Week 14: Day 4&5 Freebie Card

I am definitely off on my days & weeks, but I will continue along until I have 52 complete weeks of the blog...a year of blogging.  Then I'll probably be crazy enough to do it again, and try to be more consistent.  You never know where life will take you, huh?

So this week I have a card designed on the abstract design and dark color palette.  Enjoy!

Download  Link

Week 13: Days 6 - Freebie Card

It's Freebie Card day!

The Result:
Based on my sketches of Sand Dollars, I created this card.

Link to download your card!

The Process:

The first step of the card today was taking my scanned image into Illustrator (top), then using the Live Trace tool, I created a vector image (bottom).  After creating the vector image, I copied and pasted it into Photoshop.  

From a sketch to a vector image.

Once in Photoshop, I added color, duplicated and manipulated the layers, applied transparencies and effects, to achieve the final image:

The final image.

Enjoy!  Next week: Graphic Interpretations.

Week 12, Day 5: Freebie Card

It's back!!  It's freebie card day! And there are 3 different designs.

The first 2 are based on color scheme and patterns I have been creating this week.  The final card is a special request for my girl.  KK wanted me to change the colors around a bit....so you may want to get your sunglasses out!

Card 1 – Download Link

Card 2 – Download Link

KK's Card – Download Link

So which one do you like best?

Week 10, Day 6: Freebie Card

The week 10 Card is done and I realized that I missed a day this week.  Not sure where or when, I thought I had posted everyday.  I loved the images from yesterday where I manipulated layer filters in Photoshop to create a different look for the black dogwood graphic I created.  I took my favorite image and applied different filters to change only the color.  Depending on which filter I used depended on what part of the image was changed.  Some of the filters used were hue/saturation, channel mixer, levels, curves and selective color.

The Final Image:

The final image,
a collage of different colored blossoms.

The Freebie Card:

The download link.

So what do you think?  I'd love to hear what you think about the blog, get suggestions for future inspiration, how you've used the cards or if you've gotten comments on them.

Week 9, Day 6: Freebie Card

It's a Freebie Card day!  Since I have been so busy with freelance work (it's a good thing!) and a weekend of Girl Scouting, I decided to use my drawing this week of St. Basil's for my Freebie Card.  I hope you enjoy it!

The Download Link

Since I didn't get to create my polymer clay version of St. Basil's, I'll have to add that to the agenda for my 2012 Blog Focus.

Week 7: Freebie Card

This Week's Freebie Card:

The Download Link

The Story Behind the Card:
I've been bummin' a little today.  I wanted to a card design today that was a combined effort of my son S, who was my inspiration this week, and myself.  But in his typical 14 year old attitude, he didn't feel like helping his mother out today.

So now I've got to go with Plan B.  Plan B??  I don't have a plan B....time to get thinking!

Have you noticed that I say "So..." a lot?  That something I've noticed from reading back through my blog. And I keep typing it and erasing it because now I've noticed it and it's really annoying!

Plan B...
I found this photo of S from our vacation last year.  We were at the beach (duh) and not long after the picture, it started to pour!  Have you ever been caught in the rain at the beach?  It's cold and it stings.  It was one of the few pictures I have of S.  He's been a little photo shy lately.

Then I played with the image in photoshop and created some new layers and used some of the effects I learned from Thursday's post.

First I added a few rain drops in the foreground.

Then I added background rain.

For the final image, I play a little with the Color Balance tool.  It added a cooler/bluer tone to the photo.  I like how that brightened the photo up, but still has a feeling of rain.

Next Week....who knows?

Week 5, Day 6: Freebie Friday Card

Freebie Friday, Saturday, OK, FREEBIE SUNDAY.  I've been working on the card this afternoon.  This week's card is a typography design of my favorite quote.  Enjoy!

The Image:

 

The Card:

The Download Link

The original greyscale image was created in Adobe Illustrator, and then I took it into Adobe Photoshop to add the effects and finish it up.  I can't say exactly how long it took me because I tend to work on it for a little while, put it down, and then come back and work on it again.  I was finished with it about 5 times before I was decided to say....Done, Really!

Thanks to arbent.net for the freebie background downloads!

