Gif maker

I followed the Tute and learned how to make some really cool projects using The Graphics Fairy.

If you have a Tute you would like me to consider please e-mail me at Cheri@ItsSoVeryCheri.com

Kathy and I have been blog friends for awhile.  I love the friendships I have made with so many great gals.  I learn from each of you.

Kathy has a fun blog Creative Home Expressions and she is an interior decorator. She does some great creative projects.
I asked her to show you how to use the Graphics Fairy site and show you some projects you can do.

If you have somehow missed out on visiting be sure to go over today.

The floor is yours, my friend.

I’m thrilled and delighted that Cheri has asked me to provide a tutorial on using graphics and images that Karen at The Graphics Fairy offers, for use in just about any creative project you can come up with.  Here are just a few of the different things I’ve made using some of these images.  I’ve included links to the posts for each of these so you can get the “how to” for each one.

The first and simplest project I did was taking this graphic and simply framing it with scrapbook paper.

For Christmas, I made a menu for my Christmas Eve buffet.

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While I don’t really do any decorating for Valentine’s Day, I made a few decorative tags using graphics like these.

I’ve also printed out some of the images on transfer paper to use on pillows that I made for my living room.

Most recently, I altered some mini-notebooks using a few images, with this one being my favorite.

You are only limited by your imagination!

Karen has categories set up along the right side of her blog to help you in the search for what you may be looking for.  You want to save the graphics to “Pictures” on your computer

• click on the graphic within Karen’s post and it will enlarge;
• use your right click on your mouse or laptop keyboard and it will come up with a menu of tasks;
• you want to “Save Picture”.  I have a file set up in my “Pictures” just for these graphics so that’s where I save it to.

When you want to print out the graphic

• go to your “Pictures” and find the file you saved it to.
• open it and double click on the graphic.  It will open up a new window where you will see a “Print” option.
• click on “Print” and choose your paper and size of choice.

When using Mod Podge on the graphics I found that using my HP photo paper {because that’s what I already have in the house} in my color printer rather than regular printer/copy paper worked best.  I’ve also varied matte photo paper and glossy photo paper depending on the project.

Today I’m going to show you my most recent project using one of Karen’s graphics.  I found this old Moth bookplate and liked the colors and aged look of it.

I bought a couple of these plaque pictures at the dollar store.

I took some scrapbook paper that I already had and traced the plaque on the back side of the paper and cut it out.  I used regular craft glue on the top of the plaque and put the scrapbook paper on it.

I printed the Moth graphic out in a 4 x 6 size on HP semi-glossy photo paper and, centering it on the plaque, glued that in place, too {after the scrapbook paper step dried}.  Once that was dry I applied a coat of matte Mod Podge over the top of the whole thing.

Feeling like it was lacking something, I found this package of label holders at Michaels and printed out a Latin word for moth {in Lucida Calligraphy} on regular paper in my regular printer.  I needed to age the paper so it would work with the graphic.  I soaked it in some tea for a few minutes and added this for a finishing touch.

Done!  A decorative piece for your home {or to give as a gift} and it only cost me about $4.00 for the plaque and embellishments.

The whole thing has a lovely aged look to it!

Thank you so much Kathy.  I love the moth project so much I may just have to make one.