Vintage Art Explorations

Christmas will be here sooner than you think, so once again the time has arrived to begin making Christmas crafts. Each year allows me to once again get creative. It also means researching new craft ideas I haven’t made before. But that’s a blast, so I’m happy to do it. I’m pretty sure that I can find everything I need pretty quickly. Ordinarily my creative process begins with searching for vintage Santa clip art that inspires me to create something wonderful. Since this is an Christmas craft project, I will limit my searches to Christmas angel clip art. That should be a piece of cake, because Christmas clip art is available year-round. It’s also been my experience in the past that free vintage Christmas postcards that are available on the Internet can inspire great ideas for Christmas crafts. In light of the fact that the cards already feature fantastic Christmas themes, it won’t take much to create a fun craft project.

You can also make brilliant Christmas crafts by using vintage Christmas scrapbook embellishments. These include vintage art, paper photo frames, borders and many other fun elements. As an example, 3D stickers can go a long way toward making your project literally stand out. In addition, printed scrapbook papers -- whether digital or store-bought -- can add sparks of color to your Christmas project. Professionals also use these elements, so using them will give you reliable, professional-looking results.

So as you plan to make Christmas crafts this year, remember to use the Internet. Keep things basic and let the art you choose shine through. That will give you terrific results and will help you create with ease. Oohs and aahs from family and friends will probably be the result. And if you plan to sell your Christmas crafts, you can be confident that your crafts will be top quality.

This is just one example of a vintage image that can be used for Father's Day

It's an old tradition for Americans to celebrate Father's Day on the third Sunday in June. This year, June 21 is the date. The holiday is also celebrated in other countries. Great Britain, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, Malta and India celebrate it on the same day as the United States. People who live down under in Australia and New Zealand, however, honor their dads on the first Sunday in September. People who live in some of the Scandinavian countries honor their dads by celebrating on the second Sunday in November. There are also a small number of other countries that celebrate it on random dates through out the year.

People seem to come from everywhere looking for free images they can use for vintage Father's Day cards. With so many card images available online, it's no problem to find a card image that will suit your dad to a T. Vintage cards are particularly popular for Father's Day, because so many dads and grandfathers are of a "vintage" that they would appreciate them. People looking for Father's Day cards also search for vintage Father's Day images to make their own cards or for other uses, such as to create Father's Day brunch invitations. Smart people bookmark those resources when they find them, so they don't have to look for them again the following year. Good free vintage art isn't that easy to find, so it pays to think ahead.

There are some who want to give their fathers more than a card but finances are an issue, so they're likely to look for printable certificates. A free certificate can be used instead of or in addition to a handmade card and makes a beautiful no-cost Father's Day gift. You could also buy a frame to present the certificate. You can keep the cost down by buying an inexpensive one at a dollar store. If you get a nice-looking frame, your dad will never know you didn't spend a lot! And isn't this special day all about honoring your father anyway? Your dad will know it's your love that's important, not the cost of the present.