As Promised: Shabby Chic Accessories

This project began with an antique tissue paper page that was loose within the covers of an antique book about butterflies.

It looked so forlorn at first, and yet somehow every wrinkle, crease and tear informed me that there was something I would be doing with them someday. 

Please acknowledge my copyrights by always crediting my work back to this blog, and please do follow the red letter Guidelines located at the foot of this post. This is a share-alike post of freebies that are not to be sold by anyone, even when altering has been done. Thank you. 

It has taken years for this journey from a book sale at a library till today. From 2004 till now, I've had many challenges to face as an artist, including learning enough Photoshop techniques in order to make it work well enough for me. The book itself resides on a shelf and is seldom opened due to its frailty, but I love knowing that it's still around. Somebody has to give tattered old books a loving new home, and I knew at the time that it was my turn to be the one.

The page view ratings for the original Stationary Set (found HERE) were a sign to me that the public might go for a few of the matching accessories I'd promised to make. The download offers a chance to create using both the pages I've already published here along with matching Labels and Photo Corners. All of this has taken time, so please respect my wishes as to copyrights. I'd appreciate it. Let's share and share alike, shall we?
:)

For a look at what the same Photo Corners in other colors look like when in use, you may visit an earlier post of mine HERE.

Happy Shabby Chic Creativity!

PPS™Shabby Chic Stationary Accessory Set

Download HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

You are free to:

share, give or make art with

the items from this set.

You are not free to:

Ever sell anything from this et

even if you've altered it first.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Shabby Chic Stationary Paper

This set may be a little faded or wrinkled, but for anyone who enjoys antique pages, it might be fun to use for their handwritten correspondence.

This is just a suggestion for Mothers Day, but I think that it might make a fine birthday present for somebody who enjoys corresponding offline using the post or classic "snail mail." I began this process a while back - over 2 years ago, in fact. I wasn't impressed with my first results. You see, I tend to work more slowly nowadays than I used to do, and am also more choosy than before about what I am willing to publish here. I am still not as satisfied as I wanted to be, but I still enjoy how cute these pages look to me.

Please respect my copyrights and follow the red letter Guidelines located at the foot of this post. Thank you. All artists' rights do count, as do yours.

Notes are more fun if the paper is pretty, aren't they? This set of Pages began with an antique tissue paper page I'd found lying loose between the regular paper pages of an antique book about butterflies. I purchased my 1905 butterfly book years ago at a library book sale. 

That tissue page looked so charmingly crumpled and worn around the edges that I instantly fell in love with it! By using Photoshop processes, I slowly began to understand how to alter my scans of that tissue paper page so that it could be used by me in art for this blog.  This stationary or notepaper was the first thing that really made sense to me, although I have featured the crumpled bit of tissue here once before. (This was recent, during my ATC Background week that I featured earlier in April 2017.)

I'm offering all 3 colors in 2 styles: with lines and without. I'd like to encourage my visitors to customize whatever envelopes they might have around. The colors are soft and even old fashioned, but then so is the inspiration which got this whole project started. The shabby filigree pattern is one I've used previously in an older post which guests may find HERE. 

If this new set does well enough, I might be encouraged to make an accessory set for it of some kind. For more choices, I'd like to encourage guests to try looking through my Spring selections. My Spring Garden Collection is still growing. I've recently added a cheerful Rainy Day Set to it which you may find HERE.

It's possible to print your choices from home and then (of course) to make plenty of copies at your local Copy center. It might make a nice gift for someone who enjoys using something unusual for their correspondence. I could see a set of these pages bundled neatly with ribbons or lace, possibly in either a pretty basket or box. A unique little magnetic message board for an office might be customized using one of my designs. Moms might enjoy a handwritten letter using one of my pages as a part of their Mothers Day gift or card, too. 

Happy creative corresponding!

PPS™Shabby Chic Stationary Pages

All Six Displayed

Download Lilac HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Download Dusty Rose HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Download Faded Denim HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Download Lilac with Lines HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Download Dusty Rose with Lines HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Download Faded Denim with Lines HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

You are free to:

Give or use or share these designs.

You are not free to

ever sell any of these designs for any reason

even if you've altered them first.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Antique Cornfield Graphic

Antique graphics are a lot of fun, aren't they?

This pretty farm graphic from (I am guessing) either the late Victorian or perhaps Edwardian era really caught my eye! I began with the enlarging process, as it wasn't too small a file. Next, I began to revive the colors till they could reveal some of their prior beauty. Other than that, I have left all of its luscious wrinkles and tattered edges.  Every sign of age can be beautiful. Sometimes it can be a little too easy to want to make something like this look too new.

