Hello Creatives!

Keri Sallee here and today I want to share with you some ATC (artistic trading cards) I made recently.

‘Tis the season…to be BUSY! Oh my word…it has been crazy busy in my world. Family emergencies, family tragedies…all combined with just every day life of being a mom, wife and artist.

When I feel overwhelmed, I like to make ATCs because they are quick and easy little works of art that allows me to release a little of my creative spirit, have a sense of accomplishment…all without as much work as a large scale art journal piece or canvas.

Here is what I came up with:

I used a variety of stencils, acrylic paints, washi and just random stuff I had laying around.

Here are my tips for making ATCs:

(1) There is no need to buy special card for ATCs. This is a great time to recycle watercolor paper or heavy card stock that were maybe part of a project that didn’t work out. Most ATCs are the size of a playing card, but feel free to use any size you want!

(2) If you choose to cover your cards with patterned paper, DO NOT try to cut the perfect fit. That just takes too much work! LOL. Cut your paper slightly bigger than your card base, use a matte gel medium to adhere it and once it’s dry, use a craft knife to trim it.

(3) Don’t be afraid to go 3-D!

(4) Don’t buy new embellishments! This is a perfect time to look through your stash and use bits and pieces of embellishments you’ve had for a while.

(5) To speed up the process, once you have your background papers down, lay all your ATCs out and cover them with random stencils. Now…go to town. Add random paints, spray inks and textures. Doing it this way not only speeds up the process, but keeps you from getting too much “in your head” about the background of each one.

(6) For words, I highly recommend buying word strips! I used these strips from Tim Holtz. If you have something specific, write them out quickly in a word processing program and print them out. Remember to think how small your space is so be mindful of your font choices and amount of words.

I hope you are inspired today to make some mini works of art of your own!

XOXO,

KERI