SWAP-BOT SATURDAY: Altered Bingo Card, ATC, Chunky House

What? It's been a month since I blogged?! Oh, dear. Well, I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things, and I'll start with a Swap-Bot Saturday post.

These are the things I sent out this week. I enjoyed working on them, and am hoping their recipients like getting them in the mail.

This first one is an ATC (Artist Trading Card). The swap theme was "Altered Photograph". I had several to choose from, and was leaning toward a pretty child.

As I went through my little stash, this one grabbed my attention, as it does every time I see it, but I set it aside. I know my proclivity for the quirky and irreverent. It would be too easy to make fun of her, I thought, and I don't want to do that.  There's always been, for me, something compelling in this woman's face. I feel a little sad looking at her sometimes. Her name is Rebeccah. I look at her eyes and mouth, and think, She must have been beautiful as a young woman.

A little while later, I fixed a cup to tea to drink as I worked, and read what was on the teabag's tag. I knew instantly that I'd use Rebeccah's photo after all. The tag is on the ATC. (You may need to click on the picture to read it.)

 

Then came an Altered Bingo Card, my first. I thought at first that I'd do something vintage-y and frilly and feminine, but....

 

Last up, a Chunky House, with the assigned theme of "something to do with the sea". Here's my creation, with the "porthole" closed:

And then with it open:

In two days it will be Independence Day. Already the fireworks have begun. I love that part, everybody setting off firecrackers all over town, in spite of the fact that most of what I can see and hear are quite illegal here! I'm so glad Washington still lets people have big, loud, showy fireworks; what would Oregonians do, otherwise?!

SWAP-BOT SATURDAY: Mail Art, Tag, ATC

Shhh. Don't tell anyone, but it's really Sunday. I didn't get the photos taken early enough to do this yesterday, so I'm pretending. And Blogger is so cooperative that way--you can tell it to post something on just any date you want, and it will do it. What will they think of next? Time machines! I know it!

I got several lovelies this week, beginning with a piece of mail art:

Mail Art Envie by MegaMar

 Don't you love it? Let me tell you, I went right out and got myself a unicyclist rubber stamp. Lucky me, too, 'cause Michaels had one for a dollar. Yes!

I also got this awesome chunky tag, created with a coffee theme because, well, you know me and coffee. That made me smile big.

"One Cup Is Never Enough!" by Tootheri

And then this darling ATC, with a fairy theme, in a perfectly wonderful holder. I need to figure out how she did that, but she glued it, and I don't want to destroy it in the figuring. Maybe steam? Hmmm...

Pink Fairy by BeverlyBling

And then, because my little collection of ATCs is growing, I picked up a funky old photo album at Goodwill. (Another $1 wonder!) The sleeves hold photos that are 3.5" X 5", perfect for two ATCs.

It's not beautiful, which makes me think there's a project lurking, and the sleeves, oddly enough, work much better if you put the ATCs at the back instead of the front, but I like it, because it let's me flip through and see them easily. A person could put four in each sleeve, but doing just two lets you see the back of each one, and who created it.

Also, the fact that the sleeves are double-sized means that ATCs with extras can be slipped in sideways so nothing gets smushed. (Would you believe Blogger thinks 'smushed' isn't a real word? Honestly, that's just silly. Of course, it is!)

Time ATC by Veronica

What about you? Did you send or receive art this week?

THRIFTY THURSDAY: Finds and ATCs

This is a combination entry--First I'll show you the treasures I found this week, and then two ATCs I made using one of them.

 

Above are my treasures. (I also got some sheet music, but am not showing that, for no good reason.)

I was most excited, I think, about the spoons. They were in a ziplock baggie with a bunch of other stuff in multiple patterns, mostly cheap stainless. The estate sale people wanted $15 for the bag, but I wanted only the spoons. They're Mama's pattern, Oneida Brahms, and in a whole 'nuther class from the rest of the flatware. So, holding my breath so to speak, because you really can't talk while you do that, I asked the lady if I could just buy the spoons, and if so, how much they'd charge. She pulled them out, looked them over, said something about their being "cheap stainless like the rest", and I was given a price of $1. Not each. For the three of them.

Do you know what those puppies cost at Replacements.com? I do. They are $30 each! It was all I could do not to tell the people at the estate sale what a great deal they'd given me. But discretion is the better part of valor, and I did not.

The next most exciting items were the old books. Here they are, opened to show a couple of pages. The one with the line drawings is what I got Tuesday's Take Out from, the lovely watercolor ladies. The other one, the geography book, is full of maps and illustrations, and I used two of the maps to make the ATCs below this photo.

