Vintage Christmas Folio

Hello everyone!  Thank you for stopping by and a HUGE thanks to Linda Ledbetter and the Crew at   Studio L3 Compendium of Curiosities Challenge  (CC3C) for getting me off my duff and to start creating again! Tim Holtz has once again been my inspiration in making this folio, but Linda and the Curiosity Crew were the spark, and I will point out things from their folios that I've been inspired by. I think I took something away from each of their magnificent albums! Get ready for a very lengthy post.  (I tried, but failed with the video thing-sorry!) I was very inspired by Cheryl Grigsby's passion for her subject matter/theme for her project, and I knew for such a large undertaking I wanted to choose something I was passionate about, too.  I don't have many photos of my kids as they are older, and most of the one's from when they were young are already scrapbooked.  And we don't travel much, so being as this is a collection folio, I chose to give my vintage card collection a proper home!

It was Anita Houston who inspired me with her folio orientation!

Back cover-simple-just inked and spritz and flicked and sentiment stamped. Notice extra eyelets at top.

The challenge this time over at  CC3C  is to use Tim Holtz' folio, and the sky's the limit in what you can do with this!  I have been gifted a lovely, but decaying scrap book filled with beautiful vintage greeting cards from the 30's and 40's.  When I first got my folio--month's ago, I had a vision to put these cards in it, but I got to thinking there just wasn't enough room.  The Curiosity Crew changed my viewpoint 180 degrees! You will see that you can stuff a WHOLE lot into this relatively small folio--it just takes some imagination. If you visit each of the Crew's blogs, you will get to see seven very different ways of utilizing this awesome product.  Make sure to leave the Crew some love when you visit--they worked hard on their albums and would certainly appreciate knowing you came by to view their lovely works of art!

If you are not familiar with Linda's challenge, it works this way:  each fortnight she chooses one of the techniques/products out of Tim's book  A Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 3, and and we are challenged to create something using it, following the instructions in the book or using the product outlined.  You must work from your own copy, and this time the product description and instructions can be found on page 34. You can order an autographed copy of this inspirational book from Tim's website. At Linda's challenge there are two magnificent prizes for the winners-- the Curiosity Crew's choice receives a ton of Tim's products, generously provided by Tim and Mario, and a lucky winner receives a whopping $50 shopping spree to  Inspiration Emporium.

One of my other favorite challenges,   A Vintage Journey is celebrating their 1st birthday, and the theme is  "Anything Tim".  I am entering this because it has Tim written all over it, from the colors and shabby-grunge style, to the products, the techniques from his three volumes, some from his 12 tags of Christmas, various years, some from his 12 tags of 2014 and even his love of and his collections of all things vintage!  This album is definitely all things Tim! Please stop by A Vintage Journey, and enjoy the journey the Creative Guides will take you on.

Jenny at Frilly and Funkie wanted to see some bling on our vintage or shabby projects, so I've included quite a bit of that, too.  A star on the inside front cover, quite a bit of glitter and sparkle on the back inside cover, some super sparkly Stickles on a snowflake, a few store bought glittery snowflakes on the fold out side panels, an entire panel of glitter and pearls on the back page, and a glittery ornament sprinkled in the pages all add up to a good bit of Christmas-y bling!

I will not go into detail over products I used, but will mention anything that may stand out or where I drew my inspiration from, so you can refer to that for more information.  Let's just say this has to be my most challenging project from an engineering standpoint, but I am so pleased with the outcome, and that my vintage Christmas greetings now have a safe and inviting home. They are all removable, so the actual handwritten messages can be viewed.  I've also included the envelope of those I had tucked behind the actual card..  It's so interesting to see how much the postage system has changed!  So fasten your seat belts, and let's take a journey back in time...

Open the front cover and this is what you see.

We'll untie the ribbon and the waterfall is exposed.

We'll look at each of the four flaps a little closer later. First panel here.

Flip the first panel up and the card on the back is exposed as well as the front of the second panel.

Flip the second panel up and the back card and the third panel is exposed.

I made a little pocket on the third panel to house a few extra cards that wouldn't fit anywhere else in the album.

We'll tuck those cards back in the pocket and flip to expose the back of the third panel and the front of the fourth panel.

You can see I have more cards and an envelope in the pocket--pretty handy extra storage! It was Candy Colwell who inspired me with her pockets holding so many extra photos!

The fourth panel gets a little tricky to show you.  This is an accordian fold page, but I treat it as a flipper, instead of extending it out.  You'll see later why I did this this way. I added the Idea-ology corners for reinforcement and style.

