Here is another new collage sheet design for New Years Day. I really love this one created with antique French postal cards that I've restored and embellished. These are so beautiful, and you could use them for other projects at any time of year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Best Wishes for 2008 from Lunagirl Images!

Merry Christmas

Hope for a bright and peaceful

new year.

Thank you to all our visitors and customers.

We wish you and everyone the very best this holiday season and in 2008!

Wishing You Christmas Joy & Season's Greetings

From our great collection of Victorian Edwardian era Santa Claus postal cards!

Victorian Floral 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.

We couldn't find out much more about floral cards, except that they were part of the Victorians' (and Victorian-era Americans') love for flowers, and that the early, more expensive cards were probably sent by affluent folks.


Prang's cards were expensive, and it was inexpensive holiday penny postcards, somtimes imported from Germany, that were sent by most Americans until WWI.

We think these floral cards are lovely and quaint -- they certainly reflect the "shabby" romantic spirit that so many of our customers like!


While the more traditional cards featuring caroling children, nativity scenes, holly wreaths, and of course dear old Santa Claus do feel more "Christmas" and festive to us this time of year, these old flower cards are sweet for something different.

You'll find them (and hundreds more holiday images) in our Holidays & Occasions 2CD set -- and with holiday greetings removed in our Flowers & Birds collection, to use as flower pictures in your scrapbooking, card making and art.

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.

Mermaid Name Generator

Alright, so it's not very Christmas-y, but because I know so many of you want it I'm sharing the link for the Mermaid Name Generator. You'll find it HERE.

My mermaid name is ....
Zarina Nymphana (!) I am a Mediterranean mermaid.

You can choose to be an Arctic, Pacific, Tropical or Mediterranean mermaid (or merman). "Merperson" it seems.... have fun!

And are you looking for some lovely vintage mermaid artwork and images to express your mermaid soul?

Featured Artist: *spark*your*imagination*

I wanted to share some of the lovely, whimsical collage/assemblage art created by Debrina and offered at *spark*your*imagination* !

She was the first I know of to begin creating "captured fairies" (in a jar or box), and her faeirieworld creations are a joy to behold.

This is my personal favorite (be sure to click to see it larger). It's called "Her Only Dream Was to Fly With the Birds" -- a beautiful delicate fairy dress waiting in somebody's closet?

You can see more examples of her work here, and be sure to visit *spark*your*imagination* for some lovely, unique gifts.

(There are some wonderful little collage art pendants there today!)

NEW! MORE CHRISTMAS MINIS

New from Lunagirl: more Christmas minis!

"Christmas Minis 1" is 1-inch squares, and here is "Christmas Minis 2" with 48 1-inch circles.

(You can print the whole sheet smaller or larger if you want your circles smaller or larger.)

Click on the sample image to see all our holiday collage sheet designs, or visit here to see all our minis, bottlecap charms and inchies.

Poem for December's Dark

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

"We are nearer to Spring
Then we were in September,"
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

- Oliver Herford

Remember to put out food for the birds this time of year, especially when there is snow on the ground!

I'm gathering some winter folklore and Victorian Christmas tidbits to share in the coming days.... with pictures of course!

Quote for the day!

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

How to Create Altered Art Charms

Create your own altered art charms with Lunagirl images! Altered art charms are really hot right now. They're so beautiful and fun, and not as difficult to make as you might think. Many of the people selling bracelets are using Lunagirl vintage images.

Scroll down for some easy, basic instructions. I'm sure there are others ways to do this, but I'll share what works for me. (Thanks to Jodi Crago jodiwho of SPARROW'S GATE for permission to use her images of her work!)

PRINT & CUT OUT YOUR IMAGE
First, choose your image! I have several sheets of mini images (inchies and craft circles) ready to print and clip out for charms (1-inch circles and inchie squares for jewelry charms), but of course you can print ANY of our collage sheets smaller if you like, for smaller pictures (an advantage of digital collage sheets). Being high-quality jpg images (not pdfs) they will keep their image quality at smaller sizes.

