Gelli Printed Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards are always fun to make.  I find that working in a small size is challenging.  The hardest part for me is covering up my background.  Backgrounds can stand on their own.  When you select the right elements, that's when the magic happens.

Here is my finished project, four ATCs lined up.

The first thing you're going to notice is that the heads don't match.  I only had three kids heads. I chose the illustrated head to go on the fourth card.  Don't worry, I have added "the heads of children" to my next shopping list.

What I want you to know about this set of ATCs is that they are made on wood from Unique Laser Designs.  And they were so easy to make!

First, gesso your wood.  Gesso is your friend.  It primes your surface and makes your paint appear more vivid.   Then apply your base color to the ATC.  I used a bright green.

While the gesso was drying, I used my die cut machine to cut several pieces out of old greeting cards.  Thick glossy cards make excellent reusable templates for several projects.  Just don't tell that relative that sends these cards how you use their store bought mementos.  (If you don't make your own cards, support your local crafty person!)  And if either of these options are not available in your home, file folders are the next best thing.

  

I decided to used my Gelli plate to make the background of this ATC set.  I then used my die cutter to make a template to use on the Gelli plate.

For the next layer of paint, I had chose orange.  I applied it to my Gelli Plate and set down my ATCs.  When I pulled the ATCs up, I saw orange.  Too much orange.  I spritzed the ATCs with water and then wiped the centers clean of the orange, just leaving a bit of orange around the edges.

I opted for pink instead.  After seeing how the paint transferred to the ATC, I also decided to use the "ghost image" on the ATC.  I put the pink paint on the Gelli Plate, put on the die cuts, then peeled them back off.  Then I placed the wooden ATCs onto the Gelli Plate.  The result was a finer, less blobby transfer print.  

This is how the ATCs looked after the Gelli treatment:

I was thrilled with the result and wanted to keep them the way they were.  I convinced myself to go on with my project.  Using black ink, I grunged them up a wee bit and inked the edges of the cards.  

After searching through my stash, I found colorful rub-ons.  I applied these to the four cards.  

I finished the ATCs off with the collage heads, flowers and the ULD word blocks.  

These are the Unique Laser Design products that I used in this project:

Wood ATC set

Brick Wall Stencil

The word blocks are actually the bricks from the Brick Wall Stencil.  

If you would like to see close-ups of this proect, please click here.  Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look!

ATC's and a Motorcycle

Weird combination as a subject right?  Well let me clear up the weird title with a little show and tell.

Today I have four creative ATC's to share with you and a masculine layout.

To begin the process I used these wood ATC's as my base. 

ATC's are one of the greatest ways to utilize your scrap items, such as pattern paper, embellishments and letters/words.  I look at it as a miniature sample of your art to share with others.

Here (and below) are close ups of two of the ATC's.  Take a look at how these cards hold the various mediums along with many textures of embellishments.

 



I think this one is my very favorite.  The mini pine cones contrast perfectly with the wood.

Now on to my next project:



I created this layout centering it based on the motorcycle. 

Here's a before look of the motorcycle.

 



And here's the look of the motorcycle after all the distressing and inking has taken place.

For this LO, I altered the motorcycle first.  Then added lots of texture to blend the two elements together. 

 

 

ULD Products Used:

Wood ATC's

Motocycle Fancy

 

Other Products Used:

ATC's:

Various brands of patterned paper scraps

Metal clip

Drywall tape

Mini Pinecone clusters

Prima Emphera

Buttons & Thread

Flowers

Chipboard embellishment

Lace

Inks

Layout:

Farm House Fair Skies Goodways 

Various brands of patterned paper scraps

Recollections embossing powder - Ebony and Copper

Heidi Swapp Color Shine - Bronzer

Tim Holtz Brushed Pewter Distress Stain 

Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst - Time Travel Teal 

Prima Color Bloom - Worn Leather

Tim Holtz Trellis Die & Burlap Stencil

Industrial Chic Metals

Glitz Design Teeny Alpha

 



Sky's the Limit

Hello Everybody!

Katy here and using Unique Laser Designs is always so much fun!  I am always so excited to show you my next project.  Without any further ado here it is.  Be sure to scroll down so you can see how all of this came together! :)

This wall hanging came together from just Unique Laser Designs.  

Here's the list: 

 Open Window

Clouds (2)

ATCs (all 4)

Hot Air Balloon

This is what it looked like when I planned it out.  My clouds were already painted white from a previous project.  Yay! ;)  

To glue the ATCs I used gloss gel medium.  When this hardens it is strong (or at least from the book ends project it seems so).  Also, I could easily wipe the front of excess glue.  

Here is what it looks like glued together.

Next I painted gesso onto all of the wood pieces except the window.

So about my window...I love this window.  I love that it really looks 3-D but it is totally flat.  It has lined-details in the wood to add interest, and I don't want to paint over that.  So I put some Tim Holtz walnut stain on it.  On the left side you will see.  I didn't like it.  AT ALL.  LOL.  So to fix it I add Tim's picket fence (white) distress paint.  I put some on my craft mat and dabbed it on with my finger.  This is the right side.  The details are now more visible.  I added another couple of layers of white paint.  It's a little shabby shic.  

