Craft Vintage Inspired Cone Figures

Finished vintage inspired, cone angel figures.

       Tiny cone figures were frequently produced by mass industry at the end of the 1940s, primarily by the Japanese or in Germany for the North American market place. Catalogue companies like: J. C. Penny, Wards and Sears sold cone figures by the thousands through the mail, while five-and-dime stores like Woolworth's and made small fortunes by supplying the same kinds of factory made, inexpensive holiday ornaments directly from store displays and shelves.

      My vintage inspired angels are made the old-fashioned way, by hand. Factory made ornaments became popular after the first and second World Wars. Prior to that time, most ornaments were either made at home or supplied by various cottage industries throughout Western Europe and The United States, wherever Christmas trees were most popular. I've posted some examples of these manufactured angles below.

       To make cone shaped angels, your will need the following supplies: cotton batting balls (for heads), decorative papers (tiny Christmas designs), scrap cardboard, trim for bottom of skirts (lace and rick-rack), acrylic paints for heads and arms, thin wire for arms, tiny novelties for angels to hold (see pictures), white glue and hot glue.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Roll heads from cotton batting and white glue. 
2. Cut out skirts from patterned Christmas papers. 
3. Shape and paste the paper skirts into cones. 
4. Glue the head on top. 
5. Stuff the cone shaped skirts with acrylic batting. 
6. Glue a cardboard disk to the bottom of the cones.
7. Glue the pom pom features to the top of the head(s), one or two.
8. Wrap the string around the pom poms and above the forehead areas to make the hair design.
9. Cut the wings from decorative papers and glue these on.
10. Wrap cotton batting around thin wire and let dry.
11. Cut small pieces of that wire for arms and attach these with hot glue.
12. Hot glue tiny gifts for angels to carry: holly and berries, bows for presents, snowflakes, bottle brush trees etc...
13. Smear on touches of white glue and sprinkle angle wings with glitter.
    

      Left, roll heads from cotton batting and white glue. Center, cut out skirts from patterned Christmas papers. Right, shape and paste the paper skirts into cones, glue the head on top. I stuff the cone shaped skirts with acrylic batting and glue a cardboard disk to the bottom of the cones.

Left, tiny cone angels hold: holly, bow and snowflake. Center several have bottle brush
 trees. Right, one has wings cut from a doily... and many have transparent glitter stuck
  to their wings.

Left, my tiny vintage cone angel ornaments. I hang these on my feather tree every Christmas. Right, old catalogue page shown. Elf-like figures. Pine-cone dwarfs, Santas, angels, snowmen. Cotton felt. Stand or hang from tree. Set of 15. From Japan. Shipping weight 12 oz.

 

 

Close up of a tiny vintage cone angle from the 1960s. This tiny angel has a metallic paper skirt and embossed gold wings. She carries two candles in her small chenille stem armature. Her head is made from cotton batting. She has a beaded collar and hair made from tinsel.

Close up of a tiny pink vintage cone angel from the 1960s. Her dress is made from painted pink cardboard sprinkled with silver glitter. She has white chenille stem arms and holds a tiny sprig of green to represent a tree. Her wings are embossed and pink, her head is a cotton batting ball and her yellow hair is made from a silky strand of yarn.

Left, are miniature angels with tulle skirts playing harps. Right the very same hold lights, seen in catalogue.

Pattern for making a cone angel and one version of wings.

More Examples of Vintage Figures from The 1960s:

• Pink vintage angel made with chenille stems
• Vintage, retro lot of Christmas collectibles 1960s
• Favorite vintage finds of the week
• Christmas Decorations for seven generations

Retro Hollow Egg Ornament Craft

The original vintage, diorama egg ornament from the 1970s.

