Vintage Peacock Wedding Invitation Ensemble, New at Zazzle

I found this vintage image of a Peacock and immediately thought how elegant and stately it would be on a wedding invitation.  I designed the first with a Peacock blue accent color, but it has been set up on Zazzle to be easily customized by the bride to use any color that fits with her wedding.  All that’s needed is the Hex# of the color (selected from your color picker in your graphics program or just ask me), plug that color into the background and in the appropriate text and presto, custom wedding invitation!

I created a matching envelope as well and then ran out of time yesterday.  The entire suite of products should be available by the end of the week.  The customizable color envelope hasn’t been created yet, but I would be happy to create it for anyone needing a specific color combination.

One of the things I adore about Zazzle is that you don’t have to have any minimum quantity to do a custom invitation, try that in a brick and mortar store!  The more quantity you order the less expensive the cost per invitation and they ship for a flat fee.  Remember that any invitation can be customized for any event.  If you have a birthday party, you don’t just have to look at the Birthday invitations for your party theme.  Also great for 50th anniversary parties or Family reunions.

Remember that there are just a few days left in the month to get your comments in for the drawing.  You can comment on any and every post and each comment counts as an entry into the Blog Contest drawing.  The winner gets their pick of a $4.95 kit at my ETSY store.  Good luck!

Stopping to Enjoy Life!

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s pretty trite saying isn’t it “Stop and smell the roses?!”  But today, that’s what I’m doing.  I’m stopping to think about all that’s right about my world.  Are there troubles?  Of course.  Are there frustrations?  Duuuuhhhh!  But all in all, life is GOOD.

It’s too busy, but a lot of that is my fault and how I choose to prioritize my work.  I’m working on that one.  Working really hard on that one and making some significant progress. Some times you have to work harder and longer in order to work less — but if you have a plan you can get there.

Why is life good?  My family loves me and I adore them.  We have FUN together, not just tolerate each other 🙂  We actually get along with each other.  We love to play together, whether it’s playing a new board game, watching a movie (if we can stay awake long enough to catch the ending).  We like to 4 wheel together, at least those of us with backs strong enough to take the pounding.  We’re going camping together next week in one of the most beautiful places on God’s green earth and it’s in our own backyard so to speak.  I’ll take some pic with my new DROID phone and see if I can figure out how to post them.  Isn’t that the key?  LIFE is really about the PEOPLE we share it with.

I’m just writing to remind each of you.  Stop and think.  What’s GOOD about your life?  Who is good in your life?  Have you told them that?  What’s AMAZING about your life?  What are the things that God is teaching you out of the tough times in your life?  It’s all a matter of perspective, even tough times can be incredible blessings.

Would you please share with us what’s good in your life and share your blessings in the comments section so that we can remind each other about how wonderful life really is?  Remember, there’s one week left in this month’s blog contest.  Each comment is an entry into the contest.  Feel free to post those comments away.  Any day of this month is eligible.  You will win your choice of any of my Etsy store $4.95 digital kits. Notice on the right hand side of the blog is a new “Pocket Shop” provided from the wonderful website “Craftcult.” Thanks to them for making ways for those of us who hand craft to get the word out about what we do.

LIFE IS GOOD!  Take time to remind yourself.  Like the picture below says “RELAX!”  Have a cup of tea with someone you love.  Enjoy the sunset.  Pamper yourself or someone you love.  Enjoy life…

“Aged Grape Vineyard” Wedding Ensemble or Party Invitations

Useful for wine tasting parties or wedding invitations, this is one of my all time favorite pieces of artwork that I’ve done.  I love the texture, the richness of the color palette (perfect for summer or fall weddings!) and most of all I love vineyards and all things grapes.  I live in the mountains of Central California and our valleys are full of beautifully tended vineyards.  I love watching them grow throughout the year.

There is a full ensemble of products for this wedding line and if I’m missing anything that you would like, I’ll be happy to create it for you. Table place setting cards, Table Cards, Wedding Dinner Menus, Wedding Programs and more.

If you are looking for an inexpensive Bridal Shower or Save the Date option, postcards are great.  This Bridal Shower postcard design can be purchased for as low as $.90 each in bulk (250 or above).

