My First Two ATPs - Artist's Trading Pins

Well, here are my first two. Took me less than half an hour to do this. It took me longer to place the brads than anything else. These are samples for my ATP swap for the Art Techniques group. Link to the group is somewhere on your right column - if you are interested.

The one on the left is approx 2x2.5". The front is from my creativity exercise that I posted a little while back. There is a piece of matboard behind it and then another piece of fabric on the back. I used a little bit of double stick tape to keep everything in place so I could sew the edges. I used the crop-o-dile to punch the holes and to set the eyelets. I have not decided if I want to put anything through the eyelets yet. I just have a thing about metals and feel the need to put it in most everything I do.

I have not put the pin backs on there yet so it would scan better. I do have some from skybluepink.com that I bought awhile back. If you want sterling, then I think Suze Weinberg has those on her site. I have both and I don't see much difference. The ones from skybluepink.com work just as well for me.

The one on the right is actually the first one I had done. It is a bit big for me since I am a smaller person. This one is about 2x3". I cut out the template. I cut a piece of my creativity exercise, piece of matboard, and piece of fabric for the back. I used a drop of glue to keep the pieces of ribbon in place so I could sew the edges. I placed a piece of double stick tape on both sides of the matboard so the material would not shift whiles sewing the edges. After the edges were done, I added the head. The top looked a little bare so I put a couple of brads on. I had no problems punching holes through the fabric and the matboard.

I recently destroyed my sewing machine. Since then, I have gotten a temporary fix until I can afford a real sewing machine. Yes, Judy, I am saving up for one right now! I realize that I need one. I am using a Provo Craft Sew Crafty Mini Sewing Machine that is meant for crafting like tags, scrapbook pages, cards, etc...It only does a straight stitch but it saves a lot of wear and tear on my arthritic hands. I have osteoarthritis from years of lifting very heavy weights as a powerlifter. It works amazingly well for a cheapie. I suggest getting the AC adaptor if you are going to get this little toy. You can't do large pieces on it but you can do a lot of things on it comfortably. I got mine from Creative Visions online. The website is www.scrapbooksupercenter.com and it is also available on eBay. The machine was $7.64 and the adaptor was $3.81. The total including shipping was $18.03. I don't know if you can get a better deal. This one was the best one I could find at the time online. I don't like running from store to store looking for stuff like this.

I will be doing more ATPs for the swap and will post them as I go along. I am thinking of doing metal ones - of course! I also have some UTEE left and might use that for a background. Large puzzle pieces are also an option. Pieces of game boards would make a good background. I might do a charm and button one as well. You can also make pins out of polymer clay.

Thanks to all the members of my group who posted their picts of their ATPs and gave me the idea and inspiration for the swap and for my own pins. Belinda