ANIMALS at Tag Tuesday!

The animals are on the loose over at Tag Tuesday for the next couple of weeks... Lunagirl is sponsoring their challenge, and Michele Storms is hosting!

Michele has chose the theme ANIMALS, which is always fun :-)

Here are two tags she has created to get everyone started... Featuring some Lunagirl zoo animals paired with alphabet letters and other lovely elements...

The winner of this challenge will receive my Lunagirl Zoo Animals digital collage sheet as a prize!

Go see over at  Tag Tuesday, get inspired and link up your tags!

Beautiful work from Michele for TAG TUESDAY challenge!

Some cuteness from Michele Storms of Art from the Well blog ... love this tag she created for the Cats & Dogs challenge at Tag Tuesday! Kitty, dog, moon and tea-partiers' bodies from Lunagirl :-)

If you're looking for a fun challenge to inspire, hop on over to Tag Tuesday!

Winner of "Animals" Challenge: Alice K

Well I'm on the ball today ~ my August Animals challenge ended a few minutes ago and I've already done the random drawing for the winner. The magic random number generator gave me #56, so the winner is Alice K of Yellow House Studio, for her sweet little bird card with gold sheet!

Congratulations to Alice and to everyone who entered. I'm so happy to see so many entries this time! I hope the next challenge theme will be just as popular. It's another month-long challenge for September, and this time the theme is Fairies & Mermaids. So get ready, and come back tomorrow!

One Day More for the Animals Challenge

Jasper Cat helping my son with some online shopping!

There's one more day in August, which means one more day to enter my Animals challenge!

There is a fabulous collection of entries so far (be sure to go take a look), but you can still link up yours for a chance to win the random drawing for some free store credit to use at Lunagirl.com!

A is for Animals... Join my August challenge!

My ANIMALS challenge continues! So far I'm really liking the change to month-long challenges, because there is more time for more people to enter.

The entries so far are looking great! Remember the everyone can enter up to three times, and remember that you have until August 31 to link up your creations.

Here is a sweet "T is for Turtle" ATC by Michele Storms of my Design Team. When you go to the challenge post, be sure to see her other alphabet animal ATCs, B is for Beaver and C is for Cat!

Week 2 of my August Challenge: ANIMALS

MICHELE STORMS Art From the Well  

Alright, it's the start of Week Two of my Animals challenge, featuring pets and animals of every kind... There is a very nice start to my menagerie, so link your entry up this week! Remember that this challenge will be going on all month until August 31 ~ so you have plenty of time to enter... once or twice or even three times :-)

More inspiration from the Design Team!

VICKI ROMAINE, Cheerful Stamp Pad 

August Challenge Theme: Animals all month!

Starting this month, my creative challenges here will be ALL MONTH LONG!

A new challenge theme will start on the 1st of each month, and continue until the last day of the month when I will choose a winner by random drawing.

So now you will have more time to create and more time to enter ~ and remember everyone can link up to 3 entries. Use a Lunagirl image and double your chances to win!

The challenge theme for the month of August is ANIMALS.

Have fun featuring animals of all kinds! Pets, wild animals, even fantasy animals like dragons and unicorns... My favorites are cats and foxes, followed closely by dogs and rabbits and squirrels and all kinds of birds! I also like turtles... As you can see I have lots of favorites. I set out to make a challenge badge with many different kinds, but finally decided to feature the kitties and the pugs! But you are not limited to pets ~ all kinds of animals are welcomed here! :-)

I have some great collage sheets to get you started, featuring Victorian cats and dogs, woodland animals, wild animals at the zoo, cows and pigs and other animals on the farm, horses and riders, roosters and chickens, butterflies, plenty of birds and also plenty of Victorian girls with kittens and puppies! Animals on digital collage sheets  Actually I even have a whole Vintage Animals CD.

I can't wait to see what you create ~ link up your entries below. And I know you'll enjoy the Design Team inspiration below. 

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES:

Challenge ends at 2:00 pm CST on Monday, August 31.

Any craft or medium is welcome!

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:  Winner will be selected randomly to receive a $15 credit at Lunagirl.com!

I love it when you use Lunagirl images, and I hope you'll go take a look at my collections... but that's not a requirement!  But do remember that if you use a Lunagirl image, you will be entered TWICE in the drawing! I welcome everyone and every style but also want to give a little something extra to my wonderful customers! Most important is have fun, get creative, and enjoy vintage style. 

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM:

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

MICHELE STORMS Art From the Well  

VICKI ROMAINE, Cheerful Stamp Pad 

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

Animals Everywhere as the Vintage Menagerie Challenge Continues

Two more days to get in on the Vintage Menagerie challenge for your chance to win!  

Here are two more of Michele Storm's animal alphabet ATCs to get you inspired!
Aren't they wonderful and fun?

Second Week: Vintage Menagerie

The Vintage Menagerie (All Kinds of Animals) blog challenge continues... Be sure to join in!

And here is more playful inspiration from the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team!

PETRA BERENDSEN:
"For my second project I used one of the cats images - so perfect for a best wishes or birthday or anniversary card. I combined it with patterend papers, some of them dry-embossed and slightly inked on the surface."

