Castle Coloring Page

This illustration is of a real castle in France.

I like medieval artwork and architecture. I also like to "geek out" on history now and then, so this illustration really pleased me when I ran across it online. 

While I've cleaned it up and resized it, it's still a Public Domain image. For more about the Château de Coucy or the Coucy castle, you may visit this website HERE. I'm fascinated by it in that I used to reread a favorite medieval history book by Barbara Tuchman entitled, "A Distant Mirror," that traces the history of the Coucy family. (Please do not let anyone fool you - that book is not fictional. I revel in the footnotes and appendixes as well as the bibliography. See? I am a history nerd or "geek.")

Happy Coloring Creativity!

PPSColorMe™: Medieval French Castle

Download HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Free and in the Public Domain.

Please give me credit for the cleanup job 
I supplied to make this picture more fun.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Mercy, Tom and Victoria Visit Venice!

Or, as it is said in Italian, "Mercy, Tom e Victoria visitare Venezia."

Included in this Set is one new outfit for Mercy, shown first above the Scenes. 
How exciting! They have found themselves a bit muddled by the confusing layout of the city. Notice how the two cousins are dressing today almost as a pair of twins might. (After all, they have the very same dressmaker back in London, and it is such fun to dress alike!) They wore the same outfits with different shoes during their time of packing for the journey. Those outfits may be found by clicking on the Doll's names below:
Victoria
Mercy
Both offer a special standard for stability.
Victoria's travel or Tourist outfit may be found by following the link HERE.

The three young people are in search of the right way in which to find their final destination for this afternoon's bit of tourist fun together: the famous set of buildings known as the Palazzo Ducale, or the Doge's Palace. To learn more about this famous Venetian palace, you may follow the link HERE.

Please observe all copyrights, credits and red letter Guidelines here at my blog. Thank you very much.
©RHMcGuinn as are all of the rest of the Paper Dolls, outfits, rooms, Scenes and Accessories, including standards. Thanks for the courtesy.

Alas! The three travelers have wandered away from their true course and are now concerned about the hour. But not to worry. Our young linguist, Victoria, comes to the rescue! She asks a pleasant looking elderly woman (using her practiced conversational Italian), "Buon pomeriggio, signora. Posso chiederle come per il modo corretto per noi per raggiungere il Palazzo Ducale? E 'nelle vicinanze?"

Which means, in modern English, "Good afternoon, Madam. May I inquire as to the correct way for us to reach the Doge's Palace? Is it nearby?"

Tom applauds his wife's cousin's quick witted way of handling the situation. He himself has very little Italian. His real foreign language gift is with French. Mercy, meanwhile, is very proud indeed of her young cousin's growing foreign language skills. As a result and very soon, they find their way to an ornate outer courtyard of the Palazzo. While still there, they will have another adventure which I shall post here quite soon. This involves yet another famous Venetian palace. But that will be for another day.

The season that is best for travel in Adriatic waters cannot last forever. The three intend to travel southward next, this time by boat. Tom will have plenty of time for relaxation from that point onward, so that they are certain to have even more fun than when he was so busy. 

Happy Travel Playtime Fun!

PPSPlaytime™: Venice Part One

Download Mercy's Daytime Tourist Outfit HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Display version of

Venice Scene One

Download Upper Left HERE

Download Upper Right HERE

Download Lower Right HERE

Download Lower Left HERE

Display version of

Venice Scene Two

Download Upper Left HERE

Download Upper Right HERE

Download Lower Right HERE 

Download Lower Left HERE

You are free to:

play with, give or trade

the paper dolls, their outfits, or their scenes.

You are not free to:

ever sell any of the dolls or any of their accessories,

including this set

for any reason.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Free Antique Baseball Coloring Page

Bustles and Baseball? 
An old illustration from the 1880's Victorian Bustle Era.

