ATCs and Santas

The theme for one of my ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap groups this month was "fuzzy."  I have had a few questions about ATCs so I will try to answer them here.  ATCs have only one hard and fast rule - they must be 3.5 inches x 2.5 inches. They are to be original, small editions that are self produced and traded with other people who create ATCs.  They must not be sold - only exchanged.  On the back of each ATC there should be the name and signature of the artist along with their contact information, the title or theme of the ATC and the number (1 of 8, 1 of 8, etc.).  They are meant to be sturdy enough to be handled and are usually sent in clear sleeves or custom envelopes.  Collectors keep them in boxes, in commercial trading cards pages (9 per page) or even make custom albums to display their ATCs.  You can find lots of information about ATCs online and many companies make supplies specifically for ATC creation, trading and storage.

So back to the "fuzzy" theme.  This one was tricky.  Usually I get an idea pretty quickly and initially I thought of fuzzy teddy bears or cute animals but I just wasn't getting a "cute" idea that I liked.  So I put off working on these for a while.  I then went the opposite way and came up with an simple and elegant card.

I bought some ribbon (a big spool of the great wired ribbon they sell at Costco very reasonably).  The ribbon was ivory with a flocked floral pattern.  I cut my base cards from ivory damask cardstock from the Luxury Stack by DCWV.  I have a Design Studio file to cut perfect bases on a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock that I have shared already.  It is easier than using a trimmer and more accurate.

I "fussy cut" the ribbon to make sure that the floral motif would be centered on each ATC.  The wires in the edges make the ribbon too stiff for this project so I simply pulled them out.  I used my ATG gun to apply adhesive to the ribbon, along each edge and right down the center.  Then I placed the ribbon about 1/4 inch from one edge of the ATC and wrapped the ends around to the back.

The ribbon is rather sheer so you can see some of the shiny cardstock through it.  This looked very elegant and rather bridal so I added a cluster of three tiny "diamonds" to emphasize the formality of the card.

For this large group (14 people) I usually create the back of the ATCs digitally.  I use my Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 software to do this.  I chose a digital paper to coordinate with the front of the ATCs and set up the file to print 9 on a piece of letter size matte photo paper.

After carefully choosing the coordinating paper, I was very surprised to see what came out of my printer - lavender card backs!  Fortunately, it wasn't my eyes - I just had to replace my color ink cartridge.   I wasted a piece of matte photo paper but I can use the white side for cards (I will emboss it with my Cuttlebug - it works beautifully).

Here are all of the ATCs before I put them in sleeves and sent them off for swapping.  I am very curious to see what others in the group made.   I think a few of us found this theme more challenging than we expected.

I didn't get as much decorating done today as I hoped.  I spent several hours outside chopping the ice off of our driveway - what a job!  My hands are very sore and my back muscles are achy, but I cleared the ice at last (it has been there since last week).  I did get the family room mantle set up with the Santas.

These Santas have been accumulating for years.  In fact, I have so many Santas that there is also a tall tree full of Santas that is always in our front hallway (I haven't carried that down from the attic yet...).

Here is another section of the Santas...

There is a little snowman section on the mantle too!

Christmas in August

There are certain rituals involved in getting ready to go back to college - sorting, packing, saying goodbye to local friends...and sending your Mom to Costco for essentials like pita bread and brownie bites. While I was at Costco today I discovered that Christmas has arrived already! There are Christmas lights and decorations starting to fill the aisles.



One of my favorite bargains at Costco is the wired ribbon. There are all sorts of lovely designs and the price is so reasonable - a 50 yard spool of wired ribbon is only $6.89!



I saw this snowman patterned ribbon and immediately had an idea for Christmas cards - I couldn't wait to get home to try it (when I should have been finishing the back-to-school laundry!). There are three different snowmen with some trees and snowflakes. I cut segments of ribbon centered on each snowman to use for my cards.



I cut some 12 x 12 paper to three pieces - two sections at 5.25 x 12 inches and a leftover strip of 1.5 x 12 inches. I ran the 5.25 x 12 inch pieces through my DreamKuts to create three four inch wide sections. This paper is from an American Crafts Christmas pack I found at Tuesday Morning in Connecticut on our last trip. I used my Creative Memories trimmer to cut out a window. Most trimmers have an arrow to indicate the blade position and by aligning this with the grid on the base you can make interior cuts.



Here is my card layer with the center cut out removed. (Of course, you save these centers for other projects).



I applied tape to the top and bottom edges off the opening.



Then I placed my snowman ribbon strip on the tape at the top, being careful to keep the sparkly wired side edges exposed in the window.



I smoothed the ribbon over the tape at the bottom of the window and then added tape all around the layer.



I layered the ribbon front on a red A2 card. Simple and quick! I could add a sentiment in the lower section or just leave the front as it is and add a greeting inside the card.



The ribbon is sheer and sparkly and really catches your eye in the light. The glittery wired sides also add a lot of sparkle to this design. You could put a paper frame around the opening or ink it but I like it plain and simple.



I was able to quickly make a card with each snowman. On this one I miscalculated my cut and it is about 1/4 inch too low at the bottom - when I do the next one the tree top will just peek out with the star showing.



Here is the third version - each card has a slightly different sized opening in the top mat.

I thought about making a Design Studio file to cut the layers and openings but I think it is easier and more precise to do these the "old fashioned" way. Due to slight differences in mat loading and machine calibration it would be nearly impossible to get the openings perfectly centered using the full 12 x 12 sheet. Aso, you would have to hand trim at the edges of the mat to complete the cuts once they reached the "no-cut zone." Cutting these by hand makes it possible to make small adjustments to get evenly spaced results and maximize the use of your paper.



These were fast to make, the materials are inexpensive and they are cute - three good things! I counted nine snowmen per yard of ribbon so this spool would have 450 sparkly ribbon images to use for the cards at a cost of about one and a half cents for each snowman. It is pretty hard to find an embellishment that can carry a card front for only 1.5 cents!

One piece of 12 x 12 paper will yield six layers for the fronts. I got paper in a pack at a reduced price but if you figured on 60 cents for a sheet of good quality patterned paper the cost would be 10 cents for the layer. For the A2 card base I cut an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock in half - Papertrey Ink sells lovely 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock at 50 pieces for $9, so the average cost per card is nine cents. Add an envelope for about 15 cents and even if you add a liner or some Stickles or other embellishments to the card your total cost per card is less than 50 cents.



Now I guess I should go finish that laundry!