This will be my second Public Domain post of the day.

Happy Creativity!

PPSHarvest™ Graphic:

Cornfield and Swallows

Download HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Public Domain

Thank you 

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Family Fun Project: Antique Toy Animals

These I found in the Studio's archives yesterday.

While these antique stuffed animal toys really do look charming, you may want to update their materials somewhat in order to conform to today's standards for child safety. One example of this would be to replace the beads used in this pattern as eyes for the animals.

Please respect all copyrights, credits and red letter Guidelines given at this blog, including the ones at the foot of this post. Thank you.

I have never tried using either of these patterns myself. Speaking as a former costumer and hat designer, however, I think that it might be wise to do what many seamstresses and tailors do, and that would be to experiment first using some lightweight cotton fabric such as calico or muslin.

These toys would look cute in any antique store display of some other children's items, I suppose. This would be nice for specialty shops trading in Edwardian children's goods, especially as the patterns themselves were designed and published between 1905 and 1910.

This would not be an easy project for anyone that would be new to sewing, though. The instructions offer too little guidance for the novice, and there are no seam lines to each pattern. Judging from the looks of the finished products as well as the patterns, my best guess at this moment is that seam allowances are included in the overall plan, but are not sketched onto every pattern piece. Again, experimentation is of importance as would be the sewer's creative choices. You may not like to crochet, for example, and therefore might choose to use a piece of trim or braid for the pig's tail, etc. I suppose that these 2 patterns could even be enlarged or resized to suit tastes.

Personally, I think that they are both sweet and charming.

Happy Stitching Creativity!

PPSFamily Fun Project™: 

Two Antique Stuffed Toy Animals

Download Patterns HERE

Display version

(Lower quality than the download)

Download Instruction page HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

You are free to:

use this set of patterns 

along with their instructions for free

and to sell any resulting efforts

you may make using them.

You are not free to:

ever sell the patterns themselves,

unless you choose to remake them completely.

Please credit this blog with the patterns' origins.

Thank you

 for helping me to

keep free things free!

Antique Magazine Cover for August

This Art Nouveau style magazine cover is outlined with twining vines and late summer blooms.

The woman in her hammock is reading. I can almost imagine her long, trailing skirts billowing slightly in a breeze as she sways slightly in her ladylike way.

Please see all copyrights, credits and red letter Guidelines below. Thank you.

I also enjoy the travel machines near the very top of this picture, don't you? I do really enjoy old trains. To travel aboard one was once a real joy for me - and in actual fact, I've had that pleasure on four separate occasions. What a delight each one was!

Whether you'd prefer to be swaying in a comfortable hammock or on the high seas or else riding a speedy train to an exciting place that is new to you, this cover just might suit your August mood.

Happy summertime creativity!

Antique August Magazine Cover

Download HERE

Display version

(lower quality than the download)

Credits:

originally found at nypl.org

You are free to:

use the above August illustration

in artwork that is to be either given or traded

or sold as a intrinsic to other work that is made by you. Please do not sell this one as is or in a set of your own. Making it look better has taken hours of my time.

Thank you for helping me to keep free things free!

Re-Post: Rainbow ATC Set

Every rainbow is a miracle of color and form, and every one is a little different. They never stay with us very long, and our wonder and awe at each sight of one makes this world seem softer or gentler somehow. 

It is a long time since I caught my last sight of one, probably nine months at least. I'm ready for a new one, aren't you?

Our trio for this month's first ATC Backgrounds Freebie is all about the wonder and color of rainbows. The painting in its original form is a watercolor. Unfortunately, I've no source for the painter of so soft and lovely a bit of ephemera, a print of which was in the pages of one of our antique books. There's no reference to this print anywhere in that volume.

Despite the whimsy of seeing one of the two rainbows depicted as having been painted (accidentally, one would assume) upside down,  our choice was to see how we might try and create some backgrounds for our ATC crowd. Now that we're done, I see it really doesn't matter whether everything's upright or upside down. Our work shows an idealized, fantasized creative landscape of color and joy. Guess science just doesn't play too big a role in artwork around our Studio! ;) 

NOTE: Rainbows can occur upside down at times, a fact unknown to me prior to writing.

Anyway, we really do hope you'll find lots of uses for this new trio. It's free to you, of course, a Plush Possum Exclusive design, with no strings attached.

