C.A.S.E. ATC Disaster

 Hello!  This is a warning....this is a very long post!  But it will be entertaining.  Especially if you enjoy funny fails.  So take a minute..........grab a cup of coffee and maybe a cinnamon roll and enjoy a few laughs.  I have combined pictures into some photo collages so there won't be like a gazillion photos taking up space.

First up my Disclaimer....................No Pinterest Poster or Blogger will be defamed in this post and will only be referred to as ALICE. (wink wink)  Also I have had to sit on this post for a while because the final (though still not perfect by my standards) project had to be mailed and I did not want the recipient to see it here first.  She finally received it so here we go::::

Ok.............Deep breath.........heeheehee.  So, I do not do challenges.  Why? Because I do not follow through and usually never finish and if I do finish it's always thrown together at the last minute.  Story of my life.  I also don't get into swaps for the same reason.  I mean I'm always willing to help if you need something.  If you need (12) die cut 3" pine trees in hot pink and I have that die I'll cut you those trees but don't send me (12) 3" palm trees in return as a swap.  Its just not me.  So now to the point of my post.  A friend has a birthday in the same month as mine.  As a matter of fact hers is just 3 days after mine.  Now she is very "Internet Savey".  Makes YouTube videos, involved in a million challenges, swaps, artsy crafty and still has time to be a mom, grandma etc. Maybe I'm just a bit lazier on the life side hahahaha.  Give me a Latte and a Laptop and I'm good for the day!  Well anyway to celebrate her Birthday she is having a raffle and it involved ATC cards.  Send her an ATC and your name gets put into the raffle.   "I" have not seen a purpose in ATC's but that's just me.  Let's not get into that cuz that's a whole nother story! And seriously who has time for all my gibberish?   Ok ok back to the ATC.  Nope not gonna do it.  Well ok got my Raspberry Chai Latte (OMG soooo good) and laptop and started looking up easy peasy ATC's just for the heck of it.  I mean she is my friend and I guess I could afford to spend the price of a stamp to mail an ATC.  So, I ran to Pinterest.  Did you know those buggers are only 2.5 x 3.5?????  What the heck????  I usually throw out scraps bigger than that!  Ok let's shift gears.  What if I make like a mini album for the ATC's?  Well at least for some of them.  I don't know how many she's going to get but while looking at ATC's I did see some mini albums.  I like mini albums.  I've made a few mini albums.  Maybe not this mini but sure..I'll give it a try.  She's worth that.  So I found one on Pinterest that led me to Alices Blog (pretend name remember due to epic fail).

Now Alice said to use cardboard for the base and not cereal box weight but actual box.  She used an old Amazon box.  Well I just so happened to have one of those so I ran to get it.  I needed a piece cut at 3.25 x 14.  Ok you know actual cardboard boxes are really thick right?  How is this suppose to bend correctly?  But ok...follow directions (I'm not good at doing that.  Always followed the beat of a different drummer.  Should have followed that drummer this time)  Next Gesso.  She said it helps paper glue on better (uh, nope didn't work) and paint the cardboard if you want.  Then make score lines.  Alice did have measurements for this but you don't need that info, trust me.  Cut all your pieces of background papers and she said that while the cardboard is still flat it is easier to put the background paper on so I glued the paper down and let it sit over night since I was doing this after dinner.  Next day ready to jump back in, Alice's directions said to bend the cardboard at all the fold lines.  UGHHHH.....every fold had the gesso crack off. (dumb idea in the first place)  Since I was going Shabby Chic, I glued some pink lace over all the fold lines and set the thing aside.  Maybe it won't be so bad if the cracks are covered.  But later as I took pictures my project sure didn't look too promising.  Did I mention that I've never really met this friend in person?  I mean a part of me is saying "Susan.....she'll type a thankyou and you will never know that she dropped it into the trash.  Quit stressing."  LOL

In pic #1 you can see how I had to cover all seams with lace to hide all cracked folds.  #2 shows big bubble in middle caused from Mod Podge. Oh and why I tried Mod Podge is told later on. #3 also shows bubbles on the front by doily. #4 shows how papers not sticking and how bad the edges look.  I know it's suppose to be Shabby but seriously this looks more Crappy than Shabby.

Now work on inside envelopes.  Alice should have called them pockets because envelopes have flaps that close and these are just open sleeve type things but "Whatever" it's her tutorial.  LOL I needed 25 sheets of 9"x 4.25" designer cardstock.  Scored at 3" and 6" fold and glue side.  Punch notch at top and no need to close bottom because this will be secured in album.  Alrighty then..............got it! You can use any coordinating papers for this as long as they were the right size and it doesn't matter what the paper pattern is since its not really seen.  Though most of mine were regular 12x12 designer sheets it was hard to find 13 coordinating sheets since you could only get 2 pockets out of 1 12x12 sheet and I needed 25 pockets.  So I did add in 2 sheets of 12x112 that matched but were clearly made to be used in a scrapbook layout.  You can see what I mean by the photo below.  But if folded right you never even see the writing.  Also, to be honest if Alice took the time to do better measurements you probably could have gotten more pockets per sheet, but I was following directions.

Photo #1 shows you can use any scrap big enough and scored.  #2 is folded and glued #3 has notch cut on top #4 is all 25 pockets glued at the bottom ready to be put into the album cover.