Supply List:

• Styro Foam egg
• gold twine
• straight pins (short)
• wooden figure
• acrylic paints: pinks, blues, whites, gold and flesh color
• white fur
• tiny white silk flowers
• white school glue
• wax paper
• hot glue and hot glue gun

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Hollow out your styrofoam egg just enough to give it room for the wooden figure. Try to keep the walls thick; use a metal spoon to carefully remove the unnecessary foam.
2. Now carefully pin the gold twine about the backside of the egg. 
3. You may add small amounts of white glue to help hold the twine in place. Let this dry thoroughly on top of wax paper.
4. Paint the wooden angel figure as you like.
5. Glue gold braid onto the angel's head.
6. With hot glue line the interior of the egg with scrap white fur.
7. Hot glue the angel figure inside and the tiny white silk flowers.
8. Pin on a wire hanger to the top of the diorama egg ornament and decorate the tree.

Print and Draw Candy Cones and Santa Claus

Vintage Christmas cut-outs by Barbara Hale.

 

       Kids can print and cut-out cute Vintage paper ornaments and paper cones to hold candy by Babara Hale.

I sniffed a jolly woodsy smell
As I came in today.
It was a great big Christmas tree,
I'll trim it right away.

 

Directions for Christmas Cut-outs:

1. Click directly on the printable to download the largest possible size and print on a home computer.
   
2. Paste the entire printable sheet on a piece of green or red paper.
3. Cut out Santa Claus.
4. Punch a hole in his cap where the white dot is.
5. Tie a piece of red ribbon or string through the hole and hang on your Christmas tree.
6. Cut out the flat designs.
7. Paste the edge A-B along the dotted line on the tab B-C.
8. Paste the edge E-F on E-D.
9. Past G-H on H-I.
10. Tie a string through holes punched in the candy cones and fill with popcorn or candy.

 

       Now that you've cut and pasted things for Christmas, try drawing this funny little Santa Claus as he walks across our page...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 - draw a series of circles to lighten his steps and dress him as he goes!

More Links to Santa Claus:

• Mary Lou and Santa Too!
• Another progressive drawing of Santa Claus
• 12 Magic Changing Paper Dolls Restored!
• Mr. St. Nicholas

How to make a trimmed vintage pod ornament

Left, the backside of the pod decorated with gold glitter.
Right, the front side with gold braid, red velvet and a tiny plastic, trumpeting angel.

      I found this example of a milkweed pod ornament at a flee market a few years ago. These were very trendy back in the 1960s and 70s. You will need to gather a few pods, glitter, gold braid, velvet, cotton balls and tiny figures to make something similar for your own tree. Then it's just a matter of gluing everything in place. Use white school glue to apply an even layer to the backside of the pod before drizzling the pod with glitter. Let this dry. Then do the same with a bit of velvet for the inside of the pod and let the white glue harden again. Next, use a hot glue gun to stick on the gold trim, cotton batting for clouds and finally the tiny figure of an angel. You can find these figures at hobby shops during the holiday season.

More Milk Weed Pod Transformations:

• Milk Weed Pod Christmas Ornament from Create It-Green
• Old-Time Milkweed Pod Ornaments
• Milkweed Pod Ornament by Martha B.
• Assemble Our Milkweed Pod Baby Ornament

Craft Your Own Reproduction Retro Elf Drummer

This little retro drummer was made in 1967.

   Some of you may remember hanging drumming elves on your Christmas tree when you were quite small. You could make these for your own tree now with just a bit of glue and paper.  Don't fidget over getting your own to look just like the one above though. His felt clothing has faded and the paper drum has turned yellow with age. Make your own bright and charming for the next generation to remember.

Pattern pieces for the elf's hat and collar.

Supply List:

• Paper tube, such as a toilet paper tube
• scissors
• decorative paper
• narrow decorative ribbon
• holy leaf and berry sequins
• 1 inch Styrofoam ball
• a bit of grey felt or any color you like for the hat and sleeves
• a small piece of white felt for the collar
• yarn for hair
• nylon stocking, any flesh color
• permanent black and red ink marker (felt tip)
• one chenille stem (matched to nylon stocking in color)
• white tacky glue
• light weight cardboard
• pencil 
• a razor or craft knife 
• metallic string for the hanger 
• pink soft pastel or blush from your makeup kit
• needle with a large eye

