New Digital Collage Sheets

Some new digital collage sheets today! One called Garden Girls, which features images of little girls adapted from Victorian postcards, all posing with flowers. The top row represents the four seasons... Spring Summer Autumn Winter! Below that I've included some more "flower girls."

Also I've listed two pretty sheets featuring butterfly wings along with some backgrounds and tinted photos and other lovely odds and ends...  Find all these new digital collage sheets ready to purchase and download at LUNAGIRL.COM.

 

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).

Craft Challenge Theme: Fruit and Flowers

New challenge theme: Inspired by beautiful antique botanical prints, my next theme is
FRUIT & FLOWERS

Let dreams of gardens and orchards, bouquets and blossoms and colorful sweet fruit inspire you... any craft medium is OK, from cards and paper crafts to fabric arts and jewelry to assemblage and mixed media and of course digital art too!

Your entry just needs to feature fruit and/or flowers in some way. The Design Team will be working with some of the Victorian botanical prints and other vintage ephemera from Lunagirl... we love vintage but your entry can be any style, just so it's fruit and flowers themed!

Any craft or medium is OK.

Vintage style is encouraged but not required.

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, March 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!
There will be more from the DT later during this challenge, and you'll want to check back to see all the entries as well. We hope you'll share yours!

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL DESIGN TEAM

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

Botanical Life by SHELBY PIZZARRO Sisterhood of the Muse

Cherry Goddess tag by MICHELE STORMS  Art from the Well

3D Flower by VICKI ROMAINE  The Cheerful Stamppad

"The Lunagirl image was printed three times the exact same size and cut apart and then put back into layers with dimensionals to give it a 3D appearance. 
The 3D effect really doesn't show up on the scanning."
I can see the 3D effect ~ it is stunning.

MANDY CHILVERS Journal Page!  TagAlongChallenge.blogspot.com

What We Wish Santa Would Bring....

One last inspiration for the St. Nick challenge, from Michele Storms. This has always been a favorite Santa image of mine. It is originally from a vintage holiday card with a sentiment in Dutch. I love how Michele has enhanced the natural feel of the image with her background and crocheted lace. And the color palette is just perfect. As we head into the last few days before Christmas, we wish you peace and joy and all the blessings the season can bring!

"The Best Present" by Michele Storms of ArtFromtheWell.blogspot.com:
"i love this vintage st nick image from lunagirl looking out over the world where he will soon deliver gifts. the scene was so peaceful that i added a stamped "peace on earth" sentiment from one of my creatiate stamps. as i was seeking embellishments for my piece i found the red bow and could not resist adding it below the stamped sentiment.  because to my thinking the best present of all would be peace on earth."

Come to Fairyland

It's looking pretty magical and fanciful over at my Fairyland challenge! Come see and join in!

To inspire you, here's another pretty fairy tag by Mandy Chilvers of my fabulous DT.  She has used a charming Victorian garden flower fairy and the simple word "IF" which I think is perfect to evoke a feeling of fantasy and wonder and imagination.

Join in the challenge until Sunday, and please don't miss all the other lovely creations that have been submitted to our Fairyland so far.

Thanks for visiting!

Winner of Victorian Flowers & Fans Challenge: Karla B!

Sorry I'm a bit late with the challenge winner this time! It's been a busy day. But I have done the random drawing, and our lucky winner this time is Karla B's perfectly lovely Lady and Fan. Congrats, Karla! Email me at info@lunagirl.com at your convenience. :-)

For winning the drawing, Karla gets to choose as her prize any one of my Lunagirl Collage Sheet CDs ~ each is a collection of 25 digital collage sheets on CD.

My next theme starts tomorrow ~ actually in just a few hours. I hope to see you in the next challenge:  "Let's Hear It for the Boys"

Creative Challenge: Victorian Flowers & Fans

Welcome to Lunagirl creative challenge #31 -- Our theme this time is "Victorian Flowers and Fans."  Your entry can be any craft or medium, using flowers and/or fans!

