Red Carpet Studio Challenge #97: Field of Dreams

"If you build it, he will come."

The newest challenge over at Red Carpet Studios revolves around one of my favorite movies:

Field of Dreams!

The Challenge: Create your own background.

I'm always trying to create my own backgrounds. It's one of my favorite things to do. (But most times, I just gotta use up the paper stash, ya know?!) So I decided to share a little ATC that I made for a swap.
ATC is short for Artist Trading Card. An ATC is a standard size (2.5" X 3.5") and they are traded among like-minded souls. (I mostly trade mine with Letterboxing folks and they require a hand-carved stamp image to be featured on the card.) 

So here's the background I created before I added the images.

The background is created from Dylusions Ink spray in Cut Grass, Fresh Lime, and Polished Jade. I tore a couple pages out of a Dylusions journal and laid down all the green colors. Then, I cut the paper down to my ATC size. Once cut, I stenciled over the top with London Blue and White Linen to add a secondary layer. (I did the stenciling after I cut the cards so I could be sure that each card would have some stencil on it.) The cards do warp with that much spray but I planned on attaching them to another layer of cardstock to hide the messy inky backside.


Dylusional ATC:   The theme of our swap was to make a card in Dyan Reaveley's style. Her style is quite distinctive with bright colored backgrounds, significant doodling, and a touch of snarky remarks. Our swap group was directed to use some of her products but to carve our own stamp as a focal image.

Soooo, I carved a toadstool. (A mushroom, I suppose, but Dyan calls them toadstools and I have no objections.) I also used a smaller rubber stamp that I carved a couple years ago. Here they are on the card before completion:

I stamped the image onto book paper with Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger). (This is my permanent black ink of choice for paper!) I colored in the tops with Distress Markers. (I could have colored them in with more Dylusions ink but those were two floors down and the markers were within reach!) I mainly used the bright colors of Distress from the Seasonal line and tried to focus on warmer colors to contrast against my green background. I cut these all out to attach to the cards with a tape runner. I used tape here because a liquid glue will reactivate the ink beneath and if it oozes out the sides, it can lift the ink around the image.

So here's the ATC all completed:

 I added the doodled border around the outer edge with a black ultra-fine tipped Sharpie and a white Uniball Signo pen. I taped down the words to finish it off. (I would have liked to come up with something truly snarky but it also needed to fit into my small space! I find this amusing anyway.) 

I'm a big Dyan Reaveley fan and I had a smashing time making up these little ATCs. If you like them, you'll love her work so please check her out and get inspired."Go the distance."
And don't forget to share any projects you make over at Red Carpet Studios! It's the first challenge of April so you've got lots of time to make something! (Challenges for the whole month don't end until May 7th!) I'd love to see all your cool projects, snarky or not!
--Wy
"You may not have lost all your marbles but there's definitely a hole in the bag."  ---One of Dyan's stamps from Laugh till you Leak set.