Gift Inspiration for Valentine’s Day

Today, I discovered that one of my old craft creations was featured on tipjunkie.com as an example for a teacher’s gift idea. This made me realize that I should share some of my previous craft projects that are excellent inspiration for handmade Valentine Gifts. Although most of these can be found in my Picasa web galleries, I will save you the time in sorting through all the images...you can do that later by clicking the link above. I hope that these will be a springboard to your own creativity!

 Idea 1: Use items you have to dress up something ordinary!

Skill level: Beginner. 

I used paper flowers, buttons and ribbon to turn this dull storage box into a colorful, gift that my daughter can use to store her hair accessories or casual jewelry. All you need are some great adhesives. My suggestion: Glue Art’s extreme adhesive squares.

Skill level: Beginner.

For this second example, I purchased colorful buttons and used the same adhesive squares to dress up this ordinary lampshade. Note: Until I figured out the exact placement, I used smaller pieces of adhesive on the back of each button. I also layered some of the buttons beforehand for more color and interest.

 Idea 2: Turn an old container (candle jar with lid) into a matching gift set.

Skill level: Advanced; see suggestions for making it a beginner level project.

Using  coordinating papers, stamps and supplies, I created this gift, card & bag matching set by recycling and lidded glass candle jar, covering the sides and lid and trimming with a sweet stamped saying. If you are not good at cutting and stamping use pre-cut elements, stickers, colored chipboard embellishments, silk flowers, ribbons and rhinestones to turn this into a simpler, yet wonderful project.

Idea 3: Personalize a frame and turn it into a piece of art.

Skill level: Beginner-Intermediate

You can see some of the steps for this project in my Glue Arts Project gallery. This same project idea can be done at any skill level based upon the steps you choose to add. 

Skill level: Beginner:

You can start out by simply dressing up a purchased frame (great use for those 40% off coupons at the craft store!) along with some basic embellishments like sequins, adhesive pearls, rhinestones or gems, maybe some silk or paper flowers and some ribbon. You will also require some type of permanent adhesive that is strong enough to stay adhered, yet small enough to use on tiny items such as thin ribbon. For this I, once again, used extreme adhesive squares on the items that did not contain adhesive backing. Create a ribbon with some long tails and attach to one of the top corners and trail the tails around the frame using the small adhesive squares to create a flowy feel. Then dress up with various sizes of adhesive gems or pearls to complete your beginner level gift. The frame is now ready for a photo.

Skill level: Advanced

Now, step it up by creating artwork to go inside your frame or on top of the glass. For this example, I mounted a photo of my girls onto a piece of pink paper trimmed to fit the window of the frame. I used svg diecuts of my Lovey Dovey Brushes set of digital art to cut black vinyl to add to the top of the frame. I used adhesive alphabet letters to add the phrase Oh so tweet tot he glass and filled in the space by adding black sequins with white pearls on top. Now the top art is easy to display and clean.

Skill level: Intermediate

This takes a bit more time and skill, but I used some basic punches to create my own handmade, sugared flower from cardstock, glitter, a paint brush and crystal effects.  To shape the flower and folded the punched floral shape, bent and manipulated it. I used adhesive squares to attach the segments to one another to form the flower, then brushed the crystal effects onto the flower and sprinkled with dazzling diamonds glitter to give it the shimmery look. I paired with other diecut stems. You can achieve a similar look by adding pre-purchased sugared flowers from Prima. I also added a vinyl diecut heart layered onto pink cardstock on top of the ribbon. For this, you can substitute a sticker or chipboard element.

Idea 4: Transform a heart shaped craft box into a 3D display for the love of your life. 

Skill level: Advanced to Intermediate

This project started with the purchase of a kraft heart shaped box with a lid and evolved into a mini 3-D display featuring a foam core photo cut out, diecuts, trim and other embellishments. This makes a nice shelf display and also works well as an anniversary gift, especially for a special anniversary. The measuring, gluing and cutting make this a more advanced undertaking.