Also useful are two sided, Favor Gift Tags which can be tied on to your favors with a lovely matching ribbon and provide a tremendous visual impact for your table decor with very little cost involved.  100 cards run only $21.80!

“Silver Age of Elegance,” Hollywood Glamour Era Inspired Wedding Invitation Ensemble at Zazzle

Yesterday I released a new “Golden Age of Elegance” and today I am previewing the vintage Silver version.  This can be used as Thank You notes, wedding correspondence, shower invitations and more.  Both the Silver and Gold versions can be used for Twenty Fifth (25th) Wedding Anniversaries and Fiftieth (50th) Wedding Anniversaries.  Imagine a classic war bride black & white in the photo frame – stunning!  I will design them as finished products for anniversaries but if anyone needs them now, just go to my wedding section>cream, neutral, brown and you’ll see the entire collection.  Change the text to reflect your occasion, substitute your picture for my daughter and son-in-law’s (aren’t they adorable?!) and you’re ready to go.

Stickers or Seals can add that finishing touch to the outer envelope.  There are easy ways you can add that special touch to your invitations.  Try adding a thin, matching ribbon tied in a beautiful knot.  Make sure you move the text above and below where you want the ribbon to tie.  If you add ribbon make sure you take them to the post office to be hand processed.  We can also work together to design an invitation that utilizes the stickers and ribbon under the picture on the actual invitation.  I will try to digitally mock that option up and update this post later.

These Menu Cards or Wedding Program Cards are in a wonderfully different elongated rectangle format.  They are also available in wedding invitations.

There is no real metal in these invitations all of the aged,

New Gift Book: As Grandma Says


The cover for my  new gift book “As Grandma Says,” written by Judith Robl and using my illustrations is now being shown at Harvest House Publishers.  I haven’t seen the interior pages yet, but can’t wait!  Harvest House produces some of the best quality, beautiful and thoughtful gift books in the industry.  This one will be available in time for next year’s Mother’s Day gifts.  I will probably order some extras to hand personalize for anyone that would like to purchase it for a special gift.  Perhaps I’ll include a gift tag and a bookmark?  I can think of several things that would be fun to do.  I’ll post anything I plan on doing at release time.

My past experience with Harvest House’s Graphic Design Department has me very excited to see what they’re doing INSIDE the cover, LOL!  When they post a free chapter I’ll let you know.  The picture is a link to take you to their page so that you can read more about it.

A Summer Sale

I have a sale going in two places.  My Aimee Asher Digital Clip Art store is running a special for the month of July.  Buy $20 of  items and get 25% off your purchase.  I rarely do sales and this is the best pricing I ever offer, so if you’ve been looking for new art for your crafting for the Christmas season, now’s the time to stock up.

My Etsy store is running the equivalent, Buy 3 get the 4th FREE.  There are items at each location that are different and some cross-over so check them out.  Etsy has mostly has jewelry making collages and scrapbooking tags, journaling tags and the like.  AAE has complete digital clip art kits, paper kits etc.

LINK TO AIMEE ASHER STORE

LINK TO ETSY STORE

Christmas in July Blog Contest

My NEW KIT shown is available at my ETSY store: LINK TO STORE and will soon be available at Aimee Asher as well.  Click on pictures to go to the store or the link.  There are 1 x 1″ squares, 1 x 2″ dominoes in collages there to match as well as lots of other new art sets.  Much, much more to come!  On the left side panel of this blog is a link to the store that will be active at all times if you forget how to get there 🙂

My long time readers know that I used to do a monthy drawing for a FREE kit for the people that left comments.  Leaving a comment on a post was an entry into the contest.  It fell off because I simply wasn’t posting enough at the time so it made it difficult to justify having a contest.  However, since I have become a regular at posting again, I have decided to revive that Contest again.  I really enjoyed the feedback and the daily chatting!

Soooo…. this month’s prize will be “AJR-ETSY-DC010-ATC” Christmas, Love, Joy, Peace; is an elegantly collaged art collection of Christmas Trees, snow covered trees, red snowflakes, beautiful word art, swirls, texture and line art.

This digital collage sheet, has 9, rounded corner rectangular step shaped tag backgrounds on a sheet. All the art used on these digital 8.5 x 11 collage sheet was hand painted in watercolors, scanned on a high quality Epson 10000 and then digitally designed with the addition of some original art brushes.

