Halloween Tag

I'm still around, sorry it's been a while.  Hope you enjoy this tag I made using mostly Graphic 45 papers.  I also used some pop squares to add some dimensions.  This was made for another Scraps of Darkness swap.  The person who I swapped with finished her project first and sent me a impressive pile of free, "swag," to include a set of Dimensions stamps.  So, hoping she didn't send them because she hated them, I used them for the center of the tag.

The tag is done with a mix of orange and purple embossing powder, which I poured in small piles on a piece of paper.  I did keep the extra mixed color, I love Halloween so I'm sure I'll find some use for it.  Though it's now a lot more mixed than below.

Hope you enjoy the close ups and don't mind a short post.  I want to get something up.  If you would like to know where any of these elements are from then let me know.

Vintage Secret Letter Photo Frame Card

I originally thought of creating this with one of Graphic 45s' romance lines, the idea of a secret letter in a lover's card.  However, I wanted to give the idea a test run with this amazing paper that I've had for a little while and have not yet be able to use.  This paper line is from Melissa Francis' "Old World," collection.  I love the grungy/vintage look of the paper.  Melissa Francis creates quite a few decorative type products, her papers and scrapbook supplies are only a small part of what she produces.

Directions on Creating Your Own

Note: I used a Cricut to make this.  You could easily make a square version of this with just a standard manual paper cutter.  If you are particularly talented you could even get the fancier edges.  If you are going to make a fancier card by hand, I would highly recommend making a template that you can trace on chipboard and the paper you are going to use.

Circuit users: If you want it to be large enough for a 4x6" photo and you don't have an extra long Cricut mat then you will need to do some file editing.  I used Frame Card M36C5D.  If you make the card large enough to comfortably fit a larger photo it will extend beyond 12".  I made mine 7" high.  Since I didn't have the 24" mat I used the slice tool to cut the whole thing in half.  In order to slice I had to unattach the score marks and then reattach them once I was done.  I also ended up slices the three parts right down the middle (delete the score lines) so I could cut the different frames.  Be careful when you do this.  The middle and end piece are not identical.

With the cricut I cut halved frame card out of Silhouette chipboard.  I then cut the card cut into thirds out out of the Melissa Frances paper.  You will need two of each if you want to cover the entire thing.

The Front 

The two flowers in the bottom corner are from Prima Flowers "Debutante" set.  The stamp is a Bo Bunny Heritage stamp sticker.  The sticker originally had a large white border which I wasn't a big fan of.  I ended up cutting it down with my scissors.  The clock at the top right is from a ephemera pack.  Unfortunately I did not keep the pack, however if you look around a few bags you should be able to find a clock easily enough.  They are popular in paper crafting.  For the wire I twisted green jeweler's wire with gold.  My wire is just from a beading wire multipack that I found at Michaels, nothing too fancy.  It works well.  If you want smoother curves you will want to twist it around a pen or something similar.  You can carefully make the loops larger as you see fit.  It's good to get a good smooth base though.  I also hold it down with dots of strong, but clear, glue.  I am still experimenting with good glues that hide though.  I will say, the glue eraser that Tim Holtz makes is an amazing tool to have!  If you look closely at these you'll see a spot where I still needed to touch up (which I did) after the photos.

The Front Without the Photo

Inside The Front

Since I found the chipboard to be a little bit of an eye sore, I put some pinkish glimmer mist on the edges.  I did use clear gesso before adding the glimmer mist, but it still warped the card just a little.  I ended up adding the little velcro square after to add the option of closing the card.  The acorn branch near the bottom is only glued down at the very ends.  This gives you an attractive photo holder that also blends into the background.  It is from the same Melissa Frances paper collection as the rest of the card. 

Inside of Back

Originally I was just going to decorate the blank side next to the envelope.  I fussy cut this flower but I couldn't really come up with anything that I liked as a card layout.  So, I decided to just tack down the sides so that it gave another place in which a person could put a photo.  The envelope is also just a cricut file.  I fussy cut the piece the flap folds under from that same paper set.  I wanted to give it a image that stood out, so I used a random section from a much larger stamp and some white embossing powder.  The stamp is Flutter from KaiserCraft.

This shows you the flower without the photo.  I added some light gray ink to try and tone down the background and make the flower pop a little more.  Any vintage looking stamp would work for that aspect.  The flower will cover most of the stamp image.

I hope you enjoyed this card.  It is somewhat simple in construction.  The fussy cutting and waiting on the Cricut were the most time consuming parts, other than design.  If your paper is pretty enough you don't need to add a lot for a striking piece.

