Let's make an APC.

Yes ... let's. What is an APC, well it is an "Altered Playing Card".  Sort of like an ATC, but you use a playing card as your base.  I am not sure that there are any "rules" per se, but I do know that you should leave the suit showing somewhere on your card... I guess if you didn't it would just look like an ATC (it is afterall the same size!).

I don't know about you, but for me when I see other people's ATC's or APC's or ACEO's (wow, that's a lot of abbreviations!) I am curious about the materials/techniques that they use to create them.  So, I thought I would describe to you how I made this APC ...

"Let's go to the fair"

You are welcome to make the same thing, something similar, or something completely different.  Now, when I make stuff like this, I don't have a plan going in, so I did not take any pictures along the way, but I did take pictures of the tools afterwards, and will tell you how I made this APC.  The most important thing when making anything, but especially little works of art like this, is to have fun!

So, first I started off with a playing card ... the rigid type that you can buy that has been recycled from a casino.  It is glossy, so I sanded off the surface using a medium grit sandpaper.  Then, I put around 3 coats of primer (in this case Under Cover) over the entire surface of the card and allowed it to dry.  Please note that I only put one coat over the suit, so that it would still show through.

Once dry, I took my sand paper, and lightly sanded the edges of the card.  I then went over the entire card with red distress ink.  I used moist paper towel to lift off the excess distress ink -- this left the card to where only the areas that I had sanded kept the red distress ink.

Although you can find blending tools by the stamp pads at your local craft store, I find that a cosmetic sponge works just as well for applying the distress ink. 

My next step was to stamp the Ferris wheel image on the card.  I used my favorite black ink: Ranger Archival ink.  This particular stamp I found at Michael's around a week or so ago on clearance for $0.50 ... can't beat that!

After I allowed the ink from the Ferris wheel to dry (I didn't want it to smudge), I used  the same black ink from the previous step, and a scrap of bubble wrap to stamp the card.


While the ink was drying from the bubble wrap "stamp", I pulled out my grungeboard letters, and colored the top of the letters with a black calligraphy marker.  I love these black calligraphy markers because of the flat tips in 2 different sizes.  Once dry, I glued on the grungeboard letters (my favorite glue for this HERE).

Next, I clipped out the definition for "fair" from this really cheap dictionary I bought a couple of years ago at Target.  They carry these every year once the school supplies come out, and are really cheap (like, a couple of dollars or so), so I don't feel guilty about cutting them up.  I have the thesaurus version of this too.  After I clipped the definition out, I lightly distressed it with the distress ink, and gently ran the calligraphy marker around the edges.  I then adhered the definition to the card using a craft glue stick.

My last step was to randomly adhere some Martha Stewart stick on gems, and "black the edges". Huh? Oh... that is just what I call taking my calligraphy marker and applying it to the edges of the card.  I "black the edges" on all of my ATC's, because I just love the way darkened edges look. But like anything else, this is a matter of personal preference.

So, there you have it ... and Altered Playing Card.  They are so fun and addictive to make, you may end up making the entire deck!

Here are a few more APC's that I have made recently ...

"Flight of Fancy"

"Color Collage: Red"

"In Flight"

So what do you think? Pretty fun and easy, right?  Now go on and make one ... or 52. 

Hugs, Sara :)