Turquoise and Copper ATCs

The first round of a new Colour Groupies year has started with this colour combination. If you're new to this blog, we are a selected group of 5 artists who exchange ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) each month, based on a pre-determined colour scheme. We don't show the cards online till everyone (Caryl, Debby, Lenna and Tristan) has received their respective cards.

As copper here in the U.K. is not just the name of a metal but also of one of our lesser coins (as in Give us a copper) I wanted to incorporate one penny on each of the cards. I also wanted to celebrate the fact that Tristan (our one male participant) has rejoined us so the cards had to feature men. I found just the right images on an Alpha Stamps collage sheet. The sheet was dedicated to steampunk art and that too suited my penny theme. The man was adhered to a copper-coloured, machine quilted background and a penny (copper) was attached using Diamond Glaze.

I then covered the entire card with a transparent blue fabric that had turquoise stars already incorporated into its design. A suitable vintage text was also adhered and the edges of every card were finished with copper satin stitching. The cards were all very similar so I've only included one picture.

Steampunk Arch

Here is my final and favourite piece I made for the Steampunk Design Kit I received from Alpha Stamps.

I made a new fabric-paper collage background for this arch in which I used the Decor Notes Sheets by Screenprints, available from Alpha Stamps. I also included a paper napkin featuring cutlery in the mix.

It seems like ages since I last made a Gothic Arch (I've banned myself from participating on the Gothic Arch site as really I don't have the time, but I do miss it!!) so it was a real pleasure to be able to indulge myself. Also the shape seemed very appropriate for a Steampunk piece as it has a real Victorian feel to it.

For my image I used a fabric one from the Charles Babbage/Lady Lovelace collage sheet and I stitched it on. I added the watch face as well as the 3 keys, all also from Alpha Stamps. The text: Time is the Key! was done on my Dymo writer and stitched on. The arch was finished by zig-zag stitching in a green metallic thread.

The last 2 Steampunk ATCs

I had hoped to entertain you with my visit to the Embroiderers' Guild Regional Day in Dumfries yesterday but sadly my camera was left at home. It needed charging so I duely plugged it in overnight to do so and then totally forgot to add it to my handbag before leaving home. Can't remember when I last did this, but I felt quite bereft without it! My camera is sort of an extension of my brain and it was quite a shock to discover it wasn't in my bag! It was a lovely day and I collected my two ATCs in exchange for the 2 I made. They're beautiful, and thanks again to Heather King and Moira Dickson! Instead I'm showing you the last 2 Steampunk ATCs I made with the Alpha Stamps goodies. They are both quite 3 dimensional and as a consequence I had to photograph rather than scan them. I'm not really over the moon with either of the pictures but the ones shown here are the best of a quite bad bunch!!

The first one shown above was made on a background of a piece of copper sheet, found in the garage and when I asked John where it had come from it turned out to be his grandfather so definitely vintage copper!! The image I used on top comes from the Alpha Stamps Vintage Gents. I cut off the head of this particular gent and replaced it with a tiny little, but working compass. The head was put into a small copper frame (also available from Alpha Stamps). I added the image of another compass at the bottom (from the Alpha Stamps Gauges sticker sheet) and added an extra arrow as shown. The text jumped into my own head as I was making the ATC. It was done on my Dymo writer and reads: I lost my head and my moral compass.
I have to say that my own subconscience mind sometimes amazes me. Very strange thoughts are lodged there!!The final touch was the brass tape around the entire ATC and the round washers adhered with copper coloured brads. The last ATC I made was on the same fabric-paper collage as shown on previous posts with an image from the Alpha Stamps Gauges sheet in the background. On top of this I sewed a transparency from the Alpha Stamps Dancing Men sheet. I added the copper circles (using Diamond Glaze as glue) and added a pink self-adhesive heart to the centre of one of them. The text Course to steer, came from one of John's text books again. The ATC border consists of black electrical tape (another treasure from the garage) onto which I rubbed metallic copper rub-on.

Another Steampunk ATC

The next Alpha Stamps kit is coming soon so it's about time I finished showing you the Steampunk ATCs I made with the previous kit. This one used the same fabric-paper collage background as the one I blogged about yesterday although you can barely see it. On top of this I added a transparency from the Alpha Stamps Dancing Men collage sheet. At the bottom another sticker from the Gauges sheet forms the platform they're dancing on and the LOOK arrow is from the Altered Office Stickers, available from Alpha Stamps.

