freebie vintage ephemera

Some old ephemera from my husband's side of the family. Check out the hospital bill - it cost $60.75 to have a baby in 1931. Unreal. I don't expect that you can have anything done in a hospital these days that costs only $60.75.

Double click on an image, then right click to save the largest size. All were scanned at 300dpi. Please do not sell these images, altho you may sell artwork made with them. Try printing them on vellum or tracing paper, then collaging with them. The tracing paper, especially, lets the background show thru.

More coming tomorrow, including some png files for you digital folks.

freebie wildflower scan & APCs for a swap

My friend Moneka gave me a neat little book - Wild Flowers of America - published in March 1932. I love the soft little paintings of each flower. It's falling apart with ancient scotch tape here and there, so I carefully took it all apart this morning, erasing pencil scribbles left by some bored child. I've scanned 9 of the images plus the front cover, inside cover and front and back of the intro page. Use them however you like, including works to sell. Just please don't sell them as images.


I made gel medium transfers out of a few. This is one of my favorite things to do with almost any image. It gives a softer image and allows the background to show thru. I do mine with a single fairly thin coat of gloss gel medium, and have to be very careful rubbing the paper off cause they tear easily.


Here's the finished APCs for a swap on ATCsForAll.com. First layer was a thick coat of gesso with torn pieces of green tissue paper mushed into it. They warped terribly and I thought I'd have to abandon them but a few days under Our Heritage of World Literature (the heaviest book I own and whose only use is sitting on top of things that need smashing), and they flattened out enough to use.


Stamped a text stamp in black, then put down the flower transfers. Stamped a dragonfly onto a regular old white paper napkin, then tore the edges and applied them with gel medium. Added a word from an old book, inked the edges and they're done! Yay. And just a few days ago I had no ideas for these things and was thinking of dropping the swap.


I really like the layered look that gel medium transfers give, with the stamped text showing thru. Try them, if you haven't yet.

free vintage images

Haven't done one of these in a while and since I'm home for a few hours before going back to work for the evening, AND since I got a wireless doohickie for my new computer and hence am back online... I figured I'd celebrate by sharing a few more of the cabinet cards I've gathered here and there.

This is a mixed bag - one baby, one mother and baby, and one pair of sisters with haircuts like my mom had when she was 3 or 4, so the girls might be from the mid twenties. Use them however you like, except please do not sell them.

If you make anything using them, I'd love to see it.

This would be lovely on a Mother's Day card.

Those bags under the older sister's eyes look just like mine. Maybe we're related.
But she has much better hair than I do. Love her baggy stockings.

This baby make me smile -
his toes pointed completely out to the side
 (makes my knees hurt just looking at him),
his dimpled little hands,
and his barely there smile, like he's about to laugh.

free png images - 1st effort

After playing around with a lot of png files that I bought or downloaded from digital scrapping sites (mostly here, the mega-mall of digi goodies), I decided to try my hand at making a few of my own.

I found this odd little notebook at a thrift shop someplace or other and scanned it at 300dpi. I created a copy and chose 'soft light' as the blending mode. Then I extracted the book from the white background and saved it as a png file. Wa La - images you can use digitally. I have no idea how the real designers of all the marvelous digi files I've purchased do it, but I'm pretty sure these will work.

I'd dearly love to see anything you make using them and I'd appreciate a linky back here. And please don't sell them. If anyone gets some use from these, I'll make more as I have time. No interest in selling them - it's just fun to know they're out in the world.

free images - Victorian ladies

I cut these from old magazine pages I bought in Visalia while visiting my friend Moneka last Sept.

Use in your art all you like, including art for sale but please do not sell the images themselves.

Scanned at 300dpi but they're fairly small images. I'll have some larger ones coming up in the next couple days.

free images - from an old book

I tore these from an old book some time ago. The lady with the monkey fascinates me. A monkey? Maybe they were more common as house pets back then? And I love the couple on the stairs. What's the story there? He has her parasol in one hand and some books. On the way to the park? Or they're back from the park and she's peeved with him for some reason. He looks like he's trying to placate her, doesn't he? Come on, honey. I just glanced at her for a second.

Click on the pic to embiggen, then right click to save. scanned at 300dpi

free images - Christmas postcard

Here is the front and back of a lovely old postcard that was among my maternal grandma's things. I especially love the green border on this one. It's embossed, as you can see from the back. If you make something from it, I'd love to see.

Click on images, then right click to save. scanned at 300dpi

free images - 3 lovely ladies

Three ladies from the antique mall score I made a few weeks ago. They've been scanned at 300dpi. Double click them to save the largest size. I'd love to know if you make anything using them.

I just love this one. Too bad it's so stained.

free images - vintage friendship album

Here are the cover, the title page, and a few autographed pages from the lovely friendship album I bought recently at a local antique mall. Some of you may cringe, but I've begun to take it apart and will scan and share the pages along the way. I'd love to see how you use these.

 

 

free images - vintage Halloween postcards

These were sent to my maternal grandmother from 1908-1910, back when it cost a penny to mail a postcard. Love how it was spelled Hallowe'en.   Please let me know if you make anything cool with them.

freebie images - 2 cute little girls

 Here are 2 free images for your personal use.

These are from my collection of cabinet cards and old photos. I'll have more to share as I get them scanned.

 Scanned at 300 dpi and tinkered with a bit in Photoshop for better contrast.