6 months worth of ATCs

i can't remember which of these i've posted, so i'm just gonna post them all in one place. these aren't all of them, the movie swap ones are posted separately.

(if the pic is cut off, click on it and it'll open full size in a new window)

i started making ATCs in february or so, so this is basically 6 months worth
- some of the first ones i did -


a little bit of ink around the edges, and rub on words for embellishment. i changed it up a bit for the three i made a bit later, i cut the paper smaller than the actual ATC so that i could glue it to black paper and have a border. i couldn't figure out why the honour one looked so wierd to me until mom pointed out that it was spelt wrong... duh, that's why! stupid american craft supplies! (someone commented that it's not wrong, it's just american.... i stand by my original comment! it's not MY FAULT that americans can't spell!)


i mostly just wanted an excuse to use another one of my stamps, and cause i was in a sappy mood.... fuscia pigment ink for the stamp and around some of the edge, pink rhinestone, and polka dots!


this one is a commemorative ATC, valentine's day 2007. it uses the black burlap paper, the red paper, the stamp and the image i used for a valentines card i made, and the shiny red is the foil from chocolates i got. i'm a sap, what can i say?


i love fake woodgrain, and i love leopard print, they're both so deliciously tacky. i added a few brown rhinestones to add to the tackiness factor! (oddly enough, when i bought a thing of 6 different colours of rhinestones, i thought, brown? when am i gonna use brown rhinestones? but i used them first!)


a purple vellum overlay with black pen drawing, black pigment stamping, and black pigment ink around the edges. the vellum is attached to the backing with a grommet, with ribbon looped through that says "identify". (identity would have been even cooler, but oh well. i found this ribbon at a random sewing store last year, and have been waiting to use it!) the pic's a bit dark, but the flash and the vellum took an instant dislike to each other.


under the vellum is a picture of me taken a few years ago (in seattle at the femme conference) that i played around with in photoshop and altered the colour. then i printed it out onto cardstock and glued it onto this paper i'm obsessed with- it looks and is textured like burlap! but it's black! i'm wearing huge false eyelashes in the picture, which is why the eyes drawn on the overlay are so dramatic.


- some very simple ones with vintage buttons





- for the craftster.org alphabet atc swap p, q, r
P is for patchwork


pieced together, then cut, then sewn onto batting and backing fabric before trimming it and zigzagging the edges. the back label was written on white cotton which was then wonder-undered onto the backing fabric. the p is attached with a brad.

Q is for quilt


it's all fabric. i kept it fairly traditional log cabin, two shades of colour, with light and dark on each side. i didn't have a good red cotton handy to symbolize the hearth/fire in the centre of the cabin, so i used woodgrain instead. wood=logs=hearth!
you can kind of see the quilting on the back, i used wonder under to add the label after it was done.

r is for red, rhinestones and robot... the writing is the binary code for robot!

the robot charm is held on with a brad, of course, and the charm is from a 1970s disney movie about robots, it says V.I.N.C.E.N.T. across it's front. the charm and the rhinestone printed paper came from www.sacredkitschstudio.com the fabulous mods helped me get the binary code, cause i'm not talented like that myself! too left brain!


- entry for the "wings" atc challenge on craftster.org

fun black burlap textured paper, little angel wings, red paper lips and dymo words. i love dymo.



i'd wanted to do lino carving for the wings and print onto vellum, but i ran out of time, so they're drawn onto the vellum instead. i actually really like it this way, though i still want to do the wing carvings another time. when the wings open up, you can see the photo of a corset piercing underneath. the photo is glued onto red backing, and the wings are sandwiched between the two. i pierced the card and threaded super thin red cording through the holes, just to add a bit of colour. i love corset piercings, though i'm not sure i'd ever do one, cause the scars from the surface piercings might not be worth it (especially when they're done incorrectly, like in this photo!). and my tattoo would kind of mess up the visual anyway. but i love the way they look.

