Cultiver Goes Digital !

People from all over the globe can now have the wonderdful  Cultiver- Indie arts & design experience digitally,  via the store's delightful Cultiver Christmas app available for only $0.99 at iTunes. 

The lovely ladies at Cultiver, together with  Tangible Media,  have joined together to create the first I hope of many, delightfully interactive publications.  Cultiver is an eco-ethical, handmade fashion, accessories and homewares store located here in Ipswich, Queensland - which specialises in ethically sourced, handmade products from local and Australian artisans.  

The 2012 Christmas issue,  entices readers with creative design and beautiful photography, and includes innovative and interesting interactive elements. Content includes craft tutorials, a recipe, movie review, poetry, an interview with a craftisan, a developing photographic storyline to unfold in future issues, and a blend of hidden surprises.

Are you creatively-minded, inquisitive and have a sense of humour? If so, then this is the magazine for you.

Buy it once and receive their Christmas specials for free in the coming years!

Cultiver Xmas for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store


Hop on over to iTunes and check it out.... 

Having a Hoot!!

Hi there,
I don't know about where you are at the moment, but here in sunny Brisbane, Australia it is a very hot and humid day.  Great for sitting inside, in the airconditioning and working on some new designs to share with you.
My owls from last week have now taken pride of place on these Birthday Card graphics that I have made.  Suitable for both adults and children, these owls look so cute - especially Mr Owl in his tie!!
Feel free to download these images for use on your own cards, I would love to see the results!

Select the link below the picture to be taken to the download site.

cheers
Grace.

Download png file

Christmas Cards Ready to Send

Here are a few of the Christmas Cards I have created using the Free Christmas Downloads I am giving away.  If you haven't been over to collect your freebies please hop over to the Freebies page on my Website and check them out. Hope you like them :)

An Owl Family for you

The lovely Terri, over at Cocoa Mint has been assisting me with setting up my own little digi downloads.  I love the simplicity and clean lines of her work, it's really worth having a look at her store if you like cute and simple designs.
Here are a couple of owls, complete with fashion accessories, that I have created for you to download for FREE!! Just select the hyperlink below and off you go. If this is your first time downloading with 4shared, you will need to register - but it is a pretty simple once only task.  The download includes png and jpg files of all the items you see in the image below.

Please leave me a comment if you download the files. As I am pretty knew to all this I would really appreciate your feedback/suggestions regards the download process. If there are any issues with the files please leave a comment and I will get onto it straight away.

Owl Family digital images

Download here 

Enjoy these little cuties,
Cheers,
Grace

Frames for you

I have been chatting to the lovely Terri from the beautiful Cocoa Mint store.  She makes beautiful clip art and has been kindly sharing her creative process with me, which I truly appreciate.  Here are a couple of frames that I created today after watching a small video that Terri sent me.  I'm loving these frames, so simple to create in Illustrator, and great to use on cards, scrapbook layouts, and basically anywhere you need to place a label - I'm thinking I gotta go buy some home-made jam just to create a tag for the jar!

If you would like to download the png or ai file of these frames, please select your option below.  If this is your first time downloading from 4shared you will need to go through a quick registration process before you can download, but I promise it isn't too painful, and it is a once only job.

Hope you like the frames as much as I enjoyed creating them for you.

Frames for you to download. 

   PNG files : download
   Ai file: download

Tis the season...

A couple of days ago I posted some images that I had created using Illustrator here on my blog, as well as on the Papier Mouse Design website and offered them as freebies for you to download.  A couple of people asked me what to actually do with the images once they were downloaded .... well here is a sample of how I used them....

It is such a great feeling to see the end product of something that I totally made myself! Well everything except for the gorgeous vector doily I used on the red card. The doily was a free download from Shutterstock, I added the text and another little tree that I created.
I also included a personalise message on the inside of the card ... when you have 5 sons, 3 significant others and one grandchild to include...writing all those names can get quite tiresome after the first few cards.

The image files used on the two white cards in the above image have been saved as png files.  This allows for  transparency, just incase you wish to overlap the images or print on coloured card stock.  I used Adobe InDesign to create my cards - but realistically you could easily create them in Word if you feel more comfortable with that.

So go ahead and download the images ( free downloads ) ... I would love to see what you create.
cheers
Grace

BTW ... the Freebie page over at the Papier Mouse Designs website contains the baubles image, as well as  another Chrissy download as well :)

Free Download trial

Hi there,
I've been busy creating a number of Christmas images for you to use on cards, decorations, gift tags... basically whatever you like.  As this whole 'creating things for people to download' is new to me I would love it if you had a go at downloading the items and let me know if I have set things up correctly.
Here are my first two items... hope you like them

 

and here are the links: 

Merry Christmas (B/W) www.4shared.com

Season's Greetings (coloured) www.4shared.com

Critical Damage: Announcing "Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line"

Critical Damage: Announcing "Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line"
My son, Brendan, has written an amazing piece of writing that is soon to be his first published ebook.  Hop on over to his blog and check it out!

Pets and Fireworks do not mix!!

by Rom@in



OK people of Brisbane, Australia .... tonight the amazing fireworks spectacular that is  Riverfire  will be lighting up the sky over our beautiful city.  While we all 'ooohh and ahhh" at the millions of dollars going up in smoke, please PLEASE, please, don't forget about that member of your family who will probably absolutely freak out with all the noise.
Your dog, cat, guinea pig, bird .... whatever pets you have, need particular care and attention this evening - even more so if you are intending on leaving the poor little bugger alone at home to experience 'the end of the world' on his or her own.

Please take a look at  the RSPCA's Facebook page   which has some great ideas for how you can keep your pet calm and safe this evening.

 

Touching Base

Hi all,
Just thought I would pop on over to my blog and update you with my goings on.  My lil' Graphic Design business Papier Mouse is now up and running, hence my absence from my trusty blog  over the last few weeks.  
I hope to start a Papier Mouse Blog in the near future.  I really want to create a place for creative people to visit and share information about all aspects of creative design.  I'm planning on offering up to date industry relevant information,  as well as some FREE downloads for people.  
One thing that I have really valued in the past couple of years, as I have traveled on my creative journey, is the support and overwhelming positiveness that I have experienced from fellow crafters - both professionals and newbies alike.
I am so looking forward to being able to take a running leap into 'becoming creative' that I can't wait to have more time to spend actually making things and sharing them with you all.
At the moment my number one priority is my studies.  I am over half way through my Diploma of Graphic Design at BNIT, and I have learnt so much over the past year! I have some wonderful teachers, and a great bunch of fellow students to bounce ideas off.  My one regret is that my time management skills are not what they should be, and I tend to let myself get overwhelmed with assessment items.  I am a perfectionist, and I don't apologies for that, but it really saps the energy to 'do my best' in every subject all of the time.  I know I need to learn to prioritize, and this is a goal that I am working towards every day.

So thanks for hanging around, and visit my website (which will be overhauled in the near future, hopefully) and see what I have been up to.

I'd love to hear from anyone out there who can give me some pointers in free-lancing. I'm open to all suggestions :)

cheers
G

Adobe Roadshow hits Brisbane

I spent the day being totally blown away by the guys from Adobe at their CS6 Rocks Roadshow today at the Sofitel in Brisbane.

It was great to see new and upcoming applications such as Muse and Edge, as well as some great timesaving and mind-blowing improvements to the already fantastic Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and InDesign.  

My head was spinning with the ease that these guys used these programs to highlight the features, so much to go through in only one day meant it was a matter of 'blink and you'll miss it'. I certainly can't wait to get my hands on CS6 and have a play for myself.

Meanwhile I'll just plod along on my CS5.5 - which until today I was extremely contented with.

Talk about dangling the carrot Adobe!!

My "Flash" New Site!

Hi there, I thought it was about time I showed you what has been keeping me away from my little blog.  I've been completing a number of tasks for TAFE and this is a pic of what I've been working on today. 

This is the home page for another website that I am creating using Adobe Flash - which is a fantastic animation and multimedia application.  There will be 4 or 5 pages in total, and they will be animated to swipe off the page when the navigation (signpost) is activated.  My process starts of by creating each page as a separate layer in one Photoshop document. I then export it to Flash and add animation and coding to make it interactive - pretty cool huh?

The Home page of my Flash website.

I am constantly amazing myself with all the new skills I am learning at TAFE - but I have to admit that sometimes my head runs out of 'memory space' and I have a bit of trouble locating the files in my head from last semester! I wish I could upgrade my own memory a couple of RAM...:)

I also have another website under construction that will contain heaps of relevant information regarding Online Marketing Tips for businesses. The content of the site will be a combination of information gathered by my TAFE class. 

Well, back to work... I must admit to being very busy, but absolutely loving it!

G

*bespoke* Issue #7

I am so thrilled to be a part of the current edition of  *bespoke* magazine which will start appearing in stores next week.  I received my copy today in the post and it looks simply amazing!! I will definitely be devouring this before I head to bed tonight!

You can find my article '"We Love Ipswich"  on page 27, where I chat too the lovely ladies from cultiver  , The.Gift.Tree, Mimmis and The Handmade Markets .

These four stores are all located in and around the Ipswich region and are just part of why I love this town.  The creativity we have here constantly surprises me. If you live in South East Queensland and love quality handmade crafts then Ipswich is definitely a place you must visit.

Check out my article in Issue #7 of *bespoke*, or visit the individual links to the stores mentioned for locations and contact details.

Cultiver

The Gift Tree

Heading Home....

Just a short note while I am sitting at Newcastle airport.  Heading home after a fantastic weekend visiting friends and family.  Every time I come down to this area of NSW it reminds me of how much I love it!! And now that my sis and best mate are down here, it makes it so much the better :)
I discovered Warners Bay on the Sunday morning.  A gorgeous town with beautiful parkland and a bike-way right along the edge of the lake.  I don't think I have ever seen so many cyclists as I did on my drive from Newcastle to the Central Coast!
Who knows maybe if I move here I could get fit too? It certainly is a beautiful place for walking and cycling.

