Since I became interested in Artist Trading Cards (ATCs: 3 1/2 inch x 2 1/2 inch works of art you can save and trade like hockey cards), I’ve taken some basic ATC art supplies with me whenever I go on holidays. The most fun is creating the cards as a group activity (if there are five people participating you create five cards, with each person adding something to each card, so that everyone ends up taking home one card created by everyone). I’ve done this with people who don’t normally make art, and they were surprised how much they enjoyed themselves — like they were kids again, allowed to play with paper, scissors and glue.

The card above is one I made with four women friends during a weekend getaway to a cabin in Manning Park (can you tell eating and knitting were two themes of the trip?).

And here’s one my mother, daughter and I made on a trip to Nelson, BC, the town where my mother grew up (includes images from a brochure on the town, bits of map, and a rubber stamp skunk bought from a Nelson artist, which reminded us of two skunks encountered on our trip).

I ended up doing a card to commemorate my Oregon trip on my own, which wasn’t as much fun (it encorporates bits of local newspaper and road map).

Visually, these aren’t my best ATCs, but in terms of the memories they evoke, they’re my favourite.