LINE DRAWN BOTANICALS

 It can be challenging working on the smaller size of ATCs, which are 2.5"x 3.5" (or 63.5mm x 90mm). Some techniques transfer well to the miniature size, but others do not. This technique works really well as you are only working with a hand-drawn image and then filling in the negative space with a single watercolour. By using only one colour for the negative space in the background, your eye is immediately drawn to the image, and you can keep this drawing quite simple but still have it look very effective. 

"Potential side effects"


"Keep life simple"


"... and breathe"


"Nature"

"Focus on the good"

"Bloom and grow"


These are what made me try out this particular technique on
ATCs, but I can no longer find the video I saw. I first
created these on this larger size, which I believe would work
really well on a card. 
I knew I should have saved the video so I could link it here.
Apologies to the creator for not linking it, I do love your technique!

EMBOSSING GLAZE STENCILS

 This is more of a mixed-media style of technique than I've created in quite a while. It combines gesso, heat embossing, stencils with texture paste, Ranger Distress Glaze embossing powders, ink colours and die-cuts as the focal point. You can leave out certain parts or add other elements to change up the look, but I love the multi-layered effect when you combine everything together. The Distress embossing glazes have also been used to colour the layered insect dies. This works so well because of the translucent nature of the glazes, which means you can layer as well as be more precise if you want specific colours in a certain area. 

"Tiny perhaps"


"Passion"

"From the soul"

"Exist to be happy"

"Curious"

"Brave wings"

(the wording has been stamped on acetate

and then heated slightly to warp it, yes,

it's supposed to look like that. 😏 )



Finally, a 5.5"x 4.5" card I made using the same technique

for the front panel but this time using black texture paste
instead of the white one I've used in the above samples.

ACRYLIC INK TECHNIQUES

 I have a sizeable collection of acrylic inks and have done a few techniques with them, but there are so many different ways to use them so thought I'd try out a few more. These ATCs are all very different from each other which shows just how versatile a product that acrylic inks can be. My favourite thing about them is the fact they are permanent when dry so you can easily do an underpainting, let it dry, then use other acrylic inks or watercolours or acrylic markers over the top and the bottom colours won't shift.

"The roots are memory"


"Thoughts you can see"

"The wrong day"

"Nature"
(I've used some granulating medium with
the brown ink in this one, this shows up as little
speckles in the top right area of the ink on
this atc.)

"Live your dream"

"Bloom with grace"

MASKING FLUID & WATERCOLOURS

 Masking fluid is a great way to retain white areas on your watercolour paper background before painting it, whether it's a whole background wash or a more detailed scenery painting. ATCs are small, so it's easier to do simplified paintings. So I have chosen to do mainly washes for the background, then fill in some more details with paints after the masking fluid has dried, the painting has been done, and then the masking fluid removed. It's a process of waiting for this technique, as you can't use a heat gun to hurry any of the process up, you must wait for the masking fluid to dry before painting, then wait for the painting to dry before removing the masking fluid. I used several tools to apply the masking fluid and found that diluting it with a little distilled water made the masking fluid easier to spread as it wasn't so thick.

"Dearly departed"
(A paintbrush was used to paint
the ghosts and houses.)

"Simplicity"

(I used a draftsman's ruling pen to

draw the bamboo and grasses in
masking fluid.)

"See beauty"
(A paintbrush was used to paint the
tree, rocks and grass on this atc)

"Saltwater"
(A paintbrush was used again to
paint the seafoam.)

"Live your story"
(A dip nib pen was used to draw this
small bush and grass, so the lines
are very fine. In fact, when I was
doing this, I could barely see
the masking fluid and hoped I
had it in the right place.)

"Choose to shine"
(I used a paintbrush for the dragonfly
shapes and the ruling pen for the
grass.)

STENCIL EMBOSSED BACKGROUNDS

 This is an quick and easy way to add extra texture and interest to your plain-ish backgrounds by using stencils and clear embossing ink. The main thing to remember is that your background must be able to withstand the heat gun that is used to melt the embossing powders so papers like photo paper, Yupo or gloss card won't work for this technique. Also your choice of stencil will have an impact on your final look as the more open areas that you have in your stencil, the more your background will be covered with embossing powder so choose wisely. Watercolour card and heavier cardstock backgrounds that have subtle colouring and not heavy patterns will work best for this particular look.

"Be original"

"Echoes of the damned"

"Steampunk"

"Roots are for trees"

"I'm not judging"

"Adventure is worthwhile"

COLOURED PENCILS & GAMSOL

 Recently I bought some Faber Castell Polychromos colouring pencils to give them a try. I already have several different types of watercolour pencils, Lyra, Derwent, Caran D'Ache, and Ranger Woodless Pencils, but I have no ordinary pencils. I opted to purchase the Faber Castell 60 set as I thought it would give me a wide enough colour range to dip my toe into this medium to see if I liked it. I also bought some Gamsol, an odourless mineral spirit that gives a blended look to the colouring. The amount of pigment you put down and your paper also plays a big role in how your finished product will look.  This is a learning curve for me and I don't consider myself an expert colourist by any stretch. Add in the tiny size of ATCs, 2.5" x 3.5", and the small size of stamps that are needed to fit onto the card, it all just ratchets up the degree of difficulty. But you have to start somewhere so I'll just play. 😊

"Plot twist"


"Flowers don't tell"

"Grow with the flow"

"Stayin' Alive"

"May cause drowsiness"

"Dysfunctional"

WATERCOLOUR FRAGMENT LANDSCAPES

 I could count on one hand the number of ATCs I've made in landscape orientation as I find the portrait design suits the small space of ATCs much better. However, landscape is the only way to go when you are doing a painted landscape such as these watercolour ones! I've seen this technique created on larger pieces, 5" x 7" or 8" x 10" and larger, but to crank up the degree of difficulty, let's work on 2.5" x 3.5". Yes, I know we use metric, not imperial in Australia, but for ATCs it's much easier to cut them to 2.5 x 3.5 instead of 63.5 x 88.9mm. 😊
I had an internal battle with myself about using words or quotes on these mini paintings so I hedged my bets and did some with words and others without. I certainly didn't want to cover up too much of the landscapes so I also used clear sticky words on a couple so you could still see the background.

"Dreamscape"

"Adventure awaits"


"Summit"


"Ski run"

"Landscape"


"Forever wild"

(I used granulating paints on this one which you can see, gives a very different effect.)