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  Cut 1 1/2 inch section from the paper tube. 
2. Hold this paper tube against the light weight cardboard and draw around it's circumference. Repeat and cut two of these cardboard circles. 
3. Use a bit of glue to attach the cardboard circle cut-outs to the bottom and top of the paper drum.
4. Cut from the decorative sheet of paper a 1 1/2 strip of paper approximately six inches long if you are using a standard size toilet paper roll. This should cover the paper drum neatly. Apply the tacky glue to secure the paper to the paper roll. 
5. Cut out matching paper circles to cover the top and bottom of the drum.
6. Paste down a decorative ribbon along the top and bottom edges of the drum.
7. Tack on the sequin holly leaves and berries.
8. Cut two inches from your chenille stem for the drummer's arms.
9. Wrap the chenille stem with a bit of grey felt to create sleeves. Tack this felt down with tacky glue.
10. Bend the chenille stem to form two arms and glue this piece to the top of the drum.
11. Cut the 1 inch Styrofoam ball in half with a razor or craft knife.
12. Wrap and pin a small piece of nylon around one of the Styrofoam balls and pin it down at the back flat side of the Styrofoam head.
13. Glue a small piece of yarn at the brow of the elf.
14. Wrap the felt hat piece about the top of the head with some tacky glue. Let it dry
15. Cut another two inches of felt. Stab the chenille stem through the bottom of the elf's head to act as a neck.
16. Cut the collar from the white felt.
17. Stick the other end of the stem through the round collar and cardboard drum top between the arms with a little tacky white glue.
18. Draw eyebrows, eye lashes on with the black permanent marker.
19. Draw the lips with a red permanent marker.
20. Add a bit of blush to his checks with a soft pink pastel or makeup.
21. Cut the metallic string and thread it through a needle. Sew on the hanger.

Wrap a Rainbow Colored Wreath for Your Tree

A rainbow colored wreath made from an old-fashioned curtain ring, a turned wooden ornament and yarn.

      This rainbow colored Christmas wreath is so easy to make, even the kids will enjoy putting it together.

      Variegated yarns come in a wide selection of color combinations so, you can customize this ornament to match virtually any color scheme that you choose.

      I chose a bright pinks, yellows, blues and red to match the painted colors of my angelic skier. The wooden figure really dresses up this simple craft.

wooden curtain ring

Supply List:

• old wooden curtain ring
• some variegated rainbow yarn
• white glue
• hot glue (adult use only)
• colorful ribbon
• scissors
• a tiny wooden figure 

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Spread white glue over small portions of the ring's surface as you wrap the variegated yarn around and through the wooden curtain ring. Cover the surface completely. Let the project dry.
2. An adult can hot glue the figure at the top and/or bottom of the inside of your yarn covered wreath.
3. Tie a bright bow and how glue this to the top of the curtain ring near the metal hook.
4. I also added a bit of white glue to the edges of my bow to prevent it from further unraveling over time.

25 More Cute Curtain Ring Christmas Wreaths:

1. Sparkly curtain ring wreath ornaments by Tuula
2. Mini wreath tutorial by Katie Brown
3. Red and white mini Christmas wreaths by Mellywood's Mansion
4. Divine Twine Christmas Wreath Garland
5. Curtain Ring Ornaments at the Little Pink Studio
6. Simple Statement Ornament by Lisa Gutierrez
7. DIY/ Do it yourself crochet curtain ring ornaments
8. Homemade Christmas Ornaments made from Curtain Rings
9. Christmas in September
10. Curtain Ring Snowman Ornament
11. Bobble Wheel Ornament Pattern by Made In K-Town
12. Peppermint Snowflake Ring Ornament by Doni Speigle
13. Tulle covered curtain ring ornament
14. Curtain ring covered with buttons, beads, and things
15. Curtain rings wrapped in yarn by Wee Wonderfuls
16. Christmas ornament star by Zita de Wilde 
17. Christmas Ball Ring Ornament by Whiskers and Wool and Rudolph the Red Nose Ring
18. Star Christmas Ring Ornament by Doni Speigle
19. Dorset Button Christmas Decoration
20. Peppermint Candy Ring Ornament
21. Small Angel Girl 'Jackie'
22. mini wreaths with sequins and Santas
23. Mini Monogram Wreaths
24. A tape dispenser ring Christmas Tree Ornament!
25. Easy ornamental mobile

Wrap a Pipe-Cleaner Wreath Ornament

My finished pipe-cleaner wreath ornament.

