I am tidying up my web sites today. This article appeared on my very first ATC web site.
When I first started making ATCs, I posted a series of cards called “Love Trees.” Each card in the series was unique, made from torn paper colláge pieces…but the cards all looked VERY similar. On the back, I signed each card, and included a title and the date. But I did not number those early cards.
I posted four cards on the “Main” Facebook page and promptly traded all four. People requested more, so I made more cards and posted them. Things got confusing very quickly. Instead of writing down “#6 went to Tabitha,” I had to refer to a picture in my Messenger postings. It was a goofy way of keeping track of things.
So I started putting numbers on the backs of the cards. And I started keeping a little record sheet, recording which cards went to which traders. That record sheet had all the cards, listed in numerical order.
But a record sheet listing all cards by number may not give the kind of information I’m looking for. What if I want to know how many cards are available to trade? And where are they? Here’s a weird little record sheet from April 2020:
By August of 2020, I was keeping monthly journals as well as a spreadsheet. At this point, the spreadsheet could be sorted by “Trade number.” (See column 4)
By 2024, I finally arrived at a sensible spreadsheet method for tracking things, on a Google Spreadsheet: (I’ve removed last names for the privacy of the traders. Obviously the REAL spreadsheet includes this information. In the STATUS column, T stands for Traded, A is for Available, and S is for a swap. I also use a K for cards I am keeping, and E for cards I send as an extra, and RAK for Random Acts of Kindness.
I often do swaps on the ATCsForAll.com site. I put the name of the swap in the TRADED TO column and the swap host in the FOR THIS CARD column.
On this spreadsheet, I also keep a running tally of cards, using formulas from Google sheets. (What can I say? I’m a data Geek.)
In June I made my 2000th card, and decided to start a new spreadsheet. The totals from my first 2000 cards are shown here:
