A Mother's Day Tribute

This photo art was created as a tribute to all moms...whether you have given birth, adopted or fostered a child, or simply have been thought of in a motherly way. I started off using a photo image taken of an arrangement of carnations given to my daughter Kai on Valentine’s day. See below for a peek at that image so you can appreciate how it was transformed into the artwork you see on the right. I used two great textures that I purchased from Kim Klassen's Bens Collection.

Kim offers a Texture Tuesday challenge which inspires artists and photographers to use her textures creatively. For this piece, “In the Garden”, I wanted to create a painterly, watercolor effect. I used a combination of layers and effects at varying opactities. From the Bens Collection, I chose textures 2 & 6, and selected a quote attributed to Claudia Chandi as my verse.

So how did I create this?
I used Photoshop with my original photo on the main layer, add the textures on top. To make the type more interesting I mixed two fonts and three coordinating shades of colors: a deep olive, dark red and a medium shade of rosey pink. Now take a peek below to see all of the original images that were combined to create this art.

Here is the original photo image...

And here are the two textures from Kim Klassen’s Bens Collection that I used...

Check out her Texture Tuesday Cafe,

and be inspired!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the great moms out there who daily work your mommy magic!

Weekend Sale at MyGrafico - 25% off EVERYTHING!

All Day Saturday and Sunday, save big at MyGrafico.com.
Everything is 25% off including my latest set, Hip & Happy Frames,
which is available as clip art or as brushes! Click on graphics to see in shop.

    

These sets contain 6 frames plus 6 bonus phrase/verses ready for you to colorize or use as overlays! Photoshop Brushes are so versatile because you can colorize, add effects, styles, add in paper backgrounds, reverse out of photos and more...the possibilities are limitless.

A FREEBIE in honor of all Moms

I created this digi stamp as a thank you to all the mom's out there for all the little things you do for your families that often goes unnoticed. This is a great little verse to add to a card for any mom, aunt, grandmom! Perfect for Mother’s Day, Birthday or simply to say thanks for being there. You can edit the art in Illustrator to use the border by itself, delete text, add your own, color the background with pastels or markers. Great for scrapbook page layouts, too! I included some ideas in the set preview. To download this, go to this Freebie link on MyGrafico.com.

This is a peek at the preview...

So you may be wondering, how do I use a digi stamp? It is simple. You can place the file into a word processing program, scale and print out. If you own a photo editing or graphics editing program such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Paint Shop Pro, Corel Draw, etc., you can colorize, edit, then print or use digitally on projects.

I will be taking photos of Mother's Day cards using this stamp today. Hope to post them by tomorrow to help inspire you with your cardmaking.

To Thy Own Self Be Kind - what a great concept!

When I first read this verse on a stamp, it struck me a little odd, but the more I think about, it is a great reminder especially to all the moms out there who often are overworked and far less appreciated for the little things they do. I know that Mother's Day has come and gone, but take a moment this week to feel guiltless and to thy own self be kind! Here is a card created with the Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration set, Botanical Blooms.

A Littlle Inspiration to Kick Off National Scrapbooking Day

With Mother's Day just around the corner and today being National Scrapbooking Day, I wanted to share with you these projects that will soon be featured in a video demo on Glue Arts’ website. I hope it will inspire you to do a little scrapbooking today.

This is a closeup view of the scrapbook page featuring some handcut paper flowers from the K&Company McKenna collection. These “Shabby Chic” layered circle flowers are so fun and easy to make! Using patterned papers and a series of circles you can make these distressed flowers in no time to enhance your layouts and projects. Below are some close up views of the flowers. And be sure to check out the folded ribbon - new sewing involved! I used Glue Arts micro adhesive squares and some gold mini brads to secure in place.

The matching trinket box, shown below, is so easy to make and no painting required! It showcases the new lace border punch from Stampin’ Up! available for purchase on my SU website as well as the button bouquet designer buttons.  I accented the buttons with gold embroidery thread or ribbons on these projects. Have fun creating your gift for mom!