How much can you put on a 2" x3" piece of paper???

Every third Thursday since last December, I've hosted the BackRoom Babes here in town.  It's a girls night out and I take a product or technique and show how to do it.  We've been swamped with 25 - 30 women every month!

I started out trying to put everything on an ATC and soon realized I simply can't keep up with myself!  LOL!!!

I really like how this one came out.

Here's what I used:
embossing folder
3 different dressform die cuts
spool diecut
fiber
crystal bling
pear bling
velvet flowers
distress ink
button
sentiments cut from scrap paper
diecut scissors
stickles glitter
background paper

It's on a 2" x 3" ATC sized card.

So how many products can you use on an ATC?

I like the message.....be silly....laugh....giggle.  I need to do more of the first one!

CHA - Booth 2409- The party at Amaco!!!

Am I ready? No,not really!

Am I packed? Well sort of.

I leave about 6:30 am to fly out. I may be up all night long again. WHEN will I ever learn? LOLOL!!!!

It has certainly been a last minute whirlwind flurry around here. I decided to simply make up ATCs for all the techniques. Under the gun, so some I like, others I would re-do later on or put into the trash!

First one - FP in a mold, the bear, FP scraps, ironed, sizzix....love it!

FP strip embossed in a cuttlebug folder.

Quickutz die in pewter, some repousse, alcohol ink, glossy accents

Pewter, same as above:

FP strip stamped, inked and heated:

Pellets colored and set in a mold made from a charm:

Spellbinders envelope die, with bird aperture. Insert is FP pellets, melted, rolled, and cuttlebug foldered, then copic marker refill inked

whew!

Can you even find the FP on this one? It's my "table top" - FP with fantasy film over it, stamped.

Pellets, melted, rolled, embossed, then copic refill inked, under a fragment, wrapped with metal tape.

Linda made this and tossed it! Cute frame!

Pellets in a mold of a very tiny "frozen charlotte" - just love how she came out!

Metal embossed and sanded:

This is just a sampling! Come by booth 2409 to see the rest....I have an entire 7Gypsies rounder full of ATCs. Forgot to count them all, no time to even photo them! You'll just have to see me at the show!

# 151-153

I'm on a roll!!! The brand new issue of Stampington Holiday & Celebrations just came in the mail and I have 3 Hannukah ATCs on page 27!

That brings my total of published pieces up to 153!

And, 3 sets of Spellbinders pendant dies arrived in the mail today so I promise tomorrow I will have actual designs to share! Gotta get ready for the show this weekend!

Brrrr......

So, the older I get, the less I like Colorado weather. It is just too cold. Yesterday, bitter wet winds that just blew right through you. Today, I was out working on the jacuzzi. Tomorrow - bitter cold and more snow. I WANT FLORIDA!!! Or Phoenix! Or San Diego.....Brazil....you know, anywhere where I can get warm and stay that way.

OK, without hot summers! LOLOL!

In the meantime, I played along with Tim again today and here's my version.




BUT....here's what I did differently:

Instead of using white crackle paint for the snowman (which I made from 3 circle dies - so easy!) - I painted my chipboard white, then spread crackle accents on it with my finger, then heated that When you heat crackle, it bubbles up and really makes such a cool texture! Then I painted white acrylic paint over that. A completely different look!

I used stickles for the arms and hats. For the eyes, I just used a sharpie pen and then put dots of glossy accents on top of that.

And finally, I made my snow mixing Franklin & Abalone Opals with Diamond Dust and Glossy Accents. Put that all down and then drizzled glossy accents over it.I wanted the look of melting snow...since you just never know what the weather is going to be like around here!

And the snowflakes stamped on the background are from After Midnight Stamps.

Sorry, I didn't have grungeboard, or white UTEE or....or....or....so I just reinvented the wheel using what I had. And since I'm doing mine all on ATCs....I have to downsize as well! Have to admit...I LOVE the snow!

And in honor of my blogging birthday.....

I have had such a fun week! My dear friend Susan Mostek came to play one day. Oh! Did we have fun! She showed me how to make her fabulous "pull cards" and if you want to learn the mechanics of these, you can take one of her upcoming classes at Stamping Details in Poway, CA. Or watch for classes at Your Crop Shop.com.

