HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A sweet vintage Valentine greeting to you and yours... Enjoy the day with your loved ones.
And help spread the love by joining in my LOVE challenge which continues all through February!

Enjoy this lovely pop-up card by VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad
(On the left is the outside of the card, on the right you can see the inside!)

Start 2016 with Creativity

It's "back to real life" for many of us, as the holiday vacation days end (if yours haven't already!)

Don't forget to take a little time for creativity this month, and this year... you can start by joining my January challenge. It's fun, and you might win the drawing for some store credit at Lunagirl Images.

The theme is Babies and Children. I've got children and baby images to get your ideas flowing.

And here is a lovely little tag by Michele Storms to inspire and encourage you!

Vintage Winter Hello

And here is a little girl with vintage winter greetings, from DT member Vicki Romaine.  I love the bright yellow and soft grey colors together.  And also that sweet simple little "hello"!

Vicki writes: 
"Even though it is a cold winter day, I decided to put a little sunshine in my card by placing yellow rick-rack and a yellow mat under the sentiment.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up. 
Other embellishment on the card includes a mirror sticker in the corner. 
Of course, the lovely little girl is a Lunagirl vintage image."

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!)

It's a Secret ... But you still have time to get in on it!

Here is another little girl with a secret!
from Lunagirl Moonbeams DT Member Mandy Chilvers.  This little girl from an old French postcard seems to have a secret message...


Join our Secrets and Hidden Things blog challenge... it's a fun theme you can take in many directions! (see below)

 And oh my, what has Alice discovered?!

Michele Storms created this charming scene!:

"i was thinking that the alice in wonderland story includes secrets and hidden things so i turned to one of the alice collage sheets from lunagirl.  i colored the image of alice pulling aside the curtain with promarkers and cut it out. but i wanted her to find something a little more surprising than the queen's garden. so while the mysteriously smiling cheshire cat looks on, here is what happened in my alice scene.... what is rudolph the red-nosed reindeer doing behind that curtain? i guess he is telling me i'd better get going on making some christmas cards."

 

 

 

 

You still have all week to get inspired and join our blog challenge!

Your creation can be any medium -- The theme is SECRETS AND HIDDEN THINGS:
think hidden treasures, secret gardens, boxes or windows or doors that open to reveal a secret, a hidden bird's nest, a child hiding or playing peekaboo, wrapped presents, shared secrets, seeds hidden underground, things hidden under snow or in the shadows, things that can hide something inside (like eggs or baskets or boxes or nuts)...

Get creative and join us for your chance to win two Lunagirl digital collage sheets -- and your share of glory of course :-)  Challenge ends Sunday!

 

Free Vintage Photo! Flapper Girl with Daisies

 

Here is an image from a pretty vintage postcard, early 1920s, of a flapper girl with daisies.  I love the flower crown, and the dark lipstick and sultry eyes, as well as the color of this tinted postcard (which I did enhance/alter just a little!) This was from a French "Carte Postale."  Hope you enjoy it! (Click to enlarge and save.)

I know this photo doesn't particularly relate to digital backgrounds, but there is also a lovely blank postcard image a few posts back which makes a great background image!

Garden Fairies are Popping Up Everywhere!

Both by Vicki Romaine of the Cheerful Stamppad.

Here is a charming 1929 Girl fairy with bright wings and a gorgeous frame and embellishments.  

Vicki writes:

"I love using black and white as a background.  This time my fairy stands inside a Cheery Lynn die."

 






"Here is a tag using a  technique from Use Your Words workshop by Carolyn Dube.  The technique consisted  of putting letters in the background and then glazing with polymer medium gloss.  In addition I added a fairy from one of Lunagirl's collage sheets and then glazed her also."

Wishes of Joy Fairy by Michele

Michele has captured another one!  Here is another lovely little garden fairy that we hope will inspire you to create your own for the blog challenge.

Remember you still have a week to enter ~ the challenge ends Sunday night and the random winner will win a Lunagirl digital collage sheet of their choice.  If I get 20 entries this time, I'll randomly choose two winners ~

I have always been fond of these luna moth wings I adapted from an antique print, and don't you love her little pink outfit and white shoes?  She is certainly loaded down with flowers for someone.  Beautiful work, Michele!

Little Fairy Shine So Bright by Michele

Little garden fairies keep turning up in my inbox!  So sweet of them to show themselves for you to see.

They seem to like buttons, and of course flowers.  This one has beautiful pink feathered wings and a flower crown.  She looks so pretty against that swirly feathery background.

Such a beautiful card, Michele.  Thank you!  (See Michele's Blog)

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!

