Artist Trading Card craftiness

so, I've gotten into making and trading ATCs (artist trading cards) again... basically, they're small pieces of artwork the size of a baseball card that you can trade with other artists. They can be made using any media- paint, pen and ink, pencil, collage, fabric, you name it. You can trade them either locally-- in person, at events coordinated in/by art stores, or trade thru the mail with people all over the world, using the internet. I've started trading on a website called ATCsforAll.com-- there is some absolutely amazing artwork out there, and this is a good way to collect/trade/swap small pieces of it! Below are photos of some of my recent ATCs; it's really a fun, quick way to make art, which is good for me, because I have problems finishing projects sometimes if they seem like too large of a task. These two photos are of a trading card I made for a specific themed swap-- the theme is "folded cards." Basically, the card has to be folded somehow (as long as it's still 2.5 x 3.5 in the end). I need three cards total-- I finished two of them last night. This first one was done with rubber stamps and colored pencil-- it's a Japanese garden theme. The lanterns were stamped, colored, cut out, and glued on top of the bamboo.

Inside the card is a hidden garden full of cherry blossoms and a pond. The images were stamped and colored with pencil. I hadn't left any space for the woman to stand (I didn't want her to stand in the middle of the pond!), so I made her a small bridge to stand on out of card stock.

This is another folded card, but made in a really different style- I made a window frame out of brown textured cardstock, and a garden scene "outside" the window using Stampin' Up flower stamps.

( it's hard to see, but I did add some glitter on the flowers and the butterfly.) I also made some cards recently for trading at an in-person event in Phoenix-- a couple weeks ago was the very first event, and it was a lot of fun! It was held at an art supply shop: we got to trade our cards with other attendees, try out art supplies and make some cards, enjoy refreshments, and win some prizes! I want to keep attending, and hopefully they'll get more of a turnout in the future. The theme was "self-portrait." I wasn't about to attempt a realistic self-portrait, so I collaged portraits using a rubber stamp to represent different moods or facets of my personality--

this is one of them-- the image was stamped onto a page from a vintage engineering textbook, cut out, then added to a collaged/painted background. (One of my other self-portraits even won the store's contest, and is on display for the next month at the store!!) Most of my cards have painting and/or paper on in some fashion, but not all are collaged. Below are a few more of my recent cards, in different styles.

This cards is a particular type of doodling, called Zentangles. A basic outline design is drawn first, then the spaces are filled in with repetitive patterns. It's actually kind of relaxing to do (except when your pen doesn't work all that well, that is!) I used to doodle all the time when I was younger; it's nice to have started doing it again.

This one was made during the trading session at the art store-- we got to try out some very nice watercolor pencils-- I basically made large sections of color using the pencils, wet the paper to create washes, then used a pen to draw/doodle in the flowers.

This one is a collaged card, with a background made from various papers, including vintage music, part of a magazine photo, and some handmade mulberry paper. Gold edging, a printout of a vintage postcard, and words cut out of a vintage book finish it off. ATCs might be small, but they are really fun to make, and addictive to trade!! ...after all, why should kids have all the fun with baseball, Pokemon, or football cards? (let me know if you want one, and I'll send a small bit of handmade art goodness right to your mailbox!!)