Project 365 Challenge: Day 3/Photography Logo & Album

If you know me you know I am one to never tread lightly into a project. I go in enthusiastically and take on big challenges. Ask my husband about the tile design in the basement of our former house...a weekend do-it-yourself project that I thought may end in divorce. It was our first experience at laying and cutting tile, the room was 14 x 20 something (not a small area) and I designed a border design with inner tile being laid as a diamond pattern. Let's just say I compromised on just having a border which to center in the room was a big enough first time challenge. The end result was gorgeous and after nursing sore backs and achey knees, we decided we would probably hire someone to do it the next time around.

For day three's challenge, I revisited photos that I had taken last year during our visit to Philly in the midst of the big snowstorm of 2009. I had the unique experience to sneak out early in the morning with my camera and photograph many cool snowy scenes. I have been wanting to share these beautiful images with everyone, but needed to do some photo editing. So that is what I did for day 3, however, it evolved into a much bigger project you see. Now I had to design a watermark logo for my photography, resize and watermark all the files! You see the snowball effect of that this gal’s ambition can have!

Unfortunately, I don’t have all the images watermarked, but I do have a logo design I can share. 

I promise to share the album as soon as I have it web-ready! 

I will give you one little sneak peak at what is in the album.

Project 365 Challenge: Day 2/A Card Made with Leftovers

Leftovers are a popular thing around the holidays and for day 2’s project, I got a head start by using some of the squares left over from yesterday’s scrapbook layout. I also used digital leftovers that I set up and printed out previously for the framed verse. The artwork is from my Elegant Color Frames and Elegant Verses 1 sets for sale at mygrafico.com.

I have found it very liberating to not worry about creating projects only with "currently available" products. The flower stamp is an old favorite retired stamp from Stampin’ Up!®, the patterned papers are from Me and My Big Ideas. The buttons are from an old assortment bag from Foof-a-la. The solid papers are from The Paper Co. and the mini adhesive pearls are from Michaels’ Recollections collection. 

For this project I used Extreme adhesive squares from Glue Arts to quickly attach the 1" squares and the mini adhesive squares to attach all the buttons. For all the other layers, I used my trusty Glue Glider™Pro with high tac adhesive. The border accent was created using Martha Stewart’s Scallop Dot border punch punched along the bottom of the ivory frame and for some texture I wrapped some light green Scrappers Floss from Karen Foster Designs into a bow with a tiny button in the center.

Today’s project (Day 3) was a doozey! A huge endeavor I have been wanting to tackle for over a year. Check out the blog tomorrow to see what I have created! Come get inspired to live your life creatively.

Project 365 Challenge: Day 1/A Scrapbook Layout

So day one didn't go exactly how I was thinking. The day sort of slipped away when I slid into my studio after watching a movie with Dan and Ashley. I threw caution to the wind, starting cutting up some leftover papers into 1 inch squares and grabbed a mini pack of tag papers I picked up in the dollar bin at Joann's and started roughing out a scrapbook layout. I flipped through some prints to match up photos to my papers and surprised myself by successfully completing my first project in under 2 hours. I really didn't keep track of time so it may have been closer to an hour and 15! I will tell you what, there is great freedom in taking a carefree, trial and error attitude. I placed the papers in a pattern, then decided I wanted to do a scribble design near the bottom which was a total FAILURE, but I was able to cover it with a photo. So, I encourage trying things and taking risks in the new year cause most of the time there is a creative fix if it doesn't turn out like you were thinking.

Here are some photos of the layout with close up images of the title and embellishments.

I also completed my day 2 project, a card made with some of the leftover squares from the layout. That is another suggestion I have for making the 365 day challenge a little easier...use leftovers from previous days' projects or if you are short on time, just create a small element that can be used on a bigger project later.

After flipping through an old scrapbook with a friend the other day, I realized how way behind I am on my scrapbooking and I will say that day 1 made me very happy giving me a big sense of accomplishment towards one day being all caught up on my scrapbook layouts. LOL, like that day will ever happen. I have creativity dyslexia so I doubt I will ever be truly caught up.

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!

3 Day Christmas Sale begins today!

Wanna fill your stocking with some digital wonderfulness? Check out the 3-day 20% off Christmas sale at http://www.mygrafico.com. Everything is on sale so have fun stuffing your shopping cart!

For some inspiration for making some after the holidays Thank You's, 

here is a hybrid card created with my Elegant Name Plates set, gorgeous papers 

from K&Company along with a butterfly stamp from their Que Sera Sera clear stamp set. 

Designer tip: I printed the plum colored frame with the word thanks typeset in black 

onto a high quality sheet of white Epson paper. Sponged over the frame with ink, spattered 

with teal and purple markers, trimmed around the frame with scissors and layered over 

top of a ribbon. I used Glue Arts high tac adhesive with my Glue Glider Pro for 

assembly and a small strip of ribbon adhesive to attach the body of the 3D butterfly. 

And using my Vintage Pines set along with some artistic papers from Lil Ellaboudy, 

another mygrafico designer, I created this years Christmas card, digitally.

Be sure to add these 2 Brand NEW Released sets to your wish list!

For those of you who love to work in Photoshop with brushes, you will love the Mod Labels 1 set.

And for those of you who want to work with eps, jpeg or png files, try these pre-colorized labels and verses. 72 files in all....what a deal for $5.50. And if you buy during the sale they are even less!

You can use the png files to colorize or editable eps to colorize or even add multiple colors to these designs. Perfect for handmade tags, gift labels...think wine bottles, baked goods, gifts and more!

These can also be used to create monogrammed note cards or embroidered items. Check out this sample using a background border from the Lovey Dovey Brushes set and Mod Color Labels.