Idea 5: Create a relationship keepsake box. 

Skill level: Advanced

When I spotted this kraft box with a two-piece framed lid, I knew it would be fun to turn into a shadow box keepsake gift for my daughter to keep all the mementos of her high school relationship. Purchasing a themed scrapbook collection makes this project much easier due to all the great coordinating papers and embellishments that there are to use. The square lid insert became my main canvas. Tip: you may want to dray a light pencil line around the window opening of the outer lid on top of the square so you will know what are is visible once assembled. Decorate away with elements. You can even add in personal items such as ticket stubs, photo booth strips, etc. This idea can also be used as a birthday idea featuring the person's special interest i.e. a sport they play, activity i.e. theatre or dance, or a hobby they enjoy.

This sits on Kylie's shelf as room decor and a place to store notes, photos and other mementos.

Idea 6: Create a scrapbook page featuring the things or people that you love.

Skill level: Beginner-Intermediate

Beginner to Intermediate scrapbookers of all levels can create a page related to love: people they love, things they love or stories about being in love. These layouts can be framed in a 12 x 12 frame as a gift, mounted onto foam board to lean against something or given with a long piece of ribbon, some push pins and two spring-hinged clothes pins to hang on a ribbon banner on a wall.

Idea 7: Purchase a mini scrapbook album kit and 

personalize with photos, journaling & embellishements.

Skill level: Beginner-Intermediate

Even advanced crafters can make the best out of pre-made kits. As a beginner, you can simply assemble per the kit contents and instructions, or you can deviate by adding your creativity and own items to turn into a more advance project design. This was a small gift album I made for my mother, shown with photos of my sister and niece. Each page had some sweet photos that I knew she would enjoy. The finished album is pretty enough to leave out on a table top on display, and always close by to thumb through and experience a bit of family love.

Idea 8: Recycle packaging into a wonderful treat box.

Skill level: Beginner

I just love when I can recycle or repurpose things I have into wonderful gifts for friends and loved ones. This treat container was created for my niece from the empty packaging from my Glue Arts adhesive cartridges. I washed, dried then decorated it with stickers, gems and a tag. I used silk flower petals, trim and a button to make my own decorative flower. The epoxy sprinkles added a fun "sweet" element to this treat container which I filled with candies. This also makes a regiftable container for the recipient to pass along the love.

Idea 9: Cover simple boxes with stamped or diecut designs to make lovely gift boxes.

Skill level: Beginner-Advanced

As you can see, I love working with small boxes. We all have them and they come in so many fun shapes and sizes. Covering them with paint, papers, fabric, ribbons, trims and embellishments makes them that much more enjoyable to receive. Fill them with covered candies, add tissue and cookies, bath salts, packages of tea bags, cocoa, or use as an elegant way to give jewelry as a gift.

Idea 10: Dress up a store purchase.

Skill level: Beginner-Advanced

Embossing is a very elegant, yet simple crafting technique that always looks so impressive. It requires a stamp, either pigment or embossing ink pad, a heat tool and some scrap paper to recycle the unused embossing powder back into the container. For the candle wrappers, I used white embossing powder with a flourish and a heart stamp. You can take this simple candle wrapper idea to the next level and turn this into a romantic tabletop display by decorating a vase and creating a Valentine pick to put inside the vase. Ribbons, gems, floral picks, flowers, photos, etc. can be added to customize each item.

I hope that these ten Valentine Gift making ideas help you to 

Clean House = Creativity Interupted

When I saw this post on Facebook about housecleaning, I knew I would have to blog about it at some time or another. You see, housecleaning is one of my least favorite things in life to do. I joke that I am allergic to it, but seriously in some ways I am...well, at least to the cleaning products. The only other things I dislike more are prepping taxes and the length of time it takes to get hair color and highlights! O.K., enough dreariness for the day.

