I haven't made Artist Trading Cards or, in this particular case, Artist Trading Coins... in a while, but suddenly I was in the mood, so that's what I made. What are "Artist Trading" items? As the name implies, they're intended to be small handmade items for crafters and artists to trade via the mail, at conventions and meetups. Generally, an artist will make a series of similar ones at a sitting, in order to swap with several people at the same time. Artist Trading Cards are the size of a playing card (2.5 x 3.5") and Coins are 2.5" circles. The etiquette of this artform demands that they never be sold, only traded; though you can also find something called ACEO (Art Card Originals and Editions) which are essentially the same format, but intended for sale.
This trio of Artist Trading Coins feature our various bird brads, with stamped backgrounds of nests and foliage on some lovely, slightly yellowed, book paper. The Robin and Bluebird each stands proudly in front of a nest. Surrounding it, there are some tiny paper leaves, which I made by cutting apart the smallest size of EO green Paper Flowers.
The Cardinal and Cardinal Profile are perched in some branches, to which I've added more paper leaves and some tiny berries snipped from the edge of a Bling Swirl. Each ATC has a Dymo Label sentiment, from which I trimmed away the excess tape, so that the scale fit my design better.
Whether you've made Artist Trading Coins before OR you've always wanted to try, wouldn't this be a great time to make some and surprise your crafty pals with Happy Mail? And I bet for any subject or idea you can dream up, there's an Eyelet Outlet Brad that will make your design even better! ♥
Simply wonderful!
ReplyDelete