I flip open the first fold to two of my favorite cards--sorry for the shadow.  I took these shots outside on a very sunny day. that's a little doe.

Flipping to the second page of the flip pages.  Notice I was careful to orient the cards so they would look right when you flipped the pages down.

second page

last page

Turn the 4th panel to see the back of the flip page. It was Annette Green who inspired me with her flip flaps!  I had a ton of those but we just used them on Lauren's school project, so I had to come up with an alternate idea.

We pull that flip page down and now see the reverse side of that accordion page--flipping the back of it down toward the viewer. I tried to keep whatever envelopes I had with the card--usually I tucked it behind the card, but this one wouldn't work that way, so the card is inside the envelope.  Make sense?

flip down toward the viewer again for another two cards.  Another favorite--The silver panel on this card slides up to reveal a colored scene!

Now onto the 5th and last panel.  Are you still with me?

This is the back of the 5th panel.  The background is a Tim Holtz paper stash not listed in my product list--it was just loose and I didn't take the time to research it--sorry!  Because none of my cards would fit on this page, I decided to make one of Tim's 12 tags of Christmas--not sure which year.  I just liked it, and it went well with the rest of what you will see next. I had to make it smaller to fit the available background.

When the 5th panel is flipped up the folio opens up to this sweet little pop-up winter forest scene.

Another shot from the top. It was Linda Ledbetter who inspired me with her 3 D elements!

This shot of the inside back cover was taken while I was in the process of making the page, so bear with me for the finished back cover.

My sweet little deer peeking out from behind the pines (Tim's Tree Line On the Edge die).  A little snow is on the ground (Distress glitter and cello glitter).

So here is the inside of the back cover of the folio completed.  I added a little tinsel twine wreath and 2 tiny jingle bells to the pick up's grill. You can get a sense of how I was trying to integrate all the elements from the 4th and 5th panels into the scene. 

Left side panel

Right side panel

Bottom flap

One side of the accordion fold flip page. It is so large I had to photograph it on the grand piano in our living room-yeah, I know it's dusty!  I've been busy!

The other side of the flip out accordion fold page. Can you believe all this fit's in this little folio?  

Now for a few details, if you care to indulge me: Everyone who knows me knows I am a real stickler for the details!

After the planning work was done, I got to start construction. I got a lot of inspiration from Cheryl Grigsby at this stage, because she mentioned her planning in her post.    Planning was an engineering nightmare, because all my cards had to fit, and I wanted my album to flow from a color stand point as well, just as you would have your home's adjoining room's colors flow from room to room. You can see I had a little change of heart in the color scheme!  Tee hee!  It wasn't funny at the time!

I took Annette Green's advice and scored 1/2 inch from the stitched line.  This gave me the idea that I wanted to have this work like the spine of a book, so I could tuck something 3 dimensional in that 1/2 inch of space.  Didn't know what at this point. I was able to keep this "spine" rigid by supporting it with a piece of chipboard.  You might be able to see I stenciled a few Christmas words from Tim's Christmas layering stencil in a corresponding ink color over my painted surface of this first panel.  My intention was to make it very subtle.  It is barely visible in this shot, but is more obvious in real life.

I used Clear Rock Candy Distress paint over the Paint Marbling background on the side panels and rubbed a little stain in the cracks.

I put a piece of dowel behind the stamped and fussy cut grungeboard tree to give it a 3 dimensional appearance. The 2 die cut snowflakes were covered with Picket Fence Crackle paint and ink wiped in the cracks.

I cut down the Old Jaopy into a pick up and used Tim's 12 Tags of 2014 December technique on it.  It really sparkles in real life. I picked up a little Picket Fence Distress paint on the end of my stylus and made the random "snowfall" dots. I didn't trust my basting brush not to make a mess!

I cut the snowflake (Movers and Shapers die) from grunge covered in sheet music and then wiped with Stickles--another sparkly element in real life.  I used the negative space left  from the Tree Line die I used to cut my forest as a stencil and patted on some Picket Fence Distress paint to make a snowy forest background.

I added the Stickle embellished Framelit ornament to give this paper covered panel some color to balance out the bright red in the card. I was inspired by Susan Mostek to paint and decorate my inside waterfall piece!

I just had to show a closeup of this cute little bird.  This is actually a cut out in the card with a piece of tulle sandwiched between the layers.  They don't make cards like that anymore--that is unless WE make them, right???

I used Picket Fence crackle paint on the reindeer and swiped on some watered down Distress paints to color them.  The white sparkly snowflakes serve a purpose to cover the back side workings of the ring fasteners.

