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I love it! Really! One thing, tho... it doesn't refer to the card thing. Are you thinking of a guild for bear artists, as bear artists... or were you trying to connect it to the ATC concept?
Also, please tell me... what on earth are PFATT and SSODS...?
PFATT is Primitve Folk Art Tea and Talk. SSODS is the Secret Society of Dirty Sisters (Dirty, as in primitive!)
I've just noticed that the PFATT artists are listing ACEO cards on eBay!
I'm signing out for the rest of the morning. My house is a pig pit and I'm designated housekeeper. 
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Also, as I think about it...didn't Berta have some cards quite a while back (like a year or so ago) that she sold...my memory is a little fuzzy this morning, I will have to write Berta and ask her. I seem to remember that she did. I don't know what she called them but I will ask.
that's right she had her "Little Bits" cards and they had photos on the front and a pattern on the back for a componant like a dress or a hat...I'm sure they were limited editions - anyhoo they're no longer available but you can see them here
http://www.threadteds.com/shop-littlebits_EN.htm
Wooohoo it's Waitangi Day here this weekend (our national holiday) and so I have three days off work. If I'm good and have my site all updated and some bears finished on Sunday then I'm allowed to spend Monday playing cards!!
Nancy - I've been mulling these over while at work and I too thought I'd send them to my collectors. In theory, I send them a handmade greeting card anyway and these would be so much more fun!! I don't have a printer at the moment and am anxiously awaiting a chance to buy one so I can get started!
Sunnie BearsLove TBAGS! What a catchy name!
Sonya
Posts: 1,153Kelly...love your idea and here's the big BUT for me....you probably know how to make your cards on the computer. 
Remember, I will be using scissors, glue dots, pencils ...you know all handmade Unless of course I can figure out how to do some of it on Elements and then print it and THEN add the handwork. That would be a big help.
But I do like the idea of one to keep for their bear or friend and another to trade. They really should have one to trade and one to keep, considering the cost of artist bears . I think that would be a great thing to do. Great idea.
On Simply Quilts, the Editor of a Quilting magazine was there showing the ATC's that she received and of course had to trade back to...but she said, the front is supposed to display your craft and on the back, you sign it, date it and then put some profound statment.
I have been collecting quotes and saying for more years than I care to think about...I just like them! So I would liked that idea.
I definitely think we need to start the education process and let the general public, interested in bears, know what this is all about. People LOVE TO COLLECT !!!!
That is why I was so happy to see Mindy interested. She has the platform to get the news out and IF we cannot sell them...then I think it would be great to let the collectors know that they would get a card from their favorite artist, included with the bears they purchase from participating artists.
THAT would really make the cards special and keep the market from getting flooded with them...as we all know will end a good thing real fast!
If Mindy is able to do that...it will also reach the bear artists, as Shelli says, who either don't have a computer or do ebay...know what is going on and they too could join in.
I definitely think we need to protect the cards from being overproduced (for a lack of a better word)...they need to be kept special and not so easily obtained, as say baseball cards. I think that would destroy their uniqueness.
The original ones were created on the premise they were only to be traded amoung artists and that does keep the value (either monetary or sentimental) of these little bits of artwork, up!!
They are after all tiny ambassadors of out work.
Nanc.......
Posts: 1,153Thanks Melissa...you saved me from having to email Berta...hey, where is she anyway? This is right up her alley!
nanc......
Oh, I might be a little late to this, but better late then never! 
My mum is members of alot of quilting-groups online, and when I visited her last weekend she said to me that she was gonna make 3 ATC. Whats that? I asked, so she explained what is was. And then I helped her make one card. And as it was for a quilting-group, they had to sew them. At least I think so.
And mum´s group have monthly ATC-swaps, so mum will for sure make more.
Now I have been lazy and didnt read all pages 
, but are you gonna swap every month or just now and then?
It was good info in the beginning tho, cause now I will tell mum that the ATC can be painted and so too!
Sounds like a fun idea anyway!! 
Patsy Lake BearsWow what excellent efforts ......... I am going to have to get my creative juices flowing here ........
