Joyeux Noel: New Digital Collage Sheets

Here is the last post of new digital collage sheets with vintage European Christmas cards. These are more French holiday postcards... Beautiful angels, some nativity scenes, Christmas children, and of course Santa Claus! The last sheet here is created with antique photo postcards ~ a little girl and a little angel with their vintage Christmas trees, playful children to wish you joyful NOEL, and even a romantic couple in Victorian / Edwardian dress.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed creating them! And I hope you'll go see these and all of my Christmas / Winter / and New Year images and digital collage sheets at Lunagirl.com.

Vive Saint Nicolas!

And here are two more new digital collage sheets created with vintage Christmas cards from Europe. These celebrate Saint Nick... The first is all vintage French postcards depicting St. Nicolas in the colorful coat and "Santa Claus hat" ... the second collage sheet is created with two French cards and two Dutch cards, each greeting St. Nicolas / St. Nikolaas in his traditional bishop's hat and religious robes. More to come! Find everything at Lunagirl.com :-)

New Collage Sheets: Vintage French Santa Claus

Here are two more of my newly created digital collage sheets for this Christmas season. These feature French cards celebrating Santa Claus ... Pere Noel ... St. Nicholas ... Joyeux Noel! All available at Lunagirl.com.

April Fools and Aphrodite

An old post, but I thought I would share this again! ...

I have quite a few "Avril" postcards that feature people holding fish! Little girls, ladies, even couples with big fish. What's with the fish on these old French cards?

In France, the victim of an April Fool's Day prank is called a "poisson d'avril," an April fish (which refers to a young fish easily caught!) But that's not the whole explanation...

April is named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and fertility. The fish is one symbol of Aphrodite, who was born of the sea. While she is called the Love goddess, her domain is more accurately described as the sensual passion and romantic attraction that draws couples together. She doesn't care if it makes good sense or ruins your life, she just wants you to hook up! Think how sly Aphrodite uses desire and passion to "trick" creatures into love or at least lust and fertility and thereafter a lot of work and trouble! Nothing can make a fool out of you faster than love and lust. In the Greek myths Aphrodite is one capricious and "tricky" goddess.

For many centuries, in many cultures, this time of year has been associated with celebrations of frivolity, lightheartedness, and sometimes pranks. (The Romans had a festival called Hilaria around the end of March.) The coming of spring after the long months of winter brings out our pent-up energy and silliness, and we need a day to let it out! Spring fever, I know it well. Spring is also when Aphrodite goes wild in nature, as birds and bees get busy :-)

April 1 was the beginning of the New Year in some places in old Europe (right around the beginning of Spring), and that transition day from the old year to the new was frequently a time when the usual rules didn't apply and the world went topsy-turvy. Much of the tomfoolery associated with April Fool's Day could be attributed to this. Ancient customs allowed a few days when people could break the rules and get a little crazy, maybe to let off steam. Pretty wise, if you ask me.

This year April Fool's Day falls on a Friday, which makes it extra powerful! Because Friday is named for Freya, the Norse goddess of fertility who is another face of Aphrodite. Enjoy a little "Spring Fever" tomorrow!

"The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year."- Mark Twain

Join Our Creative Challenge: MARIE ANTOINETTE

Our theme this time is "Marie Antoinette" ~ and this is another "double" challenge with Vicki Romaine's challenge blog, cheerfulstamppad.blogspot.com. Our Design Teams will be guest designers for each other's blogs... and you can link up your creation on BOTH sites for double chances to win!

I can't wait to see what you create ~ link up your entries below. And I know you'll enjoy the Design Team and Guest Designer creations. At Lunagirl.com shop you'll find Marie Antoinette collage sheets for inspiration, plus plenty of other vintage French-inspired images!

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES:

Any craft or medium is welcome!

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

Challenge ends at 2:00 pm CST on Thursday, July 16.

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, and enjoy vintage style. 

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM + GUEST DESIGNERS

HAZEL HARRIS My Crafty Outlook 

KARLA BADANZA Poetic Postcards "For the first week of Marie Antoinette, I made a card using an image kindly supplied by our sponsor Lunagirl and it is called Queen Marie Antoinette in Gilt Frames. It is such a vintage beauty! I layered it on a scrapbook paper and on a blue cardstock. I also added some decorating paste flowers and pearls. When I think of Marie Antoinette, refinement and graceful approach to life crosses my mind and those things are still important. Have a creative weekend! Hope you continue playing along with us!"

VICKI ROMAINE, owner of Cheerful Stamp Pad 
"A Mixed Media Tag using one book page, watercolor diecut,, stickers and Lunagirl image.My tag also has a beautiful cut from a old card and some text scribble."

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

BARBARA GODDEN Barb's Creative Corner 

MICHELE STORMS Art From the Well  "a tag, images from marie, dreams of paris and winds and roses collage sheets.
enjoy!  happy 4th!"

