Artist Trading Cards

I like little things. Always have. My artwork tends to be on the small side. Even my scrapbooks are mini-books. So the artist trading card, ATC for short, is a perfect format for me. A little work of art. In recent months I've joined several swaps on Yahoo to get my creative juices flowing. Here are some of my ATC's, including a couple mini-ATC's.

These two are from my "Behind the Window" Series. The one on the right is a mini-ATC.

The following three are from my "Dharma Bubble" Series. Why that name? The colors were inspired by Tibetan Buddhism and the background is stamped with bubble wrap.

I also made three mini-ATC's in this series.

Another swap titled "Bling, Bling Baby" resulted in this ATC. Unfortunately, the scan doesn't pick up the shine. My book journal was made while the supplies for this ATC were still on my work table.

The last swap I did was using paint chips. We could do anything as long as the name or number on the paint chip was visible.

I'm liking this ATC format. But I think I'll go smaller.

Novel Idea Book Club Art Journal

Last year I had the special privilege of being invited to join the "Novel Idea Book Club," which started in 1992. I'm the newest of 10 members. We meet once a month to discuss the assigned book over a meal. At the start of this year I decided to keep a book art journal to document the books we read. I used a plain old composition book for my journal and altered the cover using these steps.

1. Painted with black acrylic paint.

2. Layed down drywall repair mesh tape and lightly sprayed with gold paint.

3. Removed the drywall repair mesh tape and stamped with gold and black acrylic paint.

4. Added a piece of the gold drywall repair mesh tape.

5. Heated sticky back craft foam and stamped a dry image. Added a light layer of gold "Rub n Buff." Stuck to cover.

6. Created letter tiles with paper clay. Painted with black acrylic paint. Added a layer of gold "Rub n Buff." Glued down with E6000.

Smartie Art Bird Mosaic

Some time ago I posted an unusual piece of art on a Yahoo group to which I belong. The question "Why?" followed. So, here's why. When we were young, my sister and I loved Smarties. Several years ago I bought bags and bags of Smarties during an after-Halloween sale thinking I would play a practical joke on my sister. I opened hundreds of rolls of Smarties, emptied them into a big box and wrapped them up as a Christmas gift for her. She gave them back to me the following year. That began several years of exchanges, each involving a creative way to package the Smarties so they wouldn't be detected before they were opened. Thousands of Smarties weigh a LOT, so this was harder than it may sound. The final exchange came when I hot-glued the Smarties to foam core in the shape of a bird. Our elderly mother liked it so much, she asked to have it displayed in the lobby of her senior housing unit and then at the senior citizens center in our small community. It became my first piece of artwork ever "shown."

Smartie Sisters