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.