To make charms it is best to print the image onto fairly thick acid-free paper or photo paper. Any good laser or inkjet printer should do, but many prefer the laser printing for charms because inkjet prints tend to smudge more easily.

After printing, place your blank charm setting on the picture and trace around it, then clip out the picture with some good very sharp scissors (it's good to first cut it slightly larger than you want, then trim it down).

There are several people selling the metal charm blank settings on ebay. If you search on the phrase "altered art charm blanks" you should find a few. Or, you can buy charm jewelry at discount stores and pop out the existing charms to put in your own pictures! You can also use dominoes, wooden pieces, etc.

GLUE ON THE IMAGE
You can glue the image into or onto the setting with a hot glue gun, or better yet with a good general purpose craft glue, then smooth it down nicely. Be careful not to be too heavy-handed with the glue, or it can get lumpy or messy.

A charm is beautiful with just a single image, but you can also add other images or printed words to create a collage. You can even add pressed flowers or other "pressed" items if they are very flat.

ADD A PROTECTIVE GLAZE
There are different opinions about which gloss/glaze is best. I prefer a few coats of spray-on Krylon Crystal Clear Glaze because it's easy and it's nice and clear without bubbles. Some people prefer a clear polyurethane you can paint on, as with decoupage. Either way, be sure to let it dry between coats.

HAVE FUN CREATING!
Try using an old link bracelet, and turning it into something wonderful by adding your own charms and beads! There are lots of bead sellers on etsy as well if you want to add beads. Your local crafts store will probably offer findings (jump rings, clasps, etc.) and jewelry making tools. EVEN BETTER: Find costume jewelry and vintage jewelry pieces at discount stores, garage sales, jumble sales, and secondhand stores, and incorporate them or disassemble them to use on your own bracelets!

You can also create pendants, clips, even earrings and barrettes. Or add charms to your altered boxes and books. I've seen lovely bookmarks, hip clips, even cell phone jewelry, using altered art charms.

For a very simple yet elegant pendant, simply place your charm onto a beautiful ribbon or thin black trim or leather necklace.

If you decide to purchase Lunagirl images or collage sheets for your project, please be sure to read our FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS for useful information.

Browse our Lunagirl digital collage sheets to find mermaids, fairies, Christmas images, romance, witches, charming children, Victorian Edwardian ladies, flappers, retro glamour girls, flowers, castles, tea parties, vintage posters, Alice in Wonderland, text ephemera, and much more!

Or.... check out our COLLAGE SHEET SETS ON CD for amazing value. Thanks again to Jodi Crago of Sparrow's Gate -- visit her etsy shop to buy her gorgeous jewelry.

It's all about "altered": Take images and existing items you "find" and use your own creativity and imagination to create something new and unique! An altered art charm bracelet, pendant, or clip you've created yourself is a beautiful gift ~ truly one of a kind and from the heart.

Free Thanksgiving Card!

Today's Monday free image: a charming Thanksgiving card with vintage illustration by Ellen Clapsaddle. Free for you to use in all your personal non-commercial projects!

For more holiday images perfect for your card making, paper crafts, altered art, scrapbooks... check out our Lunagirl Victorian Holidays & Occasions 2-CD set. Over 3,000 images for all major holidays, plus birthdays, romantic occasions, best wishes, etc. Over 1,000 Christmas pictures!

NEW! restored vintage posters

Two new image CDs: colorful, fun vintage posters now all 300 dpi and FULLY RESTORED.

We've seen some Victorian theatrical posters available elsewhere, but those sets seem all the same -- all 72 dpi, basically unorganized, and with all the original rips, tears and deep creases that make many of them unusable. In contrast, we've done many hours of careful restoration work to offer our theater posters in beautiful condition.

BURLESQUE, VAUDEVILLE & COMEDIES:
Over 750 posters of Victorian Edwardian era burlesque and vaudeville performers, showgirls, and posters for comedy plays and musicals

MAGICIANS, NOVELTY ACTS & MUSICIANS:

Over 400 posters for Victorian Edwardian magicians, illusionists, mind readers, hypnotists, novelty acts, circus performers, acrobats, aerialists, singers, marching bands, dancers & more

These are great fun to browse through (especially in our gorgeous image viewer format - it's so easy and pretty, and has slideshow, etc.). And I think they are truly an untapped image resource for altered art!

