Mixed Media ATCs with Tin Teddy Inchie Photo Faces – Tutorial

I thought I would make a set of little ATCs (artist trading cards) using the Tin Teddy Photo Faces 1″ Circles collage sheet.

I created these collage sheets so I had a supply of little faces for mixed media and collage projects.

I have got a new non-stick, heat proof craft mat, which is what I am working on here.

I picked three papers from the Kaisercraft “In the Attic” 6.5″ x 6.5″ paper pad. I then cut a 3.5 x 2.5 inch rectangle from each page for the background.

I cut three pretty faces from the Tin Teddy Photo Faces collage sheet (I used the one without the black borders). I added a little extra blusher to the girls’ cheeks with coloured pencil.

Then I cut out three basic body shapes from the same paper pages. I went for a very simple “long dome” for these cards. I love trying different body shapes on my little mixed media people.

Then I laid the faces on the paper and drew simple hair shapes with a pencil. I cut them out and erased any pencil lines. I enjoyed giving the girls some rather dramatic hair cuts.

I used a thin strip of pale pink paper and cut it into three for the necks. Here I have laid the girls out so I can see how things are coming along – they are not glued at all yet.

To add a bit more interest to the hair I stamped some small designs on the blonde and red hairdos. I added small bits of the script stamp to areas of the backgrounds too.

Next I took some Crawford & Black copper acrylic paint and brushed it around the edges of the backgrounds. By the time I had done the third one, the first one was dry enough for a second coat! Obviously you can’t see the lovely metallic shimmer on a screen, but in real life it looks very pretty. (please excuse this picture, I take bad pictures with my left hand!)

I put a small blob of black watercolour paint on to my craft mat then mixed it with some Pigment Modelling Paste to make it a soft grey. I used a punchinello (small circles) stencil and added the paste in random blocks to the backgrounds with a small palette knife. I was then not so sure I liked this as much as I had thought I would… I will see if I can’t fix that later on.

Then I glued the girls together and on to their backgrounds using Ranger Multi Medium Matte gel. I then coated all over the card with the matte medium, this will give a sturdy, non-porous surface. I left the cards to dry thoroughly. I managed to get paint on one girl’s face, so swapped for another of the inchies.

I stamped the word “dream” on to white paper with a set of small acrylic letter stamps. You can see that I went for a deliberately “wonky” look!

I daubed some Worn Paper Distress Ink over the words, then cut them out into a “wobbly rectangle”. I added some Peeled Paint Distress Ink around the edge of the word. Then I glued the words to the cards.

I spotted the green ruler on the edge of one of the pieces of Kaisercraft paper, so cut it out and added a bit to each of the cards – covering the ugly grey a bit and improving the over all look (I hope!).

Finally, when the card was dry, I added outlines and shadows using Faber Castell Big Brush Pitt Markers. I added the ink marker to the edges of the bodies then quickly smudged them. I used a similar technique to make the shadowing around the figures and words. Then I used a Uniball Signo white gel pen to add a few highlights and some more outlines.

If you would like to know more about Artist Trading Cards, check out my popular blog post – Introduction To Artist Trading Cards – The Secret of ATCs