BLOG CHALLENGE: STEAMPUNK GIRLS

Here's our next Lunagirl blog challenge ~ 
Steampunk Girls: Ready for Adventure!

For suitable steampunk imagery, please visit my Steampunk digital collage sheets page at Lunagirl.com, where I will keep all these ON SALE throughout this challenge! 

You might also be interested in this old post What is Steampunk? for ideas and inspiration.

The Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team have already created some stellar projects featuring some outstanding young ladies in the steampunk spirit!  (see them below)
 
This challenge (#7) will end at 11:55 pm on August 11 ~  The winner will be selected randomly (random number generator) to win the $5 discount coupon for Lunagirl.com.

Be creative but stick to the theme,
Any craft or medium is OK,
No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, and
Please link back to my blog and/or Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.
 
Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl product, but that's not a requirement!
Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage.

An InLinkz Link-up

Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team:

 VICKI ROMAINE:
"I really enjoyed making this steampunk card.  I put a little bit of everything on it.  Look closely you will see 6 images from Lunagirl and a piece of a background image, some burlap, a piece of rope, and of course a bling embellishment.  I had that piece of background paper on my desk from a previous project-now it is gone, a scrap of rope was there too-now it is gone.  The burlap is half of a piece I had on my table.  This is the way to clean your craft room!   I wish."

 MICHELE STORMS:
"i used the steampunk girls sheet, the carte postale (i'm getting a lot of use out of that sheet!) and fly away home (yeah, i'm finding myself using that a lot also!).  i also used some fun vintage advertising paper i already had along with tissue tape, a clock sticker and a brad to enhance the steampunk feel.  love this challenge theme!"

Winner of Digital Backgrounds Challenge...

So I told the randomizer to pick a number between 1 and 5, and the winner of the Using Digital Backgrounds Challenge is ...
 entry #3 by WendyLynn's Paper Whims!

Wendy, please email me at info@lunagirl.com to claim your $5 coupon for Lunagirl.com!

Everyone please check in later day for the next challenge announcement: Steampunk Girls.

Digital Background Card by Vicki

Just today and tomorrow left to enter the digital backgrounds blog challenge!  So far we have only four entries, so your odds of winning are pretty good!  Everything seems kind of slow lately, and I think maybe alot of people are on vacation.

Vicki has been busy creating another beautiful card with digital backgrounds, however.  Thank you, Vicki, as always!  Very pretty.  You can check out Vicki's blog challenges at The Cheerful Stamppad.

Vicki writes:  "On this card I used as a mat to my card the blue Lunagirl background that was highlighted in a recent post plus a Lunagirl image.  I accented the image with some flowers and flourish  and the sentiment which is not very obvious as it is an acrylic embellishment."

Win my sponsor prize at Artful Gathering online!

Hop on over to Artful Gathering 2013 to find some fabulous online workshops for mixed media artists, and be sure to visit my sponsor page to get entered in the drawing for my raffle prize below!

UPDATE: Hearty congratulations to Sharon Borsavage, who won this raffle prize!!

Free Digital Backgrounds created by Lunagirl

We've been featuring the Carte Postale digital backgrounds in most of the Design Team projects, along with a couple of Antique Adverts digital backgrounds, so today I'm spotlighting a different type of digital background I have available.  The freebies below are examples of digital backgrounds I have created from Victorian / Art Nouveau wallpaper patterns!  Two of my favorite colors, and I always love gardens and birds. You can find many more such patterned backgrounds on my collage sheets page at Lunagirl.com.

These digital backgrounds are my altered creations, so if you use them please remember to credit Lunagirl and link back to my site above, but I am happy to share in hopes of inspiring you!  These are nice large images that you can crop, enlarge, or reduce in size as needed.  They are lovely as backgrounds for cards, scrapbooking, and mixed media, and also very pretty for creating jewelry charms.  ~ Karen

Freebie Digital Background: French Postcard with Fancy Writing

Here is another digital image created from an antique French postcard (mailed from Brussels actually, in 1913) ~ this one with beautiful antique handwriting in French ~ my gift to my blog readers in hopes of inspiring you to enter the Digital Backgrounds blog challenge!

Enjoy! ~ Karen

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!

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!

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!

