Collage Printable Freebie: Teatime in Good Company

This Set might be just right for either a Mothers Day project or for a Birthday card.
There is nothing like the pleasure derived from treasured moments among those special friends one might call "kindred spirits" (to coin a phrase used by Ann of Green Gables' Ann Shirley and her "bosom friend" Diana Berry). I have often thought of teatime as one of the best ways of relaxing with my closer associates. Tea, finger sandwiches, delicate goodies made to look pretty, all set in a warm, inviting environment, can bring out the very best in one's guests, don't you agree? :)

Please see the Guidelines below, in red.

This ephemera Set includes some antique images of tea parties, along with various related bits for Digi and/or Hands-On collage. Among them, are included several images for my Digi visitors without backgrounds, for easier use with their digital editing software.

The Digi crowd will of course wish to go for the choice marked as "Digi PNG" while Hands-On friends will wish to choose the one marked as "JPG Print." Please note the distinction when choosing.
Hope you'll find lots of fun ways to express the joys of friendship using this set.
Happy Creativity!
Rose

PPSDigiScrap™Ephemera Set: Tea & Company

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download JPG print Version HERE

Credits: Original Antique imagery (prior to my work) from
the New York Public Library at nypl.org
Also, Wikimedia Commons

You are free to:
use any of the items from the above Set 
in personal artwork that you will sell.
You are not free to:
Repackage this set nor use any of the parts of this set in 
sets which you choose put together for sale.
Please protect all artist copyrights.
Thank you
for helping me to
keep free things free!

A Gem of an Antique Postcard for September

We love a good postcard here at the Studio! And isn't this a beauty? I found this one at the local Antiques & Collectibles hotspot I've mentioned here before. Sorry about the lateness! It got forgotten during recent weeks, and was only just dug out of the archives for you. You know what they say--better late than never! ;)
Anyway, here it is. The reverse is so simple, and yet quite messy, that it really cannot be improved upon well enough for posting. We apologize for that as well. Later on in the month, we hope to offer you the rose vine border on its own, in our jewel tone set for you. 
For the bejeweled  lower portion, you can go HERE. Till then, we hope you'll enjoy its look as is.
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Antique Postcard for September

Download 400dpi Version HERE

Scanned imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

You are free to:

make art with this image for either sale or personal use.

You are not free to:

repackage it for sale in any way.

Please respect our gift to the public.

Thank you.

Primary Color Fun!

Our friends at Gingersnap Creations are always coming up with new ideas for using color, materials, themes, and good products. We're following them again this week with their salute to children via the three primary colors of red, yellow and blue. Last month, we were all about Steampunking it up online, with lots of somber tones with aged metallics, so this truly is a nice way of working in full blown color again.
Below, you'll find we really stretched ourselves this month with a larger than ever offering to fit our theme. It's taken 3 days to prepare this one, but it was sheer pleasure all the way around.
There are two background collage pages, along with our first ever homemade clipart alphabet in red "Dotted Swiss."
Digi artists will find more than one way to go, while our Hands-On or Print crowd can easily utilize all but our 3D style alphabet. We're sorry about that last bit. One of the digital processes used produces a strong shadow effect which did not reproduce well enough to make it print-worthy. In the final analysis, we decided to offer that 3D alphabet in Digi format only. But all the rest of our designs print well enough that you should have very little, if any, difficulty there.
All designs were executed from the ground up, from the patterned works they were based on. We had a little help, of course, from Digi Brush Artist, missgmoore. Also, our alphabet is based on a Digi font called Carbono, which the fine people over at dafont.com offer for free, along with lots of other choices. Hope you'll visit all 3 links we've listed here when you get the chance.
Happy Creativity!
Rose

PPSDigiScrapPak™ Primary Fun Sets

Digi 3D Alphabet 

Downloadable Digi PNG Version HERE

Primary Fun Accessories 

Set 1

Downloadable Digi PNG Version HERE

Downloadable JPG Print Version HERE

Set 2

Downloadable Digi PNG Version HERE

Downloadable JPG Print Version HERE

Background 1: "Daisy Chain"

Downloadable Version (not available in PNG, sorry) HERE

Background 2: "Blue Dotted Swiss"

Downloadable Version (not available in PNG format, sorry) HERE

Red Dotted Swiss Clip Art Alphabet

Downloadable Version HERE 

You are free to:

use these to teach and make art or crafts with for fun.

You are not free to:

Sell anything here as part of a set or an image.

Let's keep free things free!

Thank you.