The metal no. 3 is also available from Alpha Stamps and seemed appropriate as there are indeed 3 men dancing, not something you see every day!

Back to Steampunk

It's about time I showed you the rest of the steampunk pieces I made as a member of the Alpha Stamps Design Team. Here is the first one, an ATC. The background is the same fabric-paper collage as I used for the previously posted Steampunk ATCs and includes images from the Time Flies collage sheet. The sparkles you can see in the background are from Martha Stewart Tinsel and the colour I used is Lapis Lazula. I have 4 of the colours and I've really fallen in love with this stuff! Better not to use too much of it as it almost glitters off the page!!

The male face comes from Alpha Stamps Vintage Gents collage sheet. It's quite rare to find a good collection of vintage men (or any men!!) so I'm pleased to have such a good source with this sheet. His face and magnificent moustache are covered by a sticker of some sort of instrument from Alpha Stamps Gauges sheet. The exclamation mark as well as his moustache extensions came from Altered Office Stickers, also available from Alpha Stamps. The text First Mate comes from one of John's nautical books.

I mounted the entire ATC onto watercolour paper that I had distressed with a Distress Inkpad, colour Broken China.

More Steampunk ATCs

On a gloriously sunny and warm day here at Macbiehill, during which we spend most of our time making a start on preparing the garden for Spring (oh there is SO much to do!) another wonderful example of synchronicity happened. My latest issue of the Journal of The Beadworkers Guild arrived in the mail and what was in it?? You'll have guessed already, no doubt, but just in case you didn't, it was an article about steampunk! I could barely believe it but really, so many instances of synchronicity have adorned my life that by now I should really be used to it!!

The article also mentioned the wonderful book Steampunk Style Jewelry by Jean Campbell that I recent bought and enjoyed!

So what better time to show you the other 3 Steampunk ATCs I made for the swap on the Alpha Stamps Yahoo group. And remember if you feel like doing a bit of steampunking yourself, all my supplies came from Alpha Stamps and you can find them here! And of course for a description of how I made them you only have to go back to my last post yesterday!

Steampunk ATCs

Never heard of steampunk? Where have you been? Steampunk has been an art movement since around 1987 although I have to admit it did not come to my attention till it started to make inroads into the various swapping groups I'm a member of in the last 3 or 4 years. I suppose it was only a matter of time till it found its way into collage sheets and other Alpha Stamps goodies. You can find everything I used on my ATCs from Alpha Stamps here. I love the combination of vintage, mainly Victorian imagery with more modern futuristic and sci-fi elements and to his surprise John found me rummaging in the garage (where he keeps his stash!) for little washers, rusting copper sheet and other goodies which to my mind at least belonged with steampunk art.

At the moment (and you can still sign up till the 17th April) there is a Steampunk ATC Swap on the Alpha Stamps Yahoo group and even though I was only going to make 3, somehow I came up with 6 ATCs for this swap. In future posts I will also show you the pieces I made when we received the Alpha Stamps steampunk delights as part of the Design Team. One of the reasons I love being part of that team is that it's so much fun to see what's coming and to figure out what to do with it all.

I'm showing you 3 ATCs today with the promise of the other 3 in the very near future. The background on all the ATCs is the same, a fabric-paper collage in suitable rusty undertones and where I have used images from the Alpha Stamps Gauges sheet as well as tear-out diagrams from John's old Seamanship books. I had to wrestle these from him but as I told him, his sea-faring days are now a distant memory so what better purpose for these ancient tomes than to use them in my art! I also used these books for the text in all the ATCs. Don't ask me what Simpson's Rules are, I haven't got the foggiest! It just sounded good as did Principle of Moments!

By the way I spritzed the cardboard elements that can be seen in the top and bottom ATCs with metallic car sprays and to my surprise it did not only work but even looked great specially when they intermingled. I used bronze, blue and green. These sprays also originated in the garage despite the fact that to the best of my knowledge we've never had a car in any of these colours!

However better not to ask as that might start a discussion about my collections of paper napkins, buttons, beads, fabric, vintage postcards, vintage books and several other (as yes unknown to John) stashes!