I got a little preachy in my last post, and for that I apologize. I hope I didn’t make anyone mad!

Tags: Personal notes, sorry

After quite a bit of a tussle with the internet not seeming to work correctly for me (apparently I had something set wrong as it is fine now), and then taking a “break” so to speak to celebrate my younger daughter’s 14th birthday, I am finally off and running again, so to speak.

Today’s Digital Freebie is another illustration from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), whose original drawings were done by William Wallace Denslow. This is not one of the main characters, but actually a rather minor one. As Dorothy and her companions are making their way south to see Glinda the Good Witch of the South after the mishap wherein the wizard’s balloon leaves without Dorothy, they cross a land where everything and everyone is made of porcelain.

 ”Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,” continued the china lady, “who is always trying to stand upon his head. He has broken himself so often that he is mended in a hundred places, and doesn’t look at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself.”

Indeed, a jolly little Clown now came walking toward them, and Dorothy could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red and yellow and green he was completely covered with cracks, running every which way and showing plainly that he had been mended in many places.

The clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing out his cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily he said,

“My lady fair,
Why do you stare
At poor old Mr. Joker?
You’re quite as stiff
And prim as if
You’d eaten up a poker!”

“Be quiet, sir!” said the princess; “can’t you see these are strangers, and should be treated with respect?”

“Well, that’s respect, I expect,” declared the Clown, and immediately stood upon his head.

“Don’t mind Mr. Joker,” said the princess to Dorothy; “he is considerably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish.”

This, of course, had a lovely illustration of Mr. Joker standing on his head, which I edited a bit and cleaned up, and now gift to you!

Mr. Joker, the clown made of china, from L. Frank Baum's _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, 1900, illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Public domain due to age. From Google books.

I chose him this week because I have finally finished the first set of Oz digis for my Artfire shop:

Oz Set #1: Thirteen digital stamps based on William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for the original 1900 publication of the L. Frank Baum's _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_. $18 for all 13 in my Artfire store.

For US $18 you get 13 stamps in Oz Set #1:

1. Dorothy holding the Silver Shoes
2. Toto
3. Toto sitting up and wearing the Emerald City goggles
4. The Scarecrow (whom you may have gotten while he was a freebie, which is no longer)
5. The Tin Woodman (also once a freebie but no longer)
6. The Cowardly Lion
7. Oz himself, sitting on a stool
8. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman carrying Dorothy and Toto out of the field of poppies
9. A small group of Munchkins
10. The Good Witch of the North
11. Glinda, the Good Witch of the South
12. The Wicked Witch of the West, sitting on a chair
13. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in an Art Nouveau font – this stamp is not available individually, but only comes with the set

From this... (this is PD image btw, feel free to save it!)

..to this (sans watermark, etc.)

Or even more daunting:

From this... (again, PD image, help yourself)

..to this. And this one, because it is so small and will not enlarge well, is only US $1.25. But it was the only illustration of Glinda I could find by Denslow rather than John R. Neill or other artists.

Don’t get me wrong! I like what I do – and do not begrudge the work I put into freebies, but… this is why not all of my stamps, even if made from PD images, can be freebies, and why some of my freebies will (after at least 2 weeks as a freebie) convert to non-free stamps. I simply cannot put in the amount of time I do (even if I enjoy it) without asking for compensation sometimes. And I don’t even have to spend the time to draw my digi-stamps (because I use old graphics as the basis instead) like most other digital stamp creators do – before they even get to the “cleaning up and converting” part.

But now, at least, I hope you understand why freebies don’t always stay freebies (not just here but by other artists as well) and why Alison on the Free Digital Stamps blog always says to leave the digital artists “some love” when you take a freebie. So they know their work is appreciated.

Sorry, getting off my soapbox now.

Enjoy the clown!

Peace,

Bekka

Oh and if you love digital stamps and freebies, and you aren’t a regular reader of the Free Digital Stamps blog, you need to be! Every day you will find a list of links to digital freebies all over the internet (including here, of course, but tons of other places with artists much more talented than I!).

Tags: .jpg, 1900, animal, bw, children, clown, Cowardly Lion, daily public domain, digi-stamp, digi-stamps, digital stamp, digital stamps, Dorothy, DPD, fantasy, Glinda, Good Witch of the North, illustration, image, L. Frank Baum, lady, line drawing, lion, Munchkins, new items, new stamps, Oz, PD, png, public domain, Saturday Digital Feebie, scarecrow, SDF, stamp set, store new, Tin Woodman, Toto, Victorian, Wicked Witch of the West, William Wallace Denslow, witch, woman, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Okay, so this week is Thanksgiving here in the United States, and of course, Thanksgiving traditionally means turkey! So, for those of you who still want to make Thanksgiving cards, or who might want graphics for a Thanksgiving scrapbook page, or who might be in charge of making the place markers for your celebration…

Oh, heck. I just wanted to put up a turkey and this is the best time to do that! *laugh*

Turkey from an image in _Turkeys and How to Grow Them_, 1897. Turned into a digital stamp and cleaned up a bit, of course.

By the way, I didn’t realize that there were quite so many different breeds of domestic turkeys – they never say that it is anything but a ‘turkey’ when you buy them. This particular breed pictured here is a Buff Turkey. No kidding. And look at the size of him! I’d say he’s pretty “buff”!

Okay, to go along with old Tom I have a couple of sentiments:

Formal...

...and not so formal.

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: 1897, animal, animals, Autumn, bird, birds, bw, daily public domain, digi-stamp, digi-stamps, digital stamp, digital stamps, DPD, Fall, free, graphics, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Turkey Day, holiday, illustration, PD, png, public domain, Saturday Digital Freebie, SDF, sentiment, Thanksgiving, turkey, Victorian

It is official:

...spam is truly evil!