Antique Summer Advertising: 1908 Soap That Floats + "Unmentionables"

Greetings, all. It has been a rough ride here the past several days. And it's been tiring, so not much could happen toward posting till this afternoon.
Today, however, after much thought, it felt right, for the first time since  it went up, to remove our mourning drape version of the header you see above in favor of the cheerier look.
All of you who very graciously added their kind thoughts toward all involved are very much appreciated. It's your kind thoughts, along with others from her friends and family, which get us through those tough first weeks. Such thoughts were kindly given. We will not forget you nor every kindness offered.
It has been a long time since I felt moved to grieve this hard and with such deeply felt sadness over the loss of a good friend. Suffice it to say, those of us loving her and missing her for all the good reasons the last post mentioned may mourn for quite some while.
However. Life must go on.
It may be a while before smiles return, yet we are certain that to resume the usual round of activities would be better for us than holding off.


Below, you'll see we have provided a dual posting, with century old advertising from a periodical of the era.
Our Ivory Soap ad choices will include our usual golden aged paper look (we sometimes call this colorway the "Original"), along with the look probably more like an actual replica of what our ad looked like when first published, all in tones of grey.
Our second offering for this afternoon is that of a summer underwear ad, one with implications for dainty comfort in hot weather. Love the wording on this one. It, too, comes two ways for you. Hope you'll have fun using both these images!
It is delightful to begin posting again.
And Thank You again for stopping by!
Rose

Antique Summer Advertising

Ivory Soap c. 1908

Downloadable (400dpi) Version HERE

Grey Tone

Downloadable Version HERE

Summer Underwear Advertisement

Original Look

Downloadable Version HERE

Black & White 

Downloadable Version HERE

Primary Scanned Imagery 

Courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

Three Antique Illustrations and the "Keats of Kentucky"

Aren't these breathtaking? I admire this artist's work tremendously.
More importantly, I think his work was inspired by the stunning poetic grace of a long neglected master of its style. For more on our poet, Madison Cawein, his work, life and times, you can click HERE. He earned his nickname, "the Keats of Kentucky" by virtue of both style and graceful wording. It is a shame we are no longer interested in the particular style that era produced prior to about 1900. The old fashioned habit of collecting poetry to be read aloud at public, even gala, events seems to be a relic for us to ponder. And, as we are more interested in our modern technological advances than in old fashioned art and books, the gifts of both these American treasures may become as forgotten as old dust on a shelf.
Nowadays, most people never come in contact with Cowain's poetry at all, for it is not the sort we recognize in our modern terms.
But I find it quite unusual in its beauty. 
John Conacher, the illustrator of this particular set of rhymes, was also well known in his day. However, I had been unable, as of this posting, to find any more information for you on him other than his birth and death years, or that his works can be sold at auction. Nobody seems to know anything about him, let alone to be sharing it with us online.
Meanwhile, you and I may enjoy the efforts of both these notable Americans, can't we?
I can think of at least a dozen various uses for these three pages, including altered book making, transferring to fabric, a decoupaged folding screen, and so on. Hope our offerings today may introduce you to the formal and lyrical style of poetry as it was in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. But more than that, we hope you'll find plenty of ways to enjoy your art-making using these lovely works.
As usual, you get your choice with us, in that our offerings include both simply the artwork and artwork plus poem. (Personally, I enjoy both.)
And Happy Creativity from all of us here in our Studio!
Rose & Friends

Three Illustrations With (or without) Poetry

Page One

With Poem

Downloadable Version HERE

Page One

Wordless

Downloadable Version HERE

Page Two

Downloadable Version HERE

Page Two

Wordless 

Downloadable Version HERE

Page Three

Downloadable Version HERE

Page Three

Wordless

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

Knights of the Round Table: Queen Guinivere and Her Sir Lancelot

Here are those star-crossed lovers of King Arthur's Court. Neither of these two people is wearing a smile. I suppose they just wished to be partnered and have Arthur out of the way, and yet both cared how it would look. Shame is a feature to many stories surrounding infidelity. Put two hapless people in the same room, let the stars zap them, and misery might be your end result.
All the same, we think they are truly beautifully done, sad expressions and all. Look at her gown, for example, and his armor. One more reason why I like the illustrative art of the late 1800's.
Happy Creativity from everybody here at our studio!
Rose

Queen Guinevere

Downloadable Version HERE

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Sir Lancelot

Downloadable Version HERE

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

You are free to:

use the above Arthurian romance images in artwork 

for fun or for profit.