This theme is inspired by the Victorian "Language of Flowers" and the "language" of Victorian ladies' fans. During the Victorian era, "flower dictionaries" were popular, and flowers and pictures of flowers spoke a language all their own.  Blossoms, buds, and herbal bouquets were sent to friends and lovers not only for their beauty and fragrance, but also to convey messages -- sometimes messages that the sender dared not speak in words. A Victorian lady's fan could speak volumes as well, especially in a society in which certain sentiments were not properly spoken aloud between unmarried young men and women.

Of course now you want to know some traditional meanings for flowers and fans, yes?  I've created a page just for you!  Check out my Language of Flowers and Fans page at Lunagirl.com!

I would LOVE to see someone use some of the traditional flower meanings for this challenge -- but so to keep things simple let's just require FLOWERS and/or FANS (preferably vintage/Victorian!)     :-)  I have plenty of flowers and fans to inspire you in my Lunagirl.com shop!

Here are the challenge guidelines:

Any craft or medium is OK.

Limit of 3 entries from one person in each challenge, please.

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:  The winner will be selected randomly, to receive a Lunagirl collage sheet CD of your choice! ($25 value).

Challenge ends at noon CST on August 17.

Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl.com product, and I hope you'll go take a look at my collection... but that's not a requirement. However, remember that if you use a Lunagirl image, 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! 

LINK UP YOUR ENTRIES BELOW TO PLAY (and please don't forget to SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE Design Team creations!)

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM

MICHELE STORMS:
Card with images from Blossoms, Fans and Lady of the Flowers.

MANDY CHILVERS:
Images from from Blossoms and Fans 

VICKI ROMAINE:
"The background is a double mat.  One is designer paper and the other is solid cardstock.  The images are LG and the flowers are on a dimensional.  The sentiment is heavy chipboard."

New: Printable Victorian Bookmarks

Here is yet another new digital collage sheet printable.  As much as I love books and reading, it's a wonder it took me this long to start creating bookmarks.  Many more will be on the way -- along with many tags...

This first set is a collection of smaller (four inches tall) bookmarks I created with vintage images of ladies, flowers, birds, fairies, and scraps of vintage ads and Victorian wallpaper!  Kind of a garden theme, with flower fairy girls, Art Nouveau vines, daisies, bluebird, lilacs, and more.  I hope you will enjoy them.

And although I don't know how much I'll get done before going on hiatus next week, there will be more tags and bookmarks and other pretty vintage printables!

New Digital Collage Full of Fairies!

I thought this one turned out really pretty! I call it "In the Fairy Garden."  Here in the fairy garden you'll find Victorian flower fairies, of course, and little garden angels, little girls with painted wings and flowers in their hair, a little garden gnome carrying a bouquet... and a girl in blue peeks around the fence to see what is going on.  I've included a gorgeous vintage floral frame, and inside that a picture of children, fairies, and robins having a tea party in a bird's nest!  I had lots of fun with this one, and I hope you will too.  Visit Lunagirl's fairy and angel garden.

VINTAGE GOTHIC blog challenge

Something a little different.... our next blog challenge theme is Vintage Gothic.  I've always been fond of all things a little dark and melancholy, mysterious and antique, whether haunted rooms or haunted lovers.  As a kid my favorite song was "Rhiannon" (yes, I date myself with that). I liked sad romances and spooky old photos and film noir. I had fun creating my take on Vintage Gothic with the challenge badge.  I hope you'll have fun with this theme, too, however you interpret it!

The Design Team will be working with images from the following collage sheets (and they're also the source for the images I used above):  Lunagirl Edwardian Gothic, Vintage Gothic, and Backgrounds: Interiors.  You can also visit my Gothic and Medieval category for inspiration -- and be sure to use Discount Code "moonbeams" at checkout to get 10% off everything in Gothic/Medieval!

