WEEK 1: ATC Birthday Party - "ALL THOSE CATS!"

Here I am jumping overboard on the sinking ship of my 50s.

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Hi, Friends......

Welcome to the Week One Challenge of my ATC Birthday Party. Did you just happen onto this post and didn't know I was Actually-That-Crazy to be throwing myself an ATC Birthday Party for my 60th? Well, you might want to check out THIS POST where I have a little explanation about how this came to be.....PLUS a little giveaway!

ATCs?????? What are those??????
Are you unfamiliar with ATCs? Well, I sort of am, too! But I will do my best to explain. Artist Trading Cards...also known as ATCs....are little mini-pieces of art measuring 3-1/2" x 2-1/2". You can read a great explanation of them HERE. 

The main thing is they must be of those dimensions to fit into "baseball card" pocket pages and be relatively flat....no bulky 3D embellishments. Other than that....anything goes on an ATC...they can be as simple or as involved as you want to make them. On the back, the artist's name, date created, and a bit of contact info (blog or email address, etc) is listed. That's it. Easy peasy!!

Rules and Guidelines for my ATC Challenges:
1. Each Monday in February, starting today, I will post an ATC Challenge with a special A-T-C theme that pertains to me and the things I love. Remember:  these challenges are for Artist Trading Cards ONLY.
2. I will have a new link up at the bottom of each weekly post for ATCs using that particular week's special theme.
3. Each challenge will close March 3, 2018 at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time. That means you will have four weeks to play for Week 1...three weeks to play for Week 2, etc.
4. Enter as many times as you wish. Combine with as many other challenges as you wish. No limits except that it must be an ATC. Yay!!!
5. Winners will be drawn randomly from the projects linked up for each challenge and the Blog Badge Giveaway. Five winners total.
6. Open world-wide!!!
7. If you wish.....I would be thrilled if you would like to snail mail me one or more of your ATC entries as a birthday present. This is NOT a requirement to be in the random draw for a prize. Email me if you need my address: jwoolbright at gmail dot com.

Okay.......on to the theme for Week 1....................

***********All Those Cats!!*************

Well, that theme was no surprise, was it?  :)  As you know, I love cats and have a bunch of them.  I tried to take photos of some of them the other day. I have trouble getting decent shots of my cats because they always look away ignore me or else keep trying to mob me to be petted! And they never seem to be in focus, either!! Here's what I came up with.....

Jetta

Othello - 20 lb. baby

<--- Jetta is my most senior kitty (will be 15 this spring) and also my lap kitty since I lost Shy-Cat.  She has a perpetually grouchy expression, but is actually one of our cheeriest kitties!

Caspian - A gentleman kitty

Perdita

Scamper

Marshmallow

Scamper and Marshy are littermates.  They really do look like sister and brother, don't they?

Alexander

Alexander and Marshy are best buds.

Whiskers - girl kitty

Ophelia - boy kitty

A case of mistaken gender identity!  A friend rescued these littermates and we agreed to adopt them.  She told us the B/W was a boy and the striped one was a girl.  So we named them accordingly.  A few weeks later, we discovered the error...but they already knew their names so we kept them as is.  I think my son-in-law is bothered with Ophelia having a girl name and calls him "Phil" instead.  We have changed that to "Fill" because this big boy kitty is soooooo fat!!  :)

Well, that's the cat gallery for today. Not pictured are: Judith, Brian, Mistopheles, Andromeda, Charlotte, Skippyjon, and Huckle.....plus part-time toms: Big Bad Black, Punch, and Siegfried. So that is 16 + 3 part-timers.

Now for the ATC challenge...........

The theme is "All Those Cats", so I would like for you to make an ATC featuring a cat or that is cat-themed. It doesn't absolutely have to have a cat image on it, although I would love it if it does. I realize we are working with a very small canvas here, though, so pawprints and fish skeletons and references to cats all will work, too. :)

I made a few ATCs to share with you.  Some of you may not have made an ATC before.  I have only made 4 before this....but I want to show they can be easy and still be a lot of fun. Others of you will create more elaborate ones than mine (and I very much look forward to seeing them!!) but for beginners, such as myself, quick and simple is absolutely fine. I want this challenge to be accessible to everyone!!!




My first ATC is very simple.  I took a journaling card from the Simple Stories Cat SN@P series and cut it down to size.  Then I glued a fun cat clip onto it with Ranger Matte Medium.  Easy and cute!!  See....anyone can do this!!

 

My second card uses a scrap of leftover DCWV photorealistic cardstock of a snowy scene.  I used one of Ike's wonderful digi freebies from over on her Show Us Your Pussies Challenge blog.  (Thank you , Ike, for sharing with us!!)  I added a Unity sentiment and an extra snowflake.

I don't think this cat is too crazy about the snow!  :)

 

I happen to have an ATC label stamp set from the now-defunct Mark's Finest Papers. I stamped this on the back of each of my Artist Trading Cards. I notice that 2018 is the last of the years that come with this set, so I will have to do something different for the date starting next year.







Next I made a couple of more artsy looking ATCs.




Here's one I made from a piece of my leftover Easter egg dye backgrounds. I stamped three times and heat-embossed a mysterious cat image (from another thrift store set my son found for me!!) and added some shiny glass stars.

My last sample is a concept that I have been wanting to do for ages. You might recall that my hubby is a veterinarian. Several years ago, he brought me home these crazy temporary tattoos that Revolution brand flea control for pets had in their packages. "Cats of the Revolution"....LOL!!

I have been trying to figure out a way to use these on a card, but the reversed image of the tattoo had me stymied. Then I thought of transferring it on to glossy photo paper.  It worked perfectly!!

So I teamed it up with a trio of ruffian alley cats and put them in a grungy urban setting with a brick wall and graffiti. It's hard to tell, but there are some fish skeletons littering the ground at their feet. Love how this quirky ATC turned out!!!
 
How did I do on my ATCs???? Let me know which one you like the best.

Now it is your turn. I hope you are inspired to join in the challenges. Even if you have never made an ATC before, please give it a try. That's what challenges are all about!! :)

Thank you so much for your excitement and enthusiasm.  You are making this crazy old cat lady's 60th birthday so much fun!!  Be sure to be watching next Monday, Feb. 12 for another ATC Challenge with a different A-T-C theme.  Any guesses on what it might be??? 

<3
Janis

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