I love Vintage things and Shabby Chic or Cottage Decor, so I decided to “Make” a few Vintage looking Christmas gifts this year for some of the people on my list. It was so simple and so inexpensive to do, yet makes an impressive gift that looks like you spent much more. There are only 2 things you need to do:
- Hunt for 5×7 Antique picture frames
- Hunt for Vintage Christmas Cards
In my case, I didn’t have to do much hunting, because the things I found are not real antiques, just brand new vintage looking items. It literally took me all of about 5 minutes to find and put together my gifts. However, if you are a person who enjoys garage sale hunting, or antique mall shopping, you may be able to find some really awesome deals on these types of things.
As for myself, I went to one of my most favorite mail order catalogs to purchase a set of 10 Victorian Christmas cards. I got the cards last year during an after Christmas sale, so they were really marked down. I can’t remember the exact price, but I am thinking they were well under a dollar per card (since they came in a set of 10). So I guess I will share one of my secret places I like to shop at in case you want to get some of their cards too 🙂 The catalog and online store is called “The Victorian Trading Company”. You can click on those words at left to be taken to the site. If you love romantic Victorian things from yesteryear like I do, then you will probably also love this place!
They have so many awesome antique Victorian card reproductions to choose from. I got one of a cute little girl sledding down a hill. You could go totally free with this one though and hunt through old Christmas cards that maybe your mom or grandma or even you have saved over the years.
As far as the frames go, I know you can find vintage frames online at places like ebay, or etsy, or artfire for example. In my case I got mine at the Black Friday Sale online at Kohl’s this year. In fact, the past 2 years in a row I have gotten my vintage looking frames from Kohl’s. For the cards I got at the Victorian Trading Company, I needed a 5×7 frame. The 5×7 frames at Kohl’s are typically $20-30 each. What did I pay for mine during the Black Friday Sale? $6.40!!!! I am pretty excited about that as you can see 🙂 Of course, I DID use an extra 20% off coupon code, a free shipping code, and my ebates rebate place. If you haven’t read my post on how I really get things discounted by combining all these things, you need to check that out HERE.
These frames are very heavy and very NICE quality. I got frames that I thought would match the card best. 1 frame was an antiqued pewter , one is glass but has gold foil with vintage looking scroll words on it, and the third is a champagne and gold color. Just a tip from me to you if you are looking for vintage style stuff at Kohl’s- do a search for the “Enchante” brand of frames. Those are the ones that look the most intricate, beautiful or vintage. That is the brand of 2 of the frames I got, but the gold leaf frame that looks vintage was from the brand “St. Nicholas Square”. Kohl’s has many cool frames from that brand every Christmas. Sometimes Croft & Barrow brand may have a vintage looking frame as well, but I like the other 2 brands best.
All you do is stick your Christmas card in a frame, and it looks like you bought a more expensive Christmas print. Here are what mine look like this year: (like it? Feel free to pin it on pinterest or share below)
Sorry about the flash on this one. I had to photograph at night and couldn’t get it to where there wasn’t a glare on the glass on this one.
What do you think? Don’t these make beautiful looking gifts for about $7 each?! I thought so. Hopefully the recipients will love them as much as I do. These would also make for beautiful home decor ideas for yourself at holiday time. If you wanted to add a little something extra, you could add glitter to the cards before they are framed.
Do you collect or save Christmas cards? Do you enjoy antique hunting?
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What a sweet idea. I’m a real sucker for antique stuff. These are beautiful!
You too? We just have good taste then :). I love so many of the vintage cards they have, that I may have to buy a different set next year. Thank you for the comment-glad you liked them!
of course we have good taste! We’re us 😉 Lol.
Totally! 🙂
My mother in law loves pictures and we just had one taken for her, we’re still looking for a frame, this is a great idea!
You may have to order in person at this stage in the game (not sure), but I bet they have similar frames in the stores still! Sounds like a nice gift for her. Thank you for stopping by again and commenting today.
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