More ATC fun

This week I am heading off to camp with my grade 8 students. I am in charge of the paper crafting and camp games portion of the trip so I haven't had a lot of time to craft for myself. This weekend however, I managed to get a little bit of time to make 4 new ATC's. I have titled this set Vintage due to all the distressing. I was truely inspired by the colour scheme. I started with a black and cream and decided it needed a brighter colour to jazz it up. I put splashes of red in each one to make it cohesive.

The first one is made with the Tim Holtz unbrella man embossing folder from Sizzix. I used distress ink in Brushed Cordory, Fired Brick, and Aged Mahogany. To finish it off I used a Jesse James button and some rhinestones to make the rain. The saying is from a paper line called Paris Night from my stash.

Dress forms are all the rage right now and I often find myself turning to them for inspiration. I love them. This stamp is from one of the stamp sets I got on sale called Me & my attic-Pretty, as is the star burst on the bottom. The saying is from Art impressions. I cut a red shiny crown with my Mover's and Shaper's dies from Sizzix-mini crown and finished the ATC off with some pearls.

This card was inspired by the Carte Postale from Graphic 45. I just love how chic the papers are. I knew I had to use them on something. I  distressed the edges of the card with Zutter's distress it all tool. It does a great job of tearing up the edges in a second. I inked the edges with Brushed Cordory and Aged Mahogany distress ink and a blender tool. I then stamped the saying from Art impressions and the chandalier from Stampers anonymous Shabby French set in Fired Brick distressed ink and coated it in gold perfect pearls powder.

This last ATC is by far my favourite. I took three coordinating papers and ripped them on an angle, distressed their edges with ink and glued them down. I cut out fabric I got at my local Fabric land with my Vegabond and my Tattered Florals die and glued them together. I finished the flower with a Jesse James flatback button and a gold leave from Petaloo. Its so simple but elegant.

Vagabond review

I have to admit that when I heard about the Sizzix Vagabond Machine I was skeptical. I really didn't think that I would ever find myself purchasing one. I had a Cuttlebug and it worked just fine until I went to do some embossing on thicker material. I also love the Prima flowers but just can't part with my money for a few fabric flowers. I tried to cut material on the Cuttlebug but it just wasn't working. Thus I did more research into the Vagabond machine.

I ended up selling my reliable Cuttlebug to a very nice lady and found a great deal online for the Vagabond machine. I had to wait for 3 weeks but it finally arrived on Friday. I carefully unwrapped it and the first thing that hit me was how gorgeous it was. I didn't even know if I wanted to ruin that nice finish with stickers, although later I decided to deck it out. On the appearance alone it suits my decor of my craftroom much better than the lime green Cuttlebug.

Next was the test drive. I cut, I embossed, I used my other brand name dies, and put it through the works. I have three words for it...I love it! For anyone who has arthritus its a great machine as you only have to push a button. I like how there is a compartment for the cord, and the rails hold the sandwich in place so no more moving once its in the machine. It sits sturdy on my desk and there is no need to hold down the machine, which is a big plus. I have even made my own fabric flowers. No more longing for those Prima ones now that I can make my own.