We also have most of these posters available as extra hi-res tiffs for use in media production, etc. Inquire at summertownsun@yahoo.com.

Resource: Fresh Flower Scans

We've just discovered a fun site that offers scans of fresh flowers. With cold weather coming on it's comforting to look at these beautiful colorful photos, and they are free for personal use in your art and crafts projects. You can check it out here:

He even offers a tutorial on scanning your own flowers! These would be lovely in collage, decoupage or scrapbooks, or as backgrounds or transparencies for altered art projects.

For Victorian flower art & illustration, visit here. Surround yourself with flower art to help get you through the winter!

NEW LUNAGIRL IMAGE CD!

Just in time for holiday crafts: we're pleased to annouce this new collection of Victorian & vintage holiday images from Lunagirl. This lovely collection includes over 250 images originally from antique French, German & Italian postcards sent to celebrate Christmas and New Years Day. We've scanned the cards as high-resolution tiffs, done some restoration work and embellishment, then finally saved them on CD as 300-dpi jpgs for you to browse and print.

Most of these are photos, although some are illustrations. Many of the cards have greetings in various languages, either original or added by us, but you can of course alter them and add your own messages as well. We have removed major creases and tears, and in some cases embellished or enhanced. Usually we have removed the stamps, but we left the original little French stamps on some, as many buyers like them. I've also included scans of the backs of a few cards, for the lovely old handwriting.

You'll find angels, children's portraits, children in the snow, ladies, romantic couples, happy new year & more. Enjoy them as printable digital ephemera for your altered art & scrapbooking, or create unique antique style tags and greeting cards for the winter holidays!

New Collage Sheet for Thanksgiving

We've recently released a new downloadable digital collage sheet design featuring charming children and lovely ladies (and turkeys!) from vintage postcards, some by Ellen Clapsaddle and Frances Brundage.

Enjoy these for your harvest time and Thanksgiving crafts: card making, decorations, tags, candle labels, etc! Click the picture to find it on our website ready for download (you'll also find several beautiful collage sheet designs featuring Victorian Christmas cards and ephemera).

CHRISTMAS MINIS LINK IS WORKING!

Our FTP server folks finally seem to have their act together, and our Lunagirl Christmas Minis collage sheet is now available for instant download!

You'll find it here with our other "minis" and here with our holidays collage sheets.
More downloadable Christmas minis are on the way, and we also have round & square minis of ladies, children, flowers, handwriting & music, nursery rhymes, vintage ads, Halloween images and more, ready to download, print and then clip out for charms or any other projects.

MOON LORE

The Full Moon this month is called HUNTER'S MOON.
Full Moon is Thursday night!

Check out our "Celestial" collage sheet HERE (second row down).

The Harvest Moon is the moon closest to the Autumn Equinox (in September). The next one, usually in October, is named the Hunter's Moon.

The Harvest Moon and Hunter's Moon appear larger and brighter to some people, but they're really not. This time of year there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise of the full moon, so the night seems brighter than usual. This allowed farmers to stay out and work in their fields by moonlight under the Harvest Moon, and later, under the Hunter's Moon, allowed hunters to see the deer and other animals that came out to browse in the then-harvested fields.

What is a BLUE MOON? When there are two full moons during one month, the second one is called the Blue Moon.

FAIRY MOON? When there are two NEW moons (dark moons) during one month, the second is called a Fairy Moon.

DOWNLOADABLE COLLAGE SHEETS

Looking for digital collage sheets? CLICK HERE to browse our selection of over 300 professionally produced 300 dpi designs ready for instant download! Print onto the papers of your choice, and use them in your projects today.

MONDAY Free Image!

If it's Monday that means freebie! Here is one of the new photo postcards we have been working on, newly scanned, cleaned up, and embelllished just a little bit.

