Up cycle. Join a swap.

In a recent post I showed 30-some ATCs I made for a swap. I mentioned that sometimes I up cycle pieces of art.

Up cycle!
When I do a piece of art that I'm not entirely happy with, I often can't bear to just chuck the whole thing. There's got to be some good in anything, right? So I save the good parts and make ATCs or bookmarks. Some of the ATCs for this swap were originally part of a zentangle mandala that I wasn't happy with, although I liked parts. Below you can see some of these ATCs re-assembled to where they were in the mandala I cut up. The original art was the main "black" circle. I added more to the outside, blank paper to complete the ATCs.

Interested in joining an ATC swap?

There are ATC swaps going on all over. It's a lovely way to collect mini original artwork.

This particular swap is sponsored by Cathy Wilson on her Facebook page Zentangle Artist Trading Card Swap.

The Yahoo group 'Zentangle Inspired Art' does ATC (and other) swaps. You'll also find a monthly challenge and other fun activities.

Also on Facebook is the Altered Artist Trading Card Swap,  managed by Chari-Lynn Reithmeyer. (Just to be clear, it's the ATCs that are altered, not the artists!). It's for all sorts of art media. If you're not sure what 'altered art' is, check it out.

Another place you can join in is at CZT Deb Prewitt's blog, Blue Twig Studio. She organizes a swap once a month, always with an interesting theme. This is not specifically for zentangle art. One lucky person wins all the submissions that month!

Or, just plug "ATC swap" into your search engine and see what comes up.