ATC Help

Most playing cards have a plasticized coating on them (it makes shuffling them easier), maybe you could try giving the cards a light sanding to provide a key for the mod podge.

Ok! I'll def. try that, Any specific grit of sandpaper? Or would it not matter? Thanks so much. I hope you have a great weekend.

Gesso works wonders for this problem couple of coats and you have a matte workable surface.Black acrylic is fun too.You could also stitch on the paper.

I like to use rubber cement to attach paper to them, it seems to work out okay for me.

I would use a fairly fine grade of sandpaper, unless you're really going for a distressed look=)
I actually use double-sided carpet tape for attaching stuff to stuff. It's really strong and much cheaper than the double sided tape you get in craft stores.

I do what Laurel suggested with the sandpaper. I find it works really well. My ATCs were held together with white school glue and they held up really well. I would also suggest painting the cards. I painted one of mine purple and then glued some stuff on it and it all stuck together fine! Good luck and I hope you find what works for you ;)

I've used mod podge on playing cards and it worked fine for me. The thing though with using it is that you have to use a really good coat because thin coats dry too fast therefore it won't stick and that's with anything, but sanding the surface does help a lot even when you don't have that kind of problem. I have used gesso too and didn't like the result of that because I didn't use the right kind of brush so I had brush strokes, and using a sponge applicator didn't work well either, at least not for me. Hm, when I ran out of playing cards making ATC's and didn't want to buy any just for that, even though they are pretty cheap, I now have stacks and stacks of bases that I have cut from different food boxes and they are really sturdy so I like them way better and hey, no problem with adhesives!

Good way to recycle, I keep nearly all of my cardboard food packaging for crafting, it's very useful stuff=)

I do too Laurel, I have some cut in different sizes and ready for use in book covers, inchies, twinchies, ATCs of course, squash books, albums, and possibly skinnies which are about like ATCs but are 2 X 3 in size. So I'm trying to decide if I want to get into making those too along with the inchies and twinchies.
Haha! I have so many that I'm thinking of having a contest or something to give some away with other things to make ATCs; just trying to come up with a concept.

thanks you guys for all the ideas. hope you all have a great week.

I make my ATC's with cardboard too. I've never had any trouble with it.
I need to start trading these again too. XD

DarkAsHurts I started a private ATC swap besides the ongoing one I'm hosting. So SpookySweetie, would love to have you join a round or few if you would like to collect them from others.

Thanks I'm still working on my newcomer swap at the moment and seem to have come down with a cold so it'll be a minute before I try to take on anything else, but when I am feeling better I would really enjoy doing a ATC swap. Thanks again everyone for your ideas and help.