also when my sister was about three years old. I am sitting next to her on the couch however, I cropped myself out of the photo. I added bits of fabric scraps and lace behind the photo...wrote the sentiment and added three black rhinestones.


I really love how this ATC turned out! I used a vintage card button where there was one button left. The red frame was part of the card and it was the perfect size to fit our mother's school photo!

I then framed this onto black card stock and then the final mount was white card stock.



I saved this bit of quilted fabric from my sister's friend when I was on a retreat last fall in DeSota, Wisconsin. Her friend Eileen delighted me in showing me all kinds of stitches that her new quilting machine did and then she gave me a good chunk of goodness.

I sewed on top of the quilting the antique buttons that my sister loves a lot. A blanket stitch borders the ATC.





A playing card is the background for this ATC. I collaged a napkin on top, added the quote and bling. Gel medium was used to seal the card.








This is another part of Eileen's chunk of goodness that she gave to me. I sewed the "dream & play" tiles and sewed three times around the ATC.






This is a photo of me when I was three. I went with the cowgirl theme!



Tim Holtz showed me how to make tiny wire bird nests at one of his classes last year. I made a whole bunch of these at the retreat last year with my sister so I knew I wanted to make a card where I could use one of these nests as an embellishment.



I've had this transparency forever so it was time for me to do something with it! Using it on this ATC seemed perfect. I sewed the transparency onto the background paper. Inside the keyhole is text that says "secrets".

A matching key is attached with ribbon at the top.

Halloween Coming Soon!

This ATC is one I made using Bernie Berlin's techniques that she showed me. I made a series of Halloween cards and will post them soon . I will explain the techniques that I used to make these cards.

If you love making ATC's....you'll love making these!

Thanks Bernie!

I met Bernie Berlin recently and found her to be a fun and delightful person. How she finds the time to make art and manage her passion of running A Place To Bark is amazing.

When she found out that I love making ATC's, she showed me a few of her favorite techniques.

These are a few of my ATC's that I made....all from scraps of paper and poor stamped images. It was fun making new ATC's from paper that I would have thrown out.
I was so inspired by playing with this method that I ended up making about 20 ATC's and will post them later.

I'll list the steps in making these ATC's in future posts so that you can have your own good dose of fun!









A rubber stamp image, scrap booking paper, and decorative paper is what I used for this ATC.














I used scraps from other projects including the photo for this ATC.











I named this ATC "Undecided" because it was so different than the others that I had made. I just enjoyed the textures and colors....and I did not add any images
I punched out some circles and added a dimensional dot on top for interest. This was made using scrap booking paper and my left over shaving cream paper.

Alice Stuck in Wax

I recently had the opportunity to watch a demo with Suze Weinberg using beeswax. I have made a few collage pieces using beeswax but following some tips that Suze mentioned made all the difference in the ATC's I made.

She builds up layers of beeswax before she applies her collage images. And scrapping the final application I think is the big secret.

The photos don't show all the details...i.e. perfect pearls powder that was added and the texturing.

My base is stampboard material.

Mrs. Brady

My recent purchase of Artistic Outpost stamps along with the text pages that were removed from an old book, came together for some fun ATC's.

The coloring was made using Copic markers. This time, I made ATC's without a whole lot of embellishments!

This is the end result of lots of fun!

Halloween ATC's

I have been working on Halloween ATC's.....31 of them! Each year I have been wanting to make a collection but never had the time. Now I am making the time....here is just the beginning....

Paper Scraps to ATC's

One of my favorite blogs to visit is called Blooming Ideas. Terri posted on her blog how she made numerous ATC's from her paper scraps. I thought, how cool is that....and I challenged myself to do the same.


















So Sunday night I worked in my studio until 1:30am! The time just flew by and then this morning I finished them. The challenge really made me think outside the box. I think my ATC's are very "artful".

Thank You Terri!

I was one of the lucky winners that Terri chose (random drawing) from all the comments she had received on her blog. Terri was celebrating her 100th post! Thanks for sharing your art and life with us! Blooming Ideas is the name of her blog!

Happy Valentine!

This is the first of the four ATC Valentine's that I traded with my friends. This one has vellum added as I thought it gave the kiss a feeling of being special. Cupid is a rubber stamp from B-Line Designs. The dimensional red German scrap is from ArtChix Studio.



I really like dividing the background on this ATC which showcased the couple as separate players. I added the rose German scrap at the bottom as an embellishment for the two lovers.
The images I used were purchased from ArtChix Studio. They really have a great selection. The ribbon at the bottom is velvet. I thought it would enrich the mood of the card. The heart at the top was from a package of assorted heart sizes from Michael's.


For this ATC, I added a transparency as the last layer....but it did not photograph well because of the glare. The German scrap was my final embellishment.