Gosh, everytime I would think of something...someone would list it! I did tons of those card wreaths as in those days I was doing some keypunching myself and they weren't recycling - just tossing bad cards away.

I made lots of money (age ten) making those old octopus's out of yarn, styrofoam balls, ribbons and wiggley eyes and everyone had one of them things on their bed. My aunts and friends of my mom were my best customers for whatever crafts I was into at the moment.

Did anyone mention cutting up small tomato sauce cans with metal cutting sissors into strips? Some of the strips were used for the legs and the others for the back of the "Chair" and the metal was rolled and spray painted black and itlooked like wrought iron. Then you made a little pillow with scrap fabric and fiberfill and glued in on the seat and used this as a pin cushion or just as a decoration. I remember my teenage cousins cutting the edge off one end of the can so that I could then cut the strips. It's a wonder I still have fingers today now that I think about it, don't remember ever using gloves.

Ahhhhhhhhh the memories. Can you imagine how much stuff you would have if you saved one of everything for a sample or if you did and had a spare room for this, you could have your very own craft museum.

Carmen

I don't think I've seen this posted yet...does anyone remember making birds in birdcages out of maribou feathers and styrofoam balls with pipe cleaners? At Christmas we used to take two clear goblets and use angel hair and miniature nativities to make a scene inside. Then we would glue them together and trim around the two glasses. Oh, yeah, usually adorned with an ornament on top!!

Oh, what fun we had with little of nothing!

I was just going to post about the birdcage! I rember most of the ones listed. Some I did and most my grandma or my aunts did. Remember the beer can hats? My grandma made those for everyone one Christmas - we still have pictures! She could knit and crochet like no one I have ever seen. She could look at a picture of something and make an afghan of it with no pattern. I think I have her to thank (blame!) for my crafting gene! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

I'm LOVING This trip down memory lane !! I remember almost all the ones that were posted . Did someone mention Kleenex carnations ? (Those were back when we had colored kleenex & toilet paper ) LOL

Do you remember the little girl purses made of margarine tubs with the crocheted drawstring top? Or dipping plastic flowers in varnish mixed with gold paint, letting them drip dry upside down and arranging in a pretty vase? Reading these posts have really made me take a trip down memory lane! What fun!!!

How about the wreaths made out of the thread cones,clothespins and macaroni,then you spray painted the whole thing gold.That was in the 70's.
Back when i was a kid we would take the old empty wooden thread spools.pound 4 or 5 nails in the top,then using yarn would weave this long thing that we would eventually turn into a rug for our dolls.
Outside in the summer we would play Ted Macks(remember him) amateur hour.We'd stick the pitchfork in the ground and the handle became our microphone and we'd sing our hearts out.

Ink bottles and lightning bugs

Burning grass in a waterpail(bucket) in the summer to keep the skeeters away.

Mother may i game

Freeze game
and who could forget listening to all those old radio shows,the Lone Ranger,Inner sanctum,amos"n" andy.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Memories.
Kathi

I remembered one more....how about macaroni glued on jars (seashell, elbow, etc, and sprayed gold or silver?

Did we REALLY think that was attractive? Yikes!!!

I remember the Grit paper. Our neighbor got it and the recycled it to us. I remember a lot of these and I am 40. I am looking for the old pattern of the dog that was made on the clothes hanger with something like pom poms on it.

Lynn,

I think I still have that pattern somewhere. I made a ton of those dogs. I also made cats out of 4" strips of yarn strung on dental floss.

When you find them could you share. Thanks

How about the birdhouse made with the reader's digest glued to a saucer and bud vase, then decorated with a bird and artificial flowers. We used to fry the marbles then glue together to make animals, etc. Also we did eggshell diaoramas ( make a hole in the front of an egg put a little scene inside with minatures and glitter the outside) People make them now on a much grander scale. Ours were just chicken eggs.