Alice then said to start going through stash for things to use for decorating the front of the album.  Well, I'm a big "Make it yourself" kind of gal so I made a few flowers, painted some burlap, and made a couple mini envelopes.  I then decided to add some sparkle to the album itself. (see results in first group of pictures)  I have some Sparkle Mod Podge and used it on the outside of the album.  MISTAKE!!!  Since Alice said to glue only the edges of the paper to the cardboard, when I added the Mod Podge it created bubbles under the paper!  Oops...ok that's ok put an embellie on top of all bubbles.  Its Shabby Chic.  I let everything dry and went back to the inside envelopes. (or call them pockets seen in second set of photos)  These were to be attached to each other at the bottom.  One on top of the other using score tape so I went to work attaching each one until I had 1 fat stack of pockets.  I was sooooo excited!  It's all coming together.  Back to the album cover.  Alice said to poke a hole in the top flap for string and add a button to the front panel to wrap it around to close the album.  Or she said if your hesitant on that you can use small Velcro dots to close it.  I opted for the Velcro dots.  I figured my embellies would get in the way of a button and string.  I place the Velcro on and stood up my album and.....well...........ummm..............talk about WONKY????

Ok and those edges!!!  Ugghhh...so I put it to the side and moved forward.

I'm loving these soft pink and tannish colors with a little gray thrown in here and there. I figured if I just keep going things will be fine at the finish line.   THEN!!!!!  Took those pockets, placed them in the album cover bottom and..................it DOES NOT FIT!!!  The cover is way too BIG!!  Oh for "Pete's Sake!"  Are you kidding me????  After hours and hours and hours of collecting just the right papers, cutting and scoring cardboard, gluing, cracking issues, bubble issues, wonkiness ...Triple checking Alices measurements and directions, now it's not the right size for the gosh darn pockets???

#1 Photo shows how the paper keeps ripping away everytime you open the Velcro.  Bottom Left photo is the front view of the stack of pockets before going into the album. Right photo is the stack of pockets just sitting inside the album.  Obviously it doesn't fit.

Now those pocket bottoms are supposed to cover the entire bottom.  Alice said she adjusted the measurements she originally found to be able to hold 25 pockets since the original one only held 8.  Well, I don't know how Alice got her's to look so perfect but mine?????  Looks like a 6yr old did it. Alice also said using the thick cardboard instead of thick cardstock was better and sturdier if you're going to be opening and closing it a lot.  Look at those edges!!!!  Seriously!!!!  LOOK AT THOSE EDGES!!!   OMG!  and they haven't even made it through a day yet!  How on earth am I to give this as a surprise!  Its more like : "Surprise!" I told you I can't do challenges or swaps" "Here's your proof"!  LOL  This is also why I follow the beat of my own drummer.  If a tutorial says to use chip board I grab a cereal box if you need to have some stickles I usually just grab Elmers glue and add glitter.  But this time I wanted to show my friend that I can follow a real tutorial and finish a project.  Well this part got tossed.  Not the pockets but the album and I restarted with Thick Watercolor paper for the cover.  Thank goodness I had enough scraps of original papers to switch up but still have a similar album cover.

So lets try this again........................Go get another cup of "Joe".  But don't leave yet.  I'm hoping this will all be worth it.  YIKES!!!

I will not bore you with all the details since this is a very long post to begin with but I re figured the numbers and with new measurements I was able to create a cover that fits the 25 pockets.  Whewwww.  Moving onward.  I took all my embellies arranged them on the front and got my hot glue gun ready.  I tossed out Alices idea of string and a button and her Velcro idea and opted for a tiny clip that I sandwiched the one handle between some leaves punched from a cardboard coffee sleeve.  It made it look less office supply more crafty.  I then glued my pockets into the cover and ventured on to the actual ATC card that was to go with it.  Since this is also my first all I knew about them was the size and it was suppose to be artsy.  So I made mine to match the album and it was very 3D.  Ok....so I found out it was toooo 3D for the album.  Figures....not one part of this project is going to go easy for me.  So I set it aside and made another more flat one.  I actually like both.  Although only one will fit in the album I will probably just give her both cards anyway.

Top left is the front of cover and top right is the side showing all 25 pockets.  Bottom left is the back of the cover with the envelope I made to hold my ATC card and on right is the over embellished ATC that doesn't fit.  lol

Top phots are the inside views and bottom photos are the original ATC card I made.

Here's my re-made ATC.  Though it is quite similar, it is alot flatter and fits nicly into the back envelope and will slide into the inside pockets.

Now that I am done I guess all I need is a box and get it into the mail. There are changes that I would definitely make.  One is I noticed that the pockets themselves are bigger than the ATC's.  I don't know what Alice was thinking because she specifically stated to make your pockets from a 9x4 1/2 paper and score at 3 and 6.  That gives you a pocket that is 3 x 4 1/4 for an ATC that is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.  Does not make sense to me now that I'm finished.  Another thing would be the weight for the cover and what is used to close it.  Like I said at the beginning I'm not an ATC person but I can see this little album with maybe 12 pockets and used as a birthday tracker.  In fact I have a friend who could use that too so I'll do a tutorial on that later.

Hope I haven't put you all into a coma!

Enjoy the day and til next time...........................................

HAPPY CARDING!