Merry, merry Christmas to all! Live Life Creativley in 2011!

3 days to save 30%

Tis the season for shopping...stop by my digi shop at www.mygrafico.com and save 30% off on all items in my shop. So if you missed the sale on the 9th, you have 3 days to make up for it!

Here are some card samples done with some of my collections. Hope it inspires your card making!

Stock up on these news sets- 40% off Holiday Cheer Sale today only!

There is nothing like a good sale to spread some Holiday Cheer!

Check it out on mygrafico.com. It is only one day...40% OFF!

You can save on these three new sets and even get a jump on your Valentine's day designing!

And don't forget these for your Christmas designs!

Here is an example of our digital Christmas card. The photo is from last Christmas 

but the way things are looking we may just have to use this as is. Don't know if we 

will ever coordinate everybody being home and well enough to take a new family photo!

You'll notice I used my Vintage Pines and Stylish Swirls frames sets on this 

with some artistic papers designed by Lil Ellabody.

Velvet Chic Hybrid Card

I made this card for my Aunt Carole, yet another belated Birthday card mailed off! I am hoping that my new 2011 calendar with photos of upcoming birthdays will keep me ahead of things in the new year! LOL, probably just wishful thinking! 

I created this card using velvet embossed paper in black and ivory from Me and My Big Ideas Sassy collection, a pad I have been stashing for a while. I paired it with deep red precut cards that I also had stashed away...are you noticing a trend here? Yes, I am finally using my papers and goodies instead of storing them away for a bigger, better project. Are you guilty of that too? Now don’t be lying, I know most crafters do this. The frame is from my Elegant Frames digi collection for sale at Mygrafico.com and the verse was typeset and colorized  on my computer and printed out with the frame. I added distressed sponging in black and dragging using a black ink pad.

The background ivory textured panel was created using my Sizzix Big Kick with the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls Embossing Template. For added elegance, I folded a wide black satin ribbon between the layers and held the loop in place with an adhesive square. I assembled the card using my Glue Glider™ Pro with extreme adhesive. I found this to be a good choice in cartridges for this project due to the texture of the layers. To finish the card, I added a strip of adhesive pearls on top of the ribbon to make the black pop.

You can use this card design for creating cards for any occasion. This digital frame set is very versatile and always elegant! Don’t know how to use digital art, then use stamps to recreate this project.

Hope today you are living life creatively!

I’m a Repeat All Star - what an honor!

I don’t really like to do horn tooting, but I am pretty excited to be honored for the second year in a row in the January 2011 All Star issue of Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine. This is a favorite magazine of many stampers and scrapbookers for its informative articles and wonderful card samples including instructions.

Here is a peek of a few of my featured project samples. The digital artwork used in these are from mine and Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff shops on MyGrafico.com.

You must pick up a copy and read my article on Stamping Hybridization. Hint: it discusses 5 ways to combine digital techniques with traditional stamping methods. The article will inspire you to take a leap into going a little bit digi!

I will be posting later this week the tutorial on how to create a faux tattoo on a photograph, like the one on this photo greeting card, so be sure and check back!

Enswirled in the pre-holiday hype!

Even though the temps are still in the 80’s I have allowed myself to start getting excited about Christmas. My favorite shopping day of the year is nearing {black Friday} and so I have started designing more holiday digi stamps and artwork. Let yourself get enswirled in the holiday spirit of gift and cardmaking with this newly released set of mine called...

Enswirled Christmas

It contains ready-to use clip art graphics that can dress up a hand made card, digital photo card, calendar, family newsletter or holiday gift. The graphics are provided in large 6" size for scaling smaller in eps, jpeg and png formats. The png files contain white details on the designs with transparent backgrounds. The eps files can be edited for changing color and used for scaling larger in size. Purchase this set at:

http://www.mygrafico.com/illustrations-cliparts/enswirled-christmas/prod_3852.html

A Reminder that No One is Perfect ;)

The other night I was working on a design team project that in my head I had thought out and planned so well, but in reality, I got so absorbed in the creative process and over looked one small detail...that when I took the glass and easel backing out of the frame, I never checked to see that rotating the frame to the left side would make the mounting upside down and the easel stand visible when placed back in...one small detail that I didn't find out until I was finished and ready to photograph my latest masterpiece. So, you know, it was one of those God moments reminding me that no one is perfect so don’t feel too overly proud of your creation. I learned to love and appreciate it, flaws and all and humbly share my mistake with you!

Family Thoughts Collage Photo Frame

This design team project was created using a frame made by Darice which is ready to decorate. 

My favorite feature of this project is the mini shadow box frame on the top right and the little message in the frame on the bottom that reads “you’re never more than a thought away”. I plan to put prints of our two daughters in the frame. I loved how the colors in this Crate Paper Restoration Collection go with our color scheme. And I love the shabby chic, vintage style too! And another new favorite purchase is the infinite loop trim punch from Martha Stewart. I will be creating lots with it for the holidays!!!

For more on this project, check out the post on Glue Arts blog for a supply list and instructions. It also includes the mini tutorial on how to create the mini shadow box frame. Here is a close up view of the shadow box frame and the flowers that I cut out of the slipcover cardstock, wet and manipulated to give them more dimension. I used Glue Arts’ extreme adhesives and U-cut it foam on this project.

My mantra for the day...learn to love your mistakes and embrace your human-ness!

Glue Arts: Collage Frame & Cards Galore

See my family frame project featured on Glue Arts blog today!

Glue Arts: Collage Frame & Cards Galore: "That's just what we have in store for you today!! Crate Paper is in the spotlight this week here on the Glue Arts blog. If you have never u..."