Artist Feature - KitKat {ATCs}

We would like to kick off our first ever ATC swap by featuring our very own Penang girl - Kitkatz aka Katherine.  Katherine style has always been very artsy and her ATCs are always loaded with techniques.  You can view her work and what materials she has used to make this ATC at her blog. I love her work as she is a very technique based artist.  

I love the embossed butterfly on the first one. Plus Kat has used a very nice foil technique - which I haven't done before too. I believe - she doodled the etching on her foil free hand. The 2nd ATC - loved the transparency - what fun ATCs. Thanks very much for sharing your work with us Kat.

ATCs - an introduction...

ATCs using gesso,  stamps,  foam, vintage pictures and mod podge.

ATCs using patterned paper and melted UTEE. (Using the melting pot)

ATCs using UTEE,  acrylic paint,  stazon inks and stamps.

ATCs using distress inks  and stazon inks

ATCs using fused fibers with UTEE and gold faces made from UTEE

ATCs using alcohol inks and vintage pictures

ATCs are defined by the wikipedia as:

"Artists Trading Cards are individual art miniatures which pass hand to hand.  They are miniatures for self- promotion in many eras and places,  and the current trend is thus part of this larger context.  Historically,  there were few standard rules or guidelines to ATCs and many variances in sizes can be found in older cards.  

Today the only rule for these cards is their 2.5 and 3.5 inch size (64 x 89 mm),  same as baseball cards and collectible card games.  There are however,  certain conventions usually observed by those who make and trade these cards,  such as expectation that they be traded, not sold, and and they created as unique works or small limited editions of prints.  Artists generally sign and date the back,  and may also include a title and contact information.  

Artist Trading Cards are typically made on a base of card stock. However,  ATCs have been created on metal,  stiffened fabric, plastic,  clay,  glass,  balsa wood,  leather,  embroidery canvas,  acetate,  heavy watercolour paper and many other materials.  The art on the cards can be done in any media:  textile arts,  pencil,  watercolour,  acrylic,  oil,  collage,  scratch board,  mixed media,  assemblage,  digital art, calligraphy,  beadwork,  rubber stamps,  carved soft block stamps,  pen and ink,  coloured pencils,  airbrush,  pastels,  and many others - anything artists use."

Hope this information will give you a better picture of what an ATC is.  After my 1st ATC,  I was really hooked.  They are so fun to do and takes up very little resources.  I have swapped ATCs with others whom i have never met and it is great to receive another person's art.  I hae included the photos of the ATCs I have made here - hopefully to garner your interest in them.  Hope you will join in our first ever ATC swap and we can learn more from each other. 

P.S. We would like to encourage international scrappers to join us in this swap too.  We would love to see your inputs on the ATCs too.

T n T - Melting Pot

I have been asked about on how to use the melting pot.  Basically - the melting pot as the name implies - melts stuff.  I most commonly use it for 2 purposes - melting UTEE or wax in my projects.  Although the some claim that you can do more - melt chocolate with it etc. LEt's put it this way - I am not keen to mix my food with my art like that although they recommend using a different project pans with for food purposes.

A very IMPORTANT tip to remember about the melting pot is that DO NOT THROW away the lid.  There are currently 2 types of melting pot circulating in the market - one which is the US version and the other the Australian version.  Please bear in mind that both work the same way - although the US version - you will have to address the voltage issue by buying a votage adapter as the voltage in US is 110 and here in Malaysia its 240 V.

On the Australian version however - the voltage is compatible with our country and one just need to change the plug or just to get a plug to adapt it to our socket.  This is really your preference.

The instructions are simple on the melting pot.  When using UTEE,  just pour the UTEE in,  turn up the thermostat to melting UTEE and cover the lid and wait for the UTEE to melt completely before you lift the cover.  The UTEE may not melt completely or to its desired consistency if you do not cover the lid.  We normally melt UTEE together with Flex which makes the UTEE less brittle.  How much flex to use would depend on how much UTEE you are melting. 

What do you do with the remnant UTEE that has been melted after you have used it?  Just pour out the UTEE when hot onto a non stick surface and wait for it to cool. Just wipe away the remaining UTEE in the melting pot with a kitchen towel. Its that easy - cleaning the pot.

To melt wax,  one would have to use a separate project pan and please remember to set the temperature down so as not to burn the wax. 

