For St. Valentine's Day...

 My download packs for Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving have been very popular, so I've created some new download packs of valentines images: Cherubs, Children, and Hearts! Vintage imagery adapted from Victorian valentine cards, altered and nicely cleaned up for you... I'll be making more for St. Patrick's Day and Easter... click the pics below to find these at Lunagirl.com (they're also in my Lunagirl etsy shop).

All you need is Love

Thanks to Michele for these sweet tags featuring images from the "new expanded" African-American vintage photos collection! The theme is Love... and don't we all need that message these days. Michele does beautiful work.

It's February!

More Valentine sweetness from Michele Storms of Artfromthe Well.blogspot.com... Vintage couple from Lunagirl Victorian Romance.

This lovely little creation is a traditional "moo" (approximately 1.1 x 2.8 inches).

LOVE Challenge Week Four (Late!)

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well

Sorry I'm late in posting inspiration for the fourth week of my Love challenge. I forgot to write a reminder on my planner ~ and if I don't write something down, it most likely will not get done! Seriously.

I'm glad I remembered because the DT has sent me a gorgeous collection of pieces for this last week of the challenge. Apologies, ladies, for the delay ~ these are all beautiful!

The response to this challenge theme has been great. Be sure to see the entries so far, and don't miss your chance to link up your own creation! You still have a few more days (extra day because of Leap Year, too.) Show us your LOVE!

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad

VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad

Week Three: LOVE

VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad

Here's wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day ~ with inspiration from the Design Team, and a reminder that our theme of Love in all its wonderful forms continues throughout the month of February.

I hope to see what you create! See the entries so far, and link up your own. 

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well 

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

Freebie Sweethearts for 'Love' Challenge

It's almost Valentine's Day! But my LOVE challenge for February will continue until the end of the month. And it's Leap Year so that means February 29th!

Here's an early Valentine for you ~ some vintage sweethearts cut from an old postcard. Right-click to download, and use them to create your entry in the challenge!

Second Week: LOVE challenge theme

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

More beautiful inspiration from the Moonbeams Design Team! And there are already some lovely and fun entries in my LOVE challenge for February. Link up yours! You can enter up to three times.

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well

February Challenge Theme: LOVE

Welcome to my February challenge! 

The theme this time is LOVE, in all its wonderful guises! In February, our thoughts naturally turn to romance and Valentines ~ or maybe to some humorous "anti-Valentines" sentiments if you're single! (My youngest son is currently on this bandwagon.)

And romance, valentines, and anti-valentines are all perfect for this challenge.

But I don't want to limit this theme to only romantic love... Let's expand the theme to embrace other kinds of love as well. Love between friends, between parents and children, sisters and brothers, love of family... love for and from our furry friends... the love that inspires us to share with others and care for others, to work for compassion and kindness and fairness for others, even people we've never met... 

I don't mean to get too philosophical. If I get all Valentines and romance, I'll be happy! :-)  I just want to make sure that everyone feels free to interpret this theme however they like, to reflect what love means to you in your life. LOVE... we certainly need more of it, in every form!

I always enjoy seeing some Lunagirl images in the challenges. You'll find lots of inspiration at Lunagirl.com to help get you started... image collections by download or CD, and hundreds of digital collage sheets! A good starting point this time would be my Valentines collection, I suppose.

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

Challenge ends at 3:00 pm CST on February 29

Any craft or medium is welcome.

ENTER UP TO THREE PIECES!

Vintage style is encouraged but not required.

Use a Lunagirl image and your entry will count twice in the drawing!

Link to this blog and to Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.

Prize: $15 credit at Lunagirl.com! Winner will be selected by random drawing.

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL DESIGN TEAM

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well

Here's a tag created by Michele Storms, digital collage by Shelby Pizzarro to get the challenge started!

I'll be sharing more from the Design Team in days to come!

"Red Rose Girls" by
SHELBY PIZZARRO Sisterhood of the Muse

Creative Challenge: RED

Our new challenge theme starting today is RED. Yes, it is just in time for Valentines Day, but isn't red wonderful just for its own sake? I hope you'll enjoy using this warm passionate color!

I tend toward the "cooler" colors of blue and green and purple myself, but who can resist a lovely rich burgundy wine red, a cheerful cherry red, or a sassy pop of fire-engine red? It warms you up on a cold day and certainly grabs your attention. I love red birds and red poppies and roses, cherries and apples and cranberries and strawberries, the deep dark red of wine. I am very fond of red shoes! And I wish I had a red cape like the little girl above.

