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.

Project 365/ Days 58 to 67 -Nine Days of Creativity

When I started this challenge, I knew that being creative daily would not be the biggest part of the challenge. Photographing, formatting and posting the results is far more time consuming. So pardon me for not sharing these past 10 days of creativity sooner. Catching you up on inspiration...

Day 58 - Heart Sketch

Many digi stamps and art start out as a pen or pencil sketch that leads to something more. Who knows where this idea will go. Possibly a digi stamp or a paper design. You will have to check back to see!

Day 59- Family Tree Layout

Here is a digital layout created using some of my digi designs: The Loving Tree and Swirly QZ’s sets. Now I just have to round up my crew...along with the dog & hamster to take photos for the photo frames! With everyone’s schedules on the go, go, go, this is a task easier said than done. I may have to search through some candid photos to use them instead of posed ones. Oh, and then I will add the journaling.

Day 60 - Treasured Friend Card

Sometimes inspiration comes from a stashed stamped verse or a paper scrap. For this card, it was a little of both. I love the colors and designs in this scrap of cardstock from Crate Paper’s Restorations collection. I pulled from other paper and supply scraps to create this friendship card. To add a fun border to the top edge, I used a pencil eraser dipped into River Rock ink to make the dots, then added white dots in the center using a gel pen. For texture, I used floss in the buttons and to add blue to the top bow.

Day 61 - Cinnamon Twist Floral Card

For my Mother-in-law’s birthday, I combined embossing, a metallic colored ribbon, a collage of my Mod Twist Garden digi stamps with a strip of Bo Bunny Olivia Stripe cardstock mounted on burgandy cardstock to make her card. The colors in the stripes were incorporated in the hand coloring of the flowers to tie everything together. Try this idea on the next card you make using a digi stamp image.

Day 62 - Border Wow Collection

Some days I spend creating tangible projects like home crafts, scrapbook pages or cards. Other days, like this, are spent finalizing new sets for my shop at www.mygrafico.com. If you love using borders on projects, you are gonna love playing with the brush & svg files in this collection.

                               

Day 63 - Belated Birthday Card

When it comes to being behind on cards, what image is more perfect than a cute little turtle?

This clear digi stamp and verse are from Inkadinkado. The striped border strip is from Cosmo Crickets DeLovely collection. Stamp a belated birthday card this week...it is a great thing to have in your card stash for that birthday that just got away from you!

Day 64 - A Mother’s Love Card

When it is the end of the day and I haven’t finished my project for the day, I love it when I can create something lovely in minutes. That was the case for this card creation. I paired a cut out from Bo Bunny’s Olivia collection with a coordinating sticker, some U-Cut-It foam adhesive from Glue arts and a pretty brown ribbon recycled from a gift I received. Design Tip: Store ribbon scraps in a decorative glass jar to add a splash of color to your space and have instant accents available to dress up craft projects!

Another fun technique used on this card is using the scoring blade on your paper trimmer to add lines to your card front. This adds texture and interest without being a visual distraction.

Day 65 - Lovin’ Da Shamrocks Collection

This girl is anything but Irish (all Polish, in fact!), but who doesn’t like a cute shamrock? This set of clip art shamrocks comes in 4 different colors, 144 files in all: jpeg, png and scaleable eps files that will have you “lovin’ da shamrocks!” Perfect for your St. Patrick’s Day Creations...

Day 66 - Girly Fluffy Bunny Sketch

I am really getting into the spring state of mind so why not sketch a fun, fluffy girl bunny?

If you recall, I did some other bunny sketches earlier. Could this be a new set in the making?!!!

Day 67 - Flower Sketches

And what else says spring, but flowers! I am really into the sketch mode, can you tell?

I would love to hear what you think of all these new illustrations.