This was interesting to read and some did bring back good memories.I don't know what it was called, but I had a plastic board with designs on it, about the size of a writing tablet, you used crayons on it and could remove the color with a scrapper included, I mostly scratched the crayons off with my fingernails...and colored-in again.over and over.We never thought of ourselves as poor, we had plenty to eat and didn't lack toys, but the best times were spent playing with free stuff. I would retrieve the empty oil cans Daddy pitched into the barrel, one stomp with my feet would embed the sides over my shoes, tight enough that I could dance with them...the metal made a sound on the porch as if I had on tap shoes...Did anyone ever try that? ha
We'd take buckets of water and pour it down a hill, so we could slide down it faster...it was better than a real slide...I didn't think about how rough it was for mother to get the mud out of our clothes... Kudzu growing over everything in the fields kept us cool and made a perfect tent.
Playing marbles with my brother and his friends in the dirt...he never told me to get lost like some brothers would of done... Bet that I had as much fun, if not more, with my mud pies baking in the sun, than the kids do now with their Easy-bake-ovens...
Walking barefeet in mud holes after a rain, and sometimes during the rain.
Mother sewed sock dolls, and made some that looked like monkeys for every girl in the neighborhood...and there was one boy who had to have one...noone joked about it either.
Even when he had mother give him a home permanent...it was sort of a yearly thing...on our back porch...with me and other girl's waiting to get a permanent.(My brother had naturally-curly dark hair)
Those were great days to experience childhood.No worries and endless imagination.

I remember further back. We used to get a package of some kind of waxed paper and a stick like a tongue depressor. Then we'd place the shiny side of the paper on a comic from the Sunday paper and rub. Then we'd put that paper on a sheet of white paper and rub the comic off on to it!!.

I remember that I went everywhere with the couple next door. One day I went with HER to HER office and we went into the supply room. I was able to pick out a brand new yellow pencil and a tablet of pure white paper. I was thrilled. The paper we had in school (paid for by the school board) was an off white kind of cheap paer.

In reading over this post again. I can remember doing string art pictures. Where you would take a piece of wood cover it with material and then have a picture that you would go by and place the nails then use thread and make the picture. I can remember doing a big boat. I would liek to do these again but haven't been able to find any patterns. I know that at one time Wal-mart carried some but they were nothing like what I remembered doing. Here is one link that I have been able to find. Hope this help jog some memories.

Here is a link that might be useful: String art

I remember making my Dad a string art old car...I was so proud!! I also was quite adept at making cars and tractors and stuff, out of shop junk...bolts, nuts, washers, cotter pins, old keys,nails, screws and any other "whatzit" that came to hand! Even made Christmas trees one year, and decorated them with home made glitter made from crushed glass christmas balls (yep, we saved the broken ones from the year 1). Also made Christmas trees from pine cones with soap snow and crushed glass glitter!
Red, we used to swing on the birch trees too!! Never have found any trees in the south that were supple enough to swing on! I LOVE this thread!!! Thank you again and again!

I seen a post about the beer can hats. Does anyone have the pattern for it? I have looked on line and the one I found is no longer there. I have included a link for a purse that I found. Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: Pop can purse

I thought of another one. My daughter made the cutest yarn cats back in the early eighties. You wound the yarn around a cardboard rectangle so many times and then tied it off...somehow you put it all together and came out with a beautiful yarn cat....sigh..once again, I no longer have the pattern. Who would have thought that twenty and thirty years later, we would be interested in reviving some of these old crafts?

I bought some cute books from the thrift store the other day. Anyone ever heard of Stumpkin Dolls "wee-folk"? They are made out of pantyhose. I think I'll make some up and try to sell them at Christmas. I bought an Apple Dumplins' Soft Sculpture book that looks fun and Dumplin Designs "Pecan Pie" leaflet. I don't know what I'll do with that since I don't crochet. I bought the strawberry shortcake doll (already made) of the same family because she was so cute.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stumpkin Dolls.

Can you imagine having a booth at a craft fair with all "Retro Crafts" in it ??!!! I bet people would buy alot just because it brings back memories !!! :)

Toomuchglass- I agree. The craft gift shop event I had stuff in at Christmas had a lot of 60+ people attending. A friend and I watched their buying habits. They did tend to buy and admire things that were no longer the current trends such as crochet afghans, the yarn/plastic canvas stuff, needlepoint, and kewpie dolls. The people under 50 tended to look for something inexpensive or something original. Of course, practical items such as scarves and hats sold well. Sometimes, it becomes a matter of everything old is new again.

i just did a web search, grit is still in publication and i just ordered my dh a subscription. he was a grit boy while growing up. geez, yall have made me feel old, i remember most of the things mentioned and im not quite 40. maybe i was just raised right, lol.

anette

Among my mother's tons of books were titles like, "A NEW LOOK AT FELT!" And "HOW TO TURN TRASH INTO TREASURE," mostly involving yard and cardboard. I got sucked into a BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS 1980s Christmas craft book. It showed how to make little puff-pillow tree ornaments with muslim and decorative calico material. Well, maybe people were smarter in those days and everybody knew how to sew, but the directions left a lot to be desired -- a whole lot. The one I finally ended up making looked like -- well, not like something you'd want to hang on your tree. . .chery2

