A Vintage Journey December Challenge - ATC's for Christmas and a Fond Farewell!

Brenda, the creator of A Vintage Journey Challenge Blog, has, after much deliberation, decided to close the blog - it seems that people are moving away from blogging to other media and it was felt that the close of 2020 was a good time to say goodbye.

But we are going out with a festive celebration!   

This month we invite you to join our final AVJ challenge which is: A Merry Little Christmas

Celebrate the season by making an ATC (or a set of ATCs) depicting Christmas scenes or colours.  Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Here's my A Merry Little Christmas ATC - A Winter Forest!

Not sure you can see the sparkle on the snowflakes?   I shook Clear Rock Candy Glitter over them when they were still wet and its really sparkly IRL!

I started with a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" panel of watercolor paper.  

The first layer of background is Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray - spritzed lightly as shown below.

I spritzed it lightly with water and then dried it with my heat tool.

Next I laid my mini pine stencil over the panel, leaving some space at the top for my snowfall.  I sponged over the stencil with a finger sponge using Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Ink.

Here's how it looked at this point.

I laid my mini snowflake stencil over the panel - lining the edge up along the top.  I spread white embossing paste just over the top and down the left side - leaving some open area on the right.  Wash your stencil and pallet knife immediately after use.

Before the embossing paste could dry I poured Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter over them and tapped it off.  Then I set the ATC aside to dry.

When the paste was dry - I sponged around the edges with Vintage Distress Ink and added a Metallic Holiday Talk Sticker.

Each Creative Guide has also made a Farewell ATC.

I found this sentiment in a stamp set I purchased when I was doing the Wanderlust Online Classes several years ago.  I had it on my shelf and had never used it -  these words express a lot of my feelings both for this past year and the ending of the AVJ team!    

I believe in: Gratitude, People, Peace, You, Freedom, Love, Beauty, Change, Compassion, Serenity and Friendship!   I couldn't have summed it up better!

To create this ATC - I started with a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of watercolor paper.   I rubbed Speckled Egg and Vintage Photo Distress Inks onto my craft mat in separate spots and spritzed them both with water.

First, I pressed and pounced the panel onto the Speckled Egg Distress Ink.  I dried it with my heat tool.

Then I pressed and pounced the panel into the Vintage Photo Distress Ink and dried it with my heat tool.

Then I went back to the blue pressing into what was left on the mat until I was happy.  I dried it again and then pressed into what was left of the brown on the mat.  I liked how it looked at this point.

Here's the stamp set I used for my sentiment.  I lined it up in my Misti in case the first stamping didn't cover well but luckily it did!

I cut this piece of a larger Paper Doll group to fit in the space beside the sentiment.  I embossed the clothing with Distress Embossing Glazes in Rustic Wilderness, Tattered Rose, Speckled Egg and Fossilized Amber using a Versamark pen to wet the area and embossing only one color at a time.

I added a little wood veneer star to one of the trees on my Merry Little Christmas ATC and sponged the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink

I added Tuxedo Clay Hearts around the sentiment of my Farewell ATC and sponged the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

So please join us in this, our final A Vintage Journey Challenge - you'll find the challenge details and some wonderful ATC inspiration from all the Creative Guides here.

Stamps:  Everything Art EEA03 - PaperArtsy.

Paper:  Water color paper - Canson Cold Press.

Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew, Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, Speckled Egg, Ranger Distress Oxide Speckled Egg, Versamark Marker.

Accessories:  Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray, Ranger Distress Embossing Glaze - Rustic Wilderness, Tattered Rose, Speckled Egg, Fossilized Amber, Mini Stencils Pines and Snowflakes - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, water mister, heat tool, Metallic Stickers Holiday Talk - Idea-ology, wood veneer star - American Crafts, Tuxedo Clay Hearts - Honey Bee Stamps, Paperdolls - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste, pallet knife.