You are not free to:

repackage these images in any way for sale to anyone.

Please respect our gifts for the public's use.

Thank you.

Plush Velvet Mother's Day Collage Sheet

Has it really been 5 years??? My art has really changed, as have I myself over the years. In fact, I can hardly believe that this post was first created only 5 years ago. Since that time, my life has really changed in so very many ways that I can now look back in sheer astonishment. Choices change as we ourselves change, don't they?
:)

For example, back in 2011 I'd never have posted something such as I most recently have posted. As beliefs change, we ourselves change by way of the choices we then tend to make. My art and crafting both have kept changing. Though it's fun to look back on it all, I do not think that I would have made the same choices for this set at all today.

Here is that old post:

Please honor all copyrights for the digital brush artisans listed below. This set is free, but the permission of all artists involved will keep things both fair and legal. Thank you.

I'm in love with the color Purple. Or Magenta. Make that Royalish Blue. Wait! I can't make up my mind!
You choose!
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Mother's Day Collage Sheet

(Another Plush Possum Studio Exclusive)

"Moulin Rouge" Red

Downloadable Version HERE

Mysterious Magenta

Downloadable Version HERE

Royal Purple

Downloadable Version HERE

Blue Velvet

Downloadable Version HERE

Leafy Green

Downloadable Version HERE

Aquatic Glow

Downloadable Version HERE

Java Mama

Downloadable Version HERE

Digital Brush Credits: 
Obsidian Dawn, 
witchy_13, DigitalArtEmpire, punksafetypin.
Please honor their copyrights.
Thank you.

In Time for Shakespeare's Birthday

Now, I realize nobody can really tell us the exact day of the Bard's birth, but it is a long held tradition to celebrate it right around this time of year. Some say he wrote the sonnets I've posted as a nudge toward his patron to kill his lazy ways and start doing something with his life besides party and have a good time down in Merrie Olde England. Having reread it (for the first time since college days) during the process of preparing it for print/digital art-making for you all, I came to believe the same.
Also included this time will be a portion of All's Well That Ends Well, one of his comedies. (Okay, so no one's certain if he wrote it or not, but we'll say he did, just for his day)
Best of all, I have that old portrait (not the best likeness, so I hear), in both the "rough cut" versions with no cleanup, and in the Black and White, cleaned up version. We hope you'll make use of them all in fun or for serious study, take your pick, it's up to you.
The book scanned for these images comes to us from the late Victorian era. I lost the frontispiece to this one in the shuffle of moving 2 years back, and haven't found it in among the things it was with--so far. However, I can recall it as having been a late 1800's edition, so we'll call it good.
I love its pages, so lightweight and almost see-through, with gilt edges that still retain their gloss. I suppose this must have cost a fair amount in its time. It was coming apart at both ends by the time I spotted it and gave it a home.
So Happy Birthday to "Willy the Shake" and
Happy Creativity, everybody!
Rose

Shakespeare's Portrait

Downloadable Version HERE

Sonnets, First Page

Downloadable Version HERE

All's Well That Ends Well Outtake

Downloadable Version HERE

Portrait Page--Rough Cut

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use

Easter Postcard #6: "All Easter Gladness" + a Decorative Page Frame

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' 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.

The old way that this post was written is:
Isn't this a lively, colorful edition? As it never got posted, it still has that same fresh look of long ago. Published by Philip Sander in the early 1900's (right around 1910, more than likely), you can see the registration mark still on the lower left margin. We offer the border alone for the fun of it.
Happy Easter and--
Happy Creativity from all of us to all of you!
Rose

AND DON'T FORGET TO JOIN OUR GIVEAWAY!

"All Easter Gladness"

Downloadable Version HERE

Reverse

Downloadable Version HERE

Frame

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 for sale in any way.

Please respect our gift for the public's use.

Thank you.

Antique Gadgetry: A Machine That "Almost Thinks"

"What will they think of next?" This is such a fun article for the children of the Edwardian era to learn from, and we thought it was pictorially strong enough to be somewhat of interest, especially among those interested in collecting old machines of the past. I like the keyboard, with the index finger of  some human hand poised to press the letter "N." Hope you'll enjoy this latest offering here at PPS, and--
Happy Creativity!
Rose

Antique Machinery

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Black and White

Downloadable Version HERE

PT 2 

Original Patina

Downloadable Version HERE

Pt 2 Black and White

Downloadable Version HERE

Scanned Imagery courtesy PPS Archives

Free for Public Domain Use