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.

Vintage European Christmas Cards, New!

Continuing to share the new digital collage sheets I've created using vintage Christmas cards I've collected. Most of what I have are French and German, but here are some from other countries. Dutch Santa Claus on a snowy night, Czech holiday cards featuring sweet angels and children, Scandinavian Christmas cards with greetings in Danish and Swedish, and serene vintage Christmas greetings in Italian (with mostly religious themes).   Available for download 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.

Weihnacten: New Collage Sheets German Christmas

Just before Thanksgiving, I received a request for a digital collage sheet of Christmas cards from different countries. Looking through all my vintage holiday collections, I found I had many more vintage European Christmas cards than I remembered.

I ended up creating 15 new collage sheets, with greetings in French, German, Dutch, Czech, Italian, Danish and Swedish, featuring vintage Saint Nicholas, angels, children, and more. Lots of Santa Claus cards!

I'm going to share all of these over the next few days... Here to start are four collage sheets created with lovely vintage German Christmas cards: Weihnachten is the celebration of Christmas Eve in German-speaking countries. You'll find all at Lunagirl.com!

Joyeux Noel... Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas, Merry Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Season's Greetings and Winter Blessings to Everyone from Lunagirl Moonbeams! We wish you a peaceful and joyous holiday.

Thank you to Michele Storms for this charming Santa Claus Noel card -- it looks like he is on his way! And a special thanks to my whole Design Team -- Vicki Romaine, Mandy Chilvers, and Michele Storms -- for all their wonderful work. 

St Nick Challenge Winner: Tee

Such a wonderful and varied and creative celebration of Saint Nicholas in our challenge that ended today! It's time to do the random drawing to pick the winner... and the lucky winner this time is entry #3, that fabulous Santa bingo ATC by Tee!: http://creationsbytee.blogspot.com/2014/12/santa-bingo-atcs.html

Thank you to all who played this time. I really enjoyed seeing the work you shared. I hope you will all come back for the next challenge... our theme will be Winter in Pink! The Design Team has been working on some delightful creations to inspire you, and I have created three new digital collage sheets as well. The Winter in Pink challenge will take us through the end of the year all the way until January 8, so you'll have plenty of time to enter. Best wishes to you and yours in this season of joy :-)

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."

Celebrate St. Nick Challenge: Second Week

MICHELE STORMS:
Blessed St. Nick

My challenge to help us "Celebrate St. Nick" continues all this week! You have until Sunday to link up your Santa-themed creation for a chance to win the random drawing for $15 store credit at Lunagirl.com. It's fun to join in, and don't you need some new vintage imagery and ephemera for the new year?

The gallery of entries and Design Team samples so far features the jolly old fellow in many guises, in non-traditional colors as well as red and white, in many types of costumes and transportation. Here DT member Michele Storms shared a card featuring a particularly lovely old image of Santa Claus -- as kindly Saint Nicholas, the patron and protector of children. The peace dove and hearts (and that fab red and white rickrack!) complete the image perfectly.

Come see more celebrations of 
St. Nick, and join us!

St Nick Takes to the Skies!

In this card by Michele Storms, Saint Nicholas takes to the skies in the basket of an old-timey zeppelin! I told you he shows up in every way possible on these vintage Christmas cards. Michele's card is a cheery reminder to enter our challenge (and win some store credit at Lunagirl)!

Michele writes:  i've got another delightful vintage image of st nick from lunagirl.
i used some fun candy designer paper from my stash and added ribbon, a gift and a stocking die cut and a punched flower.

A merry message ...

It's starting to look pretty Christmas-y around here at the Lunagirl Moonbeams blog! Here is another beautiful tag by Mandy Chilvers to get you in the spirit of things and inspire you to enter my CELEBRATE ST. NICK challenge that is going on all this week and next. Again, I just love this vintage Santa with a nature theme, and Mandy creates the loveliest tags, doesn't she? Enjoy, and link up yours here!

Creative Challenge: CELEBRATE SAINT NICK

It's time for a new challenge, and since it's well into December let's celebrate good Old Saint Nick, shall we? I absolutely adore vintage Santa Claus pictures, and there are so many to enjoy! We have over 300 in our collection (all available on my Victorian Holidays Volume One CD, btw) and the variety is fascinating.

There are Santas in red, green, blue, white, purple, even pink. Santas in fur, in bishop's robes, in monk's robes, in fancy red suits. Santa Claus on foot, in his sleigh (of course), on horseback, in antique automobiles, hot air balloons, boats, airplanes, trains... what have I forgotten?

We can call him Santa or Saint Nicholas, Pere Noel, Father Christmas... We have plenty of pictures of St. Nick with Victorian children, and also with angels and animals. Some are funny and silly, some are dignified and elegant, some are primitive, some are quite fancy... all are just wonderful to explore and to include in card-making, scrapbooking, ornaments, and other crafts this time of year.

So, I'm  hoping to see St. Nick in every style and guise and color and costume! Need a few pictures of St Nick quick? Check out the CD above or download 110 vintage Santa pics instantly.

Here are the guidelines for this challenge:

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

Challenge ends at noon CST on December 21.

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. 

And don't miss the creations of my Design Team below, for your enjoyment and inspiration!

