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Christmas crafts, decorations
and cards -
with the look of Christmas Past
 Making
Christmas crafts and decorations at home is a centuries-old
tradition. "Deck the Halls" the Victorians would sing, as they filled
the house with holly and evergreens, and set about stocking the kitchen
with once-a-year delicacies for the feasting and merriment of
Christmas. Everyone in the family was busy making decorations
for the proud Christmas tree; glittering ornaments of tinsel and
cut-out pictures, paper chains and garlands, lace angels, embroidered
stockings
and carved wooden toys.
Christmas crafts are half the fun of the holiday, especially when you
can make them with love and give them as special
gifts.
 Here are several projects
that will get you in the spirit - fun and easy ones - to begin
decking your halls. We are providing the vintage images and clip art
that will bring that touch of Christmas past into your present.
As always, if you need
anything
for your crafts, Joann.com
 is online with
fast delivery, and only a click
away.
Christmas
Crafts
 | "Ten Vintage Christmas Greetings to Make"
is a 40-page e-book with ready-to-print vintage images, complete
instructions and card-making tips! This is a must-have handbook for
handmade Christmas cards that deliver a vintage punch. Pop ups, window
cards, fabric inserts, paper tole, textured collage and many more techniques! |  | Our Christmas Stamp Card
was mass-produced for our personal 2009 cards. You can make two from
one piece of red cardstock! It couldn't be easier. Just the paper, the
FREE clip art images, some paint, glitter and glue, and a hole
punch. |  | Get the look of painted stained glass with this Christmas Window Decoration.
It starts with an old window frame, and you apply vintage images,
liquid leading, and glass glitter. We give you eight FREE templates and
images - and the premier supplier of glass glitter! |  | Need Christmas Place Cards - right now?
This is the craft for you. All you need is our FREE download template,
blank address label sheets, paper, scissors and a pen. You'll be ready
to set the table in a minute. |  | Craft a Vintage Christmas Ornament
from a few simple ingredients like foamcore, tinsel garland and ribbon.
We provide a charming Victorian scene with Santa and an angel for you
to download and print. |
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Handmade Vintage Christmas Cards
are quick and easy using blank panel cards and envelopes. These were
our cards for 2008 - embellished with a beautiful 1913 Santa
illustration by Samuel L. Schmucker. Download this striking vintage
image for FREE and craft these rich-looking cards. |
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These Christmas Chenille Dolls
were inspired by vintage ornaments in an antique
auction.
Just like their Victorian originals, these whimsical figures are simple
concoctions of bump chenille rods, paper vintage images, and glittery
embellishments. |
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Christmas
Napkin Rings
will "ring" in the holidays in vintage style. With no more
than paper, scissors
and glue, you can create four different designs for your holiday table
- choose from a Victorian Father Christmas, singing cherubs, a golden
bell, or jolly Santa Claus. |
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Antique
Blocks
are vintage treasures, gilded with an aged, cracked varnish finish.
No one needs to know that they were once common milk
cartons. We'll show you how to make them from the
simplest
materials and ingredients. |
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Santa's
Cookie Plate
will be a Christmas Eve tradition. This plate combines reverse-glass
painting and decoupage. We've even provided several Santa
images
for you to choose from. |
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Christmas
Candle
resting in a fluffy bed of white whipped-wax "snow"!
We give
you six different images for this easy, glowing project. |
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Tag
Ornaments
are dainty and sparkling, and the glass marbles magically magnify
the vintage images of children. Who would know they started
out
as common cardboard key tags? |
The
Many Symbols of Christmas
Christmas
is a holiday rich in historic and cultural influences. As the early
Christian church grew, its leaders studied Jewish Messianic prophesies
to determine the date of Jesus' birth. It took several hundred years
for the church to settle on December 25, and the date seems chosen, in
part, to distance it from the Roman winter celebration of
Saturnalia. The earliest written reference to the Christmas celebration
on that date comes from an illuminated manuscript from the year 354.
Many
of the symbols of Christmas are scriptural; the manger, the three wise
men and their gifts, singing angels, and the Star of Bethlehem.
Many more are remnants of pagan myths and winter
celebrations,
including evergreen trees and wreaths, holly, mistletoe, the yule log,
the feasting table, and yes - Santa Claus. As these filtered
through the centuries and world cultures, a holiday season was
distilled during the Victorian period.
By the mid-19th century,
Christmas characters and events were being depicted much as we know
them today. Manger scenes were lovingly assembled in churches
and
homes. Santa Claus had evolved from a number of magical gift-givers
(the Nordic yule gods, St. Nicholas, the Russian female
Kolyada,
and the Christ Child or Christkindl) into the merry, red-suited, elfin
figure we now recognize, as first depicted by artist Thomas Nast in
1863. The Victorians, with the help of writer Charles Dickens and the
great carol composers, embraced the spirit of the holiday and wove its
many symbols and legends into a celebration of redemption, love and
generosity.
Did you know...
"Mistletoe was the most sacred of all plants to the Druids...The
ancient Celts held the mistletoe in such high esteem that it could
only be harvested by the chief Druid at certain times of the year.
A golden scythe was used and the mistletoe was never allowed
to
touch the ground...In Victorian times, the hanging mistletoe enabled a
rather stuffy and moralistic society to relax a few rules and allow
public contact between the sexes in an acceptable manner.
Mistletoe was placed in a prominent position and games and
forfeits were eagerly played and paid under it. It is said
that
the sweetness of a kiss given under the mistletoe will last the life of
the giver." From Postmarked
Yesteryear, by Pamela E.
Apkarian-Russell.
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Do you have a favorite
Christmas craft? We would enjoy hearing from you with ideas, comments
or questions. Please, contact
us with a note!
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