Creativity Interrupted

I started off the year with the awesome goal of doing a project a day...my Project 365 day challenge which turned into about a 180 something day challenge. Sometimes life just gets in the way of creativity and other priorities like family, health and other matters interrupt the creative process. I will still be sharing some of the projects created along the way.

So where has that creative energy been refocused? On photography and designing many new sets for my shop at Mygrafico.com. Recently, I was the featured designer in Mygrafico's post on CreatingtheHive.com. Click on the link to read the mini interview.

If you are feeling Fall Fever and want to get crafty, check out these sets of mine as a springboard for inspiration. You can choose from SVG diecuts to digi stamps to clip art and brushes that will give you endless opps to showcase your creativity.

FALL BRUSH SETS

This one is a brush and SVG set:

DIGI STAMPS (great for cardmakers!)

Ready to color or simply print on patterned or solid papers for fun paper piecing.

Paper Collection:

And here are some of my latest releases...

Be sure to check out this special set of ready-to-use clip art ribbons called Ribbons 4 a Cause. If you support any charity, cause or want to raise awareness on your site, this versatile set of ribbons has ribbons, bows, buildable ribbon segments and a sample border that can be used on many craft and design projects. It is available for only $4.50! Just click on this link to explore all of the sets in my shop.

And keep your eyes out for an adorable cat themed Halloween set of digi stamps 

that I am working on now. It is sure to bring a smile to your face. Keep checking the mygrafico site and my facebook page for it’s release. Please visit my Cheri Wenger Digital Designs facebook page and hit the like button. I am working on building my fan base. Hope today you live life creatively!

A Birthday Present for You!

Why celebrate my birthday alone? Today, I am giving you the gift of 50% off everything in my digi design shop, today, Sept. 2nd until midnight EST. Get into the birthday spirit with these two new build-your-own clip art sets...Cuppy Cakes and Lovey Cakes.

Cuppy Cakes

Cuppy Cakes is great for festive occasions, birthdays, baking graphics and to create your own printables. 

Lovey Cakes

 For special occasions such as Valentine's Day, anniversaries, birthdays, engagements, weddings and birth announcements, Lovey Cakes has three classic color schemes to create gorgeous designs.

End the Month with a Shopping Spree!

If you are like me, Fall tends to be one of the times of year that I do the most amount of shopping...there are great Fall sales, it is a great time to get a jumpstart on holiday gift buying and with the kids back to school there is more time to be creative. Take advantage of the great sales in the shop right now with mygrafico’s 1-day, end of the month sale. 40% off...a great time to pick up those sets you have been eyeing in my digi store. Be sure to check out these sets which are great for creating things during Fall...

Feel of Fall

Hallowettes (SVG set, png files, brushes & editable eps...a whole lot of versatility!)

Fall Splendor Digi Stamp

Gettin’ Grungey

Beaverettes Camp Out - great set for scouts, fall camping & late summer fun

Bold Floral Brushes - use to create your own Fall Flowers!

 Flourished Frames - great for scrapbookers, photographers and creating albums & calendars

                                                        

As well as these new sets...

Au Naturale - b&w png files & brushes that you can create colored art with

Spooklicious Frames & Text Digital Brushes

Cranking out the sets!

I have been on a creative roll this week and last creating fun new sets for Fall & Chrismtas. Take a peek and see if any of these make your MUST HAVE list!

If you are a party planner or invitation designer, then this is a must have set! If you just love to create with fancy, elegant frames then this set is also for you. Verses and Frames provided separately as well as in a combined art file so you can mix and match the frames with other verses or stamps. These aren’t just for Halloween. Use them for photos, place cards, signs, cardmaking, scrapbooking, labels, invitations and more. Also, you can use the verses for cards, flyers, labels, party favors, etc. Simply change the brush color in your photo editing or paint program to create these frames in any color you need them to be!

Use the 4 fun bonus images to create other Halloween or border designs.

Spooklicious Frames & Text Digital Brushes (FTDB)

If you are looking for a fun, unique Christmas design, check out this brightly colored set of graphics. So versatile with borders and other complimentary graphics that will make your crafting fun, fun, fun!

Merry Words

This companion set to Merry Words can also be used as a stand alone set for so many creative uses. These layering elements allow you to build your own designs. Scale, add your own text and combine these designs for unlimited possibilities. From Christmas cheer to wintery layouts to even Valentine gifts, let this set help you create fun tags, gifts, monograms, cards, ornaments and more! Perfect for embroidery, too! It will have your creative bells jinga-linga-ringing!

