Creative Challenge Theme: RETRO SUMMERTIME

Our theme this time is "Retro Summertime" ~ What could be better for the end of July? Here in Tennessee the sun is fierce and bright, the sky is hazy and blue, and the summer locusts are whirring (if you're from the American South you know that sound...) Time to grab a cold drink and put on your retro pin-up girlie swimsuit for a retro summertime challenge!

Apologies to my friends in the southern hemisphere who are in the middle of winter... it's hot here so my thoughts have turned to some late summer vintage fun.

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. At Lunagirl.com shop you'll find plenty of Retro Vintage Images to get you started!

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES:

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!

Challenge ends at 2:00 pm CST on Friday, July 31.

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

 

Enjoy this inspiration from the Lunagirl Design Team:

MICHELE STORMS Art From the Well  

SHELBY PIZZARRO Sisterhood of the Muse
"Nothing says Summer to me like Coney Island"

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

CORINNE MARIE Digital by Corinne

VICKI ROMAINE, Cheerful Stamp Pad 

Fabulous new challenge starts tomorrow

Lunagirl is back! :-)
I'm trying to get back in the swing of things after my lazy days (with no internet!) at the beach, and I'm ready to start a new challenge theme tomorrow.

I'll hope you'll join the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team for the theme of SHOES. And as a special treat this will be another joint challenge theme with CheerfulStampPad.blogspot.com, so you can enter both places and see inspiration from guest designers as well!

Join us to share some summertime creativity!

Challenge Winner: Wendy at Paper Whims

We've seen some beautiful vintage seaside cards and creations for this challenge, and some fabulous bathing beauties.  Now it's time to choose the challenge winner in a random drawing!

Remember that everyone has an equal chance since it's a random pick, but everyone who uses a Lunagirl images in their submission doubles their chances in the drawing...  :-)

Our lucky winner this time is entry #6, Paper Whim's beautiful birthday ATC!

Congratulations, Wendy!  Email me at info@lunagirl.com to claim your $10 store credit to spend at Lunagirl.com.

Everyone come back tomorrow (Monday morning) for the next challenge.  My theme will be a fun one: What's Your Favorite Color?

Ready for the Beach?

Don't forget you still have until Sunday to enter the Vintage Seashore & Bathing Beauties challenge!

This bathing beauty is ready for the beach... what's with the socks, I don't know, but I love her flapper headscarf and sporty swimsuit.  (Click to save, free for your personal-use projects!)

More bathing beauties and ocean-themed images await you at Lunagirl Images... every entry is your chance to win the drawing for $10 store credit ... use at least one Lunagirl image and double your chances!  

More Vintage Bathing Beauties ... Share Yours!

MANDY CHILVERS

Bathing beauties are popping up everywhere! Here are more vintage seashore creations from the Lunagirl Moonbeams DT.  The VINTAGE SEASHORE / BATHING BEAUTIES CHALLENGE continues all this week, so you have plenty of time to share your work for a chance to win store credit at Lunagirl.com.

MICHELE STORMS

VICKI ROMAINE: 
"The ocean background was a piece of red cardstock that I altered over a year ago and it had been lying on my desk so I decided to finally cut it up. The sand was as tan cardstock on which I stenciled some brown ink.  The sentiment was a sticker and the image was of course Lunagirl."

Vintage Beach Girls at Lunagirl & Boys at Play at DSC

Hi all! Don't forget to enter my Vintage Seashore challenge with your own Bathing Beauty!  Here is a lovely tag by Michele Storms to inspire you!

If you hurry, you can enter your creation in the Beach challenge over at DigitallySweet as well (use at least one digital image or element -- Lunagirl has plenty of vintage bathing beauties you can download instantly).  DSC's Beach challenge ends tomorrow -- so sorry I didn't notice it sooner to tell you before now.

Also I'll be sponsoring the new DSC challenge tomorrow -- Boys at Play -- a great theme. Go see the really wonderful DT samples over there and join in to win.

This vintage beach girl tag is so cute.  We have some really charming entries already -- can't wait to see yours!  Link up your bathing beauty for a chance to win some store credit at Lunagirl.com.  Challenge continues all this week until July 20.

New Challenge: VINTAGE SEASHORE / BATHING BEAUTIES

Alright, everyone, the Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenges are starting up again right now...
Our theme is VINTAGE SEASHORE and BATHING BEAUTIES -- always popular, and perfect for July, don't you think?

You'll find plenty of summertime collage sheets at Lunagirl, as well as individual bathing beauty photos on my Ladies Photos CDs and Victorian seashore pictures on my Vintage Women & Men CD.  And I even have Antique Seashells Prints!

The Design Team will be working with images from the sheets Bathing Beauties 3 and At the Seashore (be sure to scroll down to see inspiration from the Moonbeams DT below!)

