Our New Button

The Studio's New Blog Button!

This button began with the artwork from the cover of some sheet music. It is much beloved by yours truly. You see, I love music and I also love art, so this was so much fun!

It's taken months to make the blog look better, including this new button. I hope that it's been well worth it.

Happy Creativity!

The New Button

(now also in our right column)

More Frames in Retro Colors

Retro Color Frames for Scrapbooks (Digi + Print)

Our Devon Lee-inspired Retro Week continues this weekend with a new set, in a combo or trio, if you will. I simply love these fun colors, don't you?
:)

It's so funny that this project expanded, and with such ease. The big frame set from last time is shortly to be replaced by one with better placement. 

My thanks again to Devon Lee for her inspired color choices! This has been a very fun project.

Happy Creativity!

PPS™ Retro Trio Frame Set

Download 12 inch by 12 inch Digi PNG version HERE

Download JPG For Print version HERE

Display copy (lower resolution)

This one is free.

Please credit www.obsidiandawn.com

for the brushes used in this design

along with

artist Devon Lee at A Patient Genealogist

for her inspired color choices.

Let's keep free things free!

Thank you.

Free Frame Set in Retro Colors in 2 Sizes

Free New Frames to match our Retro Color Set

Every scrapbooker knows how a simple frame may enhance or detract from a page design, don't they?

We are adding 2 new frame sets (now upgraded slightly in the Digi 12 x 12 size) to our previous background and tag sets. The color choices come from scrapbooker and designer, Devon Lee. To find her, you can scroll down to find our Tag post, below. All of these things are intended to match, both in color and in style. Please pay attention to the size differences in this post. Most people do not have printers that can accommodate scrapbook page sizes, although we have included just such a possible choice here.

Digital brush credits belong to www.obsidiandawn.com. It's a good idea to visit there in order to find out about any copyrights connected with this design, which was actually quite simple to do once just the right brushes had been chosen.

One set is for Digi and one is for Print, both in 2 sizes. This, too, was fun. Thanks to Devon Lee for the inspirational ideas!

Have lots of Retro fun with your
Happy Creativity!

PPSDigiScrap™ Retro Color Frame Set

Download Digi PNG (now upgraded) version HERE

Download 12 by 12 inch For Print version HERE

Display Copy (at lower resolution)

PPSDigiScrap™ Retro Color Frame Set (Small)

Download Digi PNG version HERE

Download JPG For Print version HERE

Display Copy (lower resolution)

These were inspired by artist Devon Lee

The Digital Brushes are from www.obsidiandawn.com.

Other than that,

the entire set, from the tags to the backgrounds 

to this little frame set

is free.

Please check all copyrights

and

Let's keep free things free!

Free Backgrounds in Retro Colors

Retro Color Backgrounds to match our Tag Set

It's all about having enough time to put things together, isn't it?
Most busy moms just simply don't have enough time for starting from "scratch" in every creative "recipe," whether they're making a new scrapbook page or cooking supper for the family.

This entire series has been inspired in the first place by a scrapbook artist named Devon Lee. If you go to the previous tag post here, you can find a link in her name. She actually is one creative woman. I appreciate her inspired color choices. So here is a set of 12 x 12 inch sheets, for Digi or for print, along with some regular 8.5 x 11 inch sheets that match. The latter may be either printed or used digitally. If you're a Digi artist like I am, then you'll know what is possible using Photoshop.
:)

For the matching Retro Tag set, you can go HERE.

So here it is, and we can all thank www.obsidiandawn.com for the digital brushes which made it possible for me to make this design look the way that it does. I'll leave the rest to our creative guests!

Happy Retro Creativity!

The Example

(Lower resolution, please see Download HERE  links below)

Download Retro Pink 12 inch by 12 inch Digi version HERE

Download the same in 8.5 by 11 inch size HERE

Download Retro Orange 12 inch by 12 inch Digi version HERE

Download the same in 8.5 by 11 inch size HERE

Download Retro Gold 12 by 12inch Digi Version HERE

Download the same in 8.5 by 11 inch size HERE

Download Retro Green 12 by 12 inch Digi version HERE

Download the same in 8.5 by 11 inch size HERE

Download Retro Teal in 12 by 12 inch Digi version HERE

Download the same in 8.5 by 11 inch size HERE

Free Tag Set in Retro Colors

Retro 1980's Tag Set

This was easy, as I myself had already begun the process of creating some new tags. I had already made the template from old ephemera, then simply added color using Photoshop. This was fun!
:)

This particular free set was actually inspired by a new scrapping buddy, Devon Lee.

I liked the colors she was showing at her G+ post, and simply finished the tag set I'd already begun using her color way.

Thanks, Devon, for the fun and the colorful inspiration!

