Spring has Sprung and Believe in Yourself ATCs

Created another set of ATC’s for March. This group had the option of using spring or Easter as a theme. I chose 2 different design styles - the first using a cute Unity flower arrangement stamp set called Spring and Bloom. I stamped it on tan Kraft paper and added a sentiment above it. I then used my Prismacolors pencils to color it in. (Not sure I would do this again as it took a lot of time and my hand was stiff afterwards coloring 10 of them and I quickly lose interest in repetitive tasks. And that’s why I change styles or techniques so frequently.) Used about 12 different color pencils on this one and backed it with patterned paper.

The second was feeding my mixed media need to play with texture paste, stencils and Charvin watercolor chalks/sticks. I had also recently purchased through a swap FB group a Unity 1/15 SMAK kit. It had a flower in it, but it was more the impressionistic version of a flower. I’ve learned using pencils or watercolors, I tend to want to be detailed. Not possible with this stamp. So, I chose the chalky sticks to color in and around the flowers and pulled the colors around with water and my fingers. I really like how they turned out. Through the Expo I recently attended I picked up a ton of 12 x 12 paper very cheap. I decided to use the blue paper and used a square stencil turned on it’s side and created diamond impressions here and there. I then cut the paper up to create 10 ATCs. I used a graphite pen and some white chalk to emphasize those diamonds more. Once I had 5 relatively large flowers completed I cut them in half. I played with torn edges and decided instead to use a circle die. Now I had the 2 main pieces I needed to add a sentiment and create a card design. I stamped a sentiment from Simple Wisdom. Playing around with all components, I decided I wanted to add black and some other textures. I used an Elizabeth Craft die to create the circle string using black and brown paper. I also pulled out some washi, burlap and buttons. One of the papers I had had wording all over it. I decided to cut out the “be happy” phrase which I thought complemented the “Believe in Yourself” well and attached it to a burlap strip. Putting everything together, I added the blue strip of washi at the top, black strip of Washi tape with the sentiment and a cream button with black dot which mirrored the strip and the half circle flower. It’s a strange ATC, but I really like it. What I didn’t like was that it pushed some of Post Office boundaries on thickness. So, I’ll be more careful next time.

Well enough about these. Hope I didn’t lose you in the explanation! See ya next time!