Yes, we know it's not even Halloween yet, and I hate it when the stores put up the Christmas decorations this early.... but many crafters start their Christmas projects now, so here is a charming little girl with her holiday gifts, from 1909.

Just click on the image above to open the full-size original and save. She will eventually be published on CD, but for today she is free for your use in personal non-commercial projects. Thanks for visiting ~ enjoy!

NEW Christmas mini images!

Our "mini" collage sheets are among our most popular lately, because they are so easy to use in creating charms and other jewelry. Here's the latest addition to our minis collection:
Available here with our other "minis" and here with our holidays collage sheets.

More Christmas minis are on the way, and we also have round & square minis of ladies, children, flowers, handwriting & music, nursery rhymes, vintage ads, Halloween images and more, ready to download, print and then clip out for charms or any other projects.

What kinds of images would you like more of?

We are (literally) surrounded in our office by hundreds of vintage photo postcards recently purchased as a large collection from overseas. Most are French and some are German or Dutch. We have pictures of women from the Victorian and Edwardian age, romantic couples and some brides, Victorian boys & girls, flappers and little girls of the 1920s and 1930s, holiday photo cards, and more, all waiting to be scanned, restored, altered and published.

What to work on first!? It would help us to hear from our customers .... what you like to see more of in terms of images for your art and crafts projects? Email us at summertownsun@yahoo.com and let us know!

Monday means Free Image Download!

This week's free Lunagirl image is a charming Victorian label from our antique cigar labels collection featuring a sweet faced little girl and red cherries (and old-fashioned hollyhocks in the background!) Enjoy this wonderful example of vintage advertising art for your projects this week!

NEW! Download Images for Commercial Use

We're pleased to annouce our new royalty-free online store offering Lunagirl images licensed for commercial use.

So in addition to our image CDs and collage sheets to use in your altered art and crafts, you can also easily find images to suit your need for wider commercial use. For example, you can use images from our CDs to create handcrafted items to sell in small numbers (up to 10 copies of any image) ~ but for those entrepreneurial folks who wish to sell in larger numbers, we have made our commercial licensing easier than ever. Just browse the site for what you need, purchase the license, and download the image instantly!

So far we have uploaded only a small fraction of what will eventually be available, but we will upload thousands of images over the coming weeks. Click here to check it out.

You can currently choose Victorian Santas, vintage Halloween cards, and over 200 Victorian Edwardian ladies photos ~ but if need something else, just email us and we'll be glad to help.

Just For Fun: The Fairy Name Generator!

We recently discovered this fun site by accident ~ Find out your faerie name, plus where she lives and what she wears! What kind of wings does your fairy self have?

I recently painted my "siren" self, a smiling mermaid with a turquoise tail and butterfly wings (sirens can move in both water and air). Now I have to create a picture of my faerie alter ego.... She likes to haunt the dark places but is gentle....

Your fairy is called Hex Goblindancer
She is a bringer of riches and wealth.
She lives in places hexed and tainted by black magic.
She is only seen when the bees swarm and the crickets chirrup. She wears black feathers and rose petals. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Get your own fairy name here!

You might like our collection of Victorian Angels & Fairies on CD . . . or more fairy stuff here

Moon-day FREE IMAGE DOWNLOAD Vintage Bellydancer

I love dance, especially bellydance, and we are proud of our Lunagirl collection of vintage bellydancer photo postcards. We would like to share this lovely photograph from the early 1900s Edwardian era, of a joyful dancer with her veil. I have restored the image and enhanced it with subtle shades of pink and violet and a little added sparkle.

You're welcome to use this lovely image in your personal crafts and altered art projects (no commercial use). This altered image is copyright 2007 by us. If you publish or display your work, include credit and a link to http://www.lunagirl.com/

For more vintage bellydancing images and other vintage ladies, check out our collections of Victorian Edwardian Vintage Ladies Photos on CD.

A way to inspire and share your creativity

Check out ArtWords for its last topic this week: OUTSIDER.

ArtWords is an open online art journal filled with entires from contributing artists -- that means you, if you want to be part of it! To participate, just create an entry interpreting the current topic in any way you wish, using photos, paintings, sketches, collage art, digital art or any other medium to depict your own life story and your own responses to the topic!

