Crafts - with a Vintage Flair

For the Holidays

	Crackers for all occasions.  These festive candy-filled tubes are an English tradition.  This is a simple paper project, suitable for children or crafting parties.
	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.
	Kissing Dangles for Valentine's Day.  The old legend says, "If you kiss under a dangle, your hearts will entangle."  Okay, we made that up.  This is basically paper, string and some beads, but it looks quaint and romantic.
	Heart Basket is traditional Danish paper weaving, with a twist.  This small basket is woven of silver and gold metallic paper, with a special lacing of red satin ribbon. This is a great "door knob" gift from the office Valentine fairy.
	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.
	Christmas Candle resting in a fluffy bed of white whipped-wax "snow"!  We give you six different images for this easy, glowing project.
	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?

Home Decoration

	A Vintage Cake Pan is the way to deliver your next baked treat to a friend or party.  The vintage illustration is a gift in itself, with your recipe printed on the back. This craft has two variations, four free images, and two great lemon dessert recipes.  Try the Victorian Lemon-Coriander Seed Cake.  It is delectible.
	This Vintage Suncatcher is a translucent treasure with an Arts & Crafts look.  Equally stunning hanging in a window or displayed on a stand, you can make it with plain window glass, copper foil tape, and some simple reverse-glass painting.
	Pet Treat Jar. Grab one of those glass canisters you always find at yard sales and make this charming kitchen accessory.  You'll learn how to hand-paint lettering on glass, the easy way.
	Lacy Love Letter Box will keep your treasured mementos safe.  This project is an interesting combination of decoupage and antiquing.
	Coasters from old CDs!  We admit it - we love recycled crafting.  And who doesn't have some old CDs around the house?  Copper foil tape gives these an old-world look.
	Bottle Cap Magnets.  These have to be our favorites so far.  They are as pretty as a picture, with a charming retro look.  They can be magnets or pushpins.  Or you might think of something else entirely!
	Switchplate decoupage is a wonderful project for people who are "turned on" by cats!  We give you two variations to try - and three wonderful vintage cat images.
	"Flower Faces" Flower Pot combines decoupage and decorative painting to glorify the common clay pot. There are two variations to choose from, and over 20 vintage images to use.

Card Making

Leaping Hearts Pop-up Card is a great, simple craft that delivers a surprise.

Why do you love crafts or scrapbooking?

For us, it is the joy of creating something new out of the old. Putting things together in a new way. Transforming common or plain materials into something decorative, whimsical or beautiful. Creating objects, with love and care, which tell a story.

That’s why we love to make things using vintage images and illustrations from antique postcards. Rich in color, artistic technique and symbolism, postcard illustrations from the turn-of-the-century capture the essence of life’s highlights – holidays, celebrations, and sentiments – in strong visuals. Far beyond clipart. When used as a central element of new art, they speak their storied past in a contemporary setting.

Crafting with vintage images is also a way of keeping this artwork alive and vibrant. The Golden Age of postcards ended with World War I, and the rise of the telephone. Once relegated to collectors and picture books, the digital age of the Internet is making incredible Public Domain vintage images available again – but how can you use them creatively?

We hope to answer that question, and make these images live again, with these fun and easy crafts.  Many of these projects may decorate your home. Many more can be thoughtful gifts. In this age of mass-production and Amazon-handy items, the most treasured gifts are those made by hand. At its heart, each project begins with the simplest of raw materials – a beautiful vintage image.

As you explore, it might become painfully obvious and also gratefully appreciated – master-crafter Martin is a Kindergarten teacher.

VintageImageCraft is all about IDEAS AND INSPIRATION

We are passionate about sharing this vanished art. Two generations of obsessive family collecting will do that.

Our website will take time to develop.  We have paint under our fingernails and glitter in our hair, but we are getting there.  Please come back often. And please, contact us with a note if you have ideas or questions.

Scott & Martin

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