Dimensional ATCs - RubberMoon Stamps & Imagine Crafts, Cross Promotion

IMAGINE Crafts and RubberMoon Art Stamps are excited to share with you the amazing projects that our design teams have created to kick off the Holiday Season! Over the next few days, we'll be sharing with you inspiration and techniques using IMAGINE Crafts' line of ink products featuring rubber stamps from RubberMoon. Be sure to visit the IMAGINE Crafts and RubberMoon blogs daily for more projects and ideas!

"Dimensional ATCs"

by Martice Smith II

Hello friends! This is Martice, sharing two examples of how to add a simple dimensional effect to your artist trading cards (ATCs). Let's get started!

For my examples, I used Bristol ATCs, measuring 2.5" x 3.5" and 2" x 2" art square from Inchie Arts, LLC.

No need to prime or prep the surface of these cards...Just jump right in and create!

Artist Trading Cards and Twinchies from Inchie Arts

For the first Dimensional ATC, I chose these stamps:

Large Fern
Frida
Kae Pea - Wings

This ATC was created with a layer of paper, matboard, plastic and stamped images.

"Watch me GROW" Dimensional ATC

* Starting with an artist trading card (ATC), I lightly dabbed the surface and sides with Memento Luxe ink pad in Bahama Blue.

* Next, I mixed chartruese green and phathalo blue to create a subtle ombre effect. I used a sponge dabber to apply the mixture of paint onto the Large Fern stamp.

* I stamped the Frida stamp onto white paper, colored with Prismacolor colored pencils, added some doodling with a white ink pen and cut out the image with an craft knife. She's attached to a 2" x 2" art square, sprayed with irRESISTible Colored Texture Sprays: Electric Yellow (Neon).

* In the bottom corners, I used a Chinese metal stamp that reads "Growth".

(Each layer was added with foam dots, to give dimensionality.)

I love the look of the butterfly wings! It was a little experiment for me - I was trying out different inkpads to see which one worked the best on the surface of the Vertigo Sheets (from Imagine Crafts). I decided to go with VersaFine in Onyx Black. After a few minutes, the ink started to "bleed" and darken, so, I quickly sprayed it with varnish. (The wings' edges were painted in liquid gold leaf.)



For the second Dimensional ATC, I used these stamps:

Dogwood Blossoms, top
Alphabet, bottom

 and my very own, homemade washi tape!

Homemade washi tape, made from masking tape

* I blotted the Alphabet stamp in irRESISTible Colored Texture Sprays: Lady Bug (red) and stamped it onto the ATC, flipped the stamp upside down and stamped in another area- just to give it some character and visual interest.

* Next, I added a strip of washi tape near the bottom, a few sprays of Shimmer in silver and sparkle, and a light splattering of black gesso in select areas.  

* I stamped Dogwood Blossoms on a scrap piece of gessoed phone book paper and applied two foam dots to adhere. Look at this sassy ATC!

detail of "Blossoming" ATC

I just love how my homemade washi tape holds up!
If you look closely, you can see that some of the letters appear to have a red drop shadow. This simple illusion was created by slightly offsetting the washi tape over the stamped area (in red).

The finished ATC looks like this:

"Blossoming" ATC

 
I hope you've enjoyed these two examples!
Peace to you and happy creating!

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Supplies:
Bristol Vellum surface, ATC (2.5" x 3.5")
2" x 2" Art Square from Inchie Arts, LLC.
irRESISTible Colored Texture Sprays: Lady Bug and Electric Yellow (Neon); Imagine Crafts
Memento Luxe inkpad: Bahama Blue
VersaFine Pigment inkpad: Onyx Black
Black gesso

Vertigo Sheet from Imagine Crafts
Metal Chinese Stamps
Sheer Shimmer Spritz - Silver and Sparkle
Foam dots - small

RubberMoon stamps:
kp5025 - frida
Large Fern - Art Stamp
Kae Pea - "Wings" - Rubber Art Stamp

ge2234 - dogwood blossoms
rm2594 - rubbermoon alphabet

Rubbermoon: Something to Crow About

I was not quite sure where I was headed with this piece. Initially, I simply started blocking out 2" Twinchie Squares from Inchie Arts using Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons.  Ravens always speak to me, so I pulled a handful of Rubbermoon's infamous black birds (Crow Silhouette, Happy Feet, Squawk, Crow Looking Over Shoulder) and went to Twinchie town.  Each square became home to blackbird using Staz On Jet Black ink and clear embossing powder.  The little guy in the lower right hand corner endured a bit of eye block due to the embossing powder, but as in good ephemerical order, I simply added a tiny Swarovski crystal for an eye because, afterall, ravens ARE magic.  And artist Gretchen Ehrsam added her magic touch to most of these blackbirds, so crystal eye is well-deserved!

To continue drawing out color, I pulled out a variety of Distress Inks and applied various shades and color to each square using Rubbermoon's Inksplat stamp.  I stamped splat around each bird.  After, I outlined each bird and a handful of splats in white to mirror the white Gesso frame I planned to add to the top of my acrylics on the 5x5 background canvas panel piece.

The background piece was an interesting challenge.  At first I thought to mirror the colors and texture of the Caran d'Ache I'd use Distress Stains.  Sadly, they did not issue the brightness I'd hoped for.  Next, I tried to spray a variety of ink sprays by Dylusions.  They achieved a deeper richness in color, but still too watery.  Finally, I brought out a handful of acrylic paints and brushed them acorss the canvas using sections of paper towel.  Once these tried, I daubed on white Gesso as frame.

Finally, I offset and adhered my raven birds to the panel and added a wire hanger.  The hanger includes a few twists, wraps and even some beads.  With a quick spray of a sealer, my "Something to Crow About" is ready for the wall!