I love summer projects.

I especially love the project I’ve chosen for this summer because I’m working with some very special kids who have to spend time in the hospital. Summer bummer. They’re going to need a distraction.

You may recall that I am a huge Bob Ross fan, but the idea of trying to turn a giant blank canvas into a masterpiece, or even a novice piece, is more than a little daunting. So we’re not doing that.

Instead, we’ll be making Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I discovered ATCs several years ago, and fell in love with the idea of miniature works of art that could be created from whatever my mind could convince my hands to do with whatever materials I happened to have. The fact that I only have to cover a small 2½ inch by 3½ inch space with my greatness is a bonus.

Being a visual type, and armed with the knowledge that my creative audience would range in ages from toddler to teen to adult, I decided a few samples were in order.

The samples I created vary in design from the extremely simple to the – – who am I kidding, they’re all simple compared to the works I have seen on other sites – but I don’t mind, I’m a simple kind of girl. My samples are designed to show the little ones that anything their precious hands and minds want to create is “art” for this particular project.

My basic supply list includes an assortment of glues, paints, markers, crayons, pencil colors, rubber stamps, paper, foil, wire, craft foam, scraps of fabric, beads, buttons, and bling. The cards are cut to size from empty boxes. Cereal boxes are my favorite, and I like to leave the images printed on the boxes as the backs of the cards.

I have put together a little slide show featuring the ATC samples I have so far. I’m sure there will be more soon… they’re quite addictive.

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