Here's that set for you. You are under no obligation whatsoever to ever use anything produced here at PPS. I won't take offense if you can't use anything you see here. For the rest of the public, this is totally Free, and without any copyrights attached. In other words, it will now be in the Public Domain.

Let's keep free things free with our
Happy Creativity!

PPS™ Retro Style Tag Set

Download Digi PNG HERE

Download JPG For Print version HERE

Display Copy (Lowered resolution)

New Free Images to Harvest

Free Harvest Image for Digital or Print

This was in the PPS archives, and it actually is more interesting to look at than I'd at first assumed. I love the mottled paper and the lovely artwork, don't you?
:)

This image was in the Public Domain when first found. It has been stretched only slightly to keep its resolution better, and then repaired a bit here and there, in order to make the colors appear more crisp and alive. This was done using Photoshop brushes along with some opacity settings and a few other techniques I won't bore my guests by mentioning (I probably cannot recall everything that was done to it anyway!). I see this image as a pleasant reflection on the harvests of the past.

Please see the red letter Guidelines below the image. Thank you.

Have fun harvesting this free vegetable image with your 
Happy Creativity!
:)

PPS™ Fresh for the Harvest: French Vegetables

Download Digi PNG version HERE

Download JPG For Print version HERE

Display Copy Below (lower resolution)

I'm leaving this in the 

Public Domain category, even though 

it's been repaired a bit.

Have a Happy Harvest time!

:)

Free Accessories for Book Artists #4

More Free Images for Book Artists!

This time, the Studio's blog will be offering guests one more opportunity to use some of the previously found items for artwork, crafting, and so on. A number of the things you'll be seeing in months to come had been in the Studio's archives for years. 

Below, you'll see the first in a series of lace items, along with a new fan, some different buttons, and two examples of ways to use this little set. 

The set is available in both Digi PNG format and in for print JPG format. Please read our red letters below the following images for our guidelines as to free and fair use.

I'm mixing eras in our (2) examples this time, so that you'll see just how much fun such a mixing technique this can be. Eighteenth, nineteenth and even twentieth century things will be shown. I suppose we can liken it to mixed media artwork, in a way, can't we?
:)

Some of the buttons are from an old nineteenth century French map, one that I've used before in other work. I think that they turned out fairly well, all things considered. The other style of button, an eighteenth century one, needed just a bit of touch-up prior to being used, as it was looking a bit untidy and even rumpled. Once its looks had been restored, it seemed to make a nice contrasting color look to the cravat lace "pocket," which I've also cleaned up and altered for you.

As for the fan, can I just say that it was a case for me of love at first sight? This required several different types of cleaning and refurbishing, initially. I'm so glad that it was available for use today.

Once again, please read our red guidelines below. Thank you so much for stopping by with your
Happy Creativity!

PPS™ Accessory Set for Book Artists #4:

Lace Cravat, Fan & Buttons

Example A

(a lower resolution picture, unfit for printing, 

and also copyrighted by us)

Example B

Download the following Set in Digi PNG version HERE

Download JPG For Print version HERE

Here is what our new set looks like:

You are free to:

use any of the images in this set in art for fun or for profit.

You are not free to:

sell any of these images as they are

in sets which you've made yourselves.

Please respect our gifts for the public's use.

Let's keep free things free!

Thank you.

Free Accessories for Book Artists #3

Book Artist Accessory Set #3: Buckles, Trim, Buttons & Ribbon

This new set is actually a combination of ideas, eras, and prior creations. The vintage trim was scanned in years ago; likewise our wee little buckle, now offered in more than one color way and more than one size. Both trim and buckle were found on various shopping trips here and there. I just can't resist a good flea market or antiques mall, can you?
:)

All of this is copyrighted, of course, so please read our red letter guidelines below.

The buckle is from the first part of the twentieth century. The embroidered buttons, as mentioned previously, are from the eighteenth century. The cloth is also from the eighteenth century. It's a favorite era of mine. The cloth buttons are all faux or fake, made using Photoshop processes. These were fun to make!

The pocket flap is actually the way most pockets did look at one point in the eighteenth century, when even shoulder seams were cut in a different way. I love the embroidery on the pocket flap, including all of the colors used. 

The lace in the Example (fist image below) is actually a digital brush. No credits may be added for that one, but it most likely came from the Brusheezy website. Simply go to Brusheezy.com and type into their search window the word, "lace." (I tried looking for it but without success) They have some lovely free things there. Obsidiandawn.com likewise has some refined lace brushes if you're into digital art making. That's a favorite place online for me personally, by the way.

Guidelines are listed in red below the following images.
Happy Creativity!
:)

PPS™ Accessory Set for Book Artists #3

Example Image

(lower resolution, not fit for print)

Download the following Set in Digi PNG version HERE

Download For JPG For Print version HERE

You are free to:

Use the images in this set for the purposes of art making

either for fun or for profit.

