ATCs Around the World

It's been a long time since I've blogged about artist trading cards -- and even longer since I actually made any -- but last month I was approached by a gal who runs a website out of Russia! She wanted to interview me about ATCs. Here's the link. Kinda cool, eh?

Kitty Cat Doodles

For last Saturday's artist trading card swap, I did a quick set of kitty cat doodles. Kinda fun.

Topiary ATCs

I traded these artist trading cards at last weekend's monthly session. I created the crazy topiary using watercolour and ink. I especially like the TV set with the stick antennas.

Valentine Mashup ATCs

I made these artist trading cards for our monthly trade last Saturday. My head was still in Valentine mode and these ATCs were a combo of Victorian cat images, labels from Valentine chocolates, brads and bits of ribbon I had hanging about and my heart-shaped rubber stamp.

Victorian Cake ATCs

Here's the set of artist trading cards I swapped at Saturday's monthly trade at the Dunvegan Recreation Hall. The images were from a 2010 desk calendar. I glued on shiny half-pearls I found in a drawer and some teeny beads that looked just like candy roses. Fun.

Alphabet ATCs

Our monthly artist trading card swap is tomorrow and here's my offering this month. I love rubberstamp alphabets, so I had a bit of fun with a set of them.

Ghoulish Trade

We had our artist trading card meet-up on Saturday and many of the cards were seasonally-themed.


Harriet's cards featured grave stones she photographed while in Japan.


Olive did scary faces...well sort of scary faces à la Picasso.


Evlyn's cards were scary -- well sort of scary -- masks cut out of colourful fun foam.


Elisabeth did watercolours of fall foliage.


Barb's cards spelled out the word "Halloween" and were very scary.


Flip's animated jack-o-lanterns were adorable.


Holly's carved pumpkins were carved from linocuts.


Suzanne made jack-o-lanterns using suede and seashells...


...and they were displayed in a totally funky manner. Great trades everyone!

Black-Eyed Susan ATCs

Last Saturday was our artist trading card (ATC) trade. We had 13 or 14 people who attended, lots of cards, and lots of fun. These were my offerings, sketches of the last flowers of the season.

Cupcake ATCs

I made these artist trading cards for our monthly trade which is tomorrow. (I can't believe how fast the month gone by!) The technique I used for these black and white cupcakes is a linocut; the design was cut from a rubber block and then printed with black ink. Buttons added afterwards as the cherry on the cake.

Sock Monkey ATCs

I traded these sock monkey artist trading cards at our last monthly meeting. I followed the tips in the Technique section of the last issue of ATC Quarterly on how to use "Speedy-cut" lino blocks. These cards were really fun to make. I actually sewed on the buttons and the mouth and nostrils are made using embroidery thread. Totally silly.

Artist Trading Cards

Our artist trading card gang met and as usual, the cards were amazing.


There were spiderwebs by Reto...


...and butterflies that seemed to really fly by Suzanne!


Harriet's snakes in the grass were presented for trade in real grass surrounded by a real-looking snake.


Our oldest and most enthusiastic trader, 90-something Perry was putting a few last minute touches on his ATCs.


Fran's elegant watercolours were snapped up quickly...


...as were Evlyn's animal paintings.


Lots of fun summer themes by Flip and Susan D.


All in all another fabulous trade. Can't wait to see what folks come up with next month.

Spring Definitions ATCs

Click to enlarge.
I'm trading these artist trading cards at this afternoon's swap. The backgrounds are from two old dictionaries I had salvaged from the trash. No one wants to buy dictionaries anymore (particularly ones from the 1930s) and the annual book sale that I used to help organize for the Glengarry Pioneer Museum always had a plethora of these books, waiting for the trash heap.
I rubber stamped on top of the definitions and added highlights with colour pencils. I love how they came out.

(Mostly) Still Lifes

On Saturday, our usual gaggle of gals met to make and trade ATCs. Busy hands created fun cards. Note the glass of wine, which always helps our creativity!


The theme was "Spring." The artist trading cards were creative.


We came armed with supplies, like buckets of markers...


...and after our hard work for the afternoon, Terry, our hostess served a meringue raspberry cake she made...


...with a lovely cup of tea.


On the way out, I noticed the beautiful still life of rust hanging on the gate.

Monkeying Around ATCs

I'm trading these artist trading cards at today's monthly swap in Dunvegan. They are collages of a photo of me as a kid -- the rest is imagined. I've always wanted a sock monkey and never had one as a child. A few years ago, my friend Elisabeth bought me one. Her name is Soquette and I think she's gorgeous.

As it happens, the challenge theme in the next issue of ATC Quarterly is Sock Monkeys. Any medium. Size: 2.5" x 3.5". Please mail hi-rez jpeg to me at: editor@atcquarterly.com or snail mail it with an SASE (if you want it back) to: ATC Quarterly, 19698 County Rd. 24, Dunvegan, ON K0C 1J0 Canada. Deadline: May 15.

All You Need is Love ATCs

I made these artist trading cards by using a set of alphabet rubber stamps and watercolours and then ran the cards through the sewing machine. I did them with Valentine's Day in mind and traded them at our monthly ATC meeting in Dunvegan on Saturday.

Our ATC Gang

Last Saturday, our artist trading card group met for our post-Christmas ATC exchange. What a fun gang!


We also had our holiday potluck which had been cancelled from last month due to freezing rain.


Good trades. Good eats. Good times!

Holiday Eats ATCs

Here is the set of artist trading cards I drew for our holiday trade on December 26. They're called "Holiday Eats."

Kitty Cat Dreams ATCs

I did this set of ATCs for our monthly artist trading card swap which is today at 2 p.m. The cards combine cat rubber stamps I bought in Portland, Oregon some years back at a funky shop called Collage. I combined those images with rubber stamped snowflakes and various stars I've collected over the years. I also added wooden cats to some and little word disks to others.

Hallowe'en ATC Trade

Our monthly artist trading card swap fell on Hallowe'en this year. I traded a set I drew in a tiny sketch pad at the Bronze, Blues and Brews Festival a few years back when I was in Joseph, Oregon. I sketched a fabulous bronze statue of a horse.


Meanwhile other clever folks were more timely. Suzanne commented on the current H1N1 crisis and gave a jack-o-lantern a mask. All the tiny pumpkins on her ATCs had tiny masks as well. Now that's, as she said, "Scary!"


The cards were laid out on a long, wooden table so we could walk around and see the offerings.


Then the frenzy of the trade began.


The meet ended with themed cookies brought by Evlyn. It was a great trade. See ya again next month.

It All Starts With A Pencil

Misti Ko from Burnaby, British Columbia has a cool thing going. It's an ATC jam, an artist trading card where 3 people contribute to one card. She starts the original one with a rubber stamped image of a pencil and mails it off to a friend. Friend adds to the card (in this case, the red dotted background) and then mails it onto a third person (me). I added the silly line drawings of kitties.


Here's another example. The third person on the jam card mails it back to Misti where she uploads the finished ATC to her blog it-starts-with-a-pencil.blogspot.com If you want to participate, e-mail her to get started.
The upcoming winter issue of ATC Quarterly will feature a spread of Misti's adventures in jamming. Be sure to check it out!