Free Whimsical Fairytale Illustration for Cardmaking, Collage, Crafting or Scrapbooking: Overheard Between the Mice

A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.
― Roald Dahl
A very sweet black and white fairy tale illustration from 1901 that shows a mischievous garden fairy with butterfly wings, creeping up close to listen in on a couple of mice's whispered conversation as they huddle under a tangle of nasturtium leaves. Originally captioned "Overheard Between the Mice." I wonder what they are saying?

You can download the high-res 6" x 4.5" @ 300 ppi JPG without a watermark for cardmaking, collage, crafting or scrapbooking project 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 Botanical Illustration for Cardmaking, Collage, Journaling or Scrapbooking: Cornish Oak (Quercus sessiliflora)

Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed,
and a giant oak in an acorn.
― William Arthur Ward
A colour plate from an antique French botany book that shows the Quercus sessiliflora, the sessile oak, also known as the Cornish oak or Durmast oak. You can download this free printable botanical illustration (without a watermark) for cardmaking, collage, journaling or scrapbooking project 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, Crafting or Scrapbooking: Elegant Edwardian Ladies in the Garden 1

All who have been touched by beauty are touched by sorrow at its passing.
― Louise Cordana
Vintage illustration showing two elegant Edwardian ladies in the garden. One lady is seated on a garden bench as a second lady with a cane stands beside her. The standing lady has a hand resting reassuringly on the shoulder of the seated lady.

You can download this free high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for cardmaking, mixed media collage, crafting or scrapbooking 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 Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Scrapbooking: The Flowers in the Wood

The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn, and violets bathe in the wet o’ the morn.
― Robert Burns
A black and white engraving from 1867. The caption below the original illustration read: "Flowers in the Wood" which could refer to the flowers the children are gathering but could also mean the children themselves.

You can download the free high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Charming as a cover of a spring-themed greeting card but you could also use it in a collage, as part of a nature joyrnal or in a scrapbooking project.


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 Botanical Clipart for Collage, Crafts or Scrapbooking: Botanical Forms 1

Sometimes I wish I could photosynthesize so that just by being,
just by shimmering at the meadow's edge or floating lazily on a pond,
I could be doing the work of the world while standing silent in the sun.
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,
Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Botanical illustrations from an antique encyclopedia. Among the plants shown are Philadelphus coronarius (sweet mock-orange or English dogwood), a stonecrop, sickle-shaped Mesembryanthemum and a New Holland pitcher plant. You could team the entire sheet with an old paper texture (or overlay several textures for an even more interesting effect) and frame as DIY wall art, or use each flower graphic separately to accent scrapbooking or graphic design projects. You can download the high-res 10" x 10.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a 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 Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Junk Journaling: Portrait of a Victorian Girl in Winter

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.
Most of the time we are simply not patient enough,
quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.
― Linda Hogan
A black and white illustration from 1882. This image shows a portrait of a Victorian girl set against a winter landscape. The portrait is enclosed within an oval frame decorated with early spring flowers. You can download the free high-res 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for use in crafts, a walk journal, scrapbooking or card making 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 Illustration for Cardmaking, Garden and Nature Journals or Scrapbook Page: Birds Exchanging News of Spring

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime.
Never make a negative decision in the low time.
Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods.
Wait. Be patient.
The storm will pass. The spring will come.
― Robert H. Schuller
Antique illustration from the late 1800s showing a sparrow coming to the bullfinches' icy perch to exchange news of spring - will spring be early or late this year? Delicate and subtle sprigs of spring blossoms surround the borders of this image. A great whimsical graphic for greeting cards, garden or nature journals, collage, and scrapbooking projects. You can download the high-res 6" x 4.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a 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.

Vintage Art Appreciation: In the Park by Giovanni Boldini

In the Park, 1872
by Giovanni Boldini (1842 - 1931)
No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish - consciously or unconsciously - that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.
― Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog

Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.
― Bob Marley

Free Vintage Bird Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage, Crafting or Scrapbooking: Messenger Doves with a Ribbon of Pink Envelopes

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.
― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets
First-generation digital scan of a vintage postcard from 1906. It shows an illustration of a flock of doves flying towards the recipient with love notes in little pink envelopes strung on a red ribbon. This would make a lovely greeting card for Valentine's or Mother's Day but you could also use it in a mixed media collage project or to decorate a scrapbook page or as a gift tag. You can download the high-res 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a 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 Clipart for Altered Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Invited Guests or Young Lady with Wild Swans

The river is such a tranquil place, a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature,
to enjoy the elegance of swans and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters
An antique illustration from c1885 that shows a young lady in a row boat underneath a large weeping willow. She is extending an outstretched hand to two white swans that are gliding along the river towards her.

You can download this free high-res 6" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for altered art, collage, graphic design, junk journal, papercrafts or scrapbooking 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.

Vintage Art Appreciation: A Walk in the Woods by Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse

A Walk in the Woods, 1873
by Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse (4 July 1848 – 14 June 1913)

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
― John Muir

All forests have their own personality. I don't just mean the obvious differences, like how an English woodland is different from a Central American rain forest, or comparing tracts of West Coast redwoods to the saguaro forests of the American Southwest... they each have their own gossip, their own sound, their own rustling whispers and smells. A voice speaks up when you enter their acres that can't be mistaken for one you'd hear anyplace else, a voice true to those particular tress, individual rather than of their species.
― Charles de Lint, The Onion Girl

The forest has shrunk
And fear has expanded,
The forests have dwindled,
There are less animals now,
less courage and less lightning,
less beauty
and the moon lies bare,
deflowered by force and
then abandoned.
― Visar Zhiti, The Condemned Apple: Selected Poetry

In the beginning I gave you paper for books, fruits for food, roots, bark and leaves for medicine, and I gave you shelter from the scorching sun and fierce rainfall, but now you cut me down for parts and set me on fire without remorse.
― Paul Bamikole