Final ATCs for Janis' Birthday {And Then. . .Chocolate}

All good celebrations must come to an end, and so here we are, the last week for Janis' Birthday Celebration.  For this last challenge, Janis chose the theme "And Then. . .Chocolate" - yummy little party we've had!

What are ATC's? ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There are no requirements to make them {unless you are participating in a swap or, in this case, Janis' fourth and last, theme And Then. . . Chocolate} EXCEPT they must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", the same size as a standard playing card or trading card.

Here are all the links for where you can still enter, but be quick! It's a good thing you can make an ATC in no time! {ends March 3, 2018}

Be sure to enter Janis' Blog Badge giveaway HERE!!!

WEEK 1 Theme - "All Those Cats!!"  You can still enter HERE

WEEK 2 Theme - "And The Chickens." You can still enter HERE

WEEK 3 Theme - "Adorable Teapot Collection"  You can still enter HERE

WEEK 4 (FINAL) Theme - "And Then.....Chocolate!"  Enter HERE

I've called my ATCs "Chocolate 1" and "Chocolate 2" and since I am really under the gun here, I'm going to be quick & just tell you what I used to make them.

Chocolate ATC #1

Heavy Weight White Card cut into ATC Size

Background made from Oxide Ink {scrap}

Sentiment from Riley & Co., Funny Bones, #RWD-564 Six Million Dollars

Tiny Money {stash}

Brown Card for Sentiment

Black Detail Embossing Powder, Hero Arts, PW-119

Embossing Ink

Shrink Plastic

Sharpie Markers

Gold Sparkle Gel Pen

The best part of this ATC was making the little candy bars out of Shrink Plastic. You can't really read them, but the candy bars say Hershey, Bite Me, YUM and Candy. I thought for SURE I had something with chocolate on it and I literally searched my entire stash {I did find the paper I used on Chocolate #2, as well as some other cool stuff I pulled out}, but I have nothing regarding chocolate except that sentiment.  Oh, well.  On to #2.

Chocolate ATC #2

Heavy Weight White Card cut into ATC Size

Image cut from Collage Sheet {out of business}

Words punched from a VERY old paper from SU!

Two Scalloped Oval Punches from My Family Treasure {out of business}

Beautiful Background Paper {stash}

I love this background paper and I have a small bit left, so you'll be seeing the end of it very soon.  I got it, along with the collage sheet, from a kit club I used to belong to that has since sold their business {about 9 years ago!}.  So this is a sort of vintage chocolate ATC.

That's it kids.  You only have about 24 hours to join in the fun, but I do hope you find some time - at the very least go and check out everyone's creations.  You can see each week by clicking on the above links.  And you can still join each week; but the whole shebang ends 11:55 pm on March 3, 2018.  Thanks for stopping by and checking out my ATCs - I appreciate your visit! Christi

I am entering my And Then... Chocolate ATCs in the following challenges:
Janis' Birthday Celebration 
Word Art Wednesday - #325, Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafting with Friends - #62, Anything Goes

Week 3 of Janis' Birthday ATCs {Adorable Teapot Collection}

You can read all about Janis' birthday celebration here and see my week one All Those Cats ATCs here, my And The Chickens ATC here, and for the current week, Adorable Teapot Collection, you are in the perfect spot; just read on! If you missed week 1, or even week 2, no worries as you have ALL month to whip up some ATCs and enter {the challenge and celebration end March 3, 2018}! 

What are ATC's? ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There are no requirements to make them {unless you are participating in a swap or, in this case, Janis' third theme is Adorable Teapot Collection} EXCEPT they must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", the same size as a standard playing card or trading card.

For this week, Janis choose Adorable Teapot Collection. Seems that she's been collecting teapots {and some adorable cat mugs - she even beats my collection of cat mugs, which is still in the box from my move} due to her love for herbal teas.  Here I thought chickens was a tough theme; well, teapots just had me about ready to throw in the tea towel {ha ha, see what I did there?}  As luck would have it, I used to belong to this awesome kit club and along with the coolest papers and such, they'd send you charms.  Back in the day we used to put charms on our cards, long before CAS was a thing. I have all my charms in a little 6 drawer storage tower, neatly categorized and labeled, so I had no trouble finding my teapot, coffee, and cups charms.  I picked out a teapot and a teabag; I figured I'd use tea cups as my stamped background.  The charms were gold, as most of my charms are, but that was remedied with a few swipes of my silver leafing pen.  Once the charms were dry from the leafing, off I went.

I'm not going to go into detail about how I made each one; it's fairly self explanatory but if you have any questions, just ask! 

