We had the pleasure of interviewing  Burcu (aka Mujka) here at MyGrafico. Not only is Burcu a talented designer, but she is also a creative genius who co-owns MyGrafico with the awesomely talented Judy Sanqunetti.

MyGrafico: What aspect of designing/illustrating do you enjoy the most?

MUJKA DESIGN INC.: I like to consider myself as a commercial illustraor, because I do not design for the sake of art.  So, my style has become very gypsy-like.  I have tried to embrace many techniques and styles over the years that give more depth to my work.  I love researching more than creating.  When a customer tells me, “Wow, that is fabulous” I enjoy that the most.  This gives me a feeling of accomplishment. .

MyGrafico: Where do you find inspirations for your designs?

MUJKA DESIGN INC.: Usually in pages of vintage books, racks at local flea markets, Internet, other designer’s blogs or portfolios.  Sometimes the customer influences a lot and they have some wonderful, crazy ideas that can make the inspiration come easily.  Apart from that, my visual memory is very good.  I never forget a file or a picture I have seen, so this helps when I need to design something that is not really my style.

MyGrafico: As a designer and illustrator, you must get to see samples of how your designs are used.  Can you tell us about any of your favorites, and also if any really surprised you?

MUJKA DESIGN INC.: I have seen my art on buildings, on plates, even on television commercials, but my favorite is definitely wedding invitations printed by Letterpress style.  It is so delicate and so beautiful, that my art becomes an ingredient on the paper, merged with cotton and ink; so perfect. The picture shown here is one showcasing my designs as used by a client.

MyGrafico: At MyGrafico, you have several beautiful sets for sale.  Do you have a favorite, and why?

MUJKA DESIGN INC.: My favorite, is probably one of my damask patter sets, Seamless Damask Set shown here.  I find damasks quite beautiful and timeless.  I sell a lot of them.  Apart from that, I love my templates.  DIY (Do it Yourself) wedding and baby announcements have become the new trend.  My templates are great for those who want to make their own.

MyGrafico: What’s next for you?

MUJKA DESIGN INC.: I’m about to move to British Colombia, Victoria and looking forward to starting a small local business about cards, paper and embellishments. Exploring the possibility of becoming an invitation designer and printer to locals.

To find more of Mujka Design Inc.’s  work, you can visit the Store HERE. You will find a great variety of designs and illustrations.  Check out her website HERE as well for even more variety of her designs. If you’re intested in great inspirations and tutorials, Burcu has also created a marvelous community and shares regularly HERE in the MyGrafico Community.

Thanks to Burcu for taking the time to let us get to know a little more about her.  We’ll leave you with a  great card made by MyGrafico’s Design Team Leader, Martha, using the Old Fashion Key Stamps set available at MyGrafico. Such a great idea!

Fold Card displayed in our community by Sandy: Graphics by Cupcake Cutiees

It sure is a hot summer!  Just thinking about it makes me want to dive in and go under the sea.  Oh, and that reminds me…Check out some of our newest designs.  The Littlest Mermaids are here. Take a look around and you will find them.  What a fun and colorful theme to thrill all the little girls.  Girls love mermaids and a special mermaid party may be just the right touch for your summer party planning.  Check out these great graphic sets available at MyGrafico.

The Little Mermaid Graphics and Stamps are available from Sara Paris.  You can also find the same graphics available in Stamps. Just imagine the fun that little girls would have with the stamps printed out as coloring pages.

Mermaid Cove is new from JD Digi Designs.  Look at all of the beautiful, vivid colors and the whimsical designs.

Cupcake Cutiees has a delightful Under the Sea graphic set that is sure to please. It is full of fantasy and whimsy.

Lets not forget the beautiful Mermaidens by Kreative Brand just waiting to dress up something beautiful.

And shiver me timbers, mateys, how about adding a little whimsy and beauty to your next pirate party with Pirate Party by Zenware Designs.

Mermaids always summon up the most fabulous imagery and use of a child’s imagination.  We have some beautiful graphics to do just that.  Enjoy the summer and the joys of children and their imagination.  Keep checking back to see what else we’ll cook up.

Make a bookplate template, and you can use it again and again.  Books make wonderful gifts for teachers, birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  Adding a personalized touch always makes a gift more special.

I created a template using Chic Deco Frames & Stamps by Mujka Design Inc along with Free Digital Stamps Vases and Flowers by Cocoa Studio.

Step 1: I chose one of the elegant frames and opened it in Adobe Photoshop CS.  Next, I resized it to 3.5 inches x 3.5 inches, which will work well with a book cover.

Step 2: I chose one of the flowers in the free flower stamps set and added color to it.  I chose pink and green to color.  Item 1 in this picture shows the colors I chose.  Item 2 is the magic wand tool that I used to select the area to color.  Item 3 is the paint bucket tool, that I used for each color, to fill in the selected area with color.

Step3: I dropped the flower graphic onto the book plate frame. Then resized the graphic and rotated it to fit in the corner. Take a look at the graphic. I had both items open in Photoshop.  Then I dragged the flower onto the frame.  Once it was there, it was a little too big, so I used CTRL-T to size it down and then rotated it to be the angle that I wanted for the corner.  From there, I just moved it to the corner.

Step 4: Since my flower was the right size for the frame, I wanted to duplicate it and use it in the other corner of the frame.  To do this, I went to the layers section, right clicked on the layer I wanted to duplicate, pressed the right-click button on my mouse and chose the “duplicate layer” option.  Again, I dragged the flower to the corner and used CTRL-T to rotate the flower until I had it the way I wanted it.

From there I had my completed template.  I saved it with a file name I’ll recognize next time I need to personalize a book for someone.  If you look at the first graphic above, you can see that I filled the text into the template to dedicate some books to our elementary school to honor a fabulous teacher who is moving out of state at the end of the school year.  She loved them!

 Check out what you can do with two of our newset products! Silhouettes are a great resouce to have in your library of art becasue they can be used in so many differnt ways!

The digital applique example was used with the Baby Silhouettes by LADYBUG and the Mod Papers by SANQUNETTI DESIGN The papers were simply cliped inside the silhouette shapes and for more of an authentic feel a stitching effect and outline was added to the top two and just a thick outline on the bottom two.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE FINSIHED DIGITAL APPLIQUE?
- would work great on apparel
- nice scrapbook emblishments with other stitch borders across the page
- use them on your next baby announcement projects
- use the silhouettes alone for party invitations, make shapes die-cuts and fit all your info inside