Free Clip Art from Vintage Holiday Crafts » Christmas

Free Vintage Christmas Clip Art Images

Holiday Crafts — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:36:14 +0000

I love vintage Christmas clip art, and from my experience so do a lot of other people. These nine free vintage clip art images are particularly nice, in my opinion. Not only are they fine examples of authentic vintage Christmas art but they’re also large-sized, which means you can use them for far more than just the web.

People who prefer a more religious or spiritual slant to their Christmas images should appreciate these, as their are several that depict the baby Jesus in the manger with angels. There are also angels by themselves; two of them even look like they’re delivering a Christmas tree. Speaking of Christmas trees, there is also an image of Victorian children playing with their toys beneath one, and a woman carrying one in miniature. Together these form a nice collection that I’m sure you’ll find useful for Web sites, blogs, handmade Christmas cards, scrapbooking and other crafts.

To see and download larger versions of the free images, just click on the images below (enlarged sizes vary)

As I look at these illustrations, I have to wonder how many different artists are represented. If you look closely, the style of each image is a little different. When you think about how many vintage images are on this site or out on the Internet, they must represent a huge number of talented people. Unfortunately, these people go mostly unnoticed.

The same could probably be said for modern greeting card and clip art artists. They do what they do for pay, because the electric bill needs to be paid — no matter how talented they are. Some of today’s artists might even have huge portfolios of outstanding images, yet you’ll never know their names. So here’s to the unsung artists who enrich our lives silently every day. With any luck they enjoy their work and so will continue to give us images that will become the next millennium’s vintage art. And if you know artists who toil in obscurity, be sure to give them liberal praise. You just might be encouraging tomorrow’s masterpieces.

You might also be interested in these other images:

We also have some colorful contemporary Hanukkah clip art. And let’s not forget New Year’s! Check out our free vintage New Year cards, vintage New Year clip art and contemporary New Year’s Eve clip art.

Free Vintage Christmas Cards: Baby Jesus and Nativity Scenes

Holiday Crafts — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:26:38 +0000

I had a request to post some spiritual vintage Christmas cards. Although there weren’t a lot of these type of vintage Christmas cards in my collection, I was able to find some nativity scenes; images of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus; Jesus Christ in the arms of Christmas angels; and even a little shepherd who happens upon the manger scene. There’s also an image of Jesus Christ as a little boy, looking very powerful and peaceful. I’d have to say that one is my favorite.

Click one of the free vintage Christmas cards below to view and download a larger version (enlarged sizes vary):


		Special thanks to Maryjane Bigler of The Beehive Cottage for the lovely Christmas photo to the left

One of the things I love most about vintage art — especially vintage Christmas cards — is the quality of the paintings. I would say that some of them below are on a par with the gorgeous art you would find in the Vatican. On that note, if you’d like to see a variety of religious-themed images from the Vatican as well as photos of the Vatican itself, visit the Vatican City Pictures blog.

I hope you find a good use for these vintage Christmas cards. Please feel free to leave a comment telling us what you did with them. You could be an inspiration to others. Thanks, and have a wonderful holiday!

You might also be interested in these other vintage Christmas images:

Like what you see? Please help others find our vintage Christmas images by linking to us from your blog or Web site.

Free Clip Art: Vintage Angels and Cherubs

Holiday Crafts — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:57:43 +0000

Who doesn’t love angels and cherubs? These adorable vintage angels and cherubs are perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, weddings, or any time you want to convey sweetness. They also go well with our vintage roses clip art.

Click an image below to view and download a larger version (enlarged sizes vary):

There are all kinds of opinions about whether angels and cherubs really exist. But when it comes to their existence in vintage art, there is no question. Artists of old loved the subject of these little heavenly helpers. You can see evidence of that everywhere in ephemera that has been passed down through the generations, scanned and put online. We’re fortunate so many good examples have survived the passage of time, so we can bring them to you!

You might also be interested in our contemporary wedding clip art.

Like what you see? Please help others find our free vintage clip art and greeting cards by linking to us from your blog or Web site.

Free Christmas Coloring Pages and Greeting Cards

Holiday Crafts — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:16:01 +0000

Here’s a little something to keep the kids out from underfoot while you prepare for the holidays. These full-page coloring pages have Christmas themes and will keep the little ones busy for hours.

Each coloring page has a holiday message on it, so your children can give them as greeting cards to friends and relatives. Glitter glue can be used on top of crayons, markers or paint to make the pages sparkle, but keep in mind that the results will be better if the pages are printed on card stock instead of paper.

Click each free Christmas coloring page to see a larger version you can download.

These coloring pages were created in Picnik, the free online graphics application. To learn how to make your own free coloring pages or clip art, read my Picnik tutorial.

Christmas pages:

Free Vintage Christmas Cards: Cute Kids

Holiday Crafts — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Christmas is a time for children, so kids made obvious subjects for vintage Christmas cards. These little girls and boys are particularly cute, even if they do only represent a portion of the world’s population. From looking at these holiday cards (and the rest of my cards in my collection) you’d think that no other ethnicities existed before 1940. My apologies if you’re looking for something other than fair-skinned children. When it comes to vintage images, they’re hard to find. (UPDATE: I finally found an image of a non-fair-skinned child! She’s posted in the first row below.)

Click a vintage Christmas card below to view and download a larger version:

You can’t go wrong using images of children in your Christmas crafts and cards. Unless someone is an incredible Scrooge, the appeal of the innocence and youthful glee can’t help but touch the heart. I hope you find a lot of uses for these images! Feel free to leave a comment sharing how you used them, so other people can be inspired.

You might also enjoy our free letters from Santa (letterhead designs, sample letters and instructions for getting a North Pole postmark included), and our vintage Happy New Year cards.

_Like what you see? Please help others find our vintage Christmas cards and clip art by linking to us from your blog or Web site.

Free Vintage Dog Art Christmas Cards

Holiday Crafts — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:27:11 +0000

I think dogs used to be less popular than they are now, because it’s much easier to find vintage images of cats. But I did manage to find these nice examples of vintage dog art that span quite a few decades. My favorite is probably the one with Santa having to bribe a bulldog with a dog biscuit. It isn’t the highest quality of the bunch as far as artistic value goes. But I like the silliness of Santa having to beg a dog just to deliver his toys.

Update: Over time many people have told me how much they enjoy these dog Christmas cards, and animal holiday cards in general. If you fall into that group, you might enjoy the animal Christmas cards linked below the images. The vintage cards on that page include a lot of dog Christmas card images, plus cats, dogs and cats together, and even monkeys and frogs!

Click the vintage dog art below to view and download larger versions on some of the images (sizes vary):

Please let us know how you used these vintage dog Christmas images in craft or other projects by leaving a comment. You never know, what you write might just provide the inspiration someone needs to dream up a great project of their own.

If you want to make holiday cards but don’t want to mess with printing images so you can make them by hand, you might want to use these dog cards to give professionally produced photo cards a unique vintage look.

We also have black and white animal clipart and more animal Christmas cards.

Like what you see? Please help others find our vintage animal clip art by linking to us from your blog or Web site.