Supply List:

• tiny red pom poms
• Green chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
• a hexagonal pattern
• cardboard
• scratch paper
• pencil
• scissors
• white glue
• green ribbon

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Cut a hexagon from a then piece of sturdy cardboard. Use a pencil to draw a smaller hexagon on the inside of the shape in the exact center of the cardboard. 
2. Cut out the smaller interior hexagon carefully.
3. Now carefully wrap green chenille stems around the cardboard shaped wreath. You may choose to use a little white glue to help the chenille adhere to the cardboard surface as you work.
4. Let the wreath dry. 
5. Glue on tiny red pom poms to both sides.
6. Tie on a lovely green silk ribbon to hang your ornament on the tree.

Hexagonal shaped wreath ornament. Left, paper template. Center, cardboard cut-out. Right, shape wrapped in chenille stems.

More Chenille Stem Wreath Ornaments:

• Petunia's Christmas and chenille wreaths
• Handmade ornaments from Pioneer woman's blog
• Craft a simple chenille stem Christmas wreath for a doll's house

Pin a Sequin Drum for Your Vintage Inspired Tree

Sequin ornaments like this little snare drum are becoming very
popular among ornament collectors. I often find them tossed 
into plastic baggies and sold in bunches at garage sales. If you 
aren't lucky enough to find the real vintage ones, you can make
them yourself. I've included directions below for those of you 
who can manage to purchase the polystyrene or Styrofoam drum 
shapes on the web.  This little drum shape is not as easy to find
in hobby or craft shops anymore.

 Supply List:

• 2 inch diameter and 1 1/2 inch tall Polystyrene shaped drums or Drum-shaped Styrofoam pieces
• 8mm diameter cup sequins: red, green and white
• red, green and white seed beads
• star sequins
• flat head pins
• tacky white glue
• white pipe cleaner or chenille stem
• gold beads
• 1/2 yard of gold ribbon for trim
• thin gold twine

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Before pinning your drum, you will need to mark diagonal lines with a soft pencil on the side of your Styrofoam drum. Also leave a strip of space at both the top and the bottom of the side edges unpinned. The width of these strips should be the same as the gold ribbon you will be using to trim the edges of your drum.
2. Thread one seed bead onto your pin and then also a sequin of the same color.  Touch the tip of each pin with a bit of white glue as you pin to hold your work in place after the glue dries.
3. Next pin four rows of red sequins following the diagonal pencil marks. Follow these four rows with four rows of white, then green sequins. 
4. Use a bit of tacky glue to adhere the gold ribbon around the top and bottom edges of the drum's sides.
5. Pin gold beads through the gold trim allowing approximately 1/2 inch between each bead.
6. Twist the gold twine gently around each gold bead, there should be ten of these at the top and ten at the bottom. Look at the photos above and below to visualize this chris-cross pattern made by the twine.
7. Cut and pin a little loop for one end of the drum to hang a hook from.
8. Bend a white pipe cleaner 2 1/2 inches long in half and pin this down on top of the drum with a small piece of gold trim. Glue on a gold bead to each end of this pipe cleaner. This stem mimics the drum sticks for your sequin snare drum. 
9. Pin a few seed beads plus starry sequins to both the top and the bottom of your Styrofoam drum and add a wire for hanging this little vintage drum.

Different angles of a small sequin snare drum made in the 1950s or 1960s for the Christmas tree.

More Vintage Sequin Ornaments:

• Sequin Ornament Kits from Herrschners
• Bright Things: Vintage Sequin Ornaments
• DIY Vintage-Inspired Sequined Christmas Ornament

Craft Miniature Snow Scene Baubles

Paper mache bauble halves are perfect supplies
for this vintage bauble craft.

