Tuesday, January 5, 2010

ATC Technique Swap II

Happy New Year everyone! I don't know about where you are, but it's COLD here! Which is strange, considering I live in Florida - it's actually in the 20's tonight! So I'm getting ready to snuggle in, but thought I'd share some technique cards I mailed out today for an ATC swap... I would like to say that I learned all the techniques I used from Pat Huntoon's Technique Junkie Newsletter - I got a subscription this year and I've really been enjoying it! You can contact her at phuntoon@optonline.net if you're interested in a subscription...

The first set I made used the mono masking technique - I have previously shared a tutorial on this technique but this was my first opportunity to swap with it. Here's my new mono masking example:



I enjoyed making this one because I've always loved the blue and white color combo and it was fun to be able to make a card using it. I used a SU set, Infinite Goodness with Night of Navy ink and cardstock along with Whisper White cardstock. The eyelets were from my stash.

The next technique is called Herringbone - it basically involves a specific placement of little strips of paper. Here is my example, using patterned paper from Basic Grey's Eva collection:


I made several of these using the paper in different areas and this turned out to be my favorite. When you don't get the colors and patterns right it just kind of looks like a mess, but I thought this one turned out pretty cute. I didn't want to add a lot to the card because ATC's are so small that a lot of embellishing would have covered the technique, so I just added a small flower and a gem.


I thought this next one was a cool idea and something I had never thought to do - emphasizing a stamped object by coloring around it instead of inside it. The technique is called Coloring Outside the Lines. It took me a while to decide on an image to use, but I finally picked this coffee cup from Flourishes...



I found some patterned paper that went pretty good with my copic colors in a 6x6 Basic Grey Marrakesh pack and decided to pop the image by matting in black; I added the black button which I think kind of makes it look like a little door or something... Anyway, it seemed like a good idea at the time:)

The next set I made used the Brick Wall technique - this technique I learned from Splitcoast Stampers. I had already made one ATC using it for the Pat 13 swap and it turned out really cute - this one not so much but it's OK I guess. I think I needed a more defined image on the bricks.

I stamped the background mat with a Glitz background stamp to give it some texture. For the second layer I tried some collage stamping; this is something I'm usually not particularly good at because my nature is very symmetrical and thus everything I stamp tends to look symmetrical rather than having the random effect neccessary for collage stamping; this one wasn't too bad considering past attempts. The sheet music stamp was also from Glitz; the other stamps were all from a cute little Crafty Secrets set that I won from them last World Card Making Day... I love their stuff!! After I stamped all the images I used the Faux burnt paper technique around the edges. The image on the brick wall is actually a face but it doesn't come out very clearly... I added a little flower and lock from my embellishment stash. Overall a lot of work went into this one so I was a little disappointed that I didn't like it very much when it was done, but I learned from it so that's a good thing.

The last technique I tried is called Jenny's Coat... it's a variation of Joseph's Coat using patterned paper instead of a stamped background.


I ended up not being very happy with this one either. I tried really hard to get the ink to cover the patterned paper but it still shows, so the cool effect is kind of lost. Maybe if I had chosen a lighter color of pattern paper it would have worked better; if you cross your eyes you can kind of see it as it was intended, so maybe everyone who receives one will do that! I again used paper from my Basic Grey Marrakesh pack for this card - I love the colors and thought it would be cute, and it probably would have been if the ink would have covered a little better. The cat stamp is from Will n' Way stamps... I bought it at a lss several years ago and have never used it, so I was glad to finally try it out.

Thanks for checking out my ATC's.... hope it's warmer where you are than it is here!!

1 comment:

kksb said...

I love love love your cat ATC!
It rocks!