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Hello, ATC friends. Welcome to a Fun (yet Informative) tour of how to make cards like the ones above. This is a new technique I have recently developed and want to share with you. I am Leah, and this is what we're going to create today:

A fairy damsel! Yes!!!

When creating these cards, I actually use a highly-absorbent semi-transparent ink jet paper that sucks up ink like nobody's business, but each person has to mess around with the supplies that work for them.

For today's introductory lesson, we're just going to use the very most basic of supplies. They include scrap paper, Sharpies, transparency paper (the kind intended for you to draw on), and a glue stick. All stuff that you can acquire at your local Staples/Wal-Mart/Target/whatever:

Okay, so you've got your gear. Now, on the transparency paper, start drawing your person.

Some people like to sketch out a box so they know they won't be exceeding the 2.5" x 3.5" ATC-sized space, but I just sorta doodle then crop later. It's up to you.

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La la la. Draw draw draw.

The next step is to start adding in your layers of paper. The trick to this is to lay the paper down underneath your transparency. You apply glue with your gluestick to the top of the paper and lay down the transparency on top of that, sticking them together.

This way, you can always see what you're doing, where things are going, etc.

You want to put the things in the foreground down first, then lay down the background underneath that afterward -- so we're starting with skin tone.

I've just been ripping, but I know that other people are more exact with such things. I find that part of the glory is when the paper exceeds the border and it all looks quite haphazard and fun.

I rip a piece that I think is about the same size as my girl and lay it down underneath. Then I see that, well, the paper extends around her neck in a weird way, so I start ripping off those chunks. I later will save those chunks and use them to fill in parts where I ripped away too much.

See? Add some hair, too. So fun!

When you've hit the high points, and you think your character is pretty much filled in, it's time to add the background. When I found the right background, I realized something: my character was a faerie! Crap! After apologising profusely to my girl for not realizing her true nature, I added in some wings (pictured) and glued some nice blue paper behind them.

Last but never least, gluing the background thoroughly is one of the most important parts of this process. You must attack it with the glue stick. Show no remorse. The background is the part that pretty much seals all of the other parts in (even though you glue each part individually, as well). It's that important extra bit of reinforcement that keeps the card together.

Now that you've glued on the background (with feeling!), take a moment to gaze upon your finished creation.

You might remember from the beginning that there were many Sharpies pictured. They exist to help tie your piece together. Right now, this collage/illustration looks a lot like a line drawing with some crap thrown behind it (which, admittedly, it is). Adding in more texture, detail, shading, and line will help round it out.

See what a difference it makes? You can also add embellishments, glitter, beads -- whatever you want.

Now your card is ready to be cropped and swapped!

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Have a wonderful day!