More Vintage Christmas Awesome

by Sister-Diane on December 15, 2009

in Holiday Crafts, Vintage Books

Here’s another vintage gem: good old McCall’s, from 1971. Chock full o’ crafty goodness!

I’ve seen a lot of variations on embellished cookie cutter ornaments, but these, lined with velvet ribbon, are really pretty. (Nice use of embellishments, too.)

This magnificent thing is constructed from paper-wrapped boxes and wood planks. Gold beads and bunting, oh my!

Look closely. (Yeah – apologies for the photo. Bad print quality on this page.) Can you identify the material that makes these cards?

Paper cocktail umbrellas, my friends. And what a beautiful idea.

These ornaments are made from drinking straws, people! This is a crazy-detailed Martha-type craft from way before the Martha Era. Imagine the hours of painstaking cutting and tweezer-placement!

And these are some of the best examples of pasta crafting I’ve seen. (Also rough print quality – sorry.)

Fruitcake candles?! This is genius! How do they get that icing flame to stay upright? It’s piped around a toothpick. What an awesome presentation!

…And just because it’s cool, I’ll share my favorite thing about this book. It has all these little notes pinned in it by its original owner.

More tomorrow!

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  • fuzziebutter
    The fruitcake candles are a total work of genius. How this slipped out of modern pop culture I do not know but we need to bring it back! (Except no fruitcake inside, please!) Maybe carrot cake or something.
  • I am bad enough not reading the actual directions in a book, never mind making notes;)
  • L*O*V*E* the paper umbrella Christmas cards....genius!
    xo
  • futuregirl
    No effing way! She was keeping track of how much time she was working on a craft! Some of those breaks were only 4 or 5 minutes. Were they bathroom breaks? Whew! She was a *stickler* for time estimates!

    Oh! And the pre-post-it pin method is pretty nice, too. :)
  • thats actually a good use for those little drink umbrellas, they don't really have any other point besides accidentally poking someone in the eye when they take a drink :p
  • SisterDiane
    Heh. True - I tried using one to keep dry at the bus stop once. Not
    so much. :-)
  • Holy Craft! My mom made those cake candles in the 70s!! I remember she baked the little cakes in used food cans.
  • SisterDiane
    That's SO COOL! I predict a massive wave of candle-cake popularity in
    2010. :-)
  • The notes are awesome. We got those kind of notes all over our house when we moved in... so awesome.
  • For the material that makes the card, it looks like small parasol for drinks... is that it? :-p

    Gah, I am such in love with your vintage crafts serie! Must... make... straws ornaments! (Or not? lol.)
  • SisterDiane
    Heh - if you do, I must see pictures!!
  • pauloverton
    That's it! I'm making a fruitcake candle.
  • SisterDiane
    We should ALL be making fruitcake candles. I think they're the new
    black.
  • Deanne
    I thought the drinking straw ornaments were ditalini pasta at first. That would probably work too, and save you some major cutting! ;)
  • SisterDiane
    That's true - good idea. And nowadays, we have those Perler beads,
    too. They don't have the delicacy of those crazy straws, but they'd
    definitely drive a person less insane. :-)
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