Monday, October 8, 2012

ATC Turn About at House Mouse & Friends

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend and had a chance to get creative and make a card or two to celebrate World Card Making Day!

I am very excited about today's post as I get to play guest designer over at House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge!!!  Thank you so much to all the gals at HM&FMC for inviting me to guest design!  The challenge this fortnight is 'ATC turn about' - include an ATC on your card.  Just in case you are not familiar, ATC stands for artist's trading card and is basically just a little piece of art that measures 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

I can honestly say that I had never even considered making an ATC before - I find the name quite scary.  But that is the great thing about a challenge, so I put on my artsy hat and started playing.  Here is what I came up with:
I used Feeder Friends, which is a gigantic stamp, and masked out all of the branches and flowers so that only the mouse and birds at the feeder were left.  I coloured the image with distress inks using almost every shade of brown available along with black soot, scattered straw and wild honey.  I then used the masking technique again to stamp the background with a wood grain pattern.  I wanted to give the glass a shiny glassy look, but remembered (after bleeding it a little - oops!) that Timber brown Stazon does not hold up to anything except water.  So, I cut out a transparency film in the shape of the glass and covered it with Goosebumps spray, which has a beautiful shimmer and dries nice and shiny.  Once it was completely dry, I peeled it off of the film and pressed it down on the image.  It has just enough stick to stay put, but will peel off if you try to lift it.  This photo captures a little of that shimmer and shine.
To finish off my card, I framed the ATC with twigs.  Picking twigs was a great fun to do with my two year old - he loved it!  I printed a computer generated sentiment onto a TH banner, added some twine, a wood grain button, and some feathers.  The top corner felt empty so I grunged it up with a couple of stamps and added some pearls.

Be sure to pop on over to the House Mouse and Friends Challenge to be inspired by their talented design team.  I hope you will be able to play along and am looking forward to seeing all of your creations!

I would also like to enter my card in the following fun challenges:

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Badda Bing (bling/shiny)
Divas by Design - use some texture
Totally Gorjuss - anything goes
Anything Goes Challenge - Animals

Thanks for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment!  I love having the chance to visit you back.

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating today!   Have a great week!

Hugs,

Dawn

19 comments:

Craftdee said...

Oh Dawn, this is beautiful! It's so beautifully coloured, so well laid out and soooo classy. I absolutely LOVE it, TFS, Donna

Sue said...

Dawn, what a beautiful card you created, and those feathers are the perfect touch for this image. Birds are surprised to see that cute little house mouse in their bird feeder, so darn cute. Great job, really vintage looking.

Hugs
Sue

SandeeNC said...

I just love how how framed the birds with the twigs, that is so darn cute. I'm in the process of making some mountain cards, and that gave me a great idea! And I keep a branch in my craft room, lol How's that for weird? waving hi from the hills of North Carolina :)

Lorraine A said...

Gorgeous card Dawn :-) I love how you glossed the feeder, I have never heard of goosebumps spray so going to google :-).. love the vintage look and sentiment too ,, and your colouring is superb !! :-)

luv
Lols x x x

Stacy Morgan said...

Beautiful. This is so warm and cozy feeling. Fabulous card.

Mickaela Vildljung said...

Wow, this is just amazing. I love how you framed the ATC with the branches, is stunning!

Love Mickaela

Heather said...

Such an adorable card Dawn, your image is so sweet and beautifully coloured. I love the beautiful colours and papers..........your details are just stunning, especially the feathers!!

hugs
Heather xx

downrightcrafty said...

what a super image choice for the ATC beautifully coloured and fabulous matching of the papers and embellies just gorgeous
Hugs Kate xx

Tracy said...

This is really gorgeous Dawn, I love every element and the image coloured beautifully too.
Thanks for joining us as a GDT.
Happy crafting
Tracy x

Unknown said...

lovely card thanks for joining us at charisma this challenge!

Lisa xox

Jessi Fogan said...

So much detail! I love the feathers :) Congrats on the guest DT spot!

Lisa Jane said...

what a beautiful card - love the soft colours
Thanks for joining us at Diva's this week
Lisa x

Steph said...

What a gorgeous, elegant card. I love the muted colours and the feathers are beautiful! Thanks so much for joining us at Anything Goes this week, hope to see you again soon! x

Carrie said...

Absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you for joining us at Charisma this week! x

Christine said...

Hi Dawn what a clever take on the ATC turn around chall theme..lovely soft colour combo great colouring & this sweet image all round stunning HM creation..thanks for your contribution at House Mouse chall as our Oct GDT..

smiles Christine x

Caroline said...

WOW this is stunning love the soft colours you have used and the image is faublous. Caroline xxx

Carol L said...

This is the sweetest card with those birds, and the feathers look wonderful! Well done!

America said...

THIS is absolutely GORGEOUS in all the colors and details and softness. GORGEOUS ATC and fabulous WORK DAWN!!! So glad to have you on board as our Guest this month at HMFMC. THANK YOU for your wonderful contributions!:)

Silvia said...

It's amazing! I love it!