Supplies

• Melissa Frances Old World Paper
• This particular paper seems to be out of print, if you can't find it any vintage or grungy collage style paper can give you a similar look.  Tim Holtz has some similar styles.  If you want more flowery then Prima has some amazing papers that would work well with this.  If you know of others feel free to mention them in the comments for others.
• Chipboard or Cardstock for a base if you want something thick and sturdy.  If you use something heavy like bazzel and with color then you can let the edges show.
• Prima Debutante Flowers Item #580742 or any other medium sized matching flower
• Jewelry beading wire (the thinner stuff), twist two colors for a similar look
• KaiserCraft CS853 Flutter Stamp
• White embossing powder (I used Stamp it Up brand of fine powder)
• Bo Bunny Heritage Stamp Stickers #17902890
• Glimmer mist if you don't use pretty cardstock
• Clear gesso if you are going to glimmer mist anything.
• Small piece of velcro or a snap to hold the front closed if desired.
• Clock Ephemera or a clock cut from some heavy paper 

"Summer Dreams," Authentique Photo Card

Here is another experimental project of mine.  I wanted to create a cut way to display school photos.  I used Authentique's, "Curiosity," line to create this card.  This is a bit simpler than the Graphic 45 photo card I made.  The only, "fussy," cutting is the two hop scotch boards.  This card can also be used as is, it looks like a finished product without the photo.

The Front.  I will say, I am not really happy with how my photos came out on this.  I will have to re-think my photo studio area.  Currently it's not a very good box since all of my boxes are covered in garage sale items.  However, that sale will be boxed up soon and I will be able to free up a box that will allow me to make a more professional photo studio area.  Hopefully after that I will be able to get some better photos.  You can see by the two different flap, "yellows," that my light is not blending well.  

Back to the actual project.  I do like how this looks, it's simple but attractive.  I really like the colors that Authentique used for this line.  I am much of a bright yellow type, the subtler yellow with the gray looks nice though.  

 The Inside: The paper pack came with a sheet of old childhood poems.  Some were a bit morbid, though they didn't include the, "ashes, ashes," on Ring Around the Rosies.  I created this to sale so I figured I should go for a nicer poem.  This kind of goes with the idea of a school photo card, though the kid is maybe dreaming about not being in school.  It's an older poem that has been around for a long time, so it would go well with a parent or grandparent school photo.  

Just some side photos.  The card is fairly rigid and stands well on it's own.  The only down side is that it's a little bulky.  It doesn't fold down very flat.  I am hoping more for something that will be displayed than stuffed in a drawer.  So, the flatness probably matters less with it's intended purpose.

I hope you enjoyed this little card.  If you have any comments or critiques please post them.  If you like this idea please feel free to make your own, I would love to see them if you want to share.

Graphic 45 Photo Card

My crafting goal is to make mini albums that I can sale, at some point.  I have made two so far (which I will post when I have a chance to take some decent photos), one for me and one as a gift for a friend.  I am not a quick crafter, though, so I figured I would play with some photo cards and see how potential customers like them.  I enjoyed making this one, though with a two hour craft time I will have to sell them for a little if I want to make a simi decent wage.  Hopefully as I craft more my time will improve.

The Front.  I might make some in the future that will clasp shut, but I am going for something to go on someone's dresser for display, not in a drawer.  There is a Recollections 5x7" Gate card as the base  I measured and cut the orange background then added the border and images.  This photo is a tad too white, though when I was editing it earlier I thought it looked fine.  More areas for improvement.  I do kind of like how the paper gap on my little photo studio added to the photo with the white "frost" edge.  It was not intentional though.

You can see a little bit of the inside with this one and one little fussy cutting detail.  The, "I'm Really a Mermaid," square is only tacked down (scor tape) on the right side and the bottom.  The left corner is lose and you can use it to hold a photo.  The photo does end up being slightly off center in this one, since it's not especially wide, but it still looks pretty good.  I will have to make sure I take photos of the product in use the next time I make one of these.

Some better images of the sides.  These photos are slightly less whited out.  I took the top photo and the up-close fussy cut photo before at a different time than my three, "warmer," photos.  So, apologies for the inconsistencies.  If you look close enough, however, you can see that I didn't cut the sea plants that expanded beyond the squares.  I also edged the Seahorse picture with my Aqua Chameleon Pen.  

I had to add a little detail on the back.  I also added my little, "Made by Desdemona Rose," label on the back, but not until after I shot the photos.  The space was big and empty, so I had to do something with it.

