Antique Show Finds...

Every November our church hosts an antiques show.  Dealers come from all over New England with a wide variety of treasures to sell.  The funds raised at the sale are used for various mission projects.  We don't have room in our house for more large pieces, but we often find great Christmas gifts and interesting small items. 

Some of the things we found have to stay "secret" until after the holidays.  I wanted to show you a few other items that I will use for crafting.  You just have to keep your eyes open - you never know what interesting things will cross your path and provide inspiration or ingredients for your projects.

This gingham trim caught my eye - It could be used for a sewing project, cards or an altered box or tin.  The bundle of four yards was only a few dollars.

I already checked and a group of six zig-zags will fit nicely across an A2 card.  I could also use seven as a little banner along the top of a card.  (I think you'll be seeing something made with this very soon - I am going to Maine today but can't wait to get home and play around with the trim!).

One of my other discoveries was a couple of old sentimental scraps - pretty gilded and embossed frames with poems printed inside.

This ornate frame has a short poem about friendship - it says "Friendship above all Ties does bind the heart; And faith in friendship Is the noblest part."

This photo of the back shows how heavily the card is embossed.  There is a little pencil notation but I wasn't able to read it - I think it starts out "to Lizzie..."

The second card has a longer poem about sisters.  If you click on the photo to enlarge the image, you should be able to read it.

This card is also embossed around the edges.

Whenever I find old paper items like this, I think about converting them for use digitally.  I might sometimes use the originals in a project but I also want to preserve the interesting patterns for more uses.

I take clear photos on a plain background and then use the Creative Memories StoryBook Creator software to remove the background and create digital frames which I can save as new content to use in the program.  Unique items like this help to make your projects special - especially if they have actual family history connections.

Once you have made the file you can enlarge and manipulate the image in many ways.  This is a screen shot of the more ornate frame sized to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 inch page.

A photo can be added behind the frame quickly and easily - you can use the tools in the program to crop the photo to an oval to be sure that it will fit properly.

I particularly liked this frame pattern and by using two frames I was able to make matching borders on the side of a page.  The screen shot above is of the trimmed view.

This image shows how I added a frame on each side, lining up the edges to create the borders.  Only the parts that are on the actual page area will show in the final print of the page.  The page could be saved as a jpeg and then used as a smaller image to create calling cards or ATCs digitally.

I am going to Maine today - I was invited to speak at a DAR luncheon about heritage scrapbooks and digital options for recording family history.  It should be a lovely day.  I am happy to see that some of you are interested in the "virtual ATC swap" that I talked about yesterday.  I'll have to find a time when things aren't too busy - would it be better to wait until after the holidays or are you eager to do one now and maybe more in the new year?  If you are only making one for the linky party it shouldn't be too time consuming...  Please leave me a comment or email me with your thoughts.

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