Foxglove's Mixed Media

Hello, all!  Thank you for taking the time to stop by and check out my projects!  Today, I wanted to show some insight in how I made some of my previous artist trading cards (ATCs).  Well, one was "previous" and one was completed today.  These are the cards (and altered puzzle piece) that I will walk through. First off, the newest project.  Since this is a new blog, I'm fairly certain that the recipient of one of the card won't see this yet, so I will go ahead and share. As mentioned, I like to make two of whatever I make.  One for me (usually the 'experiment') and one to trade. In the cards above, I randomly spread Dylusion paints onto the card with my fingers - the paints are so creamy, and blends so easily!  Next, I took some background alphabet and number stamps and stamped with Ranger's Archival Ink. When dry, it's permanent and won't smear if you add wet mediums to the card.  I also dabbed gel paint through a leafy sten...

I first heard about Artist Trading Coins (or circles) from the trading site ATCs For All.  A wonderful crafty artist Craftyhodges first posted about it on her YouTube channel here . She explains it, but for the purposes of this blog, it's a 2.5-inch circle that you art up, exactly like Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I am in the midst of creating some more, so I will eventually share some pictures of the process, but in the meantime, here's a photo of what I submitted to the trading forums. Top Left: I stamped the bird onto Japanese text paper and colored it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. covered paper with a layer of Mod Podge and set it aside to dry.  I then re-stamped the bird onto plain paper so I could mask the bird.  I then stamped the cherry blossoms and colored them in with Faber-Castelle brush markers. I glued it to a cardboard base to give it some thickness (formerly known as a Mt Dew box) and drew sketchy lines around the outer edge. Top Right:  I do...