Craft Project - A Message Box for Mother's Day

I'm thrilled to be able to share with you another great craft project from super talented Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made! Cathe made this project using some vintage images from here at The Graphics Fairy, and turned them into the loveliest message box. She will be my guest blogger today, all of the photos, text and project instructions come from her blog.

My blog-friend Amy of Living Locurto asked if I would create a guest blog post for a Mother’s Day project. If you don’t know Amy, you’ve been missing out on a lot of scrumptious art freebies over on her website, so get over there! I have been working on a project for my mom and made a tutorial to share with you, and in keeping with spirit of freebies, I have created one of the designs with the fabulous free vintage wallpaper graphics of a another blog-friend, Karen, The Graphics Fairy!

I created a gift to fill with many little notes reminding my Mom why I love her so much and the little things that she has done in my life that mattered. (I’m only showing a few, my mom reads my blog daily and although now she’s going to know one of the things she’s getting, I still have to keep a few little notes a surprise!...Hi Mom.)
I designed a template based on the construction of a cigarette box, (no, I don’t smoke, but still think it makes for a great little package pattern.) I designed this box to fit business card size notes. You can use the designs provided, or utilize the blank template for use with scrapbook paper, or any other paper you’d like, but it’s best to print and construct the box with card stock to keep it rigid. A really big Thank You! to Amy for making the PDF files easy to download, just click on any template image

(1) Print the template you choose onto white card-stock. If printing the Manilla box, write your “To” and “From” info before trimming and folding (in case you make a mistake in writing, you will not have already gone through all the assembly!) (2) Trim out the template, cutting notches and slices where marked. Score (press deep crease with dull pointed object) along all fold lines. Scoring is essential to the success of this project!

(3) Fold along all fold creases. (4) & (5) Using double-stick tape, tape under lid flap and tuck and tape side flaps of the lid as shown.

(6) Add double-stick tape to the inside panel, slide into position and stick.

(7) Punch holes in center of reinforcement circle graphic and add an eyelet if you’d like.

(8) & (9) For the Manilla Message Box, cut out business card size (2" x 3.5") pieces of paper, cardboard, vintage ephemera, etc. and add a sentiment to each. Embellish with stickers and more. (10) For the Wallpaper box, simply cut out plain cardstock, write on each, and gather with the “Mother” wrap-around cut-out.

Finally, tie your box with ribbon or string and send along to your mom to let her know just how much she means to you!

BONUS FEATURE: You can use this craft for other purposes:

~Fill with 30 little notes for your friend who’s turning 30. 40 for 40, etc.
~Use as a file for business cards you pick up here and there.
~Make several boxes to organize small craft supplies.
~Before printing the wallpaper template, cover the wording with a white box to erase the ~type and add your own for another occasion or purpose.
~Use the basic template to create custom boxes for product packaging.

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Please note, in order to download the PDF files, you will need to get them from Cathe's Blog HERE.

I hope you enjoyed this fun project today. Make sure you check out Cathe's blog at Just Something I Made for this and other great tutorials!

If you enjoy crafting with authentic vintage wallpapers, check out my Etsy shop to see the vintage wallpaper packs that I just listed today!

XXXOOO

Free Victorian Clip Art - To Darling

I thought this was such a fun postcard! This one says "To Darling From Baby" spelled out in flowers and glitter. This would make a great gift tag!

XXXOOO

Old Photo - Fashionable Woman in Plaid Skirt

Here's a wonderful old photograph of a fashionable looking woman in a plaid skirt. Quite a comfortable looking outfit too! Make sure you check out her shoes! This one is not from my personal collection but it is from an archived source, and so much fun I had to share.

If you have an interest in antique metallic trims and passementerie check out my Etsy shop to see the wonderful hard to find pieces that I just listed!

XXXOOO

Free Antique Clip Art - French Ornament with Crown

Today's selection is a wonderfully romantic printer ornament from an old French book! There is so much detail to this gorgeous ornament, included are a crown, baskets of flowers, sceptors, ribbons and lots of flourishes and scrolls!

I've added some gorgeous things to my Etsy shop today! Rhinestone buckles and pearl buckles, curious metal tags, and other assorted notions. Check it out if you get a chance.

XXXOOO

Lovely Victorian Clip Art - Girl with Pink Hat

What an adorable little Victorian trade card this is! The card has an illustrated picture of a little girl dressed in pink with a gorgeous pink Ostrich plumed hat. Perched on top of the hat is a tiny brown bird!
I've added some wonderful circa 1900 prints to my Etsy shop today, including Mushrooms, Fish and a Botanical of grains. Check them out if you get a chance!

XXXOOO

Free Victorian Clip Art - Autograph Album

Here is the Victorian version of Twitter!! This is the cover page to a gorgeous antique autograph album that I picked up at auction last week. I love everything about this piece, from the soft muted aqua and cream colors to the fabulous Typography, to the pretty berry laden branches. I hope you like it too!

XXXOOO

Free Antique Graphic - Le Secret Sheet Music

I think this is just so pretty, I'm really adore these earlier sheet music books! This is from the cover of some old piano music. The title of this piece is "Le Secret". You can see on the cover a darling cherub, lots of flowers and some scrolls and flourishes. A very romantic piece for collage work! (Make sure you click on the image to bring up the largest size.)