I ran across this old graphic recently while doing research on a completely different project. It was in the Public domain, and yet needed a little facelift, so to speak. I have enlarged it and cleared it of some torn areas plus one scratch using photoshop processes. There is a bit of a quality issue as far as resolution goes, but since it is intended to be either hand colored or tinted, I saw this as being  a very minor issue. My recommendation would be to use colored pencils. After all, it is fairly small (not even filling the 8 1/2 by 11 inch final size) and yet it is also very full of details! Please adjust your printer margin settings to .25 inches (1/4 inch) for this one.

My! - how they did used to dress up for the ball park! Americans really would do that a lot. Almost everybody wore hats, and some men would even wear suits. The women in the foreground of this picture wear hats, corsets, and long dresses with bustles underneath. Just look at all of the different hat styles the ladies are wearing to this game! Personally, I like the small top hat that another woman is wearing.

In the distance, there is an obviously very busy harbor of some sort. This must be a port town somewhere. I wish that I could share the location of this old ball field with all of you. Perhaps somebody can help me out with the history and location? Meanwhile ~

Happy Coloring!

PPSColorMe™: An Antique Baseball Game Graphic

Download HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Credits:

nypl.org

Free for use.

I'm keeping this in the Public Domain.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Free Scrapping Set: "Brown Paper Packages"

"Favorite Things"

This offering is all about a few favorite things as a set, offered for both Digital Scrapbooking and Print purposes.

A thunderstorm might make one think of the wonderful song from the musical, "The Sound of Music," wherein the main character, Fräulein Maria sings about how to get over upset and fear by recalling favorite things. Our Studio experienced more than one such storm here recently, forcing a complete shut down of all computer functions. But this helped to inspire us!

"...Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things." I actually do love brown paper, twine, thread, and stitching. I also have been known to collect old sewing and thread notions. 

Favorite things used in our design this time:
Antique books
Sewing Notions
Brown Paper
Twine
Buttons
Things from foreign places (everywhere from London to the Netherlands to France to Italy to as far away as possibly old Russia of the early 1900s as well as Japan was used to make our designs).

Our idea is to prepackage sets from time to time in order to give freely a few items that our guests might enjoy. We really do hope that you'll be able to have fun with our ideas this time!

Digital collage was used as the main medium, as per usual. Add to that one of our own in-Studio "Pretty Papers" in sepia tone, along with a few surprises along the way, and our gathering of objects and ideas began to fit together nicely.

Most of the buttons were made digitally from images of old manuscripts, all found online at Wikimedia Commons in the Pubic Domain section. That being said, we attribute wherever possible. One button's design (see the "Le Secret" button) would include page edges from an interesting image we found online there. Please see Pergamentmakulatur at Wikimedia Commons or that person's lovely old book image, in its entirety, HERE. This is where we found page edges for our one button design. Please attribute that artist's name in your work, but never sell.

Our thread card, marked "Artsilk" is in the Public Domain worldwide, as far as we have been able to determine. The mother-of-pearl buttons used on the same frame we scanned ourselves quite a while ago. In fact, it is safe to say that we have been playing with buttons in our designs for years, but seldom have used any in offerings here at PPS. The lower left button in the same design was likewise scanned, and is an old celluloid button from my own private collection. It was a common enough button during the early part of the 20th century. The sheet music used for the flower is also of PPS origin.

The old map of London, often used by us here before, offered us yet another opportunity to use its beautiful look in this design. It, too, is in the Public Domain, as are the rest of the remaining documents being used here today.

In other words, Please attribute our Studio in your work, as well as that of the Wikimedia artist mentioned above with your
Happy Creativity!
:)

PPS™ Favorite Things Set

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download JPG Version HERE

Display Copy 

(at lower resolution for display purposes only)

Other Credits:

ObsidianDawn.com for French Handwriting digital brush

Dezinaworld for some inspiration

You are free to:

use the above set in artwork for fun 

or profit, except the "Le Secret" button included in the set.

That button may be given or traded, but never sold,

if we are to be fair to the person providing the main image for it.

You are not free to:

repackage our designs for sale in any way.

This is our gift to you.

Please respect our gifts for the public's use.

