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

Some Freebies for You

Here are some postcard images I have shared in the past, and I thought this would be a good time to share them again for my
POSTCARDS & LETTERS CHALLENGE. 

Click on each for the full size ~ they are nice large scans for good clarity, and of course you can resize them smaller as needed.
Last minute inspiration for the challenge! :-)


Here's another image I wanted to share today in recognition of MLK Day celebrations. Amidst the often sad news, let's be thankful for courageous people who use non--violent civil disobedience to bring real change in the world.
I've always like this lady's smile (and her dress!) This was taken in Nebraska in 1909, and she was one of the Jubilee Singers at a local business college. I have another photo of her on this day, with the same lovely smile. I guess she is someone's great-grandmother; she is certainly an American ancestor. I'm pleased to offer a small collection of Edwardian era African-American portraits and photographs on CD ~ they're kind of hard to find.

Nebraska Lady 1909

Open at Once: Your Invitation to the Postcards & Letters Challenge!

Shelby Pizzarro: "Open at Once"

Here is a lovely tag by new Design Team member Shelby Pizzarro, to remind you that you still have several days to link up your creation in my Postcards & Letters challenge!

Don't miss the current entries and more beautiful inspiration from the Design Team... and don't miss your chance to play!

POSTCARDS & LETTERS Challenge: Second Week!

The "Postcards and Letters" theme continues... you have a whole 'nother week to link up your entry! The challenge ends on Thursday at noon, and we have several very lovely and amazing entries so far. This is a great theme that allows for much creativity, so I hope everyone will play! Your entry may win the random drawing for $15 shopping credit at Lunagirl.com, to buy new images to play with!

The Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team has created more beautiful samples to inspire you... such lovely work. Just FYI, one of our new DT members, Shelby, has been sick and couldn't take part this week, so let's all wish her well and send her good vibes.

VICKI ROMAINE

CORINNE MARIE

MICHELE STORMS

MANDY CHILVERS

Postcards & Letters Challenge Continues...

Here is another beautiful, dreamy reminder from Corinne Marie of the Design Team to enter my POSTCARDS & LETTERS creative challenge! Corinne created this gorgeous digital art with Carte Postale and Post Card ephemera layered with a beautiful vintage lady who seems lost in reverie. Perhaps she is missing someone far away, after reading a message?

Visit the challenge page to see the amazing entries so far and more inspiring work by the DT. And link up your creation for a chance to win $15 shopping credit at Lunagirl.com!

More New Digital Downloads: Vintage Postcards in Soft Antique Colors

More digital collage sheets created with vintage carte postale images and antique postcard backs!  The top one has an unusual feather quill pen design, and I added some garden butterflies to one.  They all have pretty typography.  I thought these came out really well in the soft colors: Original Shabby, Garden Green, Soft Blue, Vintage Pink.

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....

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

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

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!

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!

New Collage Sheet -- Vintage Humorous Risque Ladies

I apologize in advance for this one, but I just could not resist!  Put your big girl panties on!

Vintage Halloween Witches ~ New Collage Sheets!

I had to show off some of the new collage sheets I've been working on, just in time for Halloween crafts.  Yes, I know it's only August, but crafters tend to always be thinking one holiday ahead!  I'm crazy for Halloween witches and I hope you will enjoy these new vintage Halloween images I don't think you'll find anywhere else ~  including Art Nouveau Witches, some cool Witch Photos, unique Victorian Witches from vintage postcards and ads, Edwardian Witchery, and finally a 1920s Halloween Dance.

Check them out at Lunagirl.com.

Blog Challenge Inspiration: Using Digital Backgrounds

Here's some more gorgeous inspiration from the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team.  All of these use the digital backgrounds from Lunagirl Carte Postale digital collage sheet to achieve different effects.  Thanks, Moonbeams, as always!  I love all of these ~ some of my favorites of all your projects.  Blog readers: I hope these inspire you to take part in our digital backgrounds blog challenge!  You have until Sunday night, and you could win a $5 gift discount at Lunagirl.com!

Parisian postcard by MICHELE STORMS: "a postcard with images from carte postale, african american vintage CD and some paris images from the internet along with other little embellishments"

From PETRA BERENDSEN: a little card with digital background from Carte Postale and a couple of Lunagirl images

From VICKI ROMAINE: a card with backgrounds from Carte Postale and angel image from Lunagirl Microscope Slides #5

MICHELE STORMS created this lovely little tag with digital backgrounds and the free Lunagirl Flapper image from my last post!

Digital Art by Petra

Well, I'm finally back on the blog to bring you two more projects by Petra.  Three days of working in the heat cleaning out an old house the family has inherited ~ has worn me out!  Time for a "rest" day online.

