All about Artist Trading Cards

 People ask what is so great about "Artist Trading Cards" all the time.

I just have to say that they are fun to make and create! I consider them Miniature works of Art!
Artist Trading cards are also known as ATC's.

Size:
They must be 2.5"x3.5" or 64x89mm. And are meant for trading ONLY. Usually through the mail via various yahoo groups or in person at a gathering. (The art card above was created for a annual Fiskateer event where everyone made 50+ cards with our photo on the front and our personal info on the back.)

Materials:
ATC's usually are made of a sturdy chipboard backing to ensure safe mailing. I like to recycle cereal and cracker boxes for ATC bases. In the past I used to score and cut each card on my paper trimmer. I went through quite a bit of blades this way! 

I have also made my ATC's with painted vinyl, soda cans, fabric, .....
Craft stores carry a line of Trading card sleeves, envelopes and baggies meant to keep them safe till swapped.

There are usually themes for a swap you might participate in. Here the theme was Nesting dolls. And as long as I kept my shape under 2.5"x3.5", I could use any shape. So I created a hand sewn doll that folds out to show to smaller nesting dolls. Go here to see more nesting dolls.

For the Alice in Wonderland swap, instead of making all my ATC's to be the same, I used a few brochures for the new movie and cut out images for each card. Then I accented them with glitter glue and shrink plastic key charms. I accented the edges with a gold leaf pen. See more Alice in Wonderland here!Sometimes the swap host will provide a template of the shape to use. In this case it was a house I printed out and made a template from card board. I hand cut each ATC and covered it with paper, added a vintage packaging tape transfer image, added some wings from a butterfly punch (cut in two) and finished it off with a few rub-ons.

This Bingo card was created with a rubber stamp made just for art cards. Now days you can also find scores of images or back ground stamps in the exact sizing for your art cards.
The butterfly is one of my favorites and I created it using a variety of alcohol inks. 

The theme was Mardi Gras masks. The top piece of the mask was made from the clear packaging some of your craft products come in. You can see the rest of the Mardi Gras masks here.
Here I hand cut women images from fabric and mod podged them to the paper on the card.
I colored one side of clear vinyl with alcohol inks and them stamped the reverse side with a music sheet stamp and staz- on/ The theme was Easter- hence the eggs.

For a fairy tales theme. I stamped a piece of card stock with a Snow white stamp, colored in the parts needed and covered the image with crackle glaze. The rest of the card is covered in vintage inspired wrapping paper, stamped tissue paper and the edges finished with a gold leafing pen.
For the next two Halloween cards, I just accented already great images with glitter glue and buttons. Then I used my FAVORITE pens, Sakura Soufflé pens that turn opaque on dark paper just like magic!

See more Halloween cards here!

For the Witch card, I brushed the raw side of the ATC blank with white gesso, them ran over it with lime green acrylic. Before that had started to set I added one more layer of crackle glaze. The image is just a basic run of the mill photo copy to which I adhered to the card. I rubbed a little of the gesso around the image edges, added some glitter glue and finished with the soufflé pen.

When you are ready to send out your cards, it's important to add the following:

• Your name
• Your city/sate or country
• Name of the swap
• Date 
• ATC number- 1 of 6, 2 of 6, and so on. 

You can all this to the back of each ATC hand or by using
one my of ATC rubber stamps from Blank Page Muse*.
*Save 15% off your order with discount code BPMMichelle

There are many ways to store your art cards. I displayed the Halloween ones on a vacant wall one year for the month of October. I also store them by year in a 3 ring binder using Trading card pockets. These can be found in any store that sells trading cards.

It's nice to browse the book and be re inspired every now and then. :)


If you are interested in participating in some Artist Trading Card swaps, please consider joining our group.- Mixed Media Art Charms and Faerie Garden Swaps. 

Make your own book strap

Custom Book Strap

So you know those "free" belts that sometimes come with shorts or pants? They are not really your style, so you pull them off and use your own. But those belts can be functional in other ways, like this custom book strap I made for my art supplies. Keeps everything together for on-the-go creating!

Supplies:
- Joy Embroidered Iron-on Emojis- &  Joy Embroidered Iron-on Letters
- Canvas belt
- Watercolor paints and brush
- Iron and pressing cloth

 
Wrap your books and/or art supplies with the belt and secure snugly.
Mark the placement of your letters and emojis, then carefully undo the belt.
Cover the letters with a pressing cloth and iron on to the belt according to the package directions.

