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Arts & Entertainment

Trending Now: Kids' Artistic Trading Cards

Small works of art are fun, get creative juices flowing

Kids love trading cards - whether it is Pokemon, baseball, star wars or any other variety there is great attraction to these collections of cards.  Artist trading cards are a fairly recent trend in art circles capitalizing on the trading card fun.  Adult artists participate in swaps by mail with others around the country and around the world.  Kids can get in on the action too.  

These small hand-made one of a kind creations are a great way to get creative juices flowing and try out different media.  This is a fun activity to do with your kids - the small size seems to make the blank page less intimidating for everyone!
The only official "Artist Trading Card" (link to http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/) requirement is that the paper be 2 and a half by 3 and a half inches...the same size as other trading cards.

Cards can be cut from index cards, regular paper, scrap book paper, vellum or even out of the side of cereal boxes.  5 inch by 8 inch large index cards cut neatly into four cards with only a one inch strip left over as waste.  If you plan to make a lot of cards, a paper cutter will come in handy - to keep things simple let kids trace around a card and cut out their own.

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Rubber stamps, colored pencils, stickers, collage materials, watercolors and crayons are all great supplies to get started with artist trading cards.  Because the format is small, you can find big possibilities in simple media.  There are no rules other than that the cards be hand made and be traded rather than sold.

Encourage kids to make cards to trade with friends or to create a collection based on a given theme.  An envelope or file box works well for storing collections of cards.  Be sure to encourage young artists to sign the back of their cards too - you want to have a signature on your special original work of art.

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Images and words cut from magazines can also add to your cards.  Many cards carry special messages, "Art Empowers!" or "Love is in the Air."  Others may be abstract explorations of color, line or shapes.  

One father I worked with joined his daughters in making cards and delighted in the fluid quality of water color crayons.  His cards were a great exploration of color, line and washes of paint using this new found medium.  An eight year old girl had been working with paper weaving at school and created a miniature version with an artist trading card.

It is also a great forum for character design.  Encourage your child to create his or her own collection of fantastical creatures to amuse his friends.  Cards can include details about the creatures habits and interests much like store bought trading cards.

This is also a great way to celebrate talents and interests - cut up pictures to create cards celebrating your child's favorite things or favorite memories.

Much like making books discussed in the last column, trading cards are another way to vary the format of your creating to inspire new ideas and possibilities.

Most of all they offer an quick and fun way to be creative with simple materials that are easily portable.  Put together a little trading card kit with colored pencils, crayons and stamps to have on the go for a week at the beach or a hot summer afternoon.  

Get your friends started creating so you will have someone to trade with and see what sort of miniature art collection you can create.

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