First ATC in a new series

The theme for the first month in the second round for my ATC (Artist Trading Card) group was "feathers." At first I thought I'd do something old fashioned and elegant....obviously my thoughts changed!

I wanted a quote for the card, so I googled "quotes about feathers" and this is one of the first that popped up. It made me laugh - I have heard of "a few sandwiches short of a picnic," and "a few boats short of a fleet," but I had never run across this expression. So, I shifted my thoughts and came up with this card.



I used the Animal Kingdom cartridge for my ducks. I made a couple of extras so I could pick the best for the actual cards.



The bills are cut from orange glitter cardstock and I used an orange Martha Stewart glitter pen to color the feet. I added the details lines with a fine brown pen and then attached a bit of yellow feather using Scor-Tape to adhere it to the duck.



The duck is adhered to the card with foam squares to add some more dimension and create a shadow line. I also inked the edges of the cards with brown ink.



The actual card background was created digitally using my Creative Memories StoryBook Plus software. I did a two color gradient for the background and applied a texture. The phrase is done in the "Chick" font with a heavy shadow applied.



I also created the backs digitally. I used a digital paper by my friend, Kay, who is a very talented designer. You can check out her blog HERE to see lots of great projects and download some free digital kits that she very generously shares. The Creative Memories software allows you to use all sorts of digital content in addition to their artwork.

For this second round, our group has grown to 14 members. If you would like to see all of the wonderful cards from this month, you can check them out on KER's blog (she is our super organized organizer!) - here is a LINK.



Here are all my cards just before I packed them up for mailing. I like to see the tiled effect they create when they are photographed as a group!



(I am back home again and still catching up on messages, I hope to answer everything by tomorrow. It was a great trip and I had fun visiting my family, but it is always good to be home!)

Alligator frame (more about the markers and frames)

Since I was not entirely happy with the results on the blue baby frame I decided to try the markers again but to do the outside of the frame as well - thinking that this might make the thick lines that fall with in the frame bars and are not cut less noticeable.

I had designed this little frame for our Florida vacation photos (there were alligators there - something we don't have up North!). So, I did the same thing that I did on the baby frame (see last post) - copying and pasting the interior elements on to a separate mat and "unchecking" the weld box.

First I used the original mat and the marker - the result looked like this (still in the machine).



Then I went to the second page - the mat with just the four alligators - and used the markers again, returning the mat to the "load paper" position to be sure the lines would be in exactly the same place.



Finally, I returned the mat to the "load paper" position again, removed the marker, inserted the blade and cut the first page of the design.

My first attempt at this did not include outlining the frame and it looked like this on the mat after cutting.



The little kitchen scraper was very handy again in removing this from the mat - just started with a new mat and it is sticky! Also this frame has only a few small "connectors" so it is a bit harder to remove.



Here is the first version with markers only on the alligators - something looks "off" to my eye.



Here is the "full marker" version.



And here are both versions side by side - I vote for the markers all around the frame if you use markers - I think the look is neater and helps distract from the thickness of the element lines that cross into the frame bars. Of course this might not be the most attractive example since the alligators mouth full of teeth turns totally black from all the marker work!



Alligator frame (with page for adding markers)

I think each design just takes some experimenting to get the best look. Have fun with this - if you do an alligator layout or card using this frame I'd love to see it!

Baby Boy frames (by request)

Nellie from the Cricut message board contacted me because she was having difficulties adapting one of my baby bug frames to use for her great-grandsons (one already here and one due very soon - Congratulations, Nellie!). She told me she wanted the word "sweet" at the bottom, stars and moon in the corners, the New Arrival train at the top and a monkey and a giraffe on the sides.



I tried one and sent her the file - I had just used Animal Kingdom for something else so that cartridge was the one that came to mind for the giraffe and monkey. I sent it to her and she mentioned she had been trying to use the ones on ZooBalloo - I looked and they were much "cuter" so I did another version that way.



I really like the tail on the ZooBalloo monkey!

The "smoke" from the train looks cute going up through the top border of the frame but if you use a background filler (from my post a few days ago) you will need to cut an extra bit from the waste and place behind the hole as pictured below.



Here is a photo of these frames without the background filler.



Nellie was happy with the result and I am sharing it in case any of you need some baby frames.

Sweet baby frame using Animal Kingdom giraffe and monkey

Sweet baby frame using ZooBalloo giraffe and monkey

Have fun with these!

Happy Spring! (with a few more frames)

These were fun to do and the possible variations are endless - you do need the Animal Kingdom cartridge in addition to George to cut these (you could also change to a different font but I was trying to keep the number of cartridges as low as possible).

I think these would be really cute if you added the details to the animals that are eliminated when using the welding function. (googly eyes on the bunny?)

Here is a close up of the Happy Easter frame...



and the Spring Chicken frame...



Different background colors give different effects...



Placing these on a bright background and the colors really pop!



Maybe you could use these for a card or some other Easter project - it comes so early this year - I hope these files save you some time!

Happy Easter with Bunnies 5.5 inch frame

Spring Chicken 5.5 inch frame