ATC Madness

I have been making ATC like crazy lately, and I love love love to collect them!

Here are some pictures of what I have been working with lately. I have a bad habit of forgetting to take pictures of the cards once I am done and they are ready to send. So, most of these are still in various stages of completeness.

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Saint Patrick's Day ATCs

Hello wonderful people! In todays blog post I will go over the steps I took to make these cute little Saint Patrick's ATCs! I think that they came out really really well! But I will let you be the judge of that. 

Supplies:

Corrugated Paper

Gold Leafing

Repurposed Tagboard

Quickie Glue Pen

Glue Sticks

Double Sided Tape Applicator

Embossing Powder

Chalk Pastel 

First, I printed out the images that I would like to use. This is the St. Patrick image that is the focal point of the ATC. I thought about doing one with rainbows and maybe a pot o' gold but I wanted to think outside the box. I wanted to make something that is totally unlike anything that people would have in their collection. 

I took the images that I printed out and mounted them onto a heavy cardstock (this was actually packaging from vellum - so "found" cardstock). I used scissors to then cut these out. I think I did a pretty good job. It can take awhile for more complicated designs, but this one wasnt too bad. 

Once that was done, I took the Quickie Glue Pen and drew around St. Pat's halo. Working in sections, before the glue could dry (aka turned from blue to clear) I added the gold leafing onto the surface. Once I went all the way around the halo I let it dry completely (long enough for me to work on the five other halos) before taking a soft brush to the leafing and knocking off the extra that had not glued down. I really like the glue pen because it allows me total control of where the glue goes. This is amazing! 

Then, I moved to working on the backgrounds of the cards. I used corrugated white paper (found this at Crafter's Warehouse in the clearance section) and double sided taped that to the repurposed tagboard. Interesting story about the supports. Have any of you ever ordered stamps from the USPS either online - or over the phone? Well, when they send the stamps, there is a piece of this tagboard in the package with them. It is not too heavy nor too light. Love love love this stuff! 

Next, using the glue pen again, I went down one edge of the card, and before the glue could dry, I applied gold embossing powder. Then I heated that powder and moved onto the next side of the card. Did I say that I made 5 of these? Once I was done with that whole ordeal, I moved onto the chalk pastels. 

The chalk pastels I have are full sticks, square in shape. I just took this and ran it up and down the ribs of the white paper. Then using a soft brush I blended them into the surface. This created the background for my St. Pat icon. 

I used double sided tape to stick down the image to the background and TADA I have 5 wonderful ATC to trade. I ended up keeping one just because I liked it so well. I usually do not make series of 5 but I think that I might start doing this more. Especially with the more popular themes AKA steampunk, bookpages, any holiday etc. 

Thanks for reading! 

More ATC Love

He he he. Can't seem to get enough!

Prismacolor Softcore Colored Pencils

In December I became a lucky owner of the complete set of 150 Prismacolor Colored Pencils. They are amazing. ABSOLUTELY amazing! I couldnt have imagined ever being able to afford them so when people asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I answered, MONEY! I saved it up, matched funds from my account and got the set.
I GOT THE SET!

Ive always made due with dollar store pencils but these are so much nicer. It just feels like they glide onto the paper. Above, I have a close-up from picture that I drew onto Strathmore 400 Series Artagain in Coal Black. I chose colors that would show up best on the black, of course, but they are quite opaque. The color just glides onto the paper from the pencil. FREAKING AMAZING!

My boyfriend (who is one of the best guys you'll ever meet) gave me the Color Me Your Way books for Christmas! I love love love them so much. Coloring is a great way to release stress from the day. I listen to some t.v. show in the background and color away for hours. They are totally detailed and there are even hidden images! My Awesome Pencils work great in these books too. I think it might have something to do with HOW MANY COLORS I have to choose from in the set. Hahaha.

I have played around with the different ways there are of blending these pencils. I have tried the Colorless Blending Pencil from Prismacolor, the Colorless Blending Marker from Prismacolor, and Sansodor from Winsor and Newton. In my opinion they all worked but I liked the effect produced by the oil painting solvent - Sansodor.

There will be more tests to come. I have the Blender and Burnisher from Derwent and will have to conduct an experiment, placing them head to head to see how they all preform!

Inktense are the BEST pencil EVER!

Mushroom Goddess before water

After water

I love Inktense pencils. I started with the primary colors and then bought a few more. And a few more, until I nearly have them all. So I have decided to post a blog boasting about the wonderful properties of these pencils.

First, the bright INTENSE color that awakens with just a touch of water is amazing. I have a Koi waterbrush that I use for blending. You could use a paintbrush or spritzer to wake up the paint but I prefer the waterbrush simply because I don't have to sit next to a glass of water and dipping the bristles in continually. A little water can go a long way. I like my color to stay on super thick so I use less water than I could. 

Watercolor or mixed media paper has been my favorite application for this pencil. Using Micron pens to outline the drawing (I know what my next blog can be about now lol) because they are permanent when dry. 

I still have yet to test this rumor I hear that Inktense can be used on fabric. I have seen videos from Derwent but I am lazy and need to watch them. I plan to run an experiment and see into the overall longevity of the stain etc soon here in the future. Until then I will just have to talk about the best pencils ever!!!

Seriously, even when coloring with these the ink feels nice over the paper. Kinda slick and nice. Not like scratching charcoal over paper or anything but smooth like warm butter on toast. This makes me happy. The smoother ones just glide on so that means that the layering is pretty easy; which makes blending a breeze. 

I keep my shavings and sprinkle them into a wet background and WALA you have an instant cool looking patterns. Derwent has a shaver/cup system made to grate their Inktense blocks into a cup. You can create a wash with the shavings or sprinkle for a faux texture look. Freaking AMAZING line of products I say. 

I heart Inktense!  

Prismacolor Soft Core Colored Pencils

I have been thinking about how to proclaim my love for Prismacolor colored pencils but its just hard to come up with the perfect way to say it. The colors go down onto the paper so nicely. Unlike other pencils you don't have to scrub them onto the paper to get vibrant colors.

Before even trying one I bought the whole set. I used money from my birthday and saved money out of a few paychecks to be able to buy it - but it was worth it to have all one hundred and fifty to myself.

Here is an example of something I drew onto Artigan paper. It has a nice texture and the colors look great against the background.