Week 14: Day 6, It's a Wrap!

Well, I have completed 15 weeks of blogging in just 6 months...not quite what I had planned, but I am determined to complete 52 weeks.

After a hiatus, I started back with Week 12 and a new format to help me be more consistent since I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl. It's tough to be constrained by a schedule and routine. When I have someone else to hold me accountable, I am much better at keeping a schedule. But as you can see, when that person is me, I'm not so great at it.  Anyway, I used to check every day to see how many people have downloaded my cards.  I actually haven't done it in a while, so I thought I would look and share with you.  It makes me proud!  WOW! so far there have been 533 downloads of the cards.  The most popular is the Week 3 card with 113 downloads:

Download Card

 

OK fans, I want to know!  What you are doing with the cards? Are you sending them, downloading or printing them?  Which one is your favorite?  Is there anything you would like to see me do, or do differently?  Do you have an inspiration photo you would like to send me? I would love to hear from you!

Coming Soon:  
My friend JoLene and I have been friends since high school.  We were roomies at Arizona State University, and she was one of my brides maids.  Even though we are on different coasts (she's in California), we have been able to maintain our friendship through the years.  She does needlepoint and loves my blog....thanks CB!  She has been on a leave of absence from work while battling breast cancer over the past 9 months. She doesn't have the energy that she used to have, she does have time to work on her needlepoint projects.

She proposed to me that we work on a project together. She is picking out the needlepoint piece....I have no idea what she will choose and although I trust her, I am a little nervous. She is going to complete the project, and send me pictures (she's out in California).  Then I am going to use her work as an inspiration piece. It may take a while, but you will see it before week 52. I am so excited! I can't wait to work with her.

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: It's a Wrap

It's the end of week 12.  Three whole months of blogging (minus a couple of weeks in the middle). With the changes in format, I have found the joy in my creativity without the stress of feeling like I bit off more than I could chew. In addition to getting through the week, I added 3 cards to the collection.  Are you inspired too?

Inspiration Photo

Random Thoughts and Ideations

Color Palette

Color Palette

Patterns - Circular

Circle Patterns

Patterns - Geometric

Geometric Patterns

Freebie Cards

Freebie Cards

Next week: Sketches, Doodles & Art

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 7: It's a Wrap

Trauma after posting yesterday:
Yesterday after I posted the freebie card my computer quit working. It went black, wouldn't shut down, wouldn't restart, sounded like it would go on, but never made that beautiful sound a mac makes when it starts.  I was freaking out!  It put me in the depths of despair ...it's not a good feeling.

As a freelance graphic designer, blogger, photo-editor, website builder (trying), email-aholic, fb-aholic and tweeter I felt as if a part of me died.  How was I going to recover?  What if I had to buy a new computer...could I even afford it? What about the projects I'm working on, can I recover them from the Time Capsule? 

It might sound dramatic, but it's my bread and butter and if it doesn't work, I'm in trouble!

After several futile attempts to restart it, I went on my son's computer and booked an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for late this afternoon. I also did some searching for troubleshooting...I got some info, but got frustrated with the slowness of his computer and gave up and went to bed.

Today after I got home from being out and about, it started back up....never did that startup chime sound so wonderful!!!  Now I did the research to troubleshoot the problem.  Evidently I had to reset my System Management Controller...a very simple process, and now it is working fine.  R E L I E F!

So, now for the Week 10 review:
Every week I marvel at how far I've come from the beginning. Committing to this blog and finding regular time for myself has made a big difference in many ways.  D says I am different.  I guess what I am trying to relate to you is that everyone needs to take some alone time for themselves. It doesn't matter if you are reading, meditating, creating, enjoying nature, exercising, just do something for yourself!

Day 1: Inspiration - Dogwoods in Bloom

Day 2: More Photos and Sketches

Day 3: Going Graphic

Day 4: Adding Color and Patterns













Day 5: (ah haaaa, the missing day!)

Day 6: Freebie Card




















Until tomorrow.....

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: It's a Wrap

This week just flew by. Is it the time change? or just having so much going on right now?

Blog Tid Bits:
I committed to doing this for one year or 52 weeks, so far I have been actively working on it for 9 weeks. This is my personal journey, just for fun and growth both personally and as a graphic designer. During the first 9 weeks, this is what has happened blogwise:

• I have designed 8 freebie cards, free for download
• So far, there have been over 236 downloads of those cards
• The most popular card is from Week 3: Polymer Clay Patterns
• The most viewed post was from Week 3, Day 3, Playing Clay
• The second most viewed post was Week 7, Day 1: Inspiration, My Son
• There have been a total of 1,619 views of the blog
• The blog has been viewed on every continent
• People in 13 different countries have viewed the blog

I am so inspired by this!  Thank you everyone for sharing my journey with me.

If you have used any of the Freebie Cards, I'd love to hear how or what you used them for or any feedback you have about the blog.

Until next week....or tomorrow!

Week 3, Day 3: Playing Clay

Week 7: Inspiration,  My Son

My son's art

My son's art

My son

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: It's a Wrap

I can't believe it's been 7 weeks already.  This blog and the creative process has become such a regular part of my life, that it is a joy to do it every day.  But, somehow this week I have lost a day, not just an hour!  And since I find it easier time-wise to keep the schedule this way, I'm officially changing my days around.  My weekly schedule will now follow this format:  Monday - Inspiration; Tuesday - Sketching; Wednesday - Creative Representation; Thursday - Color or Application Exploration; Friday - Graphic Image; Saturday - Freebie Card; Sunday Weekly Wrap.  I hope you don't mind the change.  I know I will enjoy it!

Recap of Week 7

Week 7, Day 1:  Inspiration, My Son

Week 7, Day 2: Sketching Monday

Week 7, Day 3: A Wonka Kind of Day

Week 7, Day 4: A Sweet and Creative-ish Wednesday

Week 7, Day 5: A Really Willy Wonka Day
I added a link to the video of my 'lil Ms. Gloop.  The link is on my sidebar under "My Favorites".

Week 7: Lagniappe for this Week

Week 7: Freebie Card










More of S's Art:
I thought you may enjoy seeing a bit more of S's work.  His style is always evolving, and changing.  I love to see it develop!  Since I snagged these from FB, I don't have all the descriptions to share with you.