• Click HERE if you don't know what ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are and want to know more.

The theme of this ATC swap was "the men in your life" or a masculine creation. I have to admit I had a lot of trouble with this swap and only figured out what I was going to create three days before I had to post them off! In the end it was the Masculine card that we made in the September workshops that inspired my ATC swap...

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree (wood: 116388). Card/Paper: Old Olive (106576), Cajun Craze (121683), Very Vanilla (106550), Watercolour Paper (105019), Medium Window Sheet (114232). Ink: Old Olive (102277), Jet Black Stazon (101406). Accessories: Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker (100079), Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker (100071), Black Brads (Neutrals: 119736). Tools: Aqua Painter (103954), Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049), 1/2" Circle Punch (119869), 3/4" Circle Punch (119873), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430).

I wanted this ATC to be a tribute to the men in my life... my son, husband, father-in-law, dad, poppa and grandad. Sort-of like a family tree.

To create this swap I inked up the Oak Tree from the Lovely As A Tree stamp set using Old Olive and Chocolate Chip markers. I then stamped it onto watercolour paper and, using an Aqua Painter, I washed the colour so the tree was "coloured in". Once it was dry, I overlaid the watercolour paper with a piece of window sheet and stamped the tree again using Jet Black Stazon and a Stamp-a-ma-jig. A couple of black brads, a tree-scape stamped in Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Cajun Craze card stock, and photos to finish.

And here are all the wonderful ATC swaps...