A-Tea-C = Artist Tea Cards

I sure hope some of you reading today know what ATC's are! A few years ago, the ATC or "Artist Trading Card" became the "it girl" of papercrafts. It seemed I could hardly pick up a crafting magazine without reading about these nifty little 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch pieces of art being traded like baseball cards of yesteryear by scrapbookers, quilters, cardmakers, and just about anyone with a creative bone in their body. I have never been asked to participate in an ATC swap, but I've long wanted to. As a tea lover, however, I have decided to turn my ATC's into A-Tea-C's. In other words, I'm going to make tea-themed Artist Trading Cards and call them Artist Tea Cards. The first one I made, above, uses scrapbooking papers, a stamp that came on an envelope in the mail, and a button.

And here's the second one I made, using paper scraps, rubber stamped letters spelling "TEA," and a wax seal impressed with a teapot design, all aged with tea dye distress ink.

As you can see, these are pretty simple. You just start with any blank slate piece of paper that is exactly 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. That is the *only* requirement for ATC's, that it be that size. I bought a pack of 20 pre-cut cards at Hobby Lobby for $2.49, and while I could chop my own from scrapbooking papers and cardstock, I like having this little packet of cards always on hand.

If you remember that giant mug I got last week, the one I said was intended for a "crafty" purpose, well, here it is! I'm using the mug to hold the little bits of lace, paper, old dictionary page clippings, buttons, rubber stamps and other small goodies that have been culled from my supplies to be used just for the Artist Tea Cards.

I actually made a third card using the rubber stamp at left, but alas, the ink I used was almost dried out and made too faint an impression to even show up. I did, however, have success using the brass wax seal and tea dye distress ink. I'm just going to make these cards whenever the mood strikes, hopefully with greater precision and more layers of materials. If this idea appeals to you too, let me know and maybe we can swap a few of them sometime! (If the idea of the ATC, or A-Tea-C, is new to you, just google "Artist Trading Cards" and you'll find tons of how-to's and inspiration.)