Note: This blog post is a sponsored conversation written by Lynn Smythe, the Founder and Chief Blogger for The Creative Cottage lifestyle blog. The opinions, thoughts, ideas and text are all mine.
Today’s post takes a look at how you can use creativity in your daily working or personal life. I’m also going to make a brief mention on how to get the best out of low-cost design resources and graphic image files to make your life easier.
Get ready to use your imagination, and a few ready-made graphic designs, to help create a variety of artistic children’s party invitations, Pinterest and other social media banners, greeting cards, scrapbooks design elements and more.
Creating Unique Gifts and Presents
Have you ever used svgs (scalable vector graphics) in any of your art or craft projects? I used to have an account on Cafe Press where I uploaded my designs to print out on water bottles, t-shirts, mousepads, journals and other home decor and gift items. I made a small commission each time someone bought one of my items on my former Bike Diva cycling blog.
If you aren’t a graphic designer or are looking for a way to save time designing your own projects, SVG image files are a great way to get a jump start on your projects. Sites like Zazzle, VistaPrint and Cafe Press let you set up a free account to sell your own personalized gifts, custom products and home decor items.
These sites earn money by taking a small commission of every sale you make. This is a great way to start your own online store without having to stock any products or inventory. Because who has the room to stock 250+ personalized coffee mugs in their home or the time to pack them up and ship once they do sell?
You can use the svgs as is and upload them directly to your site to create a variety of personalized and customized items for sale including coffee mugs, water bottles, tote bags, refrigerator magnets, t-shirts, hoodies, baby onesies and more. Or, you can import the SVG file to a graphic design program such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or Canva and manipulate the image to create a more unique, one-of-a-kind design.
If you aren’t interested in selling your designs, you can also order customized gifts, such as keyrings, pendants or Christmas ornaments, to give as gifts to friends and family. Take a look at the featured image of the coffee mug at the top of this post. You can even use the svg image files to create thoughtful gifts to show your appreciation for teachers and other significant people in your life.
The Beauty of Using SVG Files
Let me backtrack a bit in case you aren’t familiar with svg files. SVG refers to Scalable Vector Graphics or images you can manipulate and scale to various sizes with no reduction in image quality. Once you resize the image or images in a graphic design program you are ready to download them and use them in digital cutting machines such as a Silhouette or Circuit.
But wait, there’s more. LOL! You aren’t limited to using SVGs on just paper alone. You can use the svg image files to cut out other materials including vinyl leather (AKA pleather or vegan leather), felt and cotton. Using ready-made image files saves you time as you don’t have to create a new design entirely from scratch.
The only limit is the capability of your digital cutting machine and what type of materials you can and can’t cut out. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, crafters use SVG cut files to print out designs on tote bags, tee shirts, coffee mugs, handmade gifts, ornaments and much more.
Whether the holidays bring out the crafter in you or you are a full-time crafter, you can always whip out your cutting machine and try out some of the fun ideas shown on sites such as Design Bundles.
Even More DIY and Craft Ideas
DIY & Crafts is one of the main topics I cover on The Creative Cottage blog. Some of the other craft art projects I’ve covered in the past include:
- Fabric covered memo board
- Art dolls
- Bead embroidery
- Loom woven beadwork
- Fused glass
- Pin weaving
- Glazed ceramic beads
- Etched metal jewelry
- Using svg images for your craft art projects
Reach Out to The Creative Cottage
I’d love to hear how you use SVG files in your own arts and crafts projects. Drop me a line at lynn@thecreativecottage.net and I just may feature your design in a future blog post.
Happy Crafting!
+ There are no comments
Add yours