How To Make Easy ATC Backgrounds

The background image here has been created with the use of a web-based tool called Typo Generator. Why not try it for yourself? You can enter a word or phrase and click on go and the software will provide a pattern based on that text. Size and colour of text is fairly random but you can hold either one or more of the background colour / text colour and text pattern, just as if you were playing a one-armed bandit, until you get a combination you like.

This is a collaged ATC I made using a distressed photo and a background generated from The Typo Generator

It is important to consider the copyright of an image you would like to use if you are going to publish it, and that includes posting on the web. Make sure that it is either in the public domain or that you have the copyright owners permission. Even if you are not going to sell the artwork. Some myths are debunked if you follow this link.

There are several places on the web where you can find public domain images or images with artists permission for their use.

One useful place to start is the Flickr collage group . You may need to register but it is free and the site is a great place for sharing and finding images. I have included several examples of backgrounds in the Flickr module, below.

A second place to try is a new community site started by Kim Newberg, Paper Digital Art & Images or PDA. which again you will need to register on to use.

The photograph shown here is one of my own, showing a knot in a park bench - in the right hands this could make a suitable background image for an ATC. An example of an atc using this background is shown here:-

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It was created digitally, using images downloaded from the Flickr collage group mentioned above using a free to download photo editing software - Photoplus.

I have now published a number of free images for use as atc backgrounds on my Flickr photostream . I shall be adding to this fairly regularly. Use them as you see fit, but please respect the copyright of images which do not specifically state they are free to use.

Don't like busy backgrounds? Then I have just the thing...



These are all photographs of tiled floors which have been re-coloured (?) digitally

This first image is a wet-into-wet watercolour, unfortunately the painting did not really work for me. So what better use than to crop and recycle it as a background for an ATC. But nothing stops you painting a background to a required color scheme

Painting with a credit card by Lisa Vollrath is a great way of producing backgrounds for your atc's. This technique, suitable for acrylic paints this time, is to use a palette knife or old credit card to drag the paint across the surface of the paper. This can provide wonderful abstract patterns. The use of 2 or 3 paints is probably best but it is up to you, how many and what colours you use.

Examples are:-


Another option ( as against painting) is to use a stained paper (use coffee, tea, food colouring,etc) layered onto your card. By coincidence, there is a very good tutorial right here on Squidoo if you want to check this technique out. Lots of paper for very little outlay - if you are careful about the mess!

This photo is an ATC background created by collaging scraps and off-cuts and then cropping to ATC size. Let your creative juices flow!

I have created backgrounds from coloured tissue paper in a very similar way from which I created a number of ATC's which are shown on my blog.

examples of collaged backgrounds are given here, these were all 6 x 4 inch in size and collaged with images from magazines ripped up and sorted by colour:-

This is an example of marbled paper made using shaving foam. There are many sites on the internet describing the use of various techniques to create marbled paper, an easy and handy technique is to use shaving foam and vegetable dyes (food coloring) or acrylic inks/paints. This type of paper was used in the past for the end-papers of books and even covering books. But why not use the patterns produced as backgrounds. Create your own craft papers. Use any colours which come to hand or select 2 or 3 to give well tried color schemes.
Warm colors, cool colours, contrasting colors or colors which harmonise. Why not try it out and see what effects you can create.

1. Here's one tutorial
2 And here is another"
3. and finally, one I have posted on squidoo

Here is an example of an atc created using a marbled background

Most crafters/artists using mixed media for projects will have a collection of stamps and some of these may be specifically for backgrounds or could be used that way. But there is nothing to stop you using a little creativity.
Make your own stamps
use sliced vegetables
what about wine bottle corks
or leaves
rough textiles, etc
you could make your own list, I am sure!

The first image is a background paper I created with a home made stamp, carved from an eraser using a lino-cutting tool. I have stamped several ines across the paper to complete an overall pattern. And here is an ATC I have created using this pattern



Once again you can find more examples on my Flickr photostream



Another trick is to stamp using bleach rather than ink. BUT BE CAREFUL not to splash into eyes or onto your skin. This leaves a white shape on a colored ground

One way which musn't be forgotten is the use of Any form of printed matter. Favourites are vintage texts in foreign languages especially lettering such as german, russian, chinese or japanese. Others are:-

• Dictionaries (select a defintion of a word that matches your theme)


• Sheet music


• Newpapers, adverts or articles


• Old advertisements


• Any vintage ephemera, prescriptions, receipts, bills, letters, shopping lists, clock-in cards, bingo cards, etc


• a collage of stamps


• vintage maps


• and don't forget wall paper

This is obviously not a complete listing but only an example and I am sure that you can add many more examples.

The printed matter can be copied or scanned if you do not wish to loose the original, In fact you can find all sorts of images of printed ephemera for use as atc backgrounds on Flickr, or for sale on Ebay or Etsy and many craft suppliers may be able to supply. Do use the printed matter creatively. For example in the ATC example given here the text is at an angle for effect. You can also use mixed media techniques to increase the artistic appeal. use ink pads, tea or coffee, or any colouring media that you have to hand to age or edge the background before adding the main elements.

With the cornucopia of tools available in most photo manipulation or painting software, it is so easy to create unique and interesting backgrounds. You should never again be at a loss for ideas. This is one I made recently. I don't intend to show any more examples, if you have this sort of software you will know how easy it is to produce patterns by adding effects one on top of the other.

If you are new to this sort of software, try an on-line version such as Sumo paint, it is free to try it out. Many more options are given in this lens.

The ATC here is quite a simple collage on a vintage photograph of a famous landmark in Paris.

From a large photograph, it is sometimes difficult to see which small ATC sized area will be suitable for an ATC background. A tutorial at B-muse shows how to use a cropping template to find just the area which will make your ATC Zing.

Take the template and move it across any photo (a copy maybe) or ephemera to see exactly what the background will look like without all the extraneous matter around it. THis is a very simple and useful tool to keep handy in your crafting toolbox.

By now you may be getting one or two ideas. Why not use whatever comes to hand. For this altered jigsaw puzzle piece I used a sweet wrapper. crumpled and bonded to the piece it made a unique background. I am sure that you can think of other handy papers and what about printed tissue papers.

This was actually made for a challenge on PDA ( Paper Digital Art & Images by Kim Newberg), lots of great images for your backgrounds.

I used the same idea for a background for this ATC:-


Issue 11 of Art Trader ( free e-magazine) has an article on ATC backgrounds which discusses a number of ways of creating exciting colourful backgrounds for your art work.

Some more examples from my own artwork:-

use vintage book pages

or vintage sheet music

printed textiles, etc

craft papers of course

or what about an old playing card


so much choice, that's the trouble!