Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

This is going to be a blatant ad for a group that I run on Facebook. This group is called PCA ATC Swap Group, an off-shoot of Paper Craft Addicts (PCA), a group that I inherited a while ago. Neither group is a Stampin' Up! group; indeed no buying, selling or recruiting is allowed in these groups. They're just a place to show off your creativity. 

So, what's an ATC? It's an Artist Trading Card (the blog title may have given it away already). Basically they are single cards (like a card front) measuring 2.5" x 3.5" and created to a theme. Participants make enough copies so that everybody gets one, usually a minimum of 6; 9 is a good number because then you have full page of ATCs if you're storing them in trading card sleeves - more on that later. Generally it's no more than 9, unless there are more than 9 participants and you want one of everybody else's. Each person keeps one copy for themselves and posts the rest to me with a stamped self-addressed envelope. Once I receive all of the ATCs for that month, I sort them so that each person gets one of everybody else's ATCs, then I mail them back. Sounds complicated, but it's not really.

Our group has a different theme each month, and every few months we add an extra challenge of using a particular technique or material or whatever. The ATC swap has been going since August 2014 and we've had quite a few themes/techniques/people over the years. I won't bore you with all of them, but I will show you the ones I made this year. We put the group on hold in August this year due to low numbers of participants, but we're going to start it up again for January, so I hope some of you out there might like to give it a go next year (that's why this is an ad).

January                    February                     March

January 2017 - School. I used SU Black Chalkboard cardstock (long retired but I am a hoarder) and I wrote on it with a Chalk Marker (the first SU thing I ever bought, back in 2013!). I glued some strips of Kraft cardstock around the outside and used a corner punch. It's supposed to be an old-fashioned school slate.

February 2017 - Fashion. Some of you will recognise one of the Beautiful You stamps. I used the Watercolour Pencils to colour the dress and hat, die cut an oval, then foam mounted it over two mats and finished off with a gold star.

March 2017 - Teddy Bear (added challenge: monochrome). I printed out a cute teddy bear image from the Internet, coloured it with Watercolour Pencils and SU Blendabilities then foamed-mounted it on a background of DSP. I added a few little bling spots as well. Monochrome was harder than I thought it would be!

April                     April (#2)                      May

April 2017 - Crime. This one was fun. I printed out all of the elements and fussy cut where necessary. I used Crystal Effects on the magnifying glass to give it a glass-like effect. Unfortunately someone pulled out of this month, at the last minute, so I made an extra set. I printed out the background (combining the top of a book and a photo of Agatha Christie's books), then printed out two more book covers (Murder on the Orient Express & Death on the Nile) and foam mounted them over the corresponding image in the larger picture. It was a pretty basic ATC, but I didn't have a lot of time for this one.

May 2017 - Fairies. Stamped the image from the Fairy Celebrations stamp set and then coloured it using ink and an Aqua Painter. Added some bling to finish it off.

  June                           July                         August

June - Landmarks (added challenge: map background). I printed pictures of landmarks and added country and 'postage' information to each. I used the retired Stamp Punch to punch them out and foam mounted them onto a map background. I really like this one, if I do say so myself, lol.

July - Snowmen. I chose this theme because we really don't get to celebrate snow very often in Australia, and it was Winter at the time. I punched three different sized circles and added some pale blue ink to them (using a sponge dauber - doesn't really show in the photo). Glued the circles onto the ATC, added some facial features and buttons, drew a mouth and arms, and voila!

August - Hats. Stamped the hats from the Guy Greetings stamp set in different colours, then foam-mounted the sentiment.

So, as you can see, you can make a big effort, or keep it simple, it's really up to you. The thing I really enjoy about ATCs is seeing how different people interpret the theme. It's quite interesting.

Here are just some of the group photos...

November 2014 - Movember

These were fun - mine is the "Half a Mo" on the lower right.

June 2015 - Royalty (with lace)

Such a variety here. Mine is the purple one in the middle of the bottom row, I used a stamp for my lace component.

January 2016 - Summer

Really bright and summery! Mine is top right, with the shells.

Now, I hear you asking, "But what do I do with all these ATCs?" Good question. Some people (like me) put them into trading card sleeves (like footy cards) and keep them in an album - it's great for ideas and techniques. Others use them to make cards. I made an extra couple in February this year so I turned them into cards. One person gave some of hers to the local school to use however they saw fit.

 Our group is only available to Australia residents, due to time and postage constraints. If you live in Australia and would like to join our little group, please let me know. You don't have to participate EVERY month, you can come and go as you please. Hopefully I will see some of YOUR ATCs soon!