More Digital Downloads

I am a digital paper-making machine, Guys!

I've been having so much fun tonight playing around with color.

I figured that since I said that my first set of digital papers was part of my "Hollow Circles Series - Matte,"  and "Hollow Circles Series - Shimmer" I better have more than one, so it actually is a series, right?

So, Voila!  Here you go!

I added two more to my "Matte" series:

And two to my "Shimmer" series:

Fun, fun!  : )

*NEW* Digital Downloads Now Available!

Yay - I did it!

I finally have digital downloads available in my Etsy shop!

And one of the best things about them - they're INSTANT!

That means that when someone places an order, I don't have to do a thing! 

My happy little creation just magically gets delivered to their email.

This is going to be fun!

I'm kicking off my digital downloads with 3 lovely packs of Digital Paper - perfect to use in scrapbooking, creating photo albums, greeting cards, invitations, announcements, websites, banners, and more!

Ta Da!  : )

Inspiration is Everywhere!

Isn't it amazing how inspiration can be found anywhere, if you start to open your eyes?

It's incredible, really.

If you don't believe me, just go outside, pick up the first leaf that you see, and look closely at the texture.  Then pick up another leaf. 

It's different, right?  Sometimes it's only different by a little bit, but it's still unique.

Design and art and beauty are all around us.  I love it!  : )

Like the other day, I was wearing this pink, ruffled, sequin shirt.  Here, I scanned it in, so you can see:

For some reason, I've always been drawn to circles.  I just love them! 

So, I looked down at my shirt, and was just fascinated by the repeating pattern of the circles, and how the light caught each sequin at a different intensity and made the shirt shimmer and shine with a rich texture.  "Hmmm, how could I create a digital version of this to use in my art?"  I thought to myself.

Well, here you go:

I started with my original circle file, which I told you about in my last post.  I then selected random circles through-out the pattern, and changed the color, to give it that shimmery look.

Ta da!  Ooo, the possibilities!  I could have so much fun with this!

Good news for you, too.  It's going to be for sale later this week in my Etsy shop!  I'll keep you posted!  : )

Slowly Learning Adobe Illustrator

I just have to say that learning Adobe Illustrator is so dang hard!

I've been using Adobe Photoshop for years, but with the direction that my art was going, I realized that I needed to learn Illustrator as well.  I thought to myself, "Hmm, I'm pretty good at Photoshop, I could probably just play around with Illustrator for a minute and figure it out."

False!

I feel like I am learning a foreign language!

A really hard foreign language.

I've been working on it for months - taking classes at Lynda.com, watching YouTube videos, searching endlessly through forums and websites, reading tutorials....

It's been taking every last drop of brain power.

But I'm sticking with it!!  And here's why.

So, I wanted to make a circle pattern to use as backgrounds in my art pieces.  Sounds simple enough, right?

I whipped one up quickly in Photoshop, not really taking too much care in lining everything up perfectly - just eye-balling it.

At first glance, I was quite proud of myself.  "Hmmm, that was pretty easy,"  I thought.

Then, I had the idea that I could easily (so I thought), turn my little creation into a pack of digital papers that I could sell in my Etsy Shop.

Well, as I took a closer look, this is the horrible truth that I discovered:

Arg!  I just couldn't get all the circles to line up precisely to the guides!  I was experimenting with several different methods, but finally came to the conclusion that it's pretty much impossible to get a pattern to line up perfectly in Photoshop.  After trying my best, I still couldn't get it to be exact:

Yuck!  Look at how far off everything is!  This is a zoomed in shot of the bottom left-hand corner.  The top right-hand corner was pretty much lined up, but I found that if it's only "pretty much" lined up in the beginning, then by the end, it's WAY OFF!

And some of the circles were overlapping just a little tiny bit, too (and that was really buggin'):

I had to have my circles perfect!

"Grrr, ok, ok, I'll re-create the entire thing in Illustrator!"  I yelled at myself (I know, I'm weird - I do that sometimes).

Well, several tutorials later, I am happy to announce, that I did it!  Perfection!  (Oh, I also decided that I liked the circles a little bit fatter).

Ahhh, yes, finally the frustration paid off!

I made good use of the Transform Palette, and the Blend option, and yay!  There you have it - perfectly aligned circles!

And now that I know how to do it, I can re-create the effect over and over in endless ways!  Horray!

So, the first thing I wanted to do was create a simple paper pack, featuring my perfect little hollow circles.  I decided to use one of my favorite color palettes of all time - my special creation that I call "Retro Rainbow."

Oh, by the way, it took me another hour to figure out how to easily change the colors of the circles.  But, I now know how to effectively use the "Global Color" setting.  Cool. 

I was hoping to get a few paper packs listed in my shop tonight, but I ran out of time (again).

