Sunday, April 27, 2008

Mother's Day Gifts You Can Make - Idea One

I realized today that Mother's Day is only 14 days away! Time to get on top of this. Especially if something homemade is in the works. I'm never quite sure when my Mom might be reading my blog. So I won't tell you what I decided to do for my Mom until AFTER Mother's Day. But I'll be featuring an idea a day for the next ten days. To see all the Mother's Day Gift ideas in this post series, click HERE.

Vintage Illustrations or Wallpaper Notecards




Step 1 - Pick up a pack of cheap blank notecards at your local box store. Or if you really want to be frugal and environmentally conscious, pick up a pack at a thrift store. I am always picking up new-in-plastic packs of notecards at thrift stores for a dollar or less.

Step 2 - Decide on your illustrations. I've used vintage wallpaper, images cut from vintage patterns, children's books, vintage sheet music, even fabric. Cut them to fit your notecard fronts. You may wish to mount your illustrations on a second paper with a little bit of the edging showing as a frame. Decorative edging scissors can add a feminine touch.

Step 3 - Using spray adhesive adhere your illustrations to your notecard fronts.

Step 4 - Embellish cards if desired. You might wish to use colored pencils to add a touch of color to black and white illustrations. Or edge a card with gold ink. Perhaps glue on a rhinestone or a sprinkle of glitter.

Step 5 - Finish your presentation. Tie your cards with a pretty ribbon. Tuck in a sprig of silk ivy and a pretty rose. Add a pretty pin or a pack of floral postage stamps.

Some Inspiration Photos...

Using "The Lonely Doll" illustrations by Edith Dare. Touches of color were added to a BW illustration with color pencils. Then tiny florals, rhinestones and glitter were added.


Using Vintage Patterns


Baby Cards for a New Mother


Vintage Children's Grammar Book (great for a teacher)


More ideas each day till Mother's Day. So stay tuned!

Charity

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow these cards are awesome!
Great job!

Meg said...

Love the Lonely Doll card! This was my favorite book when I was a girl; I read it over and over. Funny, my own daughter hated this book--thought it was too scary.

I also like the groovy card.

You need to get a booth at the Brooklyn Flea market and sell this fun stuff! That's practical, right?!

Unknown said...

I used to sell my stuff on Etsy. I closed down at Christmas to go on vacation and just haven't built back up my inventory yet. I wanted to take time to do some personal sewing. But when I do get back to it, I usually post when my new creations hit Etsy. Lindsay - you would have loved the Lonely Doll gift set I did. It had 8 cards made from book originals, 8 hand-crafted tags and pink candies. It came in a pink gingham heart shaped box. I've been collecting the books to make some more.