MICHELE STORMS:
M is for Monkey! (more animal alphabet ATCs later this week?)

VICKI ROMAINE:
"Here is a card a made for Lunagirl's Vintage Menagerie challenge.  It is a lovely rooster with its hen.  I  added a mat of spray webbing and some deco stickers to give the card itself a little vintage feel.  The card is also being used for my challenge [thecheerfulstamppad.blogspot.com] as well because I embossed the sentiment.  For my challenge, the theme is Use Embossing Powder."

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! and Elephants and Chickens and Kitties and Puppies...

Here's a new collage sheet announcement just in time for Vintage Menagerie challenge! Six new digital sheets featuring animals, which helped to inspire this challenge theme. Plus at the end a few more animal-themed sheets that have been available for awhile... This doesn't include all the birds!  I hope you'll come play in the challenge, which continues until May 4.  :-)

Blog Challenge: VINTAGE MENAGERIE

It's time for a new Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenge, and since I've just created a fresh batch of digital collage sheets featuring all kinds of animals, I've chosen the theme Vintage Menagerie.

A "menagerie" originally referred to a collection of "exotic" animals collected by European kings and queens.  "Exotic" could include new world animals such as porcupines and opossums!  Later, travelling commercial menageries displayed all kinds of animals to a curious public -- from lions and tigers and elephants to fancy types of cats and dogs and birds.  Eventually the antique menageries evolved into modern zoos.

So... feature your favorite pet or your favorite animal!  Are you a cat person or a dog person?  Or maybe you prefer turtles and fish, or exotic birds!  My favorite animals are cats and foxes.  What do you visit first at the zoo?  I have always liked the elephants and giraffes... but who can resist the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!)  Not to mention gorillas, and sea lions, and those beautiful gazelles... You get the idea... anything goes, just so you feature one or more animal.  Wild animals or woodland creatures or friendly pets, all are welcome!  Find vintage animals to inspire you at Lunagirl.com.

Here are the guidelines for this challenge:

• This challenge (#26) will end at Noon (Central Time) on May 4. 
• 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 SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE DT CREATIONS)

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM
The ever-fabulous Lunagirl Moonbeams DT have created some great entries to start collecting our Vintage Menagerie.  I hope you will join in!

PETRA BERENDSEN:
"It was fun to choose from the animal images. I went for one I always loved and adored and it was always the first one I visited when going to the zoo, the giraffe. They look to elegant and stylish. It is one ofthe images on your: Animals at the Zoo collage sheet. I combined it with some patterned paper, twine, button and a little printed word."

MICHELE STORMS:
Stop and Smell the Flowers 

MANDY CHILVERS:
Mon Ami (My Friend)

VICKI ROMAINE:
"I have been playing a lot with my Gelli plate lately and thought I would try a canvass.  This is a canvass board with acrylics as the background.  I used 4 stencils to make  the background.   The Lunagirl image of the giraffe blends well with the background.  The little yellow gives the feeling of daybreak;"

Wolf Moon

I saw the full moon last night, very beautiful in a crisp cold night sky, and wanted to share a traditional name for the Full Moon of January:  Wolf Moon.  I went to look for a vintage picture of a wolf in my collection, and all that I found were rather scary illustrations from fairy tales and Aesop's fables.  Yes, I know wolves can be pretty scary (have you seen "The Grey"? ~ shudder) but for our moon wolf I wanted less of the Big Bad Wolf and more of the wise wolf spirit.  I found this gorgeous photograph, which has been generously released into the public domain by its author, Retron at the wikipedia project, and can be used for any purpose.  Click the picture to enlarge, resize as needed, and enjoy.

The Dog Days of Summer

Why do people call the hottest days of the year the "Dog Days" of Summer? It makes me think of an old hound dog lying on the porch because it's too hot to move ~ but that's not it!  The ancient Egyptians and Romans noticed that during July and August, the "Dog Star" Sirius rose and set with the Sun. They believed that Sirius was adding its heat to that of the Sun, making the Earth hotter and drier than usual.

In the Northern Hemisphere our "dog days" are from about the second week of July to the third week in August. For centuries these could be difficult times, when the heat was stifling and insect and diseases would flourish in the heat. People who could afford it would vacate the cities and go "take the sea air."  Nowadays, this time of year just makes us feel lazy and runs up our air conditioning bills.

I have a large selection of dog images on my Vintage Animals CD. There are cute Victorian dog pictures as well as beautiful antique prints of many dog breeds.  In our our Cafepress shop many of them are available on t-shirts and gifts. Find your favorite ~ or email me to make a request! Of course we also have plenty of kitties for the cat lovers like me.

Now for something completely different

Alright, for those of you who don't share my fascination with mythology and religion...

here is something on a much lighter note. Just for fun. I can't tell if this cat is having fun or not...

Beautiful New Collage Sheet Designs!

Antique children's books have some beautiful illustrations. We know you'll enjoy these brand new Lunagirl collage sheets featuring Little Red Riding Hood, Nursery Rhymes Characters, and Storybook Animals and Birds! Click any of the pictures to see them (and more new digital collage sheets) on Lunagirl.com ... ready to purchase with instant download!