Here are the guidelines for this challenge: This challenge (#29) will end at Noon (Central Time) on July 20.

Any craft or medium is OK,

No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, 

Vintage style is encouraged, and 

Remember to link to this blog and to 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, remember that 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 please don't forget to SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE Design Team creations!)

An InLinkz Link-up

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM:

MANDY CHILVERS

MICHELE STORMS
4x6 postcard with bathing beauties from Lunagirl.com and big shell from Twisted Papers.
I like that they are in Australia (see the map background) and I love the little seahorse.

VICKI ROMAINE

Card using block coloring through various scraps of paper. Image is by Lunagirl.

Pretty colors and polka dots!

"Bathing Beauty" challange starts tomorrow

Don't forget ... 
a new blog challenge starts tomorrow!

Get inspired and share your Vintage Seashore and Bathing Beauty themed creations!

Here are some ladies in the latest French swimsuit fashions from long ago...

Challenge Winner: Vintage Gothic

It's time to announce the winner of the random drawing for the Vintage Gothic challenge...  With three entries, all of which used Lunagirl Images, the odds were ever in her favor... the fabulous Wendy Lynn of Paper Whims wins the drawing with entry #2, her Gothic Bride Shrine Tag!

Congrats to you, Wendy -- you've won a $10 shopping credit at Lunagirl.com, just in time to pick some summertime images!  And thank you for all your lovely entries in my challenges.

Thanks to all who played, and congratulations to everyone for your gorgeously spooky and evocative work.


Some Moonbeams challenges news: 
Lunagirl Moonbeams challenges will take a little break for the month of June, while Lunagirl goes on vacation!
Be sure to join us for the next challenge starting on JULY 7
on the fun theme of VINTAGE SEASHORE & BATHING BEAUTIES!

And the Winner is...

The lucky winner of the fabulous BATHING BEAUTY blog challenge (chosen by random drawing) is ...
Entry #16 Anne of
 http://anne-annescraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk!

Congratulations, Anne!  Email me at info@lunagirl.com to find out how to claim your prize of a free Lunagirl digital collage sheet of your choice!  http://lunagirl.com/pages/lunagirl-digital-collage-sheets

Thank you very much to everyone who took part.  We are having more entries each time, which is great!  To all of you who have helped spread the word, I appreciate it very much!  Remember if you refer a friend to Lunagirl.com, I'll send you a discount code when they make a purchase.

Please enter my next blog challenge: Garden Fairies!

Beach Fashions circa 1883

Here is a fascinating image of swimsuit fashions from a 1883 fashion magazine (from the Netherlands).  De Gracieuse was published from 1862 to 1936 for fashion-conscious ladies, and featured clothing of all types for all occasions, inspired by the latest Paris fashions.   Interestingly, the magazine also presented examples of embroidery, knitting, and other needlework, intended for embellishing the clothing and shoes.  I love those funny little beach slippers (although they don't seem very practical).  Those appear on many of the Victorian and Edwardian postcards as well ~ I guess ladies simply did not go barefoot!

Free Vintage Images: Bathing Beauties

I could not resist sharing this bathing beauty postcard.

This must be one of the strangest, most impractical beach costumes ever!  Of course it was intended to be a "French postcard" -- quite risque and naughty in its time.

Feel free to use this image if it inspires your Bathing Beauty projects!  You still have several days to enter a creation in my Bathing Beauties blog challenge, which ends Sunday night...

Alright, here is another bathing girl, this one a flapper, sleeker and simpler (although with some odd socks...)  She could actually swim in this!  She would look great in your project!

Some "Bathing Beauty" History :-)

Just for fun, here are two panoramic photographs of a "Bathing Girl Parades."  These parades were all the rage in the 1920s.  They began as events sponsored by newspapers and local business interests to promote seaside tourist destinations.  They eventually grew into the beauty pageants that were popular Mid-Century and continue today.  The parade photographed above is from California in 1917, and shows some really interesting swimsuits and beachwear of the day!

The photograph below shows contestants in the Atlantic City Pageant of Inter-City Beauties in 1925.  In 1920 the Businessman's League of Atlantic City sponsored a "Fall Frolic," including an elaborate "bathing girl revue," to encourage visitors (and profits) after the end of the summer season.  It was a big hit, and the following year they advertised up and down the East Coast for beauty contest winners from other cities to come to Atlantic City to compete for the title of "Miss America."

The 1921 Fall Frolic, which began with the arrival of King Neptune on a barge surrounded by twenty bathing beauties, featured five days of parades and concerts, a fancy dress ball, as well as seven different bathing parade divisions featuring women, children, men, and comic costumes. Everyone in town dressed in bathing suits, including firemen and police! The first "Miss America" was 16-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C.

