Trip to Atlanta

Recently I went to Atlanta with some co-workers to attend the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) and the Atlanta Gift Show. Our hotel (Omni Hotel) was right by the Centennial Olympic Park. While at ICRS, in addition to seeing new books, card, and stationery products, we had the opportunity to view a special preview showing of a new film that will be coming out in September called Courageous. It’s a touching; inspiring movie that will make you laugh and cry, so bring tissues! You can learn more about it and watch a trailer of it by clicking here. The group Casting Crowns has made a music video for the movie, too–click here to see that.

The gift show was at AmericasMart® in the huge Atlanta Convention Center, with floors and floors of the newest items in stationery, giftware, home accessories and furnishings, jewelry and fashion. Here are a couple of window displays that inspired me.

Of course, we had to eat, too, and found some great places in downtown Atlanta. We had some delicious meals at Ok Café, Landmark Diner and enjoyed several dinners at the Ted’s Montana Grill. My favorite at Ted’s was the Buffalo Pot Roast; it really was the best post roast I have ever tasted.

Sweet Pea Collection

These are easy for do-it-yourselfers! Save yourself some time, these layered PSD files can easily create beautiful customized cards/invitations/portraits.
Printing your own cards can be a lot of fun, as you can personalize the message and add your own photos to the designs. Using templates will make your sales go up and the process is smooth and fun.

Check out my site for templates, photoshop brushes, illustrator brushes, overlays and vectors. http://bycheryl.bigcartel.com/

Digital photo card templates

If you are a portrait photographer, there are only so many hours in the day. You need to get your customers thinking about holiday family sessions and gift orders early, or you'll be working into the wee hours the night burning the midnight oil.

I’m here to help make your sessions more profitable and more efficient, purchase some holiday card templates! I have been creating fully layered photo card templates in Photoshop (PSD) format. These files allow you to customize them for your customer.

These templates are fresh and clean and they are VERY easy to work with. These are available for instant download at my store: http://tinyurl.com/4a3oto2 and http://tinyurl.com/4t58zn9

I’m in my second craft show this weekend. The Northwest Arkansas Boutique Show the fall show will be held Friday and Saturday, November 19-20, 2010, at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.

“Girls Night Out” Preview Shopping Event
Friday, 11/19, 5:00—9:00 p.m.
Be the First to Shop! Live Christmas Jazz, Swag Bags, Door Prizes & More!

www.nwaboutiqueshow.com

Come check out my canvas art, silhouettes, luggage tags, stationary & cards, glass jewelry, magnets, children home decor & photo card stationary.

Craft Show

A month ago I was in my first craft show at the Unique Boutique of NWA, Holiday Inn Springdale Convention Center!! Having never done a craft show I wanted to write a post about my experience in an effort to help others.

I spent 8 months preparing for the show. I hired a web designer to redo my website, make brochures, flyers, business cards all for marketing my business that I have created on etsy.com. I told myself that it not about how much money I could make, it’s about the contacts I’ll make and getting my name out there. It’s like the saying, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If no one knows I create beautiful images then no one will buy them either. So I went, I learned and I did enjoy it. Granted, it was a lot of work and stress like I’ve never had before. I’m glad I got the experience behind me. Will I do it again? Maybe, I mean I do have quite an inventory of luggage tags just sitting around my house now. What else am I going to do with 80 luggage tags?

10 Photo Card Templates for Photographers

I uploaded Damask Photoshop layered templates for Photographers. Here's a preview of the designs. This collection includes 3- 5x5, 4- 5x7 and 3- 7x5 flat card templates, with front and back designs.

10 Photo Card Templates for Photographers - Front and Back - Damask Black & White Baby Collection. These are available for instant download at my store

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10 fully layered birth announcement photo card templates in Photoshop (PSD) format. These cards are perfect for photographers to offer to your clients. Save time and work! All files are 300 dpi with bleed.

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PRODUCT DETAILS:

• 20 PSD measuring 5 in x 7 in or 5 in x 5 in.

• Clipping masks, easy to drop your photos in

• Easy to add text and all text can be changed

• Most colors can be changed to fit your needs

• Compatible with Photoshop CS2 and higher plus Photoshop Elements

Photography Showing July 10th

I have another photo that has been accepted this year into the Art Center of the Ozarks (ACO) http://www.artscenteroftheozarks.org/gallery.html. This will be my 6th year in a row to be accepted into to gallery.

