Engineered by NU ATC. I don't know what drew me to these vintage TVs tonight - it could be that I LOVE this seafoam-y green with all of the cherry-mahogany-woody features. I used CBS and Admiral ads for this card. Aside from those ads, the only other thing I used in this card besides the background paper is the flap from a box of NU (National Union) electron tubes. The tube is still in the box!
Magic Moments ATC. I found this beautiful ad in one of my mags tonight and it struck me as so quaint, I knew I had to do this card tonight. The card is actually two different vignettes from the same ad - I put the typewriter down first, and then the hands holding the ribbon. I added the "magic margin" and "magic column set" last. Good news, though - you can now use black and red in the same ribbon! That'll save some time!
At Your Service ATC. I cut out Babbit himself, and the "Nettoyer Babbit" and the "At Your Service" from the coupon as well. Because Babbit's is a Canadian company based out of Montreal, I added the Canadian stamps. I have one of those embossers with different discs - I embossed the tree out of some copper left over from a computer that we dismantled. I thought he looked so official standing on the tree! And because that copper was there, I got the idea to use copper tape around the edges. I filled in some spaces with tiny mosaics, and the rest with a wheat-looking stamp to complement the wheat on the Canadian stamps.
Table Scraps ATC. Instead of dining on table scraps for dinner tonight (it's leftover time from Thanksgiving!), I thought I'd make a card from all of the leftover scraps I had on my work station. And oh, there were plenty to choose from, as you can see here (yep, haven't cleaned in awhile!)
300 Japan ATC. I started out tonight wanting to make another bus-themed card (hence the token and the Japanese bus ticket) but decided on a Japanese-themed card instead! It's sort of 'dada' because it makes no sense to me, but I love the characters and different fonts.
Loop-the-Loop ATC. I had this Braille paper, and then I was looking through one of my vintage mags, and voila! The two seemed perfect for each other. I also had some bits of Dresden foil scrap that tied in with the theme. The paint is Twinkling H20 watercolor.
6D ATC. I got these awesome Australian price tags from Etsy a few days ago - I just love the shield shape to them! I thought they were printed in black but upon closer inspection discovered they were navy. So I thought I'd do a navy and white card tonight!
Almost Happy Hour ATC. The people are from a 1960 Better Homes & Gardens magazine (from a "Live Better - Electrically!" ad). The background is just scrapbook paper, and so are the thought bubbles. The bubbles themselves are rub-ons, and the drinks are from the vintage drink books. I used baby blue pigment ink around the edge to give it an ethereal quality.
Express Route ATC. In a lot of my old magazines, there are these great stylized illustrations of diesel trains - and almost all of them are curved like this to show their speed. This one is from a Union Pacific ad, and along with it I added a very old bill of lading, a "Burlington Route" sticker, a time schedule, a vintage "Express!" label from Europe, some rub-ons, some iron-on tack thingies, and a model railroad station attendant, waiting in case you have any questions.
View 1 ATC. I wanted to do a Dada-esque card tonight, and this is what happened. I just started picking out things that I thought would go well together - what always surprises me is that something you've overlooked a million times for other works is now somehow PERFECT for this particular thing!
Frosted Ice ATC. I started with some of my favorite paper - this icy blue handmade. It just so happened that the glaciers from this 1950's ice cream wrapper fit perfectly, so I cut that part out and put it on the bottom. the "Frosted" and "Ice" are part of the same wrapper. The Canadian stamp is what inspired the whole card in the first place, and the snowflake border is actually the lining of an envelope (I do accounts receivable at my job, so I get a LOT of envelope interiors!). :D I embellished the stamp with some baby blue Stickles and added some rub-on transfer snowflakes. You may not be able to see it in the picture, but I swiped the border with platinum and blue inks.
A to Z Sampler ATC. I just used all kinds of things for this one - rub-on transfers, marquis letters, a typewriter key, die-cuts, rubber and letterpress stamps, a metal letter, kids' games, you name it. The real trick was sizing the letters so that I had enough room for the "Z" at the end - I didn't plan it out, I just started adding!
A-OK! ATC. I found the guy as part of a 1950 De Soto ad - he set the tone. Because of his chipper attitude, I tried to pick the most fun letters I could find - I also found the sparkly paper background to fit the mood. The rest is just more funky rub-ons.
Via Missile ATC. I've really been on a red-and-yellow-together kick lately - I just think it's such a cheery combo! So when I had placed the background down on this card and was looking for collage elements and came across this "via missile" illustration, I thought it would be the perfect juxtaposition to the very happy flowers. Plus, it matches! :D The "95th Percentile" is a rub-on that I had and I thought it would work well with the whole card too. The "A" is made from the back of a sticker that was used as a mask.
Deco Wisdom ATC. For this card I started with the "Wisdom" stamp - it actually came on a package I received this week, and I was actually going to recycle the envelope when it caught my eye! What I tried to do was replicate the design into the card. So I used my square punchy and made the diamonds, and used various papers for the layers. I don't know why I used the coffee bag; I just wanted to use it tonight, I guess! :D I finished it with some rub-on transfers.
thin liquid fluid weak ATC. Tonight I wanted to do a "color study" and just focus on olive green. I love that these pieces would probably not have 'met' on any other collage, or any other day. It's serendipity!
Speedy Delivery ATC. I just had this urge to make a 'mail' card tonight - so I got out all of my mail 'accessories' (air mail labels, "officially sealed" labels, destination stickers, etc.) and just started playing around with placement. One of the trickiest parts of collage, I think, is getting the placement right. Usually it takes me a couple hours per card - I have to wait until it "clicks" for me. Not all of the labels were the exact size that I wanted, so I improvised and used some Chartpak tape to cover up those really narrow areas where the background was showing.
Umen ATC. I love these old matchbox labels, and this one in particular caught my eye - it has that great mid-century art look to it. I really didn't do much embellishing with this card - I wanted to keep it minimalist. So all I added to the tissue paper background was some wood veneer, the plastic 'a' that I tinted with alcohol ink, and the German phone number from a stamp I have.
Accounted For ATC. Yesterday there was a hobby expo at our library, and the Philatelic Club of Fond du Lac was represented. They were giving away thousands of stamps, so I took a handful (yes, I restrained myself!). This card was built around the CPA stamp that was in the pile. The background is old ledger paper, which I then embellished with the stamp, a couple of rubber stamps, some bits of scrapbook paper, some tissue paper with wording on it, a "3" from another invoice, some ledger tabs that spell out C-P-A, and some copper mesh on the top.
R is for Radio ATC. I just won this 1971 Bennett catalog on Ebay - it's chock full of vintage photos and illustrations, and the radio is one of them! I've had the "R is for Radio" flash card for a while, and the vintage metal "Simpson's" radio tag. Then I remembered that I had a newspaper from the 20's, so I figured there'd be a radio ad in it. Sure enough! I added the other things after - the round eyelet brads, the mica flakes, the glittery "R", and the rub-on transfer "r". The background of the card is red & green chiyogami paper.
Stuck on You ATC. I challenged myself to do a card with nothing but tape! Here's the result. There's a list of the tapes I used in my tags, and that's all there is in the card - no embellishments. The only rule was that it had to be on a ROLL of tape, and all of these, believe it or not, are from a roll (yep, even the big red numbers!).
Free Counters
"I've been a part of the ATC (artist trading card) scene since 2006, when I saw an article in a magazine about them and thought it would be fun to try.  I was instantly hooked!!!
contd below....
(For detailed info on the ATC, hover over. Firefox users right click and scroll in Properties /Alt Text)
Know ATC. Here's a serendipity card - the decorative papers came with an Etsy purchase; the "3" is one purchased in a lot of Euro tickets; the bus ticket is British; the "know" is a children's game piece; and the piece on top is an old pharmaceutical label. I like the 30's feel to this - almost musty.
Chemie ATC. This card came into being because of a FABULOUS packet that came in the mail, courtesy of Heather (aka HA! Designs) - she sent me some INCREDIBLE pages from an early 20th century German dictionary!! I layered a 1970's American stamp, some very thin wood veneer, a transparency from Artchix Studio, and some rub-on transfer numbers from 7 Gypsies. I also used a little bit of chalk to color, and I added copper tape on top and a tiny resistor on the right hand side.

