ATC Zettiology

Only just noticed I never posted this....only nearly 12 months since I typed it up!!!
Seeing as I have not shared much arty stuff recently here is an ATC.

Not too sure this is as zettified as it should to be!! LOL Still not quite got the Zetti vibe yet!!

The houses, funny person and sentiment down the side "Wherever I lay my hat that's my home" are stamps from Home Impressions

Thanks for looking and happy stamping :)

xoxo Sioux

Vintage

This month the theme over at The Artist Trading Club is "Vintage"

Some of you may think it odd that I have managed to play at all with what has been going on lately but to me this crafting/stamping lark is something I have to do.......I read Dyan Reaveley's blog and can heartily agree with the idea that art is both a creative outlet and a form of therapy.......although I have really still not started a written art journal I have slowly realised that almost every image led piece I make has a meaning and gives an outlet to emotions that could get the better of me!

To the casual onlooker it may just seen like a image perhaps matched with a sentiment that gives a pleasing end result.........whilst I do try to explain the idea behind it all if I can......sometimes it is not till much later that I realise what has happened almost unconsciously whilst creating!

Anyways..........I'm sure you have come here to see stuff not to hear my babble LOL....so here is the ATC........and for once...at least for now.....I don't think there is any hidden meaning at all!!

The image is of an ancestor......my great uncle Bill (never knew him as he was long gone before I was born to parents getting on in years!)........he lived through the Edwardian era and I wanted to try to convey that sort of feeling...you know all aspidistras/velvet drapes/gentleman's clubs.

............Just look at the waist height on those trousers....he could definately give Simon Cowell a run for his money there!!! HOL

The background is a digital image that I think was from Art-E-Zine many moons ago but I find the site so difficult to navigate that I can't find a link to it.......so sorry! I then added a touch of DI wild honey to the upper portion....followed by just a little stamping of the cog wheels (frayed burlap), stars (Impress chocolate) and watch hand (embossed with copper). The green stuff at the top is a sticky back baize that is used for putting on the bottom of stuff to prevent scratches but I've had it years and I think it was actually from my Dad's supply of stuff so heaven knows where it came from!

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Thank you.....thank you for all your positive thoughts for Pip (my DH) and perhaps they may just be working......although the lows are very low at the moment and the highs are not that high at least it is a small step in the right direction.

ATC - Keys

This post was hiding in my list so seeing as crafty pieces are not being made as yet I thought I'd post this now!

I managed to join in with the Key theme over at The Artist Trading Club in November here is the one I made (again I made 5 all the same).

I cut out the keyhole shape from some thin chipboard and dragged some terra cotta Adirondack dimensional acrylic on and left to dry then got some gold paste used to touch up picture frames and rubbed a little over....the rather dour lady is an ancestor of mine...afraid I'm not certain who she was...possibly a great great aunt...unfortunately I have no way of finding out since my mother died....

I'd have loved to use some of those T!m type metal key letters but needs must and I made them by stamping Paperartsy letters and blobbing some white dimensional pearls over......the metal bit was stamped with a Paperartsy border onto nearly the last of the tomato paste tube that Laura gave me.....I'm waiting patiently to use up the dregs from mine so I can have some more!!!...the same border was stamped directly onto the card at the top.......the background is some gorgeous paper from Provo Craft.

Here are the fantastic four I received in the swap.

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux

ATC Hallowe'en

Here is the ATC I made for the Hallowe'en swap over at the Artist Trading Club in October.

I stamped and embossed the T!m skeleton with winter wonderland powder (it's got silver glitter in it!) and used DI's frayed jeans & scattered straw on the background...masking off a circular section for the very full harvest moon...we get some really fab ones around here and it takes your breath away when one looms at you over the hill as you drive into our little town.

.......the ticket I designed on the computer and inked....the web is Inkadinkadoo...the dots the full stop from a Studio G set of alphabet stamps as are the word fragments.

Here are the fabulous swaps I received in return.

