Sunday 4 May 2008

My ATC's are getting to be prettier

Hi, don't know if any regular readers ( assuming of course that I do have regular readers) have noticed but my ATC cards seem to be becoming prettier. This has not been a conscious decision and I am not necessarily upset by it, but I though it worth a mention. I can't help feeling this may be because I have been making a few greeting cards. My wife sees the opportunity to send some of her friends individually crafted cards and of course not knowing what they actually would like I guess they tend to be fairly conventional. When I first started making ATC's they were often humorous, but looking thru my back postings I find that there was a definite prettiness there too.


I guess that over the past few months (?) I have been more concerned with technique (and I have tried and learned the use of a lot of techniques) and maybe my style has drifted because of that. There are lots more of course that I want to try, and have today ordered a copy of Bernie Berlins book Artist Trading Cards Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap from Amazon.


Anyway, here are three more ATC's which I have completed this weekend, they have already been swapped and posted.



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The first is titled, "Love is the key". You may remember the painted backings, which I posted a little while ago. the key is fixed loosely to the heart with coloured wire ( I was given a box with 24 reels for last Christmas and have hardly used them at all so far) everything is glued down.


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Titled, "Hope" after the embossed text. Another acrylic backing with stamped chinese characters (I actually bought a black Stazon ink-pad for doing this), the card is completed with collage and a fancy thread attached via an eyelet.


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Finally, "She Sparkled". A collage onto black card, stamped with gold stars (not Stazon,LOL). I painted the dress, armband and hair ribbon with mica-containing watercolours which is where I got the title from. I finished it with those faux gems across the arch and wrote on the title.


Many of my crafting friends would be commenting on a lack of "grunge" - well Tim Holtz may yet get my custom, but for now "enough is enough".


Oh I nearly forgot..... the second card in the last post was entered by me into a weekly lottery challenge in a group I have just joined and declared the winner (sorry I left off the title, but it is the one with the smiling sun), the challenge was to use circles, ribbon and faces. I am now looking forward to receiving lots of lovely ATC cards thru the post.

9 comments:

Maureen said...

Looking good John! maureen x

My name is Cindy said...

Must be all that female influence... and the fairies and dolls, I know how you love those,hee hee.

DollbabeDesigns said...

John,

Your ATCs are very nice and have that vintage feel! Best wishes!

Lynda

Sian said...

I love these, especially the top one. I seem to have been doing more pretty ones lately too. Maybe it's catching!

Clare with paint in her hair said...

I think you and Sian are right pretty things are catching, must be the change in the wether. Anyhow great work and stunning painting, i am very impressed and added you to my favourites list :)

Clare

Martha Marshall said...

You've probably read a word or two on my blog about prettiness as well. I was happy that one of my recent pieces was "the least pretty of all."

But I wouldn't use the word "pretty" to describe these ATCs. It seems rather inadequate. They are fabulous. Yeah, that's it . . . fabulous!

Angie said...

Great ATC'S as usual John

Serra55 said...

Well, now I am interested. You agree about the pieces in a project relating to one another...most of the time. I'd love to "hear" your thoughts about this. I've been contemplating this for some time...I receive many atc's I couldn't guess any meaning of, and which lack coherence. I guess to me some look so cluttered.

Your atc's are terrific! I am glad you visited me and I became aware of your website. Perhaps my comments above would be better in a forum, but I just would love to hear your ideas. Thanks!

Sarah Coggins said...

Beautiful ATCs! Love the mix of designs & elements.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I sometimes wonder if anyone finds me via BlogRush or if it's just taking up real estate. ;)