Vintage style with Fiskars

Fiskars Vintage Style by Becky Novacek

I think one of the best things about being a crafter, is having the ability to create custom home décor pieces. Pieces that really express who you are and what you like. Since I am a big fan of incorporating vintage touches in my craft creations and my home décor, I thought it would be fun to create a few pieces for the spring season for my home. That’s another great thing about crafting: you can create seasonal pieces that refresh your home’s look without breaking the bank.

*happy spring* garland

I knew I wanted to make a spring garland this year, utilizing bits and pieces of some of my favorite vintage flea market finds. The beauty of a project like this is that it doesn’t take a lot of any one product, so you can feel really good about using up your really special scraps.

I gathered a pile of favorite papers, trims, fabrics, vintage ledger paper and book pages, and the Heidi Grace pink/green polka dot chipboard letters from the “It’s my Party” collection. I love the boldness of these letters in combination with the vintage accents. That’s actually one of my favorite combinations-bold vivid colorful patterns, mixed with chippy, tattered pieces, set on a background of kraft chipboard or off-white linen. I just adore the juxtapose that really makes the color pop.

To assemble the garland, I simply trimmed 11 chipboard pieces to 5”x6”. Then I treated each piece as it’s own little work of art, building each one with layers, shapes, textures and of course the letter it represented. I find the http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/s_squeeze-punches.aspx so helpful in creating accents and striking backgrounds.

One tool that I use over and over again, is the http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_craft-hand-drill.aspx . I used it on each finished piece to make a hole in each upper corner. Then I simply threaded ribbon through each hole to put the garland together

*reworked* butterfly montage

I’m sure many of you have seen the beautiful modern  butterfly shadowboxes  that everyone has been making. I adore the look, but the modern look doesn’t necessarily fit in my home, so I decided to do a butterfly montage with a vintage twist.I have collected vintage open frames for years and have quite a collection to choose from for projects. One of my “go to” vintage craft touches is vintage book paper, which I thought would work perfectly for the background of this piece to give the feel I was going for.

I measured two vintage book pages to fit my frame and adhered them together.. Then I simply punched 16 butterflies out using the new limited edition  http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_squeezeallaflutterlarge.aspx and assorted favorite Heidi Grace Designs and Cloud 9 Designs pattern papers. I put just a bit of adhesive on the center of each butterfly to hold them in place in a grid design on the book pages. Then simply stitch them down the center. Take each butterfly and pull the wings away from the background. Then trim a piece of chipboard to 8”x10” (which fits snuggly into frame) and adhere the book page piece to the chipboard and slip into the frame.

*vintage garden* canvas

This is another fun project to utilize favorite vintage scraps. I like to buy older inexpensive “cutting” quilts and textiles when I hit flea markets….they add such great texture to craft pieces! I have been singing the praises of canvas art here on the Fiskars website for almost two years! I adore custom canvases and have them all over my home! Combining a custom canvas piece with pieces of my vintage textiles and wallpapers enables me to create art that expresses what I really like. Think about the collections you have of papers, trims, and other crafty bits and pieces…I know you have them! What makes your heart sing? Use your favorites on a custom canvas for your home!

I can stress enough the importance of having great craft tools to create pieces that you are happy with in the end. I used the http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_12-x-18-cutting-mat.aspx and the http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_60mm-stickrotary.aspx to create the four different backgrounds for this piece. In the past, when I would have an idea for a craft project, I would usually end up giving up on it, because I am horrible at getting thing cut in a uniform square or rectangle. But with the right tools, even I can have success with my craft projects!

By Becky Novacek