Some fussy-cutting and a overly edited photo.  I also added a photo mat later, again after the photos.  But, if you decide to make anything like this and it has some size to it, I would recommend a photo mat.  I left mine as a simple piece of cardstock from the same paper set.  This way the customer will get both sides and can choose the one that looks better with their photo.  I am also including a strip of 4 temporary sticky dots so the customer can add the photo but change it later if they want.  

Please leave comments below and let me know what you think!

Voyage Beneath the Sea ATCs

I LOVE Graphic 45 for paper crafting.  Their images are the best for cutting things out and they are so detailed.  They also do a lot with Steampunk and some darker images.  Though they have plenty of flowers and pretties, they also have less pretty things which I appeal to me.  Though the world of paper crafts has given me new appreciation for flowers and pinks, I have never been much of a flowers and lace type.  I love companies that have a lot of variety while still keeping a sense of style.  Graphic 45 has that down.

I had to make some ATCs with their newer Voyage Beneath the Sea set.  The paper set is great, especially if you like Mermaids.  She is not in this art set, but they also have a fabulous image with a Octopus Lady, which I will have to put on something fantastic (not sure what yet).  You can see the entire set here: Graphic 45's Voyage Beneath The Sea

Without further ado:

Fish Man: not technically an ATC, but I loved this fish and needed to do something with him.  I glued him to some Silhouette chip board and fussy-cut him, chipboard and all.  I then cut out the Sea is Calling tag which came from the same paper as the fish man.  I used my Aqua Marine Chameleon Pen at full color to outline the words and make it stand out more.  The globe/button at the top of his head is from Tim Holtz and it was originally a little gear sticker brad.  I colored the sticker with a mx of Tim Holtz gold mixative and Lindy Stamp Gang's Magical tainted love teal pigment powder.  The paint is under the epoxy sticker that comes with his, "Custom brad," set.  I used the same mixture on the two gears and the brads that are holding them down.  I ended up going over the gears with multi medium matte since I was worried the alcohol ink wouldn't stick well.  When I did so it made the blue from the powdered pigment really pop out.  The gold wire is just simple jeweler's wire.  I put a few little dabs of mult medium matte mix and the gold/blue mix on the wire as well.  The wire is strung through the fish man's hands, though it does make it look as if he's holding it in a strange way.  I wanted something a bit more solid than the original paper though.  It is somewhat simple, but it took me an hour and 20 mins for the cutting, painting, wire, etc.  It was worth the time though.

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Mermaid Travels ATC: This one is a traditional ATC.  I didn't do any fancy cutting with this one.  Originally I wanted the, "The Sea is Calling and I Must Go," phrase to show, but it didn't really work out well composition wise.  The three flowers are from Petaloo.  They are their original color, though they are made to be painted.  The embossed seahorse in the back is from Inkadoo.  I used Stampin up embossing powder which is fairly fine and nice for the more detailed images.  The teal hints on the background are from Faber-Castell's Metallic Mint Gelato.  I just smudged it around with my fingers after giving the edge some outline.  

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I hope you enjoyed seeing these little guys.  If you like Graphic 45 as much as I do then stay tuned.  There will be plenty more in the future.

Bo Bunny Trail Mix ATCs

I decided to use up some (though not really much) of my Bo Bunny stash.  I have taken advantage of a few Bo Bunny Grab Bags which means I have some excess in some areas.  Their Trail Mix line being one in which I have a few duplicates.  So I decided to make a few ATCs that also double as magnets.  I am going to sell/display them at a garage sale I am starting tomorrow to see if anyone buys them.  If not, I still had fun making them.  Some details below.

Astoria ATC: Astoria is a old historical town next to the one I live in.  It is also the home of the Goonies house.  The scene where the kid Truffle Shuffles is kind of fun to watch now since I can easily recognize Astoria in the background.  This is a simple card and technically a bit larger than a ATC.  The Bo Bunny tag/paper is inside of a 3"x4" plastic card protector.  The Astoria is made with two Tim Holtz Fragments on some Bo Bunny scraps and letter stickers from the Trail Mix sticker sheet.  I have a container of ArtMinds Mosaic Glass from another project I never actually started, and there were some that were the perfect color for this, so I added them.  The fragments and mosaic pieces are all glued on top of the card protector.  The extra space did make the layout on this much easier.  Originally I was going to stick with a traditional ATC, but Astoria didn't really fit very well.

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Cabin Life ATC.  I am pretty happy with how the wood vellum piece ties in the Bo Bunny stickers and the dark brown cardstock.  The cardstock is just a generic dark brown piece from Michael's.  The wood vellum is actual thin wood and gives some nice texture.  I used Mocha Mama powderpuff from Quick Quotes to add a little more depth and outline to the binoculars ribbon paper and the Cabin Life sticker.  I fussy cut the ribbon out, which was not too difficult.  The lantern is a chipboard sticker from the same matching set. 

