2011 ATC Calendar swap

A couple of days ago, Donna (my co-owner) organised a 2011 ATC calendar swap for ATCs-NZ. She found the template here: SplitCoast Stampers. I immediately downloaded the template, and have made ALL my ATCs - once I started I couldn't stop. In fact, I made TWO sets - one for myself! lol

They've all got stamping on them - one of my "resolutions" for this year is to use my stamps more - and I've made a good start.

What a great idea for a swap, thank you Donna! And I can't wait to do one for 2012 ... :-)

Strange Holidays

Strange Holidays indeed!!

These were made for Maggie - for a Weird n Wacky ATC group swap. The theme was "Strange Holidays", and as you can see, I went for an outer space/alien look for mine. I loved making these - W&W swaps are always fun!!

Red and Gold fabric ATCs

I made these for a combined swap with NZ Fabs and ATC-WDU - the theme was "Red and Gold" - what a fun colour combo!! I bought the Christmas fabric from Brenda's Craft Cupboard coz I couldn't resist it - and I have heaps left for making this years fabric ATCs - yayy!! Which I will get onto early, so I can send out some RAKs this Christmas. The ATCs that I received in this swap were amazing - if you want to have a look at everybody's cards check out my Photobucket pics.

Music, Number 9, and 1920's

These are three ATCs that I made for a Cards R Us swap - the themes were "Music", "the Number 9" and "1920's" - and all 3 were sent to Carol J.

The "Music" one was made with sheet music, and the violin is from a serviette. The "Number 9" is the rhinestones around her neck, and the "1920's" one is a copy of a 1920 Life magazine cover, with a bit of glitter and a few rhinestones.

I enjoy these swaps - the atcs that I receive are always great - and I'm looking forward to next months themes.

Nightmare Before Christmas

"Nightmare Before Christmas"

... what a fun ATC theme!! These were made for a Weird N Wacky swap, and were sent to Ria. I made an extra set (just because!!), and gave them to Dallas for Christmas ...

But now I don't have any for myself - I might have to make some more!! lol

W&W is definitely one of my favourite groups - I get to play around with themes like this - the next one is "Strange Holidays" ...

Body Parts swap

"The Eyes Have It"

Made for Weird n Wacky "Body Parts" swap - the saying is from Brian Andreas.

"you're the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we'd know each other the longest time."

Body Parts swap

This ATC was made for Weird n Wacky "Body Parts swap - I really enjoyed this swap, and this "Put your best foot forward" tc was definitely a fun one to make.

Silver on black is such a cool combo!!

Seahorse Fabric ATC

Made for NZ Fab ATCs - this is slightly larger than usual, as I added the beading around the edges. I found the instructions in Stitching mag, and just HAD to do it!!

The seahorse is stamped on acetate, stitched to the fabric (by hand - like ALL of my fab ATCs!!), and sand added. This was received by Carol D in our "Water" swap, and I really enjoyed making it.

Animorphs

These three ATCs were made for Weird n Wacky "Animorphs" swap




- I really had to think "outside the square" for these
- but heaps of fun tho!!


AND now on to the next one - "BODY PARTS"...

Winter ATCs

~**Winter ATCs**~

These were made for ATCs-NZ July "Winter Swap",

I had a lot of fun with this swap as I love snowmen. The background of these ATCs are scrapbooking papers (surprise! lol), and the snowmen are die-cuts. I added glitter, snowflakes etc.

And yes, that is a penguin in amongst them, isn't he cute?

Celebration of Women

These were made for ATCs-NZ May swap - "A Celebration of Women". I didn't just make these ones, I made about 20 (!!!) cos they were fun to make, and I decided to keep going with the theme so I would have them for private trades.

Music, Feathers & Autumn ATCs

I made these for ATCs-NZ April swap. The themes were "Music", "Feathers", & "Autumn". The feather stamp is from Rubbadubbadoo - I fell in love with it, had to have it, and hardly ever use it !!! LOL The pen nib stamp is from Glamour Girl Stamps - this is a gorgeous stamp, and is particularly nice gold embossed, which is what I did here.

"Love" & "Hope"

These two were also stitched - the green "Madonna" one has gold beads stitched across the lower right side - this was fun to do.

The pink/yellow "Hope" one was stitched around the background paper, and also around the image. I added a rhinestone to her necklace, as I thought she needed one. I particularly like this stamped image, and enjoy using it.

Hand-stitched ATCs

These two ATC's have been beaded and hand-stitched - I enjoy working with thread & beads - I have such a large collection of beads (and threads) that I really have to remember to use them - otherwise my kids are gonna be left them in my will. That's if they want them !!! LOL

Hand-stitching is sooooooo theraputic - very soothing to the soul. Once I've poked the holes in the card, and picked a colour thread I just lose myself in the repetitive rythym, and find myself solving all the problems of the world.

I really must stitch more often !

Oriental ATCs

This week I've been making ATC's - I only had a few for trading, so I've concentrated on them - almost to the exclusion of everything else - LOL -
since Monday.

These are two of six that I made with an Oriental theme - lots of fun to make. The Japanese woman has been stamped on a long strip of white card, then I've layered all the other papers onto the ATC, and added ribbon, brads, dragonflies etc.

King of the World

These are two ATC's that I started at WendyP Crafts last week.We had a playday afternoon, and Wendy showed us a background technique using acetate and ink pads. LOTS OF FUN !!! I did these two colours, and some gorgeous purple/pink ones.

When I got home, I got out my new alphabet stamps, and my Dymo labeler, and made these ATC's. The word "KING" has been stamped on scrap card with Versamark Watermark ink pad, embossed with Detail Gold embossing powder, and edged with gold pen.

The crowns were punched out of gold card - I love this punch, it's one that I use a lot. Both of these ATC's are available for trade - check out my "ATC's for trade" album here - Webshots.

Fun ATC's

One of the groups that I belong to (and it's also one of my favorites) is Eclectic ATC's. I love the swaps that they do, they are challenging and fun. I particularly enjoyed this one - "Weird Faces" ... the one on the top left is one that I also did for ATC's Down Under (the theme for that one was "Things my mother said").

The one on the top right is one of my New Zealand ATC Art Dolls - the face is stamped, and the body is hand-drawn & cut out. The bottom one (the Blue face) is a scanned and reduced original drawing by me.

This swap's theme is "Anything but Paper" ... this was definitely a challenge. The top left is x-stitch on fabric, with a tiki attached.

The top right is a beaded bee stitched onto sequin waste, then attached with brads onto cork ... this was fun to do.

The bottom one is an image sandwiched between two pieces of acetate - I used silver thread to tie the acetate pieces together. I'm really happy with how this one turned out, and I'm going to use this technique again.