Mixed Media Stitched Layered Heart ATC

Hello Crafters!

We hope you all had an amazing Holiday time with your family and loved ones!

Zoey’s here today to show you a quick and easy way to add texture to your project without adding too much bulk or too much dimension! The post will be slightly long, so please grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!!

To create this ATC here’s what I used :

Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks by Clearsnap
Ann Butler Designs Faux Quilting Stamps
Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes
Beacon’s Premium Tacky Glue

So let’s see how I created it…
Remember, in this post where I told you I never used  Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks by Clearsnap as watercolor? well… I loved the result so much that I used again on this project!

I added some gesso over an ATC size cardstock and let it air dry.
Meanwhile, I smudged some Crafter’s Ink in the color Tangelo and Sunshine over my acrylic block and I added some water and let it sit for a couple of seconds. Then I grabbed another piece of white cardstock (non gessoed) and I put it over my two colors pressing it with my fingers to make sure the ink soaked into the paper.

 

I lifted the paper and heat set it quickly with my heat gun. I wanted to add a bit of texture to my background, so I grabbed one of 1″ Doily Picnic Faux Quilting stamps by Ann Butler and inked it well using again Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks. Since I didn’t want to have square stamped image, I also took a piece of cloth and cleaned carefully the edge of the stamp.

 

I repeated the same process using the Tangelo color aswell.  And here’s the result :

 

From this background I created I cut off two heart shape. Then I decided to add more texture by adding some more color on the edge of the hearts. I smudged some ink over my Kraft Sheet added a bit of water and just let the shape “slide” into the colors.

 

I let the heart shape air dry and while waiting I grabbed the ATC cardstock that I gessoed at the beginning and again, I smudged some color on the Kraft sheet, added water and with a brush I started coloring my background. I used again Tangelo and Sunshine.

 

Then the background was way too similar to my heart shaped piece of cardstock, so I grabbed another Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks in Bark color and added some brown to the background. I heat set the color then I grabbed a baby wipe and I removed some color from the Gesso. As you can see in the next image, the Gesso acted as resist for my color showing up a really cool (and textured!) background.

 

With the same Bark Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks and the same 1″ Doily Picnic Faux Quilting stamps that I used on the heart shape.  I added some stamping to the background. Please note that I inked the stamp then stamped it two times on a scrap paper — so the stamp you see in the image is actually a 3rd generation stamp. I repeated the process for a couple of times using also the Tangelo and Sunshine ink pads.

 

I didn’t take photo of me decorating the whole ATC , but what I did next was sewing the hearts to the background and add some staples and the ATC sentiment.  Then I thought my ATC was done, when accidentally I saw peeking from the garbage (LOL) a piece of an old cardboard box. Well…I had to take it and I glued it to the ATC!
I used Beacon’s Premium Tacky Glue to make sure the two pieces were going to be glued very well! Then I let it sit for a couple of minutes and…

 

…tada! The ATC is ready! Just a touch of Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes for some shine! Here’s a couple of details…

 

 

 

The sentiment “Christmas Heart” is my wish for you all…that you keep your Christmas Heart all year around!
And that is all for today! I hope you had fun and got inspired…stay happy stay creative, till next time!

Ciao, Zoey