New year, New Inspiration!

A touch of old, a set that’s new, and a homemade gift for the Gator Fan in you! Today I am sharing with you a traditionally crafted, holiday theme thank you card made with beautifully printed CS and diecuts paired with brown inks, a stamped and punched tag and some recycled ribbon. I love these colors...so rich. And the brown ribbon makes me want to grab a milk chocolate candy...yum! This card proves that you can grab nearby papers and embellishments to create a card without a whole lot of effort. I hope it provides some inspiration for your cardmaking endeavors! Here are some photos of the inside and outside of this card creation...

Close up view of the front of the Pine Tag Thank You Card

Another view of Pine Tag Thank You Card with tag stamped and hand colored, punched and layered on gorgeous CS with brown ink added to edges to give a warm vintage feel.

This is the inside view of the Pine Tag Thank You card with Christmas theme. All of the craftiness doesn't have to end on the outside of the card. You can used your papers and borders to compliment and enhance the inside, too!

This year in Digital Design, I started off with a set geared towards a different market: embroiderers, quilters and those who love stitchery and sewing. Quilting Patterns 1 has a variety of patterns that will add beauty and style to your crafting projects. It is available for purchase at MyGrafico. com in my shop.

And my last bit of inspiration for the day is to share this handcrafted gift I made for friends of our family who are big Florida Gator Fans. They suggested I start making these to sell. What do you think?

View 1

View 2

Has an easel back so can be put on table display!

View 3

Shown hanging as artwork on a wall

I hope this kick starts your crafting for the New Year. Happy New Year! May the year ahead be filed with many blessings and hours of fruitful crafting! Remember to always live life creatively!

If you haven't checked out mygrafico.com, make it a point to do so this year. You can click here so they know I referred you! To visit my shop, you can locate me in the pull down menu in the left column under designers. Be sure to check out all the fabulous talent there!

Project 365 Personal Challenge

During one of the segments of our whirlwind trip to Georgia that to truly live life creatively, I needed to do a little experiment. You see, I get such a thrill when I am using my mind creatively. It lifts my spirit, boosts my energy and makes me feel like I can tackle anything. So why not want feel like that all year long? This is why I created my Project 365 Personal Challenge to allow myself to experience a little piece of that in each day of the new year.

Are you maybe thinking of joining in on this challenge? I really hope so! Hang in there with me and let's give this a try. The project doesn't even have to be something big...it can even be a tag or a small element that will later be incorporated into a bigger project. So don't be intimidated!!!

So what exactly does this involve? For me, it will be doing something creative each day, i.e. making a card, gift, scrapbook page, designing a new set or elements of a set — anything other than a customer’s project or work assignment...something that fills my jar back up! Now I know your mind may already have thought of two or three reasons that this isn’t possible to do each and every day, but it is, if you get a little bit creative! You know most of us crafters are night owls, so if you stay up late and get on a roll, you can knock out two projects in one session! Say you’re sick and not feeling up to something big, doodle or write about how you are feeling, crumble up the paper and tack it up as a reminder of how much better you feel the next day. On a family vacation and don't have your computer, drawing or crafting supplies with you? This happened to me on our recent trip. I had all this creative energy and no where to put it...not a notepad or marker to be found in the dark abyss of my purse, so I grabbed one of the magazines I brought along and started doodling in ballpoint pen on the pages. I threw perfection out the window with each bump in the road and I will be turning these creations into a new set or two! Another idea while traveling is to take out your camera and shoot a picture from an interesting perspective or from a view that you don't even see what it is you're photographing, but the color and texture becomes art. You see, it is possible, so come join me as I will post the results of my Project 365 Personal Challenge here on my blog! Comment on my blog and leave me a link back to yours. I would love to see how you live life creatively!