Free Vintage Easter Images From The Public Domain

Springtime and Easter go hand in hand; images of bunnies and eggs, spring flower baskets, and pastel ribbons herald the season. I love using vintage images in crafting and scrapbooking, and I’ve found many public domain resources. Use these free Vintage Easter images for your projects.

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Key Takeaways

• Go through library websites for digital collections. Many more extensive libraries have public domain collections for public use without restrictions.
• Stock photo sites often have vector and illustration resources, some of which may be freely available and in the public domain.
• Look for images that can be reused for Easter crafting, like pictures of hens, flowers, rabbits, and baskets.
• Many homemaker’s websites featuring recipes, DIY, and crafting, also have free projects to download. These projects utilize public domain work but take all the design effort out for you with ready-to-print and cut cards, tags, and boxes.

Where To Find Easter Images For Free

When finding suitable public domain images for a vintage Easter design, many resources offer art ranging from adorable and cute to deeper religious themes. You can find images not marked as Easter but suitable for use in an Easter design by searching for images often used to symbolize the holiday.

If, for example, you wanted to find images of vintage rabbits, you could find many that are not marked Easter Bunnies but could still make great designs. Look for vintage images of spring flowers like daffodils, eggs, chicks, and images of the cross. I’ve found a wealth of images to get you started!

1. Public Domain Pictures

Are you looking for adorable vintage images of floral-wreathed Easter eggs, fluffy yellow chicks, and cuddly bunnies? The Public Domain Pictures is an excellent place to start. Vintage Easter images range from printable cards and full-color pictures to single images on transparent backgrounds.

Whether you want an Easter picture you can print out and use as a card or tag, or if you prefer images for scrapbooking or creating your own art, Public Domain Pictures has many options.

On the right of any chosen image is an option to tip the uploader, but you can get small free downloads or choose a subscription model to get premium images. The small sizes should be suitable for most home projects.

2. NYPL Digital Collection

The New York Public Library has a vast collection of public domain art, advertising, and illustrations on its website. When running a search for ‘Easter,’ be sure to click ‘Show Only Public Domain’ in the upper left corner to ensure you can freely use the work you choose.

Most of the available Easter Public Domain work is related to Easter Sunday dinner invitations and photographs. Still, they have several scanned bookplates with illustrations of Easter cards with ornamental decorations of children, eggs, spring plants, and birds.

It’s worth looking through the archives for more unusual images than the ones found on most public domain sites, particularly Easter floral paintings.

3. The Graphics Fairy

The Graphics Fairy offers crafters and creatives hundreds of free vintage images to use in their projects, and they have a collection of over 240 Easter images for you to download. Get decorating those Easter-themed cards and gifts — but be sure to check the terms and conditions.

The Graphics Fairy has charming public domain vintage Easter images which have been categorized to make things easier for you. They have ephemera for all Easter crafts, whether you’re after fluffy little chicks, frolicking lambs, bunnies, flower baskets, or religious images.

They also have printable tags and Easter coloring pages available for free. If you like their free collection, they have even more available on the premium member site.

4. Reusable Art

Reusable Art hosts over 4,744 free-to-use public domain images. Most of these have been uploaded from old books, magazines, cards, and other print media. All images have been verified as copyright free in the United States, so they are suitable for any of your home crafting projects.

If you need further information about copyright status, you can check the details on each image. While their Easter collection is relatively small, it should grow as more users upload suitable images. You can also search for Easter-related content, such as images of rabbits, chickens, or flowers.

5. Free Vintage Illustrations

Another great resource with thousands of Free Vintage Illustrations available for download, with art taken from old books and cards, is this website and blog. They have many fantastic non-Easter images that can be repurposed, such as images of birds and flowers.

You can see their collection of vintage Easter images here, and also subscribe to their newsletter if you’re looking for news about new uploaded illustrations.

6. Antique Images

I love to find antique and vintage book illustrations to use in my Easter crafting, and Antique Images is a treasure trove for old storybooks and botany panels, like this Yellow Daffodil Floral Art.

Search for Easter posts to find incredible vintage images you can download and use. From soft, gentle pictures of Easter doves, greeting cards, flowers, bunnies, eggs in baskets, vintage Easter frames, and crosses made of forget-me-nots, you’ll find a vintage Easter image from the hundreds of uploaded designs.

7. Rawpixel

Rawpixel is another resource for creatives and has art, PNG elements, fonts, and some public domain work. Premium images will cost you, but you can find several free public domain vintage Easter images in their archive. Tick the ‘Public Domain’ and ‘Free’ boxes in the right-hand filters.

If you want access to images, you must create an account and sign up. Once you’ve signed in, you are free to download the public domain pictures you want. Rawpixel has a helpful right-hand bar that allows you to search for images to suit projects and styles, making it one of my favorite image resources.

I’ve found excellent Easter images here, from black-and-white line drawings of chickens and rabbits to painted yellow daffodils.

8. Dreamstime

Dreamstime is a site hosting stock photos, illustrations, and videos, among other items. Their public domain collection is limited, but you can find a few free Easter Illustrations and Images you can download.