That's it for today. As usual, I'm up a lot later than I intended, so I will now trundle off to bed, and sleep the sleep of the Very Tired.

Good night, and God rest on your pillow.

SWAP-BOT SATURDAY: ATC's, Altered Puzzle Piece

I am loving Swap-bot, both for the creative outlet it gives me, and the inspiration of other artists! This week I worked on several ATC's and my first puzzle piece. The ATC above was sent to me by one of my Foreign Language ATC swap partners. Isn't it glamorous?

The piece below is my very first altered puzzle piece. I'm happy with the results, and was surprised to discover that the hardest part of it was finding a puzzle piece to use! When it was finished, I used a leather punch to punch holes in the top, and attached jump rings for the slender silver necklace. The dangle at the bottom is an old earring I found somewhere, and saved, quite literally, for years, because I just Knew there'd be something it would come in handy for. The recipient has already written to say she loves the necklace--YAY!!


These next to ATC's are my creations for the Foreign Language ATC swap. The first is simple and straightforward, but


don't ask me what this one "means", because I have no clue. It just seemed to happen.

The last two ATC's, I created for a swap that required you to use at least one piece of punched paper. I couldn't decide whether to glue that word, "Deal", down or not, so left it loose in the ATC envelope, putting the decision of whether or not to use it in other hands.



This last one I've already shown, but since it was my other piece for the Punch Art ATC, I'll put it in again.


What about you? Do you make ATC's? Have you posted any lately? I'd love to see them! Just drop a link in a comment, and I'll come look!

MEGGIE'S FIRST ATC

It's always a happy day when I get to take care of my granddaughter, Meggie, so yesterday was a happy one.

As usual, I brought art materials, and this time, something special: My little box of ATCs. It isn't yet a large collection--just twenty, so far--but I thought Meggie would enjoy looking at them.

She was fascinated. She took them from the box, one by one, laying them carefully face up in a grid on the floor. (We often sit on the floor with our backs against the sofa. It feels cozy.)

We talked about initials. She already knew her own--MO. I told her, "Well, ATC? Those are initials, too. They stand for 'Artist's Trading Card', and they're for trading. Do you want to try making one?"

She did, so we pulled out the paper and card stock, and Meg chose three she liked, and decided which of them she wanted for the background. I cut that out for her. After that, she chose a punch she liked, and punched out two flowers, and went through my stickers to see if there were something she wanted to use. She decided on an arrangement, glued her components down, and then decided gold glitter would be the final touch. (She had eight or nine glitter options, but she held the little flasks to her art-in-process, and decided very quickly on The One.)

This is her finished ATC. Quite a nice piece for a six-year-old, don't you think?


And mine, which Meggie opined was a bit "too pretty" for her tastes. "I like mine to be kind of a little wild," she told me. Actually, after her comments, I took steps to up the contrast, and even added some white glitter.


Meg decided she did like my ATC. But she still decided against trading with me!

TODAY'S ATC: PUNCH ART

I'm really enjoying ATCs, both making and receiving them. I'm planning on getting the ones people have sent me photographed and here on my blog, but for now here are two I finished this morning.

As you can see, they're nearly identical. I did them for another Swap-bot trade. For this swap we were to make an ATC for each of two partners, using any media or method, but including at least one punched element.


Because it's hard to see the layering of paper on paper, I'll tell you I used nine punched pieces. (The black you see around the two scalloped flowers is paper, not shadow, and accounts for two of them.)

I did the paper part, and was satisfied with the composition and colors, but the ATCs didn't 'pop' the way I wanted, so I added the buttons. That seemed to do it. Those buttons were a find--I got a quart jar of them at Goodwill yesterday for $4.99, and there were all kinds of wonderful lovelies in it. I'll have to show them off tomorrow!

By the way, check out Swap-bot. It's free to register, and there are tons of swaps going all the time, for crafters, knitters, seamsters, people who like to send postcards, you name it. I'm finding that joining the ones that interest me is really sparking my creativity, and it sure does make for a happy mailbox!

SWAP-BOT SATURDAY: Chain Stitch ATC

My most recent swap on Swap-Bot is for an ATC (Artist Trading Card) that features chain stitch embroidery.

As frequently happens with me, it took me almost until the deadline to figure out what I wanted to do, and then that idea didn't pan out. So late last night, I started over. At midnight, I felt I had a good start on it, and I knew I was meeting my daughter and four granddaughters for a day of crafting today, so no worries--I'd finish the ATC first, and mail it before I came home.

HAH! I worked on the thing All Day. Couldn't believe it took so long, but I'm really happy with it. In fact, I kind of don't want to part with it! But that wouldn't be right, lol, so I'm showing them off here.




