Artist Trading Cards with Sin City Stamps

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the blog.  As I promised you in my last post, I want to share with you today the ATCs that I made to fit in the altered ATC box, which can be viewed here.

So, what are ATCs?  They are Artist Trading Cards, similar to baseball cards, at least in size.  ATCs are always 2-1/2" x 3-1/2", and can be decorated in either a horizontal or vertical format.  I tend to prefer the vertical format, but this is just a personal preference.  ATCs are meant to be traded only, and unlike baseball cards, are never to be sold.  You always want to sign, date, and number your ATCs.  If you make one ATC or 10 ATCs, number it 1 of 1 or 1 of 10, 2 of 10, and so on.  So let's get started.

Supplies:

Sin City Stamps:  Art Journaling with Terri Sproul

                             Art Journaling with Terri Sproul 2

                             Love of Butterflies

                             Rosette Hearts

                             A Wing Above the Rest

                             Birds and Clocks

Gold Glitter Cardstock (The Robin's Nest) 

Kraft Cardstock (Paper Studio)

Encore Gold Metallic ink (Tsukineko)

Black archival ink (Ranger)

VersaFine Onyx Black archival ink (Tsukineko)

VersaFine Vintage Sepia archival ink (Tsukineko)

3-D Crystal Lacquer

Distress inks:  Evergreen Bough, Spiced Marmalade, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint,  Faded Jeans, Dried Marigold, Picked Raspberry, Fired Brick, Soot, Brushed Corduroy)

Woodsies wooden shapes

Helmar 450 glue

German paper scrap (gold embossed borders)

Directions:

First, cut pieces of Kraft cardstock into 2-1/2" x 3-1/2".

The most cost-effective way to cut a piece of 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock that will yield 10 ATCs is shown below:

Stamp background image from the Rosette Hearts plate with Encore gold metallic ink.  

I chose to heat emboss  the ATCs on the left with gold embossing powder (EP).

Stamp background image from the Rosette Hearts plate with VersaFine black ink on one ATC, and VersaFine sepia brown on the other.  Here are the four bases for my ATCs.

TIP:  When stamping a large stamp onto a smaller piece of paper, I find it easier to turn the stamp over and lay my paper piece down onto the stamp.  That way, I can see exactly where I am stamping.

Allow the inks to dry before proceeding, or speed it up with a heat gun.  Patience is never a virtue when it comes to art.

I made four heart shaped woodsies, similar to the ones I made in my last post.  You can see the tutorial there.

I placed my woodsies on each of the four ATCs to audition their placement.  Then I decided what stamps I wanted to use around them.  

I used the gold stamped piece for my first ATC.  Stamp the small flourish and "ART" from the Art Journaling with Terri Sproul plate with black ink.  Stamp the script background and rosette from the Rosette Hearts plate.  (TIP:  When stamping script background images, ink portions of the image unevenly for that artsy look.)

I rounded the corners on my ATCs, but this is just a matter of personal preference.  Then I distress inked the edges.  

Adhere the woodsie and sign the back of your ATC.  (TIP:  If you add dimensional objects to your ATC, it makes it easier to sign the back first.)

Here is a free ATC back template I found online from craftingwithstyle.blogspot.com.  

The remaining ATCs were made in a similar fashion.  Close-up pictures are provided below.

Background stamped with Vintage Sepia archival ink, add Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, and Dried Marigold distress inks to background; stamp Rosette Hearts border,  Love of Butterflies mini butterfly, Art Journaling with Terri Sproul 2 brick background and Friends with black ink, sponge on Encore gold metallic ink randomly, ink edges black, fussy cut butterfly, add woodsie, bling, and a piece of German scrap that you antiqued with archival black ink.   

German scrap antiqued with archival black ink

Background stamped with Black Onyx ink, Spiced Marmalade,  Peeled Paint,  Faded Jeans, Dried Marigold, Fired Brick, Soot, Brushed Corduroy sponged over background; A Wing Above the Rest STEAM (black) and steam engine gold embossed, small piece of German scrap, tiny gear.

Background stamped with Gold metallic ink and gold embossed, sponged black soot distress ink over all,  Art Journaling with Terri Sproul 2 small flourish in black archival ink, Birds and Clocks hummingbird in black ink, colored with Peeled Paint, Picked Raspberry, Faded Jeans, Scattered Straw distress inks, cut out, added to front with woodsy, heart locket charm, small bits of German scrap.

I hope I have inspired you to try your hand at making some ATCs and swapping with friends.  I also like to use ATCs as focal points on cards, in my art journals, altered books, and scrapbooks. Can you think of some more creative ways to include ATCs in your art?  

Before I close, I also want to tell you about these two fabulous stamp plates that are now available; Nautical 1 and Nautical 2 are ready for shipping.  I love both of these sets and I think they would make great summer page layouts for those beach vacation pictures, as well as making great masculine cards.  Or how about a mini album for saving your beach treasures.  Check these out in the Sin City Stamps store.  

Best of all, you can get 20% off your entire purchase during the month of July.  Just use the coupon code:  nautical20 .  So go stock up now!  And with every purchase, you are entered into the Sin City Stamps $1,000 Giveaway.  Click here for the official rules.

Also, be sure to visit the Sin City Stamps blog often to see what wonderful creations the design team has in store for you!  They are extremely talented and full of wonderful ideas to share with you.

Have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thanks so much for stopping by.

Barbara