So, Valentines or not, get inspired by the color red and get creating. Feature Red somehow in your creation, and then link it up for the fun of sharing and for a chance to win the drawing... use a Lunagirl image and double the chances your entry will win!

Here are the guidelines:

Any craft or medium is OK.

Vintage style is encouraged.

Use a Lunagirl image or element and your entry will count twice in the drawing!

Remember to link to this blog and to Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.

Prize:  Winner will be selected randomly to receive a $15 credit at Lunagirl.com!

Challenge ends at noon CST on Thursday, February 19.

I love it when you use Lunagirl images, and I hope you'll go take a look at my collections... but that's not a requirement!  But do remember that if you use a Lunagirl image, you will be entered TWICE in the drawing! I welcome everyone and every style but also want to give a little something extra to my wonderful customers! Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage. 

DON'T MISS THE INSPIRATION FROM THE DESIGN TEAM BELOW!

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM

MANDY CHILVERS: Three moo cards (2.8x7 cm)

VICKI ROMAINE:

"Not only is this card for the challenge "Red" , but it is also for Wear Red Day.  I am planning on sending it to a friend who is also fighting cancer with chemo.  The background was cut from paper I had used to clean my brayer of acrylic paint.  It is cut into strips and then combined  for the background.  I used black behind the image to make her pop.  I think my friend will like this."

SHELBY PIZZARRO: A Nile Journey

CORINNE MARIE digital art Her Majesty

CORINNE MARIE digital Valentine!

MICHELE STORMS

Warming Up the Winter with VINTAGE RED

My Vintage Red challenge is warming up the cold days for me, with all the gorgeous shades of red, and taking us from Valentine's Day right into Spring just I had hoped!  I know it's not Spring for awhile yet, but all these pretty flowers and cheerful birds have me dreaming.  Here are more beautiful pieces by the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team to inspire your own dreamin' and schemin'.  Remember to link up your own Vintage Red project (any medium) for a chance to win $10 credit at Lunagirl.com in the drawing on Sunday!  I can't wait to see more beautiful red.

Heart Ornament by PETRA BERENDSEN:
My second project is a little wooden heart which I altered with paint and lots of sanding and a wonderful image from your Red collage sheet.

Lotus Lady Tag by MICHELE STORMS

Two ATCs by MANDY CHILVERS using "Red" images.

St. Valentine's Day and the Marriage of the Birds

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Michele Storms created this gorgeously vintage red tag  for the current Vintage Red challenge and also for Valentine's Day.

Did you know it was once believed that February 14 is the day the birds begin to find mates?  The earliest known association of Saint Valentine's Day with romance is by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his mate.

"For this was on St. Valentine's Day,
when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."

No matter how cold and dark the Winter, Spring will always come... The birds know! This beautiful tag certainly warms up a cold day.

Play in the DigitallySweetChallenges Blog Challenge This Week!

Can't get enough vintage red romance?  Lunagirl is sponsoring another fabulous challenge over at DigitallySweetChallenges!  The inspiration is a valentine image of course, with plenty of red roses and hearts and swirls (see below)... and their Design Team has created some absolutely gorgeous pieces with Lunagirl images I provided.  Be sure to go visit DigitallySweetChallenges.blogspot.com to see them, and enter the challenge for a chance to win the Lunagirl images they used!

Just For You, Dear Reader

Last minute Valentine's Day projects? I have a great collection of vintage, Victorian, and retro style digital collage sheets for perfect for valentines projects, ready to download immediately!  I even have download packs of pink and red roses... See all the vintage romance here.

And just for you here is a special discount code just for my blog readers and followers:  Visit Lunagirl.com by Friday and enter discount code heart4moonbeams at checkout.  You'll receive 20% off your entire order of collage sheets, downloads, CDs, everything.

Use it to get something for that last minute card or banner, stock up for future projects, or find something to inspire your Vintage Red creation for the challenge!

Happy Valentine's Day from Lunagirl!

New Challenge: VINTAGE RED

Scarlet.... Crimson...RED!  Vintage Red is the theme for my next challenge here at Lunagirl Moonbeams.   

Perfect for Valentine's Day -- although you don't need to use hearts and roses unless you want to! -- and perfect to warm up February's chill here in the Northern Hemisphere.  Although my favorite colors tend to be the cooler colors, I've always been fond of a lovely deep red... red birds, red poppies, red roses, Little Red Riding Hood, red shoes, red wine, red cherries and apples and strawberries... red for romance and life and energy...

This is challenge (#21) will end at Noon (Central Time) on February 23, and here are the guidelines:

Any craft or medium is OK,

No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, 

Vintage style is encouraged but not required, and
Please link to my blog and Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.