If you click on the pictures they'll come up full-size, and you can see that not only is the envelope chain-stitched, the lettered disks are chain-stitched together. It was a fun project!

(Mom, if you're reading this, I used a piece of that paper I won at the Parker Ladies' Night Out to make the envelope!)

TODAY'S ATC: CAT'S PAW

Still playing with ATC's over at Swap-Bot.com, although right now it's all I can do to keep the obligation balls in the air, so play is WAY down on my list. But not non-existent!

The idea, with this ATC, was to create a collage from junk mail or magazine images. This is what I made:


Pretty simple, really, once I found the cat and orange images. Then it was just a matter of adding in the fish, and a pair of earrings from a catalog. But I was happy with the final effect.

Now, you aren't allowed to sell ATC's. They're for trading, which is why they're called Artist's Trading Cards, but people can and do sell ACEO's, which are pretty much the same thing, except they're called Art Cards, Editions and Originals. I wondered what Etsy would have, and found literally thousands! Here are three I loved with "cat" themes:

Dancing Cats, by 3Crows

Tortie Cat with Fish, by AlisonEKurek

Mr. Darcy, by TaraFly

Clicking on the ACEO images will take you to the shops where they can be purchased. Aren't they wonderful?

TODAY'S ATC: DESIGN A...

I sat down to work on this ATC a couple of days ago, and wondered, What was I thinking?!

The idea of this swap was to take this image of a snail

and create an ATC with it. I hate googly eyes. Pretty much always have. And those look like googly eyes to me. Furthermore, they're out there on the ends of the snail's antennae. I guess that's not altogether unreasonable, since those feelers do act as eyes, but they bother me out there! And then there's the shape of the shell, an oval. Aren't snail shells round?

But I'd signed up for the swap, and that was that. Had to make an ATC.

The first thing that happened was I worked on another swap for awhile, an easy one: Gather up thirty different beads, and send them to your swap partner. I was looking through a tray of beads when I unearthed a card of self-stick yarn. Don't know how it go there, but it started me on my snail project.

A bit of scrapbooking paper, some paint, glue, glitter, buttons, and wire later, and I had this:


My snail is cozily dressed for fall weather in an autumnal sweater and coordinating headwear, and I think she's adorable. Should I say that? Is that being too vain? I can't help it--I didn't even want to send her off when I finished, and that's a pretty big change from wishing I hadn't signed up for the swap!

In other news, I reached a bit of a mile post today: I applied for Social Security. Should start getting benefits early next year. Feels funny writing that here. It's like shouting, "HEY, World! I'm OLD!!"

I am going for the early retirement option, in spite of the fact that if I waited until I'm 66 the monthly payout would be larger. They tell you what your monthly benefit will be at each age, so I subtracted the lower monthly benefit figure from the higher one, to see how much more per month I'd get at 66, and then divided that into the total of what I'd draw in the four years before turning 66. Turns out it would take twelve years to make up for what I'd lose by waiting, and we decided it really wasn't worth the wait.

So, as of about February of next year, I'm officially a retired person. Wow.

TODAY'S ATC: ANTLER PEOPLE

I'm baaaack! With another swap from Swap-bot.com.

This time I want to just share the ATC I finished this afternoon. The theme was "antler people", and the concept, if somewhat odd, was simple: Take a person or persons, and put antlers on his/her/their heads.

Being somewhat (I admit it) odd myself, I took great pleasure in this project, with the following result:


In another vein, I'd been wondering what I would do when I ran out of flowers to photograph on my walks, and mildly concerned. The answer was right in front of my lens. Winter, too, hath its charms.





I suppose it's appropriate, with Halloween so close, that we should be finding beauty in what remains. Aren't these "dead" blossoms lovely? (And even more so if you click on the photos to see them full-size.)

I'm enjoying an unexpected day at home today, having been every day this week at our dear friend Bruce's for a number of hours. I've been helping him get organized as he faces the loss of his home. He is 58, lost an eye in a fall several years ago, and has been unemployed ever since. His unemployment has run out, Social Security says he could still work (I seriously doubt it), and he has no money left to stay afloat. Please pray for him, if you're moved to do so.

ATC THURSDAY

ATCs: My newest delightful hobby. Thanks to Swap-bot.com, I'm exploring them more or less regularly, meaning I've signed up for several ATC swaps and have completed two, for a total of four ATCs. That's a start, right?

I did two of them today, and they're nearly identical:



The theme, as you might guess was "Apple". I first found a clipart image of two apples, saved it to my computer, simplified and resized it, and then printed four of them out on a clear acetate sheet. I suspected I'd mess up at least one of them; I was right.

