What is an ATC??

An ATC is an Artist's Trading Card.

What's the point?

Well, of course you remember footy trading cards and Pokemon trading cards, and Zoo Animal trading cards and all the rest of the different cards that supermarkets now put out there for kids to collect and swap - but WHAT has that got to do with Artists and why would they want to swap tiny cards?

Well, the very simple and short answer is it's a way for Artists to share techniques, colour schemes, new products in a miniature artwork designed to inspire and challenge them.

What have ATC's got to do with Stampin' Up!?

My wider Stampin' Up! team has an ATC swap each month and with around 15 people participating, and a set theme each month, it means we have a great way to inspire each other to look at our SU products in different ways, try new techniques, step outside our comfort zone on a colour scheme etc and after swapping, we end up with 15 miniature artworks done by other demonstrators, to keep in an inspiration album for future reference - like when our mojo has gone on holiday and we need a creativity boost.

January's theme was Paper Piecing Technique - a theme which was definitely not new to me - I like fussy cutting! But it was a good technique to get ones teeth into to use our Stampin' Up! stamp sets with. 

I decided on "Remarkable You" stamp set - because the images are nice and big and chunky, making them easy to cut out - remember, I needed to do 15!

I teemed it with the gorgeous Cupcakes and Carousel's Designer Series Paper Stack because of the fine details in the paper.

I started by stamping the image in Archival Black onto the background layer, and onto the pieces that would be cut out for the paper piecing part of the technique.

Then I used our Stampin' Up! Blender Pens with a tiny bit of ink from the lid of the Bermuda Bay ink pad to darken some of the shadow areas of the stamped images.

Next I did a little collage stamping onto the background layer - leaves and words to add depth and interest, and then cut out the flowers from the bluer paper and adhered it over the background layer.

I'm very proud of these! They're very Arty! And I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

This current month's theme is stamping, not using a stamp!! I haven't come up with anything yet - this could get messy!

Click on the picture below to see the paper in the Online Shop.

Click on the picture to buy the Remarkable You stamp set.