Playing card ATC's

Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) are very popular at art retreats as trades.  I know a lot of artists who trade these cards religiously.  It is really cool, to have a little piece of art created by an artist you admire. 

I like to use old playing cards as the base for my ATC's.  Collect images from your stash that are the right proportion to use on a playing card.  I use the decorated side of the card as the back, and put a sticker with my name, the date and if a series, the series number.  On the face side of the card, I lightly sand the plastic coating off and gesso the card.  I use white, clear or black gesso, depending on my mood that day.  Then I use paint, ink, stamps etc to color the background.  Sometimes I use a magazine image or patterned paper as the background.  Then I collage the rest of the images on the background, finishing with some text cut from an old book.

These can be glued to the front of a handmade card and used to make a lovely greeting card.  They can also be used in small frames for home decor.  Try a few for yourself and discover how addicting they can be.