Reading about all these old fun crafting memories, brought back some really great memories. I remember practically all of them >> I'm glad the memory is still in tact'.
I don't know if these were mentioned, the 'Octopus Dolls' made from a skein of yarn..the body had eight braided legs, and the head had google eyes glued on, and a ribbon tied around it's neck. Also, I remember we took the metal strip off the boxes wax and foil paper, and wound them around a pencil, and then kind of pulled them to elongate them, and hung them on the Christmas Tree as icicles. Also the stained glass cookies..that we hung on the Christmas tree, made from chopped up sour balls that melted into a stain glass look. Those were really fun times and great memories.

I have enjoyed reading this thread. It brought back a lot of crafting memories.
I belonged to the Craft of the Month Club and still have a styrofoam piggy bank (pink) and the green bag with fish net and rope handles. I remember making a planter for on the wall and a box with plastic pieces on the lid that you had to heat in the oven so they would melt and become one piece. I remember watching for the mailman when it was time for the kit to come each month.
Linda OH

You know, back around that time (Craft of the month club) there wasn't too much going on in the craft industry. McCalls Needlework and Crafts mag and a few others is all we could get. I remember looking for books in the library and maybe there would be one or two. Then all of a sudden the industry went wild. Quilting as an art form took off about the same time.

Does anyone remember the pop bottles, or cans, decorated with masking tape? Each of my kids brought one home from school. I still have the one my youngest child gave me (he's 33 now). Small strips of masking tape was randomly stuck to the outside of the bottle, or can, and then rubbed with brown wax shoe polish. It was supposed to look like wood.

How about the Christmas wreaths made by tying yarn to a coat hanger? I made my share of those for Christmas presents.

I have been teaching my grandchildren some of the "old" crafts. They love it. And, you're right, what was lod is new again. The look of discovery and delight on their faces is as good as the memory of my discovery and delight.

I remember the green bag with fishnetting !!! LOL

Did anyone make the Easter Bunny Baskets from gallon plastic jugs? They were crocheted, attached by holes punched at the top, ears were cut out of the plastic or shaped out of wire (don't remember which) and crocheted around, pom poms for nose, feet and tail. I would like to make one for GS. My DD remembered that her GM made her one years ago. Wish I had the pattern.

Donner - This probably isn't the Easter Bunny Basket you remember, but it IS made of a plastic jug, has pompom features, and is partially crocheted - LOL! Maybe it will keep your GS happy until you find the right pattern!

[Lots of other Bunny Crafts there, too. - Nice site.]

Here is a link that might be useful: Gramma Lowe's Squeeze Bunny

Thanks Red Confetti! It isn't the one but I think I might try making it. Looks like fun. I also saw the chicken pattern my mother used to make. Such memories!

donner, I have made these baskets you are talking about. I might still have the pattern. I have to make a couple here before long. If I can't find the actual pattern I will try to write it down for you. I am not sure if they have it on the webste or not but check www.coatsandclark.com for some I am thinking I seen it there also. I tried looking but for some reason it won't let me look at the yarn patterns.

Lynn- All I found at that site was one wreath. If you find the basket pattern I would love to have it!
Donna

I remember forming wires into flower petals and dipping them in some liquid that dried plastic. Then winding each petal together to make one large flower.

Readers Digest Christmas trees; pine cone wreaths spray painted gold.....

Crochetting granny square purses....

Wow, brings back some memories

I remember helping my grandmother make pictures by finding material that had a scene on it, sewing a backing around a few of the pictures then stuffing it to give it a 3-D affect. Then we'd glitter some parts of it and frame it.
Baby food jars turned into snow globes.

Flower arrangements with those fuzzy pipe cleaners.

Material animal prints that you'd cut out the front and back and make a pillow. I still have my orange tabby pillow from the 60's.

Pet Rocks!

I finally thought of another old craft that hasn't been mentioned yet... chicken scratch embroidery on gingham fabric! You may know it as tenneriffe lace or snowflaking. I remember using it at the bottom edge of aprons (remember when we wore aprons??).

There are quite a few links on the Internet with instructions and patterns. Here's just one that explains the basics, and shows pictures of aprons and bookmarks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gingham Embroidery

Omygosh....I remember those Reader's Digest Christmas angles...my mom made those! She was a big crafter, and made the resin grapes, the fake jewel handbags, the macrame plant hangers and just about everything else. I've still got the Three Wise Men she made out of wooden forms, starched fabric and fake jewels. I remember making God's Eyes, lanyards and salt/flour dough ornaments. What a fun thread!

