ATC Holder Booklets

I've been wanting to make an ATC holder for myself that would have clear plastic pockets inside, so I could see both the front & backs of the ATCs without needing to take them out. On ccswaps they have a swap to exchange ATC holders and I want to play! Plus I saw the one Chrissy made on her blog, and you never know, I might be the fortunate recipient.

I bought a package of 12 sheets of trading card holders. I cut each sheet into 3 strips horizontally. I divided them into 3 sets of 12 strips. For the books the covers needed to be 4" x 9" long. I had a paper shopping bag that had a great stripe design on it. I was ready to play:

I swiped a Distress Ink pad over the surface, let it dry. Then wrinkled the paper, laid it out, and just inked the top with a darker Distress Ink pad. Since this ink was very dark, I stamped my main images onto brown tissue paper and pasted it on top. For the inside covers, I stamped some quotes & butterflies on top of some decorative background paper.

Once I assembled the booklet, I added some embellishments from my stash of leftovers. Although I've used thick cardboard for book covers before, they were only 4" x 4". With the longer size, the cardboard bent and I didn't realize it hadn't reached the bottom of the slot on the Zutter binder. The holes were on the very edges of the covers, so I trimmed them off and carefully repunched them. The edges of this book on the end where it is bound are "raw", so this one's for me!!!! I like it, and it will remind me to double check what I'm doing when it comes to machinery. The booklet will hold 36 ATCs. I bound the book with a 5/8" coil that looks great, but if the ATC's have much embellishment on them, this might not be a wide enough coil.

For the second book, I wanted to stamp directly on the paper so I wanted to use a lighter ink color. First I spritzed the same paper with water and wrinkled it. Next, I swiped a Distress Ink over the surface, let it dry, then stamped the main images with a darker color Distress Ink.

For the inside covers, I again choose some decorative background paper. I had received the great travel image from Maggie in the Instant Art Swap on ccswaps, it goes great with the theme I'm developing. I also used the image of the two girls on a transparency sheet (I use them a lot, because I printed them up for one project, but changed my mind and did something else. Waste not, want not......, besides it's a great image.)

I used a very thin cardboard as the base to the covers, so they would easily fit in the Zutter binder. This holder was bound with a 1" coil. Once the covers were assembled, I finished the front with more stamping and some embellishments. I will use this one in the swap, I think someone will enjoy having it as an ATC holder.

For both of the holders above, I deliberately decorated the covers with a monotone color scheme on the left side, and more color on the right. The idea being you're eye travels to the end & you continue on to open up the book to see the great art inside.
I still had one more set of plastic trading cards, and need another holder for myself. I wanted to continue on my resolution of using what I have on hand and recycling what I can. I had a couple of sheets of paper that were used to protect my counters when making messy backgrounds. This first sheet was used when I did the shining stones backgrounds, along with other things. I loved the colors, knew it was for me and said "go for it!"

I cut out some letters form the glue resist backgrounds made earlier this month, added some images from my stash along with extra bits cut out from the same sheet of paper. I loved how this quote was already stamped on the paper.

For the inside covers, I used another sheet that had been to protect my work surface, added some image and stamped a couple of sayings. I'm ready to receive some more ATCs and now have a couple of great places to store them.