ATCs

If you are reading this the day that it is posted, I am either on my way, or at the Hamburg Hideaway for a scrappy weekend away! I will be having a ball creating, watching movies, listening to music, eating, & hanging out w/ great friends!

Have you ever created an ATC (Artist Trading Card)? I never had because I never knew what to do with them, or what the purpose of them is. I did a little research on them, & this is what I came up with (I also posted this on The Everyday Scrapper):

As their name indicates, ATCs are collectables, a brilliant idea born of the older sports-themed trading cards. The one rule that makes an ATC derives from their origins: the dimensions of the ATC must be 2.5″x3.5″.

Now, it seems there are a few “rules” that go along with the dimensions:

First, an ATC must not be sold, only exchanged, as the whole essence of these tiny works of art is about artists meeting (by correspondence or online if need be) and exchanging their works, thus meeting many artists and getting exposed to many personal styles.

Second, on the back of each ATC the artist writes part or all of the following information: name, contact information, title of the ATC and number (1/8, 2/8…) if it’s part of an edition. By definition ATCs are made in limited numbers, often no more than one of a kind. Unique ATCs are called originals; sets of identical ATCs are called editions and are numbered; sets of ATCs that are based on one theme but that are different are called series. Don’t be intimidated by the concept of small editions or originals: very few people are anal about this. What most collectors really want are cards that were made with care. Based on that, numbers are meaningless.

That’s all! The above is all you need to know to start making your own ATCs. Common sense dictates that they should be sturdy enough to survive mailing, and of reasonable thickness (unless you specifically want them otherwise. Transparent card sleeves are useful to protect the cards if need be. This is particularly true if they can easily get smudged or if the medium might stick during transport

With that being said, here is my first attempt at an ATC:

I created this for the Crop Stop monthly ATC challenge, which was a Paris them:

And here is the 2nd one that I did, which I created with the supplies sent to me for my From Here to Scrapternity Inspirational Team term, & it was my challenge for the FH2S crop this past weekend.

Thanks for looking at my attempts at ATCs.