2017 Forum ACEO Swap ~ SIGN-UP OPEN Until July 9th!

CALLING ALL Budding and Established Artists who wish to Share!
IT’S TIME FOR THE 2017 FORUM ACEO CARD SWAP! Yah!!!!!

I always have great fun working with the ACEO Card Swaps and since Bodine recently asked about it, now is the perfect time to Host the 2017 Forum ACEO Swap!

For those of you who have never done an ACEO, or heard of them, they are basically ‘Trading Cards’ that artists make and trade – sort of like mini works of art that are representative of your unique style! So, yes that means that you can paint, draw, ink, use charcoal, chalk, or any other media you wish that will fit onto an ACEO Card. In fact, I encourage you to make your ACEO Cards with whatever medium you are comfortable working with, especially since these ACEOs represent YOU and Your Art! It will be fun receiving mini works of art from different ACEO artists participating in the Swap – and I’ve received some really marvelous mini-artworks in past Swaps!

ACEO Card Dimensions and Materials:
There is only ONE Rule for ACEO Cards – they MUST be 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches in size. The finished ACEO card can be in a vertical or landscape orientation, but they must only be this size.

If you are new to ACEO or ATC (Artist Trading Cards) cards, they are fun and easy to make yourself, or you can purchase ready-made Art Cards online at DickBlick.com or other art supply sites. To make your own ACEO cards easily and inexpensively, I’ve referenced two good YouTube videos I found – the links are below. They also show some neat project ideas – I don’t know these two artists, I just thought these two videos were cool.

ACEO ATC Cards Tutorial #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ml1sbT0VE

ACEO ATC Cards Tutorial #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXYySei24Ls&list=PLxgP7KJY2WoJUr0b218ZfiSSY_P83Uc-Y&index=3

For example here’s what I do when I make ACEO Cards… I buy the appropriate paper or card weight stock in a Pad or single sheets – you can find several at Art Supply stores (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc.) made for pencils, inks, charcoal drawing, acrylics, oils or watercolors… or my favorite paper – Mixed Media.

I like using a Drawing or Mixed Media pad because I like the fact that I can plan out my piece and draw, paint, ink it, etc. on a slightly larger sized piece of stock for my final image to be big enough. Then when I cut it down to the correct size, the art on my ACEO card will have a natural ‘bleed’ off the edges. This is the process which works best for me – but please do what works best for you! Just make sure that your ACEO cards and the package you mail to me doesn’t contain any hazardous materials that the post office would be upset by.

The ACEO Card Swap ~ General Information:
The object of the ACEO swap is to make your own unique, one-of-a-kind ACEOs to send fellow ACEO Swap participants, and you will get unique one-of-a-kind ACEOs from others in return – it’s that simple!

This will be a blind swap that I will coordinate, and the ACEO cards you mail to me will be shuffled, divided into equal numbers per package and sent to Swap participants. So each Swap participant will receive one package of several ACEOs, which will be mailed out by me to each of you. I would like to have everyone participating commit to a minimum of three (3) ACEO cards per person, since they are small (2-1/2 x 3-1/2 size). This is because I would like to have a good assortment to send to each of you. You can certainly make more if you like to, and I encourage that – ACEO cards are really fun to do once you get started – and I thought that three would be a fair minimum to strive for.

Completed card sets will be mailed out after I receive them from all Swap participants. You can start working on your ACEO cards whenever you want, but I need to receive them by the end of August, so I can confirm receipt of your cards and can start compiling the packets for mailing out. I ask that you can have them in the mail to me by August 14, 2017 to ensure I receive them in plenty of time.

I will confirm that your ACEO cards were received by August 31st – or if I haven’t received them yet. When I receive the cards, I will confirm receipt of your cards by PM. After all the cards have been received, they will be sleeved (I’ll provide the sleeves if you don’t have any), and randomly shuffled to ensure that no one receives their own cards back. Everyone should put their forum name (or real name will work too) on the back of the ACEOs you send, just so when I’m mixing them up I can keep tabs that no one is getting their own ACEO cards in return.

I will package and mail out the ACEO cards to all participants at the middle of September, or when the ACEO cards have all been received and sorted, whichever is sooner.

SIGN-UP Information:
Sign-Up is from now through Sunday, July 9. Sign-up by sending a PM to me, Ela_Hara, with ‘2017 Forum ACEO Swap’ as the subject line and please include your name and mailing address. I’ll PM you back to confirm I received your Sign-Up message, and to send you my mailing address for you to mail your completed ACEO cards by August 14th. Please put completed ACEO cards in a padded envelope, or with a stiff card to protect them when mailing.

Sign-Up Begins: Now!

Sign-Up Ends: Sunday, July 9, 2017

Confirmation of Sign-Up PM to You: A day or so after I receive your ‘Sign-Up’ PM I’ll reply back to confirm that you are signed up for the ACEO Swap. If you don’t receive a confirmation PM from me within a couple days, please let me know.

Minimum # of ACEOs to Commit to: Three (3) per participant – you can do more if you’d like! Please write your forum or real name, or both if you wish, on the ACEO Cards’ backs.

Mail-By Date for Your Finished ACEO Cards to me (Ela_Hara): Monday, August 14, 2017 — And Yes, you can mail them to me earlier if you wish to.

ACEO Card Receipt Confirmation to Participants: I’ll PM participants no later than Thursday, August 31, 2017 to confirm receipt of your ACEO Cards, or to identify potential issues with any cards – such as if I haven’t gotten them yet.

ACEO Packages Mailed Out to Swap Participants: ACEO Card packages will be mailed out to Swap participants on or around September 15, 2017 – or when all ACEO cards have been received and sorted – whichever is sooner.

To Sign-Up please PM me – Ela_Hara – and I’ll confirm that I received your PM as soon as I can.

Don’t be shy – you can do this!
Even if you haven’t done any ACEO cards before, they’re not hard. Hey, this will be FUN and ACEO cards are Fun to trade too!
Come on… the more the merrier!