While (I vainly hoped) the ink was drying on the acetate, I took two pages from an old dictionary, one with the word "apple" on it, the other with the word "fruit". I painted an area on each of them a little bigger than the ATCs would be with red, brown, magenta, and green paints on a fairly dry brush, and then stamped APPLE and POMME on both of them. (I have a stamp that you can load with whatever letters you need, and I LOVE it.)

The hardest part was gluing the acetate sheets down. The ink never did dry, and it smeared with the slightest touch. I put a dab of glue on the two places that had no inking, and glued them, image side down, and when the glue was dry I painted on two coats of gel medium.

When that was dry, I took a fine-tip black Sharpie and drew over some of the lines. That was the last step.

They turned out okay, I think, and I learned something valuable: don't try to inkjet print on acetate!

SHOW & TELL SATURDAY: 1ST ATC

Today I finished my very first ATC (Artist's Trading Card). It was an absorbing activity, and took longer than I'd anticipated, maybe because of my lack of experience. I was surprised, too, by just how small 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" is. I can't even imagine how patient and painstaking a person would have to be to create an Inchy or Twinchy (1 x 1 and 2 x 2, respectively).

This was also the first time I've tried to do anything with rubber stamps, and I fear it could become as addictive for me as it has for so many others.

Well, then, without further ado, my first ATC:


A few notes on the process:

I started with an image I found on the net, and altered it, changing the colors, heightening the contrast, and a couple of other things in that vein. Then I printed it out, and added some black pen outlines, and squiggles to the branch the bird sat on.

After that, I found the heading "Musicians of the Month" in one of my old Etude magazines. I already knew I wanted to add the stamped bird, so the plural was perfect.

Online again, I found some cool, very old, sheet music, which I printed on erasable typing paper, which is somewhat sheer and also has a kind of pebbly texture. I put a strip of it in the larger bird's beak, and cut individual arpeggios to become the calyxes of the flowers. That didn't show much after I added the black feathers, but I'm still glad I did it, just because I know they're there.

I stamped a fanciful bird on the printed image in brown, and then darkened areas of it with black pen, and then I stamped curlicues in the upper left and lower right corners, using two or three other stamps, and both brown and black ink.

Lastly, I added the brown feathers as a crest for the larger bird, and the black tail feathers to the other. The black feathers are ostrich I got at an estate sale some time back; the brown are out of an old feather duster.

Oh, I should say that the black around the ATC isn't part of it, just the chair seat I set it on to photograph it.

My DH studied it when I showed the finished card to him. He didn't say anything for a few seconds, and I really thought he was going to tell me it was kind of a dumb way to spend my time, but as I moved to leave, he said, "It's really cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's cool. I like it."

Well, then. That was a nice surprise. It isn't exactly what I thought I was going to make. Pretty pale for starts, but I think I like it, too, and it is my first, so I think I'll decide to be very happy with it!

TAKING THE ATC PLUNGE!

Gulp. I've been reading about Artist's Trading Cards (ATCs) for years, and admiring the work done by many artists around the world, but frankly, kind of not getting it.

There are some art forms, I have to admit, that either don't make sense to me or seem beyond the scope of my abilities. ATCs have been the latter for me.

And then a dear someone actually sent me one. I have it propped up in front of my place at the table where I see it every day. It draws my eye ad makes me smile.

Oh, yeah. Who wouldn't smile?

Now, technically, I guess this isn't an ATC, because it's bigger than the required dimensions (2 1/2" X 3 1/2"; 6.4 X 8.9cm, the size of a standard playing card), but it's small, and it's art, and it draws me. I started thinking, Well, maybe I could do that!

You know what comes after that thought, don't you? Yup. From there you have to progress to, "I'm gonna try it!"

But where to start? How do I begin? Flutter-flutter thoughts. Stymied, I was. Then I got a clue: Artist's Trading Cards! These are created for the purpose of sharing, trading, swapping, and that being true, there would be places where you could find people doing that. Could I join up with them?

Over on MizMollye's blog, I found a button leading to Blissfull ATC Swap. Ooooh, beautiful. But daunting. Not a place for a rank beginner to, well, begin.

Enter SwapBot. This totally cool website is a clearinghouse for people who want to swap things--postcards, crafting supplies, handmade items of all sorts, and yes, ATCs! I'd joined ages ago, but never did any swaps. This time I looked for and found an ATC swap, with birds as the theme.

I am on it! I am in it! And the creative juices are flowing, and I can't wait to get started!

Now tell me, have you ever created an ATC? I would adore it if you'd leave a link in the comments and let me see yours!