Use for ATC cards, card making, package tags, scrapbooking, magnets, stickers and more! Sent as a png file. Open with your graphics program and add text or monograms if you wish, then print out. I have intentionally left spaces for working for you. If you cannot use png files, simply message that you would prefer jpeg or pdf.

The 9 tags are $4.95 and all of the new kits like this are being sold with slightly different ANGEL POLICY terms than I have been.  They are sold with no limit on crafting uses in a year.  Keeping track of how much you are doing with which kits is a burden, these kits don’t require you to make a limited amount.  If something turns out to be a best seller for you, go to it with my blessings!  Every little bit can help a family in these hard times.  The old terms still apply to my standard sets, you will need to look at the TOUs (which are included in every kit) to determine which they fall under.

I have been making jewelry making kits of dominioes, 1″ x 1″ squares, I’ll be doing some circles of various sizes soon.  It’s been a lot of fun envisioning new uses for my art.  Please leave me some suggestions in the comments as to what else you might like to see — and earn a spot in the monthly drawing as you do!  If any of you make glass pendant jewelry would you please private message me?

Have a great weekend and be sure to read the post below about Amanda Curtin.  A card designer and demonstrator for my cardcrafting products licensee, DO Crafts in the United Kingdom.

Amanda Curtin, Product Demonstrator and Crafter Extraordinaire

Last month, when my card crafting products debuted at Create ‘n Craft TV in the United Kingdom, I got to “meet” an amazing bundle of energy and personality – Amanda Curtin.

She’s a demonstrator for my Scrapbooking, Paper Crafting Licensee “DOCraft” also known as Design Objectives.  We got to chat via telephone on air and after the show, I asked her a series of questions about herself for this article.

INTERVIEW:

1. When did you start cardmaking and crafting?
My parents bought me craft kits for every birthday and Christmas, right from when I was very little, and I loved trying out all the new things. My first crafting as an adult was making novelty cakes for friends and family about 15 years ago. The obvious limitation with cakes is that they have to be hand delivered! As my work responsibilities and hours increased, almost all my hobbies fell by the wayside though, and I didn’t start making cards until 5 or 6 years ago, when I took a lifestyle decision to step off the career ladder and work part time with my husband instead. I went to a couple of Do Crafts demos and became well and truly hooked!

2. Are you an artist yourself?
Definitely not! My Dad paints beautifully, as did my Grandad, but unfortunately I didn’t inherit their talent! I’m fine if I have a picture to copy, and I love painting stamped images, and creating backgrounds for decoupage, but I don’t think I could claim that my efforts were art 🙂
That’s one of the things I love about crafting, that you can create lovely images without huge artistic technique or talent.

3. How did you get involved with demonstrating and what is your favorite thing to do?
I found demos so helpful when I started papercrafting and, as my experience grew, I thought it would be great to be able to help people the same way. I generally craft alone, so demonstrating gives me a different way to explore my hobby, and I love to see what crafting means to other people. As for my favorite type of crafting, it has to be rubber stamping. There are so many stamping techniques, and I love to make projects from scratch, so that the finished masterpiece is made up of just paper and work. In the summer I do a lot of jewelery making and cross stitching too,as I can do these in the garden without everything blowing away!

4. What kinds of demos do you do and where?
Most of my demos focus on cardmaking, but I also do scrapbooking, jewelery making, and other papercraft projects. Until recently all my demos were in craft stores, but I’ve recently started appearing as a guest on the Create & Craft shopping channel too. It’s a very different way to demo, and very exciting as it’s all broadcast live!

5. What is your job at Do Crafts? (Am I right in believing you’re on staff there?)
My role is to show people how Do Crafts products work, and to give them ideas for how to use them. This is normally through demonstrating either in person in shops, or on TV, but I sometimes design projects for the Do Crafts website and “Creativity!” magazine too. I’m freelance, but Do Crafts keeps me busy enough that, apart from a few demos at local craft clubs, I don’t work for anyone else.

6. Do you have a website for your services that we can post? Any way for someone who would like a demo to contact you?
I don’t have a website, but I do have a blog: http://quackersaboutcraft.blogspot.com/
I’m a rather erratic blogger, but am trying to update it more frequently!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Amanda as much as I have.  Thanks for sharing with us and I look forward to seeing more of your work.