Easy Art Card Project About Spring
ATCs and ACEOs Depicting the New Season
Themed art cards (otherwise known as ATCs or ACEOs) are very popular for those who enjoy working on a series, or set of cards. Let's embrace the new season!
For many, spring has been in full swing for quite some time. There are others, however, who have been or are still experiencing lingering winter blues (and weather). This mixed media art card project will (hopefully) lift spirits and inspire more creativity as one season heads into the next.
For this mixed media art card project, you will need the following materials:
- ATC blanks (white, neutral, or pastel colors)
- Floral or “spring-like” stickers
- Decorative papers depicting spring themes
- Spring themed collage items
- Heavy-duty glue stick
- Glitter gel pens (or pastel milk gel pens)
- Spring themed brads, or pastel eyelets
- Eyelet punch and setter
- Paper cutter
- Scissors, decorative or straight edged
- Ink pad (purple, pink, or green)
Follow these simple instructions to create these spring themed mixed media art cards:
- Note: If you do not have a template for ATC bases, you can find one on this site: Empress Dragon Arts. For good results, consider using a heavy-weight paper, cardstock, poster board, or foam core to cut the ATC blanks from. Cut as few or as many as you would like using the paper cutter to ensure a straight edge.
- Layer decorative papers and collage materials (cut with straight edge or decorative edge scissors) until the desired look or pattern is achieved using the heavy-duty glue stick. There are no rules to creating these miniature works of art; so let the materials guide you through the process. Do not be afraid to let the materials run off the edge of the card.
- Add the stickers (one or two should fit) over the collage work that has just been created. This will anchor the card and bring the theme to life.
- Hammer in eyelets or add brads to each of the corners of each of the mixed media art cards. This will be a weighty addition, so it might take some muscle to get the holes cut into the card. It is not impossible, though.
- Using the glitter gel pens (or the milk gel pens), write a quotation or a short sentence about spring. You can find nice quotations here: The Quote Garden.
- Trim off the edges so they are clean using a paper cutter or scissors.
- Rub the edges of the cards using the colored inkpad. This is done in the same fashion as rubbing distress ink to the edges of the paper. This will create a subtle color border around the edge of the card.
Do not be afraid to experiment with these mixed-media art cards. Introduce paint techniques, rubber stamped images, color pencil drawings, and more. The idea is to let the season inspire creativity through use of this theme. This can also be carried into themes about holidays falling during spring. Have fun with this!
