Besides sewing pouches such as THESE, I have really been into making ATC's lately. I think because I got my kids making them too, so it is sort of a fun project to do together.
Don't know what ATC's are? Well, they are quite simply just tiny works of art. The only real requirements (that I know of) for ATC's are: they must be 2.5" x 3.5"; you can not sell them; and they should be sturdy. That's it ... really! You can make them however you see fit, and they really are a great outlet for expression and trying out new techniques. You can use any medium you like: fabric, embroidery, paint, drawing, etc .... I just like to do collage/altered art type ATC's. This site right HERE has everything you ever wanted to know about ATC's, and really helped me out when I got started making them around a year and a half ago.
Here are some I have made recently:
The one above I call, "A distinguished portrait". This one is "NFT" (not for trade) at the moment, because I just love it too much! I used mat board, glitter, paper shapes, washi paper, paint, distress ink and varnish on this one. I gotta admit, I just love washi paper. I really cannot explain it, but I just do, and is probably a big part of why I love this ATC so much.
Here is another ATC I just can't seem to part with yet, it is called "An unlucky collage":
I call it "an unlucky collage" because it is covered in the number 13. I am not superstitious at all though, so it is meant to be more ironic than anything else ... perhaps only to me, but oh well! For this one I used: mat board, paper numbers (mostly from a Tim Holtz Card-stock stack that I have), dictionary page, gold paint, distress ink, gold and black embossing powder and varnish.
The next two I have already traded via THIS flickr group.
This one I call "Soar" ...
For this ATC, I wanted to capture the feeling of leaving something tedious behind such as a boring job, or schoolwork or whatever. I know it probably sounds corny, but it is hard for me to make a piece of "art", no matter how miniature, without having a specific feeling in mind. So this bird is flying high, out of the boring area into the flowered area. I used a lot of stuff on this one too: my sewing machine; mat-board; card-stock; paper shapes; black paint; gold glitter; gold lace; gold paper; varnish and a dictionary definition.
And, here is another ATC I recently traded with someone in Malaysia:
The one above I call "Always" (for obvious reasons) ... whenever I make sticky sweet stuff like this I am always thinking of my hubby :) Anyhow, for this one, I was experimenting with using a ton of embossing powder for the background ... I think I quite like the way it turned out. In addition to the embossing powder I used: distress ink; some random bits of paper; varnish; and the bird is a black cabochon I bought from Etsy a while back.
This one I made for an ATC swap on swap-bot, the theme was "Bumblebee":
And finally, here is one I made yesterday. While I was making this one, my kids were with me making their own ... as soon as I get a chance, I will show you what they have been coming up with. Kids really have such a great imagination, you know?
Anyways, this one is called "me & you" (once again for obvious reasons):
Don't know what ATC's are? Well, they are quite simply just tiny works of art. The only real requirements (that I know of) for ATC's are: they must be 2.5" x 3.5"; you can not sell them; and they should be sturdy. That's it ... really! You can make them however you see fit, and they really are a great outlet for expression and trying out new techniques. You can use any medium you like: fabric, embroidery, paint, drawing, etc .... I just like to do collage/altered art type ATC's. This site right HERE has everything you ever wanted to know about ATC's, and really helped me out when I got started making them around a year and a half ago.
Here are some I have made recently:
The one above I call, "A distinguished portrait". This one is "NFT" (not for trade) at the moment, because I just love it too much! I used mat board, glitter, paper shapes, washi paper, paint, distress ink and varnish on this one. I gotta admit, I just love washi paper. I really cannot explain it, but I just do, and is probably a big part of why I love this ATC so much.
Here is another ATC I just can't seem to part with yet, it is called "An unlucky collage":
I call it "an unlucky collage" because it is covered in the number 13. I am not superstitious at all though, so it is meant to be more ironic than anything else ... perhaps only to me, but oh well! For this one I used: mat board, paper numbers (mostly from a Tim Holtz Card-stock stack that I have), dictionary page, gold paint, distress ink, gold and black embossing powder and varnish.
The next two I have already traded via THIS flickr group.
This one I call "Soar" ...
For this ATC, I wanted to capture the feeling of leaving something tedious behind such as a boring job, or schoolwork or whatever. I know it probably sounds corny, but it is hard for me to make a piece of "art", no matter how miniature, without having a specific feeling in mind. So this bird is flying high, out of the boring area into the flowered area. I used a lot of stuff on this one too: my sewing machine; mat-board; card-stock; paper shapes; black paint; gold glitter; gold lace; gold paper; varnish and a dictionary definition.
And, here is another ATC I recently traded with someone in Malaysia:
The one above I call "Always" (for obvious reasons) ... whenever I make sticky sweet stuff like this I am always thinking of my hubby :) Anyhow, for this one, I was experimenting with using a ton of embossing powder for the background ... I think I quite like the way it turned out. In addition to the embossing powder I used: distress ink; some random bits of paper; varnish; and the bird is a black cabochon I bought from Etsy a while back.
This one I made for an ATC swap on swap-bot, the theme was "Bumblebee":
And finally, here is one I made yesterday. While I was making this one, my kids were with me making their own ... as soon as I get a chance, I will show you what they have been coming up with. Kids really have such a great imagination, you know?
Anyways, this one is called "me & you" (once again for obvious reasons):
This one (above) is still available for trade, so if you make ATC's and would like to trade with me, send me an email and we will set something up.
So, do you make ATC's?
Hugs, Sara :)
They are all lovely! I could never get into making ATCs. I might try again and see what I come up with.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to get into making these! I thought it might be fun to do one-a-day challenge with ATCs. Great, simple way to keep the creativity flowing! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's Victoria from Swapbot,
ReplyDeletelove love that first one :):)
hi from swap-bot! Your blog is very cute and very inspirational! I love your mug rug and embroidery patterns. You saw my craft blog www.astoriadesigns.wordpress.com . this comment is from my illustration blog! (just letting you know why there's a random person commenting!)
ReplyDeletei love these ATCs, especially the first. i wouldn't want to trade it either. i signed up for 2 new ATCs on swap-bot. my first.. we'll see how it goes.. thanks for the comments!
HI from swapbot. Your ATC's are so textural which is awesome.
ReplyDeleteMy favs are Unlucky and Bumblebee
Its great to see a blog I like and your atcs are lovely.I especially like the bird ones
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you for your nice comments!
ReplyDelete@ RainbowSweetStitch -- I used to feel the same way as you, and then some how I caught the ATC bug, and now I am addicted, LOL!
@ Liesl -- thanks for stopping by! Yes, I totally agree that a challenge would be really fun with ATC's, and really do get those creative juices flowing!
@ Tweed Fox -- yes, it is so hard to part with ones that you really like, you know? Good luck on your swaps, I signed up for some too! :)