I'm done making ATCs for the Stockings for Soldiers project.
Elsewhere in cyberspace is an October challenge to make art daily. I did not participate, but I did make 350 art cards specifically for the S4S project in October, which I think is quite nifty.
My personal numbering of ATCs system was getting a little off, so I started a new number series for the S4S cards. This puts my total at over 1000 for the fourteen months I've made ATCs. Not that quantity matters as much as quality.
And today I'll wrap up the ATC I made last night for the Creative Mom Podcast exchange.
November is the month for Novel Writing and for an entry every day in the blogosphere. No promises, but we'll see what I can do.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Stockings4Soldiers collage
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Tissue paper scraps on card stock, with a paper punched star. The pink square is my own handmade paper. The black bits are print from its previous life.
Tissue paper scraps on card stock, with a paper punched star. The pink square is my own handmade paper. The black bits are print from its previous life.
Stockings4Soldiers watercolor pencil
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Watercolor pencil on card stock. I found a set of 24 basic Faber-Castell watercolor-pencils in a tube on clearance this summer. Before that, I had only used Crayola wcps, so I really like the wider mix of colors.
I scribble layers of colors and I give them a wash. The sun is darker, thicker. No great art, but quick, easy, fun to see how it turns out.
Watercolor pencil on card stock. I found a set of 24 basic Faber-Castell watercolor-pencils in a tube on clearance this summer. Before that, I had only used Crayola wcps, so I really like the wider mix of colors.
I scribble layers of colors and I give them a wash. The sun is darker, thicker. No great art, but quick, easy, fun to see how it turns out.
Stockings4Soldiers Page 7
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Bonus cards not made directly for the trade but added to the mix from my stash of Rainy Day cards without a set destination.
Cards 1-3: My ATC Haiku card. I have a master sheet with ten different fonts and print up a set to decorate as needed. My printer is inkjet, which smears, so I have to use a toner photocopier filled with card stock.
Card 4: Creative cropping from a fruit snacks box.
Cards 5-8: Photos of mine. Card 8 was for the "Reach for the Stars" CMP ATC swap.
Card 9: tissue paper and blo-pen collage.
Bonus cards not made directly for the trade but added to the mix from my stash of Rainy Day cards without a set destination.
Cards 1-3: My ATC Haiku card. I have a master sheet with ten different fonts and print up a set to decorate as needed. My printer is inkjet, which smears, so I have to use a toner photocopier filled with card stock.
Card 4: Creative cropping from a fruit snacks box.
Cards 5-8: Photos of mine. Card 8 was for the "Reach for the Stars" CMP ATC swap.
Card 9: tissue paper and blo-pen collage.
Stockings4Soldiers Page 6
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq.
Art cards by Ganoush using rubber stamps and a stray junk mail square. And some glitter glue.
Art cards by Ganoush using rubber stamps and a stray junk mail square. And some glitter glue.
Stockings4Soldiers Page 5
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Card 1: Local autumn leaves again. Trapped in clear Con-tact paper, stapled to a blank parchment art card.
Card 2-3: Collages made using elements from Scrapbooking Crop-a-Day pages from previous years.
Cards 4-7: Creative cropping of Kleenex , Puffs, and store brand tissue boxes. My friend Margaret thinks buying tissues with pictures is extravagant. I think buying art with bonus tissues is a prize. :)
Cards 8-9: Creative cropping of a torn gift wrapping box.
In all, I have created 350 cards this month to donate to Stockings for Soldiers.
Card 1: Local autumn leaves again. Trapped in clear Con-tact paper, stapled to a blank parchment art card.
Card 2-3: Collages made using elements from Scrapbooking Crop-a-Day pages from previous years.
Cards 4-7: Creative cropping of Kleenex , Puffs, and store brand tissue boxes. My friend Margaret thinks buying tissues with pictures is extravagant. I think buying art with bonus tissues is a prize. :)
Cards 8-9: Creative cropping of a torn gift wrapping box.
In all, I have created 350 cards this month to donate to Stockings for Soldiers.
Stockings4Soldiers Page 4
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. These cards are one of a series of 4.
These are all photos. Most of my cards have a stock message photocopied onto card stock, then I decorate the card front.
Here, I composed a sheet of 9 of my photos into a 3x3 grid of 2.5x3.5 rectangles with broad black borders, using MS Publisher. I converted the file to a .pdf and took it to the printer. Less than $1.00 to get a color photocopy onto card stock.
However, during the conversion, Adobe reduced the size of my printout, so each card was a little less than ATC size. So I photocopied my project text onto copy paper, cut them out, and glued them on to the card stock, giving a small white border around the the thick black.
Card 1-3: Dandelions in my back yard. The collages are from previous fun with FD Toys. Rather than resize them, I left white space for rubber stamping. I also used my dandelion seed stamp in silver for a small surprise.
Card 4: A neighbor's tree in winter.
Card 5: A daisy or black-eyed Susan flower had grown up through some Queen Anne's lace at the local nature preserve.
Card 6: Just the way the camera saw it (I don't own Photoshop),, this plant was spotlighted with sunlight filtered through forest leaves at a short trail near our home. It only takes us 20 minutes to walk the trail loop to the creek and back.
Card 7: A photo of Gonzo's beloved Pikachu plushie, Chu-Chu.
Card 8: Backyard Purple Coneflower
Card 9: "Trumpety flower whose name escapes me" at the local history museum's side garden.
These are all photos. Most of my cards have a stock message photocopied onto card stock, then I decorate the card front.
Here, I composed a sheet of 9 of my photos into a 3x3 grid of 2.5x3.5 rectangles with broad black borders, using MS Publisher. I converted the file to a .pdf and took it to the printer. Less than $1.00 to get a color photocopy onto card stock.
However, during the conversion, Adobe reduced the size of my printout, so each card was a little less than ATC size. So I photocopied my project text onto copy paper, cut them out, and glued them on to the card stock, giving a small white border around the the thick black.
Card 1-3: Dandelions in my back yard. The collages are from previous fun with FD Toys. Rather than resize them, I left white space for rubber stamping. I also used my dandelion seed stamp in silver for a small surprise.
Card 4: A neighbor's tree in winter.
Card 5: A daisy or black-eyed Susan flower had grown up through some Queen Anne's lace at the local nature preserve.
Card 6: Just the way the camera saw it (I don't own Photoshop),, this plant was spotlighted with sunlight filtered through forest leaves at a short trail near our home. It only takes us 20 minutes to walk the trail loop to the creek and back.
Card 7: A photo of Gonzo's beloved Pikachu plushie, Chu-Chu.
Card 8: Backyard Purple Coneflower
Card 9: "Trumpety flower whose name escapes me" at the local history museum's side garden.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Leaf House / Maze
In the fall when I was a kid, we'd gather at the house down the street (home of the Chicken Pox Giver) and make elaborate house plans with fallen leaves. They would center around the two backyard trees. Two groups would each make a house and then we'd visit / spy on the other group's house or host / defend our house from our leaf neighbors.When my kids were preschool-ish age, I made a leaf house for them. Except that they had a different vision. Where I saw rooms of a house, they saw passageways: a giant leaf maze.
Every year since, Ganoush especially looks forward to building a giant leaf maze. After a full week of rain, bringing almost three inches of wet, we've had a dry weekend. The leaves are again crispy, not soggy, and just right for constructing. We set to work. I used the leaf blower to gather the leaves to the corners as she raked them into paths. We had conflicting visions and misunderstandings, but they all worked out.
Here are two photos merged to show the front yard view from near the porch.Typically, the extra rules for Leaf Maze Tag are that It can walk through walls but everyone else can only use doorways. Usually, the game devolves until the chased start making their own doorways and it goes from there.
In recent years past, we have learned that a leaf maze left long kills the grass. Quicker than Brigadoon, this leaf maze lasted only a few hours before we raked it into the street for pick-up.
