Let's tell off for play - Leporello

This project is the result of (at first) totally bored and annoyingly uninspired play with a single set of playing cards my son won at a tombola and which were quite unuseful for play.

I haven't been creative (but wanting to be) for days and suffering from a nasty cold and nothing inspirational seemed to have crossed my mind for ages (sure, you know this feeling too...brrrr!). So I fiddled around with these cards (which on their backs were awfully ugly - some advertisement from a bank was printed there) and decided to give them a treat with AAI, because I hoped the outcome would turn the switch of inspiration.

Well - they looked treated with AAI afterwards.
Still not too inspiring. Hmpf. Then I browsed through my scraps, my stamps, my paper stashes - NADA, NIENTE, NIX! No spark of an idea in range of vision. Then I remembered my collection of wafer pictures or "Oblatenbildchen", as we call them (reprints from sheets that were popular around 1900). I had always wanted to do something special with them, but never had an idea. Till now!

They have been long stored treasures and very precious to me, as I got my first paper doll from my grandma, when I was just a girl. It was a self-drawn and coloured one and came with a large chocolate box full of self designed dresses from almost all periods of historical costume history. I started designing my own dresses then and made a "daughter" for my Grandma's paper doll, which I copied many of her dresses for.

Since then I love and collect paper dolls, construction papers and Oblatenbildchen (not all of them, but the ones with pictures from the second half of the 19th century and untill around 1930), as I love the time-warp they provide, when looking at them and imagining how children played with them in former times. Paper toy theaters are one of my hobbies too because of that.

The sheet with the children in gorgeous dresses and toys from the time around the turn of the centuries  with them finally hit the switch! I also remembered the lovely antique English Lesson Book from Hedwig Knittel, "Little by Little", from 1912, which my great aunt once was taught English with. There were nursery rhymes in it and I was sure, I would find some appropriate rhyme for my project.

I colour-copied the "Oblatenbildchen" and cut out the children's images. Then I treated four more playing cards (as I needed five in whole) with AAI "rust", "sunset" and "juniper", stamped a Tim Holtz stamp with columns and numbers with gold on after the inks had dried and covered this with a layer of paper tissue, using Mod Podge. After that layer had dried too, I mod podged some scraps of a paper napkin onto that and sprayed the cards with Glimmer Mists and Maya Mist. Some more paper napkin scraps - done!

During all the drying time I stamped a lovely hinge from Crafty Secrets' stamp set "Hardware" with archival black ink onto white card, which I had first covered with Glimmer Mist. Then I cut them out and stamped them with sepia on the back with the same hinge image, as I knew these parts would be seen from both sides, when my project would be finished.

I also needed five backgrounds for the inner sides of the leporello booklet, so I cut out five pieces of white card, exactly the same size as the playing cards, inked them with Ranger distress inks "spiced marmalade", "mustard seed", "shabby shutters", "rusty hinge" and "pumice stone" and sprinkled water on them afterwards to get this wonderful stained look. A touch of Glimmer Mist was added to get a bit of bling too, which fits nostalgic projects very well, I think.
The golden arches were also stamped with combined stamps from the "Hardware"-stamp set mentioned above.

I tiped the tell off rhyme at the computer and printed it onto white cardstock. Each line was cut out separately and inked with "broken china" and "vintage photo". Then I glued the backs together with the pre-folded hinges, using a ruler to keep the cards in line.

I collaged the images of the children and the lines onto the backgrounds and glued the dried cards onto their counterparts. Wallaaa!

The whole leporello is held together by a thin leather string, which simply has to be tied around. It kind of looks like a small package, so I enter Fashionable Stamping Challenges ' "Good Things Come in Small Packages" with this project too. I am also entering ABAC's and Craft-room 's challenges with this project, where "Texture" and "Childhood Memories" are the subjects.

Hope, you (and they ;) like it:

Birthday Parties and Weddings

I admit it at the very beginning: I do NOT enjoy making cards for official events like Weddings! It seems like a curse: I try to get right angles and exakt measurements, but there is always some lacking when I am done! A last minute stamped fingerprint on the back, which I noticed too late or oblique angles, where there should be right ones...

But things like these have to be done and I am of course too proud (and too lazy) to go and buy cards, so - from time to time - birthday cards & co keep me busy and slightly annoied.

But creating the envelopes for my son's birthday party was fun! He turned 9 this september and had invited his three best friends over for a "mens' evening" (which in truth lasted from 3 pm to 6 pm *lol). But I was gently asked out for this afternoon, as no women were allowed present during this event. (So I selflessly "suffered" with my best friend in her garden at her swimming pool, having drinks and no shouting kids around. Poor me!)

The envelopes contained little goodies for the guests, as there were cool removable tattoo's, monster buttons, skull lollies, marbles and spiderman rubbers.

The wax seals were highly appreciated, I was told!

The card for the wedding offered resistance as usual. I had to cut the inlay twice (just to discover, I had made it right angled the second time but too small again *hmpf) and I halfway tore the stamp with the iron fence image when peeling it off from its' sheet for the first time. *grmpf

But the result can be shown and this is as good as it can get.

What I really love to show you is my new "Handmade"-stamp, which is - I think - originally meant for selfmade marmalades, jams, juices and other home-made nourishment. *g

Love this stamp so much!

Hugs,
die amelie xx