Does anyone remember Artex paints? People had Artex parties where racks of paint pens were sold along with all kinds of pictures on a kind of interwoven fabric. Oh, and how about gum wrapper chains? The gum wrappers were folded and interlocked to make long gum wrapper chains.

Yes! How could I forget the gum wrapper chains....my sister made days of them. And I also remember the dipping plastic flower thing, too, but forgot what they were called.

As for the poodle made with pom poms and a hanger. Boy no one seems to have put this specifically on the web. However my rec lady has one but it's not a poodle and I found a pattern on the web for a dog made with a hanger and by making little yarn bundles to cover it. I had some difficulty at first tying the yarn bundles so we decided it could be done with pom poms. Another lady had done it. So I made up the pom poms. I had roughly 2 skeins of yarn, one color between 2 left over skeins and a full skein of white. The poodle needs more than I had for the head. I'll post a pic when it's all done. But here's the page with the pattern.

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf26523514.tip.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Recycled hanger dog

Don't you wonder where all that stuff is now? Probably in a land fill somewhere.
I remember: wreaths made of gathered-up plastic dry cleaner's bags, macrame belts and purses and plant hangers, batik and tie dye, jeans purses, skirts made of mens' neckties and cut apart jeans, and beaded headbands. Also beaded curtains from uncooked macaroni, bottle caps and almost any type of object you could string. Windspinners made from slicing up liter plastic soda bottles and hanging them with a fishing line spinner decorated our yard. Oh -and mini dresses made from folding a lace round tablecloth in half and cutting out a space for your head. Yes, I'm an old hippie, I have to admit! Although these days I'm more "hippy" than hippie...

AHHHHHHHHHH....memories! And what a journey it has been! I remember all the things mentioned here. Each time I thought I had another one...someone came up with it.

I'm more "hippy" than hippie...LOL! Scarlett, I know the feeling! Those hipster jeans just don't fit right anymore!

One thing I did learn to do back in the 60's and didn't see mentioned here were "Christmas Spiders". From the small glass Christmas balls and pipe cleaners, with sequin eyes. They looked like this...of course you've got to remember this one has been around for a good number of years now! LOL..ugly thing, isn't it?

With new products and vintage jewerly, they now look more like this example.

We still use the Christmas ornaments like this. I'll never forget the year we decided to make this the family
Christmas project! Neither will our 2 daughters! We all had such sore fingers. But, they treasure these ornaments now, and like myself use them every year.

Let's not forget Santa and Mrs. Claus made from dish detergent bottles. With the dime store (then Ben Franklin) faces and hands, etc. They are still part of my Santa collection but I don't seem to have a picture of them anywhere in my on line albums.

I still make a few of the old things...most often with a bit of a modern twist...using some of the easier to use products. The pasta angel is a good example of evolving pasta art.

Someone mentioned the crochet covered clothes hangers. I'm just old fashioned I guess...I still do them. Along with little sachet bags to go with them.

{{gwi:1486061}}

I love collecting the old crochet patterns and making stuff from them. These are the vintage pattern projects that I have recently finished.

{{gwi:1486063}}
The shaded pansy thread colors are almost impossible to find these days.

You can see some of my spiders in this basket...they are not Christmas Spiders. I call them my illusive, almost extinct pansy spiders! I wanted some really pretty silk pansy to put in this basket and couldn't find any...so I used the next best thing. LOL

I think I should stop now! I don't think the "old" crafts will be completely lost...they will just evolve.

Be Safe, Rach

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1486050}}

As promised somewhere in these posts, here's a pic of the yarn hanger dog that looks like a poodle. It's made the same way with the hanger as with the yarn bundles except it's done with 1 1/2 in. pom poms. I had 2 colors of yarn for this particular one.

Ummm ok could someone tell me how to insert a pic here? lol

Juniemoo - here are instructions for inserting pics into your posts. I use Photobucket so that's what I talk about. If you use a different photo sharing program, the instructions might be similar.

Sal

copy & paste:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/junk/msg0709354613647.html?1

I remember the beer can hats and friendship pins to put on our shoe laces. I also remember when pickled bums were everywhere and because of that I wanted them so badly! Why?, I'm not sure.

