Love and Best Wishes for 2015

ATCS For All - Mermaids

I had good ideas for the Mermaids swap but time ran away with me again – must try to be better organised next year!  

Some hope!!!

I drew out the tail of my mermaid card – ‘missed her’.  

Then I needed one sitting on a rock and one swimming by.  I managed to find pictures on line portraying these subjects so used them as inspiration.

I watercoloured the mermaids, seaweeds, seafloor and fishes, then realised I should have painted the background first!!! 

  

I decided to spray the finished, dried cards with a gold spritzer and then, when that had dried, sprayed with a blue one. 

The result was good, very shimmery - which was not good for photographing, but I still popped them in an envelope and posted them off to our hostess. 

I hope they arrive in time.

ATCs For All - Postage Stamps #2

I love stamps, collect them madly, very rarely put them in my albums though - too busy making cards!!!

I sorted out some good ones and floated them off the paper.  

I wanted to use some watercolour backgrounds so applied some Cosmic Shimmer blue powder added to my paint.

I painted a dark sky and added a 'nebula' stamp to the centre of the card.  It looked a bit bare so I added a touch of gold and silver dots and really glammed it up with some glitter!!!

I painted the ground round the portrait card and then decided that the card needed to be landscape to fit the stamp so made another card.  Two stamps from India, se-tenant (joined side by side) were perfect for this card.

A stamp from New Zealand portrayed road signs so I had to paint a road and then add traffic!  A motor bike and a mini car from England were perfect.

Definitive stamps from England looked just like traffic lights so I painted a street scene in the rain.  The stamps attached straight down the middle of the card needed some black pen work to turn them into 'lights'!!

ATCs For All - Pink / Red Flowers

Another good idea!

I love painting flowers, especially from memory ....

 .... the infamous Tulip .......

 ... slightly more unusual - Kaffir Lily ........ 

Don't know where I acquired them from but they come up every year, increasing in number, and then flower come October!!

I bought the Nerines to remind me of my daughter Nadine - the names are almost the same?!?!

.... and Poinsettas, well, it is nearly Christmas!!!

On the Farm and Sticker Art (Day of Fun)

A Day of Fun!
Oh! yes!  I knew that the UKATC Theme for November was 'On theFarm' and when I saw this sheet of Farmyard Sticker in Works, I knew that my ATCs would be completed.

I had this vision of stickers with gesso surrounding them, as though the sticker was coming out of the white background, know what I mean?!!!??

I cut out the cards and spread them with gesso and let it dry.

No, that wasn't how I imagined it.  The gesso was AWFUL!!!

I mixed some water colour paint with the gesso and then layered over the white gesso.
Better.

I used a rubber brush and applied the coloured gesso round the stickers, stroking it among the stickers so that there was shading in the colour.




Yes!
Much better than I imagined!

I love them!

How many have I made?

Lots and lots, that's how many!!

ATCs For All - H/P Poppies

My favourite flower to watercolour.  I think the varieties of Poppies and the way the petals float in the air like paper ........  special.

I painted the outlines of this picture back in the summer so now I painted in the details and then chopped it up to make these two stunning cards.

I drew these poppies some time ago and decided that now would be a good time to colour it in.  I painted in a background and then went to work on the poppies themselves, leaving a few petals along the lower edge of the card.                        

I received these cards ....

This beautiful poppy field.
Thank you LaPorcelaine.

Stunning Poppy Trio.

Thank you Vampiress_rose.

Beautifully framed.

Thank you marcielee.

ATCs For All - Decades: 1980s

I puzzled over these for some time and then remembered that, for me, it was the music years .... specifically Duran Duran as my eldest daughter was a fan - or should I say fanatical! (long story.)

I found photos of their LPs on the web so printed the four best ones, in my opinion of course!!!

I used some magazine fronts from my nostalgia pack as the background on all the cards.


 I sketched out the vinyl pictures and then used my pencils to colour them all in.

I used a felt tip pen here and there to add deeper colour.


I cut the sketches to size, so that I could attach them to the background at various angles.

Such glory days thanks to my eldest daughter, who has no idea how much pleasure she gave me!!!

I received these cards ......


 Remember this film?
Thank you Karr311.

What about these?

Thank you pixi-artist.

