The best part about being a mixed media artist with connections to his tribe on the Internet is the use of Artist Trading Cards, or ATCs. Adding words of encouragement to send around the world makes you feel good about sharing some positive vibes in a broken world.
I belong to a year-long class called Fodder School run by Wendy Solganic @Willa.Wanders on Insta & Tiffany SharpeTiffanySimplySharp on Insta and for a whole month one of the teachers taught us how to make artist trading cards and then got to trade with thousands of artists in our international group. It’s really exciting to receive snail mail when it comes in a beautiful hand-drawn envelope full of sweet things.
I’ve made over 100 trade cards for artists, as well as traded them with people all over the US and traded them with people from Canada, Australia, France and the UK. Happy Mail as we call it included pieces of my collage fodder we made in previous months lessons too. Many of us then turned around and used the goodies we got from each other to make more small pieces of mixed media art.
I love adding uplifting words, poems, and quotes to my cards. You can see samples below, but where do you get all the different sayings? Our teacher this class included a great PDF for us of short phrases but I also love getting quotes from my favorite authors and speakers too.
Where to find encouraging words and quotes
Etsy artists
There are of course quite a few people on Etsy who are creating PDFs of words to use with decorative fonts that you can download and print right away.
This seller, Pink Monarchprint, is offering a 30% off coupon right now and a buy 3 get 1 free code on dozens of different words for junk diaries and ATC cards. Click here to check them out.
Inspirational words and phrases
Time quotes
Digital Fit has these cute grunge theme words for you to download
Mommy SVG has a lot of cute font and graphics designs that would be perfect in ATC or other mixed media work. You’ve got some inspirational and motivational word art, a Black Girl Magic kit, and even a kit for your favorite stone.
Bible verses are also popular and I really like the look of it from Maggie Red Designs. It also has antique and black color options
Glennon Doyle Quotes
Glennon is a female voice that really resonates with me as a mother to my daughters. She has wise words about life and I can’t get enough of her books and podcasts. I highly recommend The Untamed (Book Depository, Amazon) I originally listened to it by audio book, but there were so many things I wanted to circle and come back to, I ended up buying the paper book too, and I bought my daughters journal/workbook, Get Untamed: The Journal (How to Quit Having Fun and Start Living)
Some of my favorite quotes from Glennon Doyle include:
- “Feelings are for feeling. All of them. Even the hard ones. The secret is you do it right, and doing it right hurts sometimes.”
- “When a woman finally learns that it is impossible to please the world, she is free to learn how to please herself.”
- “This life is mine alone. So I stopped asking people for directions to places they’ve never been before.”
- “Being human is not hard because you do it wrong, it is hard because you do it right.”
- “Be sensitive, for that is your superpower. The opposite of sensitivity is not bravery. The opposite of sensitivity is insensitive, and that is not a badge of honor.”
- And of course, my motto lately is, “We can do hard things.”
Quotes Maya Angelou
I love Maya Angelou’s books and quotes from the inside. All of her self love books are incredible
- “Do your best until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”
- “Never make someone a priority when everything you give them is an option.”
lyric
Music moves the soul in ways abstract words can’t, so I love to add my favorite lines in the lyrics to my art on a regular basis. The Beatles, Adele, and my daughter have amazing lyrics in their Hurricane Holly songs.