Cookie-inspired Cards

Happy New Year! I know that most of you have snow laying around to look at, but here is a photo of mine:)

Last month my mother showed me the cover of the latest Victoria Magazine, and said that one of the gorgeous pastel cookies on the cover (the one with the cameo) would make a pretty card. 

This has to be one of my favorite Victoria covers-- I love all the colors and how much better can you get than cookies and roses?

Here is my take on a cameo/silhouette card inspired by cookies! I flipped the idea of the cameo though: instead of the silhouette being embossed, it is flat, and the background is textured.

 I ran pastel card stock panels through my Cuttlebug with different embossing folders, and tried to keep the center clear by using a homemade "Embossing Diffuser" with an oval cut-out. 

The silhouette is a free image from Call Me Victorian, I put it into my Scan N Cut, then mounted the cut out on a bit of foam tape. I put a thin oval frame around the silhouette, and mounted the panel on a white card.

I chose two kinds of silhouettes-- the differences being the hairstyles. The one on the left reminds me of the Gilded age, and the one on the right reminds me of the Regency period. I chose backgrounds that I thought went with those looks.

I got pretty tired of trying to keep that homemade embossing diffuser centered (it is just a piece of chipboard, not a folder), so decided that the silhouette also looked good with the embossed pattern across the entire panel behind it. I also decided that it looked good without a frame-- the more I could pare down the faster I could go and the more cards I could make! Simple=elegant was my motto for this card.  I also experimented with bolder colored backgrounds, and white backgrounds with pastel silhouettes.It would have really been nice to add some gold accents, had I had the materials. 

I love the idea of using fancy iced cookies for card inspiration!  I've started a pinterest board to explore the subject more.

Fancy Fiddle Case

What to do with an old fiddle case? One which was okay on the inside, but starting to get beyond "scuffed up" on the outside?

Handle wrap coming off the metal handle, the main clasp kind of "sticky" (have to use the side clasps...)

...back fabric peeling up...

I thought about putting the case on Craigslist. There may be someone out there who wants something like this. So I tucked it out of the way until I had time to list it. 
Months later, it occurred to me that I could renovate the still-unlisted case and make it uniquely my own! 
                           

It was all wood underneath the fake leather. The covering was fabric and bootblack maybe? I thought I would tear it off and paint the wood underneath. Whatever they used back in the old days to equate pretend leather, it came off almost in strips and left a lot of powder behind. 

  I didn't spend a tremendous amount of time sanding all the remaining glue off, so the surface was very rough. That didn't matter too much because I was going to decoupage the case. I painted the metal hinges and parts, rust and all. The rust does show through, but I was going for "shabby chic" style anyway.

Out came the scrapbook papers...

...and the bits and pieces of papers saved just for times like these... a paper bag from the music shop (printed with teal sheet music!), music score tissue-paper, doilies, stickers, clip art...

...I also printed some images of little girls with violins off of the internet, and hand-tinted them.

This little girl had three howling dogs with her, but I thought that was a bit too many...

...especially since the other little girl on the front of the case had a howling dog, too! 

The painting is by Charles Burton Barber, "The Broken String." The other painting had no title, but I suspect it is either by Charles Burton Barber or a Sir Arthur Elsley.

The Broken String

Charles Burton...

Buy This at Allposters.com

Isn't it a cute painting? You see the kitten is playing with the broken string. The poor little girl is trying to practice as best as she can on the remaining three.

Another print out from the web just fit on the side, it can be found here.

As the project came together, I discovered that it was no longer for me, but was claimed by a little fiddler of mine, so I wrote her initials on the labels. The dove is from a calendar, the labels made from various punches and dies. 

Sheet music from an ATC paper pad.

Stickers and doilies.

 The pink bit of paper "lace" came from packaging. Real lace and even a real chiffon ribbon rose glued on just fine, and are, after five coats of Mod-Podge, as stiff as a board. 

 I found a flourish printed on scrap-book paper and cut it out. A flourished-shaped die would be so handy to have!

This project took a couple of days just to "compose" the new covering, and then many more days to put on extra layers of Mod-Podge to make a clear finish. I hope it will last a long time. 

My best friends turned out to be the sheet-music tissue paper and the paper sack! They were great for moulding around hard-to-cover spaces, and yeilded themselves to be glued very nicely. I covered the handle with scalloped grosgrain ribbon from the dollar store. 

Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out.

