Saturday, December 14, 2013

Self Portrait in Illustrator






 Hey Y'all,

I wanted to share with you some of the pics I went through to get my self portrait for Illustrator. I hope to keep practicing. I am no where near perfect, nor will I ever be. I started out in a hurray, and realized that I could do better. I spent several hours on this until my eyes are telling me it is time for bed.

I hope you enjoy!



Saturday, December 7, 2013

FREEBIE!


                        Hey Y'all!
                        I would like to share with you three downloadable prints sized at 8x10 saved in
                        high-resolution. I was inspired by Harper Finch's newsprint paper that she put
                        out in Advent Day 4 of this year. I found the perfect graphics on The Graphics Fairy.                                  
                        Click HERE for a link to Santa. Links to each print are found below each graphic.









THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT! 



Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Keeping busy…

   I put way too much on my plate in the month of November. It has spilled into the month of December. Two major lessons were learned: from experience to stronger emotional being. I was also taking two classes about how to communicate through emotions and self-management. Thank goodness for those classes! I am an awkward person. Especially when it comes to talking. I can type my thoughts out, but talking is a whole different story.

   I am changing up my Etsy shop (sorry for so many changes in the last month). I originally got on there to sell custom Paintings…


   Until my little ones are older or if I had my own "craft" room, this was more trouble than I had bargained for. So, digital was my solution to tight spaces… right? 


   I spent roughly 8 hours. I did save it in almost 5 different formats. Including one of her face so that I could add it for maybe a future Paper Doll. That sounds like a good birthday gift! To think I still have to do Jake's Illustration. Where did this year go? I am going to do one of him as a Pirate and one as a Biker. It's going to be so much fun! 

   Anyway, the listing got almost zero views or repins from Pinterest. This month, I took it down. I'm hoping to put it back up (maybe with added shading or few additions) after I invest into a WACOM tablet of some sort. 

   So, there I began sharing my templates in PSD forms. That's where I am making my huge change in the Etsy shop. I had several buy and then inform me afterwards that they did not own Photoshop nor have a printer. I had to say No Refunds. I was very grateful and may have said THANK YOU from being overly excited when someone messaged me BEFORE purchasing to ask what programs she needed and what to do if she didn't have the fonts that were shown in the example. That's when I did a custom JPEG so that she could print anywhere needed be. Lesson number one learned.

    Now, I am focusing more on custom products. This includes for businesses AND clients. Custom logos, invitations, and other files will arrive in DIGITAL files in PNG, PDF, and JPEG form. If needed be, I would love to work with brochures, letterheads, and business cards. I also have options for custom printed products from WHCC, Millers Lab, and South Central Printing depending on the product. Needless to say, no more PSD files for a while.

   I will note that I am going to have to be harder on myself. I had a friend order cards, the day after they were being shipped to her house, she realized that the address was wrong. I chose to pay to get the package intercepted. Sadly, during this transaction: the package got lost! It took almost a week for UPS to confirm or deny if they had lost the package. Now, I'm reordering the cards. From now on, I'm having cards sent to my address, than I will personally ship it. *sigh* Lesson number two learned.


When I say I filled up my plate, I volunteered to paint a prop for a Christmas play. View the prop HERE! The original date of the play was canceled due to the weather, same as my son's first birthday party. We will be combining Ember and Jake's birthday parties this year. Due to the changes of date with the play, they were short handed. My husband and I were able to fill in as Mary and Joseph in the stable with baby Jesus and an Angel sitting above us. Layers of clothing and praying that God would watch over us, we were truly blessed! We even found a last minute baby sitter for the kids. I am hoping next year we will be able to help and volunteer more often.













Monday, December 2, 2013

Template Trouble.