Susan is such an inspiration to me. Not only is her art beyond amazing....she is a giggler. And once she starts to giggle (or sometimes even just the thought that she might start to giggle) sends me into a fit of laughter. Oh! It is just sooooo good to laugh!!! And when you can spend a day laughing and giggling with someone who laughs and giggles right back - well - what can I say? Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!

Susan is also a very patient teacher - which is quite good when it comes to me! After showing me how to make the card, I decided to add a few elements to mine. I used a new cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the dove. Next I combined parts of Spellbinders snowflake die covered in Diamond dust with snowflakes from Creative Impressions. They really do glitter and shimmer in real life!



When you pull on the ribbon to the right, both the right and left inside cards pull out. How fun is this?



Yep, I've moved away from seashells and jewelry and back to airbrushing white cardstock that I ran through another cuttlebug embossing folder. Then used the copic marker to color a few of the snowflakes. Added glitter to a few and then added my sentiments which were printed on cardstock.



And added a few rhinestones. The snowflake brad is from Creative Impressions and I used the airbrush to get matching colors and then added glitter on top of that. All closed up, this card measures about 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" and when you open it, it goes to almost 14" long!



After Susan went home, I decided to try and come up with the measurements to do this as an ATC sized card so I could put it in my ATC rounder with all my other Creative Technique Cards. Oh! How fun!!! I simply used leftover scraps of paper for this one. The angel is done in white shrink plastic that I colored with watercolor pencils and 14K gold krylon pen. Lots of gold metallic on this piece with turquoise rhinestones.



So, this is just 3.5" x 2.5" and when you pull it out, the length is 8.5". But I wanted to show here that you can pull it out just a little, not all the way, and get yet a different look:



Don't you just love this paper? Gold embossed designs, such a good variety of cuts from it!



Let your imagination take flight.....



May everything in life be just right!!!



What a perfect sentiment to start my second year of blogging with! And truly, my wish for each of you in the year to come!!!

Ya-Ya

The last letter that I drew was "Y' and here's my ATC for that one. I picked a photo of the actress from the movie Ya Ya Sisterhod and inserted her behind a KK Originals stamp (cut the face of the stamp out). I liked the "hair"!



Lots of rhinestones and stickles glitter and the hair is colored with metallic or glitter pens. 7 more of these to do tonight so they can dry and be ready to hand out tomorrow.

No more swaps! LOLOL! If I had a dollar for every time I've told myself that.....

But it's so much fun to receive art from my friends it's just impossible to say no!

Queenie

I am sooooo far behind on my ATC swap! The second letter I picked was "Q" and I decided to write a little poem about Queenie:




LOLOL! Now I've got to make 7 more of these and go on to my next letter. I think it's time for a martini myself!!!

Edited to add:

On the back, I finished up the "poem":

Yes! She is headless!
And she's also dressless!
I couldn't help it-
Bet her life is stress-less!

Let's have martinis
Throw on our bikini
Jump in th ehot tube
Live life like a Queenie!!!

And with that, I've finished them all up!!!

My Favorite Things - stamps
Glossy Accents on the bubbles
Lots of glitter pen

CTCs - Creative Technique Cards

I'm working on the most fun thing I've done in awhile. Creative Technique Cards. Sized the same as ATCs, but these will be my techniqu samples - so when I forget how to do something - I can flip through these and get my creative ideas flowing again!

I'm using a 7Gypsies ATC carousel to store them:



The technique will be on the front:



And the instructions on the back:



We did these on tags at Ranger University, and mostly just the background technique. I like the idea of having something designed to look at, and having them sized small - 2 1/2 x 3 1/2".



Right now, I have 81 techniques to do. By Wednesday! So guess what I'll be doing this week? Playing hard!!!

SBYL! Technique classes

I'm going back to San Diego in July and will be teaching a series of technique classes. So I've decided to post my "teasers" here. I'll share a little...but if you want to learn it all...fly on out and join us for a couple of weeks of sheer fun!!!

Guess I'd best figure out the dates real soon, huh?

Ink and spritz transfer. Stamp the ink pad direct to a craft sheet or wax paper. Spritz water onto the ink. I did this with distress ink first:



Drag the card through the water/ink mix, dry, drag again or blot. Do this as often as you like to get layers.



I'm using white paper for these. Try different shades of paper for different looks! Here I'm using Marvy inks. You can try this with any ink...just have fun!



