Paper Toasting

This month’s ATC theme was “Winter”.  Almost immediately I knew I wanted to use a doily somehow on my design, as doilies most perfectly simulate snowflakes (except for the fact that unlike snowflakes, all 12 doilies in a package ARE exactly the same—remember Arnold Horshack’s poem in “Welcome Back Kotter?”)  With Valentine’s Day approaching soon, there was no problem finding doilies in the craft store.  I love the crisp white filigreed edges!  How perfect they are!  But, as we typically work in Vintage style, I wanted to make my doilies look more aged.  They were just TOO crisp and white!  I didn’t want to tea-dye them because I didn’t want them to be entirely mulled cider color.  I wanted just the edges to be aged looking.  But, that was another problem. 

For those of you familiar with scrapbooking and crafting, there’s a technique known as “antiquing” paper.  It’s also sometimes referred to as “aging”, “inking”, “edging”, and even “distressing”.  The general idea is that you take a sepia or other neutral colored ink pad to the edges of your desired image.  This makes the image look older and more “worn”.    This is the look I was aiming for with my doilies, but NO WAY was I gonna be able to get ink to all the intricate edges of my doily.  So, I referred back to a technique I developed a few months ago that I call “toasting” (you know, like toasting a marshmallow over a campfire.)

It’s very simple.  Basically all you need is a HOT heat gun.  I say this because I imagine a low-wattage heat source won’t work the same.  The one I use is a 2-temperature one by The Paper Studio I bought at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon.  I use the “high” setting. 

All you have to do is “blow-dry” the edges of the doily and then also kind of straight down from above (to get the inner filigreed cutout edges.)  As you move your heat gun around, you will get varying colors of “aging” effects.  Toast as little or as much as you like.  It’s just like toasting a marshmallow.  Initially it takes a little patience, but once you see the golden brown goodness, you’ll be hooked!

See the difference between the “before and after” doilies?BEFORE (unaltered)

AFTER (lightly toasted)

Isn’t the “aged” look from toasting just wonderful?!

So, with this technique in mind, I created my winter-themed ATC by implementing an antiqued doily to represent winter’s snowflakes.  The inspiration for my winter ATC was my favorite song of all-time, “The Rose”, sung by Bette Midler.   I’ve discovered that several of my ATCs reflect music lyrics.  I guess most people who know me know that I love music.  Music speaks to me more powerfully than any other medium.  It’s no wonder that when I think of my art designs, I think in the language of music (and words—my second great love).  

As someone who has always been overweight, I didn’t have but a handful of dates in high school.  Even though in college I had more guys ask me out, I still felt like it was going to take FOREVER to find my “Mr. Right”.   Many lonely Saturday nights I felt so like that barren seed buried beneath the winter’s bitter snow, awaiting the arrival of my springtime blossoming.  God was my Sun and I knew with His precious care, one day I would become the rose.  I feel so thankful that when I was 30, my Prince Charming found me and we fell deeply in love and were married. 

It’s been over 5 years now and I still remember that cold bitter winter of my life vividly.  But, those memories make me even more grateful for the Sun’s gentle love and the opportunity to finally blossom. 

Note:  if adding glitter, such as I did here, be sure to add it after you’ve toasted.  Otherwise, the extreme heat melts it.

My finished ATC rests inside this hand-crafted envelope. 

April Showers Bring May Flowers

We just had our spring ATC swap! From my title here, you can see I went with the simple, "April Showers Bring May Flowers" notion. I've always loved the whole Mayday tradition. I remember as a little girl in elementary school making May baskets out of construction paper, filling them with live flowers (most likely dandelions and wild morning glories) and secretly hanging them on our neighbor's door handle (Mrs. Campbell) to find later. I always felt so proud to have created something pretty that I was absolutely convinced would bring utter delight to the receipient!

