Vintage Christmas Card {With 4th of July Illustrations!}

This is a fun Christmas card from my personal collection featuring some patriotic puppies dressed in their patriotic best--perfect for the 4th of July. I bought it because I thought the little character images might be great for some of my summer crafting ideas and cards.

July seems so far off, especially with the rain we've been having and are expecting more of in the midwest. I'm ready for these April showers to end!

Vintage Valentine {Little Bear} to Print for Craft Projects

I'm sharing a vintage Valentine from my collection today. As always, it is a high resolution image so you can print and use it for your crafting projects. The children's vintage greeting cards are my favorite and they comprise the majority of my collection. The illustrations are always so cheery!

I have removed the original greeting (A Valentine for Nephew) so you can stamp your own phrase. The bear's hat is actually a feather! I'm thinking of attaching a  real feather to the top of the image with a little glue when I use this image in my cards. I don't ever use the original cards; they stay tucked away as part of my collection permanently.

The inside of the card reads:
Here's a little Valentine and what it's meant to do
Is say it's mighty nice to have a newphew just like you!

Signed:
Uncle Ray and Auntie Rose, 1948

Markings:
destroyed; looks like it was pasted in a scrapbook at one time.

Note:
All vintage card images on this blog are provided for your personal, non-commercial use.

Brooklyn, my foster puppy is receiving a visit from a potential adoptive family today. I'm hoping they are the perfect "forever" home for this sweet little girl!

Vintage Inspired Book House Village

This was a fun project I did at work one day and I know those who love vintage finds will enjoy seeing the finished product. Challenged with creating a holiday-themed display case that would seem right at home at a library, I began my search on Pinterest for inspiration. I was initially going to use my collection of miniature glitter houses and refer to holiday decor books, but then I found a bird house made out of books and the creative light bulb went on!

Each house was made of four old books two for the sides, one for the door and another for the roof. I picked older books from my stash with yellowed pages and fabric covers. I like the aged look of the textures, perfect my favorite theme of evoking fond memories with vintage finds. I propped up the "roofs" with a thin wooden dowel to keep them raised so that there would be a nice peak to their shape.

I finished the houses with pictures from vintage Christmas cards, either copied from the web or from my own collection. Trimmed and then sprinkled with paste and glitter, they are affixed to the book with  blue painter's tape.

I did manage to add a few of my vintage glitter houses, deer and ornaments and a few bottle brush trees to add just a little more sparkle to the case. Lastly was an addition of beaded garland and sprinkling of snowflakes. I firmly believe you can never have enough glitter!

The beautiful evergreen trees are actually scans of a vintage Dennison bulletin board decoration that I enlarged, printed and added silver glitter to.  The snowflakes are scans of vintage book pages printed on card stock and laminated, then embellished with glitter. The bells are a scan of another vintage card, enlarged.

I really enjoy using old books in crafts and display design. I have a Pinterest board with over 100 pins dedicated to them that you can see HERE. It was a fun display to create, although I had glitter on my shoes for the rest of the day!

{Pretty} Pink Fireplace Vintage Christmas Card

Oh, this card is it... the perfect blend of holiday magic, precious pink and feminine style! What a treasure this was to find at the flea market.

I'm going to use it to make some Christmas cards to hand out at the office... glitter it up a bit and let all my fellow {female} co-workers share it's beauty. I always use copies of the vintage cards, never the original to make my handcrafted cards.

This image is shared for your personal, non-commercial use only.

Inside message:

With holly in the hallway and the Christmas tree so bright,
May yours be the enchantment of a Christmas that's just right

Signed: Dorothy Schrader

Marked:
5x1080 Made in USA 4674


Linking this post to:
My Romantic Home
Common Ground

Vintage Christmas Cards {Bluebirds}

When I am flipping through vintage Christmas cards at an estate sale or flea market, one of the things that always catches my eye is a bluebird illustration.

Yep, cards like these always end up in my "buy" pile!