Tea ATC

What I Used to make my Teapot ATC:
White Heavy Card
STAMPlorations Sketchy Coffee Cups
Distress Ink in Tea Dye 
Teapot & Teabag Charms
Krylon Silver Leafing Pen
Round Letter Beads
E6000 adhesive 

I almost ruined the whole thing, but I think I did OK saving it. I'm not even go into why or how I almost ruined it; you'll have to trust me as I'm still a bit
skittish about the incident.  Let's just say it involves glue, a few cats, and a paper cutter.

I hope you join the birthday celebration over at Her Peaceful Garden; get out those scraps and make some ATCs! They really are addicting and I think limiting yourself to the tiny canvas stretches your creativeness.  I appreciate your stopping by and stay tuned for more fabulous ATCs. Thanks! Christi



I am entering my Adorable Teapot Collection ATC in the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden - Adorable Teapot Collection
Pile it On - #139, 3D embellishments and/or stickers, washi tape
PDE - #7, Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination - #144, Anything Goes, TWIST: Use a Real Stamp

Week 2 {And The Chickens} of Janis' Birthday Celebration!

You can read all about Janis' birthday celebration here and see my week one All Those Cats ATCs here.  If you missed week 1, no worries as you have ALL month to whip up some ATCs and enter! Yeah, I went a tad crazy with the cats and entered four - you can see my post here.

What are ATC's? ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There are no requirements to make them {unless you are participating in a swap or, in this case, Janis' second theme is And The Chickens} EXCEPT they must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", the same size as a standard playing card or trading card.

For this week, Janis choose All Those Chickens. Sense a theme here? Anyway, this one had me seriously brainstorming.  I have NO chicken stamps, no chicken paper, no chicken anything. Then the light bulb went off - I do have roosters! Aren't they technically chickens?!?  I'm not sure, but I am sure that Janis will adore my ATC.

I'm not going to go into detail about how I made each one; it's fairly self explanatory but, if you have any questions, just ask! 

Never Dull Your Sparkle

What I Used to make my Rooster ATC:
DCWV Tie Dye Stack {discontinued but available}
Darice Clouds Embossing Folder, #1217-53
Lawn Fawn Grassy Border Die, #LF613
Dresden Roosters {red foil & white paper}
Computer Generated Saying 
Stash 

Once I found the chicken roosters, the hardest part was deciding what font to use for the sentiment.  I'm sort of a font junkie and I have entirely too many.  I ended up using Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly, but it took me about two days to decide! Oh well - I think I chose the perfect font for this ATC. 

I hope you join the birthday celebration over at Her Peaceful Garden; get out those scraps and make some ATCs! They really are addicting and I think limiting yourself to the tiny canvas stretches your creativeness.  I appreciate your stopping by and stay tuned for more fabulous ATCs. Thanks! Christi

I am entering my And The Chickens ATC in the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden - And The Chickens
Pixies Crafty Workshop - #320, Use Snippets
A Bit More Time to Craft - #62, Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - #360, Anything Goes

Celebrating Janis' 60th Birthday! {week 1 - All Those Cats}

Janis, from Her Peaceful Garden, and I met back when she had her first Cat Lovers Blog Hop {here is the link for the 2017 hop} - she is a cat lover, as I am, and she is owned by about 13 cats; both feral and house cats.  We've become friends over the years and I adore her.  When she began talking about her birthday and how she wanted to do ATC's for her online celebration, I was so happy! I LOVE ATC's and used to participate in many swaps online.  I hope this little party of Janis' encourages ATC's to make a comeback.  

What are ATC's? ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There are no requirements to make them {unless you are participating in a swap, or, in this case, Janis' first theme: All Those Cats} EXCEPT they must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", the same size as a standard playing card or trading card.


I'm not going to go into detail about how I made each one; it's fairly self explanatory but, if you have any questions, just ask! 

I try to use scrap papers to make my ATCs - here is a picture of my scrap bin {I only put small snippets in it} just to give you an idea of how small the pieces for your ATC can be. There is a picture of the side of my little bin, and then the bottom.  I save more than I can ever use, but it comes in VERY handy!





Here are my four ATCs for week one of Janis' birthday party:

Paw Prints

What I Used to Make my Paw Prints ATC:
Heavy White Card, cut into ATC size
Snips & scraps of various pink & purple papers 
Penny Black, Nine Lives Set, #30-050
Stampendous, Cat Sayings, #SSC1222
Small Heart Punch
Hero Arts Ink in Pink Tourmaline, Ruby & Amethyst                       

 Balloon Kitty

What I Used to Make my Balloon Cat ATC:
Heavy White Card, cut into ATC size
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Penny Black, Purrfect Day, #30-027 {discontinued but available}
Unknown Coloring {colored this image AGES ago}
DCWV, Tie Dye Stack {discontinued but available}
Distress Marker in Broken China

Sneaky Kitties

The Mama Elephant "The Cat's Meow" stamp and die are MUCH longer than an
ATC.  In fact, it's called "Crowd of Cats" and according to the ME website, it measures 5 3/4" x 2".  In order to make this ATC and the Meow ATC, I cut the image down into two separate groups of cats, then added single cats in places. Also, I colored the kitties with whimsical colors - I figured why not and I need a break from trying to color them realistically.  This goes for both of the Mama Elephant ATCs.  