The winner will be selected randomly to win a $10 coupon for Lunagirl.com! Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl product, and I hope you'll go take a look at my collection... but that's not a requirement!  However, if you use a Lunagirl image in your creation, you will be entered TWICE in the drawing! I want to welcome everyone and every style but also give a little something extra to my wonderful customers! 

Enjoy the inspiring samples from the Moonbeams Design Team below, and please come link up your own creations.  The DT will be working with images from some of my red-themed digital collage sheets:  RED, Red Hat Ladies, Textures Orange & Red (plus some Valentines).



LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM

Find out more about the Moonbeams DT and visit their blogs!

MANDY CHILVERS:
 red heart

VICKI ROMAINE:
"Here is the cover of a book I made. I love the image on the black and white designer paper. It just pops. The Lunagirl image is on top of a flourish made with a Cherry Lynn die and then is placed on a tea-dyed paper doily    The book has the theme "Being Myself" and holds a number of verses and inspirational sayings." 

PETRA BERENDSEN:
"A little card combining the very beautiful Lady from the Red collage sheet combined with some patterned paper, ribbon and little charm."

MICHELE STORMS

 

From maya*made: woven hearts tutorial!

maya*made: woven hearts: modernizing a classic: Woven heart baskets are a classic Valentine craft.

I couldn't resist re-blogging this great tutorial from maya*made!  Theses woven heart baskets are adorable ~ fill them with candy, flowers, love messages. And you can adapt the template to make "single layer" hearts, too, for cards and such.

Hot Deals for Cold Weather Crafting!

I guess everyone in the Eastern U.S. is enduring some super-cold weather!  Bundle up ~ or better yet, stay inside with hot cocoa if you can!

The Lunagirl Moonbeams DT has been sending me more lovely Vintage Winter creations, and I will get those posted to inspire you tomorrow.  When it's too cold and icy to go out, isn't that a great time for crafting?  Enter our Vintage Winter blog challenge! 

My customers are snapping up the Valentines images already, as they always do in January.  If you want an instant download, I have plenty of Valentine and romance-themed digital collage sheets, plus my new download packs of Victorian roses in various colors!

If you're in the mood for hundreds of gorgeous vintage style images, check out my craft CDs on sale almost 35% off this week. Lunagirl Victorian Romance CD and Vintage Lovers CD offer gorgeous, high-quality photos and art from my collection, restored and embellished, most not available anywhere else.  And Lunagirl Victorian Holidays Volume 2 features hundreds of Valentines plus hundreds of images for St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day and more ~ some are exclusive to me, some you've seen before but never like this!  I'm pretty proud of our Holidays collections. :-)   And just for good measure, Lunagirl Angels Fairies & Fairy Tale Art CD is on sale too.  So stop in and "get 'em while they're hot"! 

More Christmas freebies!

I'm already getting a few orders for Valentines images -- I know many of you who sell crafts are already thinking of Valentine's Day (always a season ahead!), but as we're in the midst of this beautiful Christmas holiday season, here are a couple of free images for tags, cards, place cards, etc.  (Click on the pictures for full size).

And don't forget we have many Christmas and winter collage sheets available for INSTANT DOWNLOADING at Lunagirl.com  (plus cupids and hearts and roses and romantic couples and sweet girls in pink and red if you simply MUST think ahead to February!)

Lunagirl Valentines Collage Sheets

Ready to download today! (Just $3.45 each at Lunagirl.com). Our collection of "mini" images perfect for Valentine's Day projects. These 1-inch circles, squares and little hearts are especially suitable for charms, pendants and other jewelry, but they can also grace your cards, scrapbooks, ATCs, etc. Use them to adorn and embellish tags, labels, holiday decorations....
Of course we have many other digital collage sheets for Valentine's Day and the theme of romance... plus designs for Easter, St. Patrick's Day and other holidays as well!

Free Victorian Style Valentine with Pink Roses

Happy Valentines Day! Free Victorian Pink Roses Valentine Heart image
For personal non-commercial use with link to Lunagirl.com please.

Want more? Need Easter or St Patrick pics?
See our Victorian Holidays Volume Two CD!
900 Images for Valentine's Day, EASTER, St. Patrick's Day & more.

Vintage Valentines Feature Article

As Valentine's Day approaches, we invite you to visit our special feature article on Victorian Edwardian romance to see a variety of vintage valentines and romantic photos and learn a little bit about the Roman god Eros (also known as Cupid).

You'll find it all here: Lunagirl Feature: Vintage Romance

In Ancient Rome February 14 was a festival in honor of Juno, the queen of heaven and goddess of marriage. Did you know it was once believed that February 14 is the day the birds begin to find mates?