Vintage slide mounts.

When I was tidying my craft room I came across these little vintage themed altered slide mounts I made a while ago - I had a real fad for making these and have a big pile of them which I must use up - I think I'll make a pile of decorated notebooks, journals with them on the front.

I want to use the ones I've made to justify making some more as they are such fun to make and are the perfect way to use up all those pretty but tiny scraps of pretty paper and oddments of ribbon that seem too small to keep.

Each one is only about 2" square and turns out looking like a little minature artwork.

If you fancy making some yourself all you need is a few old glassless slidemounts, (you might have some lying around or you can pick up a box from any photographic shop) a few small scraps of dainty printed paper, oddments of narrow ribbon and lace plus a vintage button or charm or a small flower etc. and some narrow double sided tape.

Finally you'll need a few vintage images and print them out really small - my printer does a contact sheet of 35 images and they are the right size or you can buy sheets of collage images that are meant for domino art and they are also about the right size.

Just put double sided tape on the blank mount then place it face down on the back of your paper, then put dst on the back edges of the mount and add your image then fold the trimmed edges of the paper over to the back and stick them down too.

Then decorate the front with a tiny piece of ribbon, a few beads and a button with the shank removed or a flat button or charm and that it! I finish mine by sticking a square of card over the back to conceal the raw edges of paper and neaten it up.

If you make any do send me a link so I can see what you made.

Altered chocolate box

Once the chocs are eaten the box often gets thrown away or put in the recycling but this one was such a useful size - it holds 2 stacks of 6 or 7 cds, I decided to collage it up a bit and use it to store my cds of vintage images and collage sheets etc.

I covered it with some K & Co Vintage themed scrapbook paper of old envelopes and postcards, then added 2 rubber stamped vintage images from The Stampsmith and an altered slide mount, then trimmed the edge with a scrap of old lace.

I think it looks really vintagey yet it sits next to my pc and doesn't look out of place.

Winding down

I've finished my Christmas shopping and did my main grocery shop yesterday. I was a bit surprised that it wasn't terribly busy in Sainsburys. I bet everyones waiting until the very last few minutes of Christmas eve and then they'll all rush in and wonder why theres nothing left!

I really don't enjoy food shopping at all the only kind of shopping I enjoy is thrifty shopping at fairs and markets and shopping for arty and crafty stuff.

Today I'm cooking us a big chicken that'll do us for the 3 days until Christmas as we'll have a roast chicken dinner today then tomorrow we'll have some cold with chips and salad then I'll turn whats left into a sweet and sour stir fry.

I've been sitting watching tv and making some vintage altered slide mounts. I love making these and I use them to add to cards, altered cds and in collages and on the front of decorated notebooks.

I take an ordinary blank plastic slide mount and cover it with pretty printed paper (sometimes I age the edges with ink or add some embossing powder or glitter) then I add a miniature vintage portrait from collage sheets or my collection of old postacrds and photos and decorate it with a vintage button, bits of ribbon, or anything else which takes my fancy.

They're only tiny but I think each ones a little mini artwork in itself.

I'm always looking for more different ways to use them - any ideas?

Digital collage

Here are a couple of simple vintage collage pictures I've made today on my computer.

I love messing about with collage and using vintage images but as the house is all nice and tidy for Christmas and my DH wants it to stay that way I decided to have a dabble with digital collage. I'm not very good at it yet but I enjoyed having a go... What do you think of them?

I've been playing around with my Scrapbook flair software and some free digital scrapbooking backgrounds and embellishments from Simply clean digi scraps , and a Vintage photo I tinted.

There are lots of lovely free digital scrapbooking backgrounds and kits to get you started if you fancy having a go and you can find some of them by clicking this link Digital Scrapbooking Freebies

Recolouring vintage photos

I just found this website where you can download a free trial version of some really cool software which makes it east to add colour to black and white photos.



Its really useful for me as I like to use vintage images and portraits in my altered art and collage projects. However I'm always drawn to those which were hand tinted as that touch of colour really makes a difference.



I'm not very skilled with digital imaging and not patient enough to teach myself properly however in just a few minutes I managed to turn this

Into this - ok its not perfect but not bad for a first go.

Vintage altered art cds

After posting a couple of my cards yesterday, Treez's lovely comment reminded me of the altered cds I make also on a vintage theme.

I usually give these as small gifts to friends who need cheering up either in with a card or in place of one.

They have been well received and much admired.

I include a ribbon or cord hanger or a clip so you can hang them on your wall.

I had a stack of those old free cds you get given with Sunday newspapers and decided to make them into something pretty.

I cover them with pretty vintage paper, then add images, words, slide mounts ribbons and buttons all to add to the vintage feel.

I enjoy searching out vintage images to use in my art.