Pages

Monday, January 31, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110131-16


Trust the still, small voice that says, "this might work and I'll try it."
- Diane Mariechild

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Sunday, January 30, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110130-15


Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.
- Mother Teresa

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Saturday, January 29, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110129-14


Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
- Albert Einstein

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Friday, January 28, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110128-13


It wasn't enough to be positive, focused, and fearless, I had to take action! Musicians say that the hardest part of practicing is taking the instrument out of the case. To begin is to be half done!
- Joey Reiman

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Thursday, January 27, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110127-12


We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.
- Ben Sweetland

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110126-11


The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110125-10


And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.
- Antoine de Saint Exupery

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Monday, January 24, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110124-9


"Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to This Day."
- Sanskrit Proverb

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Sunday, January 23, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - printable kindwords greeting cards day 1- 8


Hurray! The kindwords cards from A Year of Fortune Cookies series are now available as printable greeting cards as well!

But this is special. Everyone can see the preview above, but the downloadable pdf file is only available for Amretasgraphics Newsletter subscribers. And on Amreta's Graphics personal page on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/amreta.amretasgraphics )

Take it as my special Thank You for being lovely subscribers and Facebook friends :o)

So, if you haven't yet been member of Amretasgraphics Newsletter or friend on Facebook, now it's the time!

The link to where you can download the pdf file will be mailed every 8 days with my newsletter. Please remember however that you will not get it right away when you submit your new subscription (it's not part of the 'welcome' package), but if you miss the newsletter, you will still get the links with the next newsletters. Or, if you are my friend on Facebook, check my wall and you'll see I post the links there. There's nothing to worry ;o)

Enjoy the graphic goodness my friends!

Like this goodie? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110123-8


"The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words
return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy."
- Florence Scovel Shinn

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Graphic Goodness Exercises 2: Kindwords Cards


Hello!

Until today I have created seven kindwords cards for my new series, A Year of Fortune Cookies, and I already feel so energized. Loooooove it! I got this excitement of looking out 'fortune cookie words' each day, and sometimes I just felt like it was the words who found me. I guess it's true what people always say..."energy flows where attention goes".

Anyway, now we come to the Graphic Goodness Exercises 2...making Kindwords Cards! Whoohoo!

Now, if you already practiced alot with the Graphic Goodness Exercises number 1, it will be very easy. This time, we'll also use my Rose Bears webset for sample. If you haven't got the webset, you can get it for free with newsletter subscription, here.

Okay, let's start :-)

One. Open Adobe Photoshop program, prepare the Rose Bears webset.

Two, create a new working board on Photoshop. Set it to 640 x 480 pixels. We are going to create a patterned background. Choose one patterned tile from my Rose Bears webset, open it on Photoshop. Click on the menu 'select' 'all', then copy and paste it into the working board.


Just like what you have learned from GGE 1, either repeatedly paste the tile or duplicate the layer. Put them in a row covering the working board. To make it quick, you can also merge several layers, then duplicate.

When the entire working board is covered, flatten the image (or merge the layers).


Voila! You get the patterned background ready!

Three. Create another working board, only now smaller. Let's reduce it from the first working board by 60pixels both the width and length, which means make a 580 x 420 px working board. Choose one tile you want to use for the second background. Then, using this tile, repeat step two.


Four. When the second working board is ready, select all, copy and then paste it to the first working board. It's normally centered automatically.


Five. To give a cutout effect (which i love!), see I apply shadow here (click 'layer' - 'layer style' - 'drop shadow')


Six. Now I want to put a fancy transparent tape on the working board. Here's how I make it:

Repeat step two with another graphic tile..but only a small one, let's say 100 x 50 pixels. Then copy and paste and place it at the top of the working board, like taping the first and the second background together.


Oh, then I wanted to rotate it a little bit. You still remember how to use the 'free transform' tools, right?


Next step, I want to make it transparent. Again, use the 'layer style' function and use 'blending options' as shown on the image above. A blending toolbox will pop up and see below I changed the green tape's opacity to 50% (blend mode: normal).


Yay! The card background is now ready!! :-)

Seven. Using 'type tool', now you can add your text. For this kindwords cards I also drop 35% shadow to the text.


Eight. This time I use my graphics to decorate the card. Very easy exercise...just choose the graphics from the Rose Bears webset, for example. Open one, select all, copy, paste it to the working board.


And I also drop the rose graphic 35% shadow to give the cutout feel...


Okay, ready!!! If you follow these steps..congratulations!

Now you know how to use my websets to create cards, in addition to the cutout graphics you've learned earlier in Graphic Goodness Exercises 1. Certainly now you can combine both! Isn't that exciting? :-)



Do-It-Your-Way challenge this week
  • do a lot of practice and create as many kindwords cards repeating these exercises as you enjoy doing it :o))) 
  • create your own {fortune cookie - kindwords cards} series
  • share the cards online. blog it or post it on facebook. share it (or share the link to your blog) also on www.facebook.com/amretasgraphics . Spread the good energy!
  • be grateful and celebrate each time you complete the exercises! :o)

Have a graphic goodness today!

Like this kindwords card exercise? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110122-7


The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
- Oprah Winfrey

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Friday, January 21, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110121-6


You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take.
- Wayne Gretsky

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Thursday, January 20, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110120-5


No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110119-4



Losing something can really be a win. When you have lost an item, perhaps it was not to be supposed to be in your life anymore and the universe is telling you that you are ready for something new and better.
- Marie Diamond

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110118-3


The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth".
- Dan Rather

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Monday, January 17, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110117-2


"To practice means to perform, in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired."
- Martha Graham

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Year of Fortune Cookies - Kindword Card 110116-1


"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
- Rumi

Like this kindwords card? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


A Year of Fortune Cookies


Yay! Soon we enter the Chinese Golden Rabbit Year and I'm inspired to...well...have something related to it on Amretasgraphics to share with you my lovely readers :-)

A little secret: I love what comes to my inbox daily. I subscribe to a few inspiring newsletters and tidbits and some of them, most of the time, made me smile and at least a few seconds of mood boosting that could last all day. Sometimes more. Isn't that great?

