Upcoming Releases

Hi, just wanted to post a picture of my latest library poster. Honestly, I was a little lost about what to do for Poetry Month. So somewhere in my head I hit upon the idea of a victorian lady's desk. I had to make a lot of elements and I have decided to create a set from them. I haven't made the papers yet, or even finished extracting the elements, but it'll be a big set when it hits the So Digital Shop. I'll also post an add-on as a freebie on this blog.

Corel Painter X

My digital pen came last week and I've been dying to really give it a try. It came with a free trial of Corel Painter X. I LOVE this program. Our library had a book on learning to use the program, so I brought it home and tried a few tutorials. From what I learned, I was able to make these "paintings" of Lola (in watercolor) and Sis (in oils.)

The program has an autopaint function where you tell it the brush type and medium and then it reworks the whole picture. Then you can go back and put in the details. That's where the digital pen was really fun to use. I like this program so much it's going on my Christmas list!

Creating a design team

I am going to try to start a design team using So Digitally Me Designs. I know I had the worst time finding a place to sell my designs, I finally had to make my own store, and it wasn't easy to figure out. So my plan is to offer anyone who would like a page a chance to sell on SDMD. I figure every designer can have their own page with links to their blogs and if there are more of us together, the site might get more hits. Oh, and maybe there will be collaboration kits in the future! Here's hoping that it works.

http://sodigitalshop.web.officelive.com/callingalldesigners.aspx

E-mail me if you're interested: sodigitallyme@gmail.com

Old Cowboy Freebie

Today I made this scrapbook page for one of my friend's fabulous photos. I tried my hand at masking the picture to age it. I think I did pretty good. I definately want to learn more about making masks, my program's tutorials aren't always the most clearly written. Anyway, I couldn't find the right alpha in my downloaded files, so I created this one. I hope you all like it. I call it Old Cowboys because it is made with a rust background and a font called Bleeding Cowboys. I beveled it to give it some dimension, but the shadow is for display only. Enjoy!

I might be a caffeine junkie.

I think I might be a caffeine junkie. I sometimes have a cup of coffee & cocoa mixed at work on break. On days that I don't work, I rarely make a pot of coffee and I tend to drag. I read in National Geographic once that your brain developes a physiological need for the caffeine to enable it to function properly, thus it is addictive.

For me, I sometimes confuse days that are dragging for depression. I don't really think I'm depressed, I am just tired and a little bummed because no one made it to women's group. This week is spring break and I imagine everyone is super busy. It isn't a huge-big deal, it's just hard to remember why I started this group when very few people come regularly. But I must remind myself that summer will be better. Maybe we can find a new time when more moms can come.

I'm also slightly bummed because no one has bought my first kit yet. But, I did some addition last night and my freebies have been downloaded 586 times by people -- pretty good for just starting a couple of months ago.

On a bright note, I'm excitedly awaiting my digital pen that I ordered last week, my new laptop desk and the books on digital graphic design that the library ordered for me.

Grand Opening & Freebie!

I am excited to announce that my store is open for business! My first kit is in the So Digital Shop. I was inspired by memories of playing games with my family as a kid and by watching my kids play games. It's called Family Game Night. It has 7 12x12 papers, all 300 dpi. It also has a ton of elements (visit the store for more details!) The elements are also 300 dpi .png files. Here are the previews:


For larger previews, drop by the So Digital Shop!I am also happy to show you the preview for the Family Game Night Add-On. This set includes a set of circus-themed cards, a coordinating paper, some really fun monkeys and a ribbon. The monkey is actually one I found on the ground one day while I was at the park with my kids! Enjoy! Click on preview to download!

Store Opening Soon!

I am so excited to have my own store opening soon. I am working on some full kits -- don't worry, the freebies will still be coming. I can't wait for this. It'll be exciting and hopefully people will buy my stuff, how embarassing would it be if NO ONE bought my stuff!! I'm also excited because I found a great digital pen set on Amazon for $43.99. That's half of what I was saving up to buy one from Wal-Mart. I'm going to get an Amazon card this weekend and buy it, then I'll have to suffer the agony of waiting for it to get here. Wish me luck!

The machine is fixed!

It turns out the whole washing machine fiasco was because the belt broke. My husband says the loads I do are too large. I guess I'll be doing smaller loads more often since we can't afford a new machine. Although I did have a few fantasies about one of those new high efficiency washer/dryer sets...*sigh*

Freebie & a broken washing machine?

Well, I have an alpha set for you. It's called Blue Toille. I love toille, it's so lovely. This set includes Upper Case, Lower Case, Punctuation, Numbers and 13 flourish extras. I hope you enjoy them. They are 3D but not shadowed, and I made them using a 6x6 canvas, so they are large and look great once downsized to suite your needs. It's a big set and I hope they make your day!

Oh, and I forgot. I broke the washing machine today. I have 2 kids and so I do 3 loads of laundry twice a week. Plus extra on mornings that Lola's bed is soaked through. I think it might just be a broken hose, but the set is 10 years old, or more, and we've had to replace the agitator twice. And I've noticed the dryer doesn't always work. If washer/dryer sets were free I'd be really excited at the prospect of getting new ones. Unfortunately, they are not free and this is not the time to go out and spend a ton of money.

Just rambling

Sorry, no freebies today, but I am working on a new set. It's called Odds and Ends. I was cleaning out my office, where I do my traditional scrapbooking. I pulled all kinds of little items from my drawers and bottles and scanned them. I think there are at least 13 different keys, coins, pins, cards, game pieces, frames, paper clips, some pictures, things I've found on the ground -- it sounds weird, but it's going to be so cool! The whole set is going to be a fun mix of items. I personally don't make pages all from one set, I mix and match items as it suits my needs, so a little bit of everything can be really fun. I hope it will be out soon, but this weekend I need to put together a poster for the library. It's going to be Art Appreciation. I wonder if we had a contest where people could fill out a form telling me as many names of paintings or the artists and then submit it. What would they win?....More news at 11...hehehe

2 Free Alphas today

Here are a couple of alphas I made. They are cute and fun, I think they'd look great on a summer page. Enjoy! Just one .zip file for the two alphas.

VIRUS!!!!

Oh my gosh, I am so sick of viruses. I had troubles around new years and yesterday I picked up one that my virus program didn't stop. I finally figured out (with the help of a friend from work) how to restore to settings from Saturday, before I contracted the virus. It worked and I think back to all the times I've wiped my hard drive, not knowing how easy it could be to fix it. I guess that's life though. I won't forget this little lesson!

I don't understand the point of viruses and software designed to screw up other people's computers. Why must people be so mean? Is it just a sick joy for them? How sad that they don't know the joy of being kind to others. I guess that's why it's important to pay favors back and forward. Showing kindness is contagious, I am a big believer in that.

Anyway, enough ranting. I'm tired and I've set a goal to try to get to bed earlier. So I'm going to do my best. Night all, and I hope you are virus free!

My Princess Freebie

I found these great princesses on Microsoft Clip Gallery and I thought they'd make great word art. I did have to recolor a couple to get a blonde princess and a brunette princess, but they turned out nicely. I tried to be politically correct in naming the files...it's hard to know exactly how to say different nationalities.

Click on the picture to download this set!

Do or do not. There is no try.

Okay, the kids have been influenced by their dad's love of Star Wars. We even have our own "youngling" jedi in training. Check out this short video.