Week 4, Day 6: Freebie Friday, Part 2

It's Freebie Friday Saturday and I have to say I really enjoyed creating this art today.  I used Adobe Illustrator and found some tools that I had never used, and tried them out.  I learned so many new tricks and processes...see, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

This week I made 2 cards.  One card has "HaitiMedicalMission.org" as part of the art. I would love if you use this one to send to friends.  Let's spread the word about the wonderful work that they do for the Haitian people. If you are interested in learning more about them,to see photos of their trips, the surgeries they perform visit their website.

Haiti Tap-tap inspired card art for
HaitiMedicalMission.org

Click to go to the download link for this card.

The other card is all art, with the Haiti Medical Mission.org information on the back of the card.

Haiti Tap-tap inspired card art

Click to go to the download link for this file.

I hope you enjoy!

Week 3, Day 6: Freebie Friday

For the card today, I took the graphic pattern from yesterday and added a little something to create a little pop to the card.

Click here to go to the download page to get your card!

Here's a are the 2 images for comparison....

original graphic pattern

revised graphic pattern

 ....can you spot the difference between them?

Tomorrow: Weekly Wrap Up!

Week 2, Day 7: It's a Wrap

This has been a good week.  I am really enjoying the process, but I've continued to have challenges finding time to complete the projects every day.  They are taking more time than I anticipated -- I attribute that to my perfectionism and wanting everything to be perfect.  I am trying to let go of that, so we'll see if I can do better in the coming weeks.

Part of the challenge that Donna and I talked about was getting something posted everyday.  This past week I have failed.  My schedule this week is not as busy, so I hope to stay on track.  What do you do to work things in when your schedule is full?

Sunday: Inspiration Photo January 30, 2011

Inspiration Photo:
Iron Fleur De Lis

The week started with a trip down memory lane.  I chose a photo from my vacation in New Orleans for my High School Reunion. I chose my inspiration photo for the architectural details, not the quality of the photo.

Sketching Monday

Sketch: Architectural Elements

On Monday I focused on sketching the architectural elements. Since this photo was not the best, it was a bit of a challenge this week.

Creative Tuesday: Part 1 & Part 2

Watercolor Painting

Tuesday is about creating in a different medium or format. I chose one of my old favorites, watercolor painting.  It's been many, many years since I have actually painted so it was fun.  The hard part was not being able to control the image like I used to.  I spent way too much time doing this one, but I really had a bunch of fun with the paints.

Colorful Wednesday

Neon Glow Filter

On Wednesday, I played with different filters in Photoshop. 

Graphic Thursday: Part 1 & Part 2

Graphic Image

Thursday was a bit of a challenge finding time.  I had some freelance work, doctors appointments, and kids functions, so I actually posted the a graphic image of a Fleur De Lis on Friday. I tried a couple of different shading styles in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Freebie Friday

Fractal Image

Friday I actually caught up with Thursday's challenge.  I learned a new process in Photoshop called Fractal design.  I used my Fleur De Lis to create a Mardi Gras Card for anyone to download.

I also sent a shout-out to my friend JoLene on World Cancer Day.  She is in the process of kicking some cancer-butt and just finished the second step of her treatment. She lives on the other side of the country so I don't get to see her enough!

If you want to take this challenge with me, or even just parts of the challenge, please post your photos to the Visual Tapestry: Creative Journey group on Flickr.  I love to see what you do!

Two weeks down, fifty left.  What do you think?  Have you been inspired to find your creative side?

Week 2, Day 6: A Freebie Fleur-De-Lis Card

For my card today, I decided to use the Fleur-de-lis in a fractal design.  And to celebrate Mardi Gras, I colored the  This is a new "trick" I learned from an online tutorial at 10Steps.sg.

A great way to learn new tricks is to go to the web and do a search for tutorial on the program you are using.  In this case, I got the recommendation for this tutorial from a fellow tweeter.

The Final Card:
The card is available to download.

Card Image

Card File
Click here to go to the download page

The Process:
Since the tutorial I used is copyrighted, you will have to go to 10Steps.sg if you want to learn how to make a fractal design.  This image was my starting point.  From there, I followed the steps in the tutorial.