Trade Card Tuesday - Christmas Freebie

Here's another gorgeous Victorian Trade Card freebie for you, taken from my collection.

This week's Trade card comes from the late 1800's and features a Christmas themed graphic of a girl in a red coat and hat holding a rabbit. Isn't she adorable!?

As always, I'd love to see what you create with this. Feel free to post any pics of your creations onto my Facebook fan page here: www.facebook.com/gypsychickdesigns

The reason I'm posting this on Wednesday instead of Tuesday is that my iMac hard-drive failed, and I had to get it replaced this week at the Apple Store! Thankfully, they gave me a brand new one, even though the 1 year warranty was up :)

This is a strictly personal use version only. You can post creations you make with it on your blog, just be sure to provide a link-back to this blog. Please do not steal or give away the trade card on your site. Thank you! 

A commercial-use license for hand-made crafts is available HERE.

The original Trade Card is for sale HERE.

Trade Card Tuesday Winner!

Paul Browning is the winner of this week's 'Trade Card Tuesday' challenge. Paul has created an adorable greeting card with the Fairy Tradecard Freebie  I gave out on my blog last week. Here is Paul's card! Isn't is so pretty! I love his attention to detail. He even used a 'Jodie Lee' printable paper from the 'French Market' pack, and sewed it onto the card!

And take a peek at Paul's blogger page 'The Artsiders' when you get a chance. He has some very gorgeous creative ideas for card designs - very inspiring indeed. Congratulations Paul, check your mailbox for a signed copy of my new book:

It's Trade Card Tuesday! ... that means a freebie! :)

I have another freebie for you to download here on my blog ... today, and every Tuesday! Let's call it 'Trade Card Tuesday'.

I started collecting trade cards to use in my scrapbook collections a couple of years ago, and I must say, it's very addicting!!  The graphics on some of these cards are just incredibly gorgeous, using the old chromolithograph style of printing that you don't see a lot of today.

So, what is a trade card, you may ask?  Well, these were an early example of a modern business card.  Starting in the early 17th century in London, businesses would distribute these small advertising cards to potential customers, sometimes even including a map on the back that gave directions to their store!  Their designs became increasingly sophisticated as printing methods improved, and they very soon became collectibles.

My collection of Victorian trade cards is starting to pile up here, and so I really wanted to share some of these wonderful little treasures with you, as I know some of you love these old images as much as I do.

We will also be having a little challenge :)

CHALLENGE: I want to see you incorporate these into your card designs, your altered art designs, and your scrapbook layout designs.  This is a  chance for you to show me 'what ya got' in terms of your design style, (rumor has it that I will be on the lookout for a CT team very soon, so what better way to showcase your work) :) So, the challenge is to use this card to create something with a Christmas theme - anything your heart desires ... scribble outside the lines, do something unique to you.

Post a photo of your creation onto my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gypsychickdesigns by next Monday 12pm (USA/EST), and I will pick a winner. The winning entry will receive an autographed copy of my brand new book 'Create Your Own Scrapbook Papers', see my blog later tonight for more details on that :)

Here is the first trade card below. Isn't she a sweetie? This is one of the most gorgeous cards I have ever seen ... quite rare. The bidding war over at Ebay was fierce on this one, I can tell you!  

This is a strictly personal use version only. You can post creations you make with it on your blog, just be sure to provide a link-back to this blog. Please do not steal or give away the trade card on your site. Thank you sweeties!