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Christmas Decorating page from a 1973 Sears catalog.

We live in an Apartment building in New York, so there is not a lot of outdoor decorating to be done. Not at all actually. If i did have a front yard, i would make it look somewhat like this. Or probably just a whole lot of reindeer.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Looking for some small paint brushes, i came across a few small styrofoam wreaths in my craft supply stash. Perfect to make a variation on the vintage inspired pasta Christmas trees i made recently! I quickly forgot about my search for the brushes and started digging further to find some small figures to place in the middle of the wreaths. Vintage mini birds! And i knew i had a little bit of red and white bakers twine somewhere. That would work to get them hanging.
A little paint, glue and time later and all done, ready to go up in the Christmas tree!

To make these pasta Christmas ornaments, just follow the tutorial for the Christmas trees, only starting out with the wreaths as the base instead of the cones. Finish them off by glueing the bakers twine (or other string) in a loop at the back, and attach the birds (or other miniature) in the middle with some more white glue.

I'm a bit of a graphic design nerd. I might not do a lot of designing myself lately, but i still often dream in color compositions.
If i would dream of Christmas gift wrap, i would dream about vintage Christmas wrapping paper designs.

Over time i have gathered quite a few of these wonderful sheets of paper.
Just the fact that someone bought them years ago, to pack their presents with, had a few sheets left, never threw them out, but instead kept them, maybe for next year. And then probably forgot about them when they were neatly stored away.

I have never been able to get myself to actually use them. Even though i think the packages would look amazing wrapped in them under the Christmas tree, i just can't put the scissors in to them.

I thought of maybe one day using them in my collage journals, or maybe framing them as Christmas wall art, but so far i did the same thing as the person who originally bought them; neatly stored them away.

So this year i said enough is enough. They need to get some more love. I have to send them out in to the world to new loving homes. To people who might really use them. Or not. Maybe the next person who owns these treasures will also just store and cherish them. And that is okay. They are beautiful as they are.

This is just a sampling of the papers i have. Or should i say had. They are listed in the Holiday section of the shop. Some of them already found new homes. And i can still look at them right here.
I say goodbye and thank you for the great design inspiration dreams.

It is so busy in my shop this holiday season that i haven't even had time to decorate the house. Usually i eagerly put up all the vintage decorations right after Thanksgiving. Today there are just two rubber pixies hanging above my computer. But that doesn't mean i am not completely surrounded by all cute and pretty Christmas decorations. The shop has a lot of them in stock right now and i'm packing many to send them off to new loving homes.

And since Christmas is the time of giving, i thought it to be appropriate to do a Vintage Christmas Decoration Giveaway! It has been awhile since i last did some sort of sweepstakes, so here you go. Just hop on over to Facebook, and like ismoyo's vintage playground facebook page to enter the giveaway. It's that easy to have a change to win this cute vintage angel ornament and the reindeer figure! US only, giveaway ends Dec 9 11:59pm. Winner will be chosen ad random but i will keep my fingers crossed for you!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter!

'Easter Surprise' illustration by Rae Owings on the cover of vintage 60s Jack and Jill childrens magazine. Easter edition 1968.

December 25th already. Time to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Will be back on the blog in the New Year. With some layout changes and way more regular blog posts, pictures and articles. Hope you'll join me in making 2012 very vintage crafty special!

Some easter cuteness from my vintage coloring book collection.
'Match the Colors' is filled with the most adorable illustrations by Florence Sarah Winship.

Looks like it could be a Whitman coloring book, Artcraft, or maybe from Grosset & Dunlap. Unfortunately the book is missing its front cover and a lot of pages, including the title page, so i can't check the publisher or the year it was published in.

I keep thinking how perfect these illustrations are to use as embroidery patterns! So far haven't had the time, nor found that perfect project to incorporate them in. But one day i will. And it will be adorable!

Happy Easter everyone!

It's always a happy moment when the time comes to unpack the holiday decorations. Of course our Christmas tree is entirely decorated with vintage ornaments.

And if you do it, do it well and go for it. I went for the more the merrier!

Anyone walking past our christmas tree, quickly discovers a personal favorite.

Will it be the angel, next to the 3D indent ornament?

Or does your heart go to one of the wooden figurines on a rocking horse?

And there are some angels and reindeer that made themselves a home underneath the tree.
They are all so cheerful to be out of their boxes and they hope it will be a long time until they get stored away again for the next holiday season.

Christmas in July?
Well, yes, ofcourse! What better time to stock up on vintage Christmas goodies than July? Don't wait until the end of the year and miss out on all the good stuff!

The Vintage Market Team on Etsy is currently running a Christmas in July sale (July 10 - 17th). Just type in "vmteamxmas" in the searchbox on Etsy, or follow this link and see what else is available right now!
The pretty ornaments in the photo are available in my shop right now as part of Christmas in July. But there's more. Pixie Elfs anyone?