Cullercoats Charms and Curios

February ATC Swop 2024 Theme: Brights For this months ATC swop the theme is brights.  Very apt as the weather in Cullercoats is very grey and dull - so anything to cheer things up is great. I had some blue and orange card in my stash that I had previously coloured with brushios.  I cut 3 backgrounds 3.5" x 2.5".  I distressed the edges and highlighted them with distress ink.  I then cut 3 pieces slightly smaller and used dies to cut into the top corners to give a trellis effect.   I then used some stencils and an Aall and Create stamp to decorate the bottom of the ATC. I also distressed and went around the edges of the top panel with distress ink. To add a bit more interest I did some splattering with white paint.  I then stamped some butterflies onto matching card and cut them out. I glued the butterflies on the ATC along with some sentiments and splattered the butterflies as well.  Made a matching card using the same techniques.

 January 2024 ATC Swop: Theme Outdoors Experimenting with recycling cardboard this month.  Used cardboard bits from inside cat food box which divides the flavours.  Cut Cardboard to size and peeled off top layer to reveal the corrugated middle section.  Layered this with wood prints and brown paper / card to create outdoor scenes. Also used some die cut stags and foliage.  Quite pleased with the results for a first attempt. Also made a little ATC box for the cards using the recycled card.  The crow is stamped onto craft card using an old inkadinkadoo stamp from a halloween set I bought 8 years ago.

  December 23 ATC swap.  Theme Christmas Music / Songs.   No tutorial this month as forgot to take photos and these were quite simple to make.  Base of ATC cards (3.5" x 2.5") are cut from green card.   Cut some music paper from an old 6 x 6 vintage Christmas pad just slightly smaller than the ATC.   Distressed the edges and then went around the edges with distress ink before gluing onto the ATC.    Layered a thin hessian ribbon, green cheesecloth and a strip of red card across the ATC.   Die cut musical instruments from gold card and musical notes from black card.  Glued these on as shown.  Decorated with die cut Holly leaves, red snowflakes and pearl berries. Also made a mini shadow box card to show off one of the ATCs.

Nov 2023  ATC Challenge: Winter Animals To make a wintery sky I used a spectrum noir sparkle pen in a dark blue.  I swiped this along the top of the ATC then using water and a broad brush washed it down to the bottom so it was darker at the top and lighter at the bottom. I then used some white acrylic paint to create a snowy landscape.  However I ended up covering this over.  I also used some watered down white acrylic to splatter across the sky to make snowflakes. I then used a tiny script stamp to stamp around the sides and top of the ATC using chipped sapphire distress ink.  I also darkened the edges of the card with the distress ink. I found a winter set that was free with a magazine.  I stamped the animals in a dye ink and coloured them with alcohol ink pens. I stamped and die cut the tree trunks and die cut some snowflakes. I stamped some background Christmas trees using the chipped sapphire distress ink.   Then it was a matter of layering my tre...

 November ATC Challenge / Swop 2023 November ATC swop for Carleys Crafty Army facebook group with a theme of Autumn leaves / Autumn colours.  Decided to challenge myself and only use stuff from my scrap boxes.  Sorted out some papers and die cuts that I thought looked autumnal. Cut out some ATCs (3.5 x 2.5") from a background I made a while ago.  Glued music paper onto card from a cereal box. Stained this with distress ink.  Sprayed with gold glitter paint and stencilled with gesso. Outlined the edges with distress ink and then gold gilding wax. Used some corrugated card from packaging as a bas layer.  Painted with gesso and then outlined edges with distress ink. Die cut lots of leaves from watercolour card previously coloured with distress oxide inks. Layered these up with an owl and some foliage die cuts left over from previous projects. Went around the leaf edges with distress ink.  Painted some buttons with brown acrylic paint then rubbed them...