      Craft enthusiasts have been assembling miniature snow scenes inside of all kinds of baubles for more than 100 years. Sometimes you can find little snow scenes inside of: hollowed out eggs, recycled Altoid containers or any number of tiny boxes. I used both a plastic bauble half and three paper bauble halves that I purchased from my local hobby shop for this project.

      There is really very little work involved in the crafting of these sweet little snow scenes, especially if you have a stack of old Christmas cards on hand. Children ages nine and up will enjoy pasting in all of the elements and be overjoyed with the ease of crafting ornaments with such professional results. 

      Parents and teachers, however, must do a little leg work in order to make the craft transpire smoothly with minimal frustration. Take a quick peek at the cards you have on hand and make sure to collect or purchase miniatures that compliment the card's themes. Snow scenes are by far the easiest to collect for because miniature deer and trees are typically sold in hobby stores around Christmas time for these kinds of craft projects. 

      You will definitely have more success purchasing miniatures online than in finding these supplies inside shops. This is because crafts are trendy just like anything else and this project is considered a bit too old-fashioned by many folks. However, vintage is in and I predict that the supplies will become more varied and abundant within the next few years.

I made four snow scene baubles with three
 old Christmas cards. See how children can
recycle Christmas cards into window views.

My Supply List:

• translucent white glitter
• white school glue
• paper pulp (premix)
• tacky white glue
• tiny figurines (dear, carolers etc...)
• tiny bottle brush trees
• old Christmas cards (landscapes, city scenes)
• cotton balls 
• tiny stickers
• mica chips or miniature mirrors (for ground cover)
• wire for hooks
• hallow bauble halves (plastic or paper, I used both)
• acrylic paints; white and blue

      Here I have also made a tiny snowman for the plastic deer to romp around on my chilly evening view. Did you know that deer are most active during evening, night and twilight hours? The blanket of snow here is made from white paper pulp that anyone can purchase in a craft shop. It comes in a large bulky bag, but it goes far when sharing it with a whole classroom of students. To prevent your paper mache baubles form being misshapen during the drying time of this craft, give your little students each a bowl to keep the wet ornament in while they are working. Let the ornament dry inside the bowl overnight.

      This tiny snow scene is my favorite because it is so blue. It helps to cut a series of slashes on the edges of your card clippings in order to make then fit nicely inside of the bauble shape. Also the smaller the scene, the easier the fit.

      The success of this miniature view was sheer dumb luck! I just happened to have a tiny set of carolers in my old stash of holiday miniatures. When I came across this tossed Christmas card of a German village at Christmas time, I knew that it would make a perfect ornament vignette. I cut the card down and pasted in the scene, added white paper pulp, pressed in the caroling figures with a bit of glue and dusted my snow scene with glitter.

      I pasted in a larger clipping of a tree and painted a pale sky into the background of this little view. Then I added little penguin stickers a plastic tree and paper pulp for snow to the foreground. I pressed mica chips into the paper pulp for the pond (If you can not find mica chips, use a tiny mirror.) and added a final dusting of glitter to the entire interior.

      To apply cotton batting the the backside of a bauble half made from plastic, you will need to first rough it up with a bit of sandpaper, cover it with white school glue, unravel the cotton balls and press them into the glue. add another coat of glue and cotton then add a third final coat of glue. Press the glue into the cotton batting with your finger tips.

Here you can see the back sides of my snowball baubles.
 I applied glitter to three of them and cotton batting to one.

See More Snow Scenes Inside Ornaments:

• Winter Wonderland photo ornaments with friends and family inside from Debi's Design
• DIY: mini snow globe ornament from nobiggie
• Photo uploaded to Vintage Look Christmas Ornament Discussion

Decoupage Retro Papier Mâché Baubles

      I found this uniquely shaped, six sided ornament at a hobby shop on an after Christmas sale one year. I decided to use pages from an old sampler gift wrap book to decoupage each side of my ornament. You can also cover papier-mâché baubles such as this one with recycled Christmas cards, wallpapers, scrapbook papers or even photographs if you would prefer these to my own idea.

