Journals & Collaborative Projects

Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous collaborative projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/

Tutorials & Techniques

Below are some of our favorite tricks for adding depth and dimension to your art.  We hope you have fun giving these a try!

Current Group Swaps & Projects

Below is a list of current swaps and projects available to group members. If you are interested in joining our group and participating in these projects, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.  

For existing group members, you can sign up to participate  in these projects here: Swaps & Current Projects.  

We look forward to swapping with you.  Happy Arting!

Member Gallery for Group Swaps
 
Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous group swaps and projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
 
Come play with us... Join today!

Paper Traders is a friendly online community of artists from around the world. We nurture and value creativity, embrace new ideas, products, and techniques yet also value tried and true methods of artistic expression. Our projects consist primarily of paper arts, mixed media collage, artist trading cards, altered art, assemblages, collaborative journals, mail art, and more.

We are interested in creative individuals of varied skill levels who wish to challenge themselves artistically and help build a supportive community. We are at our best when we can share our creative efforts as well as techniques, resources, feedback, and insights. We encourage conversation about art, the art process, and what it means to be an artist.

Paper Traders is hosted on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
We hope you will consider joining us on an artistic journey!

In order to prevent spammers and to insure that all applicants are actual persons interested in creating art, a questionnaire will be sent to all potential members. When applying, please submit digital examples of your work or direct us to a website where we can view your art. The intent of the questionnaire is not to judge the merits of your art but to safeguard the integrity of our community.

Free Images for Download

Below you will find images that are owned by our group members and offered for your personal use as well as images found in the public domain. Images may be freely used in your personal artwork but may not be used for commercial purposes of any kind without written permission of the owner. No images may be used to create collage sheets or image collections for resale.

To download, follow the link provided. In some cases, you may be able to just click on the image to enlarge it, then right-click and select "save image as". Content changes frequently and many images are available for a limited time.  Please check back often for newly posted images to use in your art journey.

Open Art Challenges !

We're changing things up here at Paper Traders. Instead of the monthly challenges of the past, we'll now be hosting special challenges that might feature a specific technique or product and will be rewarded with actual prizes sponsored by our group members.

Our new challenge for 2013 is a year long word prompt journaling project/challenge. Each specific challenge will be open for one month and all art bloggers can participate, whether you are a Paper Traders member or not. Each artist will comment with a link to their blog post that features the artwork for that particular challenge. For each challenge, a winner will be selected whose art best exemplifies the challenge. The winning artist will be featured here and get a "Trader Treasure" blog button to display on their own blog. They also will receive one chance for each entry for the end of the year prize drawing. Watch this page for more details and challenge announcements.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Our Tip-In is getting ready to start!


A Tip-In page by Marion B.

Our 2013 Tip-In is a reality!!

To participate in this project, you need to to be a member of our art group.
We would love to have you join our community and participate in this and
other swaps and challenges. Please click here to be taken to our group home page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/ where you will find information
on how to become a member.


The 2013 Tip-In will begin soon and will run for up to one year, depending on the number of participants. If you have never participated in one of these projects you are in for a real treat. However, please do consider whether you can commit to this for several months before signing up. It is not fair to the other participants if someone drops out mid-way.

Here is how the Tip-In works:
Each month you will make a two-page spread and mail it to another person in the project. In return you will receive pages from another participant. You will send to a different person on a rotating basis until all the participants have received pages from everyone else. We expect this project to go forward without any delays because you will not have to wait each month for the Journals to arrive in the mail. Also the cost of postage will be much less because you will only be mailing two pages each time, not the whole book.

Tip-In Project Guidelines

For this project we will be swapping pages only (not mailing the whole journal). This is going to be ONE spread (two pages) ONCE a month - original work, no copies - just like the recent RR project but, instead of receiving the book and passing it along, you just make the spread and send it directly to the owner.


Each participant will create their own journal to which they will add the Tip-Ins as they come. When choosing/making your journal, please keep the size under 6 inches by 8 inches inches (15.24cm x 20.32 cm) so the pages can be mailed in a standard 6.5 x 9 inch mailer. For mailing you will want to place your pages in a cellophane envelope or plastic baggie along with a piece of cardboard to protect them from moisture and from bending in transit.

If you are already a member:
Sign-ups have begun and will close December 15th. Please sign up in the Tip-In Sign Up database on the Challenge Site . When you sign-up please post your mailing information as well as the theme of your book and a description of your page - including size and if there needs to be any space left in the binding area.

These tip-ins will be two facing pages that are blank on the back so that they can be tipped into the book and glued down by the owner. Rather than punching holes you will just leave SPACE and let the book owner put them exactly where they need to be.

Shortly after the sign-ups close, I will send each participant a personal flight list showing their rotation for mailing pages along with the description and theme for each month's recipient. The Tip-In will then officially start. Your first pages will need to be mailed by January 15th and subsequent pages will be mailed by the 15th of each month thereafter. Because there will be no waiting for journals to arrive in the mail, you will have plenty of time to do your spread and get it mailed on time so we expect no delays with this project.

This is a mixed media project – original work, no copies; you may use digital images in your work, but it should not be primarily digital. Also, because of the Yahoo guidelines on posting pictures, I am going to add that there is to be NO NUDITY. We want you to post photos of your pages in the appropriate albums each month, so please observe this rule.
Albums will be set up in the Challenges Gallery for each participant before the first mailing date. This is where you will upload scans of the pages you do each month. Journal owners might want to add a sample or two of what they have in mind there also.

Hope you will join us!
Connie H.

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