You have to admit there is a certain amount of truth to this statement. Anyone who relies on their computer for work feels at a total loss when things aren't working right. Just the other night my husband booked a hotel which turned out to be a time share with no internet. He woke up at 6:00 to go to a coffee shop just so he could check countless emails that would have taken forever on his phone. For me and the world of creativity, I can get lost in the creative process. I would feel at a real disadvantage not to have use of my scanner or computer. I still have my sketch pad and laptop to fall back on, but the day my house looks like a museum means I have quit being creative.

On the creative front, I have a set of digital Valentines called Owlentines. Yes, I have admittedly become obsessed with Owls. That is my college girl's school mascot and I hadn't designed anything with owls up until now. My 3 latest sets can be found on Mygrafico...What A Hoot, Owl Love U 4ever and my soon to release Owlentines set. Locate my shop under the designers pull down menu > Cheri Wenger :D.

These are my three favorites from that set. One is a photo Valentine that you can use, the other two are single panel printable or emailable cards. Here is a peek at those:

On another creative front, I had the opportunity to do an impromptu photo shoot of our 16 yr. old daughter, Kylie. She looked so adorable in her scarf and the jean jacket she borrowed from her sister's closet. I would say shhh, but she saw the photos on facebook and busted Kylie 6 seconds after I posted. She just doesn't like to share her possessions, LOL! My lifestyle photographs are taken with available lighting. This session had me dodging the sun’s brightness as it crept in and out of the clouds.

Photo Tip for the day: Did you know that the best times for shooting photos are when the sun is low in the sky? That means early morning hours or right before sunset. The warm glow the sun gives photos at these hours is magical. But when the sun is shining bright, tuck around a shaded corner that still has some bright light to get that warmth you are looking for with out the shadows. You can also set your SLR camera's fill flash to a low setting to counter those shadows when shooting in sunlight.

Here are my favorites from that photo shoot using a vintage effect on the photos.

Today, I regret to say that I am doing more housework than I care to be doing, but I will get it out of the way so I can get back to creating, illustrating, photographing, and just plain living life creatively!

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.

Big Mouthed Valentine Cards - nothing says LOVE any better!

I have been really busy making up some samples from one of my newest sets: Big Mouth Valentines Digi Stamps. The monkey, lion and bird in this set all have a perfect heart shape in their mouthes...so very fun to create with! You can hand color the heart, print it on patterned cardstock and layer, glitter it, emboss it, and add shine with crystal effects. And these are perfect to use for whimsical anniversary cards or expressions of love.

I will be posting a tutorial on how to get started using digi stamps where I will share with you a sample sheet showing how I set up pages for printing and cutting that can be used over and over again. So check back to my blog later for that lesson!

This is a preview of the set showing all the verses and images that come with it. It contains the artwork in jpeg, eps and png file formats which you can place into Word documents to print out or edit in your graphics and photo editing software. Digi stamps are super easy to just printout and hand color...my favorite way to use them on projects, but there are many more ways to use them creatively so don't let that limit you.

Today, I will post a few of the Valentine Cards, but you can view more of these in the MyGrafico gallery or in my Picasa Hybrid cards gallery. There are also links to the sets underneath each image.

Lion Happy Valentine's Day Card

created with Big Mouth Valentines digi stamps

http://www.mygrafico.com/digital-stamps/big-mouth-valentines-ds/prod_6452.html and http://www.mygrafico.com/digi-tools/digital-doilies-1/prod_4219.html

Lion Square Wavy Striped Valentine's Card

Cards come in all shapes and sizes. For this one, I made it 5" x 5" square. It features the lion digi stamp from my Big Mouth Valentines Digi Stamp set: http://www.mygrafico.com/digital-stamps/big-mouth-valentines-ds/prod_6452.html 

The inside features one of the digi verses with some red glitter inside of the heart.

Bird Love You Lots Tweety Card

This card of softly layered colors with a brightly colored digi stamp makes an adorable Valentine or Anniversary card. I created it with the bird digi stamp image from my Big Mouth Valentines digi stamps set:

http://www.mygrafico.com/digital-stamps/big-mouth-valentines-ds/prod_6452.html 

A layered digi verse was used on the inside to make this into a Valentine's Card, but

this same card design could be used for anniversary or just an note of love & encouragment.

