ATC cards and collage

There is a particular joy unique to creating art and I am a complete junkie! I have this crazy craving all the time and when I have a chance to feed the hunger, I'm super greedy about it because the high I get from making something that I think is beautiful is incredible (and somewhat rare). I generate a lot of art whether it be scrapbooking, jewelry, drawings or altered items, and a percentage feel like a disaster, a percentage of them feel "OK" to me, and some even feel "pretty good." But every so often, I exceed my own expectations and I feel talented, capable and even gifted. Ironically, many of these projects are not as appealing to others which goes to show how subjective art can be. At any rate, I had one of those experiences last night (the second time in a month - Yea!!!)We are in the midst of a heat wave in the SF Bay Area and we do not have central air so our house was HOT (and still is). The kids were fussy, Tim was exhausted and I had a very short fuse. I had cleaned the house and the backyard, done a heap of laundry, cooked and cleaned up dinner but I was determined to finish my ATC cards for the UGRA swap. This project had been a little stressful because I felt I had to do something amazing to keep up with the accomplished artists in the group. My first set (we were to create 2 sets of 8) were not all what I hoped for so I had been avoiding working on the second set. I guess the sun and the moon were aligned because some how the design came alive and I am so delighted with the end result.

I'm very new to collage so this was a total stretch for me. Here is how I did it:

The standard size for ATC cards is 3 1/2" x 2 1/2". I used acrylic paper as my foundation. I stained the cards with a mixture of water and ginger alcohol ink by mixing the two (3/4 ink, 1/4 water) in a mister and spraying my craft mat. I dabbed up the puddle with the ATC card and then set it aside to dry.

Then I selected the images I wanted to include in the collage. Here is a list of everything I used and how I prepared it

• I tore up some vintage theater tickets
  
• I cut and inked pieces of a vintage sheet of music and a magazine article.
• I distressed measuring tape ribbon bits with ink and the above spray mixture
  
• I used stickers of vintage postage stamps
• I cut up several sheets of "Graphic 45" scrapbook paper - the Times Nouveau collection - which provided me with the women I used as the focal point, the shoe images and the crossword puzzles
• I used pieces of K and Co. paper lace adhesive tape (Saffron collection)
• I stamped and embossed with Hampton Art "Paris Memories", then added color with water color pencils and a water brush and finally cut up the images into smaller pieces
  
• I printed a Tessha Moore Image onto transparencies (1" x 2")

I adhered all of these items accept the women with modge podge. I then went over the collage with more modge podge to keep the corners from curling. Once the collages were dry, I adhered the women using American Craft's foam squares. They tend to be thinner than Zots or 3-D glue dots and I didn't want the focal point to be too separate from the rest of the collage. I really enjoyed making these and feel so good about the end result. I'm flying high today and like a good junkie, I can't wait for more!