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TinyBearJust wondered about the cardboard being used.
Does it have to be a particular thickness?
Maybe I have used too thin cardboard 
(ps. Thanks for the comments on my cards girls)
Newcastle, OntarioTina,
I started with cardboard, but after seeing how lovely Deborah Burnham's were, I switched to backing mine with matt board (stuff for framing pics)
hugs,
Brenda
Brenda... I'm here. :)
Christine... Good for you, and good luck with your first trades! One thing to note: Sometimes people are hesitant to trade with a newcomer if that person doesn't have a good sampling of work in his/her gallery. So before you approach people for 1:1 swaps you might first make a few cards, posting your best work in your gallery at AFA. I'd be happy to swap with you to help start you on the path of positive feedback (called iTrader by most art card forums.) Just find me there via PM: I'm, you guessed it, "potbellyarts."
Tina... There are excellent artists who work on very thin, kinda "regular" paper. But my own personal preference is to receive -- and create -- much thicker cards. I usually work on something like Bristol board, which is sort of like a thick cardstock. Then I back my cards with another piece of cardstock (I often use spray adhesive to attach it to the artwork) and put an ID sticker on the backside, too, with my name, etc. I like it when a card is a hefty handful of weighty, arty goodness. But there aren't any "rules" about it. Just stick to making your cards "finished" and you'll be fine!
TinyBearThanks a lot Brenda and Shel
Shel - When you put two cardstocks together - do you use anything for the edge?
I saw one of Sue Ann that had copper foil tape on the edge?
I´ll make mine thicker as weel - I think I´ll like that too.
:hug:
Posts: 8,574Alexis
There is going to be a one day class on art cards....or maybe it is more than one day, I don't know but you can check it out-they will give you alot of ideas as well.....it will be the first of June, and the info will be up sometime in the next few days here:
http://www.kranbearys.com/EbearZ/index.htm
It is being held in conjucntio0n with the Spring Fling.....
gollyhugs
dily
Gosh, I haven't made art cards in forever.......hmmmmmm. Nope. Can't even go there right now. I've moved onto a larger palette.....4x4!! ha! I sooooo enjoy looking at everyone else's though. 
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Hey, Silly Bear! What are you making 4x4's for? That's chunky book size... right up my alley... Tell me more! Quicker!
Tina... No, I don't generally use anything around the edges of my cards. Foil tape looks really cool, though; I like the effect a lot. It all just depends on what you're going for in your work. Do check out my flickr gallery; I've made a number of different sets of photos, like digital, collage, hand-drawn, so you can more clearly see the different kinds and styles of art cards you can make. Anything goes!
Check my signature for my flickr info. The "ATC's & ACEO's" set has ALL my art card work... but the other sets -- hand-drawn, collage, digital -- separate them out by media.
Hey there Shelli, girlie!! 
Like you, I'm doing a little exploring with my art.....learning new techniques and taking classes. I just finished a weekend long class with Lisa Kaus. Fabulous class!! I learned all sorts of stuff like coloring with watercolor crayons, applying dimensional objects, and encaustic art. Encaustic art as in painting hot wax on a surface and burnishing it. Really, really fun stuff!
I'm applying all this knowledge on a chunky 4x4 canvas.....to be combined with bear parts! I lost a bunch of you there, didn't I? You're thinking.....huh? Ha! Anyway, I hope it turns out as I envision it. Monday's blog post will give you a little hint of what I'm doing. If nothing else it will be a learning experience!! I'm just not content doing the same thing.....as evidenced by the array of new bear designs I've been producing over the last year. I think I'm driving my collectors nuts!! Hey, what's life if you're not living on the edge?!!......and hanging on by your fingernails?!!
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
TinyBearThanks a lot Shel
I´ll check your flickr
:hug:
:dance: OMG! OMG! Shelli!! I just had a lightbulb moment while dancing around my studio listening to Michael Buble....dancing around and thinking about chunky books!! Gadzooks!! Mixed media chunky books, canvas, mohair parts and stories!!! I used to write stories about my bears!!! All the dots are NOW connected. Most excellent!! Thank you girlies for bringing up the art card subject again!! YOU ROCK!! Wahooooooo......
:dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:
Warmest and BIGGEST bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Pssst. GREAT card Christine!!
Apple Dumpling DesignsI'm not dancing around doing anything...except laughing while I envision YOU Aleta dancing around listening to Michael Buble...making yourself dizzy and landing on your bumm (I know that part wasn't in your post). I know I know...it comes from a post in the past...something about your spinning around and around on your chair until you spun yourself right off the base. :crackup: :crackup: That was you wasn't it?
