When I was a child you took your film to be developed at a photo shop. The pictures returned in a type of folder, almost a mini album. This album was made of thin card stock and after it was handled a few times it became very soft. When I saw the ‘photo’ printed on the Designer Series Paper I was reminded of these old black and white photos and mini albums. I set out to make one. I wish you could see and touch this card as the photo does not do it justice.
Supplies
Adventurous Sky Cling Stamp Set
Take to the Skies Designer Series Paper
Basics 3-D Embossing Folder
Mossy Meadow Card Stock
Smoky Slate Card Stock
Basic White Card Stock
Smoky Slate Stampin Pad
Basic Grey Stampin Pad
Linen Thread
Mulitpurpose Liquid Glue
Blending Brushes
Paper Trimmer
Cut & Emboss Machine
Directions
For the card base cut a piece of Mossy Meadow card stock in half lengthways to yield 2 pieces, 10.5cm x 29.7cm (4-1/4″ x 11″). Set one piece aside for another project at another time. Place the card stock in your score tool with the long side at the top. Score at 14.85cm (5-1/2″) and again at 17.5cm (6-1/2″)
After scoring place half of your card into the embossing folder and run through the machine. Then do the other half. Be sure you are putting the card stock in the folder in the same direction both times. For this card I chose to use the side that is indented rather than raised. Either would work. The photo shows the side I used for the outside of the card.
We are going to work on the inside of the card first. Cut a piece of basic white card stock to 10cm x 11.5cm (4″ x 4-1/4″). This piece will act as a mat for the Smoky Slate piece of card stock cut to 9.6cm x 11.1cm (3-3/4″ x 4″).
Stamp your greeting on or any images you want to use onto the Smoky Slate piece with the Basic Gray Stampin Pad. Glue the Slate piece onto the white piece of card. Using a blending brush and the Smoky Slate Stampin Pad. Darken the edges of the white and grey card stock at the same time. I wanted to distress this piece a little bit so I pounded the corners on my desk to wrinkle them a bit and ran my fingernail around the edges. I did not want to actually tear the card so I did not use scissors. The object is to have it look like an old black and white photograph that has been much ‘loved’ on.
I set up the instructions for readers who may not be familiar with ageing a picture or ephemera. I recommend you do the inside piece first as a practice. It does take some patience and time to get the hang of how much to ink. More ink does not equal older or more distressed so check your work often. In other words blend a bit of ink and stop, hold the picture away from yourself and have a look.
For the outside of the card cut a piece basic white card stock to 9.5cm x 11cm (4″ x 3-3/4″). Trim your picture (from the Designer Series Paper) down to 9.1cm x 10.6cm (3-3/4″ x 3-1/2″). Glue the picture to the white card stock leaving an equal border all the way around. Distress this piece following the instructions above. I actually did more distressing on this piece even going so far as to fold one corner back and fourth to create a crease.
To create the label I cut a piece of the Smoky Slate card stock to 1.5cm x 8cm (5/8″ x 3-1/8″). Since I was working with such a small piece of paper I drew out the placement of the stamp and the holes. My hole punch is an old one, originally purchased from an office supply store, hence creating the ‘target’ for the actual punch. There are more modern punches out there and ones specifically for crafting, if you own one of these you may not have to draw out placement. See the photo on the left to see how to draw out your label. I also stamped a test sentiment down and determined the horizontal half way point of the words. Since this stamp set is cling and not photopolymer, doing this helped me to align the words on the tiny scrap. (If you wish to enlarge any photo in this blog, just click on it.)
Cut a piece of linen thread approximately 59cm-60cm (23-1/2″). Thread it through your label and around to the inside of the card, thread through the label again, wrap and thread through only one hole of the label. Finish by tying a knot or bow to the upper side of the label. I choose to wrap the thread to the inside of the so I could secure it easily.
Glue the right portion of the card closed to make the “book fold”. If you prefer to wrap the thread around the entire card, do this step first.
And fini!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you make this card or make one that has been inspired by this card please post a picture in the comments or on social media and tag me @loriothen. Happy crafting!
Product List
