Vintage Secret Letter Photo Frame Card

I originally thought of creating this with one of Graphic 45s' romance lines, the idea of a secret letter in a lover's card.  However, I wanted to give the idea a test run with this amazing paper that I've had for a little while and have not yet be able to use.  This paper line is from Melissa Francis' "Old World," collection.  I love the grungy/vintage look of the paper.  Melissa Francis creates quite a few decorative type products, her papers and scrapbook supplies are only a small part of what she produces.

Directions on Creating Your Own

Note: I used a Cricut to make this.  You could easily make a square version of this with just a standard manual paper cutter.  If you are particularly talented you could even get the fancier edges.  If you are going to make a fancier card by hand, I would highly recommend making a template that you can trace on chipboard and the paper you are going to use.

Circuit users: If you want it to be large enough for a 4x6" photo and you don't have an extra long Cricut mat then you will need to do some file editing.  I used Frame Card M36C5D.  If you make the card large enough to comfortably fit a larger photo it will extend beyond 12".  I made mine 7" high.  Since I didn't have the 24" mat I used the slice tool to cut the whole thing in half.  In order to slice I had to unattach the score marks and then reattach them once I was done.  I also ended up slices the three parts right down the middle (delete the score lines) so I could cut the different frames.  Be careful when you do this.  The middle and end piece are not identical.

With the cricut I cut halved frame card out of Silhouette chipboard.  I then cut the card cut into thirds out out of the Melissa Frances paper.  You will need two of each if you want to cover the entire thing.

The Front 

The two flowers in the bottom corner are from Prima Flowers "Debutante" set.  The stamp is a Bo Bunny Heritage stamp sticker.  The sticker originally had a large white border which I wasn't a big fan of.  I ended up cutting it down with my scissors.  The clock at the top right is from a ephemera pack.  Unfortunately I did not keep the pack, however if you look around a few bags you should be able to find a clock easily enough.  They are popular in paper crafting.  For the wire I twisted green jeweler's wire with gold.  My wire is just from a beading wire multipack that I found at Michaels, nothing too fancy.  It works well.  If you want smoother curves you will want to twist it around a pen or something similar.  You can carefully make the loops larger as you see fit.  It's good to get a good smooth base though.  I also hold it down with dots of strong, but clear, glue.  I am still experimenting with good glues that hide though.  I will say, the glue eraser that Tim Holtz makes is an amazing tool to have!  If you look closely at these you'll see a spot where I still needed to touch up (which I did) after the photos.

The Front Without the Photo

Inside The Front

Since I found the chipboard to be a little bit of an eye sore, I put some pinkish glimmer mist on the edges.  I did use clear gesso before adding the glimmer mist, but it still warped the card just a little.  I ended up adding the little velcro square after to add the option of closing the card.  The acorn branch near the bottom is only glued down at the very ends.  This gives you an attractive photo holder that also blends into the background.  It is from the same Melissa Frances paper collection as the rest of the card. 

Inside of Back

Originally I was just going to decorate the blank side next to the envelope.  I fussy cut this flower but I couldn't really come up with anything that I liked as a card layout.  So, I decided to just tack down the sides so that it gave another place in which a person could put a photo.  The envelope is also just a cricut file.  I fussy cut the piece the flap folds under from that same paper set.  I wanted to give it a image that stood out, so I used a random section from a much larger stamp and some white embossing powder.  The stamp is Flutter from KaiserCraft.

This shows you the flower without the photo.  I added some light gray ink to try and tone down the background and make the flower pop a little more.  Any vintage looking stamp would work for that aspect.  The flower will cover most of the stamp image.

I hope you enjoyed this card.  It is somewhat simple in construction.  The fussy cutting and waiting on the Cricut were the most time consuming parts, other than design.  If your paper is pretty enough you don't need to add a lot for a striking piece.

Supplies

• Melissa Frances Old World Paper
• This particular paper seems to be out of print, if you can't find it any vintage or grungy collage style paper can give you a similar look.  Tim Holtz has some similar styles.  If you want more flowery then Prima has some amazing papers that would work well with this.  If you know of others feel free to mention them in the comments for others.
• Chipboard or Cardstock for a base if you want something thick and sturdy.  If you use something heavy like bazzel and with color then you can let the edges show.
• Prima Debutante Flowers Item #580742 or any other medium sized matching flower
• Jewelry beading wire (the thinner stuff), twist two colors for a similar look
• KaiserCraft CS853 Flutter Stamp
• White embossing powder (I used Stamp it Up brand of fine powder)
• Bo Bunny Heritage Stamp Stickers #17902890
• Glimmer mist if you don't use pretty cardstock
• Clear gesso if you are going to glimmer mist anything.
• Small piece of velcro or a snap to hold the front closed if desired.
• Clock Ephemera or a clock cut from some heavy paper 

Introduction and First Layout

Introduction and Halloween Mixed Media Layout.

Hello, my name is Tosha and I am a hobby scrapper who also likes to experiment.  After being asked rather or not I had a blog I decided to make one.  Feel free to scrap-lift, but please credit back.  when known I will give products used, I have a big stash of thing I've had for quite some time.  I will have some step by steps on newer things, but things I've already created will not have step by step photos.  The biggest thing here is that you get to see my experiments, both good and bad.   Not everything here will be pristine.  So, take what types you like and learn from my mistakes.

Without further ado, a recent and favorite layout of mine.  I did this from the October mood board offered by Scraps of Darkness/Elegance which you can see here: October Mood Board.  I am happy to say I even won the challenge last month and $20.00 from the store.  I am a fan of their kits and many items below came from various kits.  I will link the names as I recall them.