Winneybears and FriendsWow..this thing is really taking off...My mide is getting befuddled already..
Question 1) ...If I don't do digitals ..can I print out a photo or color print of my own bears then embellish them?
Question 2)...If so..then I could choose to do a Limited Edition of let's say 50 to 100 ?
Question 3)... I do paint in acrylics so I could paint some likeness of my bears ...like on small canvas type of
material ( called canvas paper) these would beone of a kind.
Questiom 4)...Shouldnt the ATC's be offered in nice envelopes to keep the presentation clean ?
I checked with my sis in law that sells scrapbooking supplies and she said she went to a
a siminar her Co. gave, the ACT's are hot for sure and they do carry archival plastic to make envelopes
for to ATC's.
Question 5) Can we have some space in the Index for all this ATC stuff ...I can tell we are going to need it...it
would be nice to keep a list of Questions and Answers too so we all could learn about the ATC's.
Giving Nancy credit is great and seems really fair but....the ATC has been going on for a number of
years already....we are just late...LOL... I am just wondering with the craze being so new to us ...
other teddy bear wesb sites are going to jump in here real soon... so why not Intercal too? Winney
If I don't do digitals ..can I print out a photo or color print of my own bears then embellish them?
Absolutely. And actually... the idea of doing "digital" ATC's, from what I have read, is generally considered FAR LESS desirable than an ATC that is: hand-drawn, hand-painted, hand-stitched, or otherwise hand-embellished. There seems to be a lot of interest in the TEXTURE and DIMENSIONALITY that such a hand-made card inherently possesses. Such qualities are entirely lost in a "digital" ATC because, no matter how artistic it is, it's essentially a flat, 2D, image.
Now, don't anybody go ballistic on me! I'm not knocking digital compositions! I think you've seen I love this medium and consider it "art" in its own right! And there is a huge digital scrapbooking movement, growing equal to the hands-on scrapbooking movement of old.
But for ATC's specifically, it seems like the adage goes, " the more hand-made, and the more home-spun, the better."
If so..then I could choose to do a Limited Edition of let's say 50 to 100 ?
You can choose to do whatever you'd like! But again, the DESIRABILITY of a particular ATC, as I've read, is related to its RARITY. Trading an ATC is not supposed to be anything like distributing a business card... but a business card with prettier pictures on it than usual, or a bow tied at the corner. In fact, I'm rethinking including my business name on the front at all, and think I'll put that on the back instead, to keep the "art" part of it more "pure."
Unlike a business card, an ATC is "supposed to be" a little piece of the artist, and for want of a better way to describe it, it seems to me that people trading these cards (in the art world, anyway) are looking for a little bit of the artist's SOUL, a little bit of SACRIFICE to get that card made. From thence comes the desirability for a given card. In the ATC "economy", as in most economies, supply and demand are generally inversely proportional; as one goes up the other goes down, and vice versa. And so it goes with ATC's, it seems, from the reading I've done.
For this reason, while you could of course choose to publish a limited edition of 50 to 100 cards, what I've read leads me to believe that it's the one-of-a-kind ATC's that are especially sought after... and that "limited edition", as applied to ATC's, usually means, like, five cards on a specific theme... but each of them, still!, uniquely different. Maybe just with the same background paper, or color scheme... etc.
I don't own the "rule book" here; given that we're not entering the "official" ATC / ACEO market as it now exists, I don't think there is a "rule book" yet. If there is, I don't want to write it. Too many people will get mad at me for not "doing it right." Such is the nature of the beast.
:)
Shouldnt the ATC's be offered in nice envelopes to keep the presentation clean ?
What a lovely thought, and something individual ATC creators might want to consider. However, I don't think we should get complicated and detailed with "shoulds" and "musts" with this thing.
Keeping it simple, the "rules", such as they exist, FOR OUR BEAR INDUSTRY PURPOSES ONLY, at this point, given what we've all been discussing, seem to be:
1. Dimensions MUST BE 2.5 x 3.5 -- playing card size
2. MUST include an image of one of YOUR bears, or an ORIGINAL bear rendering (sketch, painting) you've created personally
3. The more unique and closer to one of a kind, the better
4. Okay to swap or buy
Can we have some space in the Index for all this ATC stuff... why not Intercal too?
