Free to a good home! Graphics, clip art and more!

One of the best things about being connected to the internet is that there are so many more resources for your designery inspiration. Artists not only share by documenting their work with photos for inspiration, they even share their illustrations or backgrounds or patterns for you to use on your own art. I love the good will and generosity, plus it expands even further what anyone can create. I use Illustrator as my main design program, but you can import images into your Word program and get a creative invitation, notecard or greeting card with very little effort. Always, always read the copyright carefully. Designers are often quite liberal with usage but you don't want to be the reason this wave of generosity stops! I've done a few freebies myself and I keep them reserved for you on this page of my blog.

Here are some blogs and websites I have discovered that might be of interest to you.
Digital Freebies gives away a set of pattered digital "papers" every Friday. You could incorporate the backgrounds into an invitation or card.

Here is a beautifully drawn lace pattern from Sherry K. Designs. I was a little disappointed to find that I couldn't use this in my commercial work (invitations designed for you!) because I've been wanting a clean lace pattern. They are difficult to find and I'm not crazy enough yet to create one or digitally clean some clip art up. She also has a great paisley design.

These digital textures and wallpapers from Lost and Taken make great backgrounds for printed tags or even on blogs. Can you believe these people give this stuff away??

This website called Vintage Printable has a wonderful assortment of scanned vintage artwork, although as of yesterday I wasn't able to download them. I think I was having my own problem, though. Give it a try yourself. Isn't this peony gorgous? I wish I could use it on a fall wedding because of that rich red color but I have a problem mixing unseasonal flowers into my designs. It just goes against nature. ;o)

Another one of my favorite websites for creative juice and fun craft projects is called Just Something I Made with designer Cathe Holden. These ornate medallions would look great in a formal invitation setting. Think about putting your monogram inside with a date for a wedding logo that can be utilized in your favors, programs etc.

If that's not enough for you, there is a ridiculously huge list of free printables here. Now that you've got some inspiration, whatcha gonna do? Let me know if you use any of these sites.