The inspiration for this was the lady with the umbrella and dark dress on the mood board.  I wore a costume with a dark dress (the photo) in which I tried to Cosplay the little girl below.  She was just a image I found randomly online years ago. If anyone knows who drew it I would be happy to give credit where it is due.  The term, "express yourself," is similar to being able to free yourself, but through costume.  I love to dress up and Cosplay, so it was very fitting for me.  The prim and proper lady (which I am not in real life) thinking of that time where she gets to be what she wants.  Hopefully she keeps her dark thoughts as a costume only ;)

Detail 1, The pretty Lady:

The pastel tentacles were stamped using chalking inks.  I used Quick Quotes Powder Puffs Caribbean Blue and Brandywine as well as Prima's Blossom Tree.  I stamped them onto some pale tan/manila looking cardstock that I had.  Even though the red and brown tentacle at the top looks like it has white dots (at least on my computer and a little bit on the layout in person) I actually put it on the same cardstock. 

I did take some time to pick out all of the extra little chipboard bits that were left in the chipboard from the cut the studio made.  I then gessoed (that is a word, right?) the Express Yourself lady from Blue Fern studios with white gesso.  I sprayed her with Simply Sheer Very Purple mist and Dragonfly glimmer mist from Tattered Angels.    I did the first layer of the Express Yourself letters the same way.


The flowers are from Prima's Aquarelle set.  Before sticking them on I shaped the green jeweler's wire and glued it down with some Beacon 3-in-One.  If you just run the wire across the glue bubble you can usually get a good enough coating without leaving globs of glue everywhere.

Detail Two: Express Yourself

To add the red to the Express Yourself, which I sprayed with the pretty lady, I used Ranger's Garnet Liquid Pearls.  I just squeezed it out of the tube onto the chipboard as well as on the edges of the butterfly.  Before doing the butterfly tips, however, I scuffed some red ink from a Color Box Petal Point Provence set.  Mostly the darker red color, but a few small smudges of the brown.  It doesn't show up much in the photos, but I also lightly touched up the lighter side of the butterfly's edges with the chalk inks I used on the tentacles.  You can kind of see hints of the teal and the pink.  I randomly tore the paper and tried to match the color changes with the tear.  You can see a small amount of pastel chalk ink on the edge of the black roses.

Detail 3: Black Rose

These roses were originally white paper stencils by Heidi Swapp in the Lace Paper Pack.  They are pretty papery.  I originally used it to make a negative white rose design with modeling paste (with the flowers as a single piece) on a Big Benefit Board I made for the Totally Tiffany Organization group I am in.  I then made another layout (I will post both on here eventually) in which I made the same relief, but with black modeling paste.  I could tell that the flowers couldn't handle being a stencil much longer, so I cut up the stencil and laid them on here in various places.  That is what gives them their thick and textured look.  I will try to post the other layouts soon so you can see what the stencil left behind and decide rather or not you want to take the same route, if you use this technique.  I really like the texture of the roses.  You could just paint them with a couple of layers of modeling paste verse filling in all of the negative space of the stencil if you want.  I use a artists knife when I spread mine which also adds a little of the line texture that you can see.  The black and white skull paper was just a scrap that I had of some Bella Blvd Funny Bones paper.

Detail 4: Butterfly and Skull

The Skull in the glass is a cutout from Graphic 45's Rare Oddities.  I "fussy" cut it out of sheet #4501142.  Be forewarned, I have been on a fussy cutting kick, so you will see it on a fairly regular basis.  I love how it looks, though it can be a time consuming process.  Take your time and buy small scissors.  I own a few pairs, but right now my favorite are a pair of Ek Success Cutter Bee scissors.  I also have some generic tiny embroidery scissors that I use for really small cuts.  An X-acto knife (ro something similar) will work wonders as well.  For this glass skull I didn't have to get too fancy.  Most of it was a simple rounded edge.  I also cut out the tentacles after I stamped them.  When I did the red edge on the middle pastel tentacle, I just touched some dark red ink from my Color Box Petal Providence set.  I just guestimated where I thought it would land.  The top tentacle is all red and dark brown ink from that same set, no pastel chalk ink.  I brushed the dark brown and red on the top half of the small pink butterfly and used the same Ranger Garnet Pearl paint for the edge of the body.  The antenna are jeweler's wire, the top red and the bottom one is purple.  

Supplies used:

Papers:
Graphic 45 Rare Oddities #4501142
Bella Blvd Funny Skulls
Moxxie's Zombie Attack Hollowed Ground (to include the red blood spot paper strip you can see on the full layout page).
Echo Park's Arsenic and Lace Large Demask#AL71002
Light colored cardstock for the stamping

Embellishments  
Prima Flowers Aquarelle
Prima Flowers Evita-Elsa (brown butterfly)
Blue Fern Studios: Express Yourself Chipboard
Heidi Swapp Lace Paper Pack 
I think the butterfly came from a K&Company Smash bag of mixed butterflies.  If anyone recognizes it and can let me know, I will appreciate it!
Purple, Red, and Green Jeweler's Wire

Inks and Pastes
Quick Quotes Powder Puffs Caribbean Blue and Brandywine  
Prima's Blossom Tree chalk ink
Tattered Angels Simply Sheer Very Purple mist and Dragonfly glimmer mist 
White Gesso
DecoArt Media black modeling paste
Color Box Petal Point Provence set, Merlot and Chestnut (I think)

Feel free to comment below!  I hope you enjoy.  If you have any tips or constructive critics I am always happy to hear.