my first swap

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  Soooo, I swapped for the first time.  Intrigued?  Ready for the details?  Well, you really need to get your mind out of the gutter.  I participated in a card swap in my “a year to remember” class with Heidi Swapp at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  We received 15 of Heidi’s large playing cards and we had to alter 10 identical cards & return.  I made 12, an extra for Heidi, which the class organized as a surprise for her, & another for myself.  When I get 10 back from others in the class I plan to bind them with a book ring.  Fom the extra cards I have left I will use one as front cover & the other as back cover so you can appreciate both sides of the cards.  On this note, I had a hard time deciding which side to cover (they’re both super cute) but ended opting for the playing card side since that’s the side that is traditionally done with atcs (altered trading cards).  Anyway, we were asked for a favorite quote & our personal info (name) and that’s the only design guidance we received.  i opted for a pink&black scheme since it’s heidi’s trademark and also the colors on the cards.  Of course as a last detail I injected a bit of green with the ribbon since it’s my personal favorite & it injected a bit of MJ.  I bought a dictionary at the dollar store and used that as the background paper, I thought that went well with the “quote” theme.  I used a ton of stamps which was really, really fun.  Once I had most of the components together for my initial sample, I used the assembly line method, which Ali teaches.  It was totally fun & went by rather quickly.  Stamps included 7Gypsies self inking stamp, Heidi’s roller word stamps, Fancy Pants Bella Brush, Stampin’Up!…..  I had fun with the embellishments as well, prima flowers, flowers brads, ribbon, button, bling, photo anchor, round metal tags.   I think that’s it.  So besides having fun, diminishing my stash a bit more, capturing my “photo of the day” assignment for the same class, what else did I learn?

• That I like the swap concept & hope to do more in the near future.

• That I think altering trading cards is also in my future.  I’ve wanted to delve into this world for awhile just lacked the time for yet another time stealer.

• That I need to stamp on my scrapbook pages more often, ‘cuz I love it!!!

• That I need to splurge the ten bucks to get a box of these playing cards, ‘cuz they are totally fun.  I have soooo many ideas.

• That I can’t wait to see all the cards that come back to me…..

I will post my finished book once I get back all the other cards.  Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.