Blog Challenge July 15-28: Using Digital Backgrounds

For my next blog challenge, I am challenging everyone to create projects using digital backgrounds!  Some aspect of the project must use a digital background.  The project itself can be digital, or you can print a digital background to use ... when you post your project just tell us how you used the digital background.  For example, in creating the badge above I used a digitized French postcard back (with gradient transparency) and a floral patterned background that I created using Victorian wallpaper!

To get you started, the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team have submitted some lovely works that show the great variety of ways you can use digital backgrounds (SEE BELOW!).  They have been working with two of my digital collage sheets, Carte Postale 2 and Vintage Adverts: Seeds and Plants.  I have many others, from old letters and ledgers, to maps and medieval prints, to fabrics and Victorian wallpaper patterns (which I used above).

If you need help finding digital backgrounds, please visit my digital backgrounds category at Lunagirl.com, where I will keep all these ON SALE for over 40% off throughout this challenge!

This challenge (#6) will end at 11:55 pm on July 28 ~  The winner will be selected randomly (random number generator) to win the $5 discount coupon for Lunagirl.com.

Must use at least one digital background of any type (just tell us how you used it),
Any craft or medium is OK,
No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, and
Please link back to my blog and/or Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.
 
Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl product, but that's not a requirement!
Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage.



MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM INSPIRATION

 This beautiful rose-themed Thoughts of You card is from Vicki Romaine:

"You can mix digital with rubber stamping.  Here I show that they can compliment each other.  I chose an advertisement about roses to go with the image . Rose stamp is by PSX; sentiment  by Koette Hall.  The rose is colored with Copics."

 Michele Storms used a different part of the same digital background sheet and achieved a whole different look for her adorable fairy girls:

"For my 1st piece with the digital backgrounds i made a 4x4 canvas.i used the seed plants background.  as you can see, garden fairies are still alive and well and turning up all over the place.  the little girls are from the african american vintage CD with wings from fly away home."



  
Petra Berendsen has created another simply lovely tag combining a printed digital background with images and embellishments:

"Digital backgrounds are so versatile and can be used in so many ways. I kept this project quite simple to show off the wonderful Carte Postale from Lunagirl's Carte Postale 2 collage sheet. I created a little tag adding a lovely image from the same collage sheet and one of the beautiful butterflies from the Rainbow Butterfly Wings collage sheet. The tag is embellished with some pearls, paper flower and some stamping."

Winner of the Great Gatsby Challenge!

And the winner of the random drawing for The Great Gatsby Challenge is ... 2amscrapper!
2am, please email me at info@lunagirl.com to claim your $5 coupon for Lunagirl.com!

Everyone please check in later day for the next challenge announcement.

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.

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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!

Two More Days of Gatsby!

You have two more days -- until midnight Sunday night (CST) -- to enter the Gatsby challenge! 

And two more days to grab Vintage Lovers CD or Vintage Women & Men CD at a great price in honor of this challenge!

Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat

Lunagirl is proud to be a sponsor of Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat again this year.  Click on the banner to find out more or go to artfulgathering.ning.com. Be sure to visit the Lunagirl page and register to get our free digital collage sheet doorprize and maybe win our razzle prize: A set of FOUR ladies vintage photos CDs! 

Free Vintage Image -- Post Card

I'm feeling oddly inspired to share more free images, so before the feeling passes here is a lovely blank postcard.  I've cleaned it up for you so it's ready to use and it's a nice large scan for good quality (you can resize it as small as you like, however!)  This makes a beautiful background for many types of projects.  Click to get to the full size image, then save to your computer.  If you do use it in a project that you share online or sell, I would very much appreciate the courtesy of a credit to Lunagirl Images!  Thanks!

Gatsby ... by Petra

Here's a handsome fellow ready for the good life, on a stunning card created by Petra Berendsen of Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team.  I like the masculine background she chose, and all the embellishments make me think of travel and also movies.  The strip of stamps echoes the filmstrips, and even the pattern in the background fits in.  I like the lady blowing him a kiss! Beautiful work, Petra, thanks!

Something Special by Vicki! Collage Board

 Vicki Romaine of the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team has outdone herself this week to create this amazing Great Gatsby-themed collage board featuring 1920s images and embellishments.  She has used several Lunagirl images plus a wonderful variety of found objects, such as keys and jewelry and Bingo tokens, and pretty backing papers.  She started with an old printer's tray.  I love these old trays and shadow boxes -- anything with lots of compartments!  This inspires me, I hope it inspires you as well!  Thanks, Vicki! 

