Citizen Kane ATC

Another trip down the dimly-lit staircase into the archives, this also hasn't been seen on here before.

Back in the day (you know, in the days of yore), I was on a forum that had an ATC challenge every Friday evening, and one week the theme was "favourite movie". Citizen Kane is one of those movies that always comes top, or near top, of the movie polls, but that no one actually likes. I must be the exception, I LOVE this movie, so it was a clear choice for this project!

I made a triptych ATC (you don't even want to know how much work it took to get those shaped doors to match up with the images on both sides of them!). You can see it closed and open here, along with the sleeve pocket I made to store it in. Obviously, this is another of my pieces before I started stamping! I hope you like :) Click on the image for a more detailed view, comments welcomed!

Video Tutorial - Alcohol Inks 101, Part 2

Part 2 of the video on Alcohol Inks, with 3 more techniques for you. The two small tags at the front of the picture above were created using the Dragging Technique from this video.

I suddenly remembered while typing this post that I'd made an ATC a long while back that uses two of these techniques - Tortoiseshell acetate and colouring embellishments! Here it is:

Birds ATC

I made this for my friend Lesley's My Time to Craft challenge. This weeks challenge is "birds", so I thought it was time to give the two bird stamps I had made, another outing.

I tinted the card by blending brushed corduroy and broken china distress pads, then spritzed water onto it for a stained effect. I then dried it with a heat gun.

Finally, I stamped the two birds images in black versafine ink.

I hope you like it. Click on the image to enlarge it! :o)

Um.... 5 More Triangular ATCs

Well, I enjoyed making the last 5 so much, I thought I'd make 5 more! This time, I didn't have the sense to make two of them point-side down, so they'd be easier to photograph, so they're split into 2 images here. Click on either to enlarge them.

Nothing groundbreaking to say about these really! In the second, the word "bored" is deliberately spelled that way! Honestly!! :oD The 2 stamps used in the 4th are some that I had made for me as a one-off.

I hope you like em! Ta for taking a look! :o)

5 Triangular Stamped ATCs

I have just completed these ATCs for an interesting-sounding swap. Each person taking part must make 5 triangular ATCs, 2.5in wide x 3.5in tall. The only other criterion was that they should be stamped. As I have been known to a bit of stamping from time to time, and also have a ruler that can measure in inches, I thought "why the heck not?" :o)

All images were stamped with either versafine or ancient page (my new favourite) ink pads. Cards were coloured with blended distress ink pads, applied with cut'n'dry foam. Other techniques used included masking and painting with a waterbrush.

As ever with ATCs, less time and trouble is spent on decorating the rear side. In this case, I simply stamped my "handmade by dan99" stamp, masked it, then overstamped and painted one part of the image.
I hope you like 'em! Even more importantly, I hope that the recipients like them too! All I have to do now is make sure I get them in the post on time, LOL. Click on either pic to see it larger. :o)

Maya Road boxed ATC cards and new look for my blog!

I picked up a couple of these chipboard boxes from Maya Road a little while back. Each one contains 8 chipboard ATCs joined by a chain, and are all ready to be attacked with inks/stamps/paints, you name it!

I thought I might have to cover them in white paper first, but they take ink really well, and the colours don't suffer too much from the grey/brown background. Hopefully will pick up a couple more in the next few days, as I think they make great gifts once they're decorated! Oh, and this is called April in Canada cos I made it in Canada, in April. But you knew that all the time, didn't ya? :)

I hope you like, click on any image to enlarge it :o)

Regular readers will notice that I decided it was time for a face-lift of my blog. Let me know what you think, after all, it's YOU that reads it! :o)

Sunny(ish) Colours Tags

I decided to make some tags with some sunshine-y colours. Of course, typical of me, they ended up looking pretty grubby, but it's the thought that counts! :)

The second tag uses 2 of Tim Holtz's new ATC sized collage stamps, one stamped over the other. I think on reflection it was a mistake to use my new Ancient Page grey inkpad for the top layer, it just looks a bit washed out. Something darker would have worked much better. Still, we live and learn! :o)

I hope you like em, click on any tag for a bigger view.

Artistic Stamper Insect ATCs

Hello again dear reader, after a lengthy Christmas break! I hope the holiday season was as good for you as it was for me.

It's been all excitement here at Dan Towers - on New Year's Eve I found out that I'd been voted Crafter of the Year by the members of the Craft Swap Forum. I'm particularly thrilled about that because all of the people nominated were so talented and any of them would have been a worthy winner.

In addition, I've been invited to join the design team for The Artistic Stamper, an invitation which I was delighted to accept! The 3 ATCs shown here are the first things I've made using some of their beautiful stamps.

The insects were stamped with Staz-on onto acetate and coloured using solvent based pens and alcohol inks. The insides of the slide mounts were tinted with walnut stain distress ink and spritzed with Moonglow mist ink to give a bit of a gold shimmer. The slide mounts and background cards were tinted with walnut stain ink and stamped with one of the Artistic Stamper's calligraphic mats in brushed corduroy distress ink, and a vintage tape measure stamp. The quotes were computer printed and mounted onto black card.

I hope you like! Click on any image for a larger view. More to follow... :o)

Designed by yours truly!

I've finally gotten around to having a sheet of my own stamp designs made. The image on the left shows the original stamp design, and on the right is an ATC made with the completed stamp.

This stamp is based around an image of my grandmother as a young girl, I hope she likes it!