P.S. I just signed up on Twitter! I have really no idea what I'm doing and don't have a clue about how it works yet, but I think it might be fun. Anyway, if you are in to Twitter and you would like to follow me you can find me here http://twitter.com/graphicsfairy


XXXOOO

Free Vintage Clip Art - Lady Hope at The Sea

This is a wonderfully charming vintage postcard! This card shows Lady Hope holding an anchor and a star. She appears to be lighting the way for ships lost at sea.

XXXOOO

Craft Project - Leather Cuffs and Keychains

I'm so happy to share with you another great craft project from the ever so talented Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made! Cathe made this project using a vintage image from here at The Graphics Fairy, and turned it into the a gorgeous keychain and fantastic leather cuffs, it's like two projects in one! Once again, she will be my guest blogger today, all of the photos, text and project instructions come from her blog.

I’m back using more of my leather swatches (thrift store find!) You can usually find leather furniture swatches/samples on ebay and most craft stores carry small leather craft pieces.

Similar to my leather photo wallet project, these pieces were pretty easy to make with a T-shirt transfer sheet for DARK fabric and more great graphics from The Graphics Fairy. I also designed a couple with art from my blog & Etsy store banners.

Using The Graphics Fairy images, I created a narrow collage measured to fit the size crimp bars I’ll be using, which are 3/4" wide. I also made a repeat pattern from a pretty frame image she had on her site. You can grab the art from here and reduce or trim to size. You may also notice that when I print on the transfer sheets, I usually fill up the whole sheet with art & images that I can always use later. I hate to waste any space on these sheets, especially if there’s not enough left over to feed back through the printer. I made a few images for patches I’ll sew to something one day.

[1]-[2] I printed out my graphics onto the transfer sheet and trimmed out each design

[3]-[4] Following the directions for the transfer sheets, I peeled off the backing of each piece and ironed onto the smooth surface of the leather.

[5] You can see what happens if you move your iron when pressing instead of holding it in place. But this little mishap was fixable, you’ll see. [6] Once all my images were transferred to leather I cut out the strips, leaving some extra space around the edges.


[7] I stitched along the strips and [8]-[9] trimmed out each to size.

[10] The stars of this project are the crimp bars. For this post I wanted to link to my original supplier, but found that they are out of stock. So by googling, I located more: LINK.


[11]-[12] I placed the crimp bar on the ends of the strips and covered with a scrap piece of leather before crimping with my pliers to avoid scuffing the metal. The cuffs have teeth that sink into the leather and grip well.



[13] I punched starter holes into the repeat frame strip and then [14] pressed in metal eyelets



[15]-[16] To complete the bracelet cuffs, I added jump-rings and clasps to the crimp bars and on my blog cuff, also attached some beads

For the keychains, I simply hooked the openings of the crimp bars onto a metal key ring. The keychains are perfect for looping over a hook and have less chance of getting lost in my purse!


I hope you enjoyed this fun project today. Make sure you check out Cathe's blog at Just Something I Made for this and other great tutorials!

XXXOOO

Free Vintage Graphic - Beautiful Bird with White Rose

This is a really lovely vintage postcard! This one features a pretty bird (female Robin?) with a wonderful white and yellow tinged cabbage rose!
If you like bird images check out my Etsy shop to see the many vintage bird prints that I just added today, including Bluebirds, Swallows, Sparrows, and Crows!

XXXOOO

Victorian Clip Art - Ladies Hats - Millinery

This is a wonderful old color plate of Victorian hats! The hats are quite ornate, they are embellished with lots of flowers, ribbons and feathers. This one is from an archived source and would be lovely to use in collage work, aceo's or mixed media projects! This might be a good one for Mother's Day too!

XXXOOO

Free Vintage Clip Art - Flower Car

This is such a whimsical piece! This vintage postcard shows a pretty blue old fashioned car, made entirely out of Forget Me Nots. How fun!

XXXOOO

Free Vintage Clip Art - Girl with Dog - great Texture

I acquired this last week at auction in a box lot of paper items. This was probably from an old children's book. The image is of a little Victorian girl playing tug of war with her dog. I love her big hat, but really my favorite part of this one is the wonderful texture of this old paper. I just adore how perfectly it has ripped, rumpled and aged over the years. Of course if you don't like the torn parts, you can always print it up and cut that part off.
Check out my other blog at www.backgroundfairy.com to see the gorgeous red damask free blog background, with rhinestones, that I just added today!

XXXOOO

Craft Project - Decorated Glass Bottles

I'm very excited to share with you a darling craft project from a talented Swedish crafter and author! Josefin Ekman made this project using some vintage images from here at The Graphics Fairy, and used them to embellish bottles and jars. She will be my guest blogger today, all of the photos, text and project instructions come from her website Dear Martha.


When crafting, I’m often finding myself looking after old or odd pictures or images. You know, cute Valentines couples, funny looking kids, really old botanical drawings or 1930th advertising just for the fun of it. Images to use on boxes, birthday cards, photo albums or wine labels.
Now I’ve fount my source! The Graphics Fairy.

I instantly got inspired and printed – and decrease in Photoshop – some old styled graphics and decorated glass bottles with them. I used a sheet of double-sided table to stick the pictures to the backside of the bottles. Now the bottles are so cute I can hardly get myself to fill them with things…

I hope you enjoyed this project from Josefin. For similar projects, and wonderful recipes, I hope you will visit her website at http://www.dear-martha.com/.

Also, check out her fabulous book Pyssel de Luxe

XXXOOO