The ABCs of an ATC Swap

As I wrote earlier, one of my groups is having a lot of fun trying out various background techniques and surface treatments on Artist Trading Cards, working our way through the alphabet a month at a time.

We're up to E now, but for A, B and C, I did a mini running theme of 'I Want to Go to Le Cirque." I'd been having repeated dreams about cirques and these Stampsmith stamps -- a sheet called "Balancing Act"--just spoke to me. Although I've posted some of these before, I thought I would show them as a group.

So: A is for "Acrobat on Acrylic Scraped Background"; B is for "Babs Balances on Blended Batik,"" and C is for "Canine Juggles on Cosmos Paper."

Though I've moved on from the theme, my heart still yearns for a good cirque.

At the Movies

For an AFTCM swap. Grace Kelly is a photo stamp from The Stampsmith.

A is for...An Acrobat on Acrylic

On our Art-Ventures group, we've started an A-Z ATC Technique swap. For the first letter, I did Acrylic paint scrape technique (I did a tutorial on this a long time ago, which you can see here).

The acrobat is from The Stampsmith's Balancing Act plate. It's funny - these stamps didn't grab me at first but I've been having a lot of fun playing with them.

I've decided my first three ATCs for this tech swap are under the same theme, which is "I Want to Go to Le Cirque," so there are two more ATCs to come in this series.

Maintaining Balance

I seem to have a preponderance of friends with foot injuries at the moment. Made up a batch of cards related to keeping one's "footing," or balance. Stamps are from The Stampsmith's "Balancing Act" sheet.

Cards using Stampsmith images

Wrapping Christmas

I know I'm moving forward, but decided to post a couple of the Christmas cards I made...and I didn't make many. But here's a nice and a "naughty" one.

Stampsmith designs

A new sheet of rubber came from the lovely Estelle today. Had some time tonight to ink up and felt thoroughly in the Halloween groove.

"Mum's the word": well, I love plays on words and these images (all from the sheet, except labels and background stamp (Stampers Anonymous) suggested this to me.

"There's a light...over at the Frankenstein house..." Rocky Horror fans, this will be stuck in my head for days. The graveyard and house are both Stampsmith. The tree is a die cut and white gel pen, the tombstone border is from a punch.

Then we have a beautiful black cat with moon, and some masquerade images. Lots of alcohol inks and bling here.

This was fun, thanks Estelle!

Christmas in September

I've been participating in some monthly card swaps on the Stampsmith group. This month it's been "Christmas in September." I dragged my heels on this one--not ready to think about Christmas! But I've received some lovely cards.

Here's what's going out from me. I love the look on Lucy's face and decided to take a humorous twist on it.

I'm looking forward to making some autumn-themed background papers and Halloween cards.

Medieval Scarf

A silk scarf, dyed in muted autumn tones and overstamped with a Medieval tile stamp from The Stampsmith, using Lumiere paints. A gift for my friend Adrienne.