ATCs for the Alpha Stamps swap I'm hosting
This is my husband Steven's favorite ATC, of all the new Alice ATCs I made recently for a swap I am hosting, due in February. I wanted to try at least one of the images from the I Wonder clear sticker sheet I got from Leslie at Alpha Stamps (sponsoring this swap with prizes). Such a cool sheet!
The base of this ATC is a Fabriano watercolor card. I added to this base a b&w card stock Alice image with words from the Is That Alice sheet. The clear sticker image of the white rabbit was placed on top of that, with black watercolor crayon on the bottom of the card and around the edges, and Elmer's glitter glue in silver to accentuate the edges. The words at the top, 'down, down, down' are also from the same clear sticker sheet. When everything was dry, I decided to give it a coat of Golden's self-leveling gel medium which is slightly glossy.
Steven says he really likes the composition . . . although, I have to admit I don't think about composition all that much -I just try to make the pieces work when I am creating it! He also liked that it is b&w -very different from the warm colors I usually favor. Steven added that the rabbit looking off and away lends to the idea that there is more of a story here…
This red ATC uses an image from Alice Covers - a very stylized book (play) cover. For this one I started with the same watercolor card and glued the image on with YES glue. I added red watercolor crayon around the edges and activated the crayon with a wet brush. When that was dry, I glued on my favorite glass spheres from Alpha Stamps - these are the larger 4mm size. I swear I am addicted to using these! This ATC also received a coating of Golden's self-leveling gel medium.
The Rabbit ATC uses an image from the Alice: The Trial. I chose a transparency sheet version. The Alpha Stamps collage images are so nicely available for you in your choice of: Card Stock (heavy paper), Fabric, Transparency, or Clear Sticker.
I wanted to work with a transparency print, so I picked out this wonderful image from the collection. I laid the transparency down on the card, but did not attach, and added water color crayon to the areas around the rabbit. I left most of his body, legs & head plain white (no watercolor painting) for interest & contrast. Then I got out a few heart shaped brads and used my hole punch and hammer/setter to hold the transparency in place, leaving one corner with no brad at all. Steven enjoyed the gold heart at the rabbit's neckline the best of all!
The "Tea" themed card to the right is a fabric ATC. I used a fabric sheet collage image from Tea #2 and I backed this ATC with some of my own hand painted/dyed fabric. Sandwiched in the middle is a small bit of cotton batting. I also left the paper backing on the fabric collage image to give it more body.
In the right corner is a small transparency image from the Alice: The Trial sheet. This time I used a small amount of Tacky Glue to attach this transparency securely to the fabric image. I also utilized rubber stamps from the Teaspoons Clear Stamp Set on this card. The edge of the plate makes the design across the top and the teaspoons, cup, and word 'Tea' that can be seen are from this wonderful set. I stamped everything with black VersaCraft ink, heat set my stamping and painted in some of the areas with Pearl White Lumiere paint, adding a hint of Prisma glitter! Decorative stitches from my sewing machine finish the edges.
Lewis's Beautiful Tea is a fabric and paper ATC. The base is a watercolour card and the main image is a fabric collage sheet image, also from the Alpha Stamps Tea #2 sheet. i just love this unusual image! I have also used some clear stickers from the I Wonder clear sticker sheet. There is a transparent faux postage stamp of Alice with cards on the bottom right, and the words "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" are from the same sheet. I used a brown water color crayon around the edges and wet it to activate and 'pop' the color, and then I used a 14K Gold marker to quickly add the gold dots and splatter some smaller dots all over the card.
If you add all of the cards shown here to the 4 other Alice Alpha Stamps ATCs I made earlier - you'll see I have created my own 9 ATCs to swap, amazing! (I usually work closer to the deadline*)
I wanted to participate in my own swap and also show you the kind of variety you could create for this swap with all of the choices Alpha Stamps offers. As of the date of this post ~ January 2nd, 2009 - there is still room to join us and the ATCs are not due to me until *February 3rd! Find the swap details and the PayPal sign-up/registration on my creative swaps blog.
: ) lenna