Jinga-Linga-Ring

Digi Tools (Brushes & Styles) - Photoshop Brush Sets - Au Naturale Digital Brushes - MY GRAFICO - DIGITAL ARTS AND CRAFTS STORE

Announcing my latest collection...Au Naturale!

So excited to share my latest digi design set...a set of 24 b&w brushes that you can combine with any color you like to create awesome nature inspired designs and backgrounds. For the set preview I used a fall color palette to jump start your creativity for fall projects. Purchase at my shop by clicking the link above.

Weekend Sale - 40% at Mygrafico.com

While shopping for all your favorite back-to-school stuff, be sure to treat yourself to a few new digital goodies to spark your fall crafting! Start saving after midnight tonight...40% off all day Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 6 & 7 at mygrafico.com. Be sure to check out all the digital goodies in my shop!

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.

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.

Project 365 Challenge - Days 136 - 146

Photos, Cards & Sketches ...these are just some of what I accomplished during days 136 - 146 of my Project 365 challenge. Some days are filled with multiple projects, others creativity is invaded by life. Here is an update of what happened, creatively speaking, between May 15 and May 25th.

Day 136 - Pictures with Family
Leading up to graduation, we were lucky enough to have her grandparents in town to celebrate with us Ashley's Baccalaureate mass. And I got to get a rare photo since someone else took some photos of us. This time, Dan unfortunately was left out of the photos since we were pushed for time.

Day 137 - Endeavor Launch Photos

Fortunately our house faces the right direction for watching the shuttle from right outside our front door. We can look over our neighbors roof once we hear the countdown on t.v. and watch to see it lift off. My favorite shuttle launch was on the 4th of July where we watched from a point on the beach.

Day 138 - Mod Linear Florals Collection & Project Sample

It is time to switch back to my design hat. I just love this new Mod Linear Florals collection!

Combine the shadows and linear overlays to create lots of fun, contemporary flowers.

Here is a digital card created using art created from this set.

A colorful sweet 16 card to have on hand for one of my daughter's friends who will be turning 16!

Day 139 - 12 x 12 MLF Paper Design (with copyright)

This is a digital paper design created using the Mod Linear Florals set.

You just may be seeing this in a new set in the future!

Day 140 - Graduation Photos

Ashley’s graduation brought our family to town for the special event, allowing for plenty of great photo opportunities starting with a celebratory dinner and the graduation ceremony.

Day 141 - Princess Grad Cards

Framed Grad Princess hybrid card created with art from my Grad Princess collection

Princess Grad Bling hybrid card using similar art printout created using this same set.

For those of you who don't know what a hybrid card is, it is one created using traditional and digital techniques. In this case, the art was created on computer, printed out, mounted onto cardstock with layers, embellishments and bling added to complete the finished cards.

Day 142 - Birthday Party Pics

While family was in town we celebrated a belated Sweet 16th birthday for our other daughter, Kylie. It was a fun event with a giant water slide. Great fun was had by all who ventured down the steep slide.

Here are a few of our candid photos.

Day 143 - More Princess Grad Cards

Girly Grad Hybrid Card

A simple pink and black theme. The circle graphic was printed and layered with punched CS and the cap with tassel is matted as the focal point. For a little sparkle, the verse was embossed in silver. I used the artwork from my Grad Princess collection.

Pop Princess Hybrid Card

Yes, you can tell there is a lot of grad action in this house. I have been busy making graduation cards for Ashley and her friends. For this design, I created a patterned design to print and mount on the left side of this card and matted the tiara on black as the main design element. The Grad Princess art was used as my verse on the card front. It is easy to print out multiple graphics and store in a folder for making cards on demand when you need them in a hurry. And as you can see, without even changing the colors, there are so many possibilities for creating different card designs. Scaling art allows you to be even more creative.

Day 144 - Wildcat Graduation Card Idea

Blue and silver was the theme for this card done in school colors. A pawprint wheeled stamp was used to create a pattern on the background. I drug the edges of the lighter blue cardstock over a versamark pad before pouring silver embossing powder on top. This creates a shimmery edge and makes it pop off the background. Also did the verse in silver emboss and finished with a silvery ribbon.

Day 145 - Rose Sketch for future set

Many of my illustrations and digi art collections begin in the form of a pencil sketch.

I started sketched this rose while waiting for Kylie to take her speak with a counselor about taking dual enrollment classes while in high school next fall. She will split her time between community college and high school. Now we have to look for a car so she can drive to both. Anyone need to hire a graphic designer or illustrator? I am for hire!!!

Day 146 - Joe & Ashley at the Beach

It was the perfect day of sunshine at the beach. Ashley and her boyfriend, Joe were full of smiles and surprises. Joe entertained us with his skimming and backflipping skills.

and this ends this session of Project 365 creative inspiration!