Stenciled ATCs - Sweet William, Wild Thing, and Happy Cat

I've been making Artist Trading Cards (ATC) since 2009 and was an active member of ATCs for All. I haven't been on the site in two years.  I recently joined a FaceBook group that trades ATCs and signed up for StencilGirl's monthly stencil club.  The point? you might ask is that I never really thought I could use stencils. I mean I'm just learning how to "layer" paint.  Well, I did it, I went and bought me six more stencils and created the following ATCs. Hah, layering isn't so bad.  I really liked how they turned out.  I even picked up my copy of Drawing Lab For Mixed-Media Artists by Carla Sonheim and drew the characters for these cards.  As I haven't drawn in over two years it was kind of awkward, but as Carla points out in her book Steven Pressfield states in his book titled The War of Art "There is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist."

Meet Sweet William the frog:

Wild Thing Giraffe:

Finally, Happy Cat:

These are all ATC size, which is 2.5" x 3.5", and created on Bristol paper.  I rolled paint for the background, dabbed paint through stencils, tore vintage book pages, and colored in each image.  I also used stamps, found words in print, and sticker words for the phrases. Lastly, as I always do, I used my ink pads to create a soft border around each one.

My final point is this: Don't be afraid to try something new and uncomfortable. You can't succeed if you never try.

More Christmas ATCs

I am not a big collage person, but since my muse left me about a month ago, I decided to use some Christmas die cuts my mom bought me and make some ATCs.  At least I'm doing something creative and it actually turned out to be fun.

Last night we went to the NEO Christmas tree lighting ceremony and that kind of inspired me to come home and do something artsy.

Be Merry Bear

Frosty Nutcracker

Just the right tree for me

Sugar Cookie Bear

Winter Wonder

I used art markers, permanent markers, glaze pens, diamond glitter fabric paint, Christmas diecuts,, scrapbooking paper, and washi tape to make these.

Christmas K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Swap)

Here are my cards for Groups 3 (Christmas Trees) and Group 4 (Christmas Animals).  The point was to keep them simple.  The cards are mixed media collages using glaze pens for accents.  I also used Silver Snowflake Stickers for the tops of the trees.

Christmas Trees - Group 3

Christmas Animals - Group 4

Reindeer - Open Media ATC swap

These were hand drawn and then watercolored for the Reindeer - Open Media ATC swap over at AFA.  I then used gel pens and 3D Glaze pens for the black outlines and details.  My scanner was set at 200 dpi, so the colors didn't come through like I wanted, but they turned out super cool.

I love these reindeer and am sad to depart with them.  I hope I get some fun ones in return.  The one with the lights turned out to be my second favorite and the candy cane reindeer is my first favorite.

ATC Holder Tutorial

I haven't done a tutorial in like forever, but someone asked me to show off my ATC holder that I send my swap cards in.  So, I made a pdf with pictures and step-by-step instructions to show how to make them.  If you would like a pdf version of this e-mail me at tlsexton1969@gmail.com and I will gladly send you one.

I use them over and over again and like how they fit right inside a legal size envelope.

             

TUTORIAL

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Holder

© Copyright Tammy L. Sexton 2012

What you will need:

·         Scoring Board with Scoring Tool

·         Ruler

·         8.5” x 11” Piece of Card Stock

·         Pencil

·         Stapler

·         Tape

·         ATC (2.5” x 3.5”)

Step 1: Lay the 8.5 x 11 sheet of card stock on the scoring board landscape and put the ATC to the farthest left side. Make a mark with the pencil at 2.75” for the first score line.

Step 2: Move the ATC to just right of the first score line and make a mark with the pencil at 5.5”. This is the second score line.

Step 3: Move the ATC to just right of the second score line, lay the ATC landscape, and make a mark with the pencil at 9.25”. This is the third score line.

Step 4: Take the scoring tool and score the card stock at each mark previously made.

Step 5: Fold the paper at each score line, so that there is a flap on both ends.

Step 6: Tape the outer side of each of the flaps.

Step 7: Place the ATC in the folded and taped side that is shorter than the other side and staple just to the right of the ATC.

Step 8: Place the ATC in the other folded and taped side that is shorter than the other side and staple just to the left of the ATC.

Final Step: Once all of the ATCs are in the holder, simply fold the holder in half and insert into any standard size legal envelope.

Tip: You can use this holder for ATC swaps or personal trades.  I put a label, SASE, and/or postage in the middle before I put it in the envelope to mail out.

Tim Burton Fairytale Characters

I'm still going to add some final touches to Hansel & Gretel, but for the most part their done. I'm excited about Tim Burton doing Pinocchio; he also wants Robert Downey Jr. to play Gepetto.

Hand drawn and colored by me for the Tim Burton Fairytale Characters Swap!

1. Pinocchio
2. Humpty Dumpty
3. Hansel
4. Gretel

2nd Annual Halloween Fun Swap

I usually only do hand drawn/hand painted swaps, but I love Halloween so much I decided to do the 2nd Annual Halloween Fun Swap over at ATCs for All!  I found a stash of fun Halloween pieces and came up with these four cards for the swap.  I am now going to make some more to add to my collection.

Then I found an arch laying around, so I used some of those Halloween pieces and made this "Gone Haunting" Halloween Arch.  I am thinking about making two more and hinging them together for an accordion type scene to put out for the holiday with the rest of my decorations.

Trudy Disturbed

So, last year I did a Halloween Art Doll swap and I loved my dolls so much it was hard to part with them.  This year I'm going back and making ATCs based on the dolls.  This one was one of my favorites and her name is Trudy Disturbed.

Fiendish HELLoween PAT swap

So, I joined another Pick-A-Theme (PAT) swap over at ATCs for All!  This one is called Fiendish HELLoween.  I'm not sure if these are "Fiendish", but I worked really hard on them. 

I was able to use my new Sakura Glaze pens on two of them and I love these pens.  They are so much fun and once they dry the texture is so cool.

For:
locatray - black cat
Shawnicaitlin - cats in hats
pixiecorpse - crows
mrubyjean - witch

Birds & An Octopus!

Dragonflies and Butterflies Swap

Collage/Mixed media only!

Wake Up & Smell the Coffee Swap

Who doesn't like a good brew of coffee in the morning?  I know I do, so this swap was right up my alley.  I haven't done mixed media collage in a while and I wanted to make coffee cups with a little more than just the cup.  I used permanent markers and white gel pen for accents.

Smiley Face

HandDrawn/HandPainted "A Face, Fowl, & a Fruit Color Palette" Swap

Shrunken Head Wind Chime

Ancient Tree (Traded)

Chicken in Wellington Boots

ATCs: Hand Drawn/Hand Painted "Stained Glass" Swap!

I hosted this swap and made a psd file to send to Admin for adding to AFA's Swap Gallery.  I had alot of returns that I was able to keep and made it from some of those.  Kind of a bummer that I could only use 24 of the over 30 cards I received, but I think it worked out well.

Whooo Wants Owls?

JAMing with kiddos swap III - The other 2 cards

Mountains at Night - My daughter drew the mountains, clouds, and stars. My husband added the river, sidewalk, and finished off the mountain. I added everything else!

Smiley Girl - My daughter drew the girls face, hair, and sun . My husband added the neck, shirt, and smiley pin. I added everything else!

My 9 yo wanted to color in these two, so I let her!