Paris Botanical Tags Set: Ephemera, Flowers & Fruit

Still working on Paris Botanical tags today... I made another sheet with yellow flowers and golden fruit. Very pretty! While I was at it I realized I should make a sheet of matching tags that are mostly blank and have a place to write -- to use as backs or just to complete the set. So here is the whole set so far... expect more tags in different themes because I'm having fun with these!

More French Botanical Tags... and a Surprise Just for You

Here's another new printable tag sheet ... 

more beautiful botanical prints of flowers and fruit, in gorgeous shabby purple and green, plus lovely vintage aged pages from the French journal Horticole. 

I had so much fun with these, and I hope you will too! I love these colors and the French text.

Here's another little something fun: a discount code just for my blog readers! Use discount code PURPLEPARIS at checkout at Lunagirl.com for 25% off every item until Monday ... just for you!  

Really I just want to see who is listening :-)

NEW Paris Botanical Tags Printable

More new tags!

These are created with pages from a beautiful old French horticulture journal and pretty antique botanical prints of cherries, strawberries, little red flowers and pink lilies. They have a lovely aged sepia color, from the antique paper, and charming French text.

I call this sheet Paris Botanical Tags: Pink & Red Florals. I plan more sheets in this style in other colors (yellow/gold, blue/purple) and other fruit like grapes, apples, pears... I love working with these images.

This first one is available now at Lunagirl.

French Fan Scrap

I've been running around all morning, and now at noon-thirty I'm finally sitting down with a cup of coffee to do some work.  Today I'm drinking Community Coffee from Louisiana with chicory (traditional in New Orleans) and that reminded me of this pretty scrap in the shape of a Victorian fan, from a French chicory manufacturer.  Scrapbooks were popular during the Victorian era, and companies gave away these collectible pieces of ephemera as advertising. I thought someone might need it for my Victorian Flowers & Fans challenge?  (hint hint wink...)

Vintage Postcards Ephemera Downloads NEW!

I've been busy creating digital collage sheets with vintage postcards and French carte postale scans, because I think the backs of the postcards in my collection are often just as pretty as the fronts!

In the past I've offered some of the cards with antique handwriting, in English and French, and I wanted to do a collection of the blank cards because they are perfect for so many projects.  And they are lots of fun for me to work with as well!

This is the first set, which I have kept very simple.  The top card is very unusual, with an nature scene illustration and art deco type design.  Then there is a French card and a one in English.  I've offered all three cards in a large and small size, plus a little bonus of just the pretty "post card" titles.

Just for fun, I also did this set in several colors!  
Pink, Indigo Blue, Lilac Purple, Soft Peach, and Spring Green.  Check them all out, and watch for more vintage postcard collage sheets coming very soon....

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.

April Fool, April Fish?

I have quite a few "Avril" postcards that feature people holding fish! Little girls, ladies, even couples with big fish. What's with the fish on these old French cards?

In France, the victim of an April Fool's Day prank is called a "poisson d'avril," an April fish (which refers to a young fish easily caught!) 

Why is April 1st a day for fools and foolishness? Nobody seems to know for sure. There are stories about the change of calendars in the 1500s, but they don't hold up well because April Fool's celebrations existed before that time. Some people connect it to the unpredictability of weather and nature at this time of year. 

We do know that for many centuries, in many cultures, this time of year has been associated with celebrations of frivolity, lightheartedness, and sometimes pranks. (The Romans had a festival called Hilaria around the end of March.) Maybe it's just that the coming of spring after the long months of winter brings out our pent-up energy and silliness, and we need a day to let it out! Spring fever, I know it well.

April is named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and fertility. The fish is one symbol of Aphrodite, who was born of the sea. While she is called the Love goddess, her domain is more accurately described as the sensual passion and romantic attraction that draws couples together. She doesn't care if it makes good sense or ruins your life, she just wants you to hook up! Think how sly Aphrodite uses desire and passion to "trick" creatures into love or at least lust and fertility and a lot of work and trouble! Nothing can make a fool out of you faster than love and lust. In the Greek myths Aphrodite is one capricious and "tricky" goddess.

April 1 was the beginning of the New Year in some places in old Europe (right around the beginning of Spring), and that transition day from the old year to the new was frequently a time when the usual rules didn't apply and the world went topsy-turvy. Much of the tomfoolery associated with April Fool's Day could be attributed to this. Ancient customs allowed a few days when people could break the rules and get a little crazy, maybe to let off steam. Pretty wise, if you ask me.

"The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year."- Mark Twain

Friday Freebies: Paris Boulevard Ephemera

Here's a Friday Freebie "just because."  It's an antique French advertisement for a diamond shop in Paris, and does have some Vintage Red for the challenge! (There's still time to enter!)  I like the hot air balloon picture and the little crown and diamond rings, but I think my favorite part of this image is all the different vintage-style fonts.

Boulevard des Italiens is one of the four grand boulevards in Paris. Also just for fun, here is an old photo postcard of Boulevard des Italiens!