Monkey Wanna Monkey Around Card

Love this color combination I used to create this whimsical valentine card. It uses the monkey digi stamp from my Big Mouth Valentines digi stamp set.

http://www.mygrafico.com/digital-stamps/big-mouth-valentines-ds/prod_6452.html

Cardstock is from Bohemia collection, The Little Moments Dots and Doodlebug designs striped paper. Lavender and turquoise solid linen papers are from Recollections.

Bird Pucker Up Tweetheart Card

created with Big Mouth Valentines digi stamps

http://www.mygrafico.com/digital-stamps/big-mouth-valentines-ds/prod_6452.html

Again, to turn this one into a Valentine's card, a layered verse was added to the inside.

Melissa's Big Birthday Giveway!

In honor of my friend's 40th, she has an amazing giveaway on her blog. You can check it out here along with the details. One request is that you promote it on her blog or tell how you will talk it up online if you don't have a blog of your own. Another is to tell about your favorite birthday gift in the comments section...what a fun way to reminisce about a favorite birthday of the past. Thanks for the flashback, Melissa!

Wanna know how I spent my 40th Birthday?
Fleeing hurricane Francis....9hrs. to get to Savannah...not exactly what I had in mind. The upside? When we continued on to Cumming, GA where my sister-in-law and brother-in-law live, we got to visit with our old friends and neighbors in Sugar Hill. So I got to spend it celebrating with special people after all, just not the way I thought it would turn out. Anyway, nothing could top my 30th surprise party. My DH took me to dinner with my parents, then had all the neighbors waiting poolside at a catered party on the deck when we returned from dinner and drove up to the pool. Even bigger surprise was walking down the stairs to the pool seeing my Confirmation picture (with white robe and little red beenie hat) blown up to poster size and signed by all in attendance. Needless to say, I ran back up the stairs in horror. Turned out to be a very fun night and I also found out that I was expecting our 2nd child. So I couldn't celebrate the way everyone was intending for me to, but had a real blast chatting and doing karaoke with our friends!

Do you have a favorite birthday memory to share? Tell me about it in the comments section.

Tomorrow I will post a photo of my favorite birthday gift! Until then...

The Flight Continues

I really find it interesting knowing the story behind projects. Inspiration comes from many sources: our surroundings, personal experiences, favorite colors, images or designs, and even favorite products. These are but a few of the many things that can inspire a project. This card creation was designed to thank so many people who thoughtfully and generously reached out to our family during the loss of my mother-in-law, Jackie.

Mom’s favorite color was cobalt blue, but she just loved blue in general, so that is what I made it the main color used on this thank you note. I wanted to include some symbolism of her transition from her life here to a life in heaven. I believe this montage of butterflies does just that.

Supplies: (Stampin’ Up!®) Asstd. Blue Cardstock; Sizzlits Beautiful Wings Die; Thanks So Much verse; Finial Press Texture Embossing Plate; (Offray) Blue Satin ribbon; (Glue Arts) Extreme Adhesive Squares and Glue Glider™ Pro with high tac adhesive cartridge.

Butterflies also are a visual symbol for me of the life/death/after life transition since my uncle’s death in 2000. I would often get butterfly visits on my walks and have many other tales of this connection, too. Using a monochromatic color palette (different shades of the same color) creates a very elegant look that you can use in all your card designs. The cascading size of the butterflies adds movement and interest. This also serves to remind us that even though a loved one’s presence fades, the memories remain even though their flight continues.

I wanted to share another butterfly card created by fellow card designer, Diane Bove. She created these 3-D butterflies using a brush from my Stylish Butterflies set combined with patterned background.

Here is a preview of that set art which contains, editable eps, jpeg, png and abr (brush files).

The set contains 3 butterflies: one solid, one with transparent swirls to use over color or patterned backgrounds digitally and one butterfly with white swirls. If you use the photoshop brush file you can change the black to a color or patterned background. I will be creating some tutorials to show you how you can use digital brushes and png art in Photoshop. So check back to my blog for updates!

