Artist Trading Cards (otherwise known as ATC's) have been around for a long time - however they seem to be gaining a lot more popularity in the stamping/paper crafting world as of late.
Until *just* recently I had never made an ATC before but then I was invited to join an "invitation only" ATC swap w/ some other fine stampers on SCS. I said yes and had to make 2 different ATC's for the 2 groups I'm in.
I've always known that ATC's are basically a smaller (they're 2.5" x 3.5") version of a card front - but until I actually cut the CS and had them in my hands I never really realized how small they really are!!
I saw this diagram in one of Beth's blog posts that shows how to get **10** ATC's from one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 CS so I used that for making mine.
This was the first one I did:
The base is Creamy Caramel CS (that I sponged the edges of) and Basic Grey paper (which inspired all the colors of this ATC - it's great paper!).
I stamped all the butterflies w/ Basic Black Craft ink onto SU vellum paper and embossed w/ Clear embossing powder (**when doing this one must be *very* careful not to burn the vellum as it's VERY thin and heats quickly**). I then colored them all in w/ pastels and a blender pen and sealed them w/ a matte finish acrylic sealer (a gloss finish would have been better IMO (in my opinion) but I don't have any on hand) and then cut *all* of them out w/ my paper snips.
I mounted the butterflies onto the ATC by applying glue to *just* the body so the wings stick up. I then added some Coffee Ice Stickles (that I got from StarLitStudio) to sections of the wings.
To finish the ATC I added some mustard grosgrain and a little Prima flower w/ a rhinestone center.
For my second ATC I came up w/ this:
I used a stamp from the new Love Matters set in the Winter Mini. I stamped it using Palette Hybrid Noir Ink (you can get it from TAC and I think Cornish Heritage Farms is also carrying them now) then added a shadow to ground the image (using SU's Charcoal Watercolor Wonder Crayon and an AquaPainter).
Once that was dry I used markers to color in the letters - not a difficult technique but time consuming as I did them in all different colors!
I notched the edges of the Whisper White CS (using SU's Ticket Corner Punch) and sponged it w/ Close to Cocoa ink.
I cut a strip of the new Loves Me paper (also in the Winter Mini), crumpled it up, flattened it out and sanded it to distress it and glued it in place.
I added more little Prima Flowers and filled all the centers w/ more Coffee Ice Stickles (I LOVE the color of that stuff!!).
I just hope everyone likes these when they get them!!
I'm going to be ordering one of SU's On Board ATC albums to decorate and store all my ATC's that I get from the swap. Once I get it and finish it I'll post it on here for y'all to see! :o)
