Hot & Spicy ATCs featuring Blockheads Stamps!

Howzit Stampers!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and everyone is well into relaxy mode on their 
summer vacations ;0)

I'm back today with another Blockheads Design Team tutorial.  I had a blast designing some ATCs a few weeks ago.  For the newbie stampers an ATC is an Artist Trading Card with the standard measurement of 2.5" x 3.5".  They're awesome little canvases and are super fun to work on.  
Check out these three ATCs featuring the Victorian Eccentricities stamp collection by Blockheads Paper Arts and stop by again tomorrow for a 'Double Dose' of ATC stamping too!

HOT and SPICY ATCs

MATERIALS

Blockheads Paper Arts Victorian Eccentricities stamp collection

Dark cream cardstock
ColorBox Fluid Chalks - Dark Peony
Versafine Onxy Black ink
Ribbon
Jewel embellishments
Metallic copper paint pen
Double-sided sticky tape
Paper towel

I recently got my hands on the new Distress Ink pad called Dried Marigold which inspired me to design these three ATCs.
I cut 3 ATC sized cards from my favourite dark cream cardstock - I've really been using that a lot lately!  For the card to be considered an ATC it must measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

I stained the ATC blanks with Dried Marigold Distress Ink but used two different ink applications on them.  On the first one I applied the ink with a piece of scrunched up paper towel.  Concentrating most of the ink around the sides and corners.

On the second one I used the 'Direct to Paper' technique which means I used the actual ink pad to randomly apply the ink directly to the cardstock.  I also used paper towel to spread the ink around a bit where it went on thicker too.

On the third I did a combination of both techniques.   So just play around and decide which method you prefer.  I personally love all of them ;0)

I was still on my imagined tropical holiday into the Victorian Colonial era when I decided to get hot and spicy by stamping the Victorian images with ColorBox Fluid Chalks Dark Peony ink ;0)  Check out my 'Uniquely Skinny' Card Tutorial using the same Victorian Eccentricities stamp collection if you missed it!

On these two I stamped the Tulip Vase onto the right hand side with Dark Peony Fluid Chalk ink.

Then I stamped the flourish portion of the Bird Cage image on the left hand side of both ATCs with Dried Marigold Distress ink.  The left ATC is the one I did the DTP technique on so the flourish didn't stand out as much as it did on the other one so I overstamped it with Dark Peony.  I wanted a faded look so I inked up the stamp and removed most of the wet ink by stamping first onto scrap paper and then onto the ATC.

I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Onxy Black ink and the two small blossoms on the opposite corners in Dark Peony.  Then edged the sides of both ATCs with a metallic copper paint pen.

I completed the paper towel stained ATC by adhering decorative ribbon on the one side with double-sided sticky tape and embellished the blossoms with self-adhesive jewels.

The ATC that I used the DTP technique on I turned into a narrow gift card by scoring it down the middle long ways and folding it in half.  I adhered colour co-ordinated paper to the inside of the gift card to finish it off.  I'm afraid I don't have a photo of the finished tag, I could have sworn I'd taken one, OOPS, sorry guys!  The tag however made it safely to its destination otherwise I would have just taken another photo.

On the 3rd ATC I stamped the Flourished Crown image in Dark Peony onto 2/3's of the ATC and the Bird Cage flourish portion on the remaining 1/3 in Dried Marigold.

  

The Victorian Eccentricities set has a small and a big blossom stamp and I stamped the big one in the center and the smaller one a few times along the sides in Dark Peony ink.

I also stamped the sentiment on this ATC too in Versafine Onyx Black and edge it with a metallic copper paint pen.  I finished off this regal ATC by adorning the crown with self-adhesive pearls.

I've also got a 'Double ATC' creation to share with you tomorrow so stay tuned!

Karen, my fellow Blockhead Teamster, has also been getting her ATC action on this week so pop on over to her BLOG!

See you again tomorrow ;0)
Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
BLOCKHEADS DESIGN TEAM