THC: 10 step ATC Challenge #4

You will send one partner one ATC which you will make using the following steps. Some steps require specific TH material to be used and are in bold text so be sure you have them!

You're going to be creating an outdoor scene so grab or make a solid light colored ATC blank from your stash and let's go!

1 Choose a stamp from your stash that has an object found in nature (tree, acorn, animal, leaf, etc) and use any distress oxide ink to stamp the image on to your ATC. If you've chosen something on the ground you'll want to place the image at the bottom of your card, if you've chosen something in the sky you'll want to place the image at the top of your card.

2 Use clear embossing powder to heat emboss over your image created in step #1 and allow to completely cool. (I assume you folks know how to heat emboss but if not please ask!)

3 Choose any distress non-oxide ink that is appropriate for the ground of your scene and either go direct to paper or use a blending tool to ink the bottom 1/3 (rough measurement) of your ATC to create the ground.

4 Choose any distress non-oxide ink that is appropriate for the sky of your scene and either go direct to paper or use a blending tool to ink the top 2/3 (rough measurement) of your ATC to create the sky.

5 Take some time to mist your ATC to move the ink with a paintbrush so that your ground and sky is full colored/blended and your embossed image is now 'set' in the scene with color behind it. Once finished heat set your ATC.

6 Choose any color distress oxide ink which is appropriate for your sky and dab a small amount from the ink pad on your craft mat. Mist the ink with water, load it on your paintbrush, and drag your paintbrush horizontally across the top of the card to add some different color tones and separations. Think sun up/down, stormy day, aurora borealis, etc. Repeat this step with as many colors as you'd like and you should be heating/misting/heating/inking/misting/heating/misting/etc very often to get a cool layered effect. Once finished be sure to do a final heat set your ATC.

7 Cover the 'ground' of your ATC with a scrap piece of paper. Choose any light colored distress oxide ink and dab a small amount from the ink pad on your craft mat. Mist the ink spot with quite a bit of water so you have a good puddle of ink. Load on to a paintbrush that is good for splattering and drop small amounts of the ink on to the sky. Repeat this step with as many colors as you'd like and you should be heating/misting/heating/inking/misting/heating/misting/etc very often to get a cool layered effect. Once finished be sure to do a final heat set your ATC.

8 Cover your 'sky' with a scrap piece of paper. Choose any distress oxide ink that is appropriate for your ground and use any method you'd like to make ground features. Some examples are using a flower, grass or rock stamp, use a stencil with grass, rock or brick shapes, use a paintbrush and very short vertical strokes to create grass or dots to create rock. You can keep using any colors and method you'd like but keeping heating/misting/heating/inking/misting/heating/misting/etc to get the same cool layered effect as the rest of the ATC. Once finished be sure to do a final heat set of your ATC.

9 Use any material and method you'd like to give your embossed image more detail or appropriate color. Note that you can take a baby wipe a gently wipe the color off and away from your image if you want to change its color.

10 Attach a sturdy backing to your ATC which includes at least the ATC title, your username, and date.

NOTE: If you're finished and think that your ATC looks too empty, you didn't spend enough time on steps 6, 7, and 8. The wow of this ATC should be in its background so go back and keep inking/heating/misting/heating/inking/heating/misting until you think it's no longer empty :-)

I hope to host more of these but need to know what TH products everyone owns, so please comment on this thread.

If you have any questions, sending a pm is the quickest way to reach me. I do try to check for comments on my swaps but sometimes I am not timely :-/

If there any issues with your partner following steps please inform @choke before rating down. I think it is common sense that there is always a chance that the steps were misinterpreted so some graciousness should be allowed here.

As always I will angel if you are flaked on but only if you have rated your partner a 1.