Free Illustrated Template for Cardmaking, Collage, Graphic Design or Junk Journaling: A Little Happier Verse with Poppy Field Decorative Border

This image was extracted from an art nouveau style vintage postcard in my personal collection. The decorative border shows an L-shaped row of stylized red poppies with a lush summer meadow and billowy clouds in the background. On the upper right side of the page is a little verse that says:

“A little happier, a few more friends,
A little richer, In the blessings Heaven sends...”
I think this would make a wonderful background for a journal or scrapbooking page but you could also use it in a greeting card project. You can download the high-res 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

Here is a New Year card I made with it:

Happy New Year of the Rabbit 2023!


All pre-made templates by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

My Photo Journal: Buddleia 'Grand Cascade' and a Common Buckeye Butterfly

Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.
― Albert Einstein
It's been a while since I attempted to make any gardening notes - it always seems so overwhelming on top of tending to the garden itself. However, I have resolved to keep more conscientous observations about what I have planted in the garden and how these plantings do over the year and hopefully, in years to come.

Here to kick things off is a Buddleia 'Grand Cascade' that was introduced to the back garden in 2022:

Now, even though the tag says full sun, I have had some success with butterfly bushes in partial shade before. This shrub was planted in a full sun to part shade location, and I have to say I was quite happy with the first season progress that it made.

It started producing masses of flower buds beginning of August, and boy, did it attract a ton of butterflies when it started blooming profusely in late August. It continued to flower vigorously into early November when it started getting brown and done. I feel that my flowers came out looking more pink than lavender (see first picture at top of page) but that might have something to do with the quality of the light when I took the photo ― late summer afternoon, deep shade. Despite the profusion of blooms, I must admit the perfume was quite underwhelming ― the scent is a lot more subtle than any other butterfly bush I've ever planted.

I garden in a Zone 5B and it's been a fairly mild winter so far so I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Grande Cascade will shower me with more love next year. However, just to be safe, I did mulch about 4 inches thick and piled bags of unopened compost all around the bottom part of the shrub to provide a bit of a wind break as well as additional warmth to the surrounding soil.

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

By the way, here are a couple of photos from the Walters Gardens site to show you how large this perennial shrub can grow. You can also find descriptions of the plant on their site. [Images below belong to Walters Gardens.]

Vintage Art Appreciation: The Quiet of the Lake, Roundhay Park by John Atkinson Grimshaw

The Quiet of the Lake, Roundhay Park, 1870
by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 - 1893)
You cannot wait for an untroubled world to have an untroubled moment. The terrible phone call, the rainstorm, the sinister knock on the door—they will all come. Soon enough arrive the treacherous villain and the unfair trial and the smoke and the flames of the suspicious fires to burn everything away. In the meantime, it is best to grab what wonderful moments you find lying around.
― Lemony Snicket, Shouldn't You Be in School?

Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Free Vintage Winter Clipart and Nature Poem for Cardmaking, Crafts or Junk Journaling: Snow Crystals, 1881 and Snowflakes, 1879

Above is a black and white illustration from an 1881 magazine thats a variety of snow crystal shapes. I also found a sweet winter poem called "Snowflakes" written by Mary Mapes Dodge (1831 - 1905) and first published in 1879 that I thought would go well with the illustration. Here is how the poem goes:

Whenever a snowflake leaves the sky
It turns and turns to say “good-bye;”
“Good-bye, dear cloud, so cool and gray!”
Then lightly travels on its way.
And when a snowflake finds a tree,
“Good-day,” it says — “Good-day to thee!
Thou art so bare and lonely, dear,
I’ll rest and call my comrades here.”
But when a snowflake brave and meek,
Lights on a rosy maiden’s cheek,
It starts— “How warm and soft the day!
‘Tis Summer!”— and it melts away.
[Source]
You can download the free illustration as a high-resolution 5" x 7" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Perfect for a holiday greeting card or incorporate into crafts, scrapbooking or junk journal projects.

By the way, here is an audio of soprano Gwen Catley singing "Snowflakes," which had been set to music by composer Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), and published in 1914. [Source]



From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Christmas Eve by Carlton Alfred Smith

You can live a charmed life by causing others to live a charmed life.
That is, be the source of ‘charm’
— of charming moments and experiences — in the life of another.
Be everyone else’s Lucky Charm!
Make all who you touch today feel ‘lucky’ that you crossed their path.
Do this for a week and watch things change.
Do it for a month and you’ll be a different person.
― Neale Donald Walsch
I initially downloaded the above painting — Christmas Eve, painted by Carlton Alfred Smith (1853 – 1946) in 1901 — on Wikimedia Commons, which I then cropped and edited. You can download a high-res 6" x 4" @ 300 ppi JPEG of my digitally enhanced version here. I thought it would be interesting as a greeting card or incorporated into a collage or junk journal project but you can also simply print and frame for wall art.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Free Vintage Outdoor Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Junk Journaling: Two Drawings of Winter Scenes by Winslow Homer

We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm.
And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things,
like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora,
or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin.
It's worth being cold for that.
― Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass
Two 19th century illustrations that were drawn by Winslow Homer for a couple of different publications. The first drawing (top) is titled "Cutting a Figure" and appeared in Every Saturday in 1871. The second drawing (bottom) is titled "Christmas Belles" and was first published Harper's Weekly in January 1869.

