Dear Visitors to Plush Possum Studio:
Thank you for stopping by here.
I so appreciate the many visits that have been made by all of you over the years since I first began this Free Graphics blog. Most visits here have not involved your commenting, and I do not mind that at all. Guests here might like to know that as of April of 2016, there have been well over 1,000 comments left here by guests for over 500 posts, not counting my own responses. A number of these still really do make me smile.
The top 2 posts of all time have so far had well over 34,000 Pageviews between the 2 combined--and that excludes my own visits here. And even when I was away from blogging for several years, and could provide no new content, guests still visited here fairly often.
By your coming here, you have shown me that you have trusted that I could provide you with something useful to you toward the creation of something that I might never get any chances to see, but which I know must have occurred. And this, too, makes me smile. That is my entire purpose in keeping this blog, so naturally I am smiling. (Imagine providing a coloring page for children to use on rainy days, and knowing some moms have been able to use them!)
:)
This blog was created so that some free things can be kept free to the public, and ready to use, as well as for as long as possible. I wanted to give images as it is best to receive them: a cleaned up and ready-to-use collection of usable, free images made for those without much time for bother. What I find is that many free images online tend to be of very poor quality. Of course, not all of the ones here are very good, either. That is because this is also a blog about learning how to become acquainted with the uses of Photoshop products. The quality here did grow over time, but not without a few hiccups or mistakes along the way.
About this post:
This particular post has been a fairly popular one for years. I loved this postcard once. When I first saw it in the Antique shop, I thought of it as charming or cute. Today, although I like pretty pictures and find old correspondence art fascinating (anything sent in the mail a long time ago is of interest among history nerds LOL), the real history of the celebration of certain spring or seasonal holidays has begun to trouble me.
This is because some further study has taught me that not every Easter tradition fits with how I practice my beliefs. The same would apply to Christmas, that I do not see as having been Jesus's birthday after all, even though I once saw it that way.
Now, some traditions are different, and I mean no one any disrespect through saying so. I like my readers to be at ease with me, after all. Growing up, it seemed perfectly natural to celebrate both Easter and Christmas. In my family, we kept both holidays for many years with much eager enthusiasm.
Today, however, I find that I must ask myself, "What is it that I am actually celebrating here?"
Lately, as I keep learning new things about certain old practices, I have found out much that really does trouble me.
It isn't always easy to see how certain cultural ideals have crossed paths and been combined in ways that won't really fit with what I do believe. For some people, there would be no real problem, as they are at ease at all times with all traditional belief systems, and find combining fun. I am uneasy with the idea of Easter now based upon some of the things that I've learned.
Today, both Easter and Christmas do make me rather uneasy.
Again, I mean nobody any disrespect. I am simply reassessing my own life, including certain beliefs. So this pair of images may well soon be removed for that very reason. I thought that it would be more fair to give fair warning than to just suddenly remove some things without any reasonable explanation for doing so.
Today, and for me personally, the enjoyment of spring is not an Easter-y thing at all. Spring offers all sorts of fun things such as young animals and birds nesting. To enjoy such a refreshing start to another season seems only natural, but I will not call it Easter myself at all. I now observe Christ's Passover, and I take it seriously. What others choose will, of course, be a matter of decision for them.
In other words, I won't have any qualms offering my wild bird eggs or my Spring Garden Sets, as per usual, whereas my ideas have changed about both Easter and Christmas, in general. Enjoying the changes in weather or season is a part of the enjoyment of life, isn't it?
Please forgive me for being so blunt. I like openminded company, and prefer to be at ease being myself, and so I would never judge or put down anyone else for doing the same.
And yet. Easter, for me, is not really faithful to the way I practice my faith today.
Please forgive me while I pause to reassess.
Thank you for your understanding.
It is a quiet spring morning, and all the birds are chirping. Here rests our peaceful village, with its quaint houses, its steeple, its soft landscape. Many of us feel this way when Easter has arrived. It's as though they were waking from a long sleep.
Even though it was never sent, we knew this one should be a part of our lineup. The writing on the back details a family gathering with a new baby's arrival on a "Sunday morning," and ends with the phrase, "With love from Ellen."
Peaceful Creating, everyone.
Plush Possum Studio
Peaceful Village Easter Postcard
Downloadable Version
HERE
Postcard Reverse
Downloadable Version
HERE
Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives
You are free to:
use the above images in artwork for fun or profit.
You are not free to:
repackage them in any way for sale.
Please respect our gift for the public's use.
Thank you.
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