Okay....back to the subject at hand.
Posts: 8,574All you ladies have been absolutely delightful! Tina like I said at our other home your cards are wonderful!
Shelli....Rick would have used duct tape on me-love the picture, you look fab-except for the tape....christine, did you paint the bear, he is something else! WOW!,
Aleta, OK, but you know the rules, you have to bring back here and share when you're done!
Brenda, post post post!!!! piccysplease
Shelli, it was a breath of fresh air blowing through the house like a tornado, seeing you so reved up and aliveawakeenthusiastic again!
love di
Gee whizzikers.....it seems a bit like "the old days" around here for an instant or two!! 
Ahhhh, the old posts that made me laugh so hard I almost....well....we're not even going there!
Shantell, were you taking notes?!! Yes, that was me. Twirling, twirling......plop. 
I still love to laugh, twirl in my chair and play my music so it rattles the windows. Life is grand!
Warmest and biggest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
I try to have a life outside of TT but I fail miserably. :)
Christine, your card rocks my socks off! Wowza! I hope you're planning to trade it for something fantastic or to a really deserving person -- Shelli Heinemann comes to mind; check out her stuff and see if she'd swap with you -- or that you'll sell it as an ACEO for a nifty price (please don't underprice it.)
DillyDilu, your kind comment made my day. It's very nice to be appreciated and you know you touch my heart with more tender caretaking than most with your friendship and intrinsic goodness. Thank you for saying such a really nice thing.
Lexsomnia BearsAhahaha, I am back! Yesterday was my anniversary and I had a chance to meet with my doctor for ultrasound pics of the bean. It is a BOY! Woohoo! So now my son will have a baby brother! I am stoked over it! 
Christine- :clap: WOW! That ATC is STUNNING! Absolutely fantastic! Wow wow wow! I adore it!
Dilu- Fantastic! I have never taken a class for my art stuff before so I am super excited to try this one. Not to mention that its FREE! That doesnt hurt one bit! :crackup: Thanks for the link! :hug:
Newcastle, OntarioShelli,
I'm finally back - I have a couple ofquestions.
What is your favourite medium for your hand produced ATC's? Do you think some mediums more popular than others? I love working with coloured pencil, but don't know how it would work for ATCs or ACEOs.
I have used Krylon matte sealer for the few cards I have done. When you are sealing your cards, how many coats of sealer do you use? I'd really like anything that I create to be permanent.
Darned senior moments - I had another question, but can't remember what it was :crackup: !
hugs,
Brenda
I mean to thank Dilu, too, for the mention of the class... so Alexis, good on you for noticing! Dilu, you're a saint. Thanks for the help.
Brenda... I think I found my voice in bearmaking a while back, but in terms of my "flat" art, I'm not there yet and am still playing around with methods and media. A lot! Some examples of how all over the map I am, below...!
I LOVE painting in oils but they are frankly impractical for small art even though they produce a very nice effect and are creamy and dreamy and blendable which I adore. I "think" in oil paints in terms of how I construct my work. Here are a few of my oil painted cards which are actually two of my favorites. They all happen to be reproductions of work by other artists (for "Favorite Artist" swaps) and those folks used oils and I was trying to emulate that effect, hence my use of this media. They take forever to dry, though, and require a priming with gesso first, so it's a rather time consuming media but actually my favorite if I had to pick just one think to paint/draw/color with.
Acrylics are very popular but I feel clumsy with them. They dry too fast and I haven't learned yet how to use retarders, thinners, etc... although I'm getting there and experimenting. I tend to use acrylics only if I need to, such as in swaps where I'm trying to get a very particular effect, like a Favorite Artist swap. Here are a few of my acrylic painted cards, the first three of which are reproductions of famous works:
I've played around a bit with watercolors too but this is the least intuitive way to lay down color, to me. I just don't "think" in watercolors, which require a certain mindset to do well and plenty of forethought. I tend to prefer to lay stuff down, mess with it, change it, erase it, etc. Not easy with watercolor! Watercolor also lends a nice, clear, crisp look to work and I tend to be more smudgy and smeary with my stuff. When I use watercolors I tend to do so in layers with a fairly dry brush so my watercolor work doesn't have that "wet" look I'd like it to have for it to really represent the medium well. Anyway, here are a few of my watercolor attempts:
I've also done a few purely colored pencil works. This is more and more desirable as I like the one-medium approach but it's a real art to get intense color out of colored pencils and lots of contrast, and I'm not there yet, and sometimes feel my work is washed out. So they're not yet a favorite medium, either. I'm telling you a whole bunch of nothing here, aren't I? lol... The first two are reproductions, the last are original pieces including a triptych, three ATCs meant to go together.
