Hybrid ATC Mini Album by Jan Barlow
Hi! Welcome to week two of our digi/hybrid mini month! (Well, that was fun to say!) I’m Jan (aka pascrapgal) and this is not only my first tutorial as a new Fashionista, but my first tutorial – evah! I hope you have fun with it!
ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) are all the rage, right now, aren’t they? I think it’s because they are tiny little works of art that are not only really fun to make, but also really quick to make. For this tutorial, I thought it would be fun to take the ATC one step further and make a little mini book out of ATC cards bound together. For my project, I used 7 photos and 8 ATC cards.
Click here to see entire project on my profile page.
To make this hybrid mini, you don’t need a photo editing program. You don’t even need a word processing program. You only need to be able to print from your computer. How great is that? You can officially call yourself a hybrid scrapper when you’ve completed this mini! I had so much fun making it and I bet you will, too!
I will show you how to create the hybrid ATC mini on regular playing cards, and I’ll show you a fun technique that I used for embellishment. I made my mini very lumpy and sort of funky/distressed. (It kind of took on a life of its own!) After you view this tutorial you can do the same or keep it very clean and simple. Feel free to create yours in whatever style you choose! Ready? Let’s get started!
I’ve created a pdf file for you to download that contains a materials list and the set of instructions. Just click on the link below to access the pdf file!
Download JBarlow_HybridATCMiniAlbumTutorial_4-14-08.pdf
For the hybrid ATC mini you will need:
§ Printable ATC Collage Sheets, Volumes 1 and 2 (found in the SIStv Boutique – Digital section – under ‘SIStv Smashups (Printables and Hybrid)”
§ Matte photo paper or smooth, white cardstock (for printing collage sheets)
§ 8 regular playing cards
§ fine grade sandpaper
§ adhesive(s) (I used a Xyron, an ATG, a glue pen and Tacky glue)
§ 7 printed photos, each sized to fit on a hole-punched ATC card
§ Dye and chalk inks (I used Staz-On black and various Colorbox Chalk inks)
§ Acrylic paints in light blue, light green and red (to match papers) and cream
§ Small foam brushes
§ Fine glitter (I used silver, green and blue)
§ 2-1/4 “ scallop circle punch or die cutter
§ Bind-it-all and o-wire (I used 1” wire) OR a hole punch and 2 binder rings
§ Clear-stamp alphabet
§ Journaling pen(s)
Optional Materials for journaling/embellishments:
Cardstock, manual typewriter, ribbon, buttons, chipboard, stickers, rub-ons, brads and any other little tidbits you’d like to add from your stash – and I know you have one!
Step 1. Purchase and download the ATC Collage sheets from the boutique. These great papers were created by the fabulous Kerry Lynn Yeary, one of SIStv’s own Fashionistas! I printed out both volumes (2 pages of 9 designs each) onto the matte photo paper for a great, crisp image. Choose the “Shrink to Printable Area” option before printing. (see below) This makes the papers slightly smaller than the playing card and provides a little border all around the edges.
Step 2: Cut out 9 colored rectangles and 7 black/white rectangles for your mini. I used scissors so I could slightly round each corner as I cut, creating a softer edge. After cutting out each piece, lightly sand each paper edge, again paying attention to the corners.
Step 3: Adhere the papers to the cards. I ran all my little papers through the Xyron first, ensuring a good, even stick. Adhere a black/white paper to one side and a colored paper to the opposite side for 7 of the cards. On the 8th card, adhere a colored paper to both sides. Because the bound mini will open like a book, I laid mine out so that all the b/w sides were on the left of each 2-page layout and the colored sides were on the right. The one card with 2 colored sides is the last card, which will then create a colored back cover. This design gave my eclectic, colorful little book a sense of unity.
Step 4: Punch 4 binder holes in the top left side of each colored card. SIStv’s webisode # 65 shows how to use an o-wire binding with hand-punched holes rather than Bind-it-all punched holes. If you don’t have o-wire, simply punch two holes (rather than 4) and use loose binder rings. Just be sure that your rings are big enough to allow your pages to turn easily.
Step 5: Apply acrylic paints to the edges of all the cards. I loved the look of using contrasting, but coordinating colors. I had fun letting go and NOT being precise here! J Let dry. (Note: if you would like a much “cleaner” looking card, you could paint – or gesso – all of your playing cards before adhering the collage papers, and then skip this step.)
Step 6: Distress all of the edges of the cards by roughly (and carefully!) rubbing the inside edges of an open scissors along the edges of the cards.
Step 7: Ink the edges of each of your prepared photos with black Staz-On ink. While this ink does dry quickly, you will still want to be careful not to get it on the photo. (I have found this usually happens from my fingers, not the ink pad!)
Step 8: Choose 7 of the remaining unused colored collage papers to punch a scallop circle for layering under each photo. Take into consideration the patterns and colors you already having going on in each 2-page layout as well as the colors in your photos. Roughly cut out the 7 papers you’ve chosen. Before cutting the circles out of each rectangle, run each of the 7 papers you’ve chosen through the Xyron.
Tip: After Xyron-ing, but before punching/die cutting, lift the slippery adhesive backing sheet on each paper a bit and make a cut into the backing (not the sheet) with your scissors, about halfway into the rectangle, and then re-adhere the backing. This will make it MUCH easier to remove the backing in Step 10. Now punch or die cut the 7 scallop circles.
Step 9: Paint the edges of each of the scalloped circles (with the adhesive backing sheet still attached) with a coordinating color of paint. Let dry.
Step 10: Adhere a scalloped circle to the black/white (left) side of the first 2-page layout. (Bend the circle, as in photo above, a little to release and grab the backing off the adhesive where you had cut it.) Be sure to let some of the circle stick out over the edge of the card after it’s adhered.
Then, flip the card over and sprinkle glitter onto the sticky, overhanging part of the circle. Rub it in really good, for a good stick. Brush away excess. FUN! Do this for each of your 7 scalloped circles, one at a time, varying the placement of the circles on each left-hand page, so that when you’re done, there will be glittered circle parts sticking out all around the outer (unbound) edges of the mini.
Step 11: Adhere your photos on top of the scalloped circles and place journaling strips around the photos. I used a manual typewriter to type onto ivory cardstock and cut out either whole words or individual letters, inked all the edges and glued to the card.
Step 12: Using a contrasting, but coordinating, color of paint, stamp a word on each of the colored sides of the cards. The word should be relevant to the journaling and/or the photo on the left side of the layout.
Step 13: Now you have the basic hybrid ATC mini pages completed. From here, you can embellish as you desire. I was careful to not put “pokey” things across from photos. I basically approached each half of each 2-page layout as I would any regular ATC. This is a great place to use little goodies from your stash!
Step 14: Finally, insert your binding wire/rings into the holes and close. Now you have an adorable little mini made out of ATC cards!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. Of course, you can customize to make your mini as chunky or flat, as simple or complex as YOU would like! Here are some other ideas for making a hybrid ATC mini: You could just adhere the collage sheets down, add some labels and use for a journal. These papers are gorgeous all on their own. Or you could completely fill one side of each layout with a photo and decorate the other. You could assemble and decorate, leaving out the photos and give to someone to add their own photos to. You could gesso and/or paint the naked playing cards and just use bits and pieces of the collage papers and make actual mini collages on each page, and then add song lyrics, a favorite poem, bible verses, whatever. The possibilities are endless.
Please let me know if you have any questions by emailing me at janlbinpa@hotmail.com. I would LOVE to see what you make, as well! Thanks for playing with me! ;)
