One of the best ways to dress up any type of project  is with a great illustration.  Meet Olillia, one of our newest designers here at MyGrafico.

MG:  What is your favorite set of your own, listed at MyGrafico?

Olillia:  Dancing Little Girls, Elegant Brides, Thanksgiving, and Funny Monkeys

MG:  What is your favorite medium for design?

Olillia: Digitally, Manually, Painting

MG:  What are your favorite color palettes?

Olillia: I love bright colors and very often experiment with various palettes

MG: What is your favorite indulgence?

Olillia: Massage and bath with aroma oil.

MG:  Where is your favorite vacation spot?

Olillia: I love Italy.  For me it seems to be a second home. I was probably born there in my previous life. I also like Asia, it is incredibly influenced by power of the nature. I would love to go to Latin America, it attracts me very much, especially Brazil and Argentina.

MG:   What is next for you?

Olillia: At the moment I am in Thailand on Koh Phangan Island and this place is very inspiring!  I`m planning to design new sets with happy kid characters and moms-to be, including Asian moms, Asian cuisine and marine theme inspired me a lot. I`m also planning to create educational printables for MG in the near future.

Be sure to visit Olillia Illustration,  and check out all of the great illustrations just waiting to beautify your next design project. Have a great day, everyone.

I love the 3-D heart purse, it is so easy because it cuts as one piece out of a standard sheet of cardstock. It is also quick to print and cut if you do not have a die cut machine

I think this library pocket would be cute filled with pencils for a teacher or even as a journaling pocket on a scrapbook page! Also I included a pencil topper so if you don’t want to give out candy you can still give something sweet!

The conversation heart box covers are awesome! These are inspired by an iPod valentine I saw in the magazine Family Fun. I thought how about a calculator and a cell phone too! The really cool thing is you can cut several of these designs out of a few different colors of cardstock and mix & match the buttons and dials. These designs will import in SCAL the exact size of a box of convo-hearts (sweethearts brand) so there is no need to resize anything;) There is no wasted paper and the kids can use white glue to glue the pieces straight to a box of convo-hearts! Easy, inexpensive and the kids can do it themselves. You can le them write their own “texts” in the window and you can still use the to/from spot on the back of the convo heart box.

I also included a plain box in case you wanted to used the covers but fill with your own goodies or even a mini coloring book and crayons!

I hope this gives you some fun ideas to use this valentine’s day! Here is a look at the Valentine’s Galore kit:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Wow, it was so fun to make the samples. The lucky money envelopes are freebies. I used the SVG in the kit to cut my envelopes from red paper but there is a printable version too if you do not have a die-cut machine. Also There is a full color printable with a Chinese dragon (2012 is the year of the dragon) on the back if you just want to print them and not have to decorate. BTW {shameless plug} Everything at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff is 40% off now through Sunday so after you snag that freebie be sure to have a look around at all of the new products I have added this month!

When I went looking for inspiration on making a dragon puppet I did an internet search and came across a cute template on the Martha Stewart website, well, there was no need to reinvent the wheel there!

Did you know you can cut PDF files with SCAL?

Oh yeah! I saved the PDF dragon template and imported into scal2 (click file-import-then pick the pdf file you want) and with a little tweaking (there is a rogue node on the dragon’s head, just drag it over to the node next to it and click union to make it one shape) I had a great file to cut! Note: I enlarged it and moved it around on my mat to make best use of space. I’d love to share the SVG but I don’t know if that would be cool with Martha.  You can check out her template and instructions here.

I love how the body is jointed so it wiggles and moves when you hold the sticks. I made a few changes in my puppet: I added crepe paper party streamers, they fly wonderfully when you are using the puppet and the pleated crepe paper adds more bulk without weight. I used skinny sticks because I had no chopsticks and I added glitter, sequins would be nice too I think;)

Here is a look at the  Lucky Money Envelopes Freebie:

In the preview you see the color version of the money envelope, for my project with the kids I am cutting them from red paper and they can stamp Chinese characters with gold pigment ink. The stamps I used are from About Art Accents. I heat embossed mine, I think I will let the kids try that too as long as I have an adult to man the heat gun

And be sure to snag lots of goodies at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff for 40% off! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Simply make a 5×7 card from kraft cardstock. Cut panels of paper to fit (I used the new Hugs & Kisses digital paper pack From Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff), ink the edges of the paper and adhere to card. Cut a slit on the fold of the card to thread ribbon through  and wrap a length of grossgrain ribbon around the card and tie in a bow. It will use about 18? of ribbon which seems a bit wasteful but I bought it at the dollar tree so no worries The jar and conversation heart stamps are digistamps from my Funky Jar Digital stamp set. All of the goodies that come in the kit are scaled to fit the jars perfectly, I added the hearts (png version) in the jar in PSP, saved the file incase I wanted to use it again, printed it and colored it with markers. I adhered it over the paper and ribbon with foam tape. I stamped “Be Mine, Valentine” on a scrap of white, inked and adhered it. Quick and easy!

And now for my printing tip….

If you want to quickly print out digital papers try this:

1. Click on the start menu, then computer and find the folder your digital papers are in.
2. Select all of the papers you want to print by holding the “ctrl” button and clicking on them with your mouse.
3. Click print, in Vista it will be on the top of your open window but it might be to the left of bottom in other windows versions.
4. Now choose what size you want your prints. You can print full pages of paper, half pages or quarter pages. Note: The paper will be scaled down. For instance if you choose full sheet the pattern will be larger than the pattern on a quarter sheet because it resizes the paper to fit the smaller space. In the example I printed 12 papers on the 4 to a page setting and the patterns are about 20% of original size. As a bonus they are a great scale for cards!

That’s it, the printer will print as many pages as needed to print all of the pattern paper sheets you selected!

Here is a look at the papers and stamps I used in today’s project:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

LILLY BIMBLE SALE
JAN 7
ONE DAY ONLY
50% OFF

Olillia Sale
50% OFF
December 27-29

If you’ve been a fan of  MyGrafico very long, then you are familiar with the beautiful designs provided by Kelly Medina.  Kelly has a sweet spirit and a real bubble of  joy encasing her work.  You can’t help but be happy when you see her creations.  We had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly for MyGrafico and we thought you all might like to learn a little bit more about this gifted designer.  

Kelly Medina:  I worked on an illustration for a local choir concert poster. I had free reign to create a colorful illustration that they loved. I’ve also worked on a few baby shower invitations and party pieces for friends and family that have been a real blast to work on.

 MG:   How did you get started in this business?

Kelly Medina:  I’ve been a professional graphic designer for over 10 years at a local studio. I wanted to illustrate more in my designs, so when opportunities to make money to sell my graphics came my way I decided to create as much as I could in my off hours. I began selling on MyGrafico, opened my own Etsy shop, and took on custom illustration work and never looked back!

Kelly Medina:   Inspiration is everywhere. But I tend to find it walking around my favorite retail stores, reading magazines, and visiting other designers/illustrators blogs.

MG:   What product of your own is your favorite?

Kelly Medina:   One of my favorite sets is my Woodland Clip Art set and the matching paper. But I also really like my Circus, Christmas Penguins, and Outer Space Boy digital stamp set.

MG:   What is you favorite color scheme to design with?

Kelly Medina:  I’m liking pink and green and brown.

MG:   What is next for you?

Kelly Medina:  There is a long to-do list developing for Kelly Medina Studios, a few of those are working on developing more patterns for paper/background sets and broadening my products to have printable products with my designs.

Thank you to Kelly Medina for sharing herself with us.  Check out her MyGrafico store HERE and put a smile on your face.  Have a great day, everyone.

CUPCAKE CUTIEES SALE
NOVEMBER 25TH – 26TH
50% OFF ENTIRE STORE