Happy Creativity from all of us here in the Studio!
Rose

PPS ATC Trio: "Over the Rainbows"

Download HERE

Digital Brush Credits:

www.ObsidianDawn.com

Also, from www.Brusheezy.com, the following artists brushes were also utilized:

bsilvia, presity_9, digitalrevolution, starwalt, thekrako, midnightstouch, gojo123.

(If I've mistakenly forgotten anybody's name here, please forgive the omission)

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

You are free to:

use the above images or ATCs as intended,

for trade only, and never for sale.

Copyrights forbid any other style of trade.

Thank you

for helping me to

keep free things free!

Oceanic Beauty: A Colorful Ornamental Fish

A Fish Ornament for Page Decorating

This was originally found in the Public domain, yet had to be altered significantly before it could be used. Please read the red letter guidelines at the bottom of this post. Thank you.

I actually liked how different colors could be given to this fish so that its appearance could become very different. This made it a fairly versatile image to offer. The original colors of blue and salmon pink were augmented using Photoshop. Then, once other colors were tried, all of them seemed fairly successful. The copper colored one is a personal favorite.

Within the Background Set, offered previously, are the same colors of blue and pink. The Coral seems to work nicely as a darker version of this pink (at least on my screen--and everybody's is different, believe it or not). The Aquamarine Background seems to work nicely with the blue half of the more colorful version of this fish ornament. The Background Set, also in both sizes, may be found by going HERE.

Other accessories are likewise available in more than one post, so exploring this blog's most recent offerings might be fun.

Once the fish ornament became altered, other background colors were then added. In other words, it should all color coordinate fairly well, depending upon the style of printer in a guest's home office. That is the main reason for offering 7 different colors and numerous choices here at PPS.

Creative people love to use accessories! And we also love to use color!

So here is the Ornamental Fish Set, in 2 different sizes, one for Printing and one for purely Digital purposes. The print version should print fairly well using any home printer. The larger one, of course, is mainly for the DigiScrap crowd, and thus is not intended to fit the average home printer. 

Despite its usefulness in the making of scrapbooks and memory books, I can see this fish ornament as possibly being used in the making of a card or an art journal page. It's really very unusual, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Creativity!

PPSDigiScrap™ Ornamental Fish Set

Download Digital version  (12 inch by 12 inch PNG) HERE

Download Printable (business size paper) version HERE

Display copy

(unsuitable for printing due to lower quality)

You are free to:

use any of the above images in art making

for either fun or for profit.

You are not free to:

ever sell any of them, either as is, or as a set (or in sets).

Let's allow free things to remain free!

Thank you.

Free Bookplate Set

Books for Children!

We love books here at the Studio. It is sad to think that many books have disappeared from library shelves due to modern technology. The rustle of pages in a quiet library once allowed our minds to hush and study calmly. Nowadays, some libraries can be pretty loud places. Once upon a time, our libraries were a refuge from the noisiness of the world.

A book can expand minds. We may touch it, turn a page or two, and find our minds in far off places. The smell of the binding, the feel of paper, cloth, leather, and book board have all contributed to many people's new or expanded ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Electronic books may remove the viewer from this physical presence of BOOK as object. We here at Plush Possum think some books may have been destroyed unnecessarily in favor of electronic means, and are in favor of real books. After all, we do not have to electrify a book in order to make it either readable or interesting.

Summers found us Possums often in our public or household libraries. I myself have read literally hundreds of books over the years, some of which I can recall fondly, just as one would old friends. To sit quietly, observing someone else's ideas under a shady tree or in some secluded corner can be a wonderful thing to do.

In honor of our love of books, we've refashioned a 1902 illustration into a bookplate, specifically for children, although anyone may use it for their own books, etc.

We've cleaned it up somewhat and changed it, hopefully making its color work well for any modern printer. The borders of this 8.5 inch by 11 inch sheet are .5 inches in size. Each bookplate should fit the average sized book, although we imagine that they may be reduced in size at any copy center or by using one's own home computer.

So let's hear it for the good old fashioned summer read, and books for everyone!

And let's hear it for the giving of real books to children!

Children's Bookplate Set

Download HERE

You are free to:

use this bookplate design as intended or in your artwork, for either fun or profit.

You are not free to:

repackage it in any way for sale.

Please respect our gifts for the public's use.

Thank you.