Some "Bathing Beauty" History :-)

Just for fun, here are two panoramic photographs of a "Bathing Girl Parades."  These parades were all the rage in the 1920s.  They began as events sponsored by newspapers and local business interests to promote seaside tourist destinations.  They eventually grew into the beauty pageants that were popular Mid-Century and continue today.  The parade photographed above is from California in 1917, and shows some really interesting swimsuits and beachwear of the day!

The photograph below shows contestants in the Atlantic City Pageant of Inter-City Beauties in 1925.  In 1920 the Businessman's League of Atlantic City sponsored a "Fall Frolic," including an elaborate "bathing girl revue," to encourage visitors (and profits) after the end of the summer season.  It was a big hit, and the following year they advertised up and down the East Coast for beauty contest winners from other cities to come to Atlantic City to compete for the title of "Miss America."

The 1921 Fall Frolic, which began with the arrival of King Neptune on a barge surrounded by twenty bathing beauties, featured five days of parades and concerts, a fancy dress ball, as well as seven different bathing parade divisions featuring women, children, men, and comic costumes. Everyone in town dressed in bathing suits, including firemen and police! The first "Miss America" was 16-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C.

The Atlantic City pageant grew quickly in the next few years.  Organizers took pains to stress the wholesomeness and "girl-next-door" qualities of the young contestants in skimpy attire.  According to the American Experience website at pbs.org, "From the very beginning, the pageant was confronted with a conflict between the effort to present an image of innocence and virtue while, at the same time, promoting a spectacle where women paraded in public in bathing suits." Nowadays the pageant attempts to balance a "girlpower" attitude and scholarships with the fact that it's basically always been women parading around in revealing clothes!

Free Image: Little Girl Diva Photo

"Just because" it's Friday, how about a free image today? Here is a little diva, perhaps a diva in the making.  You still have a couple more days to enter your Diva image (card? jewelry? anything you want!) in the blog challenge.  I received three more fabulous entries just today...  

Free Vintage Image: Girl Graduate Victorian Card

I found this lovely, unusual picture of a Victorian / Edwardian era picture of a female graduate, and thought I would share.  Isn't she pretty?  I like her eyes, and the flower.  Download and enjoy for personal use!
Congratulations to all graduates ~ and we should remember with gratitude the brave Victorian and Edwardian ladies who led the way, fought to get an education when no one thought they should, and blazed the trail for girls today!

Free Christmas Images for Last Minute Projects

I know many crafters are already in the back of their minds thinking of Valentine's Day (always a season ahead!), but as we're in the midst of this beautiful Christmas winter holiday season, here are a couple of free images for last minute tags, place cards, etc.  And don't forget we have many holiday collage sheets available for instant downloading at Lunagirl.com http://www.summertownsun.com/lunagirl/W-Lunagirl-Collage-Sheets-Holidays.htm (plus lovely cupids and hearts and romantic kisses and sweet girls in pink and red if you simply MUST think ahead!)

Christmas Children Photo Collage Sheet: Brand New & Just in Time for Holiday Cards and Crafts

I'm feeling inspired to create some new collage sheets lately. I created this one yesterday using some of the charming postcards from our Christmas New Years Photo Postcards CD.  Lane (our fabulous shipping clerk) has suggested nativity scenes, so maybe that will be next!  Click on the sample to go to CollageSheet.com to purchase and download this design.

Back to School Mid-Century Style

This young lady is ready for Back to School circa 1965.  Crisp yellow dress, matching headband and socks, saddle oxfords and a carton of whole milk.  And school started in September, not early August!

Or maybe she's dressed for the return of "Mad Men" this week!  We are mad for mid-century.  I am on a mission to find some ladies' fashions images from this era that are OK to use, but for today here is little Linda in honor of the first day of school.

Freebie Pic: Flapper Girl by a Painted Ocean

So my free image day seems to have migrated from Monday to Thursday. Maybe I can get it back to "Moon-day" but for now here is a cute flapper bathing beauty!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Erin Go Bragh

You'll find 70 St. Pat's images on our
Victorian Holidays Volume Two CD.

For commercial use: http://www.lunagirl-images.com/gallery.php?gid=58

Springtime on its way?

Aren't these two charming? We purchased them from different sources, but they are obviously a matched set! Both can be found in our Easter Photos & Postcards collection on CD.

It's not springtime yet (we had another snow last week!), but the air is full of bird calls and the light feels different. I love February for that ~ it's still wintertime, but I can feel the wheel turning toward spring. At least here in the South :-)

Moonday Free Image: Christmas Victorian Girl

A freebie to brighten your Monday! Isn't she sweet? You are welcome to print for personal non-commercial projects.