More Steampunk!

Michele Storms Art From The Well

See you over at the challenge!

Card Makin' Mamas Vintage Shabby Chic Challenge!

Lunagirl is sponsoring a fabulous "Ooh La La VINTAGE or SHABBY CHIC" theme at the blog Card Makin Mamas!  For this challenge they are looking for  vintage elements, ephemera, antique colors or shabby chic distress, lace findings and feminine antique colors. A perfect fit for Lunagirl...

If you haven't visited this fun site, here's your chance to find a new challenge blog and take part in their Vintage theme this week! I'm proud to be sponsoring them for the first time and would love to see some Moonbeams regulars over there. They already have several very nice entries. The Design Team is working with some of my "Shabby" color themed collage sheets, although I think ANY of my Lunagirl designs would work great for this theme.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to come back on Monday for the second week of my AUTUMN challenge.

Don't Miss Mandy's TAG ALONG Blog

I am pleased and honored to be sponsoring a VINTAGE themed challenge over at Tag Along this week. I am especially honored to sponsor this week for Tag Along's one year anniversary!

Tag Along is a blog just for tags, and it's created by our own Mandy Chilvers of the Moonbeams Design Team. Today it's one year old and going strong. Congrats, Mandy!

Mandy has some great themes -- last week was Bees, and the bee-themed tags were wonderful!

If you love tags like I do, you'll want to hop on over there and check out Tag Along. Join in the "Vintage Inspired" challenge this week (for a chance to win four Lunagirl collage sheets) and come back for a new tag challenge every Thursday.

Vintage Beach Girls at Lunagirl & Boys at Play at DSC

Hi all! Don't forget to enter my Vintage Seashore challenge with your own Bathing Beauty!  Here is a lovely tag by Michele Storms to inspire you!

If you hurry, you can enter your creation in the Beach challenge over at DigitallySweet as well (use at least one digital image or element -- Lunagirl has plenty of vintage bathing beauties you can download instantly).  DSC's Beach challenge ends tomorrow -- so sorry I didn't notice it sooner to tell you before now.

Also I'll be sponsoring the new DSC challenge tomorrow -- Boys at Play -- a great theme. Go see the really wonderful DT samples over there and join in to win.

This vintage beach girl tag is so cute.  We have some really charming entries already -- can't wait to see yours!  Link up your bathing beauty for a chance to win some store credit at Lunagirl.com.  Challenge continues all this week until July 20.

Vintage Gothic Reminder

One last reminder to enter my VINTAGE GOTHIC blog challenge! Don't miss your chance to win the drawing for $10 credit at Lunagirl.com -- pick some new digital collage sheets to play with, or get any of my image collections at a really nice price!

For inspiration, enjoy this lovely tag by Mandy Chilvers -- another fabulously gothic vintage lady.  Mandy shows us that gothic can still be colorful!

Check out the other entries here, and link up your own. You have until Sunday noon CST :-)

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

Four More Days of Vintage Red

Here is a beautiful reminder from DT member Vicki Romaine, that you still have time to enter the Vintage Red blog challenge!

Any medium is welcome, on the theme of Vintage Red, and linking up your piece enters you in the drawing to win $10 gift credit at Lunagirl.com.
(Use at least one Lunagirl image and receive two entries in the drawing!)


Vicki: "I made a red collage card using a number of Lunagirl images as well as the red background image. Trims were made with border punches."

Beautiful work, Vicki -- see more sample pieces from the Lunagirl Moonbeams DT and link up your own work here.

Warming Up the Winter with VINTAGE RED

My Vintage Red challenge is warming up the cold days for me, with all the gorgeous shades of red, and taking us from Valentine's Day right into Spring just I had hoped!  I know it's not Spring for awhile yet, but all these pretty flowers and cheerful birds have me dreaming.  Here are more beautiful pieces by the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team to inspire your own dreamin' and schemin'.  Remember to link up your own Vintage Red project (any medium) for a chance to win $10 credit at Lunagirl.com in the drawing on Sunday!  I can't wait to see more beautiful red.

Heart Ornament by PETRA BERENDSEN:
My second project is a little wooden heart which I altered with paint and lots of sanding and a wonderful image from your Red collage sheet.

Lotus Lady Tag by MICHELE STORMS

Two ATCs by MANDY CHILVERS using "Red" images.

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."

Happy New Year from Lunagirl & the Moonbeams DT!

Happy New Year to All! 

Here is more "Vintage Winter" inspiration from the DT!