Here are the guidelines for this challenge:

• This challenge (#28) will end at Noon (Central Time) on June1. 
• Any craft or medium is OK,
• No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, 
• Vintage style is encouraged, and 
• Please link to this blog and Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.
• Prize:  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.com 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, 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!

LINK UP YOUR ENTRIES BELOW TO PLAY (and please don't forget to SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE Design Team creations!)

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM

Here are some lovely creations by the Moonbeams.  I hope you'll get inspired and join in. 
 Learn more about the DT here!

MANDY CHILVERS

MICHELE STORMS

VICKI ROMAINE

For Last-Minute Easter Projects

Don't forget, my Lunagirl digital collage sheets come to you by instant download and are perfect for those last-minute projects!  Cards, decorations, tags, you name it, just download, print and craft!  I've put a bunch of my Easter and Springtime designs together here for your convenience ... bunnies, chicks, children, decorated crosses, angels, flowers, feathers, butterflies, eggs... Have a lovely weekend.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Here is a Victorian Easter bunny, ready for his big day with a pile of colored eggs!

We have over 100 Easter bunnies in our vintage images collection.  While I love the Easter angels and children and chicks, I have a special fondness for the bunnies! Like many holiday traditions, the Easter rabbit has its origins in pre-Christian times and was adapted to Christian celebrations. The rabbit or hare (like the egg) is an ancient symbol of rebirth and fertility, associated with the rebirth and renewal of plant life in the Spring.

The name Easter seems to have come from the ancient Germanic month of eostre, named for a goddess Eoster (similar to Ishtar and Aphrodite). In many countries the holiday is called Paques or Pask, from the Greek word for Passover -- our charming French postcards say Joyeuses Paques!

The Easter rabbit tradition began in Germany, where children filled their hats or bonnets with grass to create a special nest where the Easter rabbit might lay brightly colored eggs. Beautiful Easter baskets (still filled with grass) developed later, as did Victorian-era Easter greeting cards and postcards.

Did you know that RED and GREEN were the original traditional colors for Easter eggs?  Red and green are the colors most commonly associated with Life and Renewal/Rebirth (which is why they are Christmas colors!)  Our Easter pastels seem to be a later, Victorian custom inspired by the colors of spring flowers.

However you celebrate, have a blessed Easter weekend!
Check out the links below for more vintage Easter:

• Digital collage sheets for springtime and Easter: Bunnies, chicks, decorated crosses, angels, eggs, flowers, butterflies... and more!
• Lunagirl Victorian Holidays Volume 2: Valentines Easter Mother's Day (on sale today)
• Lunagirl Victorian Religious Ephemera
• Lunagirl Easter Photos & Postcards

VICTORIAN SPRING challenge starts today!

I hope you will all link up a "Victorian Spring" creation for this challenge!  I am certainly feeling "spring fever" this year -- flowers are popping up everywhere, birds are singing and "twitterpatin'", the bunnies are hopping, and I am so restless and eager for the warmer weather.

Take this theme wherever you feel inspired to go, but let's try to make it "Victorian" (or Edwardian, antique, vintage,  heritage, etc...)
With so many wonderful signs and symbols of Spring, there are lots of possibilities -- flowers of course, and butterflies, bugs, gardening, Easter, Passover, April Showers, pretty dresses & fans, Earth Day, bunnies & chicks, eggs & baskets, flower fairies & Easter angels, and don't forget all the birds!
Lunagirl has thousands of Victorian/vintage images and digital collage sheets to choose from for all of these and more.

The Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team will be working with some unique and beautiful images from my Garden Fantasy One collage sheet and also some chickies and children from my Easter Fun collage sheet.  Don't miss their samples below!

Here are the guidelines for this challenge:

• This challenge (#25) will end at Noon (Central Time) on April 20. 
• Any craft or medium is OK,
• No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, 
• Vintage style is encouraged, and 
• Please link to this blog and Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.
• Prize:  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.com 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, 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!

