The ATC process.......

I've been asked a couple of times recently about how I make ATCs, what the creative process is like. Plus I've had a couple of "where do you get your ideas?" questions...... so..... I thought I'd take some photos whilst I made an ATC, so you can see the sort of thing I do.

Sometimes I have a particular theme in mind, but whether I do or not, I usually start with choosing a stamp and deciding on a background.

No surprise here, new stamp- gotta be done! I've been coveting some Stampotique monsters for a while, they were finally back in stock last week, woohoo!

 Sometimes I make a background there and then, other times I use a premade one- I've always got a stock- this one was made with Dylusions spray inks.

Image stamped with Memento and coloured with Flexmarkers- I'm going blue/green/grey to co ordinate with the background. Then some cutting out- I always seem to be cutting out! 

Hee hee, he makes me smile :D 

I need another element, so I stamp out the Shrooms stamp onto a book page- I use book pages A LOT. I tend to use a cheapo copy of my favourite book ever- Pride & Prejudice. I know some people have a problem with cutting books up. I don't. I own lots of copies of this book (seriously, I looove it), this one was in a charity shop, cost me 10p and is being loved and used to make art. I think Jane Austen would be proud- an argument for another day perhaps. 

A benefit of using  a book I love and know well is that I often spot useful little quotes or phrases- today it's this one....

Perfect for my handsome monster. Now for some arranging of the elements onto the background.

Hmmmm, I'm not feeling it. Don't like the mushrooms growing out of his side, and I'm pretty sure I'm casing something I saw in Craft Stamper..... Right. Nothing's stuck down yet, so let's change it up. 

Starting with a new background. From the same batch, but different nonetheless.

Let's see if he fits onto the ATC this way....yes, he does. Still not happy with the background, so I stamp some abstract foliage with blue Memento, stamping it 3 times with out reinking so it sorta fades. I'm happier with this one already :) It needs another element though, and the shrooms aren't doing it for me today.

I've had an idea...... I'll need an alphabet and the edge of that book page I cut up earlier..... A scruffy alphabet- I don't think that monster has neat handwriting.

Yay! Quick, stick it down before I lose a bit of it- that happens A LOT!

Now I could stop right there, it's cute, kinda funny, nice colours, but.........

..... I like to doodle. I mostly use Posca pens, they write over pretty much everything. Trusty black and white, not quite sure what I'll doodle, but to start with the words need outlining. 

I'm not a neat freak doodler, I want it to look obvious that I've doodled. That said, I do use these pens to tidy up dodgy stamping, cover up mistakes and all sorts. The white is particularly good for going round the edge of letters or images to get them to pop out of the background- really useful if you've stamped in a dark ink onto a dark background and your words or images are getting lost.

Doodled, but not quite finished- I want his eyes to pop out, so a blob of Glossy Accents on each one- also fab for fish eyes. Oh and a spot of lime green stickles on the exclamation mark (which is really a letter i upside down).

And........ I'm finished!

I like how his claws come off the ATC slightly at the bottom, and his eyes are really googly and shiny.

.......and that's it. That's how an ATC works out for me. Not quite what I thought I'd make, but you have to go with the flow and see what happens. 

I'm entering my handsome monster into the Play Date Cafe challenge- Avocade, blue mist, grey wool colour scheme.