For the Hot Air Balloon I painted it with Tim Holtz Distress Mustard Seed (yellow) and did the outlines in Distress Spiced Marmalade.  The basket is painted with walnut stain and crushed olive (on the zigzag).  I used Perfect Pearls perfect gold and water to paint over the whole hot air balloon.  This gives it a nice golden shimmer.

To add texture to the clouds I used Martha Stewart's white texture paste and Tim Holtz's big bubble stencil on the big cloud and T.H. dot fade on the smaller cloud.  The smaller cloud came out a little bit different because I think the paste was really wet.  But I love it!  

For the main board that was created with the ATCs I have a picture as each layer was added.  So get ready!

I dabbed 3 different colors of blue distress paint onto my mat.  Starting with the lightest one I pounced it around using Ranger's sponge applicator.  Then I added the medium blue and then the darker blue.  The colors I used were: salty ocean, broken china, and chipped sapphire.  Once the main colors were there, I filled in and pounced until I was happy with it.

Once dried I stamped the text onto the base with Ranger Archival Ink.  I used the text stamp twice to fill up the base.  As you can see not all of the words came out.  That's ok!  Better actually-it gives it an organic feel.

Next I added a sunshine at the top using mustard seed distress paint.  If you use paint on your stamps-stamp and then quickly go wash it off.  You don't want the paint to dry to the stamp.

Also, on this picture I added grass at the bottom.  I used Twinkling H2Os Emerald and T.H. Stripes stencil.  Then I filled in some green at the bottom.

I added stars in the middle.  But I used a transparent embossing paste with T.H. stars stencil.

Then I saw this stamp sitting on my desk.  I love this delicate little stamp!  I colored it with the distress markers.  And you can see them amongst the "weeds."  

So now it is time to put the elements on.  Yay!  I used glossy accents to adhere the clouds.  I used pop dots to support the balloon and glossy accents where it touched the clouds.

I printed out my picture and glued it into the frame using glossy accents.  I trimmed off the over hang.

These are Alpha Tiles by Tim Holtz.  You can see the delicate flowers in the background.

Here is on last picture.  Remember the stars?

To hang this I hot glued 2 soda tabs to the back.  And this is a fancy yarn from my stash that I knotted a couple of times on each side.

Thank you for stopping by today!  Check us out on Pinterest and Facebook as well!

Supply List:  Unique Wood Designs Pieces, gloss gel medium (or preferred adhesive, gesso, Tim Holtz Distress Paints: picket fence, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, salty ocean, broken china, chipped sapphire, crushed olive, walnut stain, Twinkling H2O's Emerald, Perfect Pearls Perfect Gold, Martha Stewart White Texture, Tim Holtz Stencils: stars, bubble, dot fade, stripes, Ranger sponge applicator, Ranger Black Archival Ink, Rubbernecker Best of Times Stamp, Tim Holtz mini grunge Sunshine stamp, Great Impressions Wild Flowers, Wendy Vecchi Transparent Embossing Paste, Distress Markers peeled paint and barn door, Glossy Accents, pop dots, Tim Holtz Alpha Tiles

Decorative ATC Cards

Hello ULD fans, Michelle here with a project that can be tweaked to anyone's style or decor.  I had a blast playing with these laser cut Artist Trading Cards from Unique Laser Designs, the possibilities of what you can create with these are endless.

 

The blank ATC's come in a set of 4.

 

Here's my set of 4 finished ATC's.  I got to play with some fun new products this weekend at a crop and this is what I ended up with.  

 

To get this look I started by spraying the ATC's with Dylusion's ink spray.  These ink sprays give vibrant colors and great coverage and worked great on the ULD product.

 

After the spray dried and used two different paint colors to add another layer of interest.

 

Next I added some texture using a product called Ferro, by Viva, it's the chunky gold stuff that I smeared over a stencil to get this look.

 

Then I used a different stencil and a pigment marker to add some interest on top of the gold Ferro.  Then I fussy cut the flowers from a wide piece of lace I had.  

 

I think the best part is that you can do what ever you want with these ATC's.  I love how they look placed in a square like this for a wall hanging.

Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some ART with ULD

HeyHeyHey....it's Debbie @ StudioBeeCreations

with another posty  using some of my most awesome collections from 

Unique Laser Designs

I have always been a sewer...loveloveloved making doll clothes from bits'n pieces given to me by my "Nana" who was a world traveller...then as a student in high school home ec..had to make a dress....Calico with a zipper!!...So, when I saw the dress forms from ULD, I knew I had to have it!

Stamp set from RedLead....painting inspiration from Stephanie Ackerman.{ I recently took an art class with her...OMG...gelli printing on deli paper!...whooot!}..I created this 8x8 "repurposed"canvas....#usewhatyouhave
.

I made the skirt with a piece of vintage feedsack & trim from my stash.

...and doodled all over....and over.

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....and here are my ULD Artist Trading Cards.....

again using some RedLead rubber stamps....some 

ULD Birdie cut-outs and swirley-do's{for real...my go to for all my projects!}

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LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 

Unique Laser Designs

See you next time!

debbie/StudioBeeCreations