Last, I've dabbled a bit in digital ATCs. Usually I start with a pencil sketch which I scan and then color with overlays, and then print. This is increasingly fun and rewarding but there's a steep learning curve and of course you need a pen & tablet to play this way. I was lucky and got one for Christmas. It's my newest plaything.
Most often, I grab what's quick, easy, and right at my fingertips and doesn't require any water or clean up! That would be graphite pencil, colored pencil, marker, and gel pen. Often, in combination. I tend to do a lot of mixed media card and that includes collage pieces on occasion, although I admit I'm leaning more and more in the direction of doing everything by hand as I enjoy the challenge of creating it "all by myself" as a wee one might say. It's VERY common to find art cards which are a mix of mediums, and one very popular combination is MARKER and COLORED PENCIL, sometimes with gel pen accents (to add highlights especially.) Here are some examples of my own cards which combine more than one of the above-mentioned media in one card.
More and more, I'm thinking I like the idea of using marker and pencil. Some of my favorite work from other artists is in marker & pencil. It produces really, really vibrant, intensely colored cards at the marker level, with the potential for finer shading and detail with the pencils afterward. You can blend pencil with colorless spirits which is really fun. Never thought I'd like Q-Tips that much -- dab, dab, dab.
The only drawback to this combination is that I'm still working to find a way to get that shaded effect I like so much when I use markers... maybe by starting with a pencil sketch as an underlayer. But of course that only works with lighter marker colors. Now I'm getting all flustered just thinking about it! Thanks, Brenda. lol...
Ultimately it sometimes boils down to tools. I'm using Sharpie type markers and lots of people do just that, but I've also used Prismacolor markers which cost about three bucks a piece -- ouch! -- and aren't much less even if you buy them in bulk in huge sets, which in total are seriously pricey. And truth be told the Prismacolor markers are just better suited to what I want to do, they're more transparent, so at some point I'm gonna have to bite that bullet and get some. The tools can sometimes make the piece.
Anyway, I hope this illustrates that anything is possible, that all styles work, that just as with choosing mohair, sometimes the media you use will depend on depend entirely on the look you're going for. People that I come across are moved by GOOD ART more than USE OF A PARTICULAR MEDIUM so I'd say go with what you're comfortable with!
Last... please be careful with Matte Sealer. I hate that stuff! It's ruined more pieces I've made than any single other thing. You can use fixatives -- workable, and final -- to seal your work permanently and keep it from being smudged. I've found, personally, and maybe I'm just a dork, that matte sealer can really ruin special finishes like sparkle, Pearl-Ex, etc., as well as literally bleaching the color right out of any photo, magazine page, or printed piece you might be incorporating in your work. Test first!!
Lexsomnia BearsThis is all so interesting. I have some cute cardstock and since I am doing some shaving cream dyeing later I may add the paper in to dye it too! Woohoo! Thanks!
Posts: 8,574Oh Shell!!!
Your pictures/cards simply stunned me, ohwowohwowohwow!!! Stunned, gobsmacked, breathless I am, oh honey, you HAVE been hiding your light under a barrel here!
I am awed by your art
Alexis,,,,I know I am not alone in requesting an explanation of shaving creme dying? Please?
Newcastle, OntarioShelli,
Thanks soooooo much for your input AND all the gorgeous examples. All of your cards are fabulous! I think If I had to choose one for me, it would be the fourth from the bottom - that gorgeous girl's face!!!
One of my quirks is that I don't like colour much. Every single thing I am drawn in art or even life, is either black and white or sepia and I like realism, not abstract. If I do find something I like in colour, it is a soft colour and always monochromatic. I also adore faces, and that is certainly why I love your face ATC - it has all the bells and whistles that make me happy - a fabulous face and not too much colour. I also really like your Africa card with the woman's face, as it also has a "one tone" appeal for me.
I have tons of art supplies - pastel pencils, watercolour coloured pencils, a full set of artist coloured pencils, regular and water soluble graphite pencils etc etc., so you can see where I'm leaning. I used to do commissioned children's portraits in coloured pencil - it's really my favourite medium. I did, however, run into a set of "ink" pencils in an art store in Ottawa, when I was shopping with Deb Burnham, a while back. They were expensive and I didn't get them cuz I'd just spent a fortune in a Art/Stamp/Collage store - I've been kicking myself ever since, as I can't find them anywhere else. I've been toying with asking Deb to get them for me and ship them - we are having a gabfest on Monday.
