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.)

WASHI TAPE TECHNIQUES

 I'm sure we all have many rolls of washi tape which has great potential for various techniques. I like to use it to mask off the edges of my watercolour paper to keep a white border around a painting, and I frequently use it to hold down a die to my card or paper before die-cutting it so the die doesn't move out of place. These few samples of mine below show that it can also be the star of the show when using dies or even just as a background. It works best with non-intricate dies so you have an easier time getting the shape from the die without tearing or breaking the washi tape covered card. I use 176GSM weight card to add the washi tape to before die-cutting and if your washi isn't very sticky (as some of them seem to have no tack to them at all), apply some double-sided JAC paper to your card before attaching the washi to it so it adheres well.

"State of mind"


"Possessions"

"Normal people"


"Nature's graffiti"

"It's ok to decay"

"In the notes"

Other die-cuts using washi tape. The flower in the middle took
quite a while to get all the little bits out so I'd suggest using
a die that isn't so fiddly. The leaf worked great!


Another sample bug that wasn't used on my ATCs. Top wings
and body were washi tape, black is normal cardstock.

CRACKED ACETATE

 I was inspired by the Idea-ology shattered transparencies for this technique. Their sheets of shattered glass however didn't suit ATCs as the holes/cracks were in the wrong place, so I created my own using acetate. I found this technique worked best using an image that had been cut out from its background and love the creepy girls that I had in my stash of images. Your background choice is important too as it can't be too light or too busy a pattern otherwise you lose the white cracks on the acetate. Attaching the acetate was no problem with the Tiny Attacher (mini stapler) and I always colour my mini staples with a Sharpie or coloured alcohol marker to suit the background. Most people don't even notice the staples in the corners but they become part of the design element and I'm happy with them showing.

Nocturnal

Her eyes were dark

Excuse me

Lost in eternal gloom

side view showing cut-out section in acetate

Cursed

POWDERED GELLI PRINTS

 After a much-needed hiatus over the Christmas & New Year period, I'm ready to get back into creating ATCs with lots of great new techniques. As usual, I'm starting the year off with a simple one so I don't crash the brains of the girls in their first class. I'll be using both baby powder and graphite powder to act as a resist on Gelli prints. You can get some really great effects and it can be layered or used with stencils. I'm keeping it simple this time so no stencils will be used, just the powders. 

To see these images more clearly, click on the first one and scroll through. I save them in a high resolution so the detail is much better when it's larger. Of course, they always look better on a laptop or desktop pc. 😊

"Morally grey"


"Join NASA"


"Life is art"


"Stability"


"Moonlight mayhem"

STENCIL LIFT-OFF WITH WATERCOLOURS

 One of the reasons I love watercolours so much is that with most of the colours, you can lift off some paint to create lighter areas. This works particularly well with stencils as the following samples show. The beauty of this technique is you don't need to do anything special with laying down your watercolour background, it's just that, a background so slap that colour down. It can be a single colour, some granulating colours or multiple colours. They are all tied together when you use the stencil to remove some of the paint and then add your die-cuts or imagery on top. Gel pens and sparkly paint can also help to elevate these to the next level. I've tried to keep these fairly simple to not detract from the beautiful watercolour paints, particularly some of the granulating or mica shift paints.

"Let's play a game"
(I've wanted to use this hangman charm
for quite a while and I thought it suited
this atc perfectly.)

"Use your wings"
(I kept the watercolour paint more contained
on this background. The paint is a Mica
Supervision granulating paint and splits
into blue and gold. I made the feathers
and the bird from washi tape.)


"Champagne"


"We live but for a moment"
(Only 2 colours of granulating paint were
used for this one with a little metallic gel
pen for the details in the water and weeds.)

"Seas the day"
(The jellyfish are cut from vellum. It's very
difficult to see the shimmer paints used on
this one, trust me, it's very sparkly!)

"Let life surprise you"
(You don't have to cover the whole of the
background with the stencil, just partially
taking away some of the paint works well too.)

ALCOHOL INK VASELINE RESIST

 This class uses alcohol inks and Vaseline to create a resist technique. The most important part of this technique is care in choosing which stamp to use. It needs to be big enough to be a focal point and the colours of your alcohol inks need to be dark or bright enough for the resist-stamped image to show through. These atcs can then be further enhanced with words, die-cuts, rub-ons, stickles, or any of the myriad of embellishments that we all have and sometimes forget to use.
To see these in greater detail, click on the image and scroll through. 

"Whispers in the crypt"


"Be brave"

"Life is too short"

"Insignificance"

"Different"

"Breathe"

WATERCOLOUR FODDER ACCENTS

 I'm always amazed at how a watercolour quick and easily painted subject can turn out to be such a wonderful focal point on an atc or a card. With the addition of black and/or white gel pen markings, then cutting the design out, and raising it up on foam tape, it takes a simple atc to another level altogether. You don't need to be a fantastic watercolour artist either, naive paintings of leaves, mushrooms, flowers, and even child-like houses, will all work. These are so much fun to create you'll want to just keep going until you have a huge stash of fodder that you can use at another time on an atc, in a journal or on a card.

"Ghosts"

A close-up so you can see how I've mounted the
words onto a piece of acetate that is slightly
wider than the background so it is bowed
in the middle and pops up a bit.


"Home"
(I love this quote! 😊)


"Find what you seek"
(This background was one I had made in a previous
class and the colours just worked perfectly for my
leaf and mushroom fodder.)

"Just breathe"
(You can't see it but the leaf on this one has been
crumpled up and raised up higher in some areas
with a double-layer of foam tape to give a very
dimensional shape to the leaf. I spritzed
the back of the watercolour painted leaf to make
it easier to crumple up as it is 300gsm watercolour
paper and is very thick.)

"Choose to shine"

"Keep life simple"