and all fabric based. i LOVE bat wings, i made myself the best pair one year for halloween.



close up of the heart

it IS even, it just doesn't look like it, i think i need to add a thicker backing so that it lies flatter. the heart is upholstery vinyl cut into pieces and then stitched back together (though you can't really tell, so i probably shouldn't have bothered) with a big fat zigzag and then i added more random stitching to make it look bruised and battered. i sewed it onto a piece of slick black snakeskin clothing weight vinyl, which is sewn onto a piece of interfacing. the wings are made of a black sheer netting fabric that has cool crinkles in it. i cut out the pieces and laid them on a piece of looseleaf paper and then sewed the ribbons into place, the paper gave it enough structure that it didn't twist while i sewed the skinny ribbon. then i ripped the paper off and sandwiched the ends of the wings between the heart and the backing when i sewed the heart on.


- gifties-
robot for emily

you can't see the shades of the paper that well, but oh well. the outer is honeycomb textured, it was red, and i stamped all over it with an orange pigment pad, the next one is textured orange with lines, and the inner red is plain. the robot is a pic of a vintage toy. and i put red brads and star brads on it.

poodle for sarah


blue vellum with the dymo word, affixed with a brad.
under the vellum is a sassy little poddle (from a vintage bridge score card), pretty pink and white polka dots and blue burlap textured paper.

snowglobe and crow for stiffy

the image inside the snowglobe is of the moulin rouge. it's sandwiched between layers of acetate and paper, and the glitter inside moves just like a real snowglobe. i crumpled up the main paper and coffee dyed it, cause it was a bit too light. the suitcase brad was just for fun, to match the words!

the crow image is from a paper bag i got from an art store. it's called the upstart crow, and all their bags are stamped with a crow image. i used a different part of the bag to stamp the word crow with black pigment ink. i used the same pigment ink around the edges, though it wouldn't stick to the super glossy rusty orange paper.

J's for jamie

the paper reminded me of her! the initials have flocked stripes on them, and then i sewed vintage buttons on.

falling leaves for angie

i wanted something nature inspired, and when i found the printed twill tape, i knew what to do! the tree is woodgrain vinyl, and then i cut out a bunch of teensy little leaves and sewed them on as though they were falling.

poppy for angie

fairly simple, i mostly wanted to showcase the poppy button i'd gotten at a local quilt shop. the other buttons are all vintage, and the paper is this stuff that i'm completely in love with. i covered a book with it, and was so happy i had enough left to use for the card!


- the craftster.org alphabet swap s, t and u
S is for snowglobe, sphinx, stars, suitcases, and stamps.

the stars are done the same way as the glitter in stiffy's card. i used stars instead of snow since snow's pretty unlikely with the sphinx!

T is for tin

i cut a pop can up and embossed it from the back. i prepared the backing card, and then punched holes in both the tin and the backing, and then i sewed silver vinyl around the edges so they wouldn't be sharp. i think it turned out really cool!

U is for umbrella

i sandwiched crayon shavings and a little drink umbrella between wax paper and ironed them together. trimmed it down to size, and attached it and the big U with a brad. the wax paper can be moved, and when you hold it up to the light you can see the umbrella much more clearly.



- for the craftster.org alphabet atc swap, V, W and X.
all my ATCs for this round were made with vinyl. they have a smaller card inside the layers to keep them stiff.

v was for vintage and vinyl


i used vintage vinyl, vintage buttons (that i collected on my recent trip to the prairies. i think i went to 13 different thrift stores, and i bought WAY too many buttons!) and a teensy little vintage pic that was left over from a swap a few years ago, and i love how the pieces all fit together so well.

w was for wavy woodgrain


i used two different shades of vintage woodgrain vinyl, and vintage woodgrain dymo tape (damn, i love that stuff!).

and x was for xylophone


i used really bright colours for this one, because i wanted it to look like those fisher price xylophones we had when we were kids. (do they still make those?)