ATC’s | If The Glue Sticks…Embellish

Stamping Queens Cards and ATC’s

Posted on August 10, 2012 by debbrooner

I just joined a new Yahoo group called Stamping_Queens. There appear to be lots of different swaps going each month so I am hoping to get a little of everything- cards, ATC’s, inchies, and sketchs.

The card above was made with the Spit Coast Stampers sketch 164. The paper is from Basic Grey’s Out Of Print collection. Love those papers! The little retro background is from Silhouette.

retro background:#23521; Cuttlebug Embossing folder:Swiss Dot: Sentiment: Stampendous “Friendship Assortment”

The theme for the ATC’s this month was pink and black- not hard for me to do since any color plus black is right up my alley.

I don’t usually like old timey silhouettes, but this little girl holding a butterfly called my name. I stamped the definition on the ATC, added Worn Lipstick Distress Ink to the edges, and then cut out a tiny butterfly that I folded in half and glued to her hand. A thin strip of polka dot paper finished the ATC off.

I cut the butterfly out and then ungrouped the design, got rid of the inside pieces, and cut the outline out so that it would be a solid shape. I glued the 2 pieces together on the body only, cut the butterfly in half, glued the butterfly to the card, and then bent the top layer of wings up. I didn’t forget the antenna which was emboidery floss stiffened with glue. Fun.

assorted butterflies filligree set: #26282; girl with butterfly border: #29236; lace butterfly: #27233

This last card I made is a Silhouette product. I don’t usually buy the cards that I could design myself, but for some reason I did this time. I was pretty pleased with the results and will definitely use this card again as it is very quick to make but doesn’t look like it is.

I stamped the 2 side panels and used dimensional adhesive on all three panels so the holes in the middle panel are more obvious.I did add an extra piece so I had a place for my sentiment.

A2 size cared: # 28261; sentiment: Stampendous “Friendship Assortment”; Background stamp: Great Impressions “Scroll and Leaves”

My favorite ATC JamsGalore cards

Posted on June 22, 2012 by debbrooner

I thought I would share several of my favorite ATC’s from my Yaho group “ATCs Jams Galore”. For those of you who haven’t heard about these, the idea is simple. Person #1 makes 3 ATC’s with their chosen background and sends them to person# 2. The second person adds the embellishment of their choice and sends them to person #3 who adds their embellishment as well. The third person then keeps one copy and then sends the other 2 cards back to the first person, who keeps one and sends the remaining one to person # 2.

Rubber stamping, die cuts, handmade paper, stickers, thread, micro beads, rhinestones, brads, zentangles- the list goes on and on when it comes to what can be used on these fun cards.

Interested? Go to Yahoo Groups and ask to become a member.

Shaped ATC’s

Posted on March 15, 2011 by debbrooner

This swap was fun! All of the ATC’s had to be a shape other than a rectangle. I really like this wheelbarrow made with a my Silhouette and some flower punches. It is rather fragile but hopefully it (and the other shapes) will go through the mail well.

This one might be pushing the limits- a tad too short but I’ll send it anyway. After the fact I realized that I should have welded all the pieces together to get a solid piece for a backing . I did back the cloud part with another cardstock cloud so it should be okay. I’m mainly worried about those teeny tiny goose heads and tails!

Birds, bird, egg. I seem to be going backwards…

This house is a tiny version of an envelope card combo. The roof and the inside (orange part) of the house is one piece while the window/door block is the envelope. The door opens so there is a 3D aspect as well.

I like the raindrop on this one.

Now for the foods related ones.

Hope you enjoyed these. Be sure to go down and hit the ” Email Subscription” button so that you can keep up with my blog.

Corrugated Valentine ATC’s

Posted on February 11, 2011 by debbrooner

It’s a nice feeling to get back into the rhythm of my life after the holidays and traveling!

These ATC’s are for my Yahoo ATC World group. It was fun to come up with ideas using corrugated paper (cardboard to those of us who are older). The corrugated heart above (Cuttlebug ) seemed to fit with this collage backing, courtesy of Somerset Studios.

The backing for this ATC is a Kleenex box. It is a shame to throw away boxes that have such great patterns on them and they are very sturdy. I like the color combo as well. Not conventional but fun.

I am being very brave and actually using the copper guilded paper that I got from Paper Source a while back for the backing. I really love this stuff and will be sad when it is all used up. The corrugated honeycomb (Cuttlebug) was a good place into which I could tuck copper embossed hearts.

The background for this ATC is a relativewly new texture plate by Cuttlebug. In the past my Swiss Dot plate has been the most used but I have a feeling this larger dot will be my new favorite. Some Stickles, ribbon and red ink finished this card. Funky but fun!

The flower spray is a die cut from Silhouette, with Stickles adorning it. I should have done more for the background but didn’t think about it until after I had sent the cards. Oh well, sometimes that happens.

