Jewels ATC - inspired by the Emerald Isle!

The theme for one of my ATC (artist trading card) groups this month was "jewels" - well who doesn't love a bit of bling!  Because it is March (and I was working on some St. Patrick's Day items) my thoughts went to the "Emerald Isle" for inspiration.

 I wanted to set off just a few jewels on the front of my card, so I thought about some of the images on my cartridges and remember the cute recipe card on From My Kitchen.

Here is the location of the image that I used.

I used hide selected contour to eliminate the outer and inner card cuts, leaving only the three stylized flowers.

To plan my spacing, I set up one rectangle at the ATC size of 2.5 x 3.5 inches (the only rule for ATCs is that they must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches - the rest is up to you!).  Then I created a slightly smaller rectangle (2.25 x 3.25 inches) for my top layer.

I set up a cutting page with 12 ATC layers and centered the "flower" image from the recipe card with the contours hidden.  The paper I used for the base was a heavy Bazzill cardstock in dark green.  The top layer was some patterned paper from the DCWV Spring stack from two years ago.  It has lots of "Irish" words and sayings in two tones of green.

I usually try to make my ATCs identical but, these have slight variations depending on the location of the cut in the patterned paper.  I think they all have enough letters to convey the "Irish" theme.

In the open flower tops I placed three "jewels" in three shades of green and slightly graduated sizes.  I was happy with the simple interpretation of what could be a very elaborate theme.

I usually do my ATC backs digitally, however, I have been having some problems with my computer and can't open some of my programs - so frustrating!  I hope to get it sorted out soon - there is never a good time to have a computer problem! 

It finally stopped raining here - we actually saw the sun today!  
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Button, button, who has the button....

I am making progress (slow progress) on sorting out my scrap studio.  The main problem is that I keep discovering all sorts of treasures and stopping to play with them!  At least it has kept me out of the craft stores so far this year.

I have collected buttons for years.  Some are from family, others have come from estate sales, antique & flea markets and car boot sales when we lived in England.  Our younger son used to spend a lot of time with me sorting through all the shapes and colors when he was little.  There are so many that they have been subdivided into quite a few tins.

While I was sorting the leftovers from other projects I found these stylized flower cuts from some cards I made using the From My Kitchen cartridge.

Here is one of the cards I made from the recipe cards on From My Kitchen.  The original post is at this LINK.

Once I arranged the leftover stems on the card base I started trying different buttons for the blossoms.  The white and ivory buttons did not provide enough contrast.

So I checked for the more brightly colored buttons - and found all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes.

I "auditioned"  a lot of buttons and ended up with five that seemed to work well together.  The second button from the left is purple and not as dark as it appears in the photos.

The buttons needed some cord or string to make them appear to be attached by sewing.  I found this set of ribbon and cord on sale not long ago and I thought the blue and white string would be perfect.

I tied the string through the holes using lengths long enough to knot easily.  The strings needed to be trimmed with sharp scissors so the ends would be neat.

After I tied and trimmed the string I used a couple of glue dots to hold the each of the buttons to the card.

I will probably add a sentiment and possibly some white pen stitching or doodles.  I might use this as a note card for a friend who also likes buttons.

I wonder what I'll find next - and how long it will take me to finish sorting out the room!

Note card from a Recipe card

I just got the new "From My Kitchen" cartridge in the mail yesterday. While it is full of great food & cooking images and has lots of pre-welded words, there was something that I had noticed when I was looking at the options on Design Studio that I had to try!



This recipe card caught my eye - I really like the "mod" flowers. I just needed to do some manipulating with Design Studio to turn it into a note card.



Here is the location of the image on the virtual keypad. I decided to make two cards - one horizontal and one vertical in the A2 size (4.25 x 5.5 inches).



For the vertical card I flipped the image and used "hide selected contour" to hide both the interior rounded rectangle and the outer rectangle cut. I had to hide both lines to avoid the problem that arises when you only hide one contour - the line will reappear when you close and reopen the file. (If you are not sure how to use "hide selected contour" you can watch my video - here is a LINK to the post).



Since I had to hide both lines, I needed a rectangle to form the card - in this screen shot you can see the key for the rectangle I used. I always try to find all the shapes I need on the lowest number of cartridges to make it quicker to cut the design (I don't have a jukebox).



I used a total of three recipe cards for the flower cutouts on the horizontal card - if you look very carefully you can see all of the hidden blue lines from the frames and a couple of the flowers. I reshaped some of the flowers using the "handles" on the selection box around the recipe card to stretch or compress the images.

I placed the cards on the top of the mat so that both pages of the file could be used by baby bug owners - if you have the Expression and want to cut two cards from the same sheet of 12 x 12 paper, simply turn the mat and reload it from the opposite side for the second cut.



Here you can see the two test cards on the mat after I lifted the excess paper.



When you remove the cards there will be some flowers left on the mat - of course you know that you must save these!



I know I save "everything" but these are really cute (particularly when you flip them to the opposite side).



I did my test cuts with the cardstock near the end of the DCWV Spring glitter stack from this year. I hadn't really been a fan of the last sheets but they seem to fit this design perfectly with their bright colors!



Here is the inside of the cards - obviously they needed some sort of liner if you want to write a message inside.



I looked all around my studio for paper with the right colors and scale for card liners and I finally found a good choice - these papers are from the Cricut 6 x 12 paper stack called "Celebrations." The paper is white on the back so you can easily write a note when you open the liner.



Here is the vertical card. The liners are cut slightly smaller than the cards (8 1/4 x 5 1/4 for the vertical card and 4 x 10 3/4 for the horizontal card) and adhered to the back of the cards along the fold lines.

Now I promise I will go do something more conventional with the From My Kitchen cartridge - may be even a recipe page!

Abstract Flower Notecards