Leaping Ahead to New Adventures

Leap Day is a special day. It only comes once every 4 years. What makes today special for me is that I will be leaping into new and exciting areas. The first is promoting my photography, a passion that I have kept pretty exclusive to my family. And through the encouragement of so many, I am now opening those doors and making it official specializing in on-location, natural lit portrait photography. 

Yes, this will include families, couples, friend sessions, senior portraits, children, adults, pets...you name it! I can’t wait to express my creativity through the lens. My focus will be on capturing real moments, natural emotions that portray the real people behind them. My photography mantra is “capturing images; creating memories”. I will be able to combine my photoshop & design skills to create even more unique portrait, event and vacation memories as well as bring that creativity into fun photo shoots. For a little sampling of just some of that creativity, take a peek at yesterday’s blog post or take a peek at the vintage look given to this portrait of Kylie and James with his State Championship soccer medal.

I am working on putting together a website that will house all of this creativity, for Cheri Wenger Design, Cheri Wenger Digital Designs as well as Cheri Wenger Design Photography. It is a huge endeavor, but I am up for the challenge. Updates on this project will appear on my blog, so check back to see the progress reports. Feel free to contact me at artz1@cfl.rr.com for pricing information or to book a mini session or full photo session.

Change breeds more change, as they say. And with this, I will regretfully be closing up my shop at mygrafico.com to concentrate on these new endeavors. So if you are dying to purchase any of my sets, you can still do that today, or you can contact me directly about how you can purchase those by emailing me at artz1@cfl.rr.com. 

There are so many exciting things happening right now. I will be hosting a blog giveaway for a very exciting product. Keep popping back and visiting my blog for more details on this, and as always, for inspiration on how to live life creatively!

Texture Challenge = Inspired Art

A true sign of a creative talent is someone who is willing to share their gift with the world. This is truly the experience I found today signing up for Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday list. There are some simple guidelines for receiving and using the free downloads, all of which are very easy to follow.  And did I mention the challenge that corresponds with the texture? Today’s challenge lead me to a fun mini still shoot, that I refer to as White Hot Shells. I plan to share more of these series of photos as I work on them, but I want to encourage everyone to check out Kim Klassen’s Cafe website and blog.

If you are a photographer wanting to experiment with combining textures and your images, you will feel like you found the pot of gold in the selection of gorgeous textures available on her site for purchase. And for those just dabbling, you can try out some of her freebie downloads...all are stunning! I purchased the Bens collection and the group of rectangle textures to get started. For my photo art project I combined a few of these textures, plaster & teddy, with one of her freebies, called Simplicity. Each of which I applied different layer styles, opacities and some masks. See what you think of my first photo art creation...

Be sure and leave me a comment to let me know what you think!

Here is what the original image looks like:

Here are some of the textures I used on this image. You can see the texture collections here.

simplicity

plaster

teddy

I challenge you today to step outside of your creative box and try 

something new like I did. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results!

Sending You Our Love and Support

 

The verse on this card reads “Sending You Our Love and Support”...a totally fitting sentiment and graphic for someone battling breast cancer. This hybrid card was creating using digital art, a digital diecut (svg art file) along with traditional stamping and floral diecuts from felt. Calling upon my favorite recipe for making cards, this card uses current digital art mixed with traditional card elements to add texture, interest and a customized card. The beauty of digi art is that you can size it down to fit exactly the size you want it. Nice, huh? Which is extra nice when you want to pair with an svg diecut frame, also sized to exactly the size I wanted. The flower diecuts are from Stampin' Up!®, Floral Fusion sizzlits die, paired with a small adhesive pearl and an SU stamped verse in pink ink. This makes for a clean, simple and cheery greeting for a friend battling a breast cancer diagnosis. 

Cancer comes in all forms and effects the lives of so many families. If you have been impacted by cancer or know someone who is beginning their journey, show your support for one of the many fundraising efforts out there. Our daughter Ashley's sorority is participating in Relay for Life in Boca Raton, FL. You can help her reach her personal fundraising goal by donating one day's lunch money, that Friday night pizza or weekend coffee or smoothie money. Every amount helps, and you can keep your donation anonymous. Click here for more information.

Shop til you drop! The $1 three-day retirement sale at mygrafico.

What could be a bigger and better sale than $1.00 for an entire set 

of digital designs by Cheri Wenger?

For three days, you can get my retiring sets for just a dollar...and these are no crappy designs. We are talking some of my most popular sets are included. I am clearing out some of the oldies but goodies to make room for new, fresh designs so it is 

the perfect time to stack up on digi art & brushes. 

Be sure to spread the word and tell all your friends!

Vist this link, then click on the left hand column tab that says retiring sets to view all of the sets that are just $1. If you don't want to view all the designs, just mine, 

go to the designers pull down menu to select my name. 

It will pull up my shop including all sale and non-sale items. 

Happy Shopping!

Here is a preview of some of the sets that you can snag...

Relatively Speaking

Masculine Verses

Lovey Dovey Brushes

Ohhh Those Amazing West Shore Wildcats!

Last night was truly an amazing night on many levels. The school captured it’s first ever State Championship in any sport. Our daughter’s boyfriend, James, is on the winning team and his brother John scored the winning goal in double over time. Can you say excited??? This is a pictorial scrapbook slideshow of the event. The photos are a tad blurry since it is such a large movie. I will try to upload some of the images to facebook soon. GOOOOOO....WILDCATS! Good thing you have Monday off to recoop from all of the excitement.

Here are a some other memorable photos from the celebration starting with the winning goal...

This is one of my favorite photos of the night. The expression of joy says it all!

John is congratulated by his father...

John being interviewed on t.v. after his game winning goal...

A huddle of celebration...

