This week I have mostly been making .......

...... ATCs!  The mood came upon me (at last) and I had a couple of sessions, making a mixed assortment of cards, some for a specific swap (no theme) and others to build up my depleted stash.  Nothing too fancy or complicated, but it felt good to be playing around with inks and papers again.  Here are pics of what I made.

These two cards were made for a monthly partner swap (no theme)

  The next few cards are an assortment I've made to keep for swapping out on a one-to-one basis:-

"Bird Call"

Background created with torn page from telephone directory and distress inked.  Stamped bird and word images.  Words cut from dictionary.  Finished with heart embellishment, paper flowers and Stickles.

"Dream Time"

Background created with alcohol inks using a "Spinart" machine.  Girl stamp (Craft Stamper freebie) tinted with Promarkers and extra circles stamped and adhered around card.  Time Holtz adage ticket (Dream) distressed and torn, with added eyelet and ribbon tie.  Finished off with adhesive stones and Stickles.

 "Gorgeous George"

Alcohol ink background stamped with Paperartsy image.  Embellished with paper flowers, buttons and fibre.  Word 'gorgeous' created with Dymo machine; 'George' from clothes label.

"Playful Days"

Background created using papers from Crafty Individuals mini books and seagulls from CI-278 rubber stamp plate.  Beach belle image from a Somerset Studio free sheet.  Embellished with inked fibre, shells and Beadazzles.

The last ATC I want to show you today is one that I've made for a monthly draw in one of my online groups.  Each month there is a draw for ATCs, the winner takes all the ATCs that have been entered that month and chooses the theme for the following month - this month it's "Pigs" and as I do like pigs (I absolutely loved the mother pig with all her squeaking little baby piggies in the Woodentops when I was a child - anyone remember them?) and I remembered I had a 'pig' stamp lurking somewhere, I just had to make one.  So this is my entry for this month  - won't know till the end of the month who is the winner - but it would be rather nice to have a collection of 'pig' cards:-

I really love all the Steampunk art that's around at the moment and was tempted to join a swap for Steampunk ATCs, so I've had a go at making a few in that style this week - been rummaging around in my stash for old watch parts, metal washers, tiny glass jars and bulbs, anything I can lay my hands on that can be interpreted in a steampunk style, plus going through old encyclopedias I have with Victorian/steam/industrial machinery image in them (I picked up a set of 8 very old but not rare cyclopedias - yes, that's what they're called - for £3 at a car boot fair some years back and they're full of line drawings and maps).  So far I've made four cards and halfway through a fifth, but the swap's not due yet so I won't post any pictures until they've gone out.

Look at my little cheeky madam Mia having a good rootle around in my bin just now - she's obsessed with bits of paper so she's in heaven rummaging about amongst all the crafty rubbish! (Note the stack of dictionaries - great charity shop finds and an endless supply of words).

And what's this fearsome creature with the sharp fangs and gaping mouth ..... is it a monster or is it a devil?  No .... it's Mia, leaping up and attacking the strap of my camera!  (What a good game that was)!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a bit more crafting done over the weekend, one or two different projects I'm starting on, plus slowly adding some more pages to my art journal.  Might be time to run another challenge/swap on the blog too - if anyone fancies it and enough people are interested in joining in.  ATCs - or something different ...... what do you think?