Website redesign

I decided last year to finally hire a web designer to redesign my site. I hired Stewart Goodwin of GoodwinMedia.com. I have been designing my on websites for almost 10 years now, but it got to a point were I didn’t have the time needed to dedicate to the redesign. I’m really glad I made the plunge and paid the big bucks because his design is beautiful, clean and simple. It shows off the art really well and the site is SEO, search engine optimized. Take a look at www.bycheryl.com.

Glass Pendants

I’m getting ready for the craft fair with Unique Boutique of NWA. August 28^th will be here before I know it and I want to be as prepared as much as I can be. Last night I put up over 40 new designs for glass pendants to my etsy store. The wearable art is placed under glass and sealed to be water resistant. All art is original created only by me. I wanted people to have original wearable art instead of the other pieces that are out there that are using scrap booking paper. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it for you.

So Blessed Patterns

About a year ago I was commissioned by DaySpring Cards, a subsidiary of Hallmark, to design patterns that would be used in their specialty department which contains gifts in the Christian greeting card market. I was thrilled to be part of their plan for the future. I wanted to share with you a photo of the produced journal showing the patterns that I created.

Unique Boutique NWA

Join us for an antique and designer’s market at the Springdale Convention Center on August 28, 2010! There will be over 40 jury selected vendors at this event. It will be held at Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale at I-540 & HWY 412. Visit www.uniqueboutiquenwa.com for a sneak peak of some of the vendors. There will be original art, handmade dolls, hair bows, jewelry, photography, tutus and much more, you are sure to find what you are looking for. In the above image you'll see some of the items I'll be selling.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!

Holiday Card Templates

I designed this 7x5 Holiday Card Template for my own family and thought I would share my art with you.

I uploaded a Senior Photoshop photo card to By Cheryl Images go there to download the template for personal or professional use. This postcard template includes separate front and back files with bleeds as defined by most labs. Files are layered PSDs. Personalized text is editable for easy customization. Fonts are NOT included.

Photoshop Card Templates

I uploaded a Senior Photoshop photo card to By Cheryl Images go there to download the template for personal or professional use. The Photoshop templates are layered PSD files that you can use to easily create beautiful customized greeting cards/invitation/portraits for occasions or everyday. The sample shows that you can change the text to be applicable to your event. These photos were taken during a senior photo shoot in Texarkana.

Oh, excuse me I Tweeted

I illustrated and uploaded this to my CafePress store, www.cafepress.com/cherylbarton. An article in Layers Magazine by: Nancy Massé http://www.layersmagazine.com/social-media-twitter.html was my inspiration to draw this cute, but shy bird that has just tweeted and was a little embarrassed. The branch the little bird is on is from my Illustrator brush collection sold at: www.bycherylimages.com

I made it onto my favorite design blog! I'm so excited! Go to printpattern.blogspot.com and see two of my cards: The Love Tree and the Love Blocks.

Photography Showing

I have two photos that have been accepted this year into the Art Center of the Ozarks (ACO) http://www.artscenteroftheozarks.org/gallery.html. It is a great honor to be accepted because hundreds of photographers over a four state area are trying for the same gallery wall space. Vote and tell me which your favorite image is.

Featured in an article

My "Love Tree Print" has been published in the June issue of At Home In Arkansas Magazine, it's now on the newsstands or click here see the online version: http://www.athomearkansas.com/At-Home-Arkansas/June-2009/Cottage-Industry/

Gift Tags

I made a special order for a client on my etsy store for 30 tags. They turned out really cute! The tags have a lot of labor into making and I can’t decide if I want to sell them on the store to others or not.

Photoshop® class

I’m teaching a Photoshop® 101 class in Eureka Springs for Mid-America Photography Symposium www.mapsym.org. I want to have a class outline available for the participants and to share my newly launched website: www.bycherylimages.com. This site is dedicated to helping photographers and artists succeed and SAVE TIME! I created Photoshop Brushes, Illustrator Brushes and Vectors, Photo Card Templates and Seamless Backgrounds, all available for downloading. The Photoshop templates are layered PSD files that you can use to easily create beautiful customized greeting cards/invitation/portraits for occasions or everyday.

I did get to meet and hang out with Rick Sammon, he has published 33 books, including his latest, Rick Sammon’s Secrets to Digital Photography, Exploring the Light – Making the Very Best In-Camera Exposures, and Face to Face – The Complete Guide to Photographing People. He presents at Photoshop World, which Rick says is a “blast.” Rick also hosted five shows
on kelbytraining.com.

You can see photos by Rick at www.ricksammon.com.

Gallery

Go by Arsaga’s gallery and pick up my photography prints. It’s time to bring them home and get them ready for the next gallery. To my delight, I sold a print! Yeah! That will help out on the cost of printing and framing!