Project 365 Challenge/Days 45-47 Photos & Flowery Sympathy

Some more daily doses of inspiration... I am getting caught up on photographing and posting some of my daily project challenges. Day 45 was a struggle in trying to get good digital photos at a volleyball tournament with very low lighting and no tripod or use of my flash. I just eye spied in a magazine a new gizmo...a tripod that fits onto a water bottle. That may just be an investment for an upcoming tournament. So, as it sometimes goes...you take a whole lotta shots just to get a couple good ones. In this case, this was my only real favorite from the bunch...of one of my daughter's friends (aka, one of my adopted daughters) right before she was ready to serve.

Day 46 - Flowery Sympathy Card

It is funny  how in life God brings you different people and different experiences that forever change your life. We have been going to the same Life Teen mass for several years and have shared the same pew with this sweet elderly couple. As time passed we got to know them a little better. Ginny was suffering for throat cancer and has been gradually losing her battle for the past year. They are a couple who remind Dan and I of one another in height and stature. Walter is real tall and slim and Virginia is short like me and petite. They don’t have any children or local family so we bring them soup and other meals when I make them up. We also invited them for Christmas dinner, but they both came down sick and weren't able to attend. Well sadly, the day after Valentine’s Day, Ginny slipped away from Walter’s caring hands in to those of the Lord. Our hearts are saddened however we know she is at peace now. I made this card to send to Walter to let him know that we are here for him and our friendship will continue. Her services are being held in Indiana so we have no way to formally say our goodbyes. Making this card with Ginny in mind made me feel just a little better, as creating always does!

inside view...

Day 47/ Sweet Floral Sympathy

It seems that death comes in pairs or trios. Just as I finished making one sympathy card, I found the need to make one to comfort another friend who was dealing with the surprising loss of her stepdad, Jim. 

I really liked the color combinations I used on the other card, so I introduced a deeper linen CS with embossing to make this card for her. Check out my Picasa gallery for supplies.

inside view...

Although I don't have formal sketches for these cards, you can use these basic layouts 

mixed with your favorite ribbons, CS, papers, stamps and embellishments to create

lots and lots of cards for any occasion. Hope this weekend, you live life creatively!

Project 365 Challenge/Days 37 - 39 A Whole Lotta Lovin’

Day 37—Love Birds Pink Dot Card

I recently shared with you one of my new digi  sets, The Loving Tree Collection.

 I used that set and Adobe Photoshop to create this digital card. 

Here is a preview of that set:

Day 38 — A Little Love Digi Card Freebie

Just in time for Valentine's Day this next digi card can be downloaded at:

http://www.mygrafico.com/freebies/a-little-love-square-card-freebie/prod_4426.html

Day 39 — Repurposed Packaging made into this Sweet Valentine’s Container 

featuring Glue Arts Adhesives, May Arts Ribbons and Little Yellow Bicycle collection.
Keep an eye on Glue Arts’ blog for complete list of supplies and instructions for this
eco-friendly, easy-to-make project idea.

Project 365/ Day 26 - Oh So Tweet Frame

Day 26  was spent working on my Frame Project for Glue Arts Design team utilizing their Accent-It-All vinyl with one of my digi collections, Lovey Dovey, that contains some bonus svg files. For those of you who don't know what an svg file is, it is a file format used with plotters and digital diecutting machines  such as Cricut, Silhouette, etc. You can use software that is meant for your cutter to scale, cut or print svg files for use on assorted projects. SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot is a very popular one used with the Cricut).

Here are some photos of the frame project. For a list of the supplies I used on this and complete step-by-step instructions, you can go to Glue Art's blog post. The one thing on this project that I really enjoyed was creating the sugared flower. I made it from punched cardstock using a flower punch from Marvy. This technique was inspired by flowers I created with a friend using a technique she showed me with Stampin’ Up’s five petal flower punch. I applied the same steps and adding a few ideas of my own. Try it out...perfect for a Valentine's gift or card!

Here you can see how I used scrap vinyl to add the Crystal Effects to the flower with a small paint brush. This is step one of the sugaring process.

I held the flower in my hands while brushing on the clear laquer, then I lightly sprinkled iridescent glitter on top to make it look sugary and sparkly.

This photo shows the finished flower attached to the frame.