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM:
Click here to learn more about my fabulous DT members and visit their blogs!  

MICHELE STORMS

PETRA BERENDSEN:
"For the new challenge I used one image from your Garden Fantasy One collage sheet and as I had printed the image twice I thought it would be nice to create two pieces which you could use together for a special occasion: a card and a tag."

MANDY CHILVERS

VICKI ROMAINE:
"This card is a perfect card for almost anything.  It has the Lunagirl image on top of a piece of Spring-looking designer paper.  It has a double mat-one light green and the other the designer paper. it is embellished with a cream-colored bow which has three loops on each side."

Freebie: Victorian Children's Tea Party

Here is something sweet for my Victorian tea party challenge!

These little girls and their little brother (that's my guess) are having a tea party among the roses.  Miss kitty cat has a saucer of cream, and the puppy dog is hoping for a cookie!

Looks like a fun afternoon, and I hope you'll have fun using this picture.  Click on the image to get the full size, save to your computer, and resize as needed.

Have a happy day!

Antique Floral Christmas Cards

In our collection of vintage Christmas cards, we have quite a few that feature flowers.  While cards featuring Christmas angels, children in the snow, nativity scenes, holly wreaths, and of course Santa Claus fit our traditional ideas of Christmas, these antique flower cards are sweet for something different.  We think these floral Christmas cards are lovely and quaint -- they certainly reflect the "shabby" romantic spirit that so many of our customers like!

You'll find them, btw, in our Victorian Holidays collection on CD -- and also with holiday greetings removed in our Victorian Flowers collection, to use as flower pictures in your scrapbooking, card making and art.

ABOUT CHRISTMAS CARDS:  The custom of sending Christmas cards began in Victorian London in about 1840, and in 1875 Boston lithographer Louis Prang began publishing Christmas cards in America. The earliest cards usually featured colorful flower blossoms or pictures of birds, children or angels.

Floral Christmas cards were part of the Victorians' (and Victorian-era Americans') love for flowers, and  the early, expensive cards were probably sent mostly by wealthy people.
 
As sending holiday greetings became popular, it was inexpensive holiday penny postcards, sometimes imported from Germany, that were sent by most Americans until WWI.  Christmas postcards were also popular in many European countries, and we find many in French and German as well as English.  Judging by the number of Happy New Year postcards we have come across over the years, sending New Year greetings was just as popular!

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!)

New Blog Challenge: SNOW ANGELS

For my next blog challenge, I've chosen a theme that highlights one of my favorite types of Victorian images: the lovely little Snow Angels.

You've probably seen these sweet little angel children, bundled up against the cold, holding candles or flowers, Christmas gifts or bells, maybe even a bird's nest.  I have 27 of them available on my Lunagirl Angels Fairies Fairy Tale Art CD ~ and a little download pack of 5 snow angels on etsy!  Plus photos of Angel Children and more... Or maybe you will create your own style of Snow Angel.  Whichever way, I love these little symbols of warmth and hope in the winter, and I hope you'll have fun with this theme!

Don't miss the samples from the Moonbeams Design Team below, for your inspiration!

GUIDELINES:
This challenge (#16) will end at Noon (Central Time) on December 15.

The winner will be selected randomly to win a $10 coupon for Lunagirl.com!

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.
 
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!  Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage. 




LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM
Find out more about the Moonbeams DT and visit their blogs!

This little charmer is by Vicki Romaine:
"I love this Lunagirl Snow Angel.  It is one of my many favorite Lunagirl images.  I placed her on a card on which I have decorated with a number of embellishments.  There is sequin waste, cloth ribbon, silk flowers and snowflake stickers.  This is really the first Christmas-looking card I have made for this year.  I need to get busy."

Michele Storms uses two snow angels on this pretty winter card.

