Hand-Stitched Vintage Photos

My fiber-art group has a tradition of exchanging postcards on our birthdays, usually quilted, painted, stitched, or otherwise artistically enhanced fiber. This year I wanted to do something a little different ... hand-stitched vintage photographs. Here are two of them ... I can't show the others yet because they haven't been gifted yet.

This flapper was stitched for Nancy.
She wears a Guatemalan worry doll pin.

I thought Connie just "needed" this crazy lady!
She is also enhanced with a worry doll pin.

These were a lot of fun, but a little more difficult than I had imagined. Each hole had to be individually punched before stitching, and I found that I needed a stiff backing to prevent tearing of the photo paper. Some rubber thimbles ultimately came in handy too. I really liked the effect of colored thread on the black-and-white photos.

Some photoshopped fun

Just for fun ... hours and HOURS of fun ... some old black-and-white photos I have prettified with some "hand-tinting" techniques in Photoshop Elements.  These are some pictures from my parents' stash ... I don't think they are family; probably children of friends, back in the '40's and '50's.

Original photograph, ca 1940's.
I could have removed the crinkled fold-marks,
but decided that I like them in this case.

Colorized in Photoshop Elements -- "hand-tinted" look.

with my "crinkled paper" texture added.

Original photo, probably from the 1940's.

"Hand-tinted" look, via Photoshop Elements.

with "Golden" texture (by Kim Klassen) added.