Friday 7 November 2014

A Vintage Christmas

*Thrilled to be picked a Cut Above at the Paper Players this week!*
*Thrilled to be picked for the Top 3 for the Make My Monday Vintage challenge!*

There are a lot of different interpretations for vintage.  For some it means adding frills and flowers and almost everything but the kitchen sink.  While I admire the look of some of these cards, they aren't "me".  I love things that look vintage, but in a cleaner, more streamlined way.  As a result, when I saw the challenges for vintage cards, I went looking through my retired stamps for those images that evoked another era, a simpler time.


That wonderful Christmas Lodge stamp set, for example, immediately caught my attention.  I love the images in that set and they definitely make me think of what winters long ago must have been like.  Of course the Winter Memories stamp set virtually "sprang" into my hands as well.  Those images are priceless and so well drawn.  Together, they gave me my vintage card.

I decided to create a scene.  I stamped the images I had chosen for my card onto Very Vanilla using Soft Suede ink to give them a look of yesteryear.  After all, during the 19th Century most photographers converted the metallic silver (black and white) with a chemical process involving the Sepia cuttlefish in order to help preserve the prints.  This is why the sepia prints have lasted so well for over a century.  I'm a photography geek so old-time photography has always fascinated me.

You can see the scene I've created is a combination of a whole lot of techniques.  I've added clouds in the background by sponging over a template that I made a while back.  I tore strips of Very Vanilla and sponges them.  I fussy-cut all my images.  I could have stamped and masked the lodge before sponging the clouds, but I wasn't sure at the time if I was going to put it on Dimensionals so I just fussy-cut while I was on a roll.



In a lot of these old photographs you can see just a bit of colour in places, where the photographer has inked in colour to spotlight portions of his finished photograph.  I tried to get the same effect by adding a very light watercolour wash over the tree and the little girl's coat and hat as well as the snow-girl's apron.  I think the result is sufficiently faded looking to give that old-time hand-coloured effect.


I also added quite a bit of the Silver Dazzling Details to all the trees just because that's something you see in a lot of these old cards and postcards:  fine silver glitter.  The bit of retired Victoria crochet ribbon and Antique Brad just finish off the old-time look for me.

My card is on a base of Naturals Ivory with a layer of Soft Suede.  The rest of the cardstock used is Very Vanilla.


For more cards of a vintage nature, check out The Paper Players.

For cards that are using sepia tones as well, check out Merry Monday Christmas Challenge.

And for another challenge that calls for vintage cards, check out Make My Monday.


22 comments:

  1. Love the vintage look, I have a couple of these stamps

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    1. Thanks, Marilyn. I love the vintage look too. There are some stamps among my retired ones that I plan never to sell or give away.

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  2. What a lovely card Heidi - it really does look like a Winter scene from yester-year. Your blog post was really interesting too and gave a great insight into how you achieved your vintage look. Glad you made your entry just in time for the cut off! Thanks for joining us over at The Paper Players this week.

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    1. Hi Joanne, thanks so much for your comments. I'm glad I made my entry in time as well. I had made the card on Wednesday and couldn't do anything with it because the Dazzling Details takes such a while to dry. Thursday I was out of town all day and I won't take photos in the evening because the sparkle is hard to capture. So this morning I had to remember to take the pictures and then finish the post. So much for working ahead. :)

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  3. What a beautiful little scene you've created here! Lovely, just lovely! I can never do scenes like that, so this is top notch in my book! Thanks so much for playing with my challenge this week!

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    1. Thank you, LeAnne. You may not do scenes like mine but I can't get my head around wonderful frilly vintage such as you create. I really enjoyed your challenge.

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  4. What a beautiful winter scene, Heidi! I love the dazzling details on the trees and the button and lace look gorgeous! Thank you for joining us at The Paper Players this week! XX

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    1. Thanks so much, Claire. I still hoard that Victoria lace. It's so beautiful.

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  5. Wow Heidi!!! This is GORGEOUS!!! Love your tearing!! So fun!! So much detail!! Just gorgeous!!!

    - Susan
    {Scrap A Thousand Words}
    Open-Minded Crafting Fun Challenges (DT Call until Nov. 22nd)

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    1. Thanks so much, Susan. I had fun doing the tearing. That was probably the easiest part.

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  6. I totally love your vintage card! The set you chose is perfect! I love the bit of color you introduced in the kids and snowman and the sparkle in the tree! Beautiful!

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    1. Thank you for those wonderful comments, Jenny.

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  7. Stunning card Heidi, I love the wintery scene you have created. Thank you for joining us for Merry Monday this week.

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    1. Thanks so much, Nina. I really enjoyed the challenge.

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  8. I love how you've thought this through and every element is gorgeous - the highlights of colour, the touch of sparkle - great card. Thank you for joining us at Make My Monday. Marina DT

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    1. Thank you very much, Marina. I loved creating this old-fashioned scene.

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  9. I love this delightful vintage card so pretty and nostalgic.
    Thank you for joining us at MMM
    Suzi B. DT

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    1. Thank you so much, Suzi. I had so much fun with this card.

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  10. Wow! Thanks for joining in with my vintage challenge at MMM. Fab creation!
    Fliss x

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I welcome your comments or questions.