Here are a few pictures of the ATC I created to share:



I found this image of the little girl making the little boy hold the umbrella over her in the rain just TOO ADORABLE to pass up! So like something I would do! There were actually quite a few layers that went into making the front side of this ATC, though one can't readily tell from looking at it here. Of specific note, however is the fact that this is MY handwriting on vellum behind the image. I also learned how to create rain in Photoshop and added the falling rain to the image here. I was quite pleased with myself, I must admit!



And the backside--early 20th Century children wrapping the Maypole:



I made little MayDay Baskets out of satin heart boxes I had snagged on clearance months ago for 25 cents (I just KNEW I could use them for something!). I distressed them with varying shades of ink to have that blush look. I sewed handles out of scrap paper and crepe paper. The handles were a little large for the tiny heart baskets, but I didn't have time to go back and re-do them! Oh well. Live and learn. I placed vintage roses inside the baskets to mimic fresh flowers one would normally place in a MayDay Basket.





As always, I was incredibly impressed with the ATCs I received from my swap partners, and fellow Cackling Poultry with Guns gals (CPGs). Just when I think I've done some pretty decent work, I see theirs and start asking myself why they continue to let me play with them?

Here's Donna's:



Donna never ceases to amaze me with her unique style. I am always excited to see what she will surprise us with! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her take on "April". What else for this southern MS girl than Mardi Gras?!? How perfect! I love this image!



Donna explained that the goldish looking fabric underneath the masked face is a piece of a vintage handkerchief she found while on vacation a few weeks ago in Florida. She was so sweet to bring us all back several beautiful hankies and tatted doilies. I just love it when people think of me while they're away on vacation! I don't know if it's because I'm narcissistic, I like gifts, or what. But, I will openly admit that I love little gifts! It doesn't really even matter what it is. I just love the idea that someone was thinking of me and wanted to please me with a small gesture. I guess it makes me feel valued. What can I say...it's my Love Language.

Next up was Nina's ATC:



Nina always has such a way with placement and her work has a natural beauty.



I love how she wound the vintage seam binding around the edge of the card which, along with the tulle and crown, give it a 3-dimensional element of texture.



Nina's beautiful ATC was presented in her version of a MayDay Basket: a vintage tussie. How cute is that?! She made these wonderful little cones and adorned them with velvet ribbon, vintage sheet music, and filled with shredded pink "grass"!

And last, but of course certainly anything but least, was Alisa's presentation!



She, too, totally got into the spring theme! Her ATCs came presented to each of us in our own little "tub o' garden". She even fashioned her own ATC scrolling wire card holders to stick into the "earth".



The front of her ATC has this ornate black and white scrolling garden gate look, complete with a miniature (or as my brother, Connon, likes to say, "Shetland"--he thinks anything miniature should just be called "Shetland". He even thinks "little people"/midgets should be refered to as Shetland people) lock.



A peek inside...I could hardly wait to see what was behind that little hinged "door"!

Inside was nothing to disappoint! Each of our ATCs had a unique Fairy poem inside. Keeping with the purple flowers in my "tub o' garden", my Fairy and accompanying flowers were all purple. The Canterbury Bell Fairy poem reads:

Bells that ring from ancient towers
Canterbury Bells
Give their name to summer flowers
Canterbury Bells!
Do the flower-fairies playing
know what these bells are saying?
Fairy in your purple hat,
Little fairy, tell us that!

Isn't that wonderful? I love being the purple-hatted fairy girl (one step closer to the Red Hat Society!)



Alisa spent great time and effort in hand-stitching all these beads and flowers and vintage seam binding into this lovely floral creation. I'm always amazed at the detail-work she puts into her creations. I couldn't have been more thrilled to receive this piece!

I love artist trading card night. It's always so fun. Next month we are forgoing ATCs and instead doing a coin roll album collaboration. I saw the idea here and presented it to the group as something we might do. Luckily they all agreed. We'll have to see how it all comes out...but knowing these gals, it will be lovely!