You are not free to:

sell any one component of this set

in any sets of your own making.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

More Free Accessories for Book Artists

When can a fan be a pocket?

The answer for any artist would have to be, "Anytime we want it to become one!"

Our new set actually has a history of having been started years ago, prior to our rather lengthy hiatus. It has been on hold for all of this time, but was found in the Studio archives only lately. The buttons, however, are a recent addition. The style of embroidery is similar in tone, and so they seemed to go very well together for the set. We do hope that our guests will agree.

Once again, the first image may be looked at for an example as to how our image set could be used in Collage, Decoupage, Book Arts, Scrapbooking (digital or with glue), and general crafting. It is a lower resolution image, intended for display purposes only, and therefore would not print very well. It is also copyrighted, as a design, by the Studio, although we really do not mind it being used to suggest new ideas for our friends and guests online.
:)

Quite frankly, I see scrapbookers making very fine, artist quality work all of the time. Some of the things I keep finding online in the scrapbook world amaze me with their beauty, refinement, and sheer tour de force artistry. So all of you scrappers out there--I see you as artists. I want you to know that many of your books are just as artistic and refined as many of the fine art books I've seen in some galleries.

But my first love would have to be book design and book altering, along with art journals, collage, and general art making. I used to yearn for higher quality images to add to my supplies, and would hunt them down everywhere that I could think of.

Please note that this set began with online images that are within the Public Domain. However, any work involved makes this our baby, as it were. 

Please read the red letters below for our guidelines for use.
Happy Creativity!
:)

One Example of How to Use Our Set

Single Fan with Buttons Set

Download Digi PNG version HERE

Download For Print JPG version HERE

Download Set with 3 Sizes and Buttons in Digi PNG version HERE

Download Same Set in For Print JPG version HERE

You are free to:

use the included images in your own art making for fun or for profit.

You are not free to:

sell them in sets which you have made.

Please respect our gifts for the public's use.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Let's keep free things free!

Free Accessories for Book Artists #1

Create a Pocket for your altered book with our NEW set

This set is all about book altering, art journals and visual journals, although I suppose even some scrapbooking fans might find some fun uses for today's design.

Personally, I've played around with books for years. I've altered several, and enjoy art journals very much. I've built pockets, pullouts, doors, and altered page poems, and even once joined in altered book shows. Today's digital art crowd may find this set especially useful, as it's been offered in both digital PNG and for print JPG formats.

The shoe had to be significantly altered, but the most work was put into refurbishing the man's waistcoat front. But the embroidery! Just imagine, my friends, how many days, weeks, or perhaps months of work it took to make such garments! Even now, it sends a shiver right through me.We left out both upper and lower tabs on the waistcoat fronts, as adding any of significant size would have crowded out part of the margin we like to use. I suppose our guests might choose to add some of their own. I also like the idea of using lace or pretty tape or just plain glue in place of a tab at top and bottom. We'll leave that up to our guests this time.
:)

Shown below, first in our line up of pictures, is but one example as to how this set might be utilized in the addition of pockets and small tucking places for altered books, art journals, or scrapbooks.

You'll notice our set might have come straight from the old courts of Versailles in France of the eighteenth century. However, in the example, we chose to mix centuries, combining the eighteenth, nineteenth, and finally early twentieth centuries in one single example. This was to offer suggestions on how to combine centuries within the same design. To allow the colors to do all of the talking made best sense.

So here it is, and I do hope this will be of some use. Please note the beige colored tabs attached to the embroidered waistcoat portions of our set. For those of us with print capabilities, the fold line is obvious between the tab and the waistcoat.

As for the pretty little shoe, the Studio's version simply cut away the shoe's interior. I think it looks tiny enough to actually fit Cinderella's foot, wouldn't you agree?
:)

I love the hand embroidered shank style buttons on the waistcoat, and so there are several offered in the set for you to play with in your art.

We hope to soon expand our Altered Book Accessories line for you. Quite frankly, it is a favorite of this PPS artisan.

The following work was built with Public Domain material, yet it is now no longer copyright free. The design belongs to Plush Possum Studio.

Please see the red letters below for our guidelines. We prefer to keep it free for our artist friends around the world.
Happy Creativity!

One Example of Our Set's Use

(for display purposes only and at lower resolution)

PPS™ Accessory Set for Book Artists

Download Digi PNG version HERE

Download JPG Print Version HERE

When using the print version, it is suggested that any paper used be either card stock or else reinforced by something sturdier than mere paper.

You are free to:

use the above set in your own art making

for fun or for profit.

You are not free to:

make new sets using the above images for any reason.