Phew - this is one long post and hope you will enjoy your melting pot as I have.  As a last word - when I melt the UTEE - I make sure that I am away from the melting pot as I do not like the smell of the melting UTEE but thats just me.

TnT - Web-like look on your pp

You can create web or net like looks on your paper by simple using a simple piece of mesh or here - we have bought some cheap web-like nylon ribbon.  All you would need to do is to dab distress inks onto the paper through the mesh or ribbon and voila - you have created this unique look onto your paper.  This look can be duplicated using other inks,  acrylic paint etc.  It creates a more textured look to your paper.  

We would also like to encourage scrappers who have techniques to share to email me at chowchow138@gmail.com and we would love to publish your work here.  Hope to hear from you soon.

ATCs -kiddo style

I never realised how closely my daughter observes me when I scrap till yesterday afternoon.  I was playing around with distress inks and she joined me in making ATCs.  I must say she made some very nice ones and I would love to share them with you here.

I personally think that its a spiffy idea for her to make ATCs to swap with her friends.  For me at least - they could channel their energy into making some cards and exchange creative ideas on how to make them.

Clarissa has used the mesh and distress inks to create the web like look onto her ATCs.  I was amused as I saw that she was mixing distress ink colours etc and to my delight - she took out my dabbers and dabbed onto one of the ATCs.  Maybe - we could start a new trend in our schools?  Teaching our kids how to make their own ATCs to trade.  ATCs are strictly traded - never sold and its is great to teach the kids to make their own stuff instead of spending money on all those trading cards.  How about it ladies?

Materials used:

Glossy Paper,  Distress Inks,  Stamps and Stazon Inks

ATC Swap 1 - Free style

Its my pleasure to announce the first activity of this blog.  We would love your participation in swapping ATCs.  The ATC card should measure 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches and you are free to embellish whatever style you want on one side and your name and addresses on the other.  Let's try to get as many Malaysian scrappers as possible to do this and see what we can come up with.

If you are interested, please email me at:

chowchow138@gmail.com

Thanking you in advance for your participation.

Altered Canvas - De Memorias

Made this for the a friend's shop - to a new beginning of her venture and her staying at home being a "tai tai".  I have used the crackle paint on the chipboard as per loaded yesterday and I have also played with with UTEE and MICA tiles in this canvas.  I will upload the techniques on how to achieve the meshed looking UTEE in a while.  This is another fun technique that I bumped into when I was online.  Hence I am sharing it with you.  

Materials used:

UTEE,  Acrylic Paint,  Crackle Paint, Brilliance Inks, Versamagic Ink,  Stazon Ink,  12 by 12 canvas,  Technique Tuesday Circle Chipboard,  Prima Flowers,  fibers from Lincraft (Australia), Making Memories wire Mesh,  Stamps,  Mica,  Scenic Route chipboard alphas and Brenda Walton KnCo rubons.

Scrapbooking Stores in Town

Today I was asked a question,  where are the scrapbooking stores in the Klang Valley.  Well I am naming the few I know of here right now in no particular order:

a)  Physical Stores

i)   Scrappingville at Bangsar Shopping Centre

ii)  Papier at the Curve Shopping Centre

iii) Craft Haven at One- Utama Shopping Centre

b) Online Stores

i)   Scrapping Chix

ii)  Scrapping Glitz

iii) Scrap-n-Crop

Look at that - a whopping number of 6 stores to cater to our every scrapbooking fancy.  Very exciting indeed as there were no stores when I started scrapbooking.  That should give you an idea how ancient I am.  LOL!!!

New Kid on the Block 2 - Scrappingglitz

My dear friend Nadhrah has just started her latest venture - Scrappingglitz.  I think its her excuse to stay home and be a tai tai lah! LOL!!! Sorry Nadhrah - just kidding babes. I wish you all the success and please remember to bring more and more goodies for us to scrap on.

If you are interested in any challenges or online crops running in SG,  please head over to the SG forum.

New Kid on the BLOCK - Scrappingchix

I have received some very exciting news. As proof that scrapbooking is growing in Malaysia,  I am pleased to give you the heads up on another new online shop which will be operational next month owned by a dear friend of mine.

Its called Scrapping Chix.  Congrats in advance to Scrapping Chix and would love to wish you all the best in your ventures.  For more information,  please head over to the Scrapping Chix blog.

