Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

I came across the concept of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) in an article in Quilting Arts magazine over 5 years ago.  ATCs are baseball trading card size (2 1/2 x 3/12) and as the name implies are meant for trading with others. I am currently in an online group that trades 10 cards per swap on a variety of different themes.

What I love about ATCs and making as well as trading them is how freeing they can be. I can try out a new technique without the time commitment of a huge quilt. I can actually make a batch fairly quickly, and finishing a project is almost as good as starting a new one :) 

However, I struggle with how to display these properly.  At home I have one of those nice glass memory cases where the front of the frame is on a hinge and I can rearrange them at any time, but it only displays about 6 cards at a time. I finally decided on using 12x12 cork tiles (using command adhesive instead of the default foam tape that comes with the tiles). I placed 7 of them across one wall of my office and I have to say - I love the effect. I used plain old straight pins so that I would do minimum damage to the cards as well as make the mounting as invisible as possible. I really love the effect of seeing so many of them in one place, as well as brightening my office. Now I just need to trade enough ATCs to fill up all the new space I have to display them!