ATC's

ATC’s

Alicia Redshaw17 August 2009

Here is a bit about ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) and how much fun they are.

There are just four rules to remember when making ATC’s:
1.  They are 3.5″x2.5″
2.  Include your name, contact details (if desired), title and card number on the back
3.  They are never ever sold, only traded or given away
4.  Express yourself creatively and have fun!

Naomi-Jon and I made ATC’s instead of swap tags for the recent Scrapbook Fantasies Retreat, and this is how they turned out….very simple as we made 60 identical cards each. (We only included photographs for the purpose of this swap, it isn’t an ATC requirement)

An ATC can be a single design (an original), part of an identical group (an edition) or part of a story set (a series).  They don’t all have to be technically over the top, but try to push your boundaries every now and then.

I like the small format for experimenting with new techniques, products and colour schemes.  Scrapbookers need to think of them as tiny pages without any photographs, and cardmakers can just make them as smaller than normal single page cards without the greeting/sentiment.

ATC’s are a fantastic medium for stamping, layering and embossing.  As long as you put a bit of yourself into the creative outcome really anything goes, if you follow the rules above too.

There are stamps you can get for the completion of the details on the back of an ATC, or you could hand write or print (with a computer) this detail to be attached.  The ATC number is relevant if it is part of an edition or series, and it is nice to acknowledge if the ATC is a stand-alone original. (ie you only made one of it and will not copy it)

You can store you ATC’s in a box, a little tin (as a few of my friends do) or in a folder.  Scrapbook Fantasies have the ATC pages in store that can go into any folder.

If you want to have a go at an ATC swap I have started an “Australiana” themed one over the weekend at the Scrapbook Fantasies Forum.  You’d be mad not to give ATC’s a try as they are soooo addictive, quick (sometimes!) and fun to make.