Postcards from the Past

Just a quick one today, to share some of the "vintage" postcards I made a while back.


Like tags, they're a lovely way just to try out new stamps and see how they work together.


Small versions of these have become something of a signature tag in my albums as inserts for journalling. You'll see that in one of the albums coming up soon.

The vital stamp in creating these is, of course, the Tim Holtz Postcard one from the Journey set.  It's perfect.  I'm saving up to buy his Postcards set - a whole sheet of variations on the word Postcard - obsessive wordcrafter's heaven.

Really, in terms of making, these are all pretty straightforward.  I start with the Postcard in Archival Black, so that it will stay put whatever inking or spraying I decide to do afterwards, and then layer stamps in various colours according to mood and desire.  



Then, of course, I'm ageing it all with Vintage Photo and on these I used my - at that point - new TH Paper Distresser.  You get that lovely rough-hewn effect which adds a few more years to the look.


In this one, you can get a good look at the sprays of branches from the Stampology Silhouettes set.  Utterly lovely stamps to work with.  The others come from various Tim Holtz collections.


It's even closer up here - stamped in Archival Sepia, which is why it has that sharp clarity.  The script (from Kaisercraft) is in Tea Dye Distress Ink, which gives a grungier, aged look to the image.

This one's got the TH ornate curlicues from Boundless Flight, and the lovely bird on a branch stamp from the Urban Grunge set.  If I remember rightly, that's Chipped Sapphire he's stamped in, a gorgeous deep blue that I love.

And here's a variation on that card... with the Eiffel Tower embossed in black - I love that sheen, and the knobbly dimensionality the embossing gives it.


I made many other similar cards, so that I've got a store to draw on when I want one for another project.  And, as I say, I've been making smaller versions as journalling cards in albums, and also as an insert on a birthday card I made for my sister-in-law just recently.


If you'd like to buy a set for your crafting projects, or just to use as notecards for your correspondence (go on, send someone you love some real snailmail for once - it's so lovely to receive!), just let me know via a comment.

I'm entering these postcards in the Danish site Vintage Udfordring challenge Anything Goes (except it still has to be vintage!).  


Just before I go, since we're on stamping collages, I wanted to share with you the book I decorated for myself for my Czech language notes as I'm learning.  


It was just a plain brown notebook.  I used the Tim Holtz large book cover stamp with Sepia Archival.  You can also see one of the other Stampology Silhouettes branches - slightly thornier this one, as Czech's a pretty thorny language to learn - and the butterfly and lacy corner are from Pink Paislee's London Market set.  


The butterfly has the word theatre (amongst others) as part of his distressed text effect, which connects in to another part of my world, and so pleases me greatly.


Thank you for taking the time to come by.  It's lovely to hear what you think, so do leave a comment if you've enjoyed looking at today's pictures.  And remember - send someone something lovely through the post; you'll be giving more pleasure than you can imagine.


To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau