What do you use these for?
 

What are Artist Trading Cards? What are they used for? Just curious.

Thanks a good question. I have often wondered myself. Don't know the answer but I suspect it is just another way to create, collect and trade something with other crazed stampers!

ATC's are the size of playing cards, and for trading...the sky's the limit for creativity...You stamp the fronts, and can use the stamps in catty, pg 154, for identification. There are ATC groups out there...some right here on SCS, I suspect, as well at your local stamp stores!! just another way to perpetuate the "madness" someone else talked about earlier today!!! Such fun!!

Jen70 is a teacher and I make trading cards and send them to her for use in her classroom. The students collect and trade them while learning social skills. Great idea! I need to get some done before school starts!

They are fun to make and quick in most cases. It's a nice way to use small images or using just a portion of a larger image works great too.

The classroom idea sounds really cool!
I knew a girl who was really into ATC's, she swapped them all the time.
I kinda never saw the point myself, except it's more about the"art" than a card, although this particular girl made a lot of regular cards too!

(It was interesting to meet her because she has been a stamper for years & had never really heard of SU, where I never would've discovered stamping if it wasn't for SU.)

ATC are cards that are 21/2"x31/2" (not a folded card, just "flat") and are meant to be traded, never sold. You put your art on the front and your personal info on the back. They are usually more artsy/collage but you can do whatever you want. It's a way to share techniques, ideas and cool art with others without making something really big. They can be individual pieces or part of a series. I *love* doing ATC, it's a fun challenging size to work with.
Most people want the art to go vertically instead of horizontally because of how most store them. I use plastic baseball card holder sleeves in a 3 ring binder to store mine.
There is an awesome book by Stampington and Co. about them, if your into them or really interested I recommend picking it up!