Hero Arts ATC swap

Recently in the Hero Arts Flickr group, Heather organized a small group of us to swap some ATCs. Each of us got a partner, and it was up to each group to decide what our theme would be, if any, how many ATCs to swap, etc. My partner Lucille came up with a theme of summer, and here are the ATCs I sent off to her.

In case you're unfamiliar with the term, ATC stands for Artist Trading Card, and they are traded in many of the arts.  The official size of each one is 2.5" wide by 3.5" long, about the same size as a sports trading card,  and some of them can be very ornate, with layers and layers.  I chose to keep mine on the CAS side.  As you can see, summer to me means gardens, butterflies, daisies, and lots of color!  

Lucille sent me 3 gorgeous floral ATCs - she knows how I love my flowers!  Aren't they gorgeous?

I mentioned that Heather organized the swap for us.   I wanted to send her some ATCs "just because", so  here are the ones I made for Heather:

We both share a love of anything fiber-related, so these are in homage to that.

Here's a very special ATC that Heather made for me when we visited Ireland a year ago.

She actually made it into a little ATC-sized card, with the famous Irish Blessing inside.  The sentiment on the front means "a hundred thousand welcomes".  Isn't it amazing?  It's a much-treasured souvenier of our trip to her beautiful country.

I hope you'll try making your own ATCs if you haven't already - they are amazing tiny treasures, and a really fun way to collect some of your friends' art!

Hero Arts flickr ATC swap

Over at the flickr discussion area, our Hero Arts group recently had an ATC swap, organized by former Hostess Heather Maria. I was paired with Marcy, and we decided to make 2 ATCs each.  I just received her sweet ATCs:

 She and I share a love of gardening, and her accompanying card and a special goody reflected that. Thanks, Marcy!  I love them!

Here are the ATCs I sent to Marcy:

The clear one on the left is a CASE of one I have from Jennifer McGuire, and the one on the right is a take on a card I recently made.

Artist Trading Cards

Another of the themes for this month's challenge at the Hero Arts Blog is ATC's, which stands for Artist's Trading Cards.  They are 2.5 X 3.5 inches, about the size of sports trading cards, and are little miniature works of art, meant for trading.  Here are 2 that I'm submitting for this month's challenge:

supplies: jade cardstock, Hobby Lobby ledger dp, Hero Arts CG165 Silhouette Bells, stamped in Brilliance Tri-color Peacock ink, CL156 Treasure the Moment, stamped in VersaFine onyx black ink, bit of lace, Martha Stewart butterfly punch

supplies: red cardstock, October Afternoon Seaside: Beach Chair dp, Hero Arts F5407 Let's Garden Silhouette, CL497 Find Joy, VersaFine onyx black ink, teeny buttons

If you'd like to have one of these ATCs, please leave a comment by Sunday night at midnight (May 8), and I'll draw 2 random names next Monday and send each of you an ATC.

September Card Chain challenge

This was the card I made to send to Isa in France for the September Card Chain Challenge that Deborah hosts each month.  I also included an ATC for her, using the same 2 pumpkins from the card:

The background is a photograph of a quilt that is on my kitchen table during this season.  Here is a picture of it, taken last fall.  The quilt block is called "maple leaf" and I wanted to make a quilt that shows my love of the colors of autumn and the brilliant blue skies that we still have at this time of year.

To see the card that I received from Betty in the card chain, see this blog entry.

ATC tree

Hero Arts sponsored an ATC swap recently, and I was lucky enough to be included in 2 groups. I am amazed at the beautiful work that is done in miniature......these little treasures are 2.5 X 3.5 inches!! I decided for the holidays to display them on this little tree; they go all around, and this is just a sampling of one side of it. If you'd like to see them all much closer, go to Deborah's blog here and here. Deborah did a fine job photographing them!