And yesterday, I just got a thought of opening a personal account on Facebook for Amretasgraphics... and I oh so love it! I can now connect with my readers personally. How wonderful it is to get to know my lovely graphic friends! :-))))

Once I opened the 'home' of Amretasgraphics personal account... I stumbled upon a fortune cookie application by a friend, and so I clicked and voila! An encouraging word popped up on the screen. It was "Believe in yourself and others will too"

Okay, so this is my intention: I'll pick some encouraging words I encounter that really shoot me to the soul each day. And post it on the blog and Facebook. And Twitter (my Facebook account and Twitter are interconnected). Of course, using various graphics of my very own creation (talking about sharing good energy, my friends! :-)). And this is intended (and now scheduled) for a year long, 365 days of fortune cookies.

If you like the idea, you can also use this as a fabulous 'excuse' to practice the Graphic Goodness Exercises ;-) The Chinese new years focus on prosperity, good fortune, overall wellbeing, health and luck. Love it. And I'd like to have a little adventure in that. Interested in coming along? ;-)

A grand journey always starts with a small first step. Here's mine:

from fortune cookie 110115

from fortune cookie 110116

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy New Year and Love Bears Prints


Hello everyone! Happy New Year!!!

Now, I hope you are starting new year with a lot of good energy. It's going to be an amazing, creative year! (oh yes I believe that! :D)

What are your goals for 2011? I met my seniors at work, those whom I call 'mentors' on new year and we had an exciting talk about a fabulous year ahead of us and besides the dreams, they inspired me to plan. Does it sound so simple, or typical new year: dreaming, goals, and planning?

Oh well, probably. Only you have to know this: (ok, a confession) I used to have a lot of wishes on new years, but never a real plan *blush*. I was too afraid to make resolutions or to set goals, damn scared that I would never ever be able to keep my own words and would just then disappoint myself.

I learned to expect nothing, believing that good things would come when they come.

To be honest again, my friends, now I see I made a terrible mistake. I simply didn't know where to go with my business as I didn't set my own chart, and so life took me nowhere. Sure I had made some nice things and created some 'ups' such as overcoming the troubles with the server, trying out social media. But I felt like I was just wandering around the web world, took a taste of this and that with no further follow up. Was it the adventurer in me? Who knows, but I felt like a clueless wanderer ;-)

Sounds miserable? Hehe, I admit that's what I felt. So thankfully the right people came to rescue. I really love my mentors. They have such positive energy and didn't see my past 'mistakes' as 'mistakes', they are 'lessons'. And the more painful the 'mistakes', it means the bigger the 'lessons'. As long as you can see it. And take an immediate, inspired action to walk, or even run pass them. Armed with the learned-lessons, you're sure going to go ahead and further. That is the importance of planning. It's to determine the baby steps toward your goals. It's soo good to have a person (or many) who believes in you! :-)

One more thing, now I came to conclusion too, that enjoying the present doesn't always mean you just go with the flow and expect nothing. I have learned, you get what you expect. If you expect nothing, you tend to do nothing, and nothing is what you get. So I turned around my belief: I will always expect the best. That way, I will always do the best I can, and whatever the end-result will be, I have trust it's the best.

Wow, are you with me? :-))))) In short, I would like to do the business right in 2011, and still very enjoyable :-)))) Though first of all creating graphics and websites is only a hobby and after-work-hours thing, but I've decided to take my mentors' advice seriously: not take it like a hobby! It's business, honey, a very important part of your living.

Now I remember my dad... a contemporary artist who was very true to himself until his last moments on Earth. Never a single moment I remember that he took painting like a hobby. He gave it all his best. When he died in 2004, former students of his told the media that as a teacher, he used to assign his students to create 1000 sketches per day. And he would oversee the them. Talk about hard work and self discipline!

With such role model and in this case, I agree with choreographer Twyla Tharp, the author of "The Creative Habit". As the book title says: creativity is a habit, and habit requires hard work, perseverance, and self discipline. And guess what, there is not even one prominent artist who didn't work hard. I was particularly fascinated by one passage of the book where Twyla Tharp talked about Mozart. Everyone thought that his music just came out of his genius mind like a gift from Heaven (indeed it was) - but not everyone knows that he too, had to work so very hard, practice with incomparable self discipline that when he came to his thirty years old his hands were deformed (true, I didn't know that!).

Sure I don't want my hands to be deformed after so much practice...but I do admire the hard work and self discipline. By writing this I want to use this as a reminder to myself ;-)

Ok done now with the talk and let's go to the first Amretasgraphics goodies of the year 2011!!

I see my previous Happy Bears Prints are among the favorite download from the previous years so I decided now they come back by popular demands :-)

Love has always been a favorite subject so here they are the Love Bears Prints, to start 2011, with love <3

 I made two similar cards with two different polka dot background variations (one green and one pink), the same graphics for two A4 size prints, and A3. Aw, I think I need to run to a printing shop to print the A3 size poster...I want one to decorate my room :-))

 I hope you like them, too! Find below the download links. The files are in PDFs.

 XOXO Amreta


Love Bears Cards

Love Bears Print - A4 size:
- green polka dot background
- pink polka dot background

Love Bears Print - A3 size:
- green polka dot background
- pink polka dot background


Feel like lovin' these goodies? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!


    follow me on Twitter