Thursday, July 3, 2014

Desert-themed ATCs - Final week of Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge

You have one more week to make a Set of 3 Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for our current challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies (the deadline is July 8) They are fun to collect an swap, and make great card toppers. I had so much fun making my Message in a Bottle set that I decided to make a set of desert-themed ATCs:

The backgrounds are digi papers from the Camel Digital Stamp Pack by Coosty Creations. The birds are a stamp from the Cloudy Skies set by ArtsyfArtsy Stamps, which I recently won from Sweet Stamps (thank you!).

All of my desert-themed stamps seem to be quite large, so I pulled out my Shrinky-dink plastic and made embellishments for each of the ACTs. I coated them with Glossy Accents, which made them difficult to photograph but enhance the image in person.

The camel Shrinky-dink was made with an Animal Spirit Stamp by Sue Coccia for Earth Art International. I stamped this intricate design with Timber Brown Staz-On ink.

Don't you just love this digi paper with these curious camels?! I just added a little Antique Linen distress ink to the edges. I cut the little banner from a Kraft paper, doodled on it with a watermark pen (Versamark) and heat-embossed it with Brown Sugar embossing powder (ZING).

I made the border on a base of the plain desert digi paper, using Glossy Accents and gold microbeads.




It would probably be more accurate if this were a date palm, but I just had to use this Coconut Palm rubber stamp by Under the Rubber Tree to make a Shrinky-dink. I inked it with stamp markers.

The silly sentiment is from Inky Antics. I used the same ink for the sentiment as for the bird shadows (Gingerbread from VersaChalk), but I added some blue-green glitter embossing powder.

The refreshing watering-hole was hand-cut from a holographic plastic and embossed in my BigShot with a Sizzix folder. I put some mesh (one of my favorite recycled items, from a bag of avocados) behind it for added texture.

I added a border with a TEKwriter glitter pen, and used bright green Liquid Pearls to accent the corners. I backed it onto a light blue cardstock.


The cactus stamp is from the Fred Bear Out West set from MFT. I stamped it in green pigment ink, colored it with a stamp marker, and fussy cut around all those darn little needles. And then I put it in the toaster oven & totally forgot about it...it burned just enough to give the green some tint, so it was a happy accident.

I printed this background with a blank top so that I could ink directly onto it. I used a die circle and its negative as masks to create the sun. I backed the scene onto a patterned paper.

These adorable little quail die cuts are from Cheery Lynn's Birds of Earth & Sky set, which I bought from Sweet Stamps. I cut them from a black-on-gray, textured Core'Dinations cardstock, sanded them very carefully to reveal some of the gray, and added details with a brown marker, a glitter pen, and a white Glaze pen. I have friends & family in Arizona, so this theme was very close to my heart. We call the baby quail "walnuts" and they are beyond cute in person. I used a border punch for the teensy flowers and a sunburst punch for the larger ones, and added some Liquid Pearls to the centers. The flowers were partly inspired by my best friend, who called me while this Spring while driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix, just to tell me how beautiful the blooming Sahuaros were!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Scrappy Hands #16: Use a Stamp
Wicked Wednesdays: Inspirational / Uplifting Quotes or Words (I'm entering the Oasis ATC with the "I'll never 'desert' you" sentiment)


Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

6 comments:

  1. These are all so fun and have so much texture and such great colors. It is so hot around here - it kind of feels like the desert! Miss seeing your cards - glad I dropped by today. Hugz!

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  2. wow wow WOW! CG, how clever these designs are with so much dimension and texture! Love the sentiment on "desert" you and the sunrise - each ATC is so pretty! hugs, de

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  3. Love these, ATC's can be addictive. So much fun, blessings Hilde

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  4. Such fun ATC's....a great job with all 3 of them. Thanks for playing along with us this week at Wicked Wednesday.

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  5. wonderful Cards!!
    Thanks for playing with us at Scrappy Hands Challenge

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  6. Beutifull cards
    Thanks for playing with us at Scrappy Hands Challenge

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