If you like the rest of their Easter collections, I’ve found their pricing tier to be pretty good, often cheaper than other stock sites. They may be one to put on your list if you regularly need to use stock photos and vectors that are not yet in the public domain.

9. Freepik

Freepik hosts free images for download, and you can find several vintage-themed Easter images on their site. Narrow your search by looking for an Easter bunny, vintage rabbit, or whatever Easter-related image will work for your project.

While you might search for ‘vintage’ images, this user-uploaded site is not very accurate, so you’ll need to scroll to find suitable images. Not all images are free to use, and those marked with a gold crown in the upper left corner are premium images.

Click on the free tag under the filters in the left-hand column to cut premium images from your search.

10. The How To Home

The How To Home blog has a set of adorable vintage chick cards with different backgrounds. The design has been made available for personal use only, so it won’t be suitable for creating a design you want to sell.

Mary Beth, homemaking coach and owner of The How To Home site, has many crafting printables available. The vintage rabbit project could also be used for a fun Easter craft and these free vintage Easter Rabbit Printables.

11. Picture Box Blue

Picture Box Blue has a great collection of vintage bunny art – including illustrations by Beatrix Potter – which you can easily use to make wonder vintage Eater designs and cards.

The bunnies range from familiar illustrations such as those from Alice in Wonderland to illustrations from vintage wildlife books. Also, see their vintage botanical art collection for other Easter ideas.

Picture Box Blue began because of Claire’s love of old and vintage maps and has expanded with her love of crafting and upcycling. This blog is an excellent resource for some unusual images you can use to create vintage Easter art.

12. Pixabay

Another stock site with free, user-uploaded stock is Pixabay. You can search for downloadable photos, vector graphics, illustrations, and media.

Free registration allows you access to all their high-quality photos, vectors, images, and media. They have over 180 free Vintage Easter images for you to choose from. You’ll find images here if you’re looking for backgrounds for scrapbooking, retro decoration, easter eggs, and spring flowers.

13. Public Domain Vectors

Public Domain Vectors has several examples of Easter-themed clip art, vector images, and illustrations. Most of these are egg and bunny-related and could be used as decoration on invitations and gift tags.

A few banner designs, such as this Easter rabbits and chicks vector drawing, would make good images for the header of an Easter newsletter or invite.

14. House of Hawthornes

DIY and crafts project blogger House of Hawthornes has some adorable vintage Easter images available for download, and I love all these fluffy chicks they have!

One of the beautiful things about their blog is that they not only offer vintage pics but include some fantastic crafting ideas to nudge you into some fun new projects. They also have collections of vintage Easter postcards and Vintage Easter Cross Printables.

I will definitely make these vintage-style Easter eggs using vintage pictures and temporary tattoo paper!

Related Questions

How Do I Decoupage Eggs with Vintage Easter Images?

I’m not a great artist, but I love making beautiful things. Luckily, by using public domain vintage art, I don’t have to create the art myself. One of my favorite Easter crafts is to decoupage eggs with Vintage Easter ephemera.

I print my chosen design on thin scrapbook paper or – using a tissue-printing method — on tissue paper.

I prepare my eggs by painting their surface the chosen background color with acrylic paint — usually white, but pastels will also work depending on the design. If I’m using plastic eggs, I must prime the surface first with gesso so the paint and images will stick.

Using Modge Podge, I stick my chosen images down, then seal them in place with another coat of Modge Podge. Once the images and glue are dry, I like to give my eggs a final spray of glitter paint.

Can I Use Real Eggs for My Vintage Easter Crafts?

While wooden, plastic, or Styrofoam eggs from the craft shop are easy to buy and work with, you can use real eggs for your crafts

Natural egg shells are more fragile, so you must prepare to ensure they last longer. Firstly, you will need to blow out your eggs by carefully making a hole at each end of the egg using a pin or craft knife.

Take a toothpick or unfolded paper clip and put this through one hole to stir up your egg and break the yolk apart. With the larger hole over a bowl, use a straw over the smaller hole to blow out the contents.

Once your egg is empty, rinse it clean and leave it to dry. To make your eggshell stronger, use Modge Podge thinned with a bit of water and drip this inside the egg. By sealing the holes with your fingers, you can swirl the Modge Podge around the inside to coat it.

Then paint a seal over the outside of your egg. The Modge Podge will enter the porous egg shell and strengthen it. Once it’s dry, you’re ready to paint and add your vintage Easter images.

Can I Use Easter Images That Are Not Public Domain?

You can use images not in the public domain, providing you pay for the required rights. Most stock sites will have options for different licensing fees, allowing you to use images for print up to a certain number of copies and in specific ways.

If you prefer not to pay for images, you’ll need to ensure that the Easter images you use are no longer under copyright. Choose images listed as Public Domain, as their copyright will have expired.

In America, work is in the public domain if published before January 1, 1923. If the vintage Easter image is listed as public domain, you can use it in any way you wish without legal issues. You can check if the work is public domain by looking at the metadata for the usage rights.