An InLinkz Link-up

FROM THE LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM:

The Moonbeams are using just a few of the hundreds of Santa images that are found on Lunagirl Victorian Holidays Volume One...

by MICHELE STORMS of Art from the Well
Michele has used one of my very favorite St Nick pics -- in his green suit
and looking so kindly and gentle with the deer. And I love holly and evergreens for
Christmas. Beautiful card, Michele!

by MANDY CHILVERS of Tag Along
Another favorite image of old Saint Nick! A fabulous Victorian
die cut in a white fur coat and hat, carrying a Christmas tree!
Mandy has used the die cut beautifully here, with such a
lovely snowy-looking background, just the right touch of glitter,
and even some "snowballs" at the bottom!

by VICKI ROMAINE of The Cheerful Stamppad who writes:
Today I used the Lunagirl "Freebie" for my card.  I just love this digital.  The card has a tan base and on top a rustic vintage print designer paper.  I used a couple of leftover strips from previous cutting of card to fill in the front.  Down the side on top of the strip of cardstock are three small glittery reindeer. 

A Beautiful Vintage Christmas Freebie from Lunagirl

I thought I would share a freebie with you today, one that will work for the current Holiday Children challenge and also the next challenge starting on Monday (hint: the theme features a famous "jolly old elf").

This is a much-loved image and it's easy to see why! If you love Santa images, there are over 300 vintage Santa Claus pictures on my Victorian Holidays Volume One CD ... the best variety of Santa pictures I know of... or get 100 vintage Santas by instant download!

You have until Sunday to enter the challenge. We already have several charming entries and I want to see yours too. And don't miss the beautiful Holiday Children inspiration by the Design Team :-)

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!

Antique "Xmas" Greeting from Santa?

Perfect for last minute Christmas projects, here is a lovely antique Santa Claus.  I love old Santa postcards.  He was certainly a popular subject for Victorian Christmas cards -- we have over 200 Santa images on my Lunagirl Victorian Holidays Vol 1 CD!

This particular card is especially interesting because of its greeting:
"All Xmas Joys Be Thine."

You might be surprised to see "Xmas" on an antique Victorian-era card, but actually the use of Xmas as an abbreviation for Christmas goes back to the Middle Ages.

The "X" is a CROSS and is a symbol or abbreviation for "Christ."  It's not a modern invention, and it was definitely not an attempt to "take religion out of Christmas" as some seem to believe.  It's just an old traditional abbreviation.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this lovely old image of Santa!

$5 Download Packs at Lunagirl.com and on Etsy

I'm trying something new, creating several $5 "download packs" that are available at Lunagirl.com and also in my etsy shop.  Actually I offered a couple for Halloween and Christmas last year and they were very popular, so I thought I would try some more.

So far I've created download packs Pink Roses, Red Roses, Yellow Peach and White Roses, Purple and Blue Flowers (violets, lilacs, forget-me-nots, pansies), and Bird Labels (such as Old Crow here!).  This is in addition to Christmas Santas, Christmas Children, Angels, and Halloween images.

Each one offers around 40-100 images, all full-size and excellent quality the same as on my CDs, for $5 and immediate download.  

It's a very quick and easy way to add to your Lunagirl images collection.  Instant gratification! (and easy on your wallet). 

 Come see! http://lunagirl.com/collections/downloads

New from Lunagirl: Download Packs

I'm trying a new item in our shops: "download packs" of about a hundred images on a certain theme, for $5 each (no shipping, of course).  Our first four are 110 Santa Images, 102 Angel Images, 100 Christmas Children Images, and 100 Halloween Images.  All are available in our etsy shop and also at Lunagirl.com.  After your purchase of the download pack, you will receive your jpg images by a download link in an email.  These are currently sent "by hand" so it's not necessarily instant delivery (like our digital collage sheets at Lunagirl.com) but we're pretty quick!

Visit our download pack page at Lunagirl.com, or our etsy shop.  The first four sets have been quite popular, so watch for more on the way!

 

 

Free Santa Picture ... and a little history

A nice old Santa Claus!  This card is interesting because of its greeting: "All Xmas Joys Be Thine."

You might be surprised to see "Xmas" on an antique Victorian-era card, but actually the use of Xmas as an abbreviation for Christmas goes back to the Middle Ages.

The "X" is a cross and stands for "Christ."  It's not modern, and it's not an attempt to "take religion out of Christmas" as some seem to believe.  It's just an old abbreviation.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this lovely old image of Santa!

Blue Christmas! Digital Collage Sheets

Two new digital collage sheets to download... I'll have a blue Christmas without you.... something different, pretty holiday in images in shades of blue!  BLUE CHRISTMAS featuring Santa Claus and Christmas angels, and BLUE NOEL with lovely madonnas/nativities, little girls, wreaths and flowers.  Enjoy them for beautiful, unique holiday cards, tags, invitations...

Christmas Card Arrives 93 Years Later

A Christmas card mailed on December 23, 1914 (same design as the one shown here, from our Victorian Holidays collection) was delivered this week in Oberlin, Kansas!

The Santa Claus postcard was originally mailed with a one-cent postage stamp to the (now deceased) Ethel Martin from her cousins in Nebraska. No one knows where it spent the past 93 years, but it finally arrived in perfect condition, at the home of Ethel’s sister-in-law Bernice Martin.