Let your creativity take flight with using a butterfly on your next card creation.

Color Focus for 2012

Part of Living Life Creatively means that I like to try new things for inspiration and tackle new design challenges. This year I have decided to create a single color palette from which I will create all of my colored clip art designs...or at least I will attempt not to break my own rules! ;)

My focus this year is on color combinations. Part of this means that I will share favorite color combinations for you to try out in your design projects. Some of these may be outside of my own 2012 color palette, but nonetheless, nice combinations for color inspiration for crafting, fashion and home decor.

With Valentine's day around the corner, my first color group is titled the Romance color palette. Can't wait to see what you create with this color group. Email me at artz1@cfl.rr.com with your photos and I will share them here, or leave me a comment with a link to your blog post. Happy creating! 

Oh, and I have tweeked the design for my tag line. I will share a peek at that below.

I have lots of new plans in store as I am tackling working on two websites...

one for my overall design work and one for my photography.

Both are still in the baby stage of preliminary designs.

It will be so fulfilling to be able to tie together all of the ways that I

Another New Set that is Just toooo Tweet to miss!

I am super excited about all the new digi stamp sets I have in the works. They are filled with whimsical images that are perfect for Valentine’s Day, yet perfect for year round uses for other occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, get well cheer, friendship and love!

Let me know what you think of my latest release, Ain’t Love Tweet! It includes mini birds that you can pair up, add to svg diecuts, combine on digital cards, print and layer and even print on patterned papers and layer for fun, colorful card designs and layouts. I would love to see what you create with these. My mind is certainly coming up with plenty of ideas. If I only had more hours in the day to create life would be perfect! 

Added bonus: this comes with a free set of .abr digital brushes and is on sale until Saturday! Hurry and buy it today!

A Sale that's oh so tweet!

Today I have three tweet things to share with you...the details of my 4 day sale, a new set to reveal and a hybrid birthday card for your crafting inspiration. If you have some craft or design projects to create, now is the time to stock up on some of my digital designs while they are 30% off!

This is also the perfect time to get started making those Valentine’s cards and I have just the set to get you started. It is my latest release called Big Mouth Valentines. This is just the first of a couple Valentine sets that I am working on. Let me know what you think of it!

It retails for $4, but is also on sale in my shop at MyGrafico. You can layer the art over digitally colored and patterned papers for scrapbooking, print the b&w designs out and hand color to create fun cards or valentines. The bird, monkey and lion have hearts in their mouths which can be fun to add flocking, glitter and shine to! I hope to make up some samples soon and post here on my blog.

Here is a hybrid card created using color clip art from my Cuppy Cakes build-your-own set. It is a birthday card I made for my dad. 

 I am also including this photo of the inside of it where I also used clip art to dress it up! This is a perfect set to have for making cards for just about any occasion.

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!

Put the Ho Ho into your Holiday!

If you want to put some excitement into the Christmas season, check out my talented friend, Melissa Bove’s blog for a chance to win a great prize pack. Just follow the rules for your chance to win!

Here's a little teaser...want to win a $150 Michael's gift card, some copic markers and more goodies?
Check it out and put the ho ho into your holiday season!

What do Christmas, a reindeer, surfing & a mermaid have in common?

The answer is my Holideer Surfer digi stamp! Here are a few creations made using printed and handcolored images of this beachy themed Christmas digital stamp...

An oversized card

(handcolored with markers and blender pen/layored on embossed CS)

A cheery standard greeting card

(handcolored with markers/color blocking with patterned paper substituted

and a decorative border strip added to uneven fold)

A fun gift certificate/special note or gift card holder

(I used metallic gel pens on this one!)

Want to know one huge plus of working with digital stamps?

You can have it at exactly the right size needed...all you have to do is scale it and print it, then combine it with a custom verse you set up on your computer. Now that brings holiday cheer to crafting!