Treasure trove find

I am addicted to charity shops. I cannot walk past a single one without crossing the threshold and heading straight for the books. I look out the damaged, the tossed aside and the forgotten. Someone else's cast off is like treasure to the magpie instinct in me. The other day I struck gold with this unassuming tome. The Sunday Dispatch? I worked in newspapers for over 15 years and have never heard of it and the book must be at least 60 years old! Who cares though, because the black and white images inside are a gift, particularly the ones of birds.

But as there are no robins, doves, calling birds, partridges or french hens inside this book I thought I'd practice my Photoshop skills (non existent despite a 5 week course this autumn) and mess about with a couple of great reindeer photos to make my Christmas card digitally this year.

This is my first attempt using the endpapers from another old book in the background and layering the images.

Then I made a few more backgrounds and did the same again . I can either use each image individually or put them all together like this perhaps?

Or I can change the whole thing to make it look a bit more like the season - blue with the cold! I'm going to print them onto square cards today to see what they look like but I've already been sidetracked by other images from the book of large owls. I've been combining them with backgrounds from my collagraph prints, altering the thresholds to get strong black and white images for gum arabic transfers.....

I was engrossed in this yesterday but have to return to my chores today. Ironing and sewing await after I've been to town to do my weekly food shopping... where I remember that a new charity shop has just opened. Got to dash!