Christmas time is coming and I know many of you, just like me, enjoy creating your own decorations at home, in the company of your friends and family. It’s more fun and these decorations have much bigger value than the ones bought in the mall.

So, today, I came up with this idea of creating a wreath. And, as a basis for it, I used styrofoam.  I made it with the stuff I had at home and I hope you will like it enough to try and do something like this yourself, following this DIY tutorial.

1. Printing images

Print some of your photos, use images of your friends, family, or pets (as I did in this occasion) …  in 2×2 inches size. Of course, I could not resist but to decorate my images with Photoshop brushes:  Christmas II Photoshop Brushes (20+20+20) + 20 PNGs, and I used them as photo masks (there are few brushes in a set which can be used as photo masks too. Also I used one of the free Photoshop brushes from GreenBulbGang.Com – Grunge Stars)

And, well, I printed them out …

2. Preparation

Prepare the following: styrofoam, fabric, colorful fabric ribbons, wire, pine cones, gold color, glue gun.

3. Cutting the styrofoam (Part I)

Before cutting a circle, of course, we need to mark the styrofoam, I draw two circles using a pen, pick and a rope. No, that’s not my hand :) My hubby helped me.

4. Cutting the styrofoam (Part II)

That’s it. Now I had to cut it out. First I cut the smaller one. I know there is a styrofoam cutter, but I do not have it. So I used a simple knife. It was really messy. But I manage it.

5. Voila, that was the hardest part!

The hardest part is done! You can always buy something like this in a store. But I didn’t. Because this is DIY Christmas wreath :)

6. Dressing up

I dressed-up this wreath-to-be in a dark green cloth decorated with gold stars, moons and other drawings… I glued the cloth to the styrofoam with a glue gun. Yes, that’s me gluing the cloth :)

7. Dressing-up – completed

And, here’s the result:

8. Wiring and decorating

Now, I cut some wire and simply clasped it around the wreath-to-be. The upper part was twisted in a spiral so that we can insert the images. I didn’t have thicker wire. If I had a thicker wire I’d just pin it in the styrofoam. Also, I prepared pine cones and sprayed them with gold color.

9. Pine cones

Finally I glued the pine cones with a glue gun.

10. Inserting the photos

OK. That’s it. Now is time for printed images! Cut them, and glue them over the spiral wire. If you just attach them into spiral, they will fall off.

11. The final touch

I felt this wreath was missing something, so I added red and gold ribbons all around it.

12. OK. One more final touch

I added some bows around wires too!

13. And … voila!

Finito! bsilvia Christmas Wreath (2011/2012 edition) is ready! :))

I hope you will like it and maybe even try to do it yourself.  Should you have any questions, let me know I will be more than happy to help.

Here is what Mr. SpaceCat thought of it:

Mr. Alphons was not impressed either

But, the old queen, Poofah, she wanted to eat the pine cones ?!?!?

Love you all, have fun and may the peace be with you.
Silvia

Commercial:
CYBER WEEK SALE! GET 1600+ High-Quality Photoshop brushes for peanuts. This week only.

Gang, what can I say?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

I made this little graphic with a little help from free Photoshop brushes and Photoshop textures from GreenBulbGang.Com :)

You might like it, or you may not. If you like it, you can download it and re-use it for any other possible purpose … or not.

It’s clearly, up to you.

[Download Thanksgiving graphic - layered PSD File] – zipped 27.2Mb, 8×8 inches @300 dpi – print ready!

Love you all!

I hope you are spending this day with your family, friends, people you care about, people you love.

Silvia

I used today’s free graphic to frame a photo of Mr. Alphons. (image above)

Today, I prepared a little something for scrapbookers. A layered Photoshop (PSD) file which is a digital scrapbooking “Quick Page”. It is a Photo mask at the same time. It is all that and more :)

So, if there is any human being still doing something else apart from writing posts and comments on Facebook, I count on you. I hope you will be reading this, maybe liking this download and maybe you will use it to create a nice graphic using some of your photos with it.

