Creeping Leaves

So I have finally knuckled down and made my contribution to the leaf swap! I have left it a little late seeing as the deadline is in two days and I've had 6 weeks, but better late than never! It's a good thing I am hosting this swap!
Having had such a fantastic range of cards sent in, it was a little intimidating to find that I wasn't overly inspired and overloaded with ideas, still, once you get going the ideas do flow a little better.

So here are my cards- based on the idea of a creeping plant growing up the side of the wall.

 (The colours of this ATC have gone a bit funny on the computer- I think the camera was a tad over zealous when photographing the orange colours. This is my autumnal version of the creeping leaves)

 (Again the colour has gone strange for these ones, they are a lot greener than the photo appears)

These cards have been made with a mixture of corrugated paper, beaten kozo, puff paint and some waxy shop bought leaves- cheating I know but I really like them. I hope the recipients do too!!

ATC References

As I am dedicating this blog to ATCs I thought I would do some research into them first. I didn't realise how long these sorts of things have been around but their roots can be traced back to the 1960s with the birth of Mail Art!!
I have found a fantastic website called artjunction which is aimed at teachers but explains lots of things very nicely- including the history of the ATC. It has some great ideas and guidelines to get you started if you haven't made any before as well as showing you some already made ones to give you a better idea of what they can look like.

Other websites I like include:
 'Art in Your Pocket'
Wikipedia
Two Peas in a Bucket
Country Bumpkin

On Amazon I have also found some books relating to ATCs. I haven't bought them myself but they are favourites on my birthday list for this year so hopefully (fingers crossed) I will get some of them!!

-1,000 Artist Trading Cards: Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATCs (1000 Series) by Patricia Bolton (to go straight to Amazon, click here)

-Artist Trading Cards Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap by Bernie Berlin
(to go straight to Amazon, click here)

-Artist Trading Cards (Twenty to Make) by Leonie Pujol
(to go straight to Amazon, click here)

Youtube is always great to watch people making trading cards, sometimes it helps to watch people making things than reading about it- although then you might be biased towards the way you have seen rather than going your own way!

First Post

I thought that as so much of my main blog was being used up for my ATCs and not for my other projects, I would make a new blog especially for the ATCs!!
I'm not going to put on all of my old images of the cards onto this blog but carry on from the other one- however, if some of you need a reminder of what they looked like, here are a few of my favourites! (Not all of them are mine)