2015 Forum ACEO Swap | Checking In – Have all ACEO Card packets Been Received?

Hey Guys! 🙂 Sorry this is a long thread, but it’s chock full of information!

Bodine suggested a Forum ACEO Swap last month and asked if I would like to host it… Well, I had great fun working on an ACEO card and illustration card for a couple of forum friends recently, and those two projects got me back in the mood to work on drawing and inking again (which I haven’t done in quite a while). I surprised myself and found that I still love it, and I would like to do some more.
So Bodine, Yes – I would love to Host the 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. You can purchase ready-made Art Cards online at DickBlick.com or other art supply sites, but ACEOs are actually very easy and inexpensive to make. 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 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, so that when I cut it down to the correct size, it 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 ACEOs and 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 ACEO’s 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 all of you. You can certainly make more if you like, I just thought 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 end of October, 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 October 16, to ensure I receive them in plenty of time. I will send an email out by October 31st, to confirm that yours 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. I’ll shuffle them 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 back, LOL… 🙂
I will package and mail out the ACEO cards to Swap participants in Mid-November, 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 Tuesday, August 25th, and if you want to sign up please let me know by sending a PM to me, Ela_Hara. Please title your PM ‘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 to send your completed ACEO cards. If you put them in a padded envelope, or put a stiff card with them in a regular envelope to protect the ACEOs, that would be best.

Sign up Ends: Tuesday, August 25th

Mail by Date to me: Friday, October 16th (Yes, you can mail earlier 🙂 )

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

Receipt Confirmation to Participants: By Saturday, October 31st (confirm receipt or identify potential issues)

ACEO Packets mailed out to participants: Mid-November, or when all ACEOs have been received and sorted, whichever is sooner (November 16, approximately)

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 is my first ACEO Swap too!

Come on… the more the merrier! 😀

*~*~*~*~*~* ACEO CARD UPDATE NOVEMBER 18, 2015 *~*~*~*~*~*
I’m keeping a running tally below, which I’ll update as participant’s ACEO cards come in to me until they are all in. As I receive the last of the ACEO Cards I will also independently PM you in case you aren’t on the forum frequently. If you prefer that I don’t post your name on this list, please let me know by PM.

I’ll Update this list as I receive your ACEO’s. 😀

TO DATE I’VE RECEIVED ACEO Cards From:
8/31: Meowmix101
10/5: Amstaff
10/15: Bodine
10/27: Mercury Star
10/27: Zloy720
11/6: chibishiro12

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since I’ve been so crazy-busy the past couple weeks and I’ll be out of town next week through the first week in December, the new date for me to sort and mail out ACEO card packets to all participants will be approximately December 9. I’ll follow up with everyone when I send out everyone’s ACEO card packets.

I also plan on hosting another ACEO Card Swap after the New Year around February to early April, so if anyone had wanted to join the Swap but didn’t get a chance, you could think about joining the next Swap in early 2016. 🙂