The Atlantic City pageant grew quickly in the next few years.  Organizers took pains to stress the wholesomeness and "girl-next-door" qualities of the young contestants in skimpy attire.  According to the American Experience website at pbs.org, "From the very beginning, the pageant was confronted with a conflict between the effort to present an image of innocence and virtue while, at the same time, promoting a spectacle where women paraded in public in bathing suits." Nowadays the pageant attempts to balance a "girlpower" attitude and scholarships with the fact that it's basically always been women parading around in revealing clothes!

A Little Reminder ... and some Lovely Ladies on the Beach

Michele Storms

Just a reminder, you still have until Sunday night to enter your Bathing Beauty project in our blog challenge!  There are six lovely entries so far, and we would love to see yours.  A winner will be selected at random to receive a free Lunagirl digital collage sheet of her choice.

I've been having a bathing beauty / beach theme on my website, so check it out for inspiration.  (Don't miss the great collections of bathing beauty French postcards on my Ladies Photos Volume 2 and Volume 3 (hundreds to choose from!) -- or the Victorian seashore pics on Vintage Women & Men -- or my Seashells CD!)

As you can see there is lots to inspire, not the least of which are the beautiful creations of the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team!  Simply gorgeous.

Tag by Michele Storms

Tag by Vicki Romaine: Multimedia with scrap paper, real sand, sticker, fuzzy yarn

The bathing beauty images are from Lunagirl Bathing Beauties #4 collage sheet and Bathing Beauties #2 collage sheet (art nudes).

Bathing Beauty Cards & Tag by Vicki Romaine

The ever-fabulous and creative Vicki Romaine of the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team has shared three more bathing beauty projects!  How she finds time during what I know is a busy week, I don't know, but aren't these lovely?  Visit Vicki's blog and join her challenges as well!

I have always been very fond of this image.  Here's what Vicki says about her piece and process:
"Background was ... where I cleaned my brayer on another book page.  The background and image were both printed on grey cardstock so the colors would be a little distressed.  The image was again torn, but no distressing was done as the tearing around the image showed the grey cardstock.  Three blue stones complete the tag."

Woman image from Lunagirl Bathing Beauties 2 collage sheet.

  
Joyful card with a bathing beauty and charming little fish!
"The background was made by cleaning my brayer on a page from a paperback book.  The image was torn and distress with light cranberry ink.  The fish are stick on embellishments and finally a sentiment on acrylic."


Women's images on this card and the next from Lunagirl Bathing Beauties #4 digital collage sheet.

I think this is my favorite.  I like the simplicity, and the colors, and the fence... and that outfit!  Most of all I really like the great quote!

Vicki's comment:
"A very plain card.  Quote is from Quote Garden on the net."

It's lovely ... and my thought for the day!

Blog Challenge: Bathing Beauties

Time to start submitting your entries for the next Lunagirl Moonbeams Blog Challenge: Bathing Beauties!

This theme could include the fabulous flapper bathing beauties you see here, or Victorian ladies in their ruffled vintage swimsuits, classical nudes emerging from the waves or the bath, even mermaids ...

This challenge (#3) will end at 11:55 pm on June 16 ~  The winner will be selected randomly and will receive a free Lunagirl digital collage sheet of his or her choice.

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.
It's preferable that your entry be a new piece created for the challenge, but I'm not going to worry about that...
Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl product, but I'm not going to worry about that either so no rule there!
Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage.

To start your creative ideas going, here are some lovely bathing beauty creations by the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team!
You can also be inspired by my
LUNAGIRL digi sheets and LUNAGIRL images on CD.

Vicki Romaine

Petra Berendsen: "The beautiful image of a bathing Beauty is from the digital collage sheet Bathing Beauties. The image is set on various layers of Authentique paper. All edges are distressed with Black Soot distress ink. I embellished the card with a stamped postmark, buttons, organza ribbon and bakers twine."

Michele Storms

Vicki Romaine

Freebie Pic: Flapper Girl by a Painted Ocean

So my free image day seems to have migrated from Monday to Thursday. Maybe I can get it back to "Moon-day" but for now here is a cute flapper bathing beauty!

Oh-la-la, what a swimsuit!

Yes, we have been neglecting the blog terribly as of late. I'm so sorry about that. In between summer classes and trips to the beach, it has been hard to find time and focus! Summer does that to me. I'll try to get back in the swing with some new posts and features, but for now I thought I would at least come by and offer a fun free summertime image of this saucy bathing beauty!

New Bathing Beauties

Brand new collage sheets featuring lovely bathing beauties, available at CollageSheet.com and Lunagirl.com .

Wood Nymph Collage Sheet ...

I love this set of pictures. Available today for instant download and print-it-yourself at Lunagirl's digital collage sheet shop.

More new digital collage sheets coming up...