The only mistake I felt that I made was curving the paper around to the inside. You see, I did the whole project with the case open, flat on the table. It did not occur to me that the case might not close with layers of paper and glue added to it! I did some sanding and trimming of paper, but still it was a tight fit. I should have sanded the box down at the closure edges ahead of time to make room, or closed the box, marked where the lid came down, and only put the paper up to that point, maybe finishing off with some kind of decorative tape. 

And so, the shabby-chic-victorian-scrap-fancy-fiddle case is done, and it's a keeper. When not in use, it it sure does look nice laying around the house!

Peek-a-boo Card

 This fun card changes pictures as you open it! I followed this tutorial to make a get-well card for a friend. It was not terribly confusing to do, but reading through all the instructions first (and watching the video) is a must. I made two cards and was quite happy with them.

 As you open the card...

...a new picture slides into view. If you have a couple of rubber stamps that go together, or an image and a greeting, this is a good card to use them on.

A Valentine

The Pleasant Times 2015 Valentine!

It was such a nice diversion on a rainy day to get out papers, scissors, glitter and glue and make something pretty just to brighten the week. This valentine is made up of  paper scraps, old calendars, catalogs, packaging, scrapbook papers, doilies, and bits and pieces from friends, the internet, and the dollar store! Oh, and just to add a bit of shine, a round silver cardboard cake base is under the pink heart doily. I could have added extra interest by mounting the pieces at varying heights, and then framed the valentine in a shadow box, but I made it flat this time to go in a scrapbook later.

(To see a previous collage, click here)

Printable Card Display Easels

Here are some printable paper easels to use for displaying holiday cards. These easels are also nice for displaying any home-made cards you might get for birthdays, etc., which can often be so elaborate that it is a pity to store them in a box! If you are handy with your printer, you could print the easels out smaller and use them for  place card holders on a holiday dinner table (though you would have to have a lot of patience or many willing volunteers to cut around all those leaf-points for a large Thanksgiving gathering!).

 The Christmas Tree card holder (pictured above) has been cut out of green card-stock.

Print the easels on heavy card stock and cut, or glue two print-outs together if your card stock isn't thick enough. If you find the cards aren't standing right, you can bend back the upper branches of the tree slightly, but I have tried to "engineer" that trouble out of the templates for you! 
Click the links to go to the Google Drive page, and look for the little printer icon to print.
Christmas Tree and Autumn Leaf Easel

Here is a Christmas card displayed on the tree easel. 

Just for fun, I've included some print-outs for other seasonal and holiday cards.

 An Autumn leaf  Easel. (The print-out has a slightly longer base, as I found it was a little sturdier that way, so yours will be slightly different than the picture.) Just for fun, I decorated the easel by just stamping it with ink pads.
Christmas Tree and Autumn Leaf Easel

 Here's one for Valentine's day, perhaps. I glued two easels together for this one, to get two colors.

On the other side, I glued pink hearts to the card stock.
Heart and Flower Easels

Another two-tone easel, perhaps for Springtime or Easter, with the bottom part cut out of green card stock and glued to some pink card stock.

Heart and Flower Easels

And just in case you would rather have a simply shaped card easel, here is a plain one. The one above I covered in scrap-book paper. Plain and Fancy Easels

 And another one with just a few scrolls to make it a bit fancy. This one I am showing decorated with rubber stamps (below).

 This particular easel does well displaying open cards, too, so you can see the message inside of your card.
Plain and Fancy Easels

And here is a BONUS idea for you! Use the "negative" side of the print-out to make a card! I have used the "Scrolly" easel on red card stock to make a flourish (below) and I think the Christmas tree negative would also be neat glued to the inside of a card.

Or you could use the easels themselves glued on a card. 

I hope my readers enjoy this little craft, and that you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

A Couple of Cards

 Having fun with the cuttlebug again... the above is a card I made for a lover of tea and of the color blue. The teapot and cup cut-outs were ordered from eBay quite a while ago; unfortunately the seller seems to be out of business now. For until I can afford the actual die, I found that several die cuts can be had inexpensively through a seller who does have the dies.
I stamped the background blue on blue with some little stamps, then stamped the shapes. I ran the shapes through the cuttlebug in a swirl-design embossing folder. It doesn't show up too well in the photo, but there are glitter outlines on the shapes.

The card above I followed a video tutorial for; I am not sure what to do with all that hot-pink card stock that always seems to be leftover from the multi-colored paper packets, but it seems to be okay in roses. I have since made the card using other floral stamps in my collection; the "lattice" technique is a fresh way to use  some of my old stamps!

Here is the video, the tutorial part starts at about 2 minutes in: