Maritime ATC Duo - by Claudia

On my last Calico Craft Parts project from two weeks ago (over HERE) I used designer papers from a paper pad that I had almost forgotten about...but I fell in love with it again - so I had to use more of it with another project: a set of ocean themed ATCs this time!

I also had to use some of the wonderful new Coral Wood Shapes and Word Elements on them! The latter are really the perfect little add to finish off any projects, aren't they?

Calico Craft Parts used:

- ATC Mixed Media Dutch Greyboard Blanks - pack of 5
- Word Elements - Apothecary
- Word Elements - Summer & Seaside
- Coral MDF Wood Shape
- Seahorse MDF Wood Shape - Style 4

First I glued the two greyboard ATC blanks to the backs of my chosen designer papers using matte Decou-Page (short hint: if you want to have a specific area of the designer paper's front on your ATC simply hold the paper against the light for a bit of transparency and then place your ATC blanks behind the chosen area).

While the two ATCs were set aside to dry I painted the seahorse and the coral with DecoArt Coral Blush and Alizarin Crimson Americana acrylic paints. 

I dry brushed a bit of each the other colour onto the dry pieces - so the coral got slightly darkened edges and the seahorse a brighter belly, nose and tail. I hope a bit of it shows on the pictures below (we had another thunderstorm approaching while I was crafting and taking pictures so they became quite dark which I only noticed afterwards when I had finished everything off). 

I trimmed off the excess designer paper and sealed the fronts of my ATCs with a thin coat of matte Decou-Page. 

Then I blended the edges of the ATCs with dark brown archival stamping ink and a piece of blending foam. I also scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint here and there with a palette knife. 

The Word Elements were dry brushed with white DecoArt Acrylic Gesso and then given washes of Alizarin Crimson Americana paint and DecoArt media Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide fluid acrylic. 

Once all had dried I added a coat of diluted DecoArt media Burnt Umber Antiquing Cream. Once that had dried I wiped off most of it with a soft damp cloth until I was content with the look. 

The Word Elements, seahorse and coral were glued to the ATCs with matte Decou-Page and some rough cord was attached to the Word Elements' openings and wrapped around the ATCs. 

I added a generous coat of DecoArt Triple Thick to the seahorse and coral and let that air dry. 

To finish off my ATCs I added some self adhesive half pearls. 

Voilá! 

I hope you like my ATC duo!

See you in two weeks!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx