Wednesday 8 December 2021

Dressed to Impress (with a little help) for Around the World on Wednesday Inspiration Hop

 


Welcome to the latest Inspiration Hop from Around the World on Wednesday. In case you haven't visited us before, we hop on the second Wednesday of the month, with a theme to inspire you in your craft rooms. We're 'Around the World' because the team includes people from all the markets Stampin' Up! is available in. I'm here in New Zealand then there's people from Australia, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Canada and the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). Here we all are....



Each month, we have a theme. This month, it's one with many interpretations: Something Old, Something New.  Demonstrator Preorders for the January-June 2022 Catalogue opened on December 1 but my order hasn't arrived yet, so I can't share with you the great pleasure of mixing up new products with existing ones. I'll have to save that for another time!

Instead, my mind wandered down the path of recycling. As a former Teacher-Librarian, I often fossick around second hand book shops, Jumble sales and library discard sales. It's amazing what gems you can pick up for a few cents. One such book was A History of Fashion by J Anderson Black and Madge Garland, with updates and revision by Frances Kennett published in 1985 by Orbis. It already had some pictures cut out of it and that, along with its age, is probably why it ended up in the discarded book sale. I've used it before, sometimes just using text, but today I picked out three pages to use with the Dressed to Impress stamp set. 

Originally, I intended to use more of the stamp images but decided to let the pages speak for themselves and used the images from the set on the inside of the cards instead.


This first card used a facsimile of an advertisement for bustles. I mounted it on Basic Black and added a strip of text from the page to make it up to the size of the card front. Amazingly, the ad matched Pale Papaya perfectly - one of the 2021-2023 In Colours.

I like that such an outdated fashion item underscores the truth of the sentiment. I've used Tasteful Labels  and Layering Circles dies. Some Matte Black dots finished things off nicely.


The second card uses much the same idea: an image that shows old-fashioned style in order to highlight the value of the sentiment. In this case, the image was so pretty, it was just a case of using new products to bring out the best of it. Amazingly again, the touches of lavender in the image matched another of the 2021-2023 In Colours: Fresh Freesia. I used Basic Gray for the base. The Fresh Freesia mat was embossed with the Tasteful Textile embossing folder. I broke out the Fresh Freesia ribbon to pick up on the very feminine feel of the image and a few 2021-2023 In Colour Jewels finished it off.


The third card in the set is based around this very stylish image of a 1950s New Look Dior cocktail dress. So lovely was it, that it needed very little done to it! I left some lines of text at the bottom of the image to keep a reminder of the origins of this image: a book that had been thrown out. 

The Painted Texture embossing folder picked up the texture of the tulle underskirt and a plain white-on-black sentiment, along with three Elegant Faceted Gems were all that was needed. 

Marrying up pages from old books with current products is one way to very easily create unique cards: most times, there's only one image in the book so it can only be used once! 

I choose the images or portions of text then let the words and colours dictate how the card will turn out. I've got a retro 1950s science book with some great illustrations of the solar system that I think will work well with Stellar Birthday to play around with next. And, of course, the fashion book has many more pages... and I've got a book of hand-painted bird images to move onto - all bought for cents and saved from the rubbish heap. 

Next up on the hop is the ever fabulous Leonie Stuart. Visit to see how she's interpreted the idea of "Something Old, Something New."


If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or on any of the products below.

If you get lost along the way, here's a blog roll- with links - to help you get back on track.
Product List

9 comments:

  1. Oh Jan .... These are outstanding! I love how you've pulled in these papers and I adore the images you've chosen. Utterly gorgeous and a wonderful way of incorporating the old with the new. Great work ... stunning cards xx

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  2. Lovely interpretation of the challenge!!! Love your vintage selection that you've added from the old fashion book. The textile embossing folder was a perfect touch to the center card mimicking the hemline. Love all the details.

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  3. Wow .... fabulous cards Jan! What a wonderful example of something new and something old. Love them all. xxx

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  4. What a brilliant idea Jan. I love the way you have used the old pages and coordinated it with our products x

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  5. Love your cards so much, Jan!! Just beautiful and fun to look at! The Fresh Freesia ribbon is a pretty touch to your card.

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  6. Such a wonderful idea. All great projects

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  7. What a super fun idea! Love seeing the fashion and advertising. I also learned a new word - fossick. Thank you

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  8. I love this idea! You have coordinated your finds from the book so beautifully!

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  9. These are fabulous - what a great way to share the contents of the book! Beautiful and educational - love the bustle one!!

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