Using transparencies with "A Child's Year"

Today I tried a few more cuts using A Child's Year. I'd really like to just sit and cut everything on the cartridge (if only the days were longer). There are so many beautiful shapes and images and the tags and cards are very clever - I think I will be using them a lot!



I was starting to reorganize all of my "stuff" into the new island cubbies and I came across this pack of transparencies that I got a while ago when I was visitng my sister in New Jersey



I had only used one pink gingham sheet for an ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap. This is a photo of the card I made - the eggs actually move around inside the card (it is very thick). Here is a LINK to the post about this ATC if you are interested in seeing how I made it.



This little girl with a bouquet is one of the sample cuts I made the first day I had the cartridge. I decided to make a card using ivory cardstock for an "old fashioned" look.



I tried out the greenish aqua transparency as an overlay and I liked the way it looked - now the problem was to figure out how to adhere it (on my ATC's the transparency was "sandwiched" between other layers so no adhesive showed).



The first method I tried (glue lines) was too sticky and clunky and when I tried to remove it with some "Goo Gone" I found out it removed the printing on the transparency as well!



So I cut another piece and tried using a glue pen around the edges - I thought my lines were straight and even but the glue seemed pull into smaller segments as it dried.



When I stuck it to the card you could clearly see the adhesive...gaps and all! SO I thought a bit and decided to try to cover the edge with some pretty ribbon.



I cut 1/4 inch ribbon into the appropriate lengths and used 1/8 inch Scor-Tape on the back. Scor-Tape works wonderfully for adhering ribbon without any liquid oozing through and making the ribbon look messy. It is super sticky so be careful that you get your ribbon in the right place the first time (!).



I tried to make perfect mitered corners - they were "practically perfect" but a bit off and the card needed a little something extra to make it special.



So I added two flat backed pearls at each corner. It is a bit hard to photograph and get the effect of the shine from the transparency but the overall look is soft and shiny. I could cut a sentiment and add it on top of the transparency or just use this as a notecard.

It would be less "fussy" to just cut a paper frame in the appropriate size and adhere my transparency to the frame and then layer it on the card with the adhesive on the paper only (similar to the way I used the transparency on the ATC). I do like the extra texture the the ribbon adds.



Next I cut a lovely shaped tag at three inches. The cartridge cuts the large and small sizes for layering on the regular and shift of the tag creative feature key.



The complicated shapes layer neatly with the holes aligned.



I added the pre-welded word "baby" twice underneath the transparency and threaded a wide grosgrain ribbon through the hole at the top. This would be lovely as a decoration on a gift and could be saved to use in a scrapbook or display in a baby's room.



Finally, I cut another of the fancy shaped tags and the layer. For this one I added the cute little teddy bear under the transparency. The white pen marks emphasize the detail cuts on the teddy bear.



Here is a photo of the assembled tag with a matching ribbon.

When I cut the transparency layers for the tags I used multicut 2 times on the Expression with medium speed, high pressure and blade depth 6 to be sure that I would have a smooth cut. You may still have to apply a little pressure to separate the cut from the sheet of transparency but my cuts were clean.



I think the font on this cartridge will be one of my favorites once the cartridge is added to Design Studio and I can weld my words. The words that are prewelded are very attractive and I have already used several of them.

(No FCTSC digital challenge this week - I may do one next Thursday if there is some interest).