Action!!!

Well, Adobe Flash using Action Script 3 to be precise. In my first lesson of Commercial Web Design today we created a (very) short video.  It is a Flash animation, and while it looks very basic I'm so pleased that I understood what I was supposed to do.  Enough so that when I got home from TAFE I kept fiddling with it and added extra bubbles and seaweed all on my own.

My next step is to create one of those annoying little ads that we all choose to ignore on web pages.   I call them 'Digital Junk Mail' but my lecturer assures me that studies have shown them to be an effective form of advertising.

Personally, I am thinking Blinkies .  We have all seen the flashy, sparkly ones... but I am going to try my hand at creating something with a bit more style, just like the ones at The Shabby Shoppe  which I think are super sweet !

Abbey Medieval Festival

Lords and ladies,

My good sir and I have spent the last few days attending The Abbey Medieval Festival, in Caloundra. It was an amazing celebration of all things Medieval, held annually during the first week in July, this award winning event is the biggest Medieval Festival and Jousting Tournament in Australia. 

To be honest - being a Festival Virgin (aka my first time in attendance) I wasn't sure what to expect, yet I joined in with the rest of the family in wearing medieval attire and enjoyed myself immensely.  

The week long festival started with a Kids Day where my youngest squires attended archery workshops, practiced spinning wool and marvelled at the weaponry on show. For the more genteel folk there was gypsy dancing classes, crown decorating, fencing classes and heaps of other activities for the children to participate in. 

The weekend festival was certainly the highlight of the week, the public is free to wander the bustling marketplace (I spotted some gorgeous silver jewellery and medieval fashions for sale) and it was so easy to lose ourselves amongst the colourful tents of the medieval re-enactors’ encampments where campfires certainly warmed up a rather overcast day. Turkish Oil Wrestlers, colourful dancers, Viking raiders, nobles and peasants wandered the grounds inviting spectators to participate in a wide range of events.

Here are a few photos we took over the weekend.  Hope you like them…

Kids Day Activity

Do they come in a smaller size ?

Special Cake for a Special Occasion

I absolutely adore this gorgeous cake created by my very talented niece Renee from Cake Haven.  She was lucky enough to attend a workshop with the talented Cake and Chocolate extrodinairre, Julie Whitehead from Julie Whitehead Cakes, and this is the beautiful creation Renee made on the day.
Renee has created many stunning cakes for friends and family over recent years, here are a couple of my favourites.... Renee lives on the beautiful New South Wales northern coast and is happy to create her magical cakes for people in Brisbane as well.  Check out Cake Haven's Facebook page for more details.

Perfect Baby Shower Cake!!

A Spooktacular Cake!!

What a great cake for a Star Wars junkie!!

Short and sweet....

Sometimes you don't really need to say very much to mean a lot.  And that's what I liked about this short and simple quote I have used in today's design.  Apart from creating the PNG file with the transparent background making it easier to use on whatever backing you like, I also had a bit of a play with it in Photoshop.  I used a great textured background, one of the many I have gathered over the years, and layered the word art on top.  By using filters and adjusting fill and opacity levels I think I have given the saying a well worn look.  What do you think?

Words Worth Titles....

Just a quick post to show another of my Word Worth creations, and how I used it as a title for this (very quick) digital layout I created.

Once I imported the title image into Photoshop I was able to recolour it, as well as adding texture and a drop shadow.  Hope you like it...

I love words!! I love reading, writing, poetry, ... all of that kinda stuff.  I love playing with words, and I love decorating with them too.

I've been collecting quotes for as long as I can remember.  Even as a child I used to scribe any gems I came across in books I read or songs I heard.  I have memories of sitting in my bedroom with my portable tape recorder playing and stopping songs line by line, so I could write down the lyrics just right!!

My love of words is now combined with my love of creating.  I've started to have a play with creating PNG files for use with digital scrapbooking.  My first hurdle has been familiarising myself with the suite of programs I am using to create them.  That mastered I am now thrilled to share them with you.

My next hurdle is working out how to allow you to download them for your own use... that one I am working on.

In the meantime here are a couple I created today and some layouts to show you how they can be used.

I would love some feedback on them.

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Footer update

Well it seems I can't leave well enough alone.  After completing my Portfolio Website for TAFE, I am still fiddling to get it just right.  One of my friends suggested I create a footer with a bit more kick (like the ones seen over at Smashing Magazine). These creations are so much more  than just a by-line and  date, so I took up her challenge and here is the result of my efforts.
 

Unfortunately though, I just don't have the html/css knowledge to make it behave exactly how I want it to (a bit like my parenting skills atm…. But that’s another story).

So my final result is a bit plainer for the moment, but I have set myself the challenge to figure yet a way to get my footer how I want it, eventually.

Pop on over to My Portfolio Site and see what I came up with and let me know what you think.