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Fishing Life ATC: This one is somewhat simple.  The Fishing box and pole piece is a sticker and the world, "Fishing," is a separate one.  I used some green cardstock I had in my scraps and added some Tattered Angels Cardboard Baseboard spray to it.  There was a design, but the spray didn't really work well with my stencil.  It did add some nice little mystery blotches though.  Fishing is messy work, right?  The fish is a stamp from Inkadoo and I embossed it with Ranger Brick embossing powder.  I also stamped the fishing box sticker with a set of stamps I have from a unknown company (bought them used) that look like vintage post office stamps.  They didn't show up really strong, but I like how they are kind of hinted.  I was going for a slight post card feel with that.

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If you have any comments please feel free to post below!  If you make ATCs I would love to see them, post a link to your blog/site below and I will be happy to visit.

Amazing Little Cards

One of my favorite swaps on Scraps of Darkness/Elegance's Facebook is their Artist Trading Card swap.  ATC's are standard trading card size, in theory, at 2.5" x 3.5".  I have made a few ATCs at this point and they never stay neat and little.  Here are some of the ATCs I have created.  I love making them and if you would like one drop me a little Fiverr request.  I did start making some ATCs for a test sale at my garage sale this weekend.  If they don't sale then I will probably make an Epsy account and you can find already created ATCs there.  I do like custom making them to fit the receiver though.  I have tried to get more personal with them as I go.

In no particular order, here are some ATCs.

Once Upon a Story with Graphic 45.  I love fussy cutting and I really enjoyed making this one.  The wings on the butterfly have Reneaboquets Shattered Glass glitter.  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but the fairy wings have dots of brick colored embossing dots.  I loved how the wood grained scrapbook paper (I think it was from Michael's) adds to the rest of the ATC.  

Grandmother and Smiles.  I made these specifically for a crafter that I swapped with who was also a grandmother.  I wanted them to be somewhat matching, but also unique.  The papers were just scraps from my stash.  The Yellow flower came from a Quick Quotes kit that I took apart.  The black and gray flowers are from Michael's.  The butterflies are stickers that I added to cardstock and then cut out.  The black and white mini hearts were scraps from another project where I made a heart boarder.  I thought, "well, lets keep these, I cold put them on something."  I am very much a, "waste not," boarding on hoarder type crafter.  Sometimes it makes my craft room a pain to organize, other times it works out.

Graphic 45 Mime.  The original paper I got this from (Graphic 45) was all monochrome.  I wanted to play with my Chameleon Pens.  I colored all of the yellow and the red.  The little black flower was just something from my stash and the Admit One charm is from Tim Holtz.  I just used some jeweler's wire to make it a small necklace.  The little ticket is 7 Gypsies.  I was happy with how this came out and I hope to use my Chameleon Pens more in the future.  

This is a quick one I put together for a girl on a house cleaning and organization group I have tried to get going on Facebook.  I thought maybe a little incentive to get some participation.  The recipient put pictures of her kitchen in my group so I tried to match colors on a sign she had hanging up for decoration.  

Love and more Graphic 45.  I had some Valentines papers and was sending cards to a recipient who had recently gushed about how supportive her significant other was of her crafting.  So, I made her some grungy romance ATCs.  The butterfly and rose come from Michael's generic embellishments they sell in their discount area.  The background of the Love (only) card and the little clocks come from Tim Holtz.  

A peek-a-boo tree,  This one was experimental for me.  The tree is hand drawn on spray misted ATC canvas.  The tree was drawn with a Chameleon pen.  I did draw the tree in it's entirety before overlaying the simi-transparent paper.  You can see the tree behind the paper a little better in the actual piece.  I am still working on that art photography thing.  This probably would have worked better and more dramatically on a larger canvas.  Working with the wire in such a small setting was pretty challenging.  I am pretty happy with it, though I can't say it's a favorite of mine.  I will probably redo with more details on a larger canvas at some point.

My first ATC.  I really wanted to add some hand painted and slight surreal feel to it.  I added some bits from an ephemera pack I had bought and sent it along.  The recipient seemed pretty happy with it.  I want to add painted elements and more surrealism to ATCs in the future.  So, stay tuned.

Let me know what you thought.  Any input is always appreciated.  If you are a Fivver customer then please let me know if any of these styles suit you.  Also, stay tuned for more pages on ATCs.