Regarding Facebook. I admit. I spend too much time on Facebook. I sit there every day for hours and I am not sure if I like that. So, I decided to proclaim one day of the week a No-Facebook day! I mean Facebook is nice, but we need to be careful before becoming slaves to the habit (unless it is a habit of creating stuff :))

Ladies and gentleman, let me present you

Digital Scrapbooking QuickPage / Photo Background / Photo Mask –  layered Photoshop PSD file

(zipped, 6.5Mb, 8×8 inches @300dpi – print ready)

This image was created with free Photoshop brushes: Dotted Arrows available for all GBG Members!

Now, this is one short post.

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday, just bear with it cause Friday is already knocking on the door!

Enjoy!

xoxox

Silvia

Free Vector Art (Adobe Illustrator file)

And now, ladies and gentleman, something completely different. I guess I’ve given away enough of free layered PSD files in last few days and now it’s time for something new. Today, I am giving away vector art.

Now, you probably know why vector art is so cool. Of course. You can re-size it all you want and there will be no quality loss. But, that’s not all. If you are even remotely familiar with Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW or any other vector editing software, you will be able to, with few clicks of the mouse, turn it into something new and completely different, so originality is guaranteed.

Feel free to use this vector emblem in all your graphic design projects. But also, scrapbooks, tshirt design, commercials … whatever you could think of.

Today’s Free vector art download consists of the following vector file formats:

* CDR (CorelDRAW 8.0 and newer versions)
* AI (Adobe Illustrator 8.0 and newer versions)
* EPS
* SVG (scalable vector graphics files can be read and modified by a large range of tools)
* and PNG for all of you who do not use vector applications

All vector formats can be colored as you please, re-sized or changed in any other way – commercial use allowed. But, I will be more than happy if you drop a backlink to my blog :D

Download Free Vector Art –  AI, EPS, CDR, SVG (and PNG) zipped

(zipped, 1.7Mb, PNG file is 8×8 inches @300dpi – print ready)

To create this Vector Art download I used:

Damask Vector Set (22)

Set is delivered in following formats:

1. .ai (all CS versions from 8.0)
2. .eps format
3. .cdr (Corel 8.0 up to newer versions)
4. .png (so you can easily use them in any photo editing software)
5. .svg (SVG, or scalable vector graphics files can be read and modified by a large range of tools)

Commercial license included!

[ Preview ] [ BUY ]

I hope you will enjoy today’s free download!

Love you all,

Silvia

I know what you are thinking. “Why, on earth would I want to send a Christmas card in the middle of November?”

Of course, you would not. We still have a month and a half before Christmas.

But. Just like me, you will want to start thinking about preparing your Christmas design projects. Soon, just about anything you create will be decorated with Christmas decorations, isn’t it?

So, we better be ready and equipped with the right tools before the rush begins :)

Ladies and gentleman, I present you

Red and White Christmas Card, free PSD file

It is a layered PSD file so you can play with it, rotate design elements and make the card portrait or landscape, as you wish.

Download Christmas Card Template / New Year Greeting Card Template (or Christmas ecard, New Year card) –  layered Photoshop PSD file

(zipped, 3.2Mb, 6×8 inches @300dpi – print ready)

Ingredients:

Font:

Loopi from dafont.com

Photoshop brushes:

Winter in Swirls Photoshop Brushes Set (33+33+33)

- 33+33+33 Photoshop brushes
- Compatible with Photoshop 7.0 up to CS5 and newer versions
- Compatible with Photoshop Elements 3.0 and newer versions
- Also compatible with PC/Mac
- COMMERCIAL LICENSE

[ Preview ] [ BUY ]

Here, on our on-line graphical playground, I prepared some Christmas backgrounds and Photoshop brushes (digital stamps) for you to play with.

Test the brushes – Create your own Christmas e-Cards here

Here is how to use our simple graphics creator:

1. Select the background
2. Add text (select font and font color)
3. Load the desired Photoshop brushes set into the brush picker
4. Select the brush, color it, adjust transparency
5. Rotate and re-size the brush before placing it on canvas

Use the keyboard shortcuts :
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) and arrow keys (left, right, up and down) to rotate and re-size the brushes.

Please be patient after clicking on “Submit” button. It might take while before the email is sent. Thank you!

I hope you enjoyed my little Graphics Creator and the brushes included. One way or another, I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

Love you all!

xoxoxo

Silvia