I bought the Krylon Matte Spray because Deb recommended it and she hasn't had any problems that I'm aware of. Most of her cards are digital but I do know she does some drawing as well. . When I did my coloured pencil portraits, I used to fix them with a light mist of hairspray. It worked well and always did a good job of fixing the pencil, without affecting it. I know you have to be careful with fixatives and pastels/pastel pencils as it can really muddy them if you put it on too thick.
I guess I just have to jump in and do one to see if I like working on such a small scale or not. Actually, small should be good for me as I've always been drawn to small things and I think that's what appeals to me about ATCs ie: keeping them in sleeves or in an album, and NOT having to find a place to hang them on a wall.
Oh Shelli, what have you done to me I have three bears 2/3rds finished, an order for a shadow box pendant and all I want to do is play with ATCs NO, WAIT - it's Alexis's fault - she started this post :crackup:
hugs,
Brenda
Lexsomnia BearsBrenda- :crackup: I didnt start this thread, did I??? 
Ooops! Hehe! 
Christine and Dilu- Ok, so it looks like Marble dyeing when you are done. You take shaving cream and mix it with a bit of mixed dye. Take a bunch of regular shaving cream and mix it with water and spread it over a clean surface. It should be frothy and thick like marshmellow cream. Take your premixed dye/shaving cream and squirt it in whatever patterns you like over the shaving cream "desk" you've created. Take a toothpick, a stick, a pen, whatever you want really and drag the dye around until you have a look that pleases you. I was taught this technique by a fantastic woman I was lucky enough to chat with and have loved doing it. Here is my first attempt on a shirt that I did for a friend's daughter. I have done some since but I havent taken pics since the bamboo fabric is cut and ready to be made into diapers! 
I love doing it and you can dye paper the same way from what I have learned so I will use my template and dye some paper while I am dyeing my fabric.
OH and here is me...Then you all wont be afraid of chatting with some random faceless person! :crackup: 
Oh, you're a total cutie patootie, Alexis! You know there's a place here where you can upload an avatar and a personal photo. If you roll your mouse over each member's avatar the personal photo shows up under there. Check it all out in the colored menu bar at the top of this forum. If memory serves you can add both avatar and personal photo under the PROFILE function. (Did I return to work as an Advisor here at some point over the last day or so...?)
First... your shaving cream dye job is fab-oo. Love the effect.
To Brenda: Yeah, I know Deb uses matte sealer! She's the one who turned me on to it but I can't get it to work for me. Fearing I'd appear dumber than cotton I never wrote her back to ask her how on earth she gets such a nice finish with it. All I know is that if I dare put it over a photo I've printed, it completely ruins it. I don't even know how to describe how; it's kinda a dissolve/disintegrate sort of thing. Never seen anything like it. And of course it takes away special finishes and effects (metallics) unless you put those OVER the sealer, or at least, that's what happens to me if I spray over metallic ink, PearlEx, or gel pen. Maybe Deb just works differently than me. For sure, though, her cards have a wonderful matte luster to them and are super thick and FEEL finished, which is really nice. I love 'em.
Having said that... because nobody seems interesting in me, shutting up just yet... Do know that there are lots and lots of people who HATE fixatives and if there is even a hint of them on their art cards they tend to like those cards LESS. For those folks it's all about the texture and they are really after that textured, hand-made effect that sealers sometimes MASK. So just FYI.
The people I trade with are usually really good artists and incredibly cool people to boot and they're not snobby, but they do have standards, and everyone is different. I have one friend who makes absolutely beautiful, super original works in oil pastels and she really likes the smeary dots of pastel that get left on the backside after her work is finished, so she leaves them there as a kind of badge of her process, and doesn't back her art with cardstock to cover them. For me, that would just be too messy to let out of my house and mail elsewhere! I am surely OCD. To each his own.
Can't wait to see what you're readying to trade with me, Brenda. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Lexsomnia BearsThanks Shelli! I appreciate that! "Cutie Patootie" is what my hubby calls me! Yeah I have looked at everyone pics and the avatars but I am nervous to post a pic of my bears. Silly really as I have already sold some and have been making them for quite some time but I feel miniscule around all of these spectacular bear artists!
Posts: 8,574WOW Alexis!!! I second Miss Shelli-you are adorable...
Your shirt is fab!!! i can hardly wait to try this method....I quilt too and routinly dye and paint my own fabrics......
Have to buy some shaving creme....soon
thanks for sharing!
dilu
Lexsomnia BearsDilu- If you need more help please feel free to ask! Those instructions were quickly written and there are tons of tutorials online that may help too! Just let me know, I have links for all that! 
Oh and thank you for the compliment. I am 21 weeks pregnant with my second boy and I dont feel pretty very often! :redface: :hug:
