Mini Makes: ATCs Ideas and Inspiration Part 2

 I am back with part two of my round up of previous ATC projects.  Here are another selection using stamps, stencils and masks from Clarity Crafts.  As usual links to the step by steps are below the photos.

I love looking for suitable images to fit the theme (see HERE).

Mini Makes: ATCs - Ideas and Inspiration Part 1

 I was always a tag maker rather than creating ATCs, however, I joined in with a few swaps and thought I'd share my progress over the years.  Links to step by steps below each photo.

My first ever set (see HERE).

ATCs Layering stencilled and stamped images.

The latest ATC swap over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art is based around the letter N.  It took a little thought, but once again, I found what I needed among my Clarity stamps and stencils.  N is for nautilus, N is for nature and N is for nest.

Festive ATCs

The theme for this month's ATC swap over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art was Festive/Winter rather than the usual letter prompt.  Once again I had fun with stamps and stencils from Claritystamp.  My partner should have received them by now so I am sharing them here.

Mini Scenes on the Theme of 'F'

The prompt for the latest ATC swap over on JJAMMMA (Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art) is F.  I decided to go with F is for fence and foliage,  F is for family and F is for football fan.  I hope my partner likes them.  As always, I only used Claritystamp stamps for the project.

WOYWW 484: The One After the Crop

Hello and welcome to the weekly sharing of my desk, as encouraged by Julia, our hostess and keeper of the links (see HERE for more).  I wanted to share all the lovely swaps that I was given at the crop last Saturday.  I have already shared my photos and described the day itself, so if you haven't seen them yet you can find them HERE.

From top left goodies from: Shaz (from Oz), an ATCoin from Neet with an ATC below from Mrs D, a glasses case from LLJ and a mini memory bear complete with poem from Annie (Whipso).  Below from left to right: ATCs from Chris (Pearshaped), Margaret, Heather, Jo (Twiglet), who had sewn her ATCs and Christine (Bishopsmate).  In the middle at the bottom an ATC from Shaz (Silverwolf).  They are all so different and so beautiful.  Eva sends her thanks for her goodies too, even though she wasn't up to being there.

On the other side of the desk normal service has been resumed.  Eva was having a look through my Groovi folders and was also very keen to try out the new Picot dies from Claritystamp.  They are now top of her wish list lol.  Have a great week everyone.  I will  be round tomorrow to visit as I am at work today; I haven't got used to this new pattern of work days.

Paper Towel Backgrounds on ATCs

These ATCs were made for the June swap over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art.  The prompt was the letter R.  As always, I only used Claritystamp stamps and stencils for my ATC projects. 
For a change, I decided to use paper towel mop up sheets for the background of each ATC.  Usually, I stamp and colour directly onto the precut ATC cards (2.5" x 3.5") which I have in my stash, but I am glad that I added a background first as I love the way that these turned out.

WOYWW 471: Guest Desk?

Well, I had been intending to share some desks from the monthly journal meet up in Stockport with the JJAMMMA crowd, but I totally forgot to take my camera and I have no idea how to download photos from my phone!  Instead, you'll have to make do with my desk in the shed when I got back. 

The ATCs that I made earlier for a swap are face down ready to have the backs filled in and glued into place.  They are being posted today first class, so I will be blogging them on Friday.  Some of the paper towel mop up sheets that I used in  the background of each ATC are at the back, together with some blank cards with interesting images, which were a gift from a friend at the meet up.
The other side of the desk is empty, as Eva was busy marking some speaking exams which she had been offered last minute.  We will be catching up and crafting on Saturday, so I will take a picture then.  If you want to know why I seem obsessed with desks then visit our chief desker Julia over on the Stamping Ground.  There you will find out all about WOYWW and find many more desks to look at, should you be so inclined.
Don't forget that you can also comment via the Sarah's Craft Shed Facebook page if you are unable to comment directly on this post. 
I may be late visiting this week as I have some late meetings and the last of my reports to finalise today.

WOYWW 469: A Wealth of Friendship

My desk this week is a celebration of the number of friendships that I have developed from taking part in WOYWW for the last 2+ years.  Even though I have never met many of the people whom I have come to know through this fabulous blog hop, I still feel that we are friends.  Of the nine swap partners who sent me the ATCs on the desk, I have met six of them in person and hope one day to have the chance to meet the rest. Eva and I will be at the crop again in September...

From top left, thank you very much to Zsuzsa,  Margaret, Annie and Jo (who sent a joint offering even though I'd only arranged a swap with Annie).  Middle row: Many thanks to Jan, Cindy and our hostess with the mostest Julia.  Bottom row: Thank you muchly to Nikki, Neet and Shaz.  Thank you all for your generosity and the thought which I know goes into creating these symbols of crafty friendship.  I hope all my ATCs made it safely to their destinations, including to my PIF Diana.  I look forward to receiving my ATC from Bleubeard and Elizabeth which is winging its way from the USA.

Thank you also to my PIF Diana, who sent me an ATC in a beautifully stamped matching envelope in return.

I did remember to take a picture of my ATCs before I posted them; all except the one which I sent to my PIF which followed the same format but in another colour scheme.  See HERE if you would like to know how they were made.  If you would like to join in with us on a Wednesday then visit Julia's blog The Stamping Ground.
Eva is off gallivanting for half term, so I'm afraid that I have nothing to show on the other side of the desk.

4 x ATCs = 1 Journal Page

The current prompt over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More is 'Trade It'.  For the third week of May ATCs were the order of the day.  I have made a few, but this time turned four of them into an art journal page as I intend to create one each week for this group.

