Frame: Classical

Another frame, this one more elaborate and unusual.  This one I adapted from an antique print of a well in Verona, Italy, with classical Roman style columns and carvings.  It took some doing but I think it makes a nice fancy frame to use for a journaling spot in scrapbooking, altered art projects, cards, even menus or invitations.  Something different to spark your imagination, I hope!

Emily

Latin Text Book Page: Great Background Image!

I love antique book pages, and this one is very old with Latin text.  I can't tell you what it says, but it seems to be a scientific or metaphysical text, I think. 
This would make a great background image for cards or altered art or even jewelry.  I love using any kind of printed page for that.  I am fascinating by words and language and also the fonts themselves.  Notice the beautiful decorative capitol letter M.
I hope you enjoy this free vintage image, which can be saved, printed, resized, etc., as needed.  Follow me and visit again!
Emily

Regency Style Orange Walking Dress

I couldn't resist cleaning up and sharing one more Regency era fashion illustration.  This one shows a "walking dress" from 1811.  I guess ladies had special dresses for walks?  Maybe for walking about town?  It certainly is fabulous.  I love the matching little handbag and the head-dress, don't you?

Emily

Butterfly Garden Print Free Vintage Image

I thought you might enjoy another Victorian butterfly print.  This one is really colorful and bright, and kind of unusual in the types of plants it shows.  This is beautiful printed for wall decor or a card, or cropped for tags, or you can clip out individual butterflies to create elements and wings.  I particularly like the red and black butterfly near the middle, and the little yellow one at the top.  Have fun with this antique summertime art!

Emily

Vintage Butterflies Print

Here is a summery butterfly print for you -- hope it inspires!  Actually I'm not sure whether these are butterflies or moths, but there are pretty wings you could clip out, and I love the raspberries and wildflowers.  If you look closely you'll find a caterpillar or two -- eek!  These look really pretty framed, too, or printed as is for cards.

Tomorrow is the official first day of summer, so I'll try to find something appropriate...

Emily

Antique Book Page: Alice in Wonderland

Still digging into the pages for cool ephemera backgrounds ... here is a scan of an antique book page.  Seems to be a story about a little girl and a White Rabbit with a pocket-watch... more to come...!

Thanks for visiting!

Emily

Antique Music Page Background

You can't have enough background pages, and the wonderful thing about digital is that you can use them again and again without harming the original.  I have piles of sheet music and antique books, ledgers, dictionaries and such, so expect more digital ephemera pages.  Let me know if you like them!  Have a request?

Victorian Illustrations: The Old Woman Tossed in a Basket

I couldn't resist a couple more pictures of the Old Woman Tossed in a Basket!

The first  is from The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. The small black and white drawing is from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.

Witchy Girl / Housewife in Victorian Ad

Here is another woman with a broom to sweep the cobwebs from the sky -- this one from an antique Victorian soap ad. 

I like the contrast yet connection between the sensuous woman on her broomstick and the busy housewife (kitchen maid?) in her kitchen.  Each has the same knowing look on her face, looking right at the viewer, as if they are the same woman!

I hope you enjoy this old advertising art in your creative endeavors.

Fairy Tale Witch and Moon: Nursery Rhyme

There was an old woman tossed up in a basket,
Ninety times as high as the moon;
And where she was going I could'nt but ask it,
For in her hand she carried a broom.

"Old woman, old woman, old woman," quoth I,
"O whither, O whither, O whither, so high?"
"To brush the cobwebs off the sky!"
"Shall I go with thee?" "Aye, by and by."

I remember this nursery rhyme from Mother Goose.  I always liked it.  This version is from The Baby's Bouquet, A Fresh Bunch of Rhymes and Tunes by Walter Crane, with his wonderful illustration.

Antique Advertising Text and Illustrations

I can never get enough of these old advertising pages, especially when they have fancy borders and cool illustrations.  I love the antique-looking fonts, too.

This is actually a rather larger image, so again remember you can resize large or small for all sorts of projects. 

These ephemera pages make lovely backgrounds, or crop out the illustrations.  Here we have a sewing machine, a cup of instantaneous chocolate ("the greatest invention of the age"), a rolling chair, and "the improved home Turko-Russian folding bath cabinet," in addition to the smart housekeeper answering her door, plus fun text.

Victorian Corsets Vintage Advertising

Always popular, vintage advertising of corsets for the fashionable Victorian lady.  These could be found in the London shop of Mrs. Addley Bourne, which in addition to ladies' garments manufactured and supplied bridal items and baby linens.

This is an older scan that someone sent me, and the clarity of the printing is not quite what I like, but it's so charming I thought I would share anyway.  I'm always on the lookout for more corset pictures...

Mother Rabbit and Little Rabbits (Hares, Actually) Victorian Art

 I thought this title page from an antique children's book, "The Ballad of the Lost Hare," was just lovely.  I like rabbits (and hares) and this is a sweet realistic Victorian illustration of a mother and babies, with a yellow rose and lovely soft colors.