Pockets On The Beach With A Depth Of Distress. . . .

Strange title I know but all will become clear - I hope!

This week the challenge at Sunday Stampers is to show some pockets. I had a few ideas for this but one I really favoured was to use a pocket off an old pair of jeans. Whilst catching up with my blogging I saw a gorgeous piece based on the same idea so felt I couldn't do the same - don't want to be thought of as a copy cat (my husband already thinks I'm a mad cat woman so I suppose if the cap fits. . . . !). My next idea was the obvious one of putting a pocket on a project, but what to put in it?

Luckily I then saw that Artful Times had a new challenge with a seaside theme and it was just what I needed to help decide what to put in my pockets!

I recently made ATC's for the first time ever so thought I'd do some more of those. I find them quite challenging because they are so small but I think I may have the bug!

I love the beach - not sitting sunbathing (which I hate) but walking along them in all weathers. I was born near the sea and I think it's remained in my blood ever since. When I lived in Wales I was less than 10 minutes walk from the beach and I miss it so very much. My goal is to move back to a coastal town or village one day.

The challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp And Show is to show depths of distress. The natural move for me would be to reach for the distress ink pads - which I did of course! - but all these themes reminded me of my sadness when I left the beautiful coastal National Park I lived in. One day. . . . . . . . . .

I'm also going to show my work at a dedicated ATC blog called Fun With ATC's to hopefully get some suggestions to put me on the right road for making these gorgeous little pieces - what is it about small things? They're like magnets to me!! The challenge asks you to show stamping on your ATC's.

At Try It On A Tuesday the challenge is for anything goes so I will link up there with this piece too. I always like an open challenge - no panic as to whether you've hit the required mark or not!

I based my project on the colours of the beach and the sea, some of them can only be found in more exotic waters than our own though!!  Here's my entry for all these challenges:

The various elements used to make the ATC pouch and ATC's. The letters for the front don't appear here as they were a later addition - I thought the front looked unfinished before they were added.

The front of the ATC pouch with a thick jute string tie. The background card was coloured using a combination of Distress Inks, Dylusion Sprays and gold shimmer spray. I love the way the mica appeared to react with the dyes - a bit like putting salt on wet watercolours. The letters were die cut from some scrap backing card and covered with glossy accents (I HAVE to get it in somewhere!). All edges were inked with walnut distress ink.

The first ATC was put on the front. The background used distress inks & gold shimmer - love the 'cloud' effect which appeared after adding shimmer spray. The images were stamped in coffee archival ink. Edges inked with walnut (now more favourite than victorian velvet!).

The open pouch showing two 'pockets' to hold the ATC's. Backing cards were all coloured as previously described. The stamped 'waves' were highlighted with a white pen. The beach words were stamped with coffee archival ink. Jute string was added to hide the fold in the centre.

This stamped image was added because it reminded me of a spiral shell and all the words are beach related.

Both ATC's have inked backgrounds. Stamping has been done using a various archival and versa colours . The 'waves' on the right have been embossed with pure white powder to imitate foam on the waves - the stamp was free with Craft Stamper. The ATC on the left has water bubbles stamped in 'versa color'. The words were stamped with versa color and some  were randomly embossed with clear powder to make them stand out more. The beach huts and the paddling lady are made from shrink plastic.

Close up to showing the shrink plastic lady. She was stamped with stazon and coloured with pencils prior to being shrunk. A hole was punched before she went in the oven so a jute thread could be tied on. The beach huts were produced the same way.

The original sized lady and shrunk counterpart!

The remaining two ATC's. Backgrounds the same as before. Stamping done with coffee archival. Tickets stamped on kraft card. The lady was coloured with watercolour pencils and a water brush.

Please leave a comment if you wish - any tips are very gratefully received I can assure you!