Message in a Bottle ATCs

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we're challenging you to make a Set of 3 Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). We have two sponsors, Pickled Potpourri Designs and QKR Stampede, and I used this fun Wish in a Bottle Digi Stamp by QKR.

An artist trading card (or ATC for short) is a 2.5x3.5 inch piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist. I'll admit that I've incorporated this challenge into the ATC Swap we're having within one of my other Design Teams (OSAAT). I was inspired by the "Great Outdoors" theme for that swap. My Crafting with Dragonflies teamie Susan used this same digi stamp for her ATCs as well, and I love her take. Be sure to check out all the DT projects!

The Bottle digi stamp was printed directly onto the paper; I also printed them on masking paper so that I could ink the background over top. I then colored the bottles with Copic markers, using the Blender Texture technique for the underwater parts.

The background was made using a wave border cut file from SVG Attic's Just Beachy set as a mask. I don't do this very often, but it was tons of fun! I found it pretty easy to mask and ink using the die cuts and their negatives, plus plenty of painter's tape. Here's a photo of how I did this (sorry, I took it after doing the inking!):

The banner paper and sentiment are from Graphic 45's By the Sea collection. I hand-cut the banners and attached then with these glittery brads so that they move.

The "beach" is made with a coffee sleeve. I used some green mesh from a bag of avocados for a little texture, and the sandy landscape base is from Camel Digital Stamp Pack by Coosty Creations.

Inspiration/Challenges:
ABC Challenge: N is for Nautical
Craft my Life All Crafts Challenge: Anything but a Card
Jellypark Friends Friday Challenge: Seaside/ Beach/ Nautical
Moving Along with the Times: I would like to be beside the seaside

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

Okay, so he's a little heavy...

With Earth Day coming up on Monday, April 22, and I couldn't resist using Worldly Turtle by QKR Stampede that I won recently from Top Tip Tuesday. And I especially couldn't resist using the title of the classic song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" as the sentiment. Poor guy looks like he's struggling a bit, but don't we all from time to time!

The yellow, plastic netting on the top left-hand corner is from a bag of potatoes. Fingerlings, if I remember correctly (but I've had it in my stash for quite some time).

I paper-pieced the globe with Graphic 45 papers. I added embossed polka-dots to the green portions with an embossing folder, and inked it with Pear Tart to bring out the texture. The turtle is colored with Copics.

For the banner-border, I covered white cardstock with Washi Tape and cut them with a banner die from a•muse studio.

The die-cut flower was inspired by the Maryland State Flower, the Black-eyed Susan, since the Diamond-backed Terrapin is our State Reptile. I used a Spellbinders die for the flower pieces, and covered the middle circle with Onyx Liquid Pearls. The leaf was cut from a Sprite can with a Sizzix die.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Anything Goes Challenge #90: Heavy Metal  
Three Scrappy Gals: Earth/Nature/Recycling (netting, aluminum can)
Use Your Stuff: Song Title or Lyrics ("He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" song & lyric) + Stash (netting, paper scraps)


Here's the song, as recorded by The Hollies:

Thank you for visiting and Love Your Mother!