'Distress' set of ATC's

These 3 ATC's were made for a March challenge on UK Stampers Forum

All three feature heat embossing, stamping and painted backgrounds. I have used various acrylic paints, gesso, TH Distress embossing powders and making memories magnetic alphas to make up appropriate words stamped with black Stazon. Some decorative brads were also used to finish. I used sandpaper to scratch and wear parts of the ATC's. The textures on these ATC's are difficult to pick up on the photos, but in real life they come across as more 3D.

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Decorated Glass Microscope Slides for Slide Mailers

Well in keeping with my altered slide mailer theme here are 7 microscope slides I decorated in various ways to put into my altered slide mailers. In each case I have used a single slide backed with thin card cut to size, trapping various inclusions between the card and the slide. All have been sealed with metallic self-adhesive foil in Gold, Copper and Silver effects. The pictures are large to show details but the slides are only 3in x 1in in size.

This one used a background cut from a glossy mag and included some blue/green Stewart Gill glitterati fibres. Sealed with copper foil tape and scratched carefully with a piercing tool to provide a hatching pattern on the foil.

This one again was cut from a glossy mag but this time sealed with gold foil tape with a different pattern scratched into it.

This one had numerous purple and gold fabric and fibres with some sheer material and woven braid. It's important to keep the thickness of these to a minimum otherwise you will have difficulty in sealing on the card back......which in this case was gold. Again gold foil tape was used and 'pricked' with a piercing tool for the texture.

This one had an alcohol ink background on glossy white card and a different selection of fibres & materials within. Again I used gold foil tape to seal.

This time with a calligraphy stamped background card and another choice of material inclusions. Again sealed with gold foil tape.

Gold foil sealed, alcohol inked background with purple and gold filaments, flat gold braid and metallic purple material within.


Finally, this one had a layer of two alcohol inked acetate sheets spliced together with a little stamping with stazon on the pink part. The foil was silver this time.

I intend doing some double microscope slides which will be see-through as my next challenge.

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Number '8' Altered Slide Mailer

Here is a double slide mailer, (4inches x 3inches) that I have altered. The slide mailer was covered with gold leaf on the outside and decorated on the inside. The front panel was made separately with board and distress inks with a central panel rubber stamped and heat embossed with marquesite EP. Three gold beads were added with glossy accents and two die cut flowers, painted first in copper acrylic paint with glitter glue added and wrapped with copper craft wire.

The inside front was covered with printed paper (basic grey) and a roman sculpture image (Crafty Individuals) was added before sealing with mod podge matt. This was then overstamped with a swirl border stamp in black Stazon and the word 'Treasure' in black cherry Stazon. The other side was coloured with Adirondak raisin ink and overstamped again with the swirl border and black stazon.

I have not yet completed the slides and will put these on the blog when complete.

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Aged Circle

I was just experimenting with finishes and made this distressed circle. I used a Fiskars 'Heart' circle punch and punched out a 3 inch circle of ordinary copier paper. I then used Distress ink re-inkers in Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed applied to a teflon sheet and spritzed with water before swiping the circle across the colours and swirling it a bit. The circle was dried and then heat embossed with copper EP over a swirl stamp and versamark. The whole piece was then smeared with a generous layer of crackle glaze and allowed to dry. Once dry and cracked a darker colour of ink was applied to highlight the cracks and the excess wiped off with a paper towel. Think I will use it as a collage element on a new canvas I am working on.

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Forever Tag

This tag was created from a plain manilla packing tag. The background was coloured with beige chalk ink which was stamped twice with a clock stamp, once with pink and once with turquoise pigment ink. The blue image was heat embossed with clear fine detail EP. A swirl border was stamped with versamark and heat embossed with fine detail gold EP. The eyes and word were stamped over the others with black stazon. The tag was finished with dark green ribbon.

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Thinking of You Card

Firstly a very Happy Easter to everyone out there !!!!

I made the background square for this card using the lace glitter method and two colours of ultra-fine glitter.

This was achieved by using double-sided clear adhesive sheet. A square was cut and one side of the protective cover removed. A piece of cotton lace was then adhered to the sheet and the first colour (midnight blue) of the glitter poured over the lace and rubbed well in with the finger. The excess glitter was tapped off and then the lace removed leavinf a pattern. The second colour of glitter was then applied (leaf green) and similarly rubbed well in with the finger before tapping off the excess. I then used a soft brush to remove loose glitter.

The base card was lightly chalked with emerald decorating chalk and a leaf stencil used to highlight the pattern and I used a cotton wool bud to apply the chalk through the stencil. The chalk was set with a coat of cheap hairspray. The backing sheet off the glitter square was then carefully removed and the film adhered to the card. The embellishments are three die-cut mirri board hearts in matching colours, suitably layered and finished with a large faceted green flat-backed jewel. These were applied with glossy accents. Finally the sentiment was stamped with ultramarine Stazon.

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DreamGirls !

This vintage card started life as a vintage photo which was printed onto glossy photopaper and subsequently cut out carefully. The base card was made from textured moss green cardstock which was covered with diagonal stripes of 3mm double sided tape and covered with black and gold ultra fine glitter. The photo was adhered with foam pads and the metal 'Dream' brad was used to attach a piece of German scrap. The two squares were made from mountboard which was stamped with Adirondack Ink through some sequin mesh before heat setting and heat embossing with clear embossing powder. The raw edges were coloured with black stazon and these were adhered to the card with double sided tape. I especially liked the muted colours of this card.

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With Love Card

This card was made using a brown square aperture card with an insert of paper made using the Starburst Stains wet scrunch background. This background produces a wonderful shimmery effect. A piece was cut to size and adhered with double sided tape to the inside of the aperture. a blue flower diecut embellishment was added to it with foam pads, along with another oblong embellishment and an embossed plate with the words 'With Love' in gold on cream pearlescent card.

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'Enchanted' ATC

Finished this ATC last night. The background was attached to a rounded corner card blank and was prepared by applying and scraping various interference colours over a tan piece of cardstock. Colours are blue, purple and gold. A random effect was obtained by applying blobs of the paint and drawing a piece of rigid plastic across the surface. A border stamp with black stazon was stamped onto the same tan card and coloured with gold interference paint. This was cut out and applied on the right hand edge. The background was finished by stamping twice with a Rubber Stampede Arch Block (3633C) in versamark and applying pearl green and clear embossing powder before heat embossing. The central plate was made by spattering a piece of card with various inks and allowing to dry. This was stamped and embossed with stars and blocks of gold, cut out and stamped with the word 'enchanted'. This was applied with 4 blue coloured staples in the centre of the ATC. Et voila.......there you have it!

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Celtic Knot Card

Well here we are half way through March and not a single post from me for so long. I did this card using a piece of mountboard as a mount and Lumiere paints as a background, overstamping with black stazon and highlighting with gold. The centre embellishment is a large black faceted jewel. The mountboard was matted on green, gold and glossy black before attaching to the card with double sided adhesive. The base card is pearlescent cream randomly stamped with a calligraphy stamp and black stazon.

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