Bunch of ATCs!

Hello and good morning! ^__^

Here's the post that was long overdue...

What happened was I made some ATCs, and then made some more and since they were all different, I decided to collaborate them into one big post!

So here goes..

The photograph that you see above was a part of a sneak peek of a gorgeous Limited Edition stamp set called Away We Go launched by Peek-A-Boo Designs.

You can read all about it : HERE 

Next up, this set of ATCs was made using distress inks, stencils, washi tape, glitter, crackle accents, modeling paste, die-cuts and sequins along with some mini mixed media themed stamps by Peek-A-Boo Designs.

This one was made using distress inks with my favorite stamp - Phineas The Peacock by So Suzy Stamps.
The sentiment is a sticker.

This one has a mix of stamps from Studio G, Altenew and So Suzy Stamps.

This ATC has the Love Balloon and Celebrate stamps by So Suzy Stamps along with the usual suspects, glitter, washi tape and sequins!

This one was challenging, as the theme was love without using the colors : red and pink!

It has quite a few items like rhinestones, pearls etc. adhered to it but, the stamps used for this project are by So Suzy Stamps & Tim Holtz along with the Rhapsody stencil by Memory Box.

Last but not the least, this ATC features a Heidi Swapp stencil with a partial So Suzy Stamp (Stardust Dancing).

I'm sorry I couldn't describe the steps in detail for each and every ATC, because as you can see, they are all different and that would make this post painfully long!

But... if you have any query regarding any of these, drop me an email at : halak.shah@gmail.com OR leave a comment on this blog post and I shall reply to it at the earliest!

Thank you so much for stopping by! *Big Panda Hugs*

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A simple swap

Apart from the overseas swaps, I swap at this little ATC Club for folks residing in India where we only need to exchange one ATC a month with the swap partner for that month. :)

The theme this month was winter and this is what I came up with.

A simple ATC, featuring one of my favorite stamps by So Suzy Stamps, with my current favorite stencil, Flourish by Tim Holtz.

1. Created background with Shaded Lilac and Salty Ocean. (Used my Papericious Ink Blending Tool for it.)

2. Stamped the sentiment which is Winter's Butterflies by So Suzy Stamps in salty ocean distress ink. (Yes, I stamp with distress inks!) ^__^

3. Punched out butterflies + snowflakes, added glitter to them for sparkle and adhered.

4. Finished it off with some clear and white sequins + a thin glittery blue border.

So, that was how it was done! Have a lovely evening!

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Let's go Coastal! ^__^

I don't know if you know, but I LOVE ATCs!

Those little miniature pieces of art, it is really fun and addictive to collect them!

So, to collect them, I often participate in swaps where I get the opportunity to exchange my work with someone else.

These I made for an overseas swap and the theme for January was, yup, you got that right, coastal! ^__^

Here's a close up picture of one of the ATCs :

Yeah I know, should have taken a photograph and then sealed it! Silly me!

Okay, so, how'd I make this?

1. Background is white cardstock, covered up a portion of it and using my Papericious ink blending tool, inked the upper side in Mustard Seed Distress Ink.

2. After that, I put a strip of blue paper (below the yellow inked area) for sea and a hand-torn piece of  handmade paper (below the blue paper) for the beach.

3. Shaded the sea with chalk and added glitter to it.

4. Added craft sand by JAGS to lower half for that sandy beach look.

5. I didn't have anything that would be appropriate for a tree, but I did want it in the background, so, I brainstormed and took my TCW - Fanciful Feathers stencil and used a feather design from it for tree branches with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.

6. I picked a sentiment that fit into the space (from a really old acrylic Micia stamp set) that went with the mood of the theme and stamped it using versafine.

7. Lastly, I added a couple of sea-shells and glued a half-pearl inside one of the shells.

And that's how I achieved this beachy look! (Pun not intended but if you spotted it, lol! Funny, right?!) ^__^

I never thought I'd pick up a jar of craft sand and make a beach themed ATC, but there you have it!

Moral of the story : Experiment, never stop learning and have fun! Crafting is all about fun!

Till next time dear friends, have a lovely evening!

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ATC Swap!

A while back I did an overseas ATC swap.

The standard ATC size is 2.5" x 3.5" and for this swap we (all participating members) had to make 10 ATCs.

Our hostess was the super awesome Suzanne Moore of So Suzy Stamps and the theme was bling for November.

How could I say no to bling! ^__^ It was a wonderful experience and I am surely gonna participate in future swaps!