Hey Y'all,

I want to say I am not an expert nor do I claim to be on Photoshop or Illustrator. I started dabbling with it in 2006 with Elements 8. Then progressed to CS3 with Yearbook and part-time newspaper. I mainly retouched photos and worked in InDesign with templates. It wasn't until 2011, I began reading and watching a lot of tutorials on how to create my own templates. Mainly to start a digital scrapbook of my newborn daughter and to make personal birthday invitations. Something to do as a hobby. It wasn't until this year I went back to college and decided to try to sell some of the templates I was making to help pay for college. I soon learned that it came with stress that I was not prepared for. The first template I sold, the person never responded so I worried if she liked it or not. Second person thought that the digital psd template was a frame that she would receive in the mailbox at home. I posted no refunds and tried to reword DIGITAL! PSD TEMPLATE! Just when I was about to take down all of my templates, I decided to wait. Sadly, I have had another person have issues with my template and ask for a refund. I am freelance and do not have a degree. I just know how to make a template ready for print, based on the tutorials and you tube videos I have watched. If I have a question, I generally turn there before I ask anyone else to see if it is a simple mistake. I opened up the template that my buyer had recently purchased and checked the clipping masks to see if there were any issues. I did notice that I had failed to clip mask two of my layers. As seen below.

That was my fault. 


 Layer one clipping mask worked like a charm. (For this example I didn't bother resizing at first.)


However, her question/problem was with the clipping mask on the two layers I had failed to clip mask.         Steps: Place > Right Click > Clipping Mask. 


I did notice that I had to make sure I check marked place BEFORE I could create the clip mask.


Once the clipping masks were made, I used command+t or CTRL+t to resize my image. This made my image go to the center of my template and seem to "disappear." I simply dragged back over to the box. 


                                                                Here is the complete result.



Once again: I am not an expert, I still consider myself a beginner to moderate user. I have very basic knowledge that allows me to create basic templates. I try not to use too many masks and overlays on the templates I sell. I would love to work with other Photographers and Crafters who enjoy the same interests I have. I don't want a competition in artworks. 

I stand by what I have posted on my Etsy: No refunds, especially digital items. 

The papers from this template were created by Harper Finch
She is such a creative gal and her papers are so much fun to work with. 

For now, I will try to continue to try to work with other Photographers and keep my templates up, however, I may be switching to only custom very soon. It would be my pleasure to work with you. 


Cyber Week!

Please Share! 


For a limited time: Now through Wednesday I'm having a Cyber Sale on my Etsy Shop































I hope to participate in more sales soon! This week is really the first sale and I'm nervous.

    Holiday stress is not being easy this year. It would be great to take a trip down to visit my friends and family in Arkansas or western Kentucky. I am feeling a little homesick. This weekend however my best friends Jammie and Colby are coming down to celebrate Jake's First Birthday! More updates soon!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Holiday Spirit!

Hello! 

Now that Halloween is over I can
really start posting pictures of what 
I am going crazy about. 

Yes! 

I am most certainly in the Holiday
Spirit! I can't wait! 


It started with this little guy. According to my 
husband I began talking in my sleep about a snowman
and to not let our ten month son get a hold of them. 

In my dream they were cut out for a Holiday Party.

Thing is… I don't go anywhere. Maybe next year!

So… I have turned the Snowman into a
HOLIDAY CARD for my future clients! 


For those who celebrate Christmas: 


I am in love with these Pop Out Cards from 


I am debating on selling them as templates. 
What do you think? 
 Only Customized/Printed versions will be available.

Take care! 


Friday, November 1, 2013

Inspiration


Hey! 

Last weekend my family and I went to the peddlers mall. I had really been 
considering getting into the craft fairs and setting up a booth. I'm going to try
 to start outside, but looking around I kept wandering what if I started inside? 

I started a board called Craft Fairs on Pinterest for ally little finds I am collecting. 

My ideas keep growing! 

Anyway while we were walking around The Peddlers mall I found a few neat things! 

An owl that I would love to decorate Embers room with. 


Barrel $50 idea - small outside table between two chairs.
 Enjoy coffee and mommy daddy time one day?


Small desk for kindergarten size: $15


Larger desk $18 props 


Three vintage suitcases $30 props


Wooden sleighs $20 each decor or props


Wooden canisters to compromise on decorating the kitchen $15


The splurge do the 
century if I could have a studio $210


I can dream! For now I'm thankful for what we have. 


With this much beauty I have to keep looking up.