Coach Kriebel receives the trophy from Principal Fleming

The team celebrates their #1 status...

James’ Joyous Moment...

The winning team poses for a photo with event photographers...

Kylie congratulates James...

One set of brothers (there are 3 sets on the team) show off their medals

All images © 2012 Cheri Wenger Design Photography

Celebrating a late Valentine's Day...get inspired!

Since Valentine's Day fell on a weekday, it gives people carte blanche to celebrate that day, the weekend before, or the weekend after. If you are celebrating later this weekend then you may just need a little Valentine’s day inspiration. Here are ways that a I dressed up some gifts by using my clip art and hand colored printouts of my digi stamps to decorate a gift bag & make a homemade coupon...

For card ideas for guys, try a collage design with scrapbook elements...

Digi stamps give you lots of versatility. Print them and color them to coordinate with the papers and cardstock you have on hand. Then create great cards like these (made with my What a Hoot set).

This shows inside and outside views of the card...

Don’t be afraid to mix traditional and digi stamps together along with your favorite embellishments!

And now that Valentine’s Day is over, don't let the artwork from this digi stamp go to waste. It isn't just for Valentine’s Day. Use it for making cute get well messages, birthday greetings, and thank you cards, just like this... 

Whooooo knows where your creativity may lead you.

Be inspired to live life creatively!

Woooohooo, A 2-Day Sale!

 

A brand new set in the shop plus 40% all of my products give you a big reason to shout WOOOOHOOO!

If you like the art in this banner ad, then you are sure to like several of my recent sets. 

For the digi stamp people, there is What a Hoot.

For card making, invitations, embroidery, scrapbooking, graphic & web design,

check out Owl Love U 4ever.

For printable cards to say I love you, Owlentines is a real favorite!

And for those who are sports enthusiasts or simply have a child who plays a sport, my Feeling Sporty set of versatile graphics is anything but basic. 

High quality dimensional clip art designs which can be used on so many creative items from embroidery to crafting to design...and also 40% off for the next 2 days!

Save today on digital art so you can live your life creatively!

Colors That Will Make Your Digi Garden Smile

Anticipating the latest cool front to move on out so that we can kick start spring time, I designed this set of coral, melon, yellow and brown flowers. You can use these designs individually or in groupings for graphic design, greeting cards, invitations, birth announcements, scrapbooking and crafting. These would make beautiful embroidered designs, too!

The Fresh Florals set is a combination of loose doodles combined with softly textured edges on the solid petal shapes. Coral is a hot color trend and these designs look great on a soft yellow or solid white background for a fresh, contemporary look.

If you still need to send a Valentine card, check out the email version I created using the photo card in my Owlentines Printable card and invitation set. I just personalized by adding photos in Photoshop and our family name.

Tips for a Successful Photo Shoot

TIPS FOR A SUCCESFUL PHOTO SHOOT

by Cheri Wenger

1.     Discuss your goals & expectations with your photographer.

Successful photo shoots start with setting clear goals as well as taking time to share your ideas beforehand. This helps the photographer to brainstorm ideas, gather necessary props and/or make their own comments & suggestions.

2.     Make it Personal.

Lifestyle portraiture works best when the model(s) are doing things or are surrounded by things

they love & enjoy. So if you have favorite articles of clothing, jewelry or a personal possession that means a lot to you, bring it to the shoot. Whether it is a goofy hat, a treasured heirloom from your grandmother, a favorite snuggly or a piece of sports gear, it will help to capture the essence of you in photos.

3.     Show up prepared — rely on a checklist.

Nothing can spoil a shoot more than running late or forgetting something important. You will leave the shoot feeling disappointed & having regrets. So make a checklist of things you intend to bring, and set a goal to arrive early so if there are some last minute things to discuss or set up, it will ensure starting on time. In not rushing, both you and your photographer will be more relaxed and less stressed…resulting in a better photo session.

4.     Discuss weather, lighting & the possibilities of rescheduling.

Natural lit portraits require planning to achieve the right lighting and scenery. Photographers can do their best to work around non-ideal lighting conditions, unexpected interruptions such as other people at the same location, and even make the best of the weather; however, there may be some circumstances that simply won’t work for the time or day of your shoot. Discuss in advance plans for reshooting and possibly pencil in a back up date especially if you need the images within a certain time frame.

5.     Create the look you want to capture in your photos.

Consider your goals. Do you want these photos to express the real you, the fairytale you or somewhere in between? If a glamorous photo is what you are after, you need to dress the part. If you would like the photos to be representative of your everyday family life, then everyone dressing alike may not be the best wardrobe choice. These are things to discuss with your photographer so that they can make suggestions as to the style and colors you should consider wearing, as well as what not to wear. In general, busy stripes and plaids or very bold, patterned prints can be distracting, and should be avoided. For beach shots, combinations of white or black with khaki or denim are often recommended. My personal belief is that you can use a variety of pastel colors, too, with white, denim or khaki to avoid everyone looking too ”matchy“. For example, mom in a white shirt, dad and the boys in baby blue and the girls in pastel dress with each of those colors in the pattern or print. If you want to wear a bright or bold patterned dress, then the background should be rather neutral. Keep in mind whether you want people to notice you or your clothing in the portrait. The key is that the style of clothing should be representative of you. Always experiment with your hair and make up beforehand, and not the day of your shoot. Avoid getting your hair cut just days before the shoot. Give yourself time to learn to work with the new cut unless your goal is to portray yourself in a different light or create a whole new image. Stay clear of heavy, glossy or metallic make-up when taking natural lit, outdoor portraits. Those work best for studio lit photos and will not result in beautiful, natural-looking portraits. Remember, the photographer can work their magic, but you need to show up looking the part.

© 2012 Cheri Wenger Design Photography