Artist Trading Cards....

Okay.....it's been about two months since my last post.....so what's going on?  Life happens and creativity sometimes has to take a back seat.

In the meantime....I've had to tend to my garden....both literally and figuratively.....by the way, all these photos are all taken with my camera....

Which brings me to only having time to create ATC's, artist trading cards.  These are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size quilts or cards.  They look like business cards & may even be used as a business card.  I belong to an ATC group of 10 very creative and talented women.  We exchange these cards with each other every other month.  I won't go into too much detail about how I make these cards at this time.  If you google, "How to create quilted artist trading cards", you'll find tutorials for this.   

I basically use two pieces of 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" white cotton muslin fabric.  You'll need a black & white drawing or image of your choice.  Remember that your drawing/image has to be no larger than the above size. The picture below is a drawing done in pencil first then, darkened by going over it with a sharpie thin marker... 

Take the drawing/image and place under a white cotton muslin fabric & trace the image.  It will look like the next photo where the image has been traced on to fabric...

You will need an assortment of fabric markers if you would like some color in your image.....

How you color your image is left up to your imagination, or you may use a photo as a reference or whatever you would like to do.  This is about creativity & you may express yourself in whatever way you choose....

Continue adding color.....

Once you're satisfied with color, you're ready to embellish with beads, hand or machine stitching.  If you need to stabilize your fabric with interfacing or batting you can do this before add your embellishments....

After I added beads, I fused double sided inner fuse with my iron to the front & back, using the second white piece of muslin fabric that I initially cut out.  Inner fuse is similar to Timtex which is product used in tote bags or purses to give them stability.  Inner fuse is sold at your local fabric & craft stores.  You may just use batting if you like but, I prefer the stability of inner fuse.  After my beading was stitched on the front, I fused both sides together & then satin stitched around the edges of this ATC...

Here's the finished ATC...

I don't have a picture of the back side of this ATC but, you may sign & date the back, along with the title of your card, if you have one.  I made ten of these & traded the other nine with my ATC group.  These are really quick to make once you decide what you want to create.

Thanks for stopping by to visit & I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of the process I use for making artist trading cards. 

Until next time......