 And here is an altered notebook by Mandy Chivers, with sparkly snow angel. Gorgeous, don't you think? 

I hope you'll get inspired and get creating!

Beach Fashions circa 1883

Here is a fascinating image of swimsuit fashions from a 1883 fashion magazine (from the Netherlands).  De Gracieuse was published from 1862 to 1936 for fashion-conscious ladies, and featured clothing of all types for all occasions, inspired by the latest Paris fashions.   Interestingly, the magazine also presented examples of embroidery, knitting, and other needlework, intended for embellishing the clothing and shoes.  I love those funny little beach slippers (although they don't seem very practical).  Those appear on many of the Victorian and Edwardian postcards as well ~ I guess ladies simply did not go barefoot!

Vintage Diva: Lina Cavalieri

Here is a short bio of another Victorian Edwardian diva.  This is a beautiful postcard of actress and singer Lina Cavalieri. I've restored it, removed scratches, and enhanced the color.

"La Cavalieri" had quite a colorful life! She was orphaned at age 15, and ran away from a convent orphanage to tour Italy with a theater troupe. She sang at cafes and music halls in Vienna and Paris, and by age 20 was famous across Europe.

Lina Cavalieri studied with the top singers of the day, but was known as much for her beauty, fiery temperament, and love of emeralds as for her pleasant voice. She boasted over 800 marriage proposals, of which she accepted four! She was also famously generous. She campaigned on behalf of orphans, performed for the troops during WWI, and worked as a nurse during WWII. She died in an air raid in Florence in 1944 at age 70.

Vintage Diva: Cleo de Merode

In honor of my DIVA blog challenge going on this week, I thought it was time for another Vintage Actress feature.  We have so many beautiful photo postcards of Victorian Edwardian actresses and dancers in our Ladies Photos collections, and maybe you'll enjoy knowing a little more about these famous ladies of the stage.  I'm working on a collection of just actress and showgirls, organized alphabetically so you can find all the images of each lady together.

Many will recognize the unforgettable face of Cleo de Merode.  She was born Cléopatra Diane de Mérode on September 27, 1875, in Paris, France, the daughter of the Austrian landscape painter Karl Freiherr von Merode, part of a famous Belgian noble family. She began her study of dance at age eight and made her professional debut at age eleven.

Cléo de Mérode quickly became known for her beauty and glamour even more than for her dancing skills, and at a young age her image began appearing on postcards and playing cards. A unique new hairdo she choose to wear became the talk of Parisian women. She was also noted for her tiny waist which was accentuated by the tightlacing that was popular at the time. Sculptor Alexandre Falguière used her as the model for his sculpture "The Dancer," which today can be seen in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Several famous artists of the day painted her portrait. In Vienna her beauty caught the attention of painter Gustav Klimt.

In 1896, 61-year-old King Léopold II of Belgium saw Mérode dance in the ballet and became enamoured with the 22-year-old performer. Gossip started that she was his latest mistress. Because the King had two children with a woman reputed to be a prostitute, Cléo de Mérode's reputation suffered because of the gossip connecting her to the king.



Despite these whispers of scandal, Cleo became an international star, performing across Europe and in the United States. At the peak of her popularity, she chose to dance at the famous cabaret Folies Bergères, taking the risk to do something other elites of the ballet had never done before. Her performance gained her a whole new following.

Very popular in her ancestral homeland of Austria as well as in Germany, she appeared in the 1926 German motion picture "Frauen der Leidenschaft." Mérode continued to dance until her early fifties when she retired to the seaside resort of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques area of France. In 1955 she published her autobiography, "Le Ballet de Ma Vie."

Cléo de Mérode died in 1966 and is buried in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where you will also find the tombs of other famous artists including Frederic Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Honore de Balzac, Delacroix, Moliere, Proust, Gertrude Stein, Edith Piaf , and Jim Morrison.

MORE IMAGES OF CLEO