MICHELE STORMS

VICKI ROMAINE:

"This reminds me of a Currier & Ives image. 
I put glitter on the snow to give it some bling."

First Blog Challenge of the New Year: Vintage Winter & Happy New Year

The first Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenge for 2014 will be Vintage Winter / Vintage New Year.

Don't miss the samples from the Moonbeams Design Team below, for your inspiration!  The DT will be working with images from my Winter Fun digital collage sheet and Christmas Children digital collage sheet (many pictures of children in the snow are also on Lunagirl Christmas New Year Photos CD ~ currently on sale!).


GUIDELINES:
This challenge (#18) will end at Noon (Central Time) on January 12.

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!

Below are "Vintage Winter" projects shared with us by the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team.  They have all done a lovely job of combining the Lunagirl images with papers and elements.  

PETRA BERENDSEN: Birthday wishes!
"For the next challenge: Vintage Winter I created a Winter themed card with lots of distressed edges
and one of your adorable images from the Christmas Children 1 collage sheet."

MICHELE STORMS: Happy New Year!

MANDY CHILVERS: What a sweet bunch!

VICKI ROMAINE:  Whee! and more Birthday wishes

"I used a great Lunagirl image for a winter card.  The card itself is embossed with snowflakes and a variety of snowflakes were cut with die.  I know the children are having fun-therefore the sentiment.  I have made this into a birthday card for one of my friends whose birthday is Jan 1."  

New Blog Challenge: Retro Gals!

Our Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenge #15 is RETRO GALS!

Have fun with images of retro women and girls, 1950s housewives, vintage cooks, retro moms, even pin up girls -- all ladies of the 30s, 40s, 50s, even 60s and 70s.  Somehow this fits with Thanksgiving for me -- domestic goddesses and kitchen divas!

You'll find some here, along with other retro style ephemera:  http://lunagirl.com/collections/digital-collage-sheets-retro-40s-50s

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

GUIDELINES:
This challenge (#15) will end at Noon (Central Time) on December 1 (can't believe it's almost December!).

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

Don your sweater set and pearls and get cookin'! 

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! And here are some of their "Retro Gals"!

Mandy Chilvers starts us off right with two ATCs she has created with flirty pin up girls!  Oh my, what would the housewife in the sweater set and pearls say about this?  You never know!  We all have our sassy side, don't we?

And here is a rather nervous (excited?) looking pie baker by Michele Storms!

We're off to a good start with our Retro Gals!












From Petra Berendsen, I love these three cards below! Humor is essential this busy time of year!
Petra writes:  "For the current challenge I created three mini cards with images from the Retro Housewives collage sheet. I kept it very easy adding some background from an old calendar and a housewife quote I found on the web to each one of them."

 

Here is another Retro card from Vicki Romaine!

"The Lunagirl image is placed on a retro-looking piece of designer paper.  The cards from the past were fairly plain and simple.  However, I used a bow to accent my card"

 

Vintage Witch tag by Michele Storms

The little witch with her owl is foretelling your future -- you will create some wonderful witchery and link to the Lunagirl Moonbeams Witchery blog challenge!  Look into her eyes -- you will obey!

Sorry about that silliness. But a big thank you to Moonbeams DT member Michele Storms for this fabulous Vintage Witch tag all in orange and black and sepia.

New: Garden Vegetable & French Flowers Seed Packs Collage Sheets

I've spent the last couple of days creating some brand new seed packs collage sheets (just in time for my next blog challenge).   First of all I have three new collage sheets featuring images from my collection of wonderful old Card Seed Company vegetable seed packets.  One of them is 1x2 domino/tile size.

I love the retro artwork on these, and there's a story behind them.  The company closed down long ago, but several sets of unused packets were found in an old barn years later.  From what I can tell I have one of the few complete sets in existence.  The full set of 80 stone lithographic prints, restored and color enhanced, is on my Antique Seed Pack Lithographs CD, in the best image quality available anywhere!

The other two new sheets are completely new. I created them using French flower seed packets I collected from France a few years ago.  I finally got around to scanning some of them!  I have several dozen more flower packets plus just as many French vegetable garden seed packets, so there may be more to come in this style.

Click the sample pics to see the full size collage sheets at Lunagirl.com.

The new blog challenge will start on Monday... in the meantime, it's everything Alice in our Alice in Wonderland blog challenge!  Hope you'll play!

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.