"I've been a part of the ATC (artist trading card) scene since 2006, when I saw an article in a magazine about them and thought it would be fun to try.  I was instantly hooked!!!  And when I figured out that I could use my ephemera collection in the cards, I knew I had found my true passion - collaging with vintage paper.

I will use just about anything in my cards - vintage magazine images, tickets, labels, receipts, invoices, checks, book pages, price tags - in fact, the "6D" card that you see was created with a vintage Australian price tag (before they went to dollars and it was still the British system).  My favorite time period from which I draw my inspiration is the late 40's-early 50's, right after WWII.  Here in the States that's when design really came into its own, I feel, and there is so much great stuff to choose from.  I scour garage sales, estate sales, antique stores, and ebay and Etsy for supplies.  That's just as much fun as the creating!

I took my passion one step further, when I joined a live trade group in Milwaukee, WI  (http://www.carolynbrady.com/liveATC.html).  We have about 30 regulars in our group and it's always a great time.  It's wonderful to connect with other artists this way!  If you do make ATCs I highly suggest linking up to a local trading group.  You will always learn something new!

I am a full time freelance artist (http://www.melk.etsy.com) and I love the fact that I can spend my days surrounded by art, doing the thing I love most!  No matter what I make for sale, though, I will never stop making ATCs.  They are, after all, what got me into art in the first place!"
Mel Jones Bushner Kolstad"02 2010"
The "Mitzi" ATC. Something about this shoe just screamed for some polka dots, so I used a b&w tissue paper and some sheer ribbon for that effect. Otherwise, I just stamped a letterpress "4" in the corner and used some rub-on letters, and that's it! :)