Don't forget to visit The Cheerful Stamppad to enter Vicki's blog challenges, and don't forget to enter your 1920s creation in my blog challenge!  Can't wait to see what you create.

Gatsby Cards by Michele!

Thank you to Michele Storms of my Design Team for two more gorgeous cards inspired by The Great Gatsby and The Roaring Twenties. 

I like how she has enhanced the black and white theme of the photo in the first card.  Just shades of black and grey enhanced by a little pink and burgundy.  Very pretty and classic.  I love the aqua blue in the 1920s image in the second card, and Michele has picked that up beautifully in the papers she chose -- plus added a little bling and some musical notes that go so nicely with the flying birds.

Don't forget you have until Sunday night to enter your project in our Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenge!

Image CDs on Sale! Free Shipping too!

Just FYI for my blog followers, I have the two Lunagirl image CDs used by my Design Team for this challenge --   Vintage Lovers and Vintage Women & Men -- on sale for almost 35% off at Lunagirl.com.  Also my Ladies Photos Volume Four CD, which includes lots of photos and postcards of flappers. 

Other website news is that I now offer free shipping to anywhere in the United States on ALL orders!

July 4th Card by Michele

I really wish I had posted this sooner, but it is still Fourth of July weekend for a few more hours, right?  This is a card created by Michele Storms using the free July 4th image I posted a few days ago.  Beautiful work as always, Michele!  Great angel image.

Blog Challenge: The Great Gatsby

Here's the next Lunagirl Moonbeams Blog Challenge theme: The Great Gatsby!

Whether you've read the book and seen the movies, or not, the title brings to mind the fabulousness of the Roaring Twenties:  sassy and sultry flappers, dashingly handsome men, speakeasys and bathtub gin, big dance parties with jazz music, and of course plenty of drama, plenty of romance, and plenty of bling!

The Design Team is starting the theme off right with their gorgeous cards below.  This time they are using images selected from two Lunagirl image CDs:  Vintage Lovers and Vintage Women & Men.  Reflecting that, this time instead of giving away a free collage sheet I'll make the prize a $5 coupon code to use on anything at Lunagirl.com, image CDs or collage sheets or download packs.

This challenge (#5) will end at 11:55 pm on July 14 ~  The winner will be selected randomly (random number generator) to win the $5 discount coupon for Lunagirl.com.  If I get 20 entries for this challenge, I'll draw TWO winners!

Be creative but stick to the theme (obviously) :)
Any craft or medium is OK,
No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, and
Please link back to my blog and/or Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.
 
Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl product, but that's not a requirement!
Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage.

First, here are two cards by Vicki Romaine.  They are very different in color and elements, but both perfectly evoke the Roaring Twenties!

Vicki wrote:
"I placed the image a little off center as I have a row of silver stars going down the right side to balance.  I thought the stars were the perfect embellishment to portray The Great Gatsby movie."

"When I think of the '20s, I think "classy".  Therefore, I tried to make a classy masculine card--very simple, but dramatic.  The images from the CD are even better than the ones on the collage sheets.

The background on this card is the one I bought from you a couple of weeks ago.  Hope you like this."

Here is another gorgeous romantic couple from the Gatsby era, this one featured and enhanced on a card created by Petra Berendsen, who writes:

"The Great Gatsby ... what a movie! I just love the fashion, the wonderful settings and such handsome man (lol) ... isn't the lady just so lucky? This image comes from Lunagirl Vintage Lovers CD. The colours are gorgeous and worked perfectly with some papers I had hidden away for the perfect occasion. I embellished the card with some bling, organza roses, a little frame and a feather."

Last but not least, here is a beautiful card by Michele Storms.  If you look closely, you'll see the sheet music in the background -- perfect for dancers in ecstasy of course, and for a time when music was so important to the young and fabulous.

Thank you, ladies, as always for your inspiration!  You always come up with cards and other creations that showcase the theme so nicely, each in your own unique style.

Readers, show us your vision of 1920s romance and bling ~ enter the Great Gatsby blog challenge!

Winner of Garden Fairies Blog Challenge

Greetings, all.  I have just done the random drawing for the Garden Fairies blog challenge, and this time the winner is #4
Mandy of Mandy's Magical World of Art!  

Congrats to Mandy and a big thank you to everyone who played in the challenge.  The fairies were beautiful ~ this was a fun one.