ATCs for WOYWW Anniversary

The weekly link up of desks (WOYWW) hosted by Julia on The Stamping Ground, celebrated its ninth anniversary this week.  Little did Julia know when she first started up this blog hop, that it would still be going strong 9 years later.   I have been taking part for nearly three years and it is such a friendly, supportive group to be part of.  This is the first year that I properly participated in the anniversary, ATC swap.  I created nine ATCs for swapping, commemorating the anniversary, then made a tenth to send to my Pay It Forward partner on the day itself.

WOYWW 468: Happy 9th Anniversary!

Hello and welcome to my contribution to the the celebrations for the 9th anniversary of WOYWW; the weekly sharing of all things desk, hosted by the amazing Julia over on The Stamping Ground.  This is a real community of bloggers, lurkers, and the curious from all around the world.  I am a relative newcomer as I have been blogging for less than three years, but I have been made to feel so welcome.  If you are thinking of taking the plunge, jump on in, the water's lovely!

Part of the tradition of WOYWW is to make ATCs to swap on the anniversary.  My desk this week shows the happy post that I received a couple of weeks ago from Nikki (Graphix and Designs) in Canada,  who is far more organised than I am.  I have saved their gorgeousness for this week.  My ATCs are all made, the envelopes are written and all ready to go to my swap partners.  Once I know who my PIF is I will be on the case there too.  If it is one of the people with whom I have already arranged a swap, I will add an extra ATC into the envelope.  These will go into the post this afternoon after I have been to my hospital appointment.  I apologise in advance for the lack of accompanying card/goodies, as it has been a rush just to get the ATCs finished in time, having had a horrible cold last week.

On the other side of the desk, Eva was playing with Pixie Powders and over stamping with Archival inks.  Nothing quite like messy hands lol.  Happy anniversary everyone: here's to the next 9 years!

ATCs: B is for...

The prompt for the monthly ATC swap over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art is the letter B.  As I have worked on that prompt before, I had to be mindful not to repeat myself.  All stamps used are by Claritystamp as always for my ATCs.

WOYWW 465: Unexpected Company

As you will see from my desk today,  I have made a start on my 9 ATCs ready for the swap in two weeks.  All my ATCs are now allocated and I even have a reserve list.  Many thanks to Nikki whose ATC, card and extra bits arrived at the weekend.  I will share all on the actual day of celebration.  To find out more about WOYWW, visit Julia over on The Stamping Ground and she will gladly let you join the club!

The other item on my desk - other than my craft 'to do' list - is my latest Chalet School acquisition from Girls Gone By Publishing.  I admit to being a life long fan of the series and have all the books by Elinor M Brent-Dyer.  I am now working on getting hold of the 'fill ins', written to fill in the gaps in the series and as prequels also. 
I had an unexpected visitor on the other side of the desk.  Eva only had two candidates to examine and not too far away, so she made it back to do some crafting in the afternoon - YAY.

She was working on some tags with the theme of feathers for a swap.  I will be working on mine as you read my post!   If you want to see how I made the backgrounds then you can check out my post HERE; I won't be sharing any more about them until after the swap.
It's my Dad's birthday today, so I'm hoping to Skype him later as he and mum are visiting my brother in BC, Canada.  Happy birthday Dad!

Oxide Experiment With Colour Combinations

The ninth anniversary of What's On Your Workdesk, Wednesday? (WOYWW) is coming up on May 23rd.  It is a tradition that ATCs are swapped to celebrate the event and I will be making nine of them.  I decided to try out some different colour combinations to make backgrounds using my Distress Oxides, as I want them all to be a little different.  So far, I have only finished the backgrounds, but I like the variety of combinations that I have found so far.

I is for Imagination: I needed it for this challenge!

The prompt for the latest ATC swap over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art (JJAMMMA) is 'I'.  As I only ever use Clarity stamps for my ATC swaps and I don't have their Ice Skater stamps,  I had to dig deep to come up with ideas using the ones that I do have.  As you will see,  I managed it in the end.  All the stamping on the first two ATCs was done using Onyx Black Versafine ink and heat embossed in detail clear EP.

Distress Oxide Backgrounds: ATCs

These are the ATCs that I made for the March swap over on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art.  The prompt letter was S and as always I used only Claritystamp stamps and masks.  All the stamping was done in Onyx Black Versafine ink and heat embossed using detail clear powder.  The backgrounds were all created using Distress Oxides and the images were coloured using Ecoline pens by Royal Talens.

ATCs: M is for...

These ATCs were made for the February swap over on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art; the prompt was the letter 'M'.  As I always stick to using Claritystamp stamp sets to create my ATCs I had a good look through my folders to see what I could come up with.  In the end I went with M is for 'Madonna', 'Mouse Mystery' and 'Marriage'.

E is for... ATCs: Part Two

This is the second set of three ATCs for the January prompt 'E' which I sent to my swap partner on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art.  All stamps and masks used are by Claritystamp which means that I had to get a little creative with some of my ideas for the prompt letter, once I had used the more obvious ones.  Once again, all the stamping was done using Onyx Black Versafine ink and heat embossed using detail clear embossing powder.

E is for... ATCs: Part One

This is the first set of ATCs that I created for the January swap on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art.  My swap partner was quicker off the mark than I was and I received 6 rather than the 3 ATCs that I was expecting, as well as some gorgeous happy mail from her.  I therefore created a second set of three to add to my package which I will share tomorrow.  As usual, I used Claritystamp masks and stamps to create my ATCs.  The prompt letter for January was E.