Thank you.

Currier & Ives Thanksgiving

Greetings, everybody! Hope you had a pleasant weekend and are refreshed and ready to create using our latest item for Thanksgiving.
This time, we feature the cropped version of that famous old Currier & Ives print, "Home To Thanksgiving." It was cropped due to messy margins which would not clean up properly via digital means, but still looked so new on its own, it was decided to make two versions of it for you, one in sepia, and one in the original look.
Don't worry- we managed to save the print, if not its margins, so you'll have the actual look of this old fashioned farm scene to its margins. 
Both colorways are set at a high enough resolution to allow for some enlargement at your local copy center, and are suitable for framing once the margins are obscured and/or cropped. 
This might make a fun card as well, especially for those of us living in areas of the country where it does tend to snow in time for this warmhearted holiday.
We hope you'll find lots of uses for this fun old graphic.
For more Thanksgiving graphics, you can go HERE. And for our Harvest collection, try going HERE.
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Currier & Ives Thanksgiving Print

Sepia Toned

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

Original Look

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

Credits: Original antique image (prior to our fixing) from

the New York Public Library at nypl.org

You are free to:

use these images in your artwork for sale or personal use.

You are not free to:

 take our cleaned up versions of these images (as seen above) and repackage them for sale.

Our work matters.

The public's rights matter.

Please respect both.

Thank you.

Steampunk ATC Backgrounds: Town & Country

Who can ever have too much Steampunk? Not this possum! 
Included in our post for you today there are several city scenes, along with two country views. For our visitors with a yen for things French, you'll find two views on Paris. We also include one view on Berlin, along with two USA views.
These will hopefully lend themselves well to creating ATCs for trade or for keeps.
More than once, I've found myself wishing I had just the right outdoor view to build on, and I know I'm not alone in this. The Berlin one looks to me as if it might lend itself well to an aerial view, as in a dirigible or two, while our lovely view of the Rhein at Mainz in Germany gives oodles of room to play around in.
And I love the old Brownstone mansion with its wide boulevard--obviously in its brand new setting of Victorian elegance (a then new suburb of NYC, perhaps?). The Paris view above it is of a street scene adjacent to the Comédie Française. Perhaps they have a stage play by famous playwright Moliére running?
For more in our Steampunk Category, you can go HERE.
I love all these scenes, actually, and I hope you will too. Enjoy your weekend ahead and--
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Steampunk Town & Country ATC Six Pack

Downloadable Version HERE

CREDITS
All digital brushes used in the production of
this post come from Obsidian Dawn.


Credits: Original Antique imagery (prior to our fixing) from
the New york Public Library at nypl.org
Alos, WIki Commons

NEW! Steampunk Digi Air Travel Set!

Oh, so much fun! As we enjoy our countdown towards August, we thought we'd add some more funk to the old Steampunk theme via the two new sheets below. (Don't forget to check out all the fun with this month's theme of Steampunk over at Gingersnap Creations!! Lots more to do there!!)
Both are reformatted for more fun--meaning, each one may be used 2 different ways!
That's right!
So our 12" by 12" Digiscrap set will download as a PNG, or as a printable JPG--take your pick!
And our 8.5" by 11" set comes the very same way! Just click on your chosen format's link (either transparent PNG or regular printworthy JPG) and download!
Hope you'll enjoy these new pages and find many ways of using each image.
You can find our entire Steampunk category HERE.
;)
Happy Steampunk Month Creativity!
Rose


P.S. And, yes, we sepia toned a Rousseau as part of the 12" by 12".
(For those less familiar with the works of Rousseau, it's the second one down, far left.)

Steampunk Dirigibles Sets

12" by 12" Scrapper Set

Downloadable PNG (no background for the Digi crowd) HERE

Downloadable 12" by 12" Printable (for those with such printer capabilities) JPG HERE

8.5" by 11" Set

Downloadable  PNG (no background-for the Digi crowd) HERE

Downloadable JPG Version HERE

(Yes!!! Finally, Docs let us upload these for you!!!!!)

