Wanting to arrange victorian post cards in an old frame

Thats a great idea- how about using a corkboard backing so you can easily arrange and rearange the cards

I would attach to the back of an the glass in a multi pane window or superimpose the appearance of panes with tape.

If you are okay with cutting some of the cards, you could do a mock shadowbox. Make a solid background layer, overlapping different-sized cards at angles like a collage. Take a store-bought mat in your frame size and add foam strips or blocks to the back of it, so it holds the mat up about ¼” off of the surface behind it. (Find foam spacer products with scrapbooking supplies.) Either leave the front side of the mat plain or cover it with coordinating scrapbooking paper, maybe something like a muted stripe (nothing too busy). Choose some traditional Victorian motifs from the cards you’re willing to cut (birds, flowers, people) and arrange them on the front side of the mat, gluing them at angles so that some of the shapes extend a little over the open edge of the mat. It will give a nice dimensional effect! If you can’t bring yourself to cut any of the cards, print some appropriate images from the internet onto ordinary paper and use those instead. Assemble the “shadowbox” with the finished side of the mat directly against the glass, and then the background sheet of cards behind it. The only challenge is that with the foam spacers, you’re trying to fit something into the frame that’s thicker than what it was designed for. If the back bulges a little, use strips of duct tape all the way around to reinforce the closure. You can even glue a piece of plain brown Kraft paper over the entire back, all the way out to the edge of the frame (the way professional framers do) if you hate seeing the duct tape! An alternative is to use an actual shadowbox frame designed for added depth; put the decorated mat against the glass, and use the space between the mat and the background sheet for a few tiny three-dimensional pieces, like a little flower vase, a bird or a nest, a mini parasol, etc. Good luck! Sounds like a lovely project!