ATC World _ WTA December

I started trading ATCs on this Yahoo group a few years back. It was a fun bunch of artists, but Yahoo mucked with the user interface and at first the new format was horrifying. Well, I decided to give it another try so I could trade with more people. My foray into the group was the WTA (Winner Take All). WTAs are always fun even if you don't win and I had a blast putting together cards for the winners.

Lucie H. was winner A and I sent her this card:

 

The background is from a larger piece of artwork that I re-purposed by cutting it down into random ATC-sized cards. The cat is a stamped image that I colored with black watercolor. I used other stamps (tiny crown, Dream Big banner and the paw prints). I found some scrap jewel embellishments and added it as a sparkly collar for the princess feline:)

Marsha D. was winner B and this is the card I made her:

It's a vintage cabinet card photo that I cropped down to an ATC. I'm an only child so I don't have a lot of insight into family dynamics but I had this stamp set that had the word prompts "I am", "I need" and "I hope". I thought they might reflect how these sisters were possibly feeling in their lives at that time. The oldest is secure in who she is (since she's been around longer than the other two), the middle sister may be wanting for attention or so I hear. I have no proof that all middle children are neglected once the younger child comes along, but it kinda makes sense since attention is redirected as more siblings come on the scene:) The youngest sister is full of hope because she's just starting in life, no huge disappointments yet. Anyway, that was my thinking behind the image. (For all I know these kids are the same age, just different heights!!!)  I don't know why I put the bubbles on their eyes but it helped with giving the card a title, "Keep an Eye on Your Sister".

 As I was making adjustments in Photoshop I tweaked the images using the threshold adjustment and this is what I ended up with...LOVE it :)

Of course, I couldn't stop there so I layered the color photo on top of the b&w and got a fake duo-tone effect.

Then I added another texture layer with cracks on top of the b&w and turned off the color layer to get this effect.

I printed this file out and now I can used it for other artwork. I could even do some image transfers and make new ATCs from the same image. Anyway, I'm pretty excited about it. And I'm assuming Lucie and Marsha are excited too since they get an early Christmas present with all the cards that will be coming their way:) Congratulations!!