14 January 2012

Vintage Valentines for You

 

Hello. It's a cold winter day in the Copper Country, so I'm staying inside and doing a little housekeeping. For me that means organizing ephemera and putting things back in place after my daughter's visit over the Holidays. She likes old cards and paper, too. The hum of the scanner was constant while she was home.

This morning I found a stack of old Valentines she left on her dresser, so before I put them away I thought I'd scan a few and post them on my blog. Maybe you have a Valentine project and can use them?

All I can say is, "they sure don't make 'em the way they used to."


Aren't these 1930s Valentines adorable? I'm amazed at how the colors are still so vibrant after all these years.

And the verses are so sweet....
I have boxes and boxes of old greeting cards. I just love them. I have been collecting paper since forever.

Several years ago I made personalized gift cards using scans of turn of the century Christmas cards. I used snapshots that I had taken of family members and "photoshopped" their faces in place of the ones on the original cards.

My brother became the jolly Santa ready to descend the chimney; the rosy-cheeked girls sledding down the hill had my nieces' happy faces. You get the picture. It was trial and error, but fairly easy once I got the facial proportions right. I printed them on natural fiber card stock on a high-quality color printer. They were so cute! I think everyone liked them better than their gifts. I gave a complete family set to everyone.

This little sweetie has a red ribbon and a message in pencil on the back: To Gertrude (signed Kerttu Ylitalo 1922).

What kinds of fun and creative things do you do with vintage cards? I'd love to see your creations.  Enjoy!

~Diane