Isn't this great to sit around and get sentimental about old crafts ? I hope this thread keeps on ... every post makes me smile ! Crafts were SO exciting back then ... that's when everything was "new" ...! Geeze - are we old or what ? LOL I'd love to see a booth at a craft show with "Retro-crafts" ..... I bet that would be the most crowded booth at the fair. *sighing and smiling *

Love the lists! Here are a few more:
Candy wreaths
Jeweled purses - Made from kits
Cigar box purses and treasure boxes
Juice can footstools
Bleach bottle piggy banks
Soap swans
Sock head hobby horses
Large cans with punched designs to use as luminarias
Burned match crosses
Embroided denim anything
Hand knit dishcloth
Cigar band decoupage
Rag rugs
Letter pillows
Blown eggshell crafts
Pom pom animals
Swedish straw ornaments made with paper drinking straws and yarn
Clove oranges and sachets
Styrofoam cones decorated with trims and broken jewelry as Christmas trees
Milk carton manger scenes
Cottage cheese carton easter baskets
Wine cork trivets
Stamps carved from erasers
Paraffin candles made with ice in the molds to produce craters
Skateboards made from roller skates and boards
Paper Christmas chains
Toilet paper cores decorated and strung
Clothes pin people
Loopy poy holders made from old socks cross cut
Doll heads made from old nylons
Painted rocks
Wind chimes made from old silverware and bottles
Tuna can bangle bracelets
Spare toilet paper roll doll covers
Button bracelets
Ghosts made from Kleenex with a cotton ball head
Folded and cut snowflakes
Walnut shell boats
...oh so many memories

Jewelry boxes made with pasta, cigar boxes, and gold spray paint. Painting plaster figurines. Liquid embroidery. Crocheted squares sewn together to make afghans, vests, almost anything really. Crocheted toilet paper covers. Lucite balls made into bunches of grapes. Baskets made from flour and salt dough. Chess sets made from nuts and bolts. Snowmen made from large coke bottles and cotton stuffing. Paper Mache almost anything. Painted furniture and decals. Antiquing furniture.

Oh, gosh...remember when we purchased scenic panels, placed muslin on the back, stitched around various elements, then slashed the muslin and stuffed it to make a 3-D picture?

And I remember my Mom taking simple pictures, enlarging them, and 'coloring' various elements with seeds and dried beans- poppy seeds, sesame seeds, popcorn, dried peas.

The tackiness of some of these astounds me. We made Christmas ornaments by dipping straw tips in glue and glitter, letting them dry, then gathering up a group and tying them really tight in the center to make a sort of starburst thing!

Hi! I was doing one of my periodic searches for Fad of the Month Club posts and came across this site. I've been collecting the kits (and making them) for a number of years, and have the beginnings of a website about them, so I can identify the ones that people mentioned. : ) The Club included postcards in their kits starting in 1962. If you want to see pictures of the postcards from the 1960's, you can go here:

http://auntbook.com/FadoftheMonthClub1960s.html

Red_Confetti wrote: "I
belonged to one of those craft-a-month things, too! I remember a black,
fully lined handbag that had a black/grey/white stitch pattern on the
front (I gave it to my grandmother for her birthday - she loved it!);" That one was Wonder-Weave Handbag, from April, 1965.

"a
plaster-of-paris floral patterned trivet that was painted (I remember
mostly yellow and green) and then stained lightly with brow" I think this was the Style-Tile Wall Flower, January, 1968.

toomuchglass wrote: I remember a green & white tote bag for the beach --
it had fish netting on it and rope handles... "Lattice-Look Handbag," May, 1966.

a picture of some vases
you could frame - you outlined the vases with thin gold cording and
glued teeny beads inside of it"

Texture-Tones, January, 1967

".... Colored Easter eggs on sticks - you
put flower decals on the plastic eggs and highlighted them with gold
paint"

Quintulips, February, 1968

"--- a nakpin holder with little squares of brown tissue paper
decoupaged on it - then stained ..." Note Nest, April, 1968

minnie_tx wrote "I got some kind of plastic thing to paint and when finished it looked like glass." That could be Glis-Glass Rose Array (March, 1969) or The Jewel Garden (April, 1971)

lindaoh_gw wrote: "still have a styrofoam
piggy bank (pink) " Miss Hamcraft, July, 1965

"I
remember making a planter for on the wall" Oh, gosh, lots of those. From the time period I'd guess maybe Rus-Tic-Tock Planter (looked like a clock, ornamented in copper), January, 1965

"and a box with plastic pieces
on the lid that you had to heat in the oven so they would melt and
become one piece" Gem-Top Charm Chest, August, 1965.