'You're Sew Nice' Vintage-Look Cards

In a previous post I showed you some vintage-looking products by Melody Ross that I found at the Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts. Well, they started me on a whole new craft search for products which have that 40's, 50's, or 60's look. I found some really great Hero Arts clear stamp sets with sewing themes that made me nostalgic for the 'old days' when we actually sewed our own clothes. These stamps together with the other products shown below helped me to make the two versions of basically the same card. I think the use of the muslin cards (Paper Arts) really added to the sewing theme because the paper has a texture like fabric. The background papers were from DCWV (I think) paper pads and chosen for their old fashion look and colors. The Melody Ross chipboard labels were the perfect match with the Hero Arts stamp words. I stamped the fashion lady on thin tissue-like Japanese washi paper so that it would look like the paper patterns that we, old-timers used to cut out fabric pieces for sewing garments. For a pop of color I stamped the tape measure stamp on bright yellow paper because tape measures of 'olden days' were always yellow. Textural interest was added with Hero Arts fabric lace ribbon (just came out with the Valentine items) plus a button on one card and a flower head pin (K and Co. Valentine line) on the other. Although I used the Sizzix die to make the polka dot paper rick rack, you could glue on real rickrack to get the same effect. The stamped image of the sewing machine was colored and then antiqued with Distress Ink. I'm really happy with the outcome of the cards perhaps because they stir up so many happy memories of my childhood. It seems that I've been crafting something all my life.....we didn't have many TV shows, cell phones, or computers to occupy our time. I wonder what memories the future generations will have to hold in their hands and fill their hearts with pride. Teach someone to craft; give them a lifetime of beautiful memories.