Credits: Original Antique imagery (prior to our fiddling) from

the New York Public Library at nypl.org

Also, WIkimedia Commons

You are free to:

use these in art for fun or profit, provided you will credit back to us with a link (thank you!)

You are not free to:

Repackage these for sale in any way.

Please honor our gift to the public by keeping them free for use.

Thank you!

Seeing Double: On the (partially Steampunked) Road To Cairo, Egypt (with bonus ATC background!)

In keeping with our theme this week of following the lead given by Gingersnap Creations, we now give you 4 versions of the same travel image, 2 of which are in our Steampunk colorway. As an added bonus, we've cropped and then Steampunked an emblem from one end of this Stereoscopic photo duo.
The simplicity of our stereoscopic card's look makes for lots of room for embellishments of all kinds. This means, you can take it and run with it! 
Further, if you'll notice, there's a set of tracks running from the foreground to some undefined point in the distance. Perhaps a steam locomotive, when set at the right angle, might be fun in this case. There's certainly room enough for a car or boat, so a travel theme might fit any one of those 3 categories.
Think pith helmets, jodhpurs, or tents and camel drivers. Lots of possibilities for playing around with this theme here!
Also, do try and give a salute to the Gingersnap crowd. They work hard to supply us all with new ideas and tutorials all of the time. We owe them a vote of thanks for their very substantial effort, surely.
Happy Road Trip and/or Steampunk Creativity!
Rose

The Pyramids at Gizeh in Stereoscope

Tone Enriched

Downloadable Version HERE

Original Look

Downloadable Version HERE

Steampunked

Downloadable Version HERE

ATC Background

Downloadable Version HERE

"World Series" Emblem

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

Antique Amusement Park Photo: Night Time View #2 with ATC version

In our century I think we'd think it funny to be wearing so much clothing on a warm summer night. My guess is the photo below was taken at the outset of summer, when weather just east of the Rockies can produce very cool temps after dark.
All the same, this one is a sure winner, being all about the Lakeside Amusement Park waterslide of the early 1900's. There's a daylight view on this same area HERE. 
I love how the lights play on the water, and how you can see the stars above. This was a famous spot once, renowned for its lovely view as well as for every amusement it provided.
A few days back, I posted the first of the night time views on our amusement park, (A Summer Night in 1908: Spectacular Light Tower Scene + Bonus ATC Background), and it was an instant hit with Ann of annsimaginationcreations, who used in it one of her collages, entitled "She Had Bigger Dreams."
Thanks, Ann, for the plug for the images we offer!!!
Anyhow, here's that second night view, along with its accompanying ATC.
Happy Summer Night, everybody!
Rose

Amusement Park Night Life

Downloadable Version HERE

ATC Sized

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

A Summer Night in 1908: Spectacular Light Tower Scene + Bonus ATC Background

Here we have another example from our amusement park photo set. And isn't it a dandy? I just love the way that old tower light's powerful beam cuts across a starry night sky! And the electric light display on the ground floor of the building it was connected to really shines in this picture. 
I could see this scene used for a background in a collage or ATC, so we've given our readers their choice of the two. And I think it might  even be a touch Steampunky, too.
Hope you're enjoying all this summer has to offer you! We sure are here at the Studio.
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Antique Amusement Park Scene

Original Size

Downloadable version HERE

ATC Size

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

You are free to:

use either of the above images

in artwork that is to be either sold or

given or traded.

You are not free to:

repackage either image for sale

in sets or singly.

Thank you

for helping me to 

keep free things free!

Patriotic Collage Sheet: featuring Independence Day & Our Statue of Liberty

With Independence Day just around the corner, we thought we'd add to the fun by collecting together into one sheet those images we all crave, such as the American flag, our Liberty Bell, a few famous scenes, and a surprise or two.
Hope you'll like them--we sure do!
Rose 

American Symbols of Freedom Collage Sheet

Downloadable Version HERE

At last! I can load pictures again!

whew!

