I had a wonderful time this weekend with my group from Creative as I Want to Be.  We had two swaps this weekend…one for the Julie Nutting Doll Cards and the other for ATCs.  My Julie Nutting card was similar to the Mother’s Day card.  I started wondering about how ATC evolved and was surprised to find some history behind them!

Artist Vanci Stiremann created the first ATC, which are 2-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches.  This is the same format as football or baseball trading cards.  They are unique pieces of art and are often made to swap with friends.  How interesting!

Here are some of my “unique pieces of art” from previous swaps.

ATCs can be very fancy or simple…everything goes. Here are some favorites that I have pinned to Pinterest and hope to replicate soon.

Wishing you a crafty day.

I am having a wonderful time at Disney. I spent a couple days with my aunt and uncle, cousins, and their kids.   Now I am spending a few days with dear friends Maria and Katie and their family.

I am leaving today for Disney and I wanted  you to see my aunt’s shirt I made.  I did not want to give away the surprises so I waited until I knew for sure they were at the parks and she had her shirt. It shows the six grandchildren, represented by a Minnie or Mickey.  Isn’t it so adorable!

Have a magical day… and craft on!

I sure hope this card is at its destination by the time you read this on Mother’s Day!  I am a little behind on my crafting because of orders from my shop!  That is OK though…better late than never.

I love my Julie Nutting Dolls by Prima.  My crafting group, Creative as you Want to be, hosts a Julie Nutting doll card swap.  This is the basis for my next swap but made the Mother’s Day cards early to send to my two special moms.

If you are a mom…take some time for yourself…and craft like no one’s watching.

We had such a great time in Orlando last weekend at the Scrapbook Expo!  We stayed at the beautiful Gaylord Palms and enjoyed classes and shopping all weekend.

Pam, Jodie, and I at the beautiful Gaylord Palms hotel.

I took three classes from Heartfelt Creations, which may just be my new favorite!  In the first class, we worked with images embossed on vellum.  The delicate paper, once shaped, transformed into beautiful flowers.

The Heartfelt Creations collection Under the Sea is amazing and we made cards from this colorful collection in my second class.  Oh how I love these cards!  The port hole card is a shaker card.

In the third class, we made a flip album.  I especially loved this project because you can buy the album plain and decorate for any occasion.

Look closely at the picture of the cover.  I love how we added glitter to the flowers on the front cover–it pops!  With every class you took with Heartfelt, you got a coupon for a free stamp set.  Woo hooo!  I am looking forward to embellishing everything with paper flowers.

In my next post, I’ll show you some of my treasures I bought at the Expo.  I am going to have to clean out my craft room pretty soon and make room for new purchases!

The thought for the day–Being creative is not hobby, it is a way of life!