What I Used to Make my Sneaky Cats ATC:
Heavy White Card, cut into ATC size
Mama Elephant, The Cat's Meow, stamps
Mama Elephant, The Cat's Meow, Creative Cuts Dies
Detail Water Brush
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Clean Color Markers
Watercolor Paper
Palm Frond Punch
Various Green Paper

Meow

I needed a break from using realistic cat colors, so these kitties are colored fancifully.  I cut down some dimensional dots and dotted the birthday hat, the blue balloon, and the meow sign but you can't really tell in this picture. I also added some single cats to round out the group.

What I Used to Make my Meow ATC:
Heavy White Card, cut into ATC size
Mama Elephant, The Cat's Meow, stamps
Mama Elephant, The Cat's Meow, Creative Cuts Dies
Detail Water Brush
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Clean Color Markers
Watercolor Paper
Dimensional Dots
Washi Tape in Glitter Purple

Finally, here is a picture of all four together.

I hope you enjoyed my ATCs.  I really have a great time making them and going through my snippet box to see what inspires me.  My favorite is the meow ATC - which one is yours? Thanks SO much for your visit and I hope you come back soon! ~Christi

I would like to enter all four of my creations in the following challenges -
Her Peaceful Garden Birthday Celebration - Wk 1, All Those Cats
Addicted to CAS - #130, Cat {At least 2 of my ATCs are CAS}
Crafting with Friends - M, #61, Anything Goes
The Outlaws - Twisted Thursday - Twist: Fur {lots of virtual fur here!}
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - M, Anything Goes w/ a Critter
Fairy-Tale Challenge - Use Mini Stamps {The 2 ATCs using ME are Mini Stamps}
SUYP - M, Anything Goes and/or LOVE

I am Green with Envy at Anything But a Card

March is all about green - green grass, green shamrocks, spring green, well, how about envious green?  This months challenge at Anything But a Card is just that - and when I heard the challenge topic (way back in, I think it was, November?) I knew right away what I'd be using for this project.

What I Used to make my Green with Envy ATCs
Stampsmith Stamps (I used Maude, The Look and stamp from a sheet that has been discontinued)
Glossy Paper
Ranger Archival ink in Jet Black
Small Stipple Brush
Ranger Archival ink in Lettuce
DCWV - The Luxury Stack - 4.5 x 6.5 size (mat stack)
Stickles - Diamond, Crystal & Disco
Small Crown Punch
Wink of Stella in Clear
Lots of bits and pieces from my Stash
Various gel pens, Stickles, Pearls and markers

First things first, stamping the photo-realistic stamps on glossy paper with

permanent ink.  Any photo stamp looks so much better on glossy paper, and they can stamped on photo paper, but they really pop on glossy paper.  So I stamped the 3 images on the glossy paper and let them dry for a while.  While  they were drying, I looked for what I was going to back them with and I found some beautiful papers in the DCWV "The Luxury Stack" - you can't really see it in the photos (unfortunately) that I took, but the papers are nice and thick, perfect for backing an ATC.  When I looked on the DCWV website, they have a new Luxury stack, so I am guessing the mat stack I used is discontinued - but as always, if you do a search for "The Luxury Stack" there are plenty to be had. Just so I can show you how beautiful these papers are I stole borrowed a picture from online.

The next step was, to help me keep them straight in my mind, was to name the ladies in the cards - I named them Fern, Annabelle and Martha, and they are all envious of each other.  I also used my computer to make little sentences about each one and who they are envious of.  These are the final 3 cards along with their "story" and some info on what I did to each card.

This is Fern, and she is envious of Annabelle's wealth, even though she is obviously beautiful.  Fern's lips have been sparkled with the Wink of Stella pen in clear, and her earrings are filled in with Stickles.  Her eyebrows are colored with a black gel pen.

This is Annabelle and she is jealous of Martha's love, even thought she is obviously wealthy. Annabelle has a choker made from a piece of scrap Dresden along with a crown made just for her.  I used a small crown punch, punched out 3 crowns, glued them together and decorated it with Stickles. And each point has been topped with Liquid Pearls in Platinum.

This is Martha and she is envious of Fern's beauty, even though she has been lucky enough to find love.  Martha has a glitter paper red heart, a scrap of Dresden bracelet and her dress has been covered with fine black glitter. Her lips were colored with a red gel pen, and her lover's lips got colored with another gel pen.  Martha's hair got some cool waves with a clear gel pen.











