Creepin' It Real....

Happy Monday friends and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, which this week is all about Artist Trading Cards, or ATCs as they are more widely known as. We hope you will join us and play along and the DT can't wait to see what you create...

Definition:Artist trading cards (ATCs) is a conceptual art project initiated by the Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann in 1997. He called it a Collaborative Cultural Performance. Artist trading cards are 2 1⁄2 by 3 1⁄2 inches (64 mm × 89 mm) in size, the same format as modern trading cards (hockey cards or baseball cards). They are self-made unique works or small series, signed and dated on the reverse by the artist/producer, exchanged and collected by the people who participate in the collaborative performance.

I chose to use some of the brand new Stampers Anonymous stamp sets to create my projects, a set of three ATCs celebrating Halloween and the Monster's Reunion! But I thought how could I take these little pieces of artwork one step further and as my thoughts turned to what I would do to decorate my home this Halloween, I decided to use them as part of a display and used some of Tim's Mini Mason Jars, to create votive luminaries which are lit from the inside using battery operated tea lights.

So, let's get started and here's how I made this project...

To begin with I cut three panels of Distress Watercolour card, 2.5" x 3.5" that will become the bases for my ATCs.

I then stamped three images onto each of the panels using the stamps from the Monster Reunion set and my stamp platform. Now, I'm not going to lie ~ this set is one of my favourite Halloween sets EVER, I just love everything about it and if you love Halloween as much as I do, then you NEED this in your life! You might have noticed that I have stamped the quotes in slightly different places than they apple on the stamp and all that I did to do this was mask off the quote wording using a piece of sellotape, ink up the image with Archival Ink, and then remove the tape before continuing to stamp the main image onto the watercolour card.

I then repeated the process but this time masked off the main image and just inked the wording, stamping that where I wanted it to appear. After stamping the images, I watercolored them with Distress Marker Pens and a watercolour brush.

Once I'd finished all my colouring, I then inked the edges using and layering Distress Inks ~ applying Antique Linen, Old Paper, Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap directly to my mat and then misting it with water, before dipping the card panels in and out of the inks being really careful not to contaminate the watercoloring with any of the wet ink. After heat drying the inky backgrounds, I then  inked the edges with Walnut Stain and machine stitched a border around each of them using black thread.

Now to add the additional embellishments to each ATC...

1. i don't bite...usually.

I added a little number sticker from the Curiosities Sticker set and placed this in the top left hand corner. 

I then used the Bat Crazy die set to die cut the smallest bat from black card and placed this to the left of the image, shaping the wings to give the bat more dimension. 

Finally, I added some Stickles Glitter Glue around the image to add some sparkle and some dots of Tonic Nuvo Stone Drops.

2. foolish mortals

On this ATC, I added some stars around the tombstone by applying Crackle Paste through the Hocus Pocus Layering Stencil and then, whilst the medium is still wet, I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the top and set it to one side to dry. 

Once it is dry, I then used my heat tool to heat emboss the powder until it turn shiny and molten.

I then took the Fig. 1 to 5 stamps from the Toadstools stamp set and stamped these down the right hand side of the panel before attaching another of the bats die cut using the Bat Crazy die.

3. creepin' it real.

On this ATC, I added a spider from the Halloween Remnant Rubs set and placed this down the left hand side. I then used the specimen label from the Toadstools set and stamped this in Barn Door Archival Ink. I then cut the circle out and attached it to my ATC using Matte Collage Medium. Once dry, I added a Remnant Rub to the label.

As an extra embellishment, I took two boneyard findings pieces and tied them together with a piece of Mummy Cloth that I dyed using Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen Distress Spray.

Now that I have all my little ATCs ready, I matted them onto black card and applied a little Bronze Age Alchemy Wax around the edges. I then mounted each ATC onto a Stacked Postage die cut panel of black card.

The ATC's are now finished and you can leave them like this and use them as toppers on cards, or maybe use them as mini invitations for your Halloween parties but I decided to make them into home decor pieces and created mini luminaries that will be a part of my display.

These are so simple to make and all that I needed was the Tim Holtz Mini Mason Jars, the photo clip kit, a battery operated light and some glass pebbles that I bought in a local store.

I painted two of the metal lids from the photo clip kit and one of the lids from the jars and paint them black using Black Gesso, allowed it to dry and then applied a coat of Black Soot Distress Paint over the top. Once this was dry, I then applied some Alchemy Wax around the edges to give more of an aged feel and then placed the attachments into the two photo clips lids.

I dyed a length of Mummy Cloth using the Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stains and once the cloth was dry, I cut and wrapped one piece around one of the jars, filled the jar with the pebbles and the tea light and then popped the lid onto it. To finish, I added my 'i don't bite...usually' ATC onto the clip, which I altered with a little Evergreen Bough, Picket Fence and Antiqued Bronze paint and then attached a spoon from the Silverware Adornments pack to the Mummy Cloth wrap.

Taking the second lid, complete with clip attachment I added some Mummy Cloth to the base...

...and then just clipped the ATC onto the holder.

Finally, I decorated a second jar by placing one of the Zombie hands onto the lid top, placed some moss around the hand and then I dyed some Bouquet Findings with Seedless Preserves Spray Stain. Once the flowers were dry, I dyed them with some more mummy cloth and placed them into the Zombie Hand.

To complete the jar, I wrapped another piece of cloth around the neck, filled it up inside and popped the decorated lid on top before attaching a Halloween Token with a loop pin to the cloth.

So that completes my project for this week and I hope you've loved what I've done to take a simple ATC to another level.

Have fun creating your projects and don't forget, you can find more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Monster Reunion, Toadstools, Hocus Pocus Mini Layering Stencil Set 43
Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Stacked Postage Thinlits Die, Bat Crazy
Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen, Old Paper, Walnut Stain, Pumice Stone
Distress Paint: Black Soot, Evergreen Bough, Antiqued Bronze, Picket Fence

Distress Spray Stain: Seedless Preserves, Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen
Distress Marker Pens

Idea-ology: Bouquet Findings, Mummy Cloth, Keepsakes Ephemera, Mini Mason Jars, Photo Clip Kit, Boneyard Findings, Cryptic, halloween Tokens, Loop Pins, Remnant Rubs, Silverware Adornements

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Black Gesso, Archival Ink Set 1 and Set 3
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Distress Watercolour Card
Prima Marketing Alchemy Wax: Old Silver and Bronze Age
Nuvo Stone Drops ~ Chalk White
Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat
Tim Holtz Watercolour Brush

Heat Gun
Big Shot
Stamp Platform
Moss