Scraps Of Mind

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Corina from Patchscrap sent me a lovely gift of some gorgeous pieces of brocade lace for Christmas. And since she and I have been playing with ATCs in recent times (see my article on Artist Trading Cards here to get the lowdown on what they are), I thought I might use some of it for a little project I had in my mind about ATCs.

From a scrapbooking point of view, an ATC can be created as:

• Traditional, with real life elements and embellishments;
• Digital, created as a digital file using all digital elements;
• and Hybrid, creating a major element(s) digitally and incorporating it into a design with real life embellishments.

So I thought it might be fun to make three different ATCs, one in each genre, using some of the brocade lace on each of them to link the three together. And you can see each of the different styles and tell me which you prefer.

Traditional Scrapbooking ATC

My Brocade Dream ATC is made with no use of the computer whatsoever. I’ve used the brocade lace as a backdrop for the focal element (the Edwardian lady) and added snippets of the gold brocade to the edges of the flower petals.

The title is partially hand written (I don’t think that it’s come out particularly well, especially after scanning) and partially from a fabric sticker I had. And some bling accents to add some sparkle.

I do enjoy this romantic style. I rarely use it on my Scrapbook layouts but I’m very fond of it for my ATCs.

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Like many people I make my own business cards for Scraps of Mind. Those of you who receive my free daily RSS Feed may have noticed the logo at the top. Well that is basically my business card.

I simply created it in Photoshop Elements, merged the layers and then duplicated the resulting layer until I had enough to cover a sheet of A4 paper (by the way, I keep an unmerged file as well so I can easily make changes to the card without recreating it from scratch). Then I print it out on satin finish photo paper and stick the sheet onto some cardstock. Cut them out with my rotary cutter or scissors and give them a light sanding on the edges to remove any burrs. A couple of dozen usually lasts me a fair while so I don’t mind doing them by hand.

So really this is an extension of Artist Trading Cards, except the edition run is larger than you would normally do for an ATC edition.

But before business cards were invented, everyday people used Calling Cards sometimes called Visiting Cards.

In the Victorian era, well-to-do ladies and gentlemen would have special cards made to leave at the homes of friends who were out when they called. The custom originated in France in the early 1800s and then quickly spread across England and America.

Calling Cards evolved their own set of etiquette rules, being carried in elegant card cases which were made of sterling silver, papier-mache or mother-of-pearl. Making social calls was a formal part of Victorian life and cards would be left on the elegant trays in the hallways of homes, to be presented to the occupant. They even had a code which involved folding a corner of the card to convey a message: top right corner meant ‘congratulations’, bottom right meant ‘condolences’ and bottom left meant ‘farewell’. If the top left of the corner was folded it meant that the visitor had come in person and an unfolded card meant that they had sent a servant.

Hundreds of thousands of Calling Cards were printed throughout the 19th century in many different styles. There was even a style of card which had a decorative piece of Victorian ’scrap’ attached to the left side. When lifted up it revealed the card owner’s name or a hidden message.

How cool would it be to have your own personal Calling Cards? I mean really personal ones, not just cards from a template in some printing kiosk. Always handy to give someone when they need your phone number (if you’re not someone who has business cards) or to leave a short message for someone who’s out when you call on them. Why not make a few of your own? You can make them using hand scrapping techniques or digital scrapbooking techniques.

And here’s another cool idea, make a Virtual Calling Card to leave as your signature in on-line guestbooks or as your forum signature in scrapbooking forums. Annie’s Calling Cards has a range of free card templates for you to choose from if you don’t want to make your own. All you need to do is add your name and details with your photo editing software.

What do you think?

Other Related Posts:

Artist Trading Cards
Scrapbooking Techniques and Tips - Love your Layers
Cardmaking on the Run

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Learn digital scrapbooking fast
Digital scrapbooking how-to movies make digital scrapbooking in your Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or Paint Shop Pro software easy to do!

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Well it appears that Black and White is back at the top of the list in the fashion stakes. So it’s no surprise that Scrapbooking fashions have mirrored this and Black and White colour schemes are the current scrapbook fashion trend too.

Now I’m not a trendy person. I find keeping up with trends to be exhausting and expensive, so I don’t usually bother. But one of the many charms of scrapbooking is that I can dabble in whatever is the current trend to try it out without making a significant wardrobe commitment and without any peer pressure on me to keep up. So it makes it kind of fun to experiment with a few of the trends as they appear.

So how do you feel about black and white layouts? I don’t mean B&W photos, but the whole colour scheme revolving around black and white.

I thought it might be fun to set up a Gallery of Black and White. And this can include scrapbook layouts, ATCs, cards, altered objects. The full spectrum of scrapbooking artistry.

So do something in black and white and post it on your blog. Link it to this post (if you click on the post title you’ll find the trackback link at the bottom of the post). I’ll post your layout (or whatever) on this page with a link back to your blog. I’ll keep updating this post with the gallery additions as they come in so keep popping back to check out the new contributors. Or get Scraps of Mind updates delivered to your Bloglines or Google Reader to make sure you’re notified of updates.

And if you already have a black and white layout or card posted on your blog, by all means contribute that link to the gallery.

Here are my contributions to kick start the gallery.

The first is a card I made at a Hot off the Press workshop for my nephew’s 19th birthday. And the two below are a pair of ATCs called Old Mother Hubbard (on the left) and Nursery Tales (on the right).

And these two Black & White layouts are from Michelle of Scrappy Hours and her friend

And here’s one from Trish from ArtcTrish

And this great layout and ATCs have been submitted by Brigitte from Scrap Passie

And this lovely number is from Tink of Tink’s Tribulations

Janine from Angelic Ramblings has contributed this lovely number

I’m looking forward to seeing yours.

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Other related posts:

Black and White Scrapbook Layouts

How to Digital Scrapbook

Congratulations to all who took up the challenge

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Learn how to digital scrapbook the easy way.

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