Family Fun Project: A ColorMe™ Game Board for Young & Old

We recently dove into game-making head first with our temporarily posted Steampunk-themed parcheesi game set, and are enjoying it so much, we decided to go one step further.
This time, you may partly design your board's look using crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc., and make it a family project at the same time.
Our game board sports a storybook look, with four squares to color in. Adults may have to supervise the board's final look by helping to choose which colors to apply to the spaces provided.
GAME RULES
You may go HERE to find those basic rules necessary to get started. Notice the crown motif, moms, if you will, and note also how the rules call for pieces to enter the pathway on the board in that special spot.
ASSEMBLY
It's fairly self-explanatory, involving your supervision only if children may get confused about which areas of the board to color which way. Simply download each corner section below, then print each one for coloring. We've sized our board fairly small, for ease in printing, but you may choose to enlarge it via your local extension or copy center. We actually do recommend that you make multiple copies, as, in the excitement, children often will fumble, and to be disappointed is not something worth remembering.
Also, it may be useful to try for copies made with toner instead of ink, as these will weather the transformation from black and white to colorful finished product much better.
You may laminate it onto your choice of backing. Wood, cardboard, even cloth when iron-on sheets are available for use, may give fine results.
TOKENS or GAME PIECES
Our game was made to be played using dice for moves around the board.
Also, while the instructions site to which we linked, above, offers you the added option of using spinners, our choice would be dice, but you and your children may opt for either.
For tokens, buttons, coins, flat-backed colored marbles (for use with floral arrangements), or game pieces from other games offer several options. Let each child choose or make it a random drawing which decides who gets to move which pieces.
Once the game's assembly is complete, you may want to protect its surface against the general wear and tear expected in times of play. Everything from sticky-backed clear shelf paper to Mod Podge or any other common household child-safe varnish may work quite nicely for your family.
So, gather your kids together, and break out the crayons, markers, etc., and then watch as it all comes together from creating to gaming.
And Happy Creativity, everyone!
Rose

Example of Assembled Product

(for display purposes only)

Section One

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Section Two

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Section Three

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Section Four

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Our game board was designed to be free to the public. It should remain so. You are free to use it, but not to sell it as is, or even fancied up as a finished product.
Thank you.

Steampunk Game Board: Parcheesi

This project has been long in the making--several months' worth, in fact.
But it has been a real labor of love.
:)
I created it so that it might be used as one of the games for a Steampunk themed party, taking into account it might also serve as a little conversation piece of a sort.

For the other matching items in this ongoing set, simply go to the PPSPartyGear™ category HERE.

This is work is copyrighted. 
I mean that sincerely.
Anyone who chooses to sell this one, or copy it and post it as being theirs (in other words, steal)  is liable for prosecution under the law. Within U.S. copyright, the moment it was created, it gained copyright status. Same with publishing here to PPS's line-up. So don't be fooled.
I may offer, and you may make copies enough for home use only, or for use in gift-giving, and never for sale in any way.
This is due in part to the digital brushes made by other people, as well as the various share-alike + attribute types of licenses attached to the various images used in such a collage piece. 
In other words, it cannot be legally copied for sale in any way.
I appreciate your help in this matter.
Thank You.

That being said, it is hoped that visitors with an interest in Steampunk and/or board games for home use may enjoy this little offering to its fullest extent.

Game Rules

There is an online resource for Game Rules of many kinds, where you'll find basic rules for the set being offered. That site's version of Parcheesi Rules may be found HERE. Just click on the link, and scroll down.
Be advised, theirs is a version which would assume there is a spinner to hand. It is highly recommend you use dice instead, unless a spinner can be found which can be altered. However, to start one's move using dice was how it was played initially.

Assembling the Game
For tokens, you might try using coins in lieu of having anything on hand, or try making a few of your own based on the 4 designs I offer in my separate printable. Once glued to or printed out onto card stock, they can be then backed with cardboard, then given either felt or cork footing to spare the board's surface. They measure each just 1/2" in diameter, being made to fit the spaces given, but you could always expand via copying larger and/or digitally manipulating the sizes.

Also, it is highly recommend that you head for the nearest extension or copy center where there is a toner based color copier (for better transference, without smears). There you will need to make 4 copies, one of each quadrant of your board, then join all to your chosen surface (I recommend book board or double thickness illustration board or, perhaps, an old table top) using either Dry Mount Tissue (photography studios use this a lot for mounting pictures), or good old fashioned Mod Podge, finishing up with a clear top coat by Mod Podge, and (once it's had a chance to dry completely) perhaps a good buff using either a dab of finishing wax or one of MicroGlaze to reduce moisture damage.

~A second option might be to print all 4 quadrants onto card stock paper. The stiffer paper will hold up to more handling at this point. Follow that by using clear Contact shelf liner and perhaps stiffer cardboard backing.

~Option number 3 might be to use an iron on sheet per quadrant, then position carefully and iron all four sections onto tightly woven fine grade cotton that has been laundered beforehand without any dryer sheets being used. This could be either rolled up for travel or storage, or else folded carefully and tucked into a drawer.

