2016 Forum ACEO Swap – SIGN UPS CLOSED

Hey Guys! 😀
I had great fun working on our 2015 Forum ACEO Swap last Fall, and we had several participants who did some marvelous ACEO cards! I also received messages from other interested members who weren’t able to join us at that time, so now it’s time to Host the 2016 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 art pieces that are representative of your style of art. 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 work! It’ll be fun receiving mini pieces of art from different ACEO artists participating in the Swap. 🙂

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=G5s6jbqYJ0w

For simplicity and versatility, here’s what I do… 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 – 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 so my image will 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 processes 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 Swap:
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 to send to the Swap participants. So after sorting them I will have packets of several ACEOs heading your way, mailed out by me to 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.
I will mail out the completed cards after I receive them from all the participants. You can start working on your ACEO cards whenever you want, but I need to receive them by the middle of July, 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 by June 30, 2016, to ensure I receive them in plenty of time.
I will send an email out by July 15th, to confirm that your ACEO cards were received – or if I haven’t received them yet. When I receive the cards, I will confirm them on this thread (by forum names) and by PM – please let me know if you would prefer to remain anonymous and I don’t need to post your name on this thread.
When all the cards have been received, they will be sleeved (I’ll provide the sleeves if you don’t have any), and randomly drawn. The ACEO cards will be 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 card back, LOL… 🙂

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

SIGN UP Information:
I’d like to run the Sign Up through Sunday, May 22nd, and if you want to sign up please let me know by sending a PM to me, Ela_Hara. Please title your PM ‘2016 Forum ACEO Swap’ and include your name and address. I’ll PM you back to confirm I received your Sign Up and to send you my mailing address for you to mail your completed ACEO cards by June 30th. If you put them in a padded envelope, or put a stiff card with them in a regular envelope to protect the ACEO cards, that would be best.

Sign up Ends: Sunday, May 22, 2016

Confirmation of Sign Up PM to You: A day or so after I receive your ‘Sign Up’ PM to me. By Monday, May 23 at the latest.

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 (to me, Ela_Hara) for Finished ACEO Cards: Thursday, June 30, 2016 — And Yes, you can mail them to me earlier if you wish to 🙂

Receipt Confirmation to Participants: By Friday, July 15, 2016 to confirm receipt or identify potential issues with any cards.

ACEO Packets Mailed Out to Participants: July 30, 2016, 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 got 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! :love: