Showing posts with label postcards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label postcards. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Hummingbirds - Flying Jewels

I love this time of year for a number of reasons.  First, being a keen gardener down here in the hot and humid South, I can start kidding myself that really is getting cooler outside.

And second, this is the time of year that the hummingbirds gather and prepare for their annual migration south.

This year we've been hosting them on and off since May and I've been spending a lot of time on the patio with my camera trying to catch a good photo.

I think I was successful with this shot, and the quotation by Robert Brault is very appropriate. This poster would make a nice gift for anyone.
Hummingbird Poster with "Little Things" Quotation
Hummingbird Poster with "Little Things" Quotation by 3DDesignsByJayne
View more Hummingbird Posters

Just the other day, as the sun was starting to go down behind the house next door, I saw a hummingbird approaching the feeder on the patio.  I snapped some photos and loved the way the sinking sun shone through the blur of her wings.

The only problem with the photo was the background -- a not very interesting view of our neighbor's brick wall!

So.... I played around with the photo and used a texture from a set that I had purchased to get rid of the blah background and isolate the hummingbird.  Then I did the same thing with a photo of some fuschias that I had taken and merged them together.

The result is this customizable greeting card. It can be made into a birthday card, a "thinking of you" card, or whatever the buyer is looking for.


I love the way this turned out and added it to some stickers too:

Looking around Zazzle, there are some beautiful products from other Zazzle designers featuring hummingbirds. Below you will find just a few of the selections I found.

This lovely hummingbird with fuschias postcard is available in the NationalWildlife store. I didn't know the National Wildlife Federation had a store on Zazzle, but they have some beautiful items, created with photos that have been donated to them by the artists.  

This postage stamp from tracidwilson, (no relation to myself!) features a photo of a hummingbird with a beautiful orchid bloom.

We seem to have mostly female hummingbirds in our garden at the moment (I think the males have already started heading south). I love this sticker from Diane_Jacky which shows a male ruby-throat and some bright red blooms.  Hummingbirds love red!

This lovely postcard from designer angelandspot has a vintage feel to it.

As you see in the photo at the top of this post, I have a couple of hummingbird feeders out at this time of year. But check this out!

Zazzle designer Gramabarb has used this photo of lots of hummingbird feeders on a porch.

She says: "These delightful hummingbird photographs are from http://www.ustream.tv/channel/katersch who has given me permission to make custom cards. She wants you to enjoy her Porch.

Watch the live action of these little jewels of the bird world."

What fun!
OK - that's enough from me.  I need to make some more nectar for my hummingbird feeders!

So now it's your turn. If you are a designer on Zazzle you are invited to add a link to your hummingbird themed designs in the Linky Tool below. Use Option 1 in the Link Widget on the page of the Zazzle product/design you'd like to add. It will show up below as a small thumbnail and when clicked on, will link directly to your product. 

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Postcards as Art

I read on another blog recently how postcards are a great way to collect art without spending a fortune. It struck me as a great idea -- and then I realized I already knew it, lol!

Just inside the front door of our house is a collection of framed postcards featuring historical pen and ink drawings of the village in England that I grew up in. I've got them framed separately, in identical 5 x 7 frames, and they are grouped in a collection on the wall.

I could probably have mounted them together in a large shadow box.  I did that once with inlaid wood drink coasters and it made a lovely display on the wall (until it fell and broke). Postcards wouldn't be so heavy, and with a suitable method of hanging, I'm sure it would be a lot more secure!

Below is a postcard featuring my first ever artwork that I created in the 3D graphic program Bryce.  I did this in 2004 but more recently I played around with it in Photoshop Elements and applied the palette knife filter and tweaked it till I was happy with the result.
Impressionist-Inspired Sailing Ship Postcard zazzle_postcard
Impressionist-Inspired Sailing Ship Postcard by 3DDesignsByJayne

I did this particular artwork in Daz 2 point something or other in 2008, for an online art contest.  The theme was "You Animal, You".  I got second place with this fairy and tiger walking side by side in the jungle.  I can now officially say I'm an award winning artist!  LOL!
Fairy and Tiger in the Jungle Postcard zazzle_postcard
Fairy and Tiger in the Jungle Postcard by 3DDesignsByJayne


Here are some more "postcards as art" created by my fellow artists at Zazzle.

The Art Nouveau style has long been one of my favorites. When I was a teen, I had Art Nouveau posters on my wall. I loved the lines, the colors, the sense of romance and beauty.  Now I could do it again, in miniature, with these beautiful postcards.


I love the season of fall. Even though we don't get much in the way of fall color down here in Texas, I love paintings and photos depicted autumn scenes like these.

Wouldn't these make a nice wall grouping?

And who doesn't love Cicely M. Barker's delightful flower fairies? Would they make a lovely grouping on the wall in a girl's room?

THE SWEET PEA FAIRIES zazzle_postcard
THE SWEET PEA FAIRIES by flower_fairies

As you can see, whatever your preference of subject matter or style, you can find it and create a collection with it.

The only rule -- have fun!