Edwardian Beauty Miss Lily Elsie

You may recognize Lily Elsie as one of our very favorite "Lunagirl" ladies ~ in fact, the lady in our blog banner. She is certainly one of the most beautiful women in our photo postcard collection, and was a prolific and talented actress in Edwardian musical comedies.

She was born Elsie Hodder in 1886 in West Yorkshire, England, the daughter of a dress-maker who operated a lodging-house. When her mother married theater worker William Thomas Cotton in 1891, Elsie became Elsie Cotton.

Despite being painfully shy, "Little Elsie" was a star in the British theater from early childhood, landing title roles on the London stage by age 10. By age 20 she had,appeared in 14 shows. Her anxiety and stage fright combined with the heavy touring schedule she adopted from an early age would lead to bouts of exhaustion throughout her life. From about 1900, she adopted the stage name "Lily Elsie".

Elsie acted in several Edwardian musical comedies before her great success in "The Merry Widow," opening in 1907. "The Merry Widow" was a huge hit, making Miss Lily Elsie a star (and launching a fad for the plumed hats she wore in the play!) Elsie appeared in another 16 shows, garnering continuous praise. One critic wrote "...it gave great pleasure merely to see her walk across the stage."

Admired for her beauty and charm, Elsie became one of the most photographed women of Edwardian times. Her image was much in demand by advertisers and for postcards. An Atlanta newspaper wrote, "Everyone agrees that Lily Elsie has the most kissable mouth in all England." The famous costume designer Lucile described her as "a girl who had both beauty and intelligence."

Elsie married the son of a wealthy textile merchant and left the stage, exhausted. She returned in 1916 and 1917 but then retired again, this time to the English countryside. She was easily stressed by touring, but starred in new productions in the late 1920s, always to good reviews. She also had small roles in two early motion pictures.

Unfortunately her marriage was unhappy and ended in 1930. She became reclusive and suffered from various ailments both physical and psychological through much of the rest of her life, and died in 1962 at age 76 in London.  A lovely, talented, and sensitive lady with such pretty eyes ~ we hope she experienced joy as well as sadness in her life.

Printable Tags from Lunagirl

Great for holiday gifts ~ Print it yourself!

Print our Lunagirl tags whenever you need them onto the papers of your choice.  Available only at Lunagirl.com.

Each sheet is a high-resolution jpg image to download and save so that you can print more copies whenever you need them, onto fine papers, card stock, etc.

These are perfect to add to wrapped gifts, attach to gift baskets or baked goodies for giving, use to create place cards or invitations ... a lovely personal vintage touch for your Christmas. They're also fun for scrapbooks and card making! PURCHASE THEM HERE

Did you know...... about Lunagirl's gift shop?

You can buy Lunagirl shirts, sweatshirts, other clothing, tote bags, baby items, mugs, journals and more by visiting our Lunagirl Shop. Featuring a variety of Victorian Edwardian and vintage images: Halloween and Christmas pictures, antique advertising labels, women, men, fairies and angels, flowers, animals and birds, antique trains and planes, fantasy and steampunk, even beautiful paintings by Van Gogh, Bouguereau and Waterhouse.  And it's at Cafepress, which has all kinds of discount offers and specials this time of year (and throughout the year, really).  Last but not least, you'll also find Lunagirl Calendars for 2012!

Between the Worlds Part Two

The Celts experienced the natural and supernatural as existing in very close proximity to each other, and it can be said that on the eve of Samhain -- a potent juncture or break in normal time -- they existed within each other.  Indeed, it was long believed that a child born on this night will have "double sight"; that is, he or she will be able to perceive and communicate with the Otherworld.  It was believed that at each transitional festival the Otherworld was temporarily upset.  As the juncture between the old and new year, Halloween brought a complete upheaval, and all the inhabitants of the other world were free for the night to work weal or woe on any humans they encountered.

This was the night when the usual boundaries between the dead and the living, the dark and the light, the spiritual realm and the natural world, were transcended.  As Christianity moved into the British Isles and Ireland it continued its time-honored policy of incorporating pagan holidays into the Christian calendar, and Samhain, the "festival of the dead," was redesignated All Saint's Day, in memory of the blessed dead.  Although filtered through Christianity, the traditional customs and beliefs survived in the celebration of All Hallow's Eve, or Hallowe'en.  (The word "hallow" derives from the Middle English halve, meaning "saint.")

The celebration of Halloween was not widespread in the United States until the 1840s, when great waves of Irish immigrants arrived...    bringing the ancient Halloween traditions with them.

