Quick guide to atc's 

Artist Trading Cards

 Here are six artist trading cards. The following is a quick how to on atc's. 

Lets start simple with a mermaid atc.

This cute Mermaid atc is very simple to make. All you need is a cereal box cut up, craft paper, cut outs or die cuts, pictures, whatever you might have, bling and 3d fabric paint from any local craft store.

Start by gluing craft paper to the cereal box atc backing. 

Add images, die cuts or cut outs.

Add bling by using the 3d fabric paint as an adhesive. If you can't find fabric paint you can use a blob of acrylic paint.

Next is this Wish for you atc. 

Start by gluing book pages to the atc. I also had a bit of scrap paper on my craft table so i glued it down as well.

I then used an orange acrylic paint and covered the atc.

I then glud this cute Wish ticket i got from a friends wedding. You can use any tag or ticket here.

Or you can write a Wish down on a piece of paper and glue it down.

I also rubbed a little orange paint onto the ticket with my finger.

 I then added cute flower stickers. 

 I finished it off with some black pen details and dots of yellow 3d fabric paint.

Now for my favourite card from the set.

Start by gluing a book page to the atc.

I then added this cute framed cut out from a craft magazine 

I then added bronze paint to the atc.

I then added this beautiful vintage image. I found this image on a google site and printed it off at my local library.

I then used gold 3d fabric paint 

 Added bling. Again i used the 3d fabric paint as an adhesive.

Add a word or a quote and your done.

Now for somthing a little more complicated.

I started by gluing craft paper to the atc.

I then used two colours of blue acrylic paint on a book page. I used a thick dry brush to do this.

I then glued a small piece of book page to the atc.

I collected this brochure from my local library.

I used yellow 3d fabric paint to create sun rays on the atc.

I then wrote this quote on a piece of paper and cut them up.

 I then glued the words and the image onto the atc.

 I then used red 3d fabric paint to boarder the words and to hold the bling to the atc. 

Now for my beautiful garden atc.

I started by gluing  a book page to the atc.

I then added a very small amount of green acrylic paint to the corner of the atc.

I used my finger to spread the paint across the bottom of the atc.

I then added a small amount of light green acrylic paint to the corner of the atc.

I also used my finger to spread the paint across the atc.

I then did the same thing for the sky with a light blue acrylic paint.

And again with a lighter blue paint.

Background done.

I then used a green 3d fabric paint to make flower stalks 

 Then i used an old lid from a spray bottle to create circles with orange acrylic paint and used the end of a paint brush to make dots to create flowers.

I finished it off with yellow 3d paint 

Now for a little bit of christmas fun.

Start by gluing book pages to the atc.

I then used this amazing image of trees in the snow. This is from the brochure from my local library.

I then folded a book page in half and cut into it creating a christmas tree. 

I then painted it by using two different coloured green acrylic paints. I love to use my fingers when doing this.

I didn't like the gap from the tree image so i glued a little bit more cut from the original image. I then glued the tree to the atc.

 Then i added dots to the tree using 3d fabric paint. 

I then used these dots to hold the bling to the tree. I used a big blob of paint to create the star. I put the bling on the blob of paint then used a tooth pick to drag the paint outwards to create a star.

There you go. Six different atc's you can create using very simple techniques. 

This is the box i cut up. You can use cereal box's, chip box's, any strong box works well.

This is the glue i use for all my craft. This cost me only $2 from kmart in Australia. However any PVA glue from any local shop will work fine. 

This is how i put my glue onto the atc's. Then spread it out using your finger. This way you will get even coverage and paper will stink to the atc better.

 These are the 3d fabric paints i use. I got them from my local $1 shop. A three pack cost me only $4. I have found that any fabric paint in a tube like this work great and are much easier to use compared to fabric paint in a tub.

I hope this blog has been helpful. Atc's are an addictive and fun way to create art. But most important,

"don't overthink it, let go and have fun".