Our backyard leaves won't drop for at least a fortnight, so we have plans to make a slightly more lasting maze back there. After a few days, we'll rake those leaves onto all of my perennials and tuck them in snug for winter.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Stockings4Soldiers Update
I have heard from my friend J who is leading the Stockings4Soldiers care package project. The first set of non-local ATCs have arrived, from Florida. She says they are great, but that some sequins fell off the cards while in transit.
I made another batch today, bringing my personal count up to 246 completed and ready to ship. I have no idea how many cards to expect from my Internet announcement, so I wanted to make sure that I was doing my part.
Another friend, Margaret, is contributing in a similar vein. She took card stock to be die cut into either a mitten or a Christmas Light, each about the size of a child's hand. Her Brownie troop members each wrote a message and took a set of cards to their school classrooms and collected messages. I took one packet from her and have shared it around my middle school MathCounts class, my own daughter's Brownie troop, and families at the homeschool roller skating event. I'll need another bag from her next week for my son's Boy Scout troop and friends at our church.
If you have made some ATCs for soldiers, send me a link and I'll post it here. My ATCs list this blog address, so I hope that some soldiers stop by.
My blank cards for all 714 soldiers are already to be stocking-stuffed. I hope that a few soldiers find ATCs to be a creative outlet, either trading on online swaps or just amongst themselves.
Again, if you wish to participate, please send cards by October 26th (give or take a day) to this address:
We cannot promise that any soldiers will send something back - this is a gift of art.
Thank you for your consideration.
I made another batch today, bringing my personal count up to 246 completed and ready to ship. I have no idea how many cards to expect from my Internet announcement, so I wanted to make sure that I was doing my part.
Another friend, Margaret, is contributing in a similar vein. She took card stock to be die cut into either a mitten or a Christmas Light, each about the size of a child's hand. Her Brownie troop members each wrote a message and took a set of cards to their school classrooms and collected messages. I took one packet from her and have shared it around my middle school MathCounts class, my own daughter's Brownie troop, and families at the homeschool roller skating event. I'll need another bag from her next week for my son's Boy Scout troop and friends at our church.
If you have made some ATCs for soldiers, send me a link and I'll post it here. My ATCs list this blog address, so I hope that some soldiers stop by.
My blank cards for all 714 soldiers are already to be stocking-stuffed. I hope that a few soldiers find ATCs to be a creative outlet, either trading on online swaps or just amongst themselves.
Again, if you wish to participate, please send cards by October 26th (give or take a day) to this address:
Stockings For Soldiers
1948 Washington Ave SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 USA
We cannot promise that any soldiers will send something back - this is a gift of art.
Thank you for your consideration.
Stockings4Soldiers mealtime
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Handy large stamp of phrases about time.
Clock stamp from a scrapbooking grab bag.
Knife fork, and spoon stamps from Hot Potatoes.
Handy large stamp of phrases about time.
Clock stamp from a scrapbooking grab bag.
Knife fork, and spoon stamps from Hot Potatoes.
Stockings4Soldiers smiles
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq.
Two colorful cards from two kinds of used gift wrap and a mat of pink copy paper
Two colorful cards from two kinds of used gift wrap and a mat of pink copy paper
Stockings4Soldiers Page 3
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Card 1: Holiday rubber stamp. String of Lights paper punch.
Card 2: Coffee break. Time stamp, clock stamp, cup stamp from Hot Potatoes, seed stamp.
Cards 3, 6, 9: Apple, Orange and Banana cards. Fruit stickers, Blo-pens, seed and shape stamps.
Card 4: Sea shell stamps, marble crackle stamps.
Card 5: Holiday rubber stamp. Glitter glue.
Card 7: Circle stamps and reinforcement stickers.
Card 8: Real autumn leaf trapped in clear Con-tact paper, stapled to a blank parchment art card.
Card 1: Holiday rubber stamp. String of Lights paper punch.
Card 2: Coffee break. Time stamp, clock stamp, cup stamp from Hot Potatoes, seed stamp.
Cards 3, 6, 9: Apple, Orange and Banana cards. Fruit stickers, Blo-pens, seed and shape stamps.
Card 4: Sea shell stamps, marble crackle stamps.
