ATC: 4 Elements

Recently I've hosted a 4 part series of ATC swaps on the 4 Elements - Earth, Wind, Water, & Fire. I thought I'd share some of the ATC's that I made for this swap. In case you do not know what ATC's are, they are Artist Trading Cards. ATC's have been around a really long time. In fact, they are credited as the first Business Cards. Back in the 1800's artists would give out small samples of their work with their contact information on the back, in the hopes of employment. It became somewhat popular in the craft world in 1997 in Switzerland and even more so now-a-days all over the world. ATC's have only one requirement, and that is their measurement must be 2-1/2 x 3-1/2". Other than that, anything goes.

The first ATC in my series was Earth. Earth makes me think of dirt and metal, so that was my inspiration for this ATC. First I tore out the "earth" page from an old dictionary, which is designated for crafting purposes. I crumpled up the paper and distressed the creases with ink. Next, I  used a die to cut out the gears. Sorry, I can't remember the brand of the die, it wasn't a popular brand. I got it from a local specialty store called "A Small Cleverness". I cut the gears out from the die, and placed each pieces where I wanted them. The center of the gears are some stickers I found at JoAnn's. Then I used some epoxy alphabet stickers to spell out "earth".  Last, I used some Walnut Distress Paint and "muddied" up the edges.

The Second in the series was Wind, but I completely and totally forgot to take a picture of that ATC. :(

The third was Water. First, I sponged watercolor paper with some Pool Party and Bermuda Bay ink. Then I stamped one of the images from the Water Effects 2 set by Designs by Ryn, using Pacific Point ink. I used a White Jelly Roll pen to accentuate the lighting. And last, I used Crystal Effects to give it the wet look. 

The last in the series was Fire. I am in no way trained in the art of drawing! I had to do some research on how to draw flames before even attempting to draw this. Either way, I'm rather pleased at how this turned out. After drawing the flames on watercolor paper with pencil, I outlined using my Copic Multi-liner. Then I colored in the flames using my copics R27, YR04, Y13, and I can't remember the lightest color. Last, I went over the flames with Crystal Effects. I'm addicted to this stuff!!! I should have used some