Thanks for swapping everyone and for looking in today........happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

ATC - "Cookies"

The Artist Trading Club theme this month is Cookies!

Mmmm......yes....I did not know what it was either.....not sure if I do now HOL!

Anyways it definitely includes doodling and I think an image...anyways that's what I ended up doing!!! :).....you know by now that I'm not one for making 5 different ATC's but there was no way I could see me doing 5 the same that involved doodling so went with the idea of 5 different ones from the word go......using an old favourite song to start me off..."Up on the roof".....there is not much to say about the making I just found 5 images that suited and doodled around them in a Pilot pen and coloured with Copics.

These are the four I'm sending in for swapping.

This is the one I'm keeping.

...I usually keep number one of my ATC's purely because it's the one I trial on for the rest, but because these are all different anyway it's because I don't think it's as nice as the rest....so if I'm not happy with it I'm not about to lumber someone else with it!!! LOL

You've still got time to join in.......closing date end of month.

Thanks for looking and happy doodling!!!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Call me sad but I'm taking a holiday day off work tomorrow...it's Craft Day on QVC and there looks like a mega bunch of talented people turning up......I will take what I can from the shows although I realise the main aim is to sell products.....perhaps some gems of crafting wisdom will come my way....there is no other chance of seeing the like in my neck of the woods!.....I don't intend to buy anything.....yes I know!......but I mean it....that is unless the new DI colours are a bargain waiting to be had ;) LOL

Celebrate ATC for Joan Gevaert

I made this ATC as a small thank you to Joan Gevaert who donated the twinchie stamps that I won over at The Artist Trading Club recently....and I had a lovely comment from Hermine who is the stamp designer that I very much appreciated....It makes you feel all warm inside!

You know I mentioned before about having a really bad aversion to ripping up books? Well....I bought a paperback the other day (one that held no desire for me to read!!) that had a naturally aged patina to the pages and am using them now...phew and only 30p...bargain!!! LOL

...now that I have started stamping on pages there will be no stopping me...so I am entering this into the Lots To Do challenge this week which is backgrounds.

Glued a piece of book page to the card and let dry.......then put sellotape where the stamp was going to go and ripped it back off to take away some of the top layer just like T!m did on one of the 12 tags of Christmas posts.....stamped the twinchie stamp in Impress chocolate and a Paperartsy border stamp on three edges in archival......the Paperartsy word "Joy" was distress embossed in tattered rose over worn lipstick ink...cut out and edged with black marker...a mixture of tea dye and walnut stain used to age the edges.

.....do you see the brads in the corner?

...these are not just any old brads!

...these are genuine antique brads!

.....over 50 years old at least to my knowledge (and the rest I suspect)....as you can read on the label these are from the days when they used to be called paper fasteners!!...I only have a small supply in this old tin box that I inherited from my father so they are very precious.....they have a colour and quality you just don't get today and the paperclip (bit on the rusty side LOL) was from the same source......Gorgeous!!
Thanks for looking and happy stamping.
xoxo Sioux

P.S. Anyone know what the copper medallion was for? It reads Accrington Corporation with the number 288 and is plain on the back.

ATC for Chriss

I've had more than my fair share of luck just lately and Chriss at The Artist Trading Club asked if I would make her a special ATC just for her with one of the twinchie stamps I won

.....I was happy to oblige :)

I clear embossed the sentiment "Dream as if you'll live forever......" onto the base white card then stippled DI's Scattered Straw and Frayed Jeans all over and then blended the colours a bit with a dry baby wipe......stippling seems to give the colours a more muted look in my view.......stamped the twinchie stamp kindly donated by Joan Gevaert in archival and sponged a bit of FJ on the watch and FB on the postage stamp......stamped and embossed the Elusive Images word "ART" in pewter (love that...it looks like liquid metal :)).....the word "make" is Paperartsy coloured with copics...T!m scroll around the edges in WS and the bingo line in Tattered Rose...Artifacts pen stamped onto copper paper and cut out..edges tattered and inked with WS.