Images used from Wikimedia Commons

and nypl.org

Antique Illustration: Colonial Times in Old America

These are from our continuing series out of Thackeray's "The Virginians." We really have a good time looking at every detail in each one. Thackeray not only gave us his "Vanity Fair," and "Barry Lyndon" novels, but he wrote many other things besides, all of them so mid-Victorian they almost wear corsets or tophats! ;)
This one is a cutie pie, if you ask me. Here's one mother sharing her young babe in arms with another. It's sweet and fun to look into. For instance, you'll note the presence of a slave companion to one lady standing behind her, almost at center. Thackeray's first accounting of his storyline was well before our Civil War had ended. In fact, the author himself met his end a few years before its start.
This novel, which was written for a periodical in parts, takes place long before our Civil War, however. The 1700's are a fascinating time period in our American history, but also in our world's history as well.
The story behind Thackeray's books and drawings and a full accounting of his life may be found HERE, where you'll also find links to his plot line for this story (not intended for those looking to read his work--too many surprises spoiled).
So here we have his "Master Miles Warrington" illustration, in both our Black & White and Original Look versions.
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Thackeray Illustration: "Master Miles"

Black & White

Downloadable Version HERE

Original Look

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

Seeing Double 3 Ways: Antique Views on San Francisco's Ferry Depot

We see many stereoscopic view cards in our travels, but this one caught our eye. It is so simple, such a basic background, the thought was: "An ideal background for Collage!" It's a turn of the century look without any clutter or fuss. And it's a tinted plate, meaning more fun in general!
I myself already have plans for this image. :)
For more information on the fascinating history of this remarkable structure, you can go HERE. It has survived more than one major earthquake!
Imagine the potential for art use here, though. Add people, mix, stir, and find yourself a brand new collage!
We think the possibilities may be endless.
Anyhow, here it is, and we hope you'll enjoy both our Original and Brightened versions, along with our Steampunk color way version.
Please do not repackage any or all of these images for sale! Let's keep free things free!
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Stereoscopic View of Old Time San Francisico

Brightened Look

Downloadable Version HERE

Original Tone

Downloadable Version HERE

Steampunk Colorway

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

Family Fun Project: A "Modeltown" Villa Out of Paper

Continuing our tradition of trying always to do our best creatively as well as within copyright restrictions, here is the second of two papercrafted buildings dating from around the turn of the last century.
While we realize some of you may have never visited here before, please note how our instructions towards the completion of these two projects may be found HERE, where we've included the basic materials we'd recommend you start with, along with a few basic tips for use throughout.
This may well be a tough project. It is not recommended children should try this on for themselves without some assistance, as for many it would be too difficult. However, when put together by adults and children together, it could well be a lot of fun.
Let each house hold its own distinction, with color, decorative touches, and so forth, and let each child feel proud she or he was able to contribute to the process of making a truly unique finished product.
It is possible, near where you and your family live, there could be some fine examples of mid-Victorian to late-Edwardian architecture. This might make for a fun family outing, and provide further ideas for what a house would look like from that era.
Anyway, here are the patterns, with some instructions, for an antique style house made of paper. I think this might well be fun during Winter school break as well as for rainy days or family gatherings the rest of the year. Those already having our church pattern from this series may wish to call our villa the Rector's lodging or Minister's house. We think that, any way you may choose to consider the history behind such a little house, there's creative fun to be had.
Happy Creativity, everybody!
Rose & Studio Friends

Modeltown Villa Paper House Patterns

Page One

Black & White

Downloadable Version HERE

Page Two

Black & White

Downloadable Version HERE

Last Page

Black & White

Downloadable Version HERE

And for Scrapbookers & Other Image Users,

the same in our Original Patina

Page One

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Page Two

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Last Page

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

You are free to:

use these images for fun, but not for profit.

Unless,that is,

any of the above images gets incorporated into your own artwork.

You are not free to repackage them at all for sale.

They are a free gift in the Public Domain.

Let's let them remain so.

Thank you for your cooperation.