These are the gorgeous ATCs that I received from the talented participants.

I love all these miniature pieces of art! ^__^

I made an identical set of 10 ATCs. Here's a close up picture of what they look like.

A fairly simple ATC, I used Tim Holtz Flourish stencil along with my favorite flower stamp, the Tulip Stem from So Suzy Stamps!

The sequins are from my stash and sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp.

Butterfly is from Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch.

Happy New Year and have an awesome 2016! ^__^ Till next time!

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Rainbow of wishes at Craftyscrappers

Hello hello! ^__^

I have some awesome news to share with you, I will be working with Craftyscrappers as a Guest Designer for the months of December 2015 and January 2016!

Craftyscrappers is the craft shop to visit if you want beautiful custom die-cuts and embellishments. They make the die-cuts in high quality white cardstock so you can jazz them up with the colors you like!

The cool thing is that Craftyscrappers also has a new challenge every week where fantastic prizes are to be won... so, what are you waiting for!??

The challenge this week is... Rainbow!

Here's what I made...  

A birthday card! (Yup, you can never have enough of those!)

Steps :

1. Took a stencil (Tim Holtz - Flourish) and created my background using the colors blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

2. Next, I took a die-cut from Craftyscrappers (Die-cut Code - Happy Birthday - DS - 02) tinted it black with archival ink and glitter coated it.

3. Punched out a purple butterfly using Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch and glitter coated that too.

4. Adhered the die-cut and butterfly to the card and added twine.

5. Finally added a couple of black sequins.

And that's it!

Don't forget, the theme for this challenge is - Rainbow!

To participate, read deets etc. click here.

Also, if you feel stuck and out of ideas, I highly recommend going through the amazing work the other DT members have put up as inspiration for this challenge!

Looking forward to your participation, till next time! *Hugs* 

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My first ever International swap!!!

Yeah I am quite a regular with them exclamation marks but today.... super psyched!!!

I participated in my first ever International Exchange for papercrafters wherein we had to make a Card (minimum 4 inches by 6 inches), an ATC (standard size of 2.5 by 3.5 inches) and an Inchie (a small tile or circle measuring 1 inch by 1 inch).

So now that my swap partner has received it, here is the happy mail that went from India to US! ^__^

The Christmas card.

Steps :

1. Applied a ready-to-use lace on the cardstock.

2. Layered with a damask design pattern paper. (I distressed the edges using a paper cutter)

3. Stenciled a Christmas Tree, using Tim Holtz Flourish stencil with a little home-made mask.

4. Added beads to the tree + golden star and added white and clear sequins to the edge.

5. Added ribbon and a brad on top RHS.

6. Stamped Happy Christmas, cut it into a small tag and adhered it to the card using a jump ring and ribbon. Also added a tiny star charm to it.

Here's the ATC and Inchies... I admit... I got carried away and made multiple inchies because I was having so much fun!

The ATC and inchies are made using the same color scheme and elements that are used for the card.

I did use some rhinestones, beads, snowflake punch outs, mica flakes and glitter dust on these and jazzed them (ATC + inchies) up a bit. ^__^

I'd love to know what you think!

My style is not exactly vintage chic so I did do a fair bit of research before designing this but I am glad the way the projects turned out and absolutely stoked that my swap partner loved them!

Have a lovely day folks! *Hugs*

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You are... Awesome!

Yup, I know... I recently did a project for Papericious and it's not here on my blog yet... well.. in my defense, I am scheduled for another project this month with them so I thought of clubbing them both for you in one post for my blog!

Pretty convenient, what say? ^__^

Okay... moving on, here is a card I made yesterday.

As usual, here are the steps :

1. Stamped Hero Arts background stamp with versafine.

2. Smooshed Salty Ocean distress ink along with a faint hint of Seedless Preserves on the stamped image.

3. Stamped sentiment using Technique Tuesday (retired) stamp set.

4. Added butterflies punched out of Papericious - The Vintage Attire paper stack using my Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly paper punch. (See, there is a bit of Papericious here too! ^__^)

5. MicroGlazed the entire design.

6. Added black glitter dust to the word awesome and certain parts of the design + stuck some sequins.

Please Note : While the design of the card is my own, the placement of the sequins in the background is inspired by a card I saw sequins sprinkled on in a similar fashion while I was hopping along the latest Altenew Blog Hop, so I would like to take a moment here for thanking Altenew and the brilliant designer who thought this up!

That's all for today! Have a lovely evening! *BIG HUGS*

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