Look at that debossing on that card!  LOVE!  I marble painted the background directly on the folio, inked, then spritz and flicked, then splattered PF Distress paint for the stars or snow or both, stamped and added a mirrored star colored with alcohol ink.

I used crackle texture paste  with Tim's Festive Layering stencil on the cover, layered with distressed paper stash, then one of the coolest techniques I've seen on Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, done on glossy card stock.  I layered up the Framelits with foam tape.

I used a Texture Fade and painted with inks and a waterpen for the 5th panel, after giving it a coat of gesso.

Hard to see, but the stars have a little added bling with Stickles and Glossy Accents.

One of my very first Idea-ology purchases!  Yup, still unused up 'til now!  (Hoarder!) Marjie Kemper inspired me with her faucet handle!

Trying to show how I made my 5 panel thingy included with the folio into a "spine" to house the pop-up scene. You can also see that I used eyelets as an extra reinforcement for the included waterfall thingy. (Does this thing have a name?)

Another Texture Fade over Gesso, sanded back and inked.  I oriented my sentiment wrong here!  My one mistake!  Embrace imperfection!

I used alcohol inks to color the clips.  I chose to use the clips because I didn't want the pages to accidentally shift and knock the pine cones on the next page.

Tinsel twine and bells colored with alcohol inks.

NOTE:  all painting was done directly on the folio.  I purposely left the elastic band fastener exposed after careful consideration, in the unfortunate event it has to be replaced some day. I tried to incorporate it into the scene to look like the road by adding some DP and the silver fasteners were also painted white and barely show. All cards were put in photo corners so they may be removed to view the inside of them.

I'm pretty sure that's everything.  If I forgot it, it wasn't that important or just something I do with everything, like distressing edges of things.  I will say, while this has been the most rewarding project I have EVER undertaken (and from planning to completion in just  SIX  days of "spare" time!), it was the most challenging for me, as I wanted to be sure my pop up scene and pine cones would not be harmed when closed, so each page would flow properly into the next from a color and theme standpoint, and so I could accommodate all my vintage Christmas card collection and envelopes without making any permanent changes to them. I'm very pleased to say I've accomplished my goals. Now I need another one  (or two) for the vintage Mother's Day and Easter card collections I have!



Thank you for stopping by and for your patience as I took you through each page of my folio.  I hope you enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed creating!  I appreciate your thoughtful comments and read and respond to each one.  If you have any questions, please let me know. Hugs!

I would like to enter this in the following inspiring challenges:

Linda Ledbetter's Studio L3 Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge #23 Collection Folio

A Vintage Journey "Anything Tim" Happy First Birthday, AVJ!!!

Our Creative Corner "Junk in Your Trunk" My cards were literally someone else's junk, but I was able to rescue them from a dilapidated old album and create a home specifically for them. Other junk: pine cones from an old Christmas pick rescued from the trash. UPDATE: I forgot to mention my husband recent purchased some new dress shirts.  I used the cardboard from the collars to make my trees and the "spine" support piece.

Altered Eclectics "March Already-Anything Goes/Mixed Media"

Country View Challenges "Anything Goes"  It's their 2 year Anniversary!!! Happy 2nd Anniversary CVC!!!

Frilly and Funkie "Bring On the Bling"

Try It On Tuesdays "Pearls For Girls"

Products used: Distress paint, ink and stains in various shades;   Archival ink;   Stickles (Ranger) Rock Candy, Crystal and Platinum;   Alcohol inks (Ranger), various colors;  Tim Holtz Crackle Paint: Clear Rock Candy and Picket Fence;   Perfect Paper Adhesive;   Glossy Accents (Ranger);   Wendy Vecchi Crackle Texture Paste;   Tim Holtz Distress Glitter: Rock Candy and Pumice;   Tim Holtz Layering Stencils:  Christmas and Festive;   Tim Holtz :Paper Stash-Holidays Past, Grungeboard, Distress Kraft Core--Nostalgic, Ranger Glossy finish card stock;   Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Tinsel twine, Ring fasteners, Drawer pull, clips, Mirrored stars, corners, and Crinkle ribbon;   Tim Holtz Texture Fades: Holly Branch and Snowflurries;   Tim Holtz stamps:  Retro Christmas Framelits, Merry Christmas, Mini Handwritten Holidays;  Other stamps: Art Impressions (tree) and Hero Arts (music);   Tim Holtz Bigz dies: Reindeer Flight, Old Jalopy, ATC,  Movers and Shapers- snowflakes and numerals, On the Edge Tree Line, Festive Greenery; stash: paper scraps, eyelets, photo corners, deer, pearls, pine cones,bells, small white snowflakes, cello glitter.