To add to the Christmas Vintage Photos that I’ve already posted as freebies today, I wanted to also add some winter-themed vintage photos as well. Again, I hope you will be able to use these in your art and craft projects!
To snag any or all of these vintage graphic freebies, please click once on the photo to open it in a new window. Then, right-click on the image and click Save-As…and save it to your computer. Please do not hotlink to our images.
Since I was sick with a stomach bug for much of this past week, I wasn’t able to get into my art studio at all. So I unfortunately have no new projects to share for this week. I decided though that this would be a perfect time to share some vintage Christmas photos with all of you.
To snag any or all of these vintage graphic freebies, please click once on the photo to open it in a new window. Then, right-click on the image and click Save-As…and save it to your computer. Please do not hotlink to our images.
I hope you enjoy these vintage holiday photos…and I hope you can use them in your art and craft projects.
Well, my fabric memory ornies arrived safe and sound at my mom’s in Texas yesterday, and she loved them. So now it’s safe to post the other ones I couldn’t post when I shared the Sisters Fabric Ornie the other day.
These were made the same basic way as I made the Sisters ornie–using fabric and a vintage family photo, only with slight variations on the embellishments.
This first one has a photo of my great grandmother and my mother, when she was a little girl. I love this photo of them!
This next one has a photo of my great grandmother, my Nana (Mom’s mother), and my mom again, when she was little. I made 3 of these–one for my mom, one for my sister, and one for me, so we’d each have one that matched.
I will probably make more of these fabric memory ornies next year. I love how they turned out.
This is an altered hangtag I created for the Gingersnap Creations Stitches Challenge. The “stitches” could be real or faux, so we could sew…or not sew for the challenge, as long as some sort of stitches are part of the project. I’m also using it for the Fussy and Fancy Friday Anything But a Card Challenge.
I started by making the hangtag itself out of some cardstock scrapbook paper that I had a scrap of. It has some great browns, tans, turquoises and white colors, and (lucky me) it also includes faux stitching. So I knew it would be perfect for the challenge.
Next I found a 3-D sticker of a rose that I liked, along with a butterfly die-cut shape I wanted to use. So I stuck the rose to the tag, and then I used a 3-D-O (which is basically a piece of foam that has sticky on both sides) to stick the butterfly cutout to the tag and have it stick up in relief like the rose.
Then I added some lace trim to the bottom of the tag, to give it a bit more of a feminine touch. And I also added some button brads here and there to add some variety and embellishment to the tag. And I finished it off with a coordinating light turquoise satin ribbon. It almost looks a bit shabby chic to me too, don’t you think? I love how it turned out.
Well, considering we got our first real snow of the season over the weekend, the timing of this altered hangtag project couldn’t have been more appropriate! This is my Let It Snow Hangtag, which I’m entering into the City Crafter Challenge Blog Let It Snow Challenge.
I started with a simple, plain white hangtag. I took a red rubber stamp ink pad and used it to color the edges of the tag all the way around, which also gives it a sort of distressed look.
The next step was to create the snowman. For that, I used two chipboard buttons in varying sizes, which also have a text/paper finish on them. I created a scarf out of some paper and glued it to the snowman body. Then I found four black button brads and used two for the eyes, and two for buttons on the snowman’s body. I also created a hat and a nose out of paper and glued them on, and then I used hot glue to assemble the snowman–and used the bottom brads to affix the snowman to the tag.
With the snowman in place I added the alpha stickers to spell out Let It Snow. And to embellish the tag a bit I added rhinestone gems, and circles I punched out of scrapbook paper. I also used the same paper to attach a decorative edge to the bottom of the tag. The finishing touches were a rubber stamped black border near the bottom of the tag, and a coordinating black ribbon.
He’s quite the happy little snowman and clearly ready for the long, cold winter to come. Can’t say I am, but hey, I’ll just stay inside where it’s warm and be crafty!
As I was decorating my Christmas tree the other day, I came across this country primitive ornie that I’d made for a swap a few years ago, but hadn’t photographed it at the time. I thought it’d be a nice addition to the blog so I snapped a photo while I was thinking about it. I made this for a country primitive ornies swap through an online community I belonged to.
I started with 2 pieces of an off-white felt that I’d cut to the size and shape I wanted. Then I spritzed them with my special grungy sauce mix–though not too much, because I wanted him to be just little a little bit grungy, rather than dirty. 
I then baked them in a warm oven for about 10 minutes or so, flipping them once, until they were fully dry.
Next I cut orange pieces of felt for each snowman’s nose. Then I stitched on the nose, and then stitched on 2 buttons to be the eyes. I kept the mouth very simple and just stitched a series of X’s for his smile.
After all the facial features were complete I stitched three sides, added just a bit of fiberfill to round out the face a bit, then stitched the rest of the way on the outside edges of the felt. And I finished each one off with a green and ivory gingham fabric strip for hanging.
I love the simplicity of country primitive crafts. They are just full of warmth and fun and have a sense of home. And these particular ornies are so easy to make. I think I had to make about 15 or 20 of them for the swap I was in, and it didn’t take me all that long to complete them all. And my smiling snowman looks sweet on my tree too!
I’ve also linked this project up at the Sassy sites blog for their Christmas Creations Using Fabric Challenge. Be sure to take a peek at their blog to see lots of other wonderful and creative holiday fabric creations!
I’ve been decking the halls this past week, and trimming the tree as well, and that gave way to some creative inspiration. I decided to make some fabric ornies for my sister and my mom that they can hang on their Christmas trees. And I wanted to also include a vintage photo on each ornie, one that would be special for each of them. So this is the first one I made for my sister, which includes a photo of her and me when we were young.
