My First ATC (plus: I'm Swapping)

I have long been intrigued by ATCs. Every time I see a new one in the Recent Projects line-up on Craftster, I am once again filled with wonder at the tininess of these works of art. It just so happens that I love arty things as much as crafty things, but I never got up the nerve to try an ATC. Until NOW!


I recently joined a new website called Swap-Bot. It's a part-time, two-person website that allows people to run swaps, join swaps, get swapping feedback, then swap some more! I joined the "Nervous Newbies" swap SPECIFICALLY to try out ATCs, because the whole point of that swap is to try something you've never done, or practice something you're new at. And then I saw the "Graceful Geisha ATC Swap." Drats, I want to join that one, too! I haven't yet, because I honestly don't think I should. For one, I don't have a colour printer (or rather, no ink for the one in storage), so my first ATC and two in-progress cards all have grey-scale printed backgrounds. I'm worried that if I joined a REAL ATC swap, my recipient would be disappointed by that. Couple that with having to cut my paper bits with a pocket knife because my boyfriend's scrapbooking blades are MIA... Besides, those ATCers are waaaaaaay talented, and I'd hate to disappoint my partner(s). If only I had been more into papercrafting while growing up... I thought cut-and-paste activities at school were boring, and I never "got" the whole deal about scrapbooking (I still don't). And here I am over a quarter century old, just starting with it :P At least ATCs are multimedia, not JUST paper, so I don't need a Cricut or whatever just to "participate in the community." *wiggle my eyebrows*

Aw, well... Here she is, "Yuki," meaning snow. Printed greyscale background coloured with markers and pencil crayons, the image being taken from the Library of Congress website (it's an ink drawing). Yuki herself is drawn with ink, marker and pencil crayon. She is pieced, and I actually started with her face, added her neck, drew the kimono/obi seperately, drew her arm/hand seperately. That's her second kimono, as the first was far too large. Her hair is fake Mongolian sheep fur with a scrap of orange yarn wrapping her bun. The snow are tiny squares of plain white paper. The kanji is "yuki."

I've been feeling very melancholy and depressed, so I suppose you can view her as a fair representation of my inner well-being (as well as the two that are in progress). Funnily enough, the snow had NOT just begun to fall when I made her, it was 6 feet deep in some places! It took only two days for a lot of it to melt. Yeesh. Thanks, New Year, you've ruined my ice fishing plans...

In other swapping news, I'm in the Rapunzel Scarf Yarn Swap. I've requested any and all shades of pink plus neutrals, more or less. I sent a clarification/"J'ai des questions" message to them, and hopefully they don't think I'm a complete dingbat for asking for bits of fur and pompom trim... Anyway, I have a couple goodies in my own stash earmarked for my scarf, and I'm going to ask Todd's mom if I may raid her yarn stash. I've started pondering about what my 3 partners will get, and have all their info and preferences writ down on 3 separate pieces of paper that I'll fold into a sort of little folder to put the bits and bobs inside until I am ready to mail them off. I have to hurry the eff up and finish my Twist and Shout crocheted socks, so I can include the yummy hand-dyed merino lace yarn in their packages (it's freaking rainbow, so why not!). If you're on Ravelry, you can go check out my project.