This one meant nothing to me (sorry UltraVox) so I had to look it up on the web.... it's a well loved tv programme.

Thank you Allegrae.

ATCs For All - Stamp & Colour III

Can you believe it?!?!?!   Digis for me of course!  This calls for 'Day for Daisies'.

Choice of five, yes!  I know there are four, one was lost when it came time to post!  I think they all speak for themselves but here are a few details .....

I used watercolour pencils for the body and glitter paint on the wings - touched the edges with gold.

I printed this image twice and cut the circle out and then coloured it.  I attached this circle over the image to cover it exactly.

I used a circle as a mask for this one then colour washed the image.
I painted the tree and robin then removed the mask.

I used promarkers for this one ......

UPDATED:
I received these excellent cards by return.

 Isn't he cute?
Thank you chilibibi.

Love the vintage look here.

Thank you knorman000.

Laughing out loud at this one!

Thank you Marcielee.

 

ATCs For All - H/P Autumn Leaves II

Leaves are beautiful at this time of the year, I still have some left on branches in my garden so went looking, picking and cutting.  Deutschia and Robinia!






I sketched these leaves using my Inktense pencils and then washed them using my waterbrush - neat eh!?!











UPDATED:

I received the following cards ...

This one looks like a stained glass window.
Thank you gwenniejo.

This is a bright maple leaf.

Thank you miss.

This card is much darker than it looks, really autumnal.

Thank you Tandy.

ATCs For All - Angels (Not Cherubs)

I made my mind up to try different techniques on this theme.


This picture was perfect for piecing.  I printed it out several times and then cut the pieces from several papers.  I attached one copy to a card background which had been sprayed and stencilled.  I paper pieced the angel and outlined it all with a gold pen.

Take one chocolate box, some punch waste and corrugated die cuts.  Spray the angel with several watercolours and paint it along the currugates to suggest features.  Cut an ATC out of the box, add the angel and decorate with the punch waste along the lower edge.  Use a gold pen to add to the background and along the leaves.

I drew this angel shape onto a spritzed card.  Using a doily I cut out the dress from the border and then the sleeve from the centre part of the doily and attached to the card.  Small pieces of pink paper were used for face and hands.  The hair was drawn with gelpens.  I drew outlines in gold pen to the wings and then added some real feathers as wings.  This was really tricky, I didn't think feathers and glue ........

I cut out this outline of an angel several times.  I used the leftover doily for the wings,keeping the body of the angel as is.  I found a small drawstring bag and cut out the dress from both sides, attaching one piece to the angel.  After attaching the wings, I attached the top layer of the dress along the edges to the first layer.  Adding the body to the angel left her with empty hands!  I found my confetti jars and added some stars and glitter.

ATCs For All - Decades 1990s

I sorted several themes for this swap, crossed them off and then sorted some more!!  I HAD to include Dianna but couldn't find a way to portray her in a positive way - funerals are not good!
I knew I wanted the setting free of Nelson Mandela as I grew up with him being imprisoned etc so, for me, this was an excellent piece of history.
I found a piccies of the South African flag, a super photo of Mandela and the perfect 'peace' dove on the the web so set ot work.


I adhered Mandela to the flag and then pasted all round the photo, scraping the word FREE several times round the edges using a coffee stirrer.  I scraped some stripes up the diagonals of the flag so that the colours came through.  Clear lacquer applies to the dove was allowed to dry and then the dove was attached to the card.



During the nineties, a sheep was cloned using stem cells etc.  She eventually developed rheumatism among other illnesses and had to be put down.   Her birth was big news here in England and she was named Dolly, various excuses were given for the name but I like the one that goes - the first words said when she was born.
 I sketched the picture out - the sheep was ok but the laboratory in the background ... not good!  After I had watercoloured the card I wrote the words in pencil.

The tunnel between England and France had been discussed for years and at last an agreement was reached.  The day the tunnellers met was fantastic news here in England and the day it opened major news across the media.
PJ travelled across to France on the day it opened and still has the badge that was given to all travellers to mark the day.  I have travelled as a passenger in train and truck, even slept through it the last time!!!  It was supposed to be a wonderful opportunity for both countries but I don't think England made the most of it.
I found a photo on the web, sketched it out and added watercolour to brighten it.