Thank you notes one step further....!

I was blown away by a surprise birthday party my husband threw me last week. About 25 dear friends were there, plus hubby asked some of his musician friends to play. It was hosted by friends with a lovely upslope backyard - hence this lovely view down to the party below from the upper patio.

I received many lovely gifts - including a box of paper treats and two vintage books to alter, and someone else gave me a cute straw bag, that well - could use some sprucing up. "It is perfect for you to alter, " she said!

I wanted to thank each and every guest with a special thank you card - hand made of course. But then got a better idea! I came across a stack of 4" x 6" canvas boards i orderd by mistake from Dick Blik. Really too small for artwork, they are the perfect size for sort of an uber Artist Trading Card. Those in the know, know that an ATC is 3 1/2 by 2 1/2. So these are about double. Then why not make them easy to display by adding some lovely vintage ribbon? I can use the back as the "thank you" note part, and the front is a little art collage.

I first punched two holes in the boards using a jumbo eyelet setter. I wanted to use some french dictionary background pages, from a book i bought in Montreal at a vintage store. The 1949 book is filled with nostalgic looking sketches and with 1800 pages, even at $12 it was a bargain.

Next i selected some pretty papers to create a some colour and pattern - a gold floral asian print and a florentine swirl worked together nicely. For the focal point i thought of putting a picture of ME and found a cute one in my digital files. But when i cropped it and zoomed in..., well, what the heck was i doing with my hand?

So off to choose a more dignified image, in this case Venus rising from the Botticelli work. As you may have read - i am somewhat lazy in my art. Cutting out a dozen images with fine detail is not something i like to do. But i DO, if it makes a huge difference. And it really does. When working with small collage like this - the image must "live" within the background. The only way to do that is to cut our your figures. Otherwise they just sit on top. So yeah - i cut them out.

I always put something over the bottom of an image if it sits in the middle of the page - it helps to "ground" the image. In this case i just used a scrap of natural mulberry paper. Adds a bit of texture and creates a little fluffy cloud for venus.

I added some of my favorite butterfly stickers to each collage. They are The Gifted Line from Punch Studio - available at Michaels and elsewhere. I pick up a couple of sheets everytime i am there. They are just the perfect size to add a bit of whimsy to almost anything. And i love the fine detail in the print. There are butterfly stickers and there are butterfly stickers, if you know what i mean. These are the classiest ones I have found.
So to complete the little boards i need to select some ribbon - i'll use vintage seam binding if i have the right color. I collect it mainly at estate sales. Every lady over 70 has a sewing basket with several packages of rayon seam binding. I don't know why - did hemlines change that often? But they ALL have it! Anyway - i don't have the right colour, so - off to the store to find some new. I used a tooth flossing "threader" (little blue plastic thingies) to pass the ribbon through the tiny holes. A little knot on the back and we're done.

I found some pretty aqua tissue paper to wrap them up - i'll drop them in the mail in a nice padded envelope. Won't my friends appreciate such a sweet little thank you note?