Scanning Ephemera: Unique Valentines For A Song

CELEBRATIONS | by KAT SPELLMAN

CAMPBELL-SOUP-KID CHERUBIC FACES… The happy graphics of the golden age of radio… Grainy stills from film reels or gloriously retro album covers…

NEW VALENTINES FROM OLD

If you’re like me and adore collecting bits and pieces of inspiring treasures, whether nostalgia-inducing vintage greeting cards or old sheet music from crooners like Bing Crosby, you’re well on your way to creating one-of-a kind valentines.

Flea market forays can launch a whole new collection of valentines, created just by you. The must-haves for turning yesterday’s jewels into today’s chic greetings? A multipurpose scanner/copier/printer, along with a basic editing tool such as Microsoft Publisher or another affordable computer program. With a scanner you can copy scraps of vintage textiles, postcards, handwritten letters from the attic and more.

Got kids? Have them collect their own idea of “treasures” and leaf through a folder of finds ― joining you in picking their favorite images, photos or words to create unique valentine’s for their school-age pals and teachers. Layer and crop, zoom and colorize. Print on card stock and have the kids add glue and glitter to white and light portions of the designs, and their art will positively glow.

As will you, when you step back to share some simply sweet sentiments in an era of store-bought Sponge Bob and Bratz greetings.