Look at the vibrant colors I got here.



My final card with distress inks:



and my final card with Marvy inks:



These are ATC sized cards. I used B-Line, MSE and SU stamps on these.

I need to come up with a name for these classes. Here's what I have so far:

TTCs - technique trading cards - but you probably wouldn't want to "trade" these!
CTCs - creative technique cards - but what if some are not so "creative"?
DTCs - designer technique cards - but they really aren't "designer" either!
ITCs - imagineered technique cards
JTCs - JLo's technique cards
LTCs - Linjeneered technique cards - but then I gotta get Lindy Lou to help me out!!!
STCs - scramping technique cards - but I think someone might think they are sexually transmitted! LOLOL!

OK....got any other ideas? What title would lure you into a class? These are all going to be techniques that you can use with backgrounds, cardmaking, rubber stamping, scrapbooking....just ways to help you use the products you already have. Each class will teach several techniques using the same product....and then the we'll move on to different products. I'll use at least 2 brands of each product when I can. I think it's going to be fun!

The ultimate last minute louie.....

So, I had 7 ATCs that were due today. And I went shopping yesterday because I completely and totally forgot they were due. We were supposed to stamp on at least half of them, use a "lady" and use a letter that was assigned to us. I'ts called Ladies of the Alphabet. Lucky me....I got "L", "Q' and "Y".

And since I had forgotten about the swap and my brain was in "get the guest bedroom painted and done before Kerry comes home" mode....I was in no mood to design.

Until 8:30 pm last night. After I went to Walmart and got a bag of tootsie rolls. Yes, I know....thought I had given up chocolate forever huh? OK...I'll try again tomorrow on that one!

I also swore off swaps....so what am I even doing in this one??? LOL! But chocolate really makes me creative! Go figure!

As I hunted through my clip art, I found a woman with the word Lefevre on it. OK. Is that a woman's name? It's a French surname and a man's first name....but no where could I find it as a woman's name. But it means "BEAN". And I consider myself to be a "good bean" on ocassion....so it worked for me!

I used 2 stamps on the lower half and a ton of Ranger's white pen. I picked up some llene clips from Creative Imaginations yesterday and they turned out just perfect for this ATC. I cut the face and put it in the clip under bubble glass. Added some flowers and swarovsky crystals (I just can't use them enough these days!)







The clip is also on the back, so I printed out my contact info there. The back is from old payroll time clock tickets. I signed them where the "Name" goes and added the number above that. Another stamp with white and black pen work. Under my signature it says "she's a good BEAN".



I was only up until 1:49 am! But hey! I got them all done! Yeah me!!!

Why do I thrive on such last minute deadlines? It's the great question in life that I have no answer for!!!

ABC = Artist Business Card

ATC = Artist Trading Card
BC = business card

So, I've created ABCs - Artist Business Cards. Same size as an ATC (2.5" x 3.5"), but you create art to put on the front of it with your contact information and a mini resume on the back of it!

Shall we see if this takes off as the next trend? Feel free to link this blog to any site you want to share this with!


I do a very limited edition of these and do trade them just like you would an ATC. Then I print and hand them out as a business card. Sure is fun!!!

My very first ABC:





And the most complex ABC thus far. It's a copy of the real thing which is mesh wire, clipped, curled and beaded with a diecut Star of David in the center. This is on a diecut pewter scroll which is over fabric paper that was stamped and painted with a gold rub n' buff mixed with rubbing alcohol.



It flips up with a poem inside. Behind the poetry screen is a Star of David, dreidels and olive branch embedded into a mix of decorating gel and alcohol inks.

More than what meets the eye? Sort of like the gifts in our lives.



And the mini resume on the back.



I rarely do anything so intricate as this, keep in mind it is just 3.5" tall...so tiny little things! But it was fun..and I LOVE the poem. Now, reread it and think of the gifts in your life....

There's the gift of life...
the gift of being

There's the gift of you
And all we're sharing

There's the gift of time
Of days unending

The gift of wisdom,
The gift of aging.

But the greatest gift
That I'm perceiving

Is the gift for those
Who keep believing.

These are the gifts in my life today. I truly am blessed. And what better way to share my gifts and my beliefs than sharing them on an ABC that I can hand out to others?

ABCs....I think it's time we told the world who we are as artists!