That's a really good question, Winney.
TEDDY TALK was designed to be a community discussion and showcase/gallery/display forum, formed to celebrate and advance the teddy bear industry and concept, and the adjunct merchants and vendors (suppliers, magazines, web resources, individual artists, etc.) that support it.
As we've grown and changed over time, certain ideas (like the supply swap concept) have presented themselves on the board which, in order to see the light of day, would have required some sort of person to person commerce (trade, swap, buy, sell) DIRECTLY OCCURRING ON THIS BOARD. The ideas themselves were, without exception, truly great ones.
Unfortunately, because of the risk of potentially negative, complicated, legal/moral/ethical/fiscal outcomes, after considerable thought and discussin, it has been generally decided, by the powers that be, that TEDDY TALK cannot intelligently participate in commerce-based exchanges/swaps/purchases/sales/etc. Such ventures are simply beyond the scope of the "mission statement" developed at the foundations of TEDDY TALK.
I'm sure you'll remember one glaring exception: the bear swaps that have originated and been discussed here. The difference, however, is that these swaps are organized by a PERSON... not by TEDDY TALK or Intercal. And they "officially" take place outside the confines of this forum.
An ATC swap forum, as we've been discussing it, would be a different animal; it seems as if people are wanting to post "available ATC's" on what would essentially be a trading board. And that's where it crosses the line to something that occurs here at TT... instead of off the boards, physically and intellectually in a "different" place entirely. And that's the difficulty with the ATC forum/swap area idea, as I, personally, see it. Just speaking for myself here... I'm not the mouthpiece for either TT or Intercal as I write.
Personally, I would like to see some sort of GALLERY for display of ATC's, somewhere, someday... but in reality, asking either Intercal, or Nancy for that matter!, to create an entire forum or gallery explicitly for this purpose, is a big thing to ask, and riskier than creating, say, a forum like the LIBRARY here, which simply highlights certain textual content already on the board.
Since Nancy, without dispute, started the idea simmering in me entirely, and furthermore, as it relates to the bear industry, AND since she is interested in the art form of ATC's herself AND since she's interested in the hosting of a swap area, for now it just makes sense, to me, anyway, to let things flow in that direction and see where they land.
Thanks for asking so many really smart, and important, questions, Winney. You're very appreciated!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Do any of you remember Lisa Vollrath from the Southwest a decade ago? Google her: she's involved in almost every art form there is. I mostly followed AB - Altered Books - because a miniaturist-loving GrDau & I like to create them, but Lisa has ties to ATC, AD - Altered Dominoes (Exquisite little palettes these make!) and so many more things. She is so giving - there are links on her sites to so very many different art media formats. Check her out!
Bobbie
Past Time BearsHooray . . . Mindy is in with us!! Isn't this a cool idea - my, my - the mind just boggles!!
Sheila LeighShelli, I am just so excited about these ATCs. I have been wanting to start a ATC project for a few years now. I guess I just didn't know where to begin, but I think using photos of our bears would be wonderful. Since I'm not very good with digital art, I will be making them by hand or printing photos of my bears onto fabric and then embellising them.
Nancy, I think adding a collector's card with each bear is a fantastic idea. I usually send an adoption certificate with each bear but now I'm planning to change that. I want to send a hand-embellished photo of the bear on the front and then on the back, I'm going to include the birth certificate.
Mindy, I'm so happy to see that you are interested in this idea! You are always a great supporter of the bear community.
Now, I just realized that if I make an ATC to go with my mini bears, the ATC will be larger than my bears.
Hi Bobbie! I just noticed that you are a member too!
p.s. Since I'm new to this forum, I was wondering how do you place snippets from other posts into the post that you are writing?
hugs,
Sheila
Looks like it may be a cut and paste weekend! There's a big storm rolling in.....supposed to be REALLY windy and cause all sorts of power outages. I'm getting the glue and paper ready!!
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
P.S. I was wondering that myself Sheila....snippets of posts. I'm not so new here and I still haven't figured it out! 
