Challenge Winner: Karla B

Time to announce the challenge winner for February! My random number generator has told me the lucky winner this month is Karla B of Poetic Postcards!

Everyone deserves congratulations and thanks for sharing such beautiful work. This was a fun challenge that inspired some lovely creativity.

I do want everyone to know, by the way, that the drawing is random, so everyone has a chance to win ~ and if you use a Lunagirl image I count your entry twice, for double chances to win. Just a reminder :-)

I'm off now to create a post for my March challenge. Join me bright and early tomorrow for my March theme: Spring Flowers & Birds.

Happy Leap Day!

February 29 was called Leap Day by the Victorians, and the whole year recognized as a Leap Year... Because Leap Day is an "extra" day that doesn't follow the rules, time-honored traditions were turned on their head on Leap Day. For example, you may have heard that women to ask the men for their hand in marriage on February 29. You may not have heard that if the man honored with such a proposal refused it, he would have bad luck for the rest of Leap Year!

Leap Year Balls were popular at one time in England and America, often to raise money for worthy causes. At Leap Year Balls, the ladies would ask the men to dance.

In English law, February 29 was "leaped over" legally, and no contracts or other legal agreements could be made on that date. In Greece, the entire Leap Year is considered unlucky for marriages, and in some places February 29 was considered an unlucky date for a birthday. However, many born on February 29 like their unusual special day... and of course they can count a birthday only every four years if they choose (an advantage as you hit those 4-0 s).

So why do we even have this weird "tacked on" extra day? Because the Earth's year is actually 365-and-1/4 days long. Instead of trying to count that extra quarter-day, the creators of the Gregorian Calendar (which replaced the old Roman Julian calendar in 1582) decided to add in an extra day every four years. Voila.

If it's your birthday.... hope you have a happy one! Extra big party! And ladies, if you've been thinking of popping the question, tradition is on your side today :-)

LOVE Challenge Week Four (Late!)

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well

Sorry I'm late in posting inspiration for the fourth week of my Love challenge. I forgot to write a reminder on my planner ~ and if I don't write something down, it most likely will not get done! Seriously.

I'm glad I remembered because the DT has sent me a gorgeous collection of pieces for this last week of the challenge. Apologies, ladies, for the delay ~ these are all beautiful!

The response to this challenge theme has been great. Be sure to see the entries so far, and don't miss your chance to link up your own creation! You still have a few more days (extra day because of Leap Year, too.) Show us your LOVE!

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad

VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad

New: Vintage Garden Catalogues Download

New digital collage sheet I just added to the site today... created with covers and pages from vintage gardening catalogs for flowers and fruit!

Find this printable, and all my most recent digital collage sheets at Lunagirl.com.

'Bring Your Wings' Hop at Artful Gathering

Bring Your Wings Contest

Artful Gathering online art retreats for 2016 is getting ready for their summer events with a 'pre-season' blog hop that will help you get to know their instructors (and maybe win a prize!) Each week, meet an instructor, visit their site and view their video portfolio ~ and pick up a secret word somewhere on their page! Collect all the words by May 1st ~ when unscrambled, they will form an inspirational quote by a famous person. 

Find out more about how to join in at the ArtfulGathering site! Lunagirl is a proud sponsor of Artful Gathering online art retreat again this year!

Week Three: LOVE

VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad

Here's wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day ~ with inspiration from the Design Team, and a reminder that our theme of Love in all its wonderful forms continues throughout the month of February.

I hope to see what you create! See the entries so far, and link up your own. 

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well 

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A sweet vintage Valentine greeting to you and yours... Enjoy the day with your loved ones.
And help spread the love by joining in my LOVE challenge which continues all through February!

Enjoy this lovely pop-up card by VICKI ROMAINE Cheerful Stamp Pad
(On the left is the outside of the card, on the right you can see the inside!)

Freebie Sweethearts for 'Love' Challenge

It's almost Valentine's Day! But my LOVE challenge for February will continue until the end of the month. And it's Leap Year so that means February 29th!

Here's an early Valentine for you ~ some vintage sweethearts cut from an old postcard. Right-click to download, and use them to create your entry in the challenge!

Second Week: LOVE challenge theme

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

More beautiful inspiration from the Moonbeams Design Team! And there are already some lovely and fun entries in my LOVE challenge for February. Link up yours! You can enter up to three times.

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well

Sisters & Friends: More Love for February!

MANDY CHILVERS
MandysMagicalWorldofArt

Here's sweet collage postcard created by Mandy... She didn't send this specifically for the "Love" challenge, but I think it totally fits the bill! Isn't this beautiful! I love the soft colors, and the flowers and flutterbys and bee make me think of spring! (It gets closer every day...)

February Challenge Theme: LOVE

Welcome to my February challenge! 

The theme this time is LOVE, in all its wonderful guises! In February, our thoughts naturally turn to romance and Valentines ~ or maybe to some humorous "anti-Valentines" sentiments if you're single! (My youngest son is currently on this bandwagon.)

And romance, valentines, and anti-valentines are all perfect for this challenge.

But I don't want to limit this theme to only romantic love... Let's expand the theme to embrace other kinds of love as well. Love between friends, between parents and children, sisters and brothers, love of family... love for and from our furry friends... the love that inspires us to share with others and care for others, to work for compassion and kindness and fairness for others, even people we've never met... 

I don't mean to get too philosophical. If I get all Valentines and romance, I'll be happy! :-)  I just want to make sure that everyone feels free to interpret this theme however they like, to reflect what love means to you in your life. LOVE... we certainly need more of it, in every form!

I always enjoy seeing some Lunagirl images in the challenges. You'll find lots of inspiration at Lunagirl.com to help get you started... image collections by download or CD, and hundreds of digital collage sheets! A good starting point this time would be my Valentines collection, I suppose.

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

Challenge ends at 3:00 pm CST on February 29

Any craft or medium is welcome.

ENTER UP TO THREE PIECES!

Vintage style is encouraged but not required.

Use a Lunagirl image and your entry will count twice in the drawing!

Link to this blog and to Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.

Prize: $15 credit at Lunagirl.com! Winner will be selected by random drawing.

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL DESIGN TEAM

MICHELE STORMS
Art from the Well

Here's a tag created by Michele Storms, digital collage by Shelby Pizzarro to get the challenge started!

I'll be sharing more from the Design Team in days to come!

"Red Rose Girls" by
SHELBY PIZZARRO Sisterhood of the Muse