If you're not into creating your own graphics or images but would like to make printable crafts there are many websites who offer graphics for purchase to use on your projects.
Restored Vintage Art/Photos
Digitally Created Graphics
Ready Made Printables
Royalty Free Images
Several of them will even allow you to sell your finished products using their graphics for profit. Read their "Terms of Use" pages for details or contact the website owner if you're not sure. You can also search for other such sites using terms such as "clip art", "printables", and "graphics".
One downside to this is that the graphics are usually not free. Another is that there's a good chance the graphics have been sold to many, many other people making your printables not as unique as you would like them to be.
Designing your own graphics:
If you would like to design your own graphics there are several computer programs such as Corel, Photoshop and others. Each of these programs do come with their own tutorials and support websites. There are also many user groups and forums filled with people who are most willing to teach you the basics of these programs.
Creating your own graphics means you don't have to buy any licencing fees, pay royalties or possibly deal with copyright violations. Not only can you use the graphics in any manner you choose, you can also start a nice business of selling your graphics through the Internet and other sources.
There are also drawbacks to this method also. If you don't already own a graphics/painting program, you can find yourself spending hundreds of dollars to acquire one. And unless you're a quick study or have taken classes, it can take weeks to learn them.
There are two ways you can use your own photography in your printed crafts projects
:
1) Scan photos you have taken with a film camera (35 mm for example) onto your hard drive with a scanning program and edit them with a graphics program. "All In One" inkjet printers have this software ready to use. If you don't have this type of printer, take your photos to a friend who does or your local copy center and have them scan the images direct to a CD. This way all you'll have to do is open the image file from your computer.
2) Use a digital camera to take pictures and upload them directly to your computer for editing. I used a couple of my own digital photos from my camera for the fabric postcard project.
Important: To keep you safe from copyright infringement problems, I do not recommend using graphics or images you have found on the Internet or scanned from printed matter unless they are from the sources that I have outlined above. I know some people will tell you it's OK if you are using it for personal use (not profit), but you still need to get the owner's permission in writing. If you're not sure about the source of the graphics, don't use them.
