Friday, July 15, 2011

Project 365 Challenge - Days 147 - 154 Seven days of Inspiration

Day 147 - Selecting, Printing & Sorting Photos
I understand that a photo of boxes of photos may not seem very creative, however, it can be a very time-consuming task going through all your digital photos and making prints for future projects and gifts. Today, I am inspiring you to make prints of your favorite pictures. Print some for yourself and others to give as gifts.

I wanted to give Ashley’s best friends, all seniors who were graduating, prints of favorite photos from their best friends photo shoot I did along with their graduation cards and other gifts. The kids all really appreciated the prints. In this day of digital where most of their images are stored in facebook albums, they liked having tangible photos that they can take with them to college and hang up in their room.

I also printed photos to make an album for Dan for Father’s Day of the girls along with sets of prints taken when family came to visit for Ashley’s graduation and Kylie’s 16 Birthday party. I was lucky enough to take advantage of 10 cent prints at Walgreens...lots of sorting, yet a creative use of time! Look for specials at Walgreens, Walmart, Shutterfly or Snapfish to save on printing your favorite digi photos.

Day 148 - Red White & Blue Graduation Card
Traditionally stamped card in red, white & blue featuring silver embossing which always add elegance to any card creation. I used silver ribbons for texture and to compliment the silver on the card.


Day 149 - Mulberry Floral Birthday Card
Digi stamps don’t always have to be printed in b&w! I colorized my Gardenia digi stamp in photoshop to match the paper, then add touches of color. I will be sharing a tutorial of how to do this soon.


The art is from my Gardenia Digi Stamp set:

Day 150 - Pastel Gardenia Birthday Card
Using the digi stamp from the same set featured yesterday, I created this hybrid card layering the b&w stamp on top of a digital paper with lace frame. The lace frame, I created using a lace strip from my Gettin’ Grungey collection. Since my mom loves lavender, I used that as my color palette and paired with the patterned paper from Basic Grey. A traditionally stamped birthday verse was added with some punched border strips and a ribbon. To achieve the soft coloring on the flower, I used chalk pastels.


Day 151- A Good Luck Grad Card Made in Minutes
What do you get when you pair a cool foil stamped piece of card stock with some DCWV cardstock, ribbon and a stamp? The answer is a card you can make in only a few minutes. Every card doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. This one proves, simple and elegant can be just as nice!


Day 152- Pulling from the Stashes to create a vintage card
This Vintage Hybrid Sympathy Card was created from elements in my digi & svg print and cut stash, a folder I keep with misc. printouts of digi art and svg cutouts for use on future cards and projects. I paired the digi stamp from my Elegant Frames set with a Swirly QZ’s dicut, some ribbon, old patterned paper, flowers, pearls and a paper butterfly diecut element to create this sympathy card for a family member.


Day 153 - New Party Pack Set & samples
I designed this Fruity Floral Summer Swirls Party Pack collection, which was inspired by my ML Fruity Florals collection plus the need to design an invitation for my daughter’s 16th birthday. It evolved from that into a banner, sign (featured on days 127 - 129) and now, a thank you,  so why not put it in a collection to make someone else’s life a whole lot easier?!!!!




Day 154 - 25th Anniversary Card
Next month is mine and Dan’s 25th anniversary and knowing how time flies, I made the card back in June using more of my Swirly QZs svg diecuts and some other items from my favorite stash piles. I love this paper from the Girls Paperie...so pretty and it paired well with my polka dot silk flowers and swirl flourish. I used a brown digi printout of art from my Special Numbers collection to matt and layer on top. The oval was a saved diecut that added a matted effect when layered over the patterned paper. When embossing card stock with folders and end up with mini scraps, try layering under a stamped verse as I did in this card sample. Another tip to try is tying sheer ribbon around your background layer before mounting, then layering elements on top for a multi-dimensional card creation.


Here is a preview of the Special Numbers Collection, one of my earliest releases, an oldie but goodie!


Hope you found lots of cardmaking inspiration from this week’s flashback to my Project 365 challenge.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Hot summer savings on digital art, brushes & more!

Hurry over...just one day to save 40% on all products at http:www.mygrafico.com.
With over ten new sets added in the past two months in my shop alone, there are plenty of fresh new designs for you to be creative with. Be sure to check out the new affiliate program where you can earn money by bringing traffic to the site.