Sheila, Aleta... you can either click the QUOTE button within your posting window, as you type... and then insert text you have COPIED from someone else's post into the space between the QUOTE tags...
Or --
... you can go to the bottom of the post you want to quote, and click QUOTE in the lower right corner of that post. Your posting window will then appear, into which you can type text... but it will already contain the entire post you just QUOTEd.
The advantage of using the second method is that the source is cited automatically. The first method only puts your text into a little box, without the source name attached.
Hope this clears things up!
LuxembearsGosh , my head is spinnig reading all these posts. What a very fun idea. I'm in.!
Whinney mentioned protective sleeves. Does anyone know where to get these...or am I jumping ahead to fast?
Budd Bears BoutiqueWhat a wonderful idea. Just finished reading all the posts. Shelli, Aleta and Sonya love all your cards. I have always enclosed the Teddy's picture with the Teddy I have created for client's , what a wonderful idea to convert it to a ATC.
Judi, I have a package of 100 plastic sleeves size 3.5 x 2.5 that I got for $1 at one of those $1 stores. They would work as long as the card wasn't too thick I think.
Winneybears and FriendsThank's so much to Shelli for the answers to my questions! Makes sense to me...thank's Shelli.
Yes, my head is spinning too...I like the idea of protecting the card after it is done...I mean it needs to stay clean for trading and all the better if you can see thru the envelope..
Tammy, my sis inlaw that sells scrapping supplies said they carry the archival plastic ..which surprised me.
I thought plastic would be anything but archival.I dont know if you have to make your own envelope from the plastic or what....probably do....
I remember now...some time ago I was looking to buy some new photo albums. I bought some at Walmart.. they are archival. This was confusing to me as I read somewhere that plastic is the WORSE thing to store your photos in as it emitts some sort of gas that destroys the photo turning it weird colors eventually.
So...I think Id check into this plastic thing just to play it safe...Might ask some ATC person what info. they have on this...Hmmm, I wonder if Michaels ( craft store) has the supplies.? Good grief ,you know they will jump onto that bandwagon.
Shelia...What a fabulous idea of printing your bear photos onto fabric ! Then embellish them....Winney
Jare Hares & BearsWell I think this is going to be fab when we all get going on this.
I am sure that Miss Judi will have fun airbrushing cards. I will be using mostly digital files to create my cards, but I do have some ideas for embellishents.
I can't wait to see what people make.
Posts: 1,277I think the plastic sleeves would be very easy to come by. I have tons of baseball and basketball cards that are stored in plastic sleeves. Pretty cheap and widely available. It's been a long time since I've bought any but I'm sure they can be found at some of our favorite hobby stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby.
I can't wait to make some. I have tons of scrapbooking supplies but I'll have to make a trip to my mom's. She's a scrapbook fanatic and has a whole room set up just for scrapbooking. I keep most of my stuff at her house as we like to make a day of scrapping together. It will be fun seeing everyone else creations too!
Sheila LeighThanks, Shelli
Let's see if it works for me!
hugs, Sheila
Sheila, Aleta... you can either click the QUOTE button within your posting window, as you type... and then insert text you have COPIED from someone else's post into the space between the QUOTE tags...
Or --
Jare Hares & BearsI am sure that this just what we all need one more thing to do.
You can get baseball card protectors at Wally World last I knew in the stationary department.
Jared, I hear ya. I need ten thousand more things to do. Because the ninety seven million I already have to do, aren't stressing me out enough.
:)
Having said that... I just went out and dumped a small fortune on scrapbooking papers today, because I'm so looking forward to making some ATC's featuring my bears. I've got lots of ideas and have now decided I need to re-arrange my entire house to accommodate a scrap/sewing/bearmaking nook. I'm thinking that I might need to take over the downstairs entirely. Laughing here...
Jare Hares & BearsShelli -
Mum and I have to 2 rooms to work from. But there still isn't enough room.
I saw the ad for Teddy Talk. WOW! You did a wonderful job. They look fab!
I think there are a couple of other ads out there that have your finger prints all over them.
And they all look great.
