Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - December

Here is the final ATC in my monthly project.  I am sad to have finished this project as it has been really enjoyable, but I have my year long mixed media course to look forward to and that starts in January 2021.  I used paint and stencils to give the tree branch effect and then added clear texture paste with glitter added to give the effect of sleet.  I think it has a suitably wintry feel.

The back shows a Christmas star and some presents, to echo the verse, "Chill December brings the sleet, Blazing fire and Christmas treat".  I think after the year we have all been through, a Christmas treat will be very welcome.

The gemstones also echo the wintry tones, with rutile quartz, white moonstone, rainbow moonstone, amazonite, sky blue apatite, tanzanite (also a birthstone for December) and black snowflake obsidian.  The charm is a piece of turquoise.

Here is a photo of all the cards together - not the best quality photo, but you can just about see them all.

Here's the backs of the cards.  It was a lovely project to do and I now have a set of decorations for my seasonal tree which I shall use every year, with great pleasure.

Edited to add:

Amanda asked whether I will display the ATCs and so, for her and any other interested parties, here is how they are displayed.

Here is my seasonal tree with its winter decorations, with the December ATC in the middle.  The tree will get Christmas decorations on it briefly, but will then return to winter.  

Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - November

Here is the penultimate card in my monthly ATC project.  It is again a little more literal, with a simple stencilled background to suggest the breezes and tumbling leaves.  The gemstones I have chosen also reflect the more muted colours of autumn, with oranges and browns.  They are red agate, golden rutile quartz, Tiger's eye, grey moonstone, black rutile quartz (x3) and smoky quartz.  The gemstone of the month is topaz or citrine and I have gone for citrine.

I stamped the leaves, painted them with gouache then cut them out, stuck them on and applied glossy accents to give them a shine (you can just about see it shining on the leaf on the left).

 The back reflects the front, with stencilled leaves this time.  One more left to do and the project is finished.

I am entering this in the Country View Crafts Challenge - 'Anything but a card' - wish me luck!

Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - October

The first of another month and here is my ATC for October.  I used gel prints which I tore up for the collage background in shades of reds, oranges and yellows.  I then stamped pumpkins over the background.  I decided to go with a vintage pumpkin image for the main focal point (which I found at The Graphics Fairy  - a wonderful resource with free images although you can pay and subscribe for more options, should you wish to).

The gemstones have a suitably autumnal feel too, with dyed shell, garnet, red agate, mookite, smoky quartz, tiger's eye and more mookite.  The gemstone for October is opal, so that is added as the charm.

On the back of the card is another image from The Graphics Fairy, of a pheasant, with some stamped and watercoloured acorns and a conker.  This card does suggest autumn to me.
 

Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - September

Where has this year gone?  It seems it was March just the other day.  Here is the ATC for September, focusing on a much more Autumnal feel. The background is more mixed media, using book pages and dripped acrylic paint.  The fruit and berries have had glossy accents on them to add some shine, but this isn't very clear in the photos.

The gemstones are echoing the autumnal colours, with citrine, botswana agate, dyed shell, tiger's eye, red agate and two shades of mookite.  The gem for September is Lapis Lazuli, which is a beautiful deep blue.

On the back, there is the poem for the month and part of an autumn wreath stamp with leaves and berries.  For the first day of September, the weather is lovely with blue skies and sunshine.  

Artist's Trading Card (ATC) - August

The year seems to be going so quickly - it isn't, but it seems that way.  Perhaps this is due to the unusual conditions we have been facing.  Here we are at the beginning of August and my ATC reflects the harvest theme.  I went for a simple image again, with a sort of wheat field, using acrylic paint for the background and stamped images collaged on top.

The gemstones reflect the browns of the wheat - citrine, citrine again, golden rutile quartz, smoky quartz, botswana agate, more botswana agate and tiger's eye.  The gemstone charm is the gemstone for August which is peridot.

The back shows the August poem and a busy bee with some ripe strawberries.  

This card was only just finished in time, due to me being busy with the ICAD challenge.  That has now finished so I can devote myself to other creative activities.

Artist's Trading Card (ATC) - July

 I decided that for this card, I really wanted to create something simple.  A lot of the other cards have been much more complex and while I have enjoyed that, this month I needed a change.  The background is acrylic paint and the butterfly and flower have been stamped in black and embossed  and then painted with gouache.  The flower centre has a bit of added glitter.

I had to check what 'gillyflowers' were as the rhyme mentions them and found they are members of the dianthus family.  While it is probably stocks that the author was thinking of, my dianthus in  the garden will do just as well, so I took some photos, cut them out and glued them on.
The gemstones are aquamarine, sky blue apatite, neon blue apatite, kyanite, tanzanite, sodalite and lapis lazuli.  The gemstone charm is ruby, as it is the birthstone for July.  Simple but pretty, I think.

June Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 Here's the latest of my ATCs - for June.  I knew the focus had to be roses, not just due to the verse for June, but also because my garden is full of roses in June.  I used a sort of leaf stencil and green paint for the background and stencilled the roses using texture paste.  I needed to infill the roses with paint as the green showing through was just too distracting.  I coloured the texture paste, but ended up painting the roses as well.

 They needed a little something extra, so glitter was added as highlights.

The gemstones I used this month were all pinks and purples and I tried to get an ombre look.  I used rose quartz, lavender amethyst, kunzite, peach moonstone, pink opal and pink shell. The gemstone for June is pearl, so I added a pearl charm.

The back of the card features the verse and some die cut roses.  The new rose dies arrived the morning I was working on this ATC which was serendipitous, so I made good use of them.  I am pleased with the end result - June is all about the roses!

May Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 

Here is May's ATC, continuing the challenge I set myself for this year - to create an ATC for each month of 2020.  I am enjoying this project very much, using lots of different techniques and media.  I used one of my favourite stamps (by Jane Davenport) which appeared in my art journal and which I knew I would be revisiting.

Here is the art journal page.

Chris suggested using small die cut flowers rather than painted ones, particularly as the card is on a smaller scale.  Luckily, I had just invested in some small flower dies - how fortuitous!)  I painted the flowers in gouache, using bright happy colours.  Leaves were added and then gold dots in the background.  The centres of the flowers have glitter in them and the lady also has glittery hair and ribbons on her dress. The gemstones are citrine, pink dyed shell, amazonite, carnelian, larimar, emerald and aquamarine.  The gemstone for May is emerald, so that is the charm at the bottom.

The back of the card has a lamb image and more flowers, together with the May verse, which mentions lambs.  

I think it is a happy, bright and cheerful card, which makes me smile.

April Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 I am so pleased with how this month's ATC has turned out.  It really says 'Spring' to me.

 The background is blue acrylic paint with white clouds, then branch shapes painted on.  I used texture paste through a blossom stencil, which I painted in shades of pink once dry.  Tiny gold glitter accents add a bit of sparkle.

The gemstones are kyanite, rose quartz, peridot, chrysoprase, kunzite, fluorite and blue lace agate.  The gemstone of the month charm should be diamond (which I don't have) or clear quartz, which I used instead.

The back is decorated with the April rhyme and photos of primroses and daisies from the garden.
I think this could be my favourite card so far.  On to May!
Edited to add:

Here is a (rather dark - apologies) photo of the seasonal tree as it is at the moment.  It has wooden bird and flower pegs together with my felt flowers and birds too.  It will become an Easter tree shortly.  Chris made the tree shape for me and decorating it is something I enjoy as I mark the seasons.

March Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 Here we are on the 1st March.  Storm Jorge (pronounced Hor-hay) has blown over, bringing wind, rain and hail.  Here is my ATC for March.  It is a little more subtle than January or February, but still has texture paste, glitter and foiling as surface decoration.

 The background is meant to suggest 'breezes' and the hare is for 'Mad as a March Hare'.  The gemstones are sky blue apatite, aquamarine, peridot, white moonstone, clear quartz and chrysoprase.  There may be some prehnite in there too (I really should note down what I use).

The back doesn't have texture and you can see the swirls which represent the breeze a little more clearly. The blue paint background has some white marks made using a tool meant for icing. There is a daffodil too, from a napkin.
I hope that March's weather is a little kinder to the country and indeed the world.

February Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

Here is my February ATC (Artists' Trading Card), the second in my monthly projects.   I am really enjoying the whole process of making these - gathering the ideas, deciding on colour schemes, choosing images, making the gemstone pieces and using some of my stash! 
The base of the card is recycled packaging cardboard,  which is gessoed to give a lovely surface to work on.  My art journal is also made using this card for the pages.  The card has a gel press printed base of purple, white, silver and grey paint, with stamped 'rain' on half of it.  Half of the card has stencilled raindrops with clear texture paste and added glitter and the other half has stamped puddles, and raindrops with clear embossing powder.  The hearts stand a little away from the surface and are made from the cardboard, with satin board which has been embossed with an industrial pattern.  The gemstones are clear quartz, fluorite, kunzite, rutile quartz, white moonstone and an amethyst charm at the bottom.

The back has stamped raindrops with glossy accents over them to add a watery shine, a stamped snowdrop and the February verse. 
Now to start thinking about March...

January Artist Trading Card (ATC)

 Here is the first in my ATC project over the next eleven months.  The first is for January and was ready for the first of the month, but I have kept adding little bits and pieces.  I made the card and then had a brainwave to use some of my gemstones and to also include the month's birthstone as well.  For this card, there is a haematite round, clear quartz, sky blue apatite, white moonstone, turquoise and rutilated quartz, with a garnet charm at the bottom.

 The card itself has acrylic paint watered down and dripped over a texture paste pattern, then silver embossed shapes and grey stamping.  The colours are silver, grey, white and turquoise.

 On the back, I added a verse from the seasons rhyme I knew from when I was little - 'January brings the snow...' and some silver glitter die cut snowflakes.

 Here's a close up of the verse.

The ATC goes really well with the Scandi inspired felt birds and balls on the seasonal tree, alongside some rather glamorous glass bead snowflake decorations which I bought in a sale last week.
February's ATC will involve grey, white and purple, raindrops, a heart and amethyst...
edited to add...
I am going to enter this ATC in the Craft Stamper Take It Make It challenge over at Craft Stamper.  Wish me luck!

Pocket Doodle book 2019 pages 8 - 15 and a project for 2020

Here are the next set of pages in my pocket doodle book.  Page eight is decorated with colours and dots, whereas for page nine, I went a bit mad with big flowers.

Page 10 started as lines but ended up looking like skyscrapers, albeit at some odd angles.  Page 11 has delicate gold lines and dots which look a bit like constellations.

 I emphasised the swirly roses on page 12 and added some dots for background interest.  Page 13 is just lines which together with the background colour remind me of a 1950s or 1960s print.

 Page 14 had swirly roses in the background but I wanted to do something different so went for blocks and lines.

Page 15 started with blocks but then ended up with circles which are a Zentangle pattern and connecting circles.  It reminds me a bit of a beaded necklace. 
The book is a pleasure to work in and I am really enjoying filling in the pages.
I have got an idea for a project for next year which was inspired by watching a Youtube video by Nina Ribena who has been making Artists' Trading Cards for each month.  I am going to do the same and display them on my seasonal tree.  I have cut and gessoed some greyboard shapes (2.5 x 3.5 inches) and am going to get the first one ready for 1st January 2020.  I am really enjoying thinking about what I will put on each one.