Parchment ATCs

I was given my first ever ATC by my sister Jean, back in the Autumn of 2005 and I have been swapping them ever since. I did several organised monthly swaps when I lived in UK, but it became harder after I came out here, and some went missing in transit. Plus  I had to rely on people sending me British stamps for the return postage, so I did fewer. I also found it difficult when I wasn't inspired by the given theme for that month, or I was restricted to using a certain company's stamps etc and I didn't have anything by them to go with the theme, so I stopped doing them at all for a while. Then I found a few people who were happy to do personal swaps occasionally, and this suited me much better, so that's what I do right now. I am at a point where I owe a few to people so I set to and made a set. I missed out on the swap over at Julia's Stamping ground, for the birthday of What's on your workdesk Wednesday, due to my trip to UK and family events, but a couple of the friends I visit there, offered to swap with me  the next week, so I wanted some for them as well, and here is what I made.

When I posted the ATCs I had made to take to my Grand-daughter last month, I had so many kind comments about the parchment craft one, that I decided to have another go at them. It is also good practice for me, before my next parchment craft lesson tomorrow. I used the same piercing pattern to make the lacé effect but this time I mounted each piece onto alcohol ink backgrounds that I made years ago when I bought my first inks. At the time I thought they were a bit bright but that's what I needed for these cards. 

Then it was just a case of choosing toning embellishments for each one. These range from buttons, to paper and resin flowers, gems and sticky ribbons, and for one I stamped my favourite dragon. I saw this image on the side of a very muddy delivery van in Murcia, as I sat at a roadside café, so I took a quick photo, and when I got home I edited it on my computer until I had a good black and white image and then I made a stamp using imagepac. I also made a cutting file so I can cut him out any size, and I have made a 30cm one in red paper to go in my scrapbook about our holiday across S.E.Asia. For the ATC I stamped him onto lightweight card in Versafine black onyx, cut him out, and then embossed him with standard, clear powder. I thought he went well with that particular backing card and ribbon which had a slightly Oriental look about them.

I actually made more than one of some of these designs, and I have just a couple left over, so if anyone would like to swap, and you don't mind posting to Spain, use the e-mail above to send me your address and I will get one to you.