New Collage Sheet: Memories of Paris

I wish I had made this in time for the recent "Meet Me in Paris" challenge, but better late than never, right? Here is another Paris themed digital collage sheet, this one with lovely old tinted travel postcards of landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe d'Etoile, plus some inchies and a romantic French couple. I call it "Memories of Paris."  I have a whole pile of these pretty old cards... I hope you will enjoy using a few.  Click the picture to see it in my shop!

Meet Me in Paris: There's Still Time!

Entries for the Meet Me in Paris challenge are shaping up nicely ~ and you still have one more day to enter! 

I've been sick since Thursday so I haven't been posting this week (can't believe I got sick twice this winter already) but I wanted to pop in for a quick challenge reminder.

Here's an Ooh-La-La girl from a French postcard. Make of her expression what you will. :-)

Meet Me in Paris! (until Sunday...)

 Here's a reminder from Lunagirl and the Moonbeams Design Team that the Meet Me in Paris blog challenge continues until Sunday noon!

Link up your Paris-themed creation to enter the random drawing to win $10 credit at Lunagirl.com.  Use a Lunagirl image in your entry for double chances to win!  Click here for details and to see the gallery of entries so far ~ they are lovely and romantic.

Here is more inspiration from the DT!

<<< Petra Berendsen created this pretty tag in shades of pink and green:  "My second project is finished, I used another fabulous image from the Meet Me in Paris collage sheet. This time I combined it with lots of stamping, fabric, lace and ribbon. Every time I use your images it is just amazing how they work with whatever technique you use and you can use them to achieve lots of styles as well. This is great."

VICKI ROMAINE:

I combined some Lunagirl images to make a collage card.

From MANDY CHILVERS

New Blog Challenge! "Meet Me in Paris"

Welcome to Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenge #19!  

Our theme is "Meet Me in Paris."

Enjoy the samples from the Moonbeams Design Team below, for your inspiration!  The DT will be working with images from some of my French-themed and French ephemera collage sheets from Lunagirl Images.

GUIDELINES:
This challenge (#98) will end at Noon (Central Time) on January 26.

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, starting with this challenge, 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! 



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

This card by Vicki Romaine is so creative ~ I love the way she has layered the images to create a scene, and that she used a silhouette of the man with the umbrella.

Vicki writes:
"I decided to do this card with having the man with the umbrella looking at the Lunagirl French poster as if he were visiting in Paris and trying to decide what to do.  The background uses some scrap pieces of cardstock while the  image is on gold cardstock to make it pop."

A wonderfully romantic Paris creation by Petra Berendsen!

Ooh lala, indeed!

From Petra:

"I started to work on the new project straight away and created a digital postcard using images from various of your collage sheets: Meet Me in Paris, Children with Flowers, Carte Postale 2 and an image of a couple. I thought they match perfectly!"

 

Feast your eyes on this lovely Paris memento by Michele Storms...

...and this Meet Me in Paris tag by Mandy Chilvers. 
I think this young lady has what is called a "come hither look"!

Let us see your "Meet Me in Paris" creations... 

be sure to enter the challenge!

Starry Night Noel and Merry Blue Santa :-)

Here is a beautiful silvery and blue Noel tag by Moonbeam Vicki Romaine, who writes: "Very subtle tag.  Lunagirl's image of Mary and baby Jesus. (altered)"

The Madonna and Child image is an image from an antique French postcard that I tinted and altered for my Blue Noel collage sheet.  Vicki has put it on a blue tag background with silver stars and lacy silver ribbon.

 And here from Michele Storms is another take on Blue Christmas -- a jolly Father Christmas in blue, bringing a festive Christmas tree and plenty of toys, on a very merry background, embellished with a happy daisy. 



Merry Christmas to all -- enjoy the remaining days of 2013 crafting and join our Blue Christmas challenge to win $10 credit at Lunagirl.com for new digital images for 2014!

Autumn Inspiration by Michele

I'm pleased to have such a great response to the "Autumn"-themed challenge.  Twenty entries so far, and still a week to go!

You can link up your entry all the way until midday Sunday (US Central Time), so there is still plenty of time to join in.  It's fun, and you'll have a chance to win two free Lunagirl digital collage sheets of your choosing.  I've decided to choose TWO winners this week, so your chances just doubled!

To inspire you, here is another lovely creation from the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team.  A beautiful goddess/girl with flowers in her hair and leaves swirling around her, pretty papers, golden flowers, an orange poppy, a sweet sentiment, and more, come together in this beautiful perfectly autumnal tag by Michele Storms.

The autumn goddess image is from my Lunagirl Mucha 1 collage sheet, and the stamps are from Rogue Redhead Designs.

Free, for Inspiration, a new tag

I've started playing around with my French botanical prints and "Revue Horticole" pages and other old ephemera, and thought I would share one of the tags I created yesterday.  I just love these colors.

This would be perfect to incorporate into a project for the Seed Packs Vintage Garden blog challenge (hint, nudge, wink).

You are welcome to use this for personal non-commercial use.  I do ask that if you publish something using it on a blog website magazine etc., that you please credit and link Lunagirl Images.

Thanks!

~ Karen