Each quadrant section measures only 8" by 8", not too large for the average home printer.
This means that the board should finish out at about 16" square--a nice size for a game played by 4 players.
Anyway, I do hope you'll enjoy putting this new game together. 
I intend posting a second version of the same game, only this time with a family slant.  That might make a nice family project.
Happy Creativity!
~Rose

Dital Brush Credits:

www.obsidiandawn.com

You are free to 

play with this game and may have it for your own personal use.

Due to copyright issues, however, you are 

not free to:

sell this game board or any portion of it 

for any reason 

here in the United States or worldwide.

I respect the holders of the copyrights embedded within

this work, and respect anybody else who will join me in doing so.

Thank you for cooperating in keeping free things free!

PPSCustomGames™: Steampunk 
Parcheesi Board + Tokens

Upper Right Section

Download HERE

Lower Right

Download HERE

Lower Left

Download  HERE

Upper Left

Download  HERE

Display
(lower quality than the download)

TOKENS

Download HERE

Thank you for cooperating in helping me to keep free things free!

"Magnificent" Flying Machines Set for Digi & Print

The Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk anniversary is soon to occur, and with that in mind, we are posting a fun set of flying machine images for you to play with.

Included here are two technical images in black and white which we removed all background from for our Digi crowd. Print -style artists will still find the same quality available for use, as we always post both versions at the same resolution here.

I'm fondest of all of that propeller. I can see many possibilities for that one image! ;)

For more info on the Wright Brothers, their aircraft, or the history of flight in general, please go HERE.

Hope you'll enjoy all our collage sets here at PPS as much as we do creating each one for you.

Happy Creativity!

Rose

NOTE:

This set was not pre-packaged when we found it. In fact, it took weeks of searching and then processing and cleaning up to make this set a finished product.

We would never sell anything which you, our guests, had not given us permission to sell, and we ask that that same courtesy be given to us in return.

Otherwise, a theft would occur, or friends part ways. This may not seem all that valuable an item, but it does belong to our Studio, in that it was processed for months before being offered for your use.

Free of charge.

Please be mindful of others' copyrights.

Thank you.

PPSDigiScrap™ Collage Set: Flying Machines

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download JPG Print Version HERE

Credits: Original 1890's image (prior to our fiddling) from
the New york Public Library at nypl.org
also from Wiki Commons

Christmas Postcard + Decorative Frame

Greetings, everybody! It's Sunday afternoon, and just a week off from our next jaunt into the world of steam via our new sister blog, Steam Tea Travels. If you've never had occasion to join our Link Party before, now's the time to consider your options. Our theme for the trip upcoming will be a double one this time, owing to it's being our Holiday Season. We'll start with late Victorian London, and finish the month with a flourish and a skirling of bagpipes with a focus on Scotland.
Also upcoming, we hope to start a new feature right here at our home blog with a Jane Austen-era theme, so be prepared for lots of new ephemera with a look back on Christmases of old.
Today's post is all about Christmas card making, but what we include here today might also do as well for scrapbooking and/or tag-making. We've included two styles for you, one with the whole of the card for your use, and the other as a simple frame.
We hope you'll find lots of fun ways to share your holiday greetings with others using this simple card.
Happy Holiday Creativity!
Rose

Christmas Candle Postcard

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

Christmas Candle Postcard Frame

Download Digi PNG HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

Credits: Original early 1900's image (prior to our fiddling) 

from the New York Public Library at nypl.org

You are free to:

In this case, use these 2 cute little items however you choose.

Have fun!

:)

Old Fashioned Knitting Ephemera Set (for Digi or Print)

I always like to think of the handmade gifts others make the time to create for us as being evidence of their caring. When I was a young lass, I was interested almost to distraction with anything in the needlework world, so I suppose you might say I value the appeal of handmade wearables that much more as a consequence.
In honor of this gift giving season, today's post is all about the knitting tradition. We've even tucked in a crocheted "muff bag" as a salute to you knitters who also like to crochet.
We hope you'll find lots of fun ways to use our Knitting set for your holiday gift giving, including, perhaps, for decorative tags and cards to go with your stitched presents for those you love.
Happy Creative Gift-making!
Rose & Co

PPSDigiScrap™Set: Knitters & Their Gifts

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

Credits: Original 1700's and 1800's image (prior to our fiddling) from

the New York Public Library at nypl.org

Free for use in artwork, whether for sale or for fun.

No repackaging of this set, please.

Thanks.