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: funny, humor, personal, spam

Here we go – today’s DPD is also a digital freebie: Sentiments for a wedding card or gift bag.

First the serious, mushy one.

Then the not so serious one. Good old Ogden Nash!

What brought on this sudden fit of marriage sentiments was that I found this photo at an estate sale:

Victorian photograph, date unknown, of an unknown wedding couple and what appear to be the best man and maid of honor.

Consider it a bonus image today – since the image is most certainly old enough to be public domain. But if you want the original actual photo, it is for sale here in my Artfire store. In my store I also have my collage sheet With this Ring which has wedding and marriage themed images:

With This Ring collage sheet.

This sheet is available both in full-sized (8.5″ x 11″) traditional laser-printed collage sheet ($2.50) or as an acetate transparency ($3).

Enjoy!

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: bw, card-making, color, couple, daily public domain, digi-stamp, digi-stamps, digital stamp, digital stamps, DPD, Edwardian, free, graphics, image, lady, love, man, marriage, new products, PD, photograph, png, portrait, public domain, Saturday Digital Freebie, SDF, sentiment, Store News, Victorian, wedding, woman

Wow! I’ve been trying to get my “Daily Public Domain” images up and running again, and then I found this image! I’m going to turn it into a digital stamp, but I decided to share it with you all in its “raw” state as well. Okay, so it is just a boiler; but if you are into the genre called Steampunk, then it has lots of artistic possibility. Well, even if you aren’t into Steampunk, you might find yourself inspired.

If you DO find yourself inspired, either drop me a link or a copy of a photo with a note saying I can publish the picture, and I’ll be happy to share it with all of my readers. (This is true when you use any image you find around here. You just have to ask!

Scotch marine steam boiler, illustration from _Steam-Boilers_ by Cecil H. Hobart and Edward F. Miller, 1897. From Google Books.

Anyway, here is the image, not yet converted to a digital stamp:

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: boiler, bw, daily public domain, DPD, free, Google Books, graphics, illustration, image, line drawing, machine, PD, png, public domain, steam, steampunk, Victorian

Okay, last week I added the Scarecrow from the original Oz books to go with the Tin Woodsman from earlier. I thought he deserved to have an sentiment to go with him, so you’ve got all you need to make a card! Here’s the Scarecrow again:

Sorry, since more than two weeks have passed, this stamp is no longer free. Please visit my store to get it!

Since the Scarecrow wanted a brain, I thought a belated birthday sentiment was what was needed:

Sentiment part 1

Sentiment part 2

Sentiment part 3

I made the sentiment in 3 parts so you have maximum design freedom when using it on a card.

While I am here, I am going to promote my store! For the next TWO WEEKS (and only two weeks!), readers of my blog can get free shipping on anything they order in my Artfire store. Just use coupon code “FREESHIPBLOG”. I am adding new things every day… more collage sheets, more trims, more mixed media items.

Here are just a few:

BUTTONS & TRIM

White shank buttons

Pink braid trim

FUN PAPER ITEMS

Bingo cards

Fancy joss paper

Dancing fairy couple

Butterflies!

Enjoy!

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: animals, belated birthday, bingo, bingo cards, birthday, butterflies, buttons, daily public domain, digi-stamp, digital stamp, DPD, Edwardian, faerie, fairies, fairy, free, graphics, illustration, joss paper, Oz, PD, public domain, Saturday Digital Freebie, scarecrow, SDF, sentiment, trim, Victorian

Scout, the baby Red Dragon. One of a kind sculpture by my daughter, Anastasia Ross.

Another view of Scout, showing his expression and his really cute ears.

I just had to show off how talented my kids are! This time it is artwork by my daughter Anastasia, 15. She made this dragon out of clay at a local clay studio, then glazed it. They will fire your piece as part of your studio fee (and if you aren’t up to sculpting your own piece, they have lots of bisque you can glaze). [The studio is Spirit of Clay, on the east side of Cleveland.]

The dragon’s name is Scout. Isn’t he adorable?

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: Ana, dragon, red, Scout, sculpture, Spirit of Clay

Last post I shared a digital stamp of the Tin Woodsman of Oz. Today (a day late on the Freebie, sorry) I have the Scarecrow. The original illustration this was made from was by William Wallace Denslow, from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). I modified and cleaned up the image a little bit to make it into a digital stamp. I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to get the Tin Woodsman also, if you haven’t already!

I am also planning to have a set of vintage Oz images available in my Artfire store as soon as I can finish editing and turning them into stamps. I’ll be sure to let everyone know when I’ve managed to get that done!

Always be sure to click on the image to see it full-sized before you download it!

Sorry, since more than two weeks have passed, this stamp is no longer free. Please visit my store to get it!

Oh, I have also been adding buttons and trim that I purchased at an estate sale in my Artfire store. It was a bag of assorted sewing items, from which I wanted some ribbon for my card making. I’m selling the things I don’t want. Some of them might also be used to make cards or decorate other paper crafts. If you sew or think you might be interested, please take a look!

White buttons, 5/8" (16 mm).

Rose colored gimp braid, 1/4" (8 mm) wide, one piece 5' 11" (71", 180 cm) long.

You can see all that I have up in the Misc. Supplies section of my store.

Thanks for looking and stopping by!

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: 1900, bw, children, daily public domain, digi-stamp, digital stamp, DPD, Edwardian, Frank L. Baum, free, graphics, illustration, image, line drawing, Oz, PD, png, public domain, Saturday Digital Freebie, scarecrow, SDF, William Wallace Denslow, Wonderful Wizard of Oz