Card 5: Holiday rubber stamp. Glitter glue.
Card 7: Circle stamps and reinforcement stickers.
Card 8: Real autumn leaf trapped in clear Con-tact paper, stapled to a blank parchment art card.
Stockings4Soldiers Page 2
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Cards 1, 3, 4, 7: Holiday rubber stamps. Glitter glue in the ornament dots for Card 5.
Card 2: Punched snowflakes and stamped snowflakes
Cards 3 + 6: Pumpkins. faces made with shape stamps. Blo-pens for shading.
Cards 8 + 9: Three sizes of star paper punches with Astrobright copy paper
Cards 1, 3, 4, 7: Holiday rubber stamps. Glitter glue in the ornament dots for Card 5.
Card 2: Punched snowflakes and stamped snowflakes
Cards 3 + 6: Pumpkins. faces made with shape stamps. Blo-pens for shading.
Cards 8 + 9: Three sizes of star paper punches with Astrobright copy paper
Stockings4Soldiers Page 1
Cards made for Stockings4Soldiers, a service project for Iowa National Guard soldiers in Kosovo or Iraq. Most cards are one of a series of 10.
Card 1-4 + 6: Die-cut squares from maps, junk mail envelopes, bubble painting papers we made when Gonzo was a toddler, and gift wrap
Card 5: Square shadow rubber stamp and six small Christmas stamps
Card 7 + 9: Christmas light rubber stamp. Card 9 is deliberate. Card 7 is how I clean my stamps between colors.
Card 8: Little stamps.
Card 1-4 + 6: Die-cut squares from maps, junk mail envelopes, bubble painting papers we made when Gonzo was a toddler, and gift wrap
Card 5: Square shadow rubber stamp and six small Christmas stamps
Card 7 + 9: Christmas light rubber stamp. Card 9 is deliberate. Card 7 is how I clean my stamps between colors.
Card 8: Little stamps.
Monday, October 01, 2007
What *is* an ATC?
An ATC is an Artist trading card.
You make original art on a card that measures 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89 mm) which is the size of a standard wallet photograph or typical trading card (baseball, Pokemon, "bubble gum cards").
Once you have some art cards, you trade them with other artists. I give a bunch away, as in this project. But the spirit of the art is that they aren't sold. Of course, some artists do sell their 2.5" x 3.5" work, but may call it an ACEO, "art card, editions and originals."
Cedarseed continues to be the top Google link. Wikipedia has some good links as well. I'm part of a monthly swap at the Creative Mom Podcast.
The quick history is that in 1997, a Swiss artist made and displayed 1000 trading card-sized artworks and put them on display. The public showed an interest. The artist announced hat on the last day of the exhibit, he would trade one of his if the interest party brought one self-made to trade. One in attendance too the idea to Canada, where monthly swaps started.
The movement is really aided by the Internet, as far as finding trading partners and ideas, but face-to-face trades are still really fun, too.
I got started with ATCs nearly one year ago, for my 40th birthday. Seek posts tagged with ATC 40 Project.
You make original art on a card that measures 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89 mm) which is the size of a standard wallet photograph or typical trading card (baseball, Pokemon, "bubble gum cards").
Once you have some art cards, you trade them with other artists. I give a bunch away, as in this project. But the spirit of the art is that they aren't sold. Of course, some artists do sell their 2.5" x 3.5" work, but may call it an ACEO, "art card, editions and originals."
Cedarseed continues to be the top Google link. Wikipedia has some good links as well. I'm part of a monthly swap at the Creative Mom Podcast.
The quick history is that in 1997, a Swiss artist made and displayed 1000 trading card-sized artworks and put them on display. The public showed an interest. The artist announced hat on the last day of the exhibit, he would trade one of his if the interest party brought one self-made to trade. One in attendance too the idea to Canada, where monthly swaps started.
The movement is really aided by the Internet, as far as finding trading partners and ideas, but face-to-face trades are still really fun, too.
I got started with ATCs nearly one year ago, for my 40th birthday. Seek posts tagged with ATC 40 Project.
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