But, here's a little sneak peak:

I'm totally going to have this and a few other paper packs I've been working on for sale in my Etsy shop next week!

And I'm happy to say that all the circles are perfectly placed - no random over-lapping, no funky stuff, just perfection!

And that's the way I like it.  : )

Paper Pack Banner

Most of the time, I love my little artsy biz, and I think it's just the greatest thing ever and the answer to all my problems.

Then, there's nights like tonight.

Here's what my plan was:  I was going to design the ribbon/banner thing to go across my new digital paper packs that I'm going to start offering soon.

Then, I was going to create 2-3 more paper packs.

Then, I was going to upload them to my Etsy shop and get all set up for instant downloads.

And then the cash was going to start rolling in from all my orders.  : )

Sounds good, right?

ARG!  Well, it took me FOREVER to design a ribbon/banner thing that I liked.

I seriously went through about 40 different options.

I always say how much I love working digitally with art because it gives me so much flexibility, but sometimes the never-ending options are just too overwhelming.

But, guess what?  I finally came up with a design that I like!  Horray!

Can you believe it took me three and a half hours to just come up with this simple thing:

Hmmm, it is quite cute, though, I have to say.  I wanted to be extra picky with this, because this is the template I'm going to be using for all my digital papers.

And, of course, I couldn't just leave it as these colors all the time.  As much as I love them, they are not always going to match my paper packs.  So, that endless digital flexibility came in handy, and I customized the colors to match my first paper pack.

Ta da!

Ok, so, yeah, this is fun.

I think the frustration was worth it.  : )

Instant Downloads Coming Soon!

Guys, I am so dang excited right now!

Guess what?

I just figured out that I can offer INSTANT DOWNLOADS through Etsy!  Yay!  Yay!  Yay!

For some reason, I was under the impression that I wasn't able to do that.  I was looking at some Etsy shops awhile back, and all the ones that I saw said something like, "I will email you your file within 24 hours."

Well, when my business becomes a booming success, I was wondering how in the world I was going to keep up with my mass amount of orders, if I have to manually email every single one.

Problem solved! 

Tonight, I went on Etsy and researched "Digital Papers" and bam - there they all were - all these lovely Etsy shops that offered INSTANT (yes, instant) downloads!

At first I thought, "Hmmm, this person just must be really on top of things, and check their email every 15 minutes and then send the file off."  (Sometimes, I have to admit, I'm a bit of a ditz). 

But, no, they have a magical service that they signed up for that automatically does it for them.  Automatically!  Meaning that I can literally be making money while I sleep!   Hee hee!  I'm so giddy!

So, who offers this magical service, you may ask?  It's a place called Craft Hub, and they are seriously my dream come true!

Ok, ok, I know I may sound a little over-excited.  I know my little Etsy shop only has 5 sales right now, but I told you - I have big plans.  I am going to be creating-it-up over here.  I am going to become a digital paper making machine! 

And, once I have all my fun little digital papers up in my shop - then, yay, I can set up my automated system, and sit back and watch the cash roll in!  (Yes, yes, I am totally a dreamer - I know, but if you're gonna dream, dream big - right?)

I already started my digital paper making tonight.  You wanna see a little sneak peak?  Eeee, here it is:

Yes, I know, more cupcakes (I can't help myself).  But, aaaaaaaa, I just LOVE making patterns!  I could seriously do this all day every day.  It's the best! 

So, I still need to design a cute little banner/ribbon thing to go across the middle with my logo and the name of my collection.  This one is going to be called "Birthday Cupcake" - my very first digital paper pack. 

Cute, or what?

Etsy Shop Re-Opened!

Yay!  I did it!  I finally re-opened my Etsy shop!  I am officially back in business!

I am back to my blog, too!  And don't you worry, I haven't been a total slacker these past six months (yikes - has it been that long???).

I've been doing some online training to learn Adobe Illustrator, researching the business end of things, and working on some new art pieces. 

Speaking of which, here's one of my favorite recent ones:

 Can you even handle the cuteness?  Of course, I just couldn't resist doing a few more cupcake art pieces. 

I've been having so much fun coming up with new ideas for art pieces and business strategies.  I just love my artsy biz SO MUCH!  : )

You know what else I love?  I love my new wavy frames that I added to my artwork!  Oh man, it just makes the art look so much cuter, right?

Here's what I did:

I bought a few really cute, whimsical frames, and had my photographer husband snap a picture of them at the studio:

Then,  I worked some magic in Photoshop, and Voila!  I have a whole digital framing department!  I can make the inside of the frame and the outside of the frame turn into whatever color I want!  Yes!  Digital art is my favorite!

So, yay, I'm back in business with my little Etsy shop, and I have some big plans!  Wish me luck!