Hello!

I have another trio of artist trading cards to share this week that all use the clever Craftyboard Overlays which are the perfect way to add some dimension to your artwork. 

The atcs all use different techniques so I'll share how I created each one if you'd like to read on. None of them are difficult and they're the perfect small piece of artwork to try out something new.

I couldn't resist a steampunk themed one when I saw the fabulous cog Overlay so I turned Lynne's gorgeous silhouette bird mechanical to fit in with it.

The background was a scrap of paper from my stash which had been coloured with a mix of diluted Multi Surface Paints using Bronze, Grey and Antique Gold. 

I added texture to the Craftyboard Overlay with Sand Texture Paste then coloured it by dabbing on Bronze, Antique Gold and Silver and Patina paints until I was happy with the effect. I coloured an mdf cog using the same method.

I stamped the bird with black ink and cut him out, assembling my atc by gluing all the bits together and adding a metal cog and my chosen text.

This one has a background of a piece of my ever useful pile of ink spray mop ups and I wanted a strong contrast so I painted the circles overlay with black gesso and then Black Satin ink.

In order to get the images to fit in the circles in case you're wondering how I did it, there's a new Dinky stencil which is a perfect match to the overlay so all I did was pop this on the background and then stamped a few images from Lynne's new stamp sets in the holes with black ink. I added some scribbled words in red ink to others.

I glued the black overlay on top and finished off with text stamped on another scrap of inky mop up.

The background here is a crackled one which I created by painting the atc first with Purple Multi Surface Paint. I then added a coat of Crackle Glaze and left it to go tacky. Once it was ready, I brushed on several shades of Multi Surface Paint using Evergreen, Magenta and Teal. I managed to achieve some lovely big cracks too.

I painted the Craftyboard Overlay with Purple paint and added a coat of Violet Satin ink on top. I glued this in place and finished off with a Craftyboard inchie painted lavender and stamped with purple ink and text stamped with the same ink on a scrap of ink spray mop up.

Metal Cog

Have a great weekend and see you next week.