Well, I love my dear brother and my sister-in-law very dearly and enjoyed seeing them for a whole month in Cyprus. However, I did miss my friends whilst I was away, especially the ones I have met through artists' forums. So when I got back, I couldn't wait to start joining in on the swaps. These are ATCs which I have done this weekend and are actually for two swaps, which have Victoriana/Victorian themes.

I was really lucky to find some lovely little cameo buttons, which gave me the inspiration for three of ATCs. The profile of the lady is from a rubber stamp, done in black dye-based ink, I chalked the skin tones in and some brown to add highlights to her hair, cut her out and mounted her onto an oval background. I had to work really hard to get the shanks off the buttons in order to stick them down, but I think the effect is worth all the effort. The one in the center of the bottom row, is made from the same rubber stamp, but done with Stazon ink onto shrink plastic. I used an oval template to get the shape. The plastic shrinks to 1/7th the original size and thickens too. I went around the edge with a gold guilding pen to give it the effect of a cameo, matted and layered onto contrasting backgrounds, I was rather pleased with the effect. I hope the recipients like them too.