ATC cards

I have recently received a ATC card from a guess what - a 3 year old girl called J.  She has drawn this ATC for me and this is oh so precious.  Thanks J for my cute little ATC that you have made. Who says you have to be a certain age to make them. Look at J's - its very artsy and cute.

What are ATC cards?  Well ATC stands for Artists Trading Cards - which are no different to any of the Pokemon or baseball cards that people trade.  ATCs are cards that Artists have come up with to trade amongst themselves.  

There is only one simple requirement to ATCs.  It has to be 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.  The rest if up to your imagination. Some artists use watercolours,  others use acrylic paint on theirs.  I ahve used quite a number of techniques too which I will load to this blog in time.  I do enjoy making these ATCs to swap with my fellow scrapbookers and if you would like to swap - pls send me an email on chowchow138@gmail.com and we can organise an ATC  swap.  

T n T - Crackle Paint on Chipboard

I have played with crackle paint on this Technique Tuesday Chipboard circle.  The following are the way I have played with it.  Hope you like this technique.

Firstly - I have used the crackle paint named Milled Lavender here.  Thereafter I have decided to use the Versamagic Chalk ink to make the crackles look more prominent.  

I then added some brilliance to bring the cracks out.  

I have added some gold brilliance ink at this time and I was still unsatisfied with the results.

As a last step - I have added some Stazon ink.  By now - I was totally satisfied with the results.

Tips for using crackle paint:

1)  The thinner the layer of crackle paint,  the smaller the cracks.

2) The thicker the later - the result would be bigger cracks.

3) I was also told that you could dilute the crackle paint by adding water to it.

Altered Album - Shaz

Made this album for a friend for her birthday.  I have used a Maya Road chipboard album here.  I have tried to use as many techniques as possible to incorporate into this album.  Firstly I have used distress inks onto the cover.  Thereafter I have used the reverse of a KI lace cs to do some dot masking. I love the effect of this.  I have also used the same cs to mask some scallops.

I have then added some crackle paint to the sides so as to add some more texture. Then I took some Tim Holtz Embossing Distress powder to create a slighly sandy effect on the cover and went through the whole album again with the TH black soot distress ink.

I felt that the whole album was very manly at that time.  Hence I decided to add some feminine details like the lace trims to tone that down.  I have also played with the KI lace cs which I added both regular red embossing powder and glossy accents. I heated them up with the heat gun and managed to get some bubbly effect on the cs.  I thought it added a more rustic touch to it.

My friend had bought me some Scraptivate gate diecuts which I added here.  I have also added some gold coins to add character to the album. Lastly I added some Lil Davis alphas and a general rub of the copper Brilliance Ink.

The album inside remained simple.  I have just added pp which I have chosen and just painted the sides with red acrylic paint.  I thought that the red broke the monotony of the album and gives it some character.  Lastly - I journalled using my Dymo.  

Materials used:

Maya Road Chipboard Book,  Scraptivate Gate Diecut,  Lil Davis Alphas,  Gold coins from Chinatown,  Crackle Paint, Laces and trims from local haberdashery (Thanks Kat),  7 gypsies pp,  Flourish pp,  Chatterbox pp,  Distress inks,  Brilliance Inks,  Melissa Frances Trim,  Maya Road Chipboard shapes,  Prima flowers,  Prima brads,  Hambly Transparency,  Basic Grey Rubon,  Prima IOD tapes,  Acrylic Paint,  Tim Holtz embossing Distressing Powder and Dymo tape.   

Altered Album - Clar

This is how I have decorated the album that I did as SK. I just wanted to make a simple album to comfort my 10 year old.  In line with this,  I have only used some girly pastel colours and some felt embellishments which were sent by my friend Kim at a swap and it turned out well. I am pleased to say that I love this very simple album.

Materials used:

Bazzill cardstock,  Francheville ribbons and brads,  7gypsies rubon,  Lace doiley (Thanks Nad),  Prima Say it with Crystals Alphas,  Heidi Swapp Transparent Clock,  Lace Trim from local haberdashery and Dymo journalling tape.

Scrappin Kids - mini album tutorial

I have joined SK's album tutorial last week.  Had fun doing that.  For those who are interested,  head over to Scrappin Kids Forum create this very cute and easy album.