WOYWW, ATCs & MMM

Good morning to all my lovely bloggy friends!

I hope you are having a lovely sunny morning where you are - we have a bright, crisp, cold morning but luckily no snow so I am very happy!

I had a rather busy week, lots of work at work and I also have done a lot of crafting - I will show everything in a moment but first thing is first! My desk is in such a mess I don't remember it being like that in ages - a real push back situation! Last night I didn't even clean my stamps - ha, ha I was so exhausted from all the crafting I have been doing....I did clean them this morning though......anyway here is my desk have a look.....

turn to the right.....

here is a close up of the mess.....

and look to the left......even more junk then usual.....

and here is the middle.....

So what have I been doing??? Well ever since Sarah from La-De-Dah posted this months My Monthly Mojo I was haunted by ATCs - I have never made one and I really thought I should give it a go....So I started off  by looking at varoius websites with ATCs and I found that they can be so different - some very simple some very elaborate....so how should I start?! I know Sarah always gives a few tips and tricks but I guess your own experience is still the best! The first thing I did was cut a 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inch piece of cardstock - for some reason I thought that would be quite big as inches are bigger then cm - cm are the measurements that live in my head....anyway when I cut it out - my God was that piece of paper small! So now what to put on it - you can't go too crazy with embellishments because there is no room...so I started out with making the background interesting....I colorwashed and crumpled up a piece of paper - also added some perfect perles spray and started off with stamping these birds (Crafty Individuals stamp) cutting them out and adding silk ribbon and gems....

After I made this one I thought well....I can do this - lets make more so I made this one with another Crafty Individuals stamp the beackground using the same method just added a bit of acylic Lumiere paint around the edges....I really like this angel.....

Next I thought I would celebrate Britain - with the Olympic Games coming up and the Queens Jubilee something British is definitly appropriate....I used stamps from a set from Indigo Blu....

Next up Steampunk ......The background is a Stampattack stamp, TH sprockets , the gentelman is from Indigo Blu....

And as last I thought I would go a bit psychedelic....I used alcohol inks on glossy card ...and the word art...

Here is my whole collection.....

I didn't make a chunky one because I couldn't find anything that I could use as a base and to be honest I was just too lazy to make some sort of box myself - maybe next time....I enjoyed making ATCs - the format is interesting and I will be making more - I might even do a swap - actually that is what ATCs are about - trading!

So there that was a long post I hope you have thoughed it out with me if not I hope you at least had a snoop around my very messy desk!

Have a lovely day!

Lots of hugs to all of you,

Cardarian