Please respect our gifts for the public's use.

Please respect all copyrights.

Let's keep free things free!

Thank you.

We Are Still Under Construction!

Please forgive us while we make a few further changes

It all started with a possum....
Changing this blog's look can take days, weeks, a month, or even longer, depending upon circumstances, time, and other factors of life. We began with a very basic, clean background of a plain blue-gray tone, to match the color of a "possum" artist's dress. We utilized a self portrait from the late 18th century, altering it just enough to make a bit of fun for our guests to view. She was a white possum, all dressed up in a satin gown with a straw hat on her head and an artist's brush in one paw.

I loved it, but it is old, and a bit rundown. So it was time to rethink the concept of blog design and to try and take things in a new direction.

The Atelier or Studio Background
This blog's new look has been in the works for around 2 months. It's always a learning process around here, but then this blog is all about learning and offering new things which the public may then use in artwork, projects, and crafting.

We hope that we have learned as much as we'd like to be able to, and yet, sometimes we know that we can't always reach the heights that we'd like to achieve. Learning does take time, and while it is fun, it can stall us for a while.

Even though it's not exactly what was desired from the beginning, I still really like this newest look better. We started out blogging with an artist who looked like a possum, along with her two companions in our banner, and now we have our newest design. 

And this newest design started off with two old watercolors, both antique, but from different eras. We tried mixing media on this one, yet it simply would not work, more's the pity. The watercolors we used have a slightly grainy look, but then watercolor often does have that look, doesn't it? I simply love watercolor! And this particular pairing makes sense to me.

:)

I love the daylight that's pouring through the windows and the pretty, old fashioned furnishings. I believe that I could very easily have lived in just such a place. The high ceilings! The big windows! The sunlight! It's such a pretty place.

The easel and a few other things were added as an afterthought. Also, everything had to be altered in order that it would fit the Blogger format. The details (border widths, etc.) might take us some time to figure out, as the shape of this new background is a bit different to the Steampunk one that we'd been using for 2 months.

The New Banner
This was something which had already begun a long time ago. Its basis, the lady on the grass with her book, is from a song sheet scanned in by yours truly. In other words, it is a PPS scan, and is now in the Studio's archives. It is a favorite of mine. Doesn't she look peaceful? I like her direct gaze. Added to this were (of course) the rose (that word is a link leading to the image source, for credits, which see at that link), the ink pot and her feather pen (same as before, as that is a link). The post card (from our archives) and the leaf (in the Public Domain worldwide) were added later. Other slight alterations were made to the look of the artwork being used. 

I cannot help but wonder who this lady was, and how she came to be posing on the grass for some artist whose work was used on the cover of that old sheet music. It is obvious that it is a portrait, so a real person's story is behind our new banner. (A real mystery, never to be solved!) As this was the case in the first place, this is only natural for us, I suppose. We tend to enjoy portraits and self-portraits, and so this seemed our logical choice for today. Our first banner was all about female artists being creative.

So please bear with us while we endeavor to make this little blog's look work.

Oh goodness! Now we'll need a better button!
Happy Creativity!

Back to School Graphics for Digi or Print

3 Back to School Image Sets 2 Ways

We love to be flexible around here, and so tend to offer our guests a certain number of options or choices. All 3 items are offered in 2 ways, Digi PNG for our Digital crowd, and Print JPG for our copy and glue crowd. I love to utilize both ways, myself, and hope our guests can relax, knowing they are among friends.

All of the children are charming, aren't they? Personally, my very favorite image from all of what we offer here is the one of the girl posing from a side view with a smile on her face. Her caption reads: " 'Draw me portrait, please, sir.' The load consists of school books and hobnail shoes." I love her dignified and very glad smile. I think she must have been a very interesting young person to have known. But then, I really do love children everywhere.

Our later version of the sheet music cover has been recreated considerably until it became a frame for you. I also enjoy the initial image it came with. It is offered both ways, for your enjoyment.

All image credits may be found below.
Please respect all copyrights with your Happy Creativity!

PPSDigiScrap™ Back to School Set 1

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download Print JPG Version HERE

Display Version (lower quality)

PPSDigiScrap™ Back to School Set 2

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download Print JPG Version HERE

Display Version (lower quality)

Our Sheet Music Front Cover "Frame" with "Chums"

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download Print JPG Version HERE

Display Version (lower quality)

CREDITS:

NYPL Image Archive

All Rights Reserved by NYPL.org

All design work using these images by PPS

You are therefore free to:

use the above images for educational or private use.

And you are therefore not free to:

sell any of the above images

without the explicit permission of NYPL,

even if they have been altered significantly by you.

Please respect all free gifts online,

including ours.

Please respect the rights of artists and archivists everywhere.

Thank you.