ArtWords is ending after this topic, but you can still take part this week, enjoy browsing through creative entries on 70 other topics... and maybe get inspired to create your own online art journal...

Remember to visit our Lunagirl Blog (right here!) on Monday for our Moon-day FREE IMAGE DOWNLOAD

Come back for a free download on Monday!

To celebrate Moon-day at Lunagirl, we'll offer a free image download on Monday! If "celebrate" is not a word you would ever associate with a Monday, well, maybe a free beautiful image to use in your projects would cheer you up. Either way, check back on Monday!

New Collage Sheet Designs!

Two new Lunagirl collage sheet designs
Bird Ladies &
Bathing Beauties II



All my digital collage sheets are delivered as high-resolution 300-dpi JPGs for exceptional image quality. Save to your own computer & print onto your own fine paper or transparencies or even fabric. Beautiful vintage ephemera ideal for altered art, decoupage & other crafts.

You'll find them at: Lunagirl Collage Sheets

The ZNE Network for mixed media artists!

ZNE is short for VariaZioNE, an online community of artists who work in collage, mixed media, assemblage, ACEO ATCs or any kind of altered art. It's a wonderful place to share your work, share ideas, enjoy the work of other artists, and most of all enjoy support and friendship with other artists who share your interests!

To join the network, visit ZNEart.net, the ZNE homepage, by clicking on the picture above. We hope to see you there!

A Poem for Autumn

The official first day of Fall is Sunday, but I couldn't wait. The oak trees are full of squawking bluejays here, come to feast on acorns, and that always means Autumn to me!

So to welcome the Autumnal Equinox, here is a poem.

The poem below was written around 500 AD, by an Indian poet named Kalidasa. The English translation is by Arthur W. Ryder (1877-1938).


AUTUMN
The autumn comes, a maiden fair
In slenderness and grace,
With nodding rice-stems in her hair
And lilies in her face.
In flowers of grasses she is clad;
And as she moves along,
Birds greet her with their cooing glad
Like bracelets' tinkling song.

A diadem adorns the night
Of multitudinous stars;
Her silken robe is white moonlight,
Set free from cloudy bars;
And on her face (the radiant moon)
Bewitching smiles are shown:
She seems a slender maid, who soon
Will be a woman grown.

Over the rice-fields, laden plants
Are shivering to the breeze;
While in his brisk caresses dance
The blossomed-burdened trees;
He ruffles every lily-pond
Where blossoms kiss and part,
And stirs with lover's fancies fond
The young man's eager heart.

ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN

Halloween is a familiar holiday to Americans. Children disguised as ghosts and goblins (and superheroes and princesses) roam the streets trick-or-treating; teenagers play pranks and try to frighten themselves with trips to the graveyard and scary movies; and generally everyone has a good time drinking cider (or something harder), bobbing for apples, wearing costumes, and waiting for "the witching hour."

But few people know of the origins of Halloween and its wonderful mood of magic and fright.

CLICK HERE to find out more! in our exclusive feature article:
"BETWEEN THE WORLDS: The Origins of Halloween & Its Customs."
Illustrated with wonderful antique Victorian vintage greeting cards!

New collage sheet collections on CD!

We have recently released 7 new collections of Lunagirl ephemera collage sheets on CD! Ideal for altered art, altered boxes, jewelry, decoupage, scrapbooking and other paper crafts.

Digital collage sheets are easy to use: Each is a high-resolution jpg image, ready to print onto your own fine papers, transparencies, vellum, the choice is yours. Best of all, you may print them as often as you like for personal non-commercial use.

We spend a great deal of time and care creating our unique ephemera collage sheets, to make them beautiful, interesting & diverse. Check them out at Lunagirl.com.

You can also purchase Lunagirl collage sheets individually by instant download!

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting our new Lunagirl Images blog! We hope you'll also visit us at Lunagirl.com to see our giant collection of high-quality Victorian, Edwardian, vintage and retro digital images, art, cards, photos & other ephemera.