I am thrilled that Chriss liked it.....doing a happy dance ;)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

ATC Sewing

Here is the ATC I made for the Sewing theme over at the Artist Trading Club.....I thought I had posted this ages ago but it seems not!!!

I photocopied an old sewing pattern and reduced it to an ATC friendly size and cut out the sewing diagrams.....now....I can't remember exactly what I did with the background but I know it involved gluing some scrunched up tissue paper onto the base and scattering some distress embossing powder over it for some texture then I stamped a watch face in archival.....alcohol inked two of the buttons in the corner and the sentiment was computer generated and stitched on top of a small sample I had of patchwork quilting material.....I have enough of those small pieces to last 3 life times I think at the rate I am using them HOL!!!

Here are the ones I received in the swap are they not fab?!

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

ATC-Telephone directory swaps

Doing a bit of catch up........here is the ATC I made for the Telephone Directory swap over at the Artist Trading Club a couple of months ago.

I glued the directory page to the ATC backing and spread some bottle Adirondack acrylic and dragged a comb through it on the edges........adding a bit of printed card from my bit box that had had circles cut out of it a one point.

Stamped the head (one of my own stamps) onto some more directory paper tore one edge and fixed to some black card and added a little heart brad...........

I wanted to experiment with making some background paper and stamped the motif (one of my own stamps) in a repeat pattern on the band across the front.......

Made the inky splattered background and layered up the pieces and adding a bit of green jute that I picked up in Austria on a Christmas market trip a few years ago. Hand wrote the word fragment and stamped the question mark.

And here are the super one's I received........why not join in yourself......you never know what goodies you will get in return!

from Chriss Rollins....thanks Chriss

from Sue Law....thanks Sue

from Carol.....thanks Carol

from Denise Long.....thanks Denise

Happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

As easy as "ABCDE"

This is the ATC I made for my first swap over at The Artist Trading Club. I hope everyone has received theirs now that I am posting this............mine arrived Saturday :) The theme was to include "ABCDE"......some included this all on the one ATC whilst others obviously made 5 different ones with one letter on each.........I have to say I find it challenging enough to make one design and re-create it 5 times.......never mind make 5 different ones!!.......................... Congrats to those who can.

I have included two shots as I wanted to try to convey the interference effect on the Paperartsy man..............this was stamped with black Versafine and then painted over with oyster H2O's...........I know this stuff will probably last ages but what happens when I run out?.....Panic!.....as they are going ,or have gone, out of business!!.......The red background was stamped with cranberry Adirondack and painted out with water and the butterfly/moth (not sure which!) was a mixture of DI and chalk on the wings with Adirondack acrylic - cranberry for the body. The old fashioned "Time Book" paper was a free download from Tim Holtz a couple of years ago........it was available as a workshop project sheet........not that there was any possibility of me going as it was in America........but hey! It was a freebie!!! Came in useful at last for this and I added the computer generated wording..............distressed a bit round the edges with DI walnut Stain......By the way............I kept this one as I had got a stain right in the middle of his eyebrows!!!

Here are the four great ATC's I received on Saturday

Chris Rollins

Love the image and stamping that has all been done on glossy card. Chris explains more about it on her blog.

Denise Long (sorry Denise..........don't know your blog link)

Love the background......I am presuming alcohol inks but I might be wrong........and to me it looks as if the moon is peeping out from a cloudy/misty night sky. Perhaps Oliver Reed is about to make an appearance as the "Werewolf"? Sorry..........I do have vivid dreams. LOL

Jaci Wright

Super six pack!! Just a hint of sparkle and I love the quotation "I don't care much for reality... I prefer art."........How true.......reality sucks!

Chris Rowe

Fantastic background..........again with Alcohol inks and I love that eye.....I can imagine almost anything looking at that!........also love the little white dots......just adds to the whole effect.

I adore each and every one and now that I have a little collection started I am going to have to make something special to keep these in.

xoxo