Paint the letters as desired with watercolors. Heat-set the color by ironing again with the pressing cloth.

Here's a idea I did for my pencil case that sometimes doesn't stay shut - I hand-stitched a bit of wide elastic to fit the case and then ironed on an emoji patch.
Cute and functional!
Visit the Joy blog for more creative idea's!

Mixed Media Foil Transfer Cards

When I make cards, I tend to make them up in huge batches because I have so little time to craft for myself. Here are some cards that I've been working on, I hope to have them finished soon as I'm past due thanking people for Christmas (Dec) and my Birthday (Feb). lol!

  I randomly spritzed plain white card stock with ink misters and let dry.

I cut them up into card sized pieces.

 Then I drew on them with a Zig glue pen and had some fun with foils and powders!

Here;s a video on how  I did the foil transfer.  

Here's another video on how I did the metallic powder effect!

Enjoy!

Follow me on Face Book and Instagram for more idea's!

Colorful Bookmarks

Love to read? See how I made these inspirational book marks here!

Art Quilt Fabric Elements Blog Hop

Recently a few designers including myself, received a "Mini Paper Quilt Kit" from artist Rebekah Meier.  She sent every one a kit from her Fabric Elements line!

As you can see, the kit comes with quite a lot but also list what additional supplies that are needed.
The instructions that came with the kit are easy to follow.
Here I will show you how I created my colorful Art Quilt!

Materials:

• Fabric Elements Kit
• Neon Craft Paint in yellow, orange and pink.
• Turquoise craft paint
• Bubble wrap
• Foam brush
• Strong double sided tape
• Turquoise marker.

1. Follow the instructions included with the kit.
2. When you are ready to add color, dab the yellow paint randomly onto your piece with the foam brush.

3.  Add some orange.

4.  Paint the bubble wrap with the pink paint.

5.  Press the painted bubble wrap onto your piece, lift off to reveal some fun!
6.  Repeat process until desired effect is achieved.

7.  Paint the included foam piece with the turquoise paint and do the same as you did with the bubble wrap.

8.  A little or a lot, its up to you.

9.  Dip the end of your foam brush handle into the yellow paint and stamp some bright 'pops' of color onto your piece.

10.  When the paint has dried, finish putting everything together. Use a sewing machine to stitch your art quilt as recommended by way of the kit sample, or use the double sided tape as I did. Accent with  vintage trim and add 'stitching' with the marker.

It's so vibrant and pretty as is...I may not add anything else!

See more creative idea's 

using the Fabric Elements line 

by Rebekah Meier- here and enter to win this gift pack!

Good Luck!

Sharpie Dyed Back 2 School Pencil Pouch

When it comes to Back-2-School shopping around here, we like to find items that are eye catching and cheap to make! I like to join in on the fun and decorate pouches for my own art supplies too!
To make this back 2 school pouch, you will need the following:

1.  A clean canvas pouch. I got this at a Japanese store near me called Daiso. But you can also find these at dollar stores too!

 2... Assorted sharpie permanent markers in a variety of colors and tips. I found that the fluorescent colors were the most eye catching in the final outcome.

 4. 91% Isoprophyl (Rubbing) alcohol - found in the pharmacy section of Walmart or any other convenience store.
5. Travel sized spray bottle.

 6. Plastic bin.
7. Wire rack or baking sheet.

 *Begin by drawing a basic repetitive pattern on both sides of the pouch.
Make sure you are in a well ventilated room or have a fan blowing on you as the pens do stink.

 * Scribble with the colors.

 * Go crazy and add lots of color, have fun with this!

 *Fill in any empty spots with the brighter colors.

 * Once you have colored both sides, go outside and place the pouch on top of the rack in the bin.
* Starting in one section spray with the rubbing alcohol.
* You will see results instantly.
* When you have fully saturated and blended both sides, leave the pouch outside to air out and 'set' in the heat of the sun.
* If you have no sun, you can toss pouch in the dryer or iron to set the dye. Place pouch in a old pillow case to protect dryer and use a sheet of parchment paper when ironing to protect the iron.

Fill with your favorite School or Crafting supplies and have fun!
See more Back-2-School ideas here!