You can download the free 6" x 4" @ 300 ppi JPEGs without any watermark for cardmaking, collage or framed art projects by clicking here (lone lady skater in a desered patch of a frozen pond) and here (group of ladies racing away in a horse-drawn sleigh).


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem for Kids: The North Wind Doth Blow (with Sheet Music)

The North wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will poor Robin
do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn,
And to keep himself warm
Will hide his head under his wing,
poor thing!

Antique nature poem found in a children's magazine from c1880 (the origin of the poem itself is much older and is thought to date back to the 16th century). You can download this illustrated poem and sheet music as an 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for use in cardmaking and nature journal projects or simply print and frame for wall art.

Here is a really adorable video I found of the poem on Youtube:



Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Winter Landscape in Areskutan by Carl Brandt

Winter Landscape in Areskutan, 1921
by Carl Brandt (1852 - 1930)
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.
― Yoko Ono

Free Vintage Outdoor Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Framed Art: Victorian Lady Out For a Walk on a Chilly Day

I love to walk. Walking is a spiritual journey and a reflection of living.
Each of us must determine which path to take and how far to walk;
we must find our own way, what is right for one may not be for another.
There is no single right way to deal with late stage cancer,
to live life or approach death, or to walk an old mission trail.
― Edie Littlefield Sundby, The Mission Walker

An antique illustration from c1880 showing a young Victorian lady out for a walk on a snowy winter day, dressed in a dark green cape and holding a muff to ward against the chill. She looks somewhat melancholy and deep in thought. Maybe she is longing for a roaring fire and a warm supper?

You can download the high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG here without a watermark. Great for cardmaking and collage projects but you can also simply print and frame as wall or tabletop art.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Outdoor Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Junk Journaling: Edwardian Children on a Winter Skate 1

Learn to dance in the storm so when life hands you stormy weather,
you just glide through it.
― Ikechukwu Izuakor
A vintage illustration from 1904. This one shows a group of children ― 3 girls and a boy ― out for a winter skate in the park. Two of the older girls are supporting the youngest girl who is moving gingerly across the ice. Prthaps she is just learning to skate?

You can download the high-res 7.5" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for cardmaking, collage or junk journal projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: A Thought of the Rose

Below is an illustrated Victorian garden poem on the lovely rose, originally published in 1893, and titled (of course!) "A Thought of the Rose."

How much of memory dwells amidst thy bloom,
Rose! ever wearing beauty for thy dower!
The bridal-day ― the festival ― the tomb ―
Thou hast thy part in each, thou stateliest flower!

Therefore with thy soft breath come floating by
A thousand images of love and grief,
Dreams, fill'd with tokens of mortality,
Deep thoughts of all things beautiful and brief.

Not such thy spells o'er those that hail'd thee first,
In the clear light of Eden's golden day!
There thy rich leaves to crimson glory burst,
Link'd with no dim remembrance of decay.

Rose! for the banquet gather'd, and the bier;
Rose colour'd now by human hope and pain;
Surely where death is not -- not change, nor fear,
Yet may we meet thee, Joy's own flower again!
You can download this poem as an 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for use in cardmaking and nature journal projects or simply print and frame for wall art.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Bird Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Scrapbooking: The Finches Take Shelter in a Snowstorm

She captured a feeling, sky with no ceiling,
the sunset inside of a frame.
― La La Land
Antique postcard from the early 1900s with an illustration showing a pair of finches, male and female, huddled together on a stalk of wildflower. They are sharing a pale blue umbrella as they take shelter from the snowflakes swirling around them. A frame of birch tree trunks surround the winged couple.

Free to use in your cardmaking, collage or scrapbooking projects. You can download the high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any words or watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Tags for Cardmaking, Journaling or Scrapbooking: Victorian Girls in the Garden (Set #2)

I did nothing but comfort my plants, till now their small green cheeks are covered with smiles.
― Emily Dickinson
A second set of antique gift tags that feature girls in the garden. Tag one shows a girl with a little yellow bird perched on her finger with pink flowers growing bhind her and little pots of red flowers in front of her. Tag two features a girl sitting under a clump of magnificent orange-red lilies, chin propped on the backs of her hands, staring out at you with a solemn intensity.

These vintage illustrations make great as gift tags but you could also use them as bookmarks, greeting cards, plant markers (if you laminate them) or to decorate scrapbook pages. You can download the high-res 3" x 4.5" @ 300 ppi JPEGs here and here. If you are looking for the first set of girls in the garden tags, you can find that set here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Junk Journaling: Girl at Window of Vine-Covered Cottage

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive
— to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love — then make that day count!
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
An antique illustration from 1883 that shows a girl opening the window of a vine-covered cottage to greet a little whote dove that has flown up to say good morning! You can download this free high-res 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for card making, collage or junk journal projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Outdoor Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Junk Journaling: Victorian Children on a Winter Walk 1

For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.”
― Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market and Other Poems
Vintage outdoor illustration showing two sisters out for a winter walk. The younger sister has a bright red coat which reminds me of Red Riding Hood! Both sisters have big, puffy muffs to keep their hands warm.

You can download the high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for cardmaking, collage or junk journal projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if sharing or publishing.