Stencil Backgrounds and Square Layers Frames for Old Photos

I have boxes and boxes of old family photographs, many that are black and white or sepia-toned, as well as a collection of “instant relatives”–photographs of people I either can't identify or ones that came in box lots at auction.  I am not a traditional scrapbooker, so I have been thinking of other ways to use these photographs.  What I did for this post was first experiment with backgrounds on white notecard fronts, using Memory Box stencils, fingertip and jumbo daubers from Imagine Crafts,  VersaFine Onyx Black ink, and Hero Arts Shadow Inks in Cup O' Joe and Tide Pool.

These are the stencils I used (shown left to right in the photo below):

SPLATTER 88581

DRIP RINGS 88582

TINY DOTS 88589

SCRAPED PAINT 88584

 I tried a variety of ways to mount the photographs on the cards, using the STUDIO SQUARE LAYERS die no. 30021.  This set of eight dies in the Open Studio Line comes on a magnetic sheet which makes it super easy to keep them organized.  I used different sizes of the square dies to trim the photographs.  (If you don't want to use the original photograph on a card, make a copy on photo paper or cardstock.)  I then cut cardstock squares for mounting or  layered the dies to create frames that I placed around the photographs.  

I used these three sentiment stamps:

Just Thinking of You Combo B1909

Hello Combo B2012

Just a Note Combo B1852

I used Baby Chicks die no. 99112 with the farmer's wife and Seaside Treasures die no. 99107  with the tiara-wearing bathing beauty along with Memory Box patterned papers.  Buttons, twine, and ribbons were from my scrap box.  I cut "hello" using the Classic Lowercase Alphabet dies 98360.

 And here are the finished cards!

 Happy Crafting!