Winter sparkle inspiration for Visible Image

 Hi everyone, and welcome to my latest design team make for Visible Image. The theme for our makes this week is "winter sparkle" and my brief was to make something "non card". As I organise the monthly artist trading card (ATC) swap over in the VI Facebook group I thought this might be a good opportunity both to share how I make my ATCs but also to promote our fun ATC swap group. 

So I made these 3 Winter sparkle ATCs

 Our swap has been running for over 3 years this is currently our 45th swap. Everyone is warmly welcomed whether or not you have ever made an ATC before. You only need to make a single ATC although I make 3 as I keep one and swap one with another friend. Also a lot of people make a card to send with their swap but this is not a requirement. The full rules are over in the group which you will find here .

 For those of you who are unfamiliar with ATCs Artist they were designed to be fun and swappable. They are tiny unique works of art to be traded never sold.  They measure 3.5 by 2.5 inches. This is the “standard" for them. Many people like to write the information about the swap, products used etc on the back and Visible Image sell a fab stamp set called Love of ATCs which is perfect to use for this. There are also some fun small stamps that can be used as envelope art.

I used it with the Night owl set

and stars and sentiment from Shining star

This is how I made my winter sparkle ATCs;

I used an A5 size sheet of black card. I pressed some saltwater taffy and lost shadow distress OXIDES (inks won't show as they are translucent) onto my kraft sheet with a spritz of water and dipped my card in, drying with a heat tool between layers. This gave me a nice wintery feeling background. 

From the inked card I cut 3 ATCs each measuring 3 1/2" by 2 1/2". I stamped 2 Night owls onto white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and clear embossed them. 

1 of the owls I cut into 2 as shown below.

I cut the owls out and added a little colour using distress pencils. 

I stamped the sentiments (just for the position) 2 in landscape orientation and 1 in portrait onto the ATCs 

I randomly repeat stamped the small stars on all 3 ATCs using Versamark and then heat embossed with gold glitter embossing powder. 

I added the "whole" owl to the portrait ATC and cut off the excess wings level with the edges.

The "halves" were adhered to the 2 landscape ATCs. 

I also gold heat embossed the edges of the ATCS for extra sparkle.

I then stamped the sentiments onto white card and cut them out. 

I stuck them over the blue ones I had used for placement and added sequins for a finishing glittery touch.  

I also rounded the corners of the ATCs using my punch.

Here they are finished

and as a group.

And this is the back of each. I just stamp the info plate from the Love of ATCs set onto card from the back of cereal packaging and stick in place. This gives each ATC a good "thickness"

As I have already mentioned I organize the monthly artist trading card swap in the group. It is open to everyone worldwide. Over 150 members, worldwide, have taken part since it started over 3 years ago. It's been such fun and it's so lovely to receive a unique piece of art from your partner in the post. The details and sign up for each swap are posted in the group on the 23rd of the month. So the next swap sign up will open on 23rd December.  There is no "monthly" commitment, just join in when you have the time and if you live in the UK can you choose to post to the UK only if that suits you best. Do come over and join us, you will be most warmly welcomed. 

All the Visible Image links are listed below;

 Our kind, friendly and supportive customer Facebook Group is here ...it would be lovely to see you join us.  You will be warmly welcomed and see lots of inspiration from the DT and customers to inspire your own creativity. 

The main Visible Image Facebook business page is here

Their website is here

Visible Image also has its own You Tube channel here where you can see videos and Lives to give you lots of inspiration and ideas. 

Their Instagram page can be found here 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Daisy makes

Daisy came to stay for half term recently and as always she wants to head straight to my studio when she arrives. Our creative time together is wonderful and her designs really amaze me. We also enjoyed some lovely walks, fed the dinos which she loved and enjoyed lunch out. She was delighted that I had saved my bulb planting for her to help with. We took a trip up to the nursery and she chose some violas with me and also a primula.

I explained to her that the bulbs need to have their roots planted downward. 

 She planted up one pot

and I planted the other.

 We also planted up the primula she chose.

I told her that I will send photos when I see the first shoots peep up.

Daisy also loves the ATC and coins swaps I am involved in and as the new theme came up on 1 November I asked if she would like to make a set too. Of course she said yes!

