A brand new Blog challenge .... HLS ATC Challenge

Happy Saturday .......

I hope you've had a good day.  It's been a busy one for me ...... with a workshop.  We had a full house, with a group of ladies having fun decorating some pretty wooden boxes.  Using paints, shimmer and waxes and lots of embellishments.  More about all that some other time though.

The exciting event of today is ........... (drumroll please) ........ a brand new challenge starting on the Happy Little Stampers Blog!!

It's dedicated to those miniature pieces of artwork known as ATC's and I'm proud to say I'm part of the Design Team!  

ATC's ........ or Artist Trading Cards, are a great way to create miniature pieces of artwork that you can keep and collect yourself or trade/swap them with friends or ATC groups.

The only official rule is, that they have to be a certain size ........ 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.
See .... size does matter!!!

Each month HLS will give you a theme to follow to get you started ..... for the very first challenge the theme is a nice easy one  ..... Flowers 

Here's what I came up with .....

I always like to do sets of ATC's ....... usually in threes but that's just me.  Don't worry, to play along with the challenge you can make as many ATC's as you like.
There's just  a few simple challenge rules to follow .....

• Your entry must be an ATC (Artist Trading Card) ..... and be the correct size
• You must follow the monthly theme
• Provide a link to the HLS Blog in your post
• Link your entry back to your actual ATC post ...... NOT just your blog
• You can enter the challenge as many times as you like .... each entry must be different though
• and Have fun!!

I used the HLS Doodled Flowers to create my ATC's.
The flowers were stamped onto pieces of white card coloured using Distress Oxides and the smooshing technique.  A touch of water splattered over the top gives a nice effect and adds a little more interest, and you can see that I've also added a few ink splatters on there too

I stamped and clear embossed the flowers and then coloured this one using a white gel pen ....

along with my ZIG markers for the leaves

The words on all three ATC's are from JOFY stamp sets ......

A few gold paint splatters add the final touch .....

ATC's are so much fun to make ..... and you might find they become very addictive!!
Are you new to ATC's or have you been making them for ever.  Either way, why not have some fun and play along with this brand new challenge.
As with all the HLS challenges, the winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to spend in the HLS store.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your weekend.
It's time for me to grab a glass of something chilled, put my feet up, and relax.  I think we may just watch some of the television coverage of the TT.
It's all over again for another year ..... the weather held out eventually and the final day saw a full race schedule.  Although the Senior Race had to be red flagged due to an incident on the second lap.  Ian Hutchinson was injured when he came off his bike on the second lap.  It was all a bit tense down at the Grandstand waiting to hear what had happened.
He was reported to be conscious and was airlifted to hospital with a broken leg.   Best wishes for a speedy recovery and hopefully he'll be back next year.
The race was restarted and run over 4 laps, instead of the 6, with Michael Dunlop taking first place.
The fortnight was brought to a close with a spectacular fireworks display over the promenade .... we had a great view from the terrace outside my craft room!

It's going to be a busy week coming up ... hubby and I go across to the UK on Wednesday evening and then, it's the Walmsley family post TT break .... can't wait!  Neither can the kids ...... they've both been working flat all out for the whole fortnight, Lauren working two places most of the time and Chris running the beer tent at the Grandstand.  It's funny ... I still call them kids ...... but they are 27 and 25!!!

Cheerio until next time .......