ATC card frame

I was trying to get my computer desktop cleaned up today and I realized that it had been months since I posted any of the ATCs (artist trading cards) I have been doing for my Cricut Message Board swap group. So I thought I'd add one today which uses a simple .cut file that might be useful for others who make ATCs.

Our group has monthly themes and in August (I am really behind in posting these!) the theme was metal. I thought about using a metal charm of some sort but I wasn't sure if I could find 10 matching ones. I had been trying to use one of my photographs on each card and I had just taken some photos of some beautiful hollyhocks so I decided to try making a "metal" frame for the photo in the ATC card size.

The file will cut six frames on a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch cardstock. I used plain white cardstock to cut the frames. After the frames were cut I ran them through the Xyron machine to apply an even coat of adhesive.



Then I applied each frame, sticky side down to a sheet of aluminum foil.



I trimmed close to the outer edges with scissors



Then I burnished the frame to the foil to be sure that it was smooth and neat.



I cut an "x" in the inner area of the frame,



folded the points back over the sides of the frame,



and trimmed the triangles on the sides to fit inside the frame.



Then I folded the foil edges tightly over the outer edges of the frame and smoothed them down.



I made sure that the front of the frame was smooth and neat so it looked like this



Here are all of the frames ready for the next step



I placed the frame in the center of the "tiny bubbles" Cuttlebug folder



When it came out it looked like this



I cropped my photo to 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 and printed it on matte photo paper and trimmed the photos to 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches - I printed pink in the background in case the frame was a bit off (at least there would be no white spot showing if the size wasn't perfect).



Then I applied very sticky adhesive (red liner) to the pink areas so the frame could be attached.



I gently settled the frame on the taped surface so that I would not crush the embossing.



Here are the ATCs ready to go to our hostess.



The .cut file cuts a 1/2 inch frame - I did it in Plantin Schoolbook since I was cutting from 8 1/2 x 11 paper but you can easily recreate it in George by duplicating the sizes and positions of the rectangles (use the values in the Shape Properties Box) - you may want to use the George square and change the proportions instead of the rectangle which sometimes causes file errors.

ATC half inch frames