Artist Trading Cards -- 2 Ways!

ATC-sized prints are perfect for creating greeting cards, hanging ornaments, refrigerator magnets and collage elements.

But of course their main job is to supply us with Artist Trading Cards -- enabling art-minded friends to make exchanges that bring out smiles and result in treasured keepsakes.

My friend Judi Kauffman has taken the original ATC card idea a step further. She has created "Your Turn" and "My Turn" trading cards!

The words "My Turn" is included in Judi's artwork on the face of each of her brand-new ATCs shown below...

... and the back of each card bears the fun invitation "Your Turn"...

...so every lucky recipient can create his/her own artwork, starting with a Rubber Moon stamp-printed face.

Please notice above:  Judi intentionally left one small detail of the stenciled print in its original form, as a circle -- but lacking the elongated white dots that she'd added around all other circles.  Wearing her "teacher's hat," Judi wanted to show the striking difference made by the addition of those elongated white dots; they transformed plain circles into petaled flowers that delight the eye.

Now, to back up and follow Judi's start-to-finish process:  

Having begun with a Rubber Moon stamp to create faces, she stenciled and doodled with inks, colored pencils and pens. 

The series as a whole is titled Your Turn My Turn; the individual cards bear the whimsical titles Measles, Midnight and Fantasia.

Judi used my 9" x 12" mask L879 Fire Cherries ....

Judi's fantastic sense of creativity shows in the way she used small parts of this mask to create a headdress of buds and leaves as well as another headdress, not shown, of spreading lines.

... and she used my 6" x 6" Bulb Kelp-inspired  s955 Bulbs and Banners ....

Judi very cleverly created a green headdress and facial frame using this 6" x 6" mask, its original design inspired by Bulb Kelp-inspired formations.

...and she used my 6" x6" mask Champagne S960...

The clustered smaller dots at the center of Judi's winsome flowers came from this 6" x 6" mask, its design inspired by Rex Ray's art. 

As Judi's artwork demonstrates, Artist Trading Card-sized prints work beautifully for their original purpose.  To me, their size also makes them perfect for making dangling ornaments, refrigerator magnets and collage elements.

And I like to use ATC-sized prints in decorating my greeting cards.

Nine Artist Trading Card-sized stencils are included in 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768;  another nine are included in 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #2  L769 (and each of these 9" x 12" sheets includes not only nine stencils but also bonus masks.)

ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768  houses an Artist Trading Card-sized version of L450 Fantasia ... and it was this small version that I used in decorating the ATC-sized paper that took "center stage" on the greeting card below. (It's framed between two strips of black paper marbled with metallic gold paint.  Marbled papers are widely available; one source is Loose Ends.)

This greeting card's ATC-sized "star of the show" began with a random black-and-white print-out on copy paper.  My first step, with a sponge, was to top the print with a layer of heavy body red acrylic paint paired with the small Fantasia from ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768.  After that red paint dried, I sponged on gold metallic acrylic paint using my Rex Ray-inspired 4" x 4" mask Carnival M340.  

These two prints merged with the black-and-white background to become a visually complicated print.  Although I liked that effect, I sensed a need to add something that would pull everything together, while at the same time giving the viewer something recognizable as a finishing touch.  (To my eye, complex prints are backgrounds improved by something recognizable/representational that's added as a foreground.)

Pearlescent mini beads (above) were the finishing touch on this wooden heart that I had previously coated with heavy body red acrylic paint.  Because much of the greeting card's central paper reflects light, this heart -- its beads being likewise reflective -- made an embellishment that visually worked.

Referenced in my section of today's post:

ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768...

9" x 12"

ATC Mixup Swatton #2  L769...

9" x 12"

L450 Fantasia...

(Note: This is a 9" x 12" mask. An ATC-sized version of this design is included in ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768.)

4" x 4" mask Carnival M340...

This design of mine was inspired by the artwork of Rex Ray,

My gratitude overflows to Judi Kauffman for having created her beautiful Artist Trading Cards and having shared her results with me!  She continues to delight me with her generosity.

And thank you readers for checking out my blog today! To scroll thru the pages of my stencils and masks at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.