I started by choosing some fabric that I love and have used with other projects. It has a very vintage feel to me, with a soft, muted tan background and little burgundy rosebuds on it. I cut two pieces of fabric to the size I needed, approximately 3″x4″, so that it would be a bit bigger than the photo when it was finished.
Next I used Avery Printable Fabric to print out the photo. The fabric is so easy to use: it can be sewn on, or simply ironed on, which is what I chose to do. After ironing on the photo, then I added my decorative trim around the photo. I used fabric glue to get it in place, and once that dried I also tacked it on with a few stitches to be sure it would stay in place over time. I also added a satin ribbon flower as an accent.
The next step was to put the right sides of the fabric together, and then sew it together on three sides. I left the bottom side open so that I could then stuff it with fiberfill. After sewing and turning and stuffing, I sewed the bottom edge closed. Then I added the lace trim at the bottom, and finished it off with a burgundy satin ribbon for hanging.
I made some other fabric ornies as well, but I’ll be posting them after Christmas, so as not to ruin the surprise for anyone else I’m sending them to.
I love how all the ornies turned out. My only irritation is that I think they would have looked better if I’d added a sepia tone to the photos instead of just leaving them black and white. I think they would have matched the fabric better that way. But oh well. At least I’ll know for next time. And either way they are still what I hoped they’d be…a special way to capture moments in time of our family.
I also am using this as an entry into the Gingersnap Creations Vintage Hues Color Challenge, as well as the Craft Your Passion ~ Anything Goes Challenge.
I recently participated in the annual Ornie Swap at Prim Mart, something I try to do every year. There’s nothing like creating a bunch of ornies and knowing that you’re going to get a box full of handmade ornies in return each year. My tree is full of the most beautiful handmade ornies and I just love it! For this year’s swap I did a simple country primitive mitten ornie with a rusty snowflake accent.
I started by drawing a mitten pattern on some cardstock and then cut it out. I pinned it to two pieces of white felt that I had pinned together and then cut out the 2 mitten pieces, front and back. Next I sewed the two halves together using black embroidery floss. I love the look of the stitching going all the way around, and it’s very country and prim! Next I took a black button and used white embroidery floss to sew it to the rusty snowflake accent. Then I used a rusty safety pin to attach the snowflake to the front of the mitten, and I stuffed the mitten with just a bit of fiberfill. Then I finished it off by attaching a piece of embroidery floss to serve as the hanger for the mitten.
I really debated making this mitten ornie grungy…it’s definitely the primitive way to go. But I liked it so much the way it was, I decide to just leave it that way. I made 28 of these for the ornie swap, and I got my 28 handmade ornies in return just the other day. They are now hanging on my tree and they look beautiful.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but around here, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Here’s another altered hangtag creation I’ve made using a less-is-more approach. Sometimes I get a bit carried away with embellishments and details and I forget that it’s OK to just do something simple. Yet when I give myself permission to do something simple, I usually love how it turns out.
I started with a plain manila hangtag that I used my secret grungy sauce mix on to get it good and grungy and give it that aged look. Then I took a fabulous Paper Artsy rubber stamp and stamped on the design, which features a cute child’s face, and clock, and some design motifs. To that stamped image I added a black button brad to the center of the clock image. I also added a black leaf sticker, and finished it off with a black ribbon at the top of the tag.
I love how this turned out. Hope you do too. I will always enjoy doing my busier more detailed projects, but it’s a nice change of pace to do something a little bit different once in awhile. I’m also using this for the City Crafter Challenge Blog’s Little Children Challenge.
This altered hangtag is a bit different than what I usually make, since I usually make hangtags out of paper and blank tags. For this one, inspired by the Gingersnap Creations Sewing Notions Challenge, I created my fabric own hangtag from scratch using fabric!
I started with some lovely vintage-looking floral fabric that is tan in color and has some delicate burgundy-colored rosebuds on it. I cut it to the size I wanted (2-1/2″ x 5″). Then I found some scrap muslin fabric that I had already made grungy using my secret grungy sauce and I tore the edges to distress it, and to make it fit on top of the other fabric. I sewed the muslin to the floral fabric using black thread, to give it some good contrast to the fabrics I was using. I didn’t want this to look all perfect and clean-edged; I wanted it to look aged and worn, and a bit rustic. After I sewed on the muslin, I then sewed the two pieces of floral fabric together as well.
Next I gathered my sewing notions and embellishments: a Tim Holz metal key, a copper brad, a brown button, a brown satin ribbon with a pearl bead accent, some tatted lace trim, and a rusty safety pin. I poked a hole in the fabrics to make it possible to attach the key to the tag, and used the brad to do just that. Then I sewed on the button, and then also sewed on the brown button. I finished the bottom edge with the tatted trim, and then used the rusty safety pin to attach the brown satin ribbon to the top of the tag.
I am finding that I really enjoy working with fabric. Sewing isn’t one of my stronger skills, so I’ll need to keep working at it. But in working on this tag, I was really getting some fun ideas for creative fabric projects I could try. I really had fun with it…except for all the times I needed to thread a needle, which is difficult to do without the bifocals I really need to get one of these days. Darn my aging eyes anyway! I also like the idea of doing a more tattered-style of sewn creations–much less worry about perfection gives me lots more creative freedom (and less stress). And as Martha would say, that’s a good thing.
Here’s to more fabric projects in the future! Have a great Wednesday.
