Out of Commission for a Bit

I haven't posted in weeks, but I have a good excuse. I haven't really been working on anything, and that includes writing. I pinched a nerve in my right shoulder in mid-November. This meant resting it, avoiding activities that involve repetitive motion, downing anti-inflammatory drugs, and getting to know my ice packs and heating pad better than I ever wanted to. As fellow crafters I'm sure you know how that went. I was attempting to do things within days of the initial pain. Yes, I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to slow down and listen to my body when its trying to tell me something. So as a result, I'm still trying to rest and therefore not creating much. Its been like being someone with a major addiction to a substance, who suddenly decides to quit cold-turkey. Oh wait, I am someone addicted to a substance (a substance that includes beads, wire, paper, pens, scissors, glue, and weekly visits to craft supply shops)......

So I decided I'd pop in, leave a message to let everyone know I didn't fall off the face of the earth or become buried in an avalanche of yarn, fabric and beads. I've alive and well, and still trying to force myself to just rest. I am getting caught up on a lot of reading though, so I guess its not all bad.

Hope you all have a lovely holiday season. I'm looking forward to the new year and new projects and techniques to try. And I hope to be able to post about a look back at the crafting resolutions I made at the start of this year, see how I've done, and then make new crafting resolutions for 2008.

Thank you for joining me under the cactus today! Happy Crafting!

Adventures in ATCs

Come and join me under the Cactus!

Today I wanted to share some of my adventures in making ATCs. I discovered these little gems via Swap-Bot. ATC swaps are pretty popular over there, from beginners to the die-hard experts. There are swaps for every level and every theme imaginable! If you've never made an ATC before, but want to, you should check out some of those swaps. They're a little less intimidating than some of the ATC groups online. I'm also a member of a Beginners ATC group on Flickr. Its a great group of people. We share pictures of our ATCs, have discussions about techniques, products, themes, where our ideas come from, etc. If you have questions or need advice, its a place you can feel free to ask, because you know everyone there still remembers being new to the art and they won't criticize you or put you down.

Now, I mostly use a collage technique for my ATCs. I haven't really ventured into paints or drawings much, yet. But I'd like to do more of that.

So now you may be asking your computer screen "Just what is an ATC?" Excellent question. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card. And no, its not a card with a picture of an artist on the front and a list of their galleries and training on the back. Although, I supposed you could do that if you were so inclined. Basically, an ATC is a miniature piece of art that showcases the artist's work. ATCs have one rule, they must be 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, about the size of a playing card or your average sports trading card. Other than the size rule, pretty much anything goes. You can use any media that strikes your fancy. Most people as a rule will use a card stock base (or a playing card), to give it some structure. Beyond that, you never know what you might find. Many artists do use more traditional methods such as paint or pen/ink drawings. But you'll also see collage and scrapbooking-like techniques, wire, beads, polymer clay, fabric/felt/fibers, paper, metal, plastic, recycled materials, leather, etc. The choice is yours, whatever inspires you.
If you want to find out more about ATCs and see some really wonderful work, check out the links below:
Art in Your Pocket
ATCards.com (The Artist Trading Card Forums)
Artist Trading Cards
ATCs on Wikipedia
ATC Beginners Flickr Group
Art Junction
Stampington



"Show and Tell" time.

I'm going to share some pictures of some ATCs I've made that I'm rather proud of. I'm still pretty green at this, so they're less than perfect, but that's part of the process right?

This first shot is one of my most recent projects. The Flickr group I'm part of has monthly themed swaps that members can participate in if they want to. This last one that I joined in on was to make ATCs with a Cake or Cupcake theme to it. Oddly enough, most of us went with Cupcakes. I don't know why, but I just find that very interesting, it says something about us. Not sure what exactly, but something.

Anywho, here are my cupcake ATCs that I sent to my partner:

One is a lemon cupcake (my partner's username has to do with lemons, I couldn't resist), and the other is a cherry cupcake. The lemon one is done all with paper (and glitter glue) and the cherry one is a paper background but the cupcake itself is made from felt and decorated with beads (for the sprinkles) and a button (to be a cherry).

And these were my clock ATCs:

One of My Cross-Stitch ATCs (this was for a partner who loves tea, its shaped like a tea-bag):

These were for a Myriorama Swap. Basically, we all had a template that we used. Then we could kind of do our own thing, but the fun part is that all the sets you received would then be able to be laid out together to create an endless, never-ending, constantly changing landscape. It was a fun challenge to make. I went with a Candy Land theme for the first set, a desert landscape for the second set (I took liberties and didn't match the colors of the template, but my lines still lined up...), and puppies in the park theme for the third set.

I used colored pencil on cardstock to create all three sets.

One of my favorites was the Dog ATCs (and I received some cute ones from my partners, but I didn't take pictures of them yet):


My main theme was "Don't Shop, Adopt!"

One of my earliest ATC attempts (and I think it may have actually been my very first) was for a swap with a Shapes Theme. This first one was for Circles, and I love the Neapolitan one:

And this one was fun, I gave it the title of "Gumballs"

And last but not least, my attempts at Polymer Clay ATCS:

Do you make ATCs and want to share your work? Know of more great sites to see or learn about ATCs? Leave me a comment with your blog, Flickr site, or website and I'll stop by!

Well, that just about wraps things up for this post. I have a pile of 2.5"x3.5" base cards just calling for me to create with them. And who am I to ignore a call like that?! If you want to see some of my other feeble attempts with ATCs, check out my Flickr Swaps Set.

Thanks for joining me under the cactus today! Happy Crafting!

Keep Watching This Blog!

I'm in the process of writing up two new posts but they're not quite ready yet. Still gathering pictures of everything and a list of links. But before the end of this month I will have put up a post about ATCs (and my sorry attempts) as well as a post about knitting (since its a craft that is taking over the world these days). So keep your eyes peeled (just don't get too close to the cactus though, spines in the eye are not a fun thing) and soon those two posts will be up. Really, I'm serious, they will. No, I'm not pulling your leg, I will post both of those this month. Honest.

Welcome to Crafting Under a Cactus!

Welcome friends!

I decided to start this blog as an offshoot of my Beaded Desert blog. I've been diving into other crafty lands in addition to beading, and I wanted a place to talk about that and showcase my handiwork. But Beaded Desert is about beadwork and jewelry making. I didn't want to clutter it with ATCs and knitting attempts. I also wanted to have only beading links there. So I decided to start a second blog just for my general crafting, and a place to put all my craft site links that really have nothing to do with beading.

On this blog I'll be talking about my adventures in crafting. I'm learning to knit and crochet, and to sew. I'm looking into needle felting. I've been dabbling in making ATCs and other forms of altered art. I'm also exploring other paper crafts like bookmarks and notecards. I'm not a very good scrapbooker, so you won't be seeing any of that though. All of those adventures I will share with you here, on this wonderful new blog. So keep checking back and join me for all the fun.

You can view some of my crafty work on my Flickr page:
Beaded Desert's Photos

I have three sets, Swaps (which is mostly crafts), Beaded Jewelry, and Dog & Cat Jewelry. And I also have shots of the pups and kitties on there, of course.

Thanks for joining me under the cactus today! Happy Crafting!