Embrace Your Creative Side: June 2017

Friday, June 30, 2017

It is Getting a Wee Bit Sticky Around Here

Colored Pencil sketch I did- Pink Peony

A really big part of developing creativity in your life is to surround yourself with pretty things that make you happy. I think that is why planner stickers have become so popular. Rather than looking at the traditional black and white squares of a calendar covered with ink scribbles that note boring things such as doctor appointments, haircuts and PTA meetings we can brighten up and decorate our days with easy to use stickers that are colorful and beautiful.

The other day I was just surfing the web for handmade planner stickers and as I scrolled through the hundreds of images, it dawned on me that these stickers are so popular because it is just like "Scrapbooking each day of your life". I get it even though I don't have a planner because I have that same desire to keep an artistic journal of each of my days. A desire unfortunately doesn't translate into reality and I'm pretty much a failure at keeping that up on a daily basis. I have resorted to more often than not photocopying my sketches and using adhesive to attach the image to each page. I think decorate around the image and make personal notes. Is that cheating? I don't think so.

My Artistic Journal

I love decorated and colorful pages but that does take a lot of work to draw on each page of my journal and so the ability to decorate your calendar with cute stickers does appeal to me. What is the ultimate goal for me is to use my own artwork on easy to use stickers that I can just print out.

My own sticker sheet along side Victoria and Wild Apple's stickers

This week I have made a real concerted effort to teach myself to use and learn Photoshop. My brain is still hurting after such a workout! In reality, I'm actually pretty excited about my progress. This is something I have wanted to learn for years. I've made a couple of my own sticker sheets and some nice marketing flyers for the Art House gallery. That is not bad for an old lady that needed to learn some new tricks. While my sticker sheets may not be as refined as most that I saw available for sale on the internet, I am confident that very soon I will get there.

Speaking of great stickers, I downloaded this adorably cute succulent stickers from my good friend Victoria Thatcher and her website - victoriathatcher.com/

Check out her amazing work and the best part....IT IS ALL FREE! Thank you Victoria for sharing such sticker beauty with the world.

Yesterday, I also got these cute "Buy Art" stickers free from Wild Apple. They are SO STINKING CUTE! Here is a picture of my "Poultry in Motion", Buy Art and Victoria Thatcher's succulent stickers. All of Victoria's stickers are free to download and I would be happy to email you the link to my chicken stickers if you message me.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Old Dogs Can Learn New Photoshop Tricks

Life Began in a Garden

So this week my creative side has been very busy learning how to do just a few new things in Photoshop. Since I am teaching myself, both the student and the teacher are just a little bit on the slow side. I just keep reminding myself that "Slow and Steady" wins the race!

I have really wanted to get into making stickers from my artwork for quite some time now and now I feel like I am actually making some progress. Here are two separate sticker sheets that I put together using Photoshop Elements. This is practice mind you and I'm sure with a little more effort and learning, I can make a

I'm so happy about this that I decided that I would share both printable files with you below. Not too bad for my first go around and I'm sure I will make better stickers as I learn the ins and outs of the market. In the mean time, I'm just so happy that I have so many supportive people in my life that keep me wanting to continue to make more art. All I ask is that if you print these out that you let me know by leaving a comment below. I would love to hear from you. Any suggestions or requests are also greatly appreciated. I will be offering many more sticker designs from my Etsy Store soon.