This invisible floating Christmas tree decoration from the ’60s – made with shiny and colorful ball ornaments – is so simple, but an absolute showstopper. See how to make your own here!
Vintage crafts & hobbies
Although L’eggs doesn’t make their egg packing anymore, you can still make adorable egg-shaped ornaments with the help of these vintage craft instructions!
Model kits: Build guided missile ships… jet planes (1956) with Revell Authentic Kits from Woolworth’s U.S.S. BOSTON, first Guided Missile Cruiser, built 1955. Revell model
Use an old milk or juice carton, wax and ice to make a fancy-looking DIY milk carton candle! It’s inexpensive, and the directions are easy enough for a kid to follow.
Aren’t they fabulous – these tissue paper poufs from the 1960s to cover your presents? They said, ‘We’ve never seen a more exciting gift wrap idea, or a more impressive one.’
Vintage Thingmaker toys were pretty basic – but so fun. Fill a mold with colorful plastic goo, then heat it up. The result: rubber bugs… and flowers, dragons, monsters, cars and more.
Create your own distinctive beaded jewelry – bracelets, necklaces, belts, headbands – by weaving it on a basic box loom! Here’s how to do this retro bead craft.
Garden delights! Here are some old-fashioned backyard flower carts made of metal (often wrought iron) and wood.
This vintage playhouse from the ’60s is a real house, with a Dutch front door and hearts and flowers dormers and a white picket fence.
Here’s a look at a few dozen type styles from the first part of the 20th century – including a few old-fashioned fonts that have stood the test of time.
With a couple dozen clothespins – the flat, springless, wooden ones – you’ve got the raw material to craft some really original clothespin trivets!
Made with crepe paper and a few simple craft supplies, these glorious crepe paper flowers are easy to make and inexpensive, and will flourish in any room at any time of year.
Looking for some DIY ’70s clothes? Here are some quickie, kicky young wearables to make out of this and that for next to nothing!
In the early ’80s, arcade video games like Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong started to make millions of dollars – one quarter at a time.
For Valentine’s Day or any day, you can re-create these pretty heart cross-stitch patterns with these designs and directions from 1955.
Here’s how you can make vintage stained-glass style Christmas ornaments from hard candy! This crafty project is probably easier than you’d think.
Make some retro ornaments for your Christmas tree with these crafts from the ’60s: they’re fanciful birds and butterflies in inexpensive, easy-to-sew felt.
You can create new fashions from old clothing! Here, see how a moth-eaten bathrobe and skirt, an outgrown blouse, knee-worn slacks were converted into sparkling new accessories.
Here’s a creative pineapple treasure chest filled with a delicious fresh fruit salad. It’s easy to make this stunning party centerpiece! Here’s how you can do it.
Trimmed with good-to-eat Oscar Mayer tidbits stuck on with cocktail picks, this Christmas tree with meat ornaments is sure to be the center of attraction at any holiday buffet.
The Dorothy Dot “Around the World” paper doll series ran in newspapers (such as the Los Angeles Herald and Salt Lake Tribune) in 1909. As much as some
Here are several cute paper doll sets – as well as clothing and furniture for the doll – that were published in newspapers back in 1911.
Shortly before her clothing line debuted – and back when her son, Anderson Cooper, was 8 years old – the multi-talented heiress Gloria Vanderbilt came out with her own print magazine: Gloria Vanderbilt Designs for Your Home.
Today, when space-saving is so often a must that a piece of furniture is given houseroom almost grudgingly if it serves only one purpose, hassocks needn’t be merely be footrests. Here’s how to make your own!
Here are vintage Victorian directions for a Marie Antoinette dress sewing pattern for a little girl, trimmed with bias ruffles, and headed with a bais band of satin.
Remember the game of ‘dots’ or ‘boxes,’ where you joined the dots to complete squares, and the person who made the most squares was the winner? Print out these two versions to play at home.
Try this easy Valentine’s Day craft for a fun, heartfelt project that’s quick, simple, and perfect for adding a personal touch to the holiday.
Festive ribbons for your curtains Carry a decorated-for-Christmas look to a window treatment with colorful satin-tone gift-wrapping ribbon. Loop the ribbons over the draperies and
This embroidered Owl Whoo’s Pretty Square is covered with squares, in fact – but wisely covered with terry too, and oh, such a soft pillow.