This last one is on the home page of the group- yipee! I got the idea for cutting the heart shape out of the upper layer of the cardboard from the book Collage Lab by Bee Shay. I covered the whole thing with Lumiere Grape and then dry brushed the card with Burnt Orange Lumiere. I didn’t want to use any glue so I first cut 3 thin copper tubes just a tad shorter than 3.5″, threaded them into one of the valleys of the cardboard. After I could see it in the cutout I then slipped a bigger copper tube over it and pushed the little one up behind the top of the heart. I wrapped a piece of silk ribbon aroud the card and then finished it with 3 wraps of copper wire.

Glitter ATC

Posted on November 4, 2010 by debbrooner

Since I got several questions regarding the glittered ATC I made I thought I would put it on my blog.

Here are the materials you will need:

A lacy piece (I used Graphic 1 from Silhouette) for the card front

A backing sheet of cardstock

A Xyron with an adhesive cartridge

Assorted glitters

Post It notes

My cards were made with a black front and a black background, but since that would be too hard to see I will use a white background (fig. 1).

Fig. 1

First of all, take the background piece and run it through your Xyron . You may use another way to apply adhesive to the card, but the point is that you will need to cover the entire card with something that will stay sticky long enough for you to get all the glitter attached.

Lay the card sticky side up and place the lacy piece on it. You will then have an ATC with a lacy front and sticky in all the white cells (fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Now comes the time for the post- it notes. Carefully lay the sticky side of the post- it on the black lines of the front and cover every hole but one (fig.3).

Fig. 3

Pour glitter onto the white space and press down gently but thoroughly. Tip excess glitter off of the card. You now have one cell done (fig. 4).

Fig. 4

Remove the post-it from the next cell and add another color of glitter. If you tamped the glitter on the first cell well there should be no stickiness left so the next color will not stick there. Your second cell is now glittered (fig. 5).

Fig. 5

Continue to remove post-its and add glitter to cells until all have been filled. You may need to reposition some of the post-its, depending on how you arranged them to begin with.

As an aside, if you have a Swiffer dusting cloth available you may come out of your studio with a lot less glitter in your hair! I use these great cloths for both glitter and PearlEx projects when you want the color on the project and not anywhere else.

HTH- leave a comment, please.

Fixing Mistakes

Posted on October 28, 2010 by debbrooner

In everyone’s card making endeavors will come a time when a mistake is made. Mistakes are frustrating, but not fatal. Here are some ideas to help you deal with those mistakes.

If you get completely done, pick the card up and realize it opens on the wrong side you can:

1) Cut off the front panel, trim it down to a smaller size and apply to a coordinating color blank card.

2) Rotate your card 90 degrees .

You stamp your sentiment ( or any other stamped image) and it looks really bad You can:

1) Stamp the sentiment on the same color of cardstock and then back it with a coordinating color. Place it on top of the mistake

2) Place an embellishment on the mistake (Do you suppose that the first person to use an embellishment did so to cover up a bad spot?)

Maybe after finishing the card you don’t like it. You can:

1) Walk away from it for a while.

2) Add more stuff to it.

Another possibility:

1) Cut or tear the card front into pieces and use to make serendipity squares.

2) Cut the pretty parts into ATC’s, moo cards or inchies.

As a finel resort:

1) Give up and throw it away after salvaging all you can off of it.

The First Cut Is The Deepest

Posted on August 19, 2010 by debbrooner

Wahoo! I just got a Silhouette SD for my (early) birthday! So far I love it.

Perhaps a little explanation is in order for those who aren’t familiar with the Silhouette. It is an electronic die-cutting machine that hooks up to your computer. You pick a pattern or letters, size it to you specifications, and send the info to the cutter, and just like that you have your design.

I knew that it worked well for large formats but wanted to see if it could do a good job on inchie-sized projects. The answer is definitely yes. I was very pleased that most of the patterns I picked cut beautifully at the 1″ size. On the top row the leaf, the dragonfly, and the bird were all cut using the Silhouette. The bottom row shows the sparkle, the heart, and the flying bird. The heart looked like like it needed something else so I just poked holes in each iof the scallops and added embroidery thread.

On this ATC I used the Sil on the leaf (the same one as the one above) and the letters . One of the biggest reasons I wanted this machine was to cut letters and phrases to my specifications.

“Imagine” was a design that was available to download from the Silhouette Store. The store has hundreds of designs to choose from. They are quite inexpensive and once downoaded, are yours forever. There are other sites on the web that offer free designs as well.

For more info, go here.

Now who wants to come to my house and play????

Tangled ATC’s

Posted on August 12, 2010 by debbrooner

How many of you had school notebooks, church bulletins, and grocery lists with all sorts of doodles in the margins? You didn’t know you were making art, did you? Well there is a not-so- new kid in town, Zentangle, that takes doodling (though they don’t like that word) to new heights. The difference between doodling and Zentangle is that the lines made in Zentangle are very deliberate rather than haphazard. There are gobs of tangle patterns on the web and books as well, so if you are interested here are some resources: the official Zentangle site, Tangle patterns, and a blog with lots of great links and patterns. While I do not agree with some of the philosophy behind Zentangles (I do not use it as meditation), it is a fun way to relax and create something at the same time.

Usually tangling is done on a white background with black pens, but while I was cruising through the new Corel X5 clipart I came across all sorts of new backgrounds that just begged to be tangled on.