The beliefs and customs that surround Halloween today, and the images associated with it in our minds, have their roots in the old Irish/Scottish Celtic festival. 

Everyone knows that Halloween is the night when ghosts and skeletons and all sorts of mischievous spirits and terrifying creatures come out to roam freely for a night in the world of humans!   The ancient Celts, and probably some of our not-so-ancient Victorian ancestors, believed that on Halloween the spirits of the dead roamed the land of the living.  The prehistoric burial mounds, the sidhs in Ireland, opened up and their inhabitants tried to lure the living to join them.  According to some accounts, the spirits came out of the Cave of Cruachan in Connaught, called the gate of hell, accompanied by copper-colored birds who killed farm animals and stole babies and brides.

The Little Folk

This was also the night on which the faeries were most powerful.  In Irish folktales Halloween seems to be by far the most popular time for the abduction and bewitching of humans by these "little people."   Those who had been taken away to fairyland could be rescued on the next Halloween by reciting a special spell or prayer as the fairies made their procession.   Sir Walter Scott reported the belief that if a person circles a fairy hill nine times, counterclockwise, alone on Halloween, a door will open by which he can enter the fairy's abode. The Victorian vision of fairies was a bit darker than ours tends to be, and they were often associated with Halloween.  In addition to sweet flower fairies, the Victorian Faeries or Fae included mischievous, impish creatures as well.

Trick-or-Treating

The most popular way of celebrating Halloween in the United States seems to be playing the part of the supernatural beings supposed to walk the earth on this night -- by dressing as spooks who go from house to house demanding sacrificial treats, and by playing pranks!   There are numerous explanations as to how "trick-or-treating" originated.  The Druids (priests of the Celts) wore masks at their Samhain rituals to represent the spirits of the dead.   Masks and costumes today are sometimes interpreted as a means of avoiding recognition by the spirits rather than a means of imitating them.  In Scotland, some "guisers," as they were called, blackened their faces instead of wearing masks.  This recalls the customs of blackening one's face with the ashes of the All Hallow's fires for protection and good fortune.

Masks are part of sacred and magical rituals the world over.
Psychologically, masks and disguises can lessen inhibitions and give the wearer a sense of freedom and relaxation from usual social restrictions -- often a healthy and harmless break from our day-to-day lives.   

Perhaps wearing costumes serves the purpose of letting us defy temporarily the boundaries of our everyday lives and "be someone else," perhaps act out parts of ourselves that we normally keep hidden. And so normally mild-mannered moms dress as exotic gypsy girls and ethereal mermaids and sexy witches -- or scary ones -- and children for a night are princesses and superheroes. Why then do some of us dress as werewolves and vampires and big scary monsters?  One wonders what Freud would say.......... but it's probably all in fun!

Some say the original purpose of trick-or-treating was to gather food and money for the All Hallow's feast.  It has also been linked with "mumming," a custom practiced on other seasonal holidays as well, especially Yule (later Christmas), another ancient new year's celebration.

"Mumming" was a seasonal tradition in England and other parts of Europe, in which men donned masks and went from house to house demanding or begging for food.  Although often fun and humorous, it was surrounded by a mystical and magical air, and performed a seasonal holidays such as Yuletide.

Yule

Yule, the Winter Solstice and longest night of the year, is the new year festival of another seasonal calendar, based on the solar equinoxes and solstices.  The two calendars were eventually combined, and it is easy to see how some Yule customs could have become associated also with Halloween.

An interesting account from West Virginia reports that trick-or-treating began as "Belsnickling," a Christmas custom brought to the area by Pennsylvania Germans in the 1700s.  On Christmas Eve groups went about in disguise from house to house.  They knocked on the door, and when asked, "Who is it?" the leader replied, "Old Belsnickle."  After being invited in, anyone correctly identified behind their disguise had to do a "trick" -- sing a song, perform a dance, etc.  If no one was identified, the whole bunch was treated with food and drink.  (Of course, they were all treated anyway, no matter what happened!)  This custom is most probably a survival of mumming.  According to this account, Belsnickling was later adapted to Halloween and soon spread all over the country; the meaning of the world "trick," however, came to be a prank rather than some clever act.  (source: Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians, by Patrick W. Gainer, Seneca Books)

TO BE CONTINUED...

© 1983, 2005, all rights reserved. 
This article is an original work of authorship protected under copyright law, and it may not be copied in whole or in part without permission of the author and copyright holder. 

STAY TURNED FOR PART THREE -- all about jack-o-lanterns and bonfires and divination customs...