And I'm happy to share with you two more lovely "digital backgrounds" creations by Petra Berendsen of the Design Team!

 Petra wrote:

"When I used the postcard background, I started to play adding more of your images and creating digital postcards or instant printable art. Your backgrounds and images work so perfectly together." 


Remember to please visit my digital backgrounds category at Lunagirl.com, where I will keep all my "background" digital collage sheets ON SALE for over 40% off throughout this challenge!  It's a great chance to snap up some digital resources that you can use over and over again, for printed or digital projects.

Thanks, Petra, for the inspiration!  There are truly so many ways to combine images to create projects that can be either complex or beautifully simple!

Fete Nationale (Bastille Day) July 14

You can celebrate Bastille Day, the French national holiday, with our vintage French patriotic postcards on Lunagirl Victorian Holidays Volume Three.

 Le Quatorze Juillet (the 14^th of July) commemorates the successful storming of the Bastille fortress in 1789 by French citizen-soldiers and revolutionaries.

The people of Paris, fearing an attack by the French royal military, attacked the Bastille in search of ammunition. The Bastille was a symbol of the oppressive rule of the aristocracy, because the king used the Bastille as a prison to hold people indefinitely without trial or appeal.

.

While the French aristocracy enjoyed fabulous wealth and power, common people experienced increasing difficulty supporting themselves and their families, and writers who dared to criticize the government were jailed.

We like to identify with the elegance of the French aristocratic ladies, but the fact is most of us would have had more in common with the citizens of Paris and the French countryside. 

One of the first protests beginning the French Revolution was led by mothers who had no bread to feed their families. 
A famous story (probably fiction) says that Marie Antoinette, sheltered in her world of fancy parties and powdered wigs, asked why the common people were angry. When told, “Because they are starving and have no bread,” she is said to have replied, “Well then let them eat cake.” A remark quite witty and amusing to her rich friends, but not so funny to the hungry Parisian commoners!

 Marie Antoinette was a fashionable and influential woman but apparently not a very nice queen. Although she was popular at first, her sometimes arrogant behavior and extravagant lifestyle contributed to the decline of the French monarchy. As a footnote, this woman who is often considered the epitome of 'Frenchness' was actually an Austrian princess!

We have a lovely small collection of authentic French patriotic cards on our Holidays CD #3. They were printed during World War I, when France was again in struggle. They show symbols of France including the tricolor flag and Joan of Arc, as well as French soldiers and women, with slogans that speak of faith and hope.

If you can’t get to Paris, they also celebrate Le Quatorze Juillet in the French Quarter in New Orleans!

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

New! Digital Downloads of Individual Images

I'm trying a new kind of item in my etsy shop ~ digital downloads of single images in high resolution, at very nice prices.  I have so many incredibly stunning images, especially the old Paris photo postcards, and while most of them are available on my collage sheets and CDs, I like the idea of highlighting them individually so they really stand out ~ and the idea of offering them in a larger file size so you get even better resolution and can print at larger sizes if you like (or resize small).

I hope you'll stop by my etsy shop and take a look sometime.  Maybe you'll find something to love for your next project or just for a beautiful frameable print!  Sorry about the watermarking ~ I have to do that because etsy lets you zoom the image to full size and unfortunately some people do steal sample images.  The actual images you receive of course do not have that!  And I always appreciate suggestions on what you would like to see more of...

New CD: Lunagirl Vintage Nudes

Lunagirl is pleased to offer 360 classic, tasteful vintage nude photo French postcards on CD, restored and ready to browse and print for projects.  Brand new today ~  See it here!

Many artists and crafters appreciate these beautiful antique risque images and our customers have requested a collection to use in their card making, altered art work, and other projects.

You'll find a lovely collection of vintage women, most from the Edwardian era or the 1920s Flapper era, some from the earlier Victorian styles.  The poses range from serene to sassy!  Ladies with veils, big hats, corsets, petticoats, jewelry, costumes. Some post cards have two versions, in different color tints.


Why are they called French postcards?  Many early postcards originated in France, including photographs of actresses, children, romantic ladies, and other themes, in addition to the "naughty" ladies (who were very popular with WWI soldiers!).  But the term "French postcard" eventually became associated with risqué images (most early 20th century risqué postcards originated in Paris).  These images are rather tame by today's standards but were considered quite naughty and even scandalous in their day!

Vintage Photos on Sale

Hey ~ I've got all my Vintage Photos CDs on sale today 10% off!  
I love collecting, restoring, and embellishing these old photographs and photo postcards, to offer you the very best images for your projects, and this is a great chance to save a little on these lovely collections of children and ladies.  
 Have a beautiful day!