What I Got in Trade

Wow, I love trading ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)! In my previous post (click here), I offered some butterfly ATCs in trade, and I've already received two in return. Here are the lovely cards by Robin Willis and Sue Shute.

The girl (on the left) is by Robin, and the bird (on the right) is by Sue. Aren't they just lovely?

I can't wait to see what the other folks I traded with send to me. They'll be a nice surprise.

Gel Medium Exploration

Okay, it's official. My new favorite adhesive is gel medium! I LOVE this stuff! I've seen blog posts, magazine articles and collage art books mention its use in collage, but I hadn't decided to give it a try until just recently. Gel Medium is scrumptious, and you can do so much with it! Extend acrylic paint's drying time, change the TEXTURE of acrylic paint, glue down collage elements, blend inks into a coating of the stuff on your art piece... the list goes on. And I plan to do a lot more exploring of Gel Medium in the future.


Here is an ATC, using an image from Vintage Resources (it's a lovely site and appreciates a donation for your use of thier images). I inked the white cardstock with blue and green inks, cut out the image and attached her with a thin smear of Liquetex brand Matte Gel Medium. Then, I applied another tiny smear of gel medium to the lower part of the ATC, over the photo image and blended blue ink into it while the medium was still slightly wet. Then I stamped the text and swirls with red and black ink and let it dry.



This lovely little girl image is from Oxford Impressions, stamped with black ink onto matte photo paper, hand-colored using a sponge & blue dye ink and attached (with gel medium) to a brayered and stamped background. The egg and "dreams" are likewise stamped and attached. No "fancy" stuff with blending inks into wet gel medium - just straight adhering to the cardstock.

I really love this Gel Medium stuff! I have the matte formula, and I think I'll have to go get the glossy formula, too!

Variations on a Theme - Pink Butterflies

A few weeks ago, Cindy Elliot-Park issued a challenge to me: re-design the pink journal pages I made (here and here) into ATCs! Well, I absolutely love this technique, and being who I am, I couldn't resist. And once I got started, I couldn't stop. LOL!

Here is a scan of nine of my favorites:

Here's what I did: Paint pink and white acrylics on white cardstock. Allow to dry, then cut into ATC-size panels. Stamp butterfly from Stampington & Co. with various dye inks and allow to dry. Paint over butterfly images with white acrylics and white gesso. The white acrylic will pick up the dye ink underneath, creating a sheer effect. Gesso is thicker and adds the opaque white highlights.

As a "Thank You" for the challenge and inspiration, I'm sending the one in the center to my challenger, Cindy. The others are available for trade, so leave a comment here with your email, or post a note on the SSReflections Yahoo Group, or email me at flo_hollingsworth@yahoo.com (put ATC Trade - Butterfly in the subject line, or it may go to spam and be deleted) and I'll respond.

As always, thanks for looking!

The Bad Girls

This past Thursday, I joined a group of ladies who swap ATC's locally. I've joined many on-line swaps for cards & ATCs and other stuff, but this is the first time I've actually met face-to-face with my swap partners! It was so much fun!

I found out about the swap (and was invited to join) at the last minute. Luckily, the theme was "Spring has Sprung", and I had tons of spring-time ATCs in my stash! So, I had plenty for the 10-card swap! I would have been devastated if I hadn't been able to participate.

This was such a good time. We met in the store we all frequent (SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT STAMPING/SCRAPBOOKING RETAILER), and laughed, swapped stories and design secrets - and of course oohhed and aaahhhed over each other's ATCs. Oh, and swapped them!

The photo here is one of the ones that I received in trade. I couldn't decide on a favorite, so I just decided to post the one that was easiest to scan. Many of the others had flowers and 3-d embellishments that would reveal better in photos - maybe I'll take some of them today.

Anyway, this little lovely is by Melanie Joy. She told me it is paper towel died with re-inkers and edged with silver pen. The quote is embossed, and the butterfly gal swings aside on her little brad to reveal the rest of Tallulah Bankhead's quote: "It's the Good Girls who keep the diaries. The Bad Girls never have the time." I love it!

Photo Friday

On Thank God it's Friday, the challenge is to use a photo in some art. I chose this ATC I made last year (2007) sometime - it is still one of my favorites, and I cannot bear to part with it.

The girl in the photo is my mother - she was about 2 years old, so it was taken around 1948 or so. My grandfather snapped the photo with his old Brownie camera - he loved that thing! I remember him showing it (or one like it) to me once when I was a little girl. It still worked!

Noone knows what happened to that little Brownie since then. I think I'm going to try to acquire one in working condition. I might not be able to get film for it, but I'd like to have one for the sentiment.