The Next 4 ATCs

After I started my first ATC, I actually started (and finished!) 4 others for a different swap so I wanted to showcase them too.

I'm really very green with all this although I really like the small format (ATCs are standard 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches).

This was another swap on swap-bot.com, the theme: "Personalized ATC" sent to one partner, so I was tasked with checking my partner's profile and creating an ATC based on what I learned there!

I know I said that I did 4 ATCs for a swap of 1 ATC... well, my partner has three children and she went into great detail about them and what they like too so, I created one for my partner and one each for her children as well.

You see, on swap-bot, you can get 'hearts' for sending an especially nice package to your partner. Since my partner was very involved with her children, I figured I would do one each for them all!

I really used mostly already created things [i did cut some paper & chipboard! ;] - bling, transfers, diecuts, etc. I assembled them in a pleasing fashion and kept true to the preferences I read about on my partners profile.

Here they are:


This is the one I made for my partner


These are the ones I made for my partners children!

They are kind of 'monogrammed' with a letter for their first names each...

I decided that I'd go with a little less work on each because there were 4 and I was a little shorter on time. Each swap is given a time limit by the swap creator.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my first 5 ATCs! I'm just getting my feet wet and I did a whole bunch of research to learn about this format so perhaps I'll go into some of the other techniques I learned about. These 5 are essentially one-offs.

You can do a series, create a large work then pull out particular detailed portions of that work, I may have missed one or two methods... I'm sure I'll be doing more so Stay Tuned!

Pam Hoffman

My First ATC!

In the 'crafty' world, what's the best way to get involved with something new?

Join a swap!

I got a hankering to learn about ATCs and start creating them so... I went looking for swaps to join.

The beauty of starting this way: I got a topic, a deadline and someone on the other end expecting an ATC from me!

So, my first ATC went to my swap partner at swap-bot.com and I used an image from The Graphics Fairy, so I wanted to tell you about it here...

The theme for this swap was "Christmas ATC" and the sender (me) had the choice of what to make, as opposed to looking up a profile and creating something in response to what was written there. I'll tell you about other swaps later where you DO look at the profile and work from that.

This allowed me to start way before the swap closed and I was cooking up something quite elaborate, in a way.

I started by searching for an image of an interior Christmas scene and I thought of Karen's wonderful graphic images - I just KNEW I could find something there.

I found these two adorable girls near a fireplace and I had the composition in my mind. I was going to create a door which opened onto this scene.

Here's the total package I sent off to my swap partner:



and some pictures on the way there...


Final layers of the base


Two layers assembled, a 'business card' type ATC, the bits for layer #3 & the 'door' after it was printed, covered in a high quality contact paper, burnished and before I rub off the paper, leaving the ink (from a color printer) a technique I learned recently from artchix.com.


All three layers are assembled for the base. I put some "Diamond Glaze" over the 'tiles' of the fireplace for a 'tile' look & feel. I'd have added more textures if I had the resources & the time!


This angle shows the layers. I printed the image several times (color laser printer) then applied them to 'chipboard' then cut various parts to reveal different things.

The bottom layer was the full image.

The second layer included everything but the inner flame of the fireplace. I actually cut around the girl on the right and bent the 'bricks' which were the side of the fireplace. That layer got the "Diamond Glaze" treatment too.

The top layer included just the two girls and their stockings hanging in the corner.


The completed ATC in the 'open' position

Here's a video showing the ATC in action!




So MANY of the images on Karen's site seem to say 'ATC' to me!

BTW, Karen is having a giveaway and the 'Brag Monday' linky list get some extra entries. Hence the motivation to finally START this blog! If YOU need a little extra motivation to get it going, want to enter the contest, have an interest in various ephemera, here's a good way to get in on the action!





Thanks for looking!

Pam Hoffman