Create ATC’s and Bookmarks Using the Gorgeous New Colors of VersaFine Clair

By Amalia Montano

Hello, friends! Amalia here with a project from Imagine. In this video, I’m using the new VersaFine Clair ink colors to create masterboards, which will later be cut into ATCs and a bookmark. VersaFine Clair inks are highly pigmented and provide a perfect stamp impression on the first try. Their vibrant colors are ideal for watercoloring, as they won’t bleed when wet. I’ll also be incorporating stamps, stencils, and stamping foam to bring these ATCs and the bookmark to life.

Skill: Beginner to intermediate
Time: 30 minutes

Products used:

Imagine

• VersaFine Clair New Colors: Portabello, Lilac Bloom, Hawthorn Rose, Baby Pink, Spruce, Bali Blue, Very Peri, Artic, Grass Green, Strawberry, Avocado, and Sand Dune

• Sponge Daubers

Other products used:

Simon Hurley Stamping Foam available at: http://www.brutusmonroe.com/COOL_CAKES_AND_CRAFTS
Discount code to be used at checkout for 10% off: COOL_CAKES_AND_CRAFTS

Photoplay Random Background Builder Stencil: https://shrsl.com/4ox96
Craft Sponges: https://amzn.to/46MtwQV

The stamps I used are no longer available but here are some great ones to try: https://shrsl.com/4oxfk

Inking Techniques to Make Multiple Artist Trading Cards

By LV Handcrafted

Hello friends! This is Linh (or LV Handcrafted on all the socials). In today’s video I’m showing two techniques for creating background panels that you can either cut down or die cut from!  One technique features the ever-so-popular ink “smooshing” and the other features creating monoprinting with a gel plate!  These techniques are fast and easy to make multiples of if you ever need to make the same card en mass. I made a set of 6 Artist Trading Cards (ATC) using one panel for the background and the monoprint for die-cutting.

Skill: Advance

Time: 45 minutes

Supplies Used

Other Products Used

See How to Create a Beautiful Autumn Nature ATC Card Set

by Elina Stromberg

See How to Create a Beautiful Autumn Nature ATC Card Set

Artist Trading Cards aka ATC’s are wonderful little pieces of art. Their small 3.5” x 2.5” size doesn’t require too many materials nor too much time. Using just one single sheet of mixed media or watercolor paper you can create a pile of cards on one go. This set of ATC’s was inspired by the beautiful autumn nature. Bright, bold colors, and wilted garden flowers getting ready for winter. Simple but elegant, and so fun to create!

Skill: Beginner
Time: 1 hour

Directions


Step 1

Apply purple, pink, and orange Memento DewDrops on a white mixed media paper with Jumbo Daubers. Sprinkle water on the inked paper, letting the colors to mix. Let dry or dry with a heat gun.


Step 2

Decorate paper by stamping random text patterns on the paper. Use only one pattern stamp, but two ink colors (orange Memento Tangelo and dark purple VersaFine Clair Fantasia). Cut several cards from the inked and stamped sheet. The standard size of ATC is 2.3” x 3.5”. If you want to mat the cards on a solid color cardstock, trim these foreground cards slightly smaller than ATC. Mix white acrylic paint with water, and sprinkle paint drops on the cards. Let dry.


Step 3

Cut ATC backgrounds from dark red cardstock. Attach card fronts on the backgrounds with two-sided tape. Stamp flower shapes on the cards using black VersaFine Clair. Decorate ATC’s with word stickers that express sentiments such as “friends,” “treasure,” and “inspiration.”

Supplies

Imagine
Other
  • White mixed media paper
  • Cardstock – Dark Red
  • Acrylic paint
  • Stamps – Text stamp (‘Tekst’ by Wycinanka); Flower stem stamps (Artemio)
  • Word stickers
  • Double-sided tape

Use a Stencil Background to Create Artists Trading Cards

by Elina Stromberg

Use a Stencil Background to Create Artists Trading Cards

For me, crafting is my way to unwind and to relax. Sometimes I feel that I need to start crafting, but I don’t necessarily have a specific project in mind. The solution is to create background pages for later use. For making background pages, I take out a few white blank papers, my favorite inks or paints, stencils, and stamps, and I’m good to go. There are no strict rules to follow so I often start with the light colors, move towards the darker shades, and whenever I encounter issues I drop my original idea and jump over to plan B or C. If the result is a total catastrophe I throw away the page and start all over. For me, the end result is not as important as the pleasure the creative process gives me.

Skill: Beginner
Time: 1 hour

Directions


Step 1

On this background page, I started with inking the white paper with a light green color of Memento in New Sprout. I applied the ink directly from the ink pad on the paper, using the Dew Drop ink pad and a soft circular motion. If I had used a larger ink pad I would have used a brayer or a Jumbo Dauber for coloring the page.


Step 2

Then I used a darker green ink color of Memento in Bamboo Leaves and a Sponge Dauber to stencil a pattern on the page. Once finished, I splashed water on the page, letting the water-soluble ink react with the water before drying the page with my heat gun. Love those splash marks!


Step 3

Then I used another stencil and a bit darker green ink and added smaller patterns on the page. Just a hint here and there will do the trick!


Step 4

Adding a hint of both white and black is always a good idea. Those will refresh the page and make the other colors pop. I stamped some black text patterns on the page and added white color with a gel pen. I think it did the trick I was looking for!


Step 4

In the end, I had two almost identical decorated papers. I cut a few ATC card backgrounds and used a piece of the patterned paper for a background for a die-cut card.

I think that the stenciled backgrounds look good on my ATC’s!

Supplies

Imagine

Other

  • Mixed Media Paper – White
  • Cardstock – Green, Yellow, Orange
  • Card base – White
  • Pronty – Leaf Stencils
  • Carabelle Studio – Dots
  • 13Arts – Triangles
  • Heat gun
  • Katzelkraft – Dog stamps
  • Wycinanka – Text pattern stamp
  • Sizzix – Bird stencil, Oval stencil
  • Alcohol markers
  • Glue
  • Double-sided tape
  • Gel pen – White