And, all of their faces have been stippled with a small stipple brush and Lettuce Adirondack Ink.  I used post it notes to mask them and that helped me stay on their faces.  It was a very fun project to do and I keep forgetting how cool ATC's are.  Here are some close up pictures of each woman's special feature:

Annabelle's crown

 Fern's lips and earrings

Martha's dress









Maybe someday I'll be able to put them all in the same image, but I don't know how right now.  And I have no Photoshop, poor me! (I wouldn't have the foggiest idea on how to use it if I did have it - LOL)

So there you have it - my three envious ladies for the Anything But a Card March Challenge.  You have until the end of the month to join; that's plenty of time!  So get your Green with Envy on and join! If you enjoyed what you read, I'd love if you'd become a follower of mine and help me meet my goal of 100 new followers in 2015.  Thanks for stopping by! Christi

I am entering my Green With Envy ladies in the following challenges:
Hiding in my Craft Room - #191, Super Scraps Saturday
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - #168
Inkspirational Challenges - #78, She Art (or image of a woman)
Naughty or Nice Challenge -(M) #13, It ain't Easy Being Green 
Not Just Cards Challenge - #14, Anything Goes

Happy Halloween ATCs

I love Halloween and I started getting in the mood a few weeks ago.  I broke out my Halloween cardstock and embellishments and started making these Artist Trading Cards.  To create for the love of creating is so much fun!

I didn’t intend on making so many ATCs, but once I got started, I couldn’t stop.  I actually have a few more I made, but I had to cull the field or we’d be here until winter reading it all.  I typically make a list of the items I used when I create something but this time I used so many different items, from bits of paper, sequins, Dresden, stickers and embellishments from years past, there really was no way I could think of to make the list.  However, each ATC is actually built off a blank playing card that I did purchase ages ago at Silver Crow Creations, they still sell them, 60 to a pack – if you are interested, click here (you should go and check out the store anyway – they have amazing goodies!).  So, no list for the ATCs but all the pictures I used are either from my stash (I used actual photos and scanned them) or found online.  But, if you spot one that you really like and just have to know where I got the items from, just ask in the comments section below and I will do my best to answer.  Since the captions may be difficult to read I am going to type them out for you, along with a little bit behind the creation of the ATC if warranted.  On with the show!

 















The first card I called “Sisters”.  The caption reads, “Abigail always knew Lenora was a bit different”. Personally, I think her hat gives it away.

The second card I called “Trick or Treat”.  It reads, “He thought it was a treat, but it was a trick”.  I envision a jealous female (the green hearts = jealousy) giving her sweetheart a taste of some special brew.

Then we have the card called “The Baby”.  The caption reads “There was something strange about the baby”.  It’s really hard to see, but the darling infant has red eyes and all those ghosts flying about. It’s easy to see why someone would think there is something strange!

“Boo-tiful” is just a fun card.  I think the two women in this picture are best friends and always dress alike for Halloween. The picture is raised to give the card some dimension.

For the fifth card, the one I call “Coven” is about a group of women, meeting for what looks like a picnic. They are dressed so formally compared to what I would wear to a picnic! The sentiment reads “The Coven met promptly at 8PM.  Once all the women arrived, the fun began”.

The next card is called “Bat Girl” (and that is what the caption reads) and I found her image online somewhere.  The big bat is a cut out that I made on my Silhouette Cameo that didn’t some out right, so I used it on this card.  I like her costume; it actually looks like something I'd wear!

 

“Witch” is the title of the next card.  I like the kookiness of the glasses and that hat! She is a very stylish witch.  The bat on the very bottom is from Tim Holtz’ Mover & Shaker Die Set.

 Lastly, we have the Prince of Horror, Edgar Allen Poe.  I had the background of this ATC made for ages, it’s actually a really pretty silver fabric paper (for lack of a better term) and I framed him with an old Dresden frame.  I didn’t think he needed any words.

So there are my eight little ATCs that I made.  I hadn’t made any in such a long time I truly forgot how much fun they are!  And they use up so many tiny scraps of paper and embellishments.  I have now designated a small container that I keep on my desk just for little snippets of stuff too good to throw out but too small to use on a card so I can toss in anything I may use later.   I hope you enjoyed my ATCs, and my humor. I'm curious to know, which one was your favorite? Let me know in the comments, please! I sincerely hope everyone had a fang-tastic Halloween ~ Christi

A am entering my ATC's (all to be considered one project, or entry) in the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations Challenge Blog - #115, Anything Goes, Spooky
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge -Things that go Bump in the Night
Pixie's Snippets Playground - week 149 (I used snippets on almost every one of these)
Open Minded Crafting Fun - #22,  Halloween and/or Dress up
Left of Center Challenges -  #52, Happy Halloween
Haunted Design House - Week 2 of  Hellacious Halloween

Psst! What list do you use to check for challenges you'd like to enter? I use Challenges for Days & I highly recommend that you do too! Take a peek at the daily lists and don't forget to bookmark the page!