Posted by Spellbinders Paper Arts on March 04, 2019

The Gilded Age Collection Introduction by Becca Feeken

Hi there, my name is Becca Feeken. I'm a passionate creator and am tickled to introduce you to The Gilded Age. I have a romantic fascination with days gone by and the beautiful, fragile relics that survive to create our memories. The Gilded Age is a look back to a time when beautiful things were all around and each item had a story tied to it. Fineries were hard earned and treasured, garnered with much pride and bathed with love and sentimental value.

Whether in art or clothes or architecture, the timeless glamour of the era thankfully punctuates our lives today.

Gilding: the process of applying gold leaf or gold paint. It was an age where dreamers knew no bounds in decorating and inventing, paving the way for exquisite art, extravagant embellishment and a level of grandeur that defies simplicity. We're fortunate that traces of the era live on. One of our present day methods of gilding comes in the way of foiling. Once only able to be carried out at prints shops, it was an expensive process that signaled exceptional taste; your eyes can't help but be drawn to it. How lucky are we that present day gilding and foiling is so easy! It extends beyond paper and flows over onto other flat materials like fabric, leather, balsa wood, napkins, vellum and more.

In my collection I've curated a couple of looks inspired from a ladies stationary desk. A desk where she might sit a compose "Thank You" notes with care and attention to detail using her coveted fineries of the day. Each plate in the collection delivers a mark that can be considered hallmarks of fine penmanship and papers. I'm convinced that each of us has a mark, an indelible mark - the tools are there, calling out for us to use them. For my must have desk items and decoration, I've curated the following:

Gilded Nested Rectangle Die Set

This shape has always been a favorite of mine. It features clipped off corners and is a classic label shape. Just think about all the layering possibilities, especially with decorative corners and with existing rectangles. Nesting is a winner and just stacking them up gives you an attractive base for coloring, stamps or more dies.

Gilded Nested Rectangle Glimmer Set

This glimmer set is the perfect companion to the Rectangle Die Set. If anything, it is understated, yet elegant. It's a simple classic border that adds a polished touch to the edges while still leaving most of the real estate to what is yet to come within the framed border.

Gilded Leaves Shaped Panel

Although it is hard to pick a favorite, I'm so stoked to have something different to offer in this collection. Most of the time our dies and markings sit on or within a cut piece of paper. I love it that this combo plates and die set creates classic, elegant shaped panels. At the same time it creates individual cascading leaves for use on other projects, for layering or simply alone. So many options and no fussy cutting will make me pick these up time and time again.

Gilded Vines

As always, it's a pleasure to have a design that does all the heavy lifting when I sit down to make a card or a decorative panel. Gilded Vines fits that bill to a "t". With enough room to allow a word or a sentiment, the rest of the show is commanded by the filigree decoration that looks exquisite in gold. Even though it is quite dressy, it can be paired with anything - a sentiment, a stamped image, a monogram or even layered underneath some dies.

Gilded Trimmings

How often have I wanted a straight-edged border to simply include on the bottom of a note card on along the side, just to spice up a panel of paper. I have it now!! This straight edge does double duty as a border, as a frame or repeated across a whole panel to make a background. To me, the decorating options are many, and this useful pattern will find its way on to boxes, frames and favors but it will be just as easily used for the clean and simple look of a foil patten alone.

Lace Frippery

This design is as fun as its name. Lace Frippery is a light hearted airy border that would look at home at the top or bottom of your cards as well as the flap of an envelope. That kind of portability makes it perfect in creating ensembles. This is a majestic border, but I also I think it would be dreamy to isolate just the top or bottom and use just a portion like the bottom scallops. We go through life leaving our mark. It takes the form of ephemera, mementos, handwritten letters and the like. As a legacy creator I'm heartened by anything tangible that can be left behind for others to know our stories; they are breadcrumbs that let us search back along the path. I hope you've enjoyed looking through a small collection that is dear to my heart. I want to encourage you for when you create; I want to encourage you - leave your mark. Becca

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