1940s Inspired Mother Tribute ATC

  

Flowers speak to me, and so do vintage photos, especially portraits. Typography, beautiful handwriting, and painterly techniques also call my name. So, what could be better than trying to combine these elements?

 

I started with three images—a vintage photo of my mother, one of those old photobooth pictures, that was taken when she was probably in her mid-twenties in the early 1940s; a giant flower head; and some antique handwriting, both from The Graphics Fairy. http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

 

I combined them in Photoshop, and puttered around until I had an arrangement I liked. I made the flower oversized because that is what was popular in her day, and flipped it upside down for fun. I added a little soft color to my mother’s cheeks and eyes to give the effect of an antique hand-colored photo.

 

I liked the effect, so I printed it (sized down to fit a 2.5” x 3.5” ATC) out of a color laser printer onto white cardstock. I was able to fit 8 of the images onto my paper. Somehow, the design—although it was pretty—didn’t seem to have my personal touch, so I decided to try adding a little lacey white texture using white printmaking paint with a variety of stamps.

I tried about 10 different stamps so each ATC looks a little different. I laid trading paper over the face and, after drawing the outline, cut around it so and laid the cutout over the face during the printing to mask it out and prevent the face from getting white paint on it.

Adding the white paint over the flower enhanced the 1940s feeling, which was appropriate since that is when the photo was taken. To finish each card, I added Tim Holtz Distress Ink in crushed olive to the edges and smudged a little here and there on the ATCs to give them an aged look.