Mixed Media ATC Shrine & ATC Tutorial

Happy Friday Everyone! Today I have a really fun and quick project to share with you. I have used one of the ATC shrines from Gina's Store, this one is the Swirl ATC Shrine. I have also created an ATC to go inside, and below you will find the tutorial for the background technique I have used to create it.

I really love these shrines, they are so fun to alter, and you can do them in so many different ways, Gina has a great selection of them, which you can find HERE

 I made this Shrine to look like an ATC itself, and on all the sides and back I wanted it to mimic being an ATC. I love working with mixed media so I had a blast making this!

Here is the inside of the ATC Shrine and you can see I have made my ATC as well, and also decorated the inside of the shrine. I love Gina's Doilies and I also used some of the chipboard honeycomb and bees set which I embossed. I also stamped the back of the ATC with a stamp from Stampin' Up.

Here is my tutorial on how I achieved the background effect on the ATC.

First, cut your chipboard to 3 1/2'' x 2 1/2'', and gesso both sides. Get out your clear embossing powder, any brand is fine and your clear embossing ink, I have used Ranger for this tutorial. Choose what stamps you want to use, now you are ready to begin.

Stamp your chosen stamps in the ink and place on the ATC, pressing firmly. Once you have covered your ATC with your stamps and ink, sprinkle your clear embossing powder all over your card.

Your ATC should look something like the bottom left photo, then use your heat gun to melt the embossing powder.

It should now look like the photo on the bottom left. Get out your colored inks, I have used Ranger distress inks for this tutorial.

Using your blending tool or sponge and blend different areas of your ATC with different colors of the inks until you are happy with the end result. I used 4 different colors on mine.

Your ATC should resemble this photo below. Its like magic!

 The clear embossing powder will stay white and your ink colours will blend nicely in the background, its a very cool effect!

 Here is a photo of the unfinished ATC with the background done, and one I did for the ATC Shrine. I love how they turned out. This is a great effect and it looks much harder than it actually is. It is really fun to do, so I hope you will give it a try!

You can add some stencils and mixed media texture paste to the background now and layer on some chipboard and other embellishments to finish off your ATC.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial this month! Thanks for stopping by!

Gina's Designs Items Used

ATC Shrine Swirl

Cardstock Doily Set Intricates

Honeycomb & Bees

Wood Key and Plate

Butterfly & Dragonfly Set

Other Items Used

Americana Paint

Recollections Gold Embossing Powder

Stampendous  Clear, Shabby Pink & Shabby Blue Embossing Powder

Tim Holtz Distress Inks & Metal Sentiment

Shimmerz Texturez Patina

Wild Orchid Craft Flowers

My Minds Eye Paper

Stamps from Inkadinkadoo and Stampin Up