Create, Save, Smile!

What do these three words have in common? New digital design releases and a 4 day, 40% sale in my digi shop at MyGrafico. I just finished three new sets featuring Owls with a Valentine/Love theme, but these adorable digi stamps and clip art designs can be used any day of the year to bring cheer.

Here is a digital card example showing how much fun you can have creating with the Owl Love U 4ever set, my personal favorite design on 2012...so far, anyways! ;D  I have always loved owls, but had never designed a set with them. I started with sketches for digi stamps that you can color and add to your card creations, but I am a girl who love color so I couldn’t resist creating some clip art designs and printable artwork, too! Here is a peek at that set. This was designed with my new color palette for 2012!

Two of the three owl sets are posted in the shop...What a Hoot Digi Stamps and Owl Love U 4ever,  and the third is a printable set of cards and invites called Owlentines that I will be releasing soon. Here is a sneak peek at it! I will also be adding a free digital Owlentine valentine printable.

So if these cute designs aren't enough to bring a cheery smile to your face, maybe a 4-day sale on digitals at 40% off will do the trick! Check out my shop by going to the main page, finding Cheri Wenger under the designers pull down menu on the left hand side of the web page. There you can see all of my shops. If you prefer to shop by category, click the links above this, however you will have to sort through designs from other shops to find mine. Have a very creative weekend! I will be cheering Kylie on in the Disney Classic Volleyball tournament at the Wide World of Sports complex.

My Favorite Winter Layouts created in 2010

Our winter trip to Philly provided me with lots of creative inspiration and the photos to go along with it...many of which became the subject of scrapbook layouts last year. LOL, I am still scrapping the stack of photos now, playing catch up, It is hard to get motivated to scrap winter photos in the summer in Florida. Hope you enjoy and get some inspiration from these.

Cousins Warm Up

I really loved the Happy Meter stamp that I purchased one day in the dollar bin.

I knew it was just perfect for this layout of cousins Kai and Lauren, who despite

the weather and not seeing one another that often, warmed up to winter fun.

Tip: Have a favorite paper that has large dots? Try cutting around them

to create a fun paper edge on your next scrapbook page.

My Snow Dan

One very fun technique to try out on this layout is using a versamarker

and embossing powder to create snowy chipboard layers. I also

had fun cutting snowflakes from paper and felt, layering them with a brad.

Have multiple photos of the same subject? Try angling on your layout

with one long frame as I did here. I used fun metal corners from Karen 

Foster Design to highlight the close up photo of my husband, Dan.

Snow Beautiful

This was created in a hotel room at CHA last year with limited tools and supplies on hand.

I created the title by hand by tearing paper and coloring the edge of the snowball with a pencil. 

I hand drew the letters and cut them out. I also created the torn paper flower embellishments.

This was the definition of creativity on the fly!

Oh Snow Cute, Kai

This is a double page layout I created using the colors in Kylie's outfit

as the basis for my layout. I loved working with the velvety papers

and sticking to high contrast colors and using neutral grey with 

punches of red as the accent color. The title on this continues across

the 2 page spread. I added journaling in my own handwriting.

Project 365- Day 12/Wintertime Snow Layout

With the brisk winter we have had...a record cold December for Florida residents, I decided to scrap some photos from last winter’s trip to Philly where the girls, us and Bella got to enjoy the snow.

Wintertime Snow Layout - Day 12 Challenge

Supplies from these manufacturers:

Echo Park Paper Co., Scenic Route, The Paper Co., Glue Arts,

Fiskars, Cosmo Cricket, Maya Road, Prima & Recollections.

I really love this Echo Partk Wintertime Collection by Bella Road. I used many elements to create this fun layout of Ashley with Bella. But since Bella had on her pink winter coat, I selectively chose the papers and paired with a pink (Tinted Dawn) CS background from The Paper Co.

Finally the Results of Day3 Project 365 challenge!

I promised earlier in the week to share with you my winter photo gallery from last year's big winter snow storm and our trip to Philly. These images were shot hand held with my Canon XSI. Here they are for your enjoyment!

Wild Winter Roadtrip Recap

Just had to share some fun photos from our holiday trip to Philly, right as the big 23" snow storm hit the northeast. We looked liked the Grizwald's with a trunk that looked like a Jenga game, but Dan insisted on taking his all wheel drive car even though my trunk is bigger. Dare you pull anything out, it might fall on your head. {you will see in the pictures} Try not to laugh too hard at these Floridians who tried to pack lightly while knowing that we were about to enter the frozen zone, which by our standards is anything over 50 degrees! LOL!!!

{the snow photos are from our Dunkin Donuts detour in Virginia after driving 16 straight hours and hitting unplowed roads in Fredericksburg- and yes, Dan was smart to insist on us taking his car. We passed many 2 wheel drive SUVs stuck on the side of the road. Fortunately from Washington to Philly the roads were plowed.}

Did I forget to mention that we brought the dog along? This was Bella's first long road trip and she aced it with the help of Kai's chenille pillow spanning the leg area in the back seat! Princess Bella lounged across the back seat dining on Chic-fil-A wraps, waffle fries and ice chips (of course she grubbed my dinner!) There was no avoiding it, and once you see some of the photos you will understand how I couldn't resist her begging. I have some more hilarious shots from this adventure, but I am saving some of those for scrapbook layouts!

{You know what happens when you are cooped up in a car too long...you get a little loopy! The girls gave Bella hairdos and dressed her in the hat Kylie wore most of the roadtrip. I think Bella arrived the only one well rested. Dan drove the whole way with no sleep! He is a true road warrior.}

Nineteen hours after leaving home, we arrived at our destination, my sister’s house in Ardmore, PA to a blanket of white snow and a huge family welcome from my sister, brother-in-law, niece and parents. We only slept a few hours that day, but I think it took me until Christmas Day to truly wake up!

It only took 17 hours driving straight through to make it home, and I could barely keep my eyes open, but as we were just a few exits from home, the sun rose...what a welcome sight and a perfect ending to an awesome trip!

{For about 3 days following our trip, my DH was experiencing caffeine detox from all the coffee he drank to stay awake. Just another tale from the adventures of our life. Belate Happy New Year wishes to all!}