The theme was hearts and we decided to use the Visible Image Queen of hearts set. We made a background using purple card and some stencilled hearts. I then cut 8 ATCs from the piece of card, 5 for me and 3 for Daisy. I made 5; 3 are for the swap, 1 for Daisy and 1 to keep

So these are Daisy's 3, don't you love the purple hair!

This is the gorgeous swap she gave me

and below are mine. I used the queen of hearts card stamps from the set and added some ordinary small playing cards! 

I would like to enter my ATCs into the following challenges;

Crafter's Castle 2/3 anything goes

Love to craft 2/3 anything goes

Mix it up 2/5 anything goes
A bit more time to craft 2/3 anything goes
Through the craft room door 2/3 anything goes
Addicted to stamps and more anything goes
Crafty Calendar 1/3 cute and girly
Craft Stamper take it make it 1/3 November anything goes

 I think "Queen of hearts" is pretty appropriate for my Darling Daisy. It is nearly her 6th birthday and I have been busy making her cake...I will share it very soon but if you can keep it under your hat here is a very sneaky peek....she wanted butterflies as her theme so I have made a whole kaleidoscope of them.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The 2019 Conker treasure hunt

Last weekend out darling grandbabies came to stay while their Mummy and Daddy went to a wedding. It was the perfect timing as the local horse chestnut trees were raining down conkers for our annual conker treasure hunt. My non UK blog readers often ask what conkers are. They are the fruit of the horse chestnut tree and are the stuff of all our childhoods. Everyone smiles when they see a shiny conker on the ground and even my Mum at 85 will stop and pick up the first one of the season. However as I have been before they are not edible at all, unlike their sweet chestnut relative.

Daisy has been on our conker treasure hunt most years but this was a first for Jack. They had their baskets to gather their finds.

We call it "treasure" when you find an unopened case containing a conker. You never know if you will find a single round conker in there or 2 "cheese cutters". Daisy even found one case with 3 inside.

Jack actually said "wow" as we opened this one.

Treasure!

Expert Daisy showed Jack how to avoid the prickles as you open the case.

There were  thousands on the floor.

We had the best fun.

This is their haul which I will scatter at the park at the end of our road for the squirrels to eat soon.

How much joy can such a simple free activity generate, we made some wonderful memories of a very special day.

I decided that I really wanted to make a "Moment" for my album and some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) Daisy loves my ATCS and coins, I offered to send one of each of my collections I make to her from now on. She thought it was a wonderful idea and I bought her an A4 file and some sheets of protective card holders. She has asked me to post them to her, this sounds like a really fun thing for us both.

So on Monday, when the house was very quiet again, I got out my distress inks to make some backgrounds, inspired by the colours of that day.

I made 2 sheets of watercolour backgrounds, 1 for my Moment and 1 for my Artist trading cards.

I used my very organic Ink swirls Visible Image stencil and added some more of the same inks.

 I left 1 sheet whole and I cut some of the 2nd sheet into ATC size. 

For my Moment I wanted to try to give the impression of the conkers and autumnal trees and colours without distracting from my photos. I used my Visible Image "the ripple effect" set of background stamps as I wanted to create the memory of the trees and the conkers we collected.I also used , Into the woods for the trees and sentiment.  The ripple effect  represented the tree trunks and the circles the conkers. Some I gave a shine to using glossy accents, just like the shiny conkers we found.

Here is my Moment.

with a couple of close ups;

and one last shot

and these are the ATCs

3 are for a Facebook swap group I belong to, 1 is for Daisy and 1 is for me.

A couple of close ups;

When I look at my Moment and ATCs in my album I will be able to revisit a special day with Daisy and Jack and some wonderful memories.
I think the sentiments were perfect to sum up that day. Family/roots/strength/memories, what can be more important?

I would like to enter my Moment into the following challenges;
Cute card Thursday anything goes
Addicted to stamps and more anything goes
Crafting by Design anything goes

I would like to enter my ATCs into the following challenges;
Fab n Funky 1/3 autumn colours
Creative Inspirations 1/3 masculine or fall/autumn
The house that stamps built 1/3 circles
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by, the mornings and evenings have a real nip in the air now. Even with the sunny days mixed in with the rain we had this week, autumn has most certainly arrived.

Have a lovely upcoming weekend,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x