Supply List:

• Mod Podge
• soft brush
• white school glue
• a hexagon shaped papier-mâché bauble
• retro/vintage wrapping papers
• sheet of white typing paper
• scissors
• pencil 

7 Easy Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Select the papers you wish to decoupage your prefabricated papier-mâché bauble with. I chose some original vintage/retro Christmas gift wrap from an old sampler book I had on hand.
2. Use scratch paper, preferably white, to make a template from your six sided bauble.
3. Press the paper firmly against the edges of one side of your papier-mâché bauble in order to capture a "creased" template for your ornament.
4. Now use a pencil to trace a pattern where ever the creases have been made from the original papier-mâché form.
5. Cut out the template and hold it up to the ornament making slight alterations to the template where ever you need them. 
6. Place the template on top of your fancy papers and trace around it. Cut the first three shapes slightly larger than the second set of three so that no imperfections in your template will be noticeable as you glue the shapes to cover the sides of your hexagon ornament. Decoupage three sides first leaving every other side blank. Let these sides dry.
7. Decoupage the last three sides and cover the finished ornament with a final coat of Mod Podge.

More Decoupage Christmas Ornaments:

• Decoupage ornaments tutorial from the Christmas Notebook
• Pottery Barn Bird Decoupage Ornament Knock-off
• Decoupaged Christmas bauble and relief paint ornaments

Detailed photographs of my retro papier-mâché bauble.

Make a Vintage 1950s Popsicle Stick Angel

A gold trimmed and painted Popsicle Stick Angel ornament from the 1950s.

      I believe this Popsicle Stick Angel ornament was handmade in the 1950s. All you need are a few simple craft supplies to make one similar to the one depicted here. She does, however, have a cotton batting head that could just as easily be substituted for a wooden bead if you would prefer.

Supply List:

• three large Popsicle sticks
• tacky white glue
• a large wooden bead or a cotton batting bead for the head of the angel
• permanent markers (black and red)
• gold trims and braids
• gold sequin stars
• white and skin colored acrylic paint and a paint brush
• gold cord for hanger
• an Exacto knife or very sharp scissors
• hot glue and hot glue gun or tacky white glue

Step-by-Step Directions:

1.  Cut one of the Popsicle sticks in half using the Exacto knife or sharp scissors. Do so with a diagonal cut so that the two pieces will resemble the simply shaped wings of the angel ornament shown above.
2. Paint the Three sticks white on all sides and edges. Let these dry.
3. Paint the head of the angel a flesh color of any variety that pleases you.
4. Draw in the facial features using the permanent markers.
5. Using a hot glue gun or tacky white glue, glue the gold cord for hanging your angel ornament to the very top of her head.
6. Now glue around this gold cord a gold braid trim to cover the center hanging cord and the top of the angel's head. This should mimic a cap.
7. Next take each wing cut from a Popsicle stick and mount these two with glue onto one of the Popsicle sticks, see the picture above to copy.
8. Now glue the third remaining stick on top of the two wings so that the angel's wings are sandwiched between the two uncut sticks.
9. Decorate the finished Popsicle body with gold trims, sequins, beads etc...
10. Hot glue the head to the top half of the finished body and then glue a piece of gold trim between the shoulders and head to emphasize a fancy collar for the angel. 

More About Angels:

• Read and download patterns about angel Chrismons at http:christianclipartreview.blogspot.com
• Angel Christmas Ornament video from Danielle's Place
• More angel crafts for kids from The Christian Montessori Network

Craft a Portrait of Rudolph

The completed portrait of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer made with brown and
 grey construction paper, a little paint and one very large red pom pom.
See another "Hands On" Christmas Craft at Thrifty Scissors.

       This traditional little cut and paste portrait of everybody's favorite reindeer, Rudolph, is so easy for little ones to make. I've included a pattern below for teachers and parents to use with young children. Simply cut out the pattern pieces and trace around them onto a variety of construction papers in order to duplicate the craft above. You will also need brown paint to print the antlers with. 

       Young students in America often craft little pictures using their handprints. The antlers on my picture of Rudolph were made by one of the little boys at the early learning center where I work. Use a big, bright red pom pom for Rudolf's nose too if you like!

My free reindeer pattern.