Senders&Receivers ATC

This is a great swap idea! Any chance that you'll do one for US only?

Question from an ATC newbie...sorry if this is stupid: I notice that a lot of swap descriptions mention "don't just put a sticker on it" or "no sticker only cards" but my question is what is so bad about decorating with stickers??? Why is this such a faux pas in the ATC world? What if you create a nicely done card that is a collage of stickers covering the card from edge to edge using different stickers? Is that still considered bad? I mean, what if you ARTFULLY use stickers to decorate the card? Someone please enlighten me. I personally think stickers could be a cute addition to an ATC and don't understand the anti-sticker attitude of a lot of swaps.

well, IMHO, I just feel being ripped off if someone makes a card in a few minutes using primary stickers, while I, send a card that I spend days of painting or gluing or creating something, waiting for it to dry etc.........again this is me, lets wait until you get some stickerslaped ATC so you can tell the difference unless you do not care about quality.......

I think that's an excellent question, EvetteOgden. I have personally used stickers very tastefully on my ATCs and don't believe that just because stickers are involved it is "sticker slapping."And I have received many ATCs from others that have no stickers on them and still have a slapped together appearance. So, in my humble opinion, it's not the stickers... it's the artist. And, by the way, welcome! :)

Evette, thanks for the question. I am not saying you can't use stickers. I am asking that you don't just put one sticker in the middle of a plain piece of card-stock and call that an ATC. Like Darida, I have received ATC's that had only a sticker "slapped" on them and was disappointed. However, I have also received ATC's that used stickers & embellishments & were very pretty cards. It's all in the effort you put into it.

Hi all.. call me a purist if you like but an ATC is MEANT to be an example of your ART.... not how cleverly you place stickers or how well you can glue some pretty cut-outs onto a 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch card... I get discouraged and upset by cards that are mostly collage or poorly (quickly and without much thought) drawn - whilst I appreciate that not everyone is an artist... the NAME of this form of art should give people an idea of what is expected... I expect ART.. I GIVE art...

Interesting that collage is not considered art. I have seen some amazing peices of art done when by taking elements that were not considered traditional art, but by redoing the composition, and changing perspective- art was created. I personally cannot draw well but give me my box of embellishments, lace, buttons and my inks and I can create so fantastic.... I also consider stickers in various forms to be part of my embellishment collection. I love the texture of the puffed ones, combined with lace or trims, or the glitter of a word that is slightly hidden, I have found that stickers when used as a small piece of a larger idea can enhance the overall effect of a piece or allow the artist to take an image that would otherwise be difficult for them to produce, and add to an overall meaning. But back to my original thought. why is it that the definition art by some excludes creativity of others?

Forgive me if I too seem to be a purist, but I see art as the ability to create something beautiful from nothing more than paper and pencil/pen/paint. An embellishment here and there to accentuate the theme is one thing, but taking someone else's art as in stickers and using it as part or all of your main theme seems to me to be plagiarising. Would you take time to paint a beautiful background and then cover it with stickers so no-one can see your work behind them? I wouldnt, and I bet most of you wouldnt either. But a printed background with your art in front...yes! Collage can and has been done to incredible effect, so I dont discount it as art, in fact it is one of my main outlets for my creativity, but today for the first time I did what most would call a 'run of the mill' atc, that is...the same as a lot of the atc's that are getting around where I put embellishments on a piece of backing paper and cut out a bird to put on it as the theme for the atc. Was it pretty? Yes, very! Did I feel like I had given of myself, from what I have inside me that cries to be released? No. So while I may have a lot of mulberry flowers and gemstones etc, they wont be featuring prominently in my atc's. I like to thin k of it this way...if your atc's all run along the same guidelines and style and they're just different colored cards with pretty much the same things going on, then you're not really giving art, just what is expected in the swap. Make it different, make it YOURS!