Sunshine in my shadows

Welcome to sunshine in my shadows. This blog is my space to share all the stuff that makes up my every day life. Family, friends, crafts, recipes, books and all the little things that add 'sunshine to my shadows'. We all have a sprinkling of sunshine and an equal sprinkling of shadows in our lives. Hopefully you will find more sunshine than shadows to read about here and on the days when shadows fall, know that the sunshine is peeking just around the corner!


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Sunday, August 7, 2011

ATC love...

I mentioned in a recent post that I had discovered artist trading cards (ATC's) and that I was taking part in a swap on swapbot with a couple of my online friends. Now that both my recipients have received their cards I can share on my blog the cards I made to send to them. Our theme for the swap was nature. The cards are 2 and a half inches by 3 and a half inches in size. I was pleased with my results although working on such a small scale is a challenge.

This card I tore and glued a couple of paper scraps on either end of the card. I coloured the middle in with pastels and blended them slightly. Then I fussy cut a butterfly from another scrapbooking paper and stuck it down with a foam square so it was more dimensional. I decorated the butterfly wings with sticky jewels and outlined the wings with gold glitter. The antennae of the butterfly I made from the ends of a couple of piksters. (piksters are a dental product for cleaning the gaps between your teeth and look somewhat like tiny bottlebrushes) These also received a coating of glitter. I added a few more sparkly gems and a quote. "Lose yourself in nature and find peace". I hate my handwriting but don't have access to a printer just yet nor a small alphabet stamp set. I finished by dabbing the edges of the card with a green inkpad. I was really pleased with this card and it was a good learning experience.
This card I made in a similar fashion fussy cutting roses from different papers and glueing them to the card base. I used a pink ink pad to smudge the edges of the cut papers and colour the centre. This time I used a dimensional vellum butterfly sticker. I used watercolour pencils to colour the wings and added gold glitter. I embellished with some sparkly gems and a dragonfly button from my scrapbooking supplies. To finish I edged the whole card with gold pen. It's not perfect but pretty and I was pretty chuffed with myself when I had done.

I've been reading about various art techniques and looking for hours at ATC's online and will doubtless have more to show in the future. Making these tiny works of art is fun, relaxing and as I was warned, very addictive! Hope my show and tell (bragfest) brought a little sunshine to your day.

wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen
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6 comments:

  1. Linda J.August 7, 2011 at 3:26 PM

    They are beautiful Helen - you can be justly proud of them and I am sure the girls who received them will love them too.

    Hope you enjoy making more of these and share them with us again so we can enjoy your talent.

    Love and hugs,
    Linda.

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  2. NellyAugust 7, 2011 at 6:42 PM

    They are very lovely Helen.I am not into paper craft but admire it alot.I wish I liked scrapbooking so all my old pics were nicely put together but just not my thing.I bet the ladies who recieve your cards will be thrilled.

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  3. LyndelAugust 7, 2011 at 10:39 PM

    they are gorgeous, you are so tallented, like Nelly, I'm useless at any kind of paper/scrapbooking/ embellishing.
    Regarding the crochet covered bike you mentioned, there is one down Geelong way, I met the lady who owns it at Fed.Square Yarn Day, she does some amazing street art with yarn.

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  4. vintageandartAugust 8, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    Arn't these cards a wonderful way of spreading creativity and joy, and yours are beautiful. l love the interesting use of bits and bobs that most people wouldn't think off. You've made fantastic colour choices and l also love the butterflies, what a great way to spend some free time.

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  5. Lady LindaAugust 9, 2011 at 3:17 AM

    Oh, how beautiful and very creative. What a joy to receive something like this in the mail. WOW!
    Lady Linda

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  6. ladychiaraAugust 10, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    Thanks Linda undoubtedly I will have more to share at a future date.

    Thanks Nelly. I started scrapbooking but enjoy cardmaking more. I love that it is something you can leave and come back to. It is quite an expensive hobby though.

    Thanks Lyndel regarding the bicycle owner. It would be the same lady I think as I live on the outskirts of Geelong. :)

    Thanks Bron.I enjoy doing stuff with my hands and working with paper is very forgiving! I tend to suffer from 'fat finger' syndrome so fine work is getting beyond me. (frustration city) Apparently with ATC's anything goes so that suits me just fine LOL. I've made others not quite as pretty as these two cards but it's all about the creative process not just the end result.

    LadyLinda thank you. :) I love snail mail and these cards are a treat. It's a surprise to see what you are going to receive too and I like that. I love to see how others interpret an idea or theme.

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