Believe it or not, we just got our first Graphics-Illustrations.Com Competition Sponsor!

Her name is Katie Cotton (Katie Cotton blog) and she creates paper makup stamps and here is the Paper Makup Stamps Blog ->
So, I recommend you visit her site and find out more about Katie and her business (I must say I was impressed.)

Katie kindly offered to give away four Stamp Sets from her shop:

1. SWIRLIE TREE - BARE RUBBER

2. SWIRLIE BUDS - BARE RUBBER

3. PANDA HUGS - BARE RUBBER

4. NATURE’S SONG, BARE RUBBER

I think these prizes are great examples of creative Photoshop Brushes usage. You will see that some of them are made with a little help of my Photoshop brushes and I’m really really, happy about it (blink-blink :)).

So, thank you Katie, once again for your contribution. You are really kind and I am so happy to have you as a sponsor in our competition.

Now we have a total of 7 prizes to give away, which means that at least 7 of participants will be the winners in our competition.

For the rest of you, there is still enough time.

Competition ends on 12th of July, so you have plenty of time to create a blog header using these templates and send them over to my email (find it here) or post it to Graphics-Illustrations.Com Facebook Page.

Here are the headers (please make sure not to resize them):

Find out more about Graphics-Illustrations.Com 2009 Competition PRIZES ->

So, that’s, more or less, it for today’s post. I just love bringing good news and this one was good news. You guys keep on having fun, create and create more and I wish you best of luck in the Competition!

Hugs,

Silvia

Thanks To Our Sponsor: All Photoshop Brushes for 1/2 the price! 24 PREMIUM PRO Photoshop brushes sets for half the price

The prizes. Budget has been collected, decisions have been reached.

And the prizes for the Graphics-Illustrations.Com 2009 Competition are:

1st Place:

Graphics-Illustrations.Com T-Shirt + One PREMIUM Photoshop Brushes set (up to $9.99)

2nd Place:

Graphics-Illustrations.Com Grocery Tote Bag + One PREMIUM Background Pack (up to $3.99)

3rd Place:

Graphics-Illustrations.Com Mug + Surprise gift from Graphics-Illustrations.Com

I know it ain’t much. But what can I say?! I give what I can afford. I still don’t have my own Mac you know. (Using the sisters one when she’s asleep ;.) wiping off the fingerprints in the morning… hehe, Just kidding of course :)

So, anyways, if you decide to do some work and send it over - one of these prizes could be yours. It should be easy. I don’t expect more than three persons to compete anyway :-)

I know I’d go for it. At least to be able to tell my friends, later on: “Hey, look what I’ve got on the graphic design competition!”

So, if you’re up to it - here’s the details on on the Graphics-Illustraions 2009 ompetition ->

Also, one other thing.

The Birthday.

Yes, my dear friends and visitors, this summer, Graphics-Illustrations.Com is celebrating 2 years since it started. The success of this blog is, well, I didn’t expect much anyway, and I must thank you all for your help and support. The mission and the goal of my blog was to offer interesting articles and a bunch of free downloads for graphic designers, scrapbookers, professionals and enthusiasts alike. The idea was to make your life easier with some free and some HiQuality Photoshop brushes, backgrounds, illustrations, etc…

So, after two years, I think this little blog of mine did well. Of course, there is always a room for improvement and, as always, we all need to work on our selves and improve in every aspect of life at all  times.

Wise man said: Improving yourself is like paddling against the river’s current, you need to paddle hard to make a progress and if you stop paddling you’ll find yourself going backward before you know it. (I’m not sure if it went exactly like this, but that was, more or less the message. It was about paddling … I know that for sure :)

OK. Guys, that’s it for now, have a great one and don’t forget to have fun creating! If you do that your creation will look good - guaranteed :)

While creating, don’t think about what will others will think about your creation, just have fun and as long as you are having fun, you’ll know you’re on the right path.

Hugs,
Silvia

P.S.
There goes another idea. If you work in a company that would maybe consider to offer some prizes for the Graphics-Illustrations.Com Competition … naaah … I didn’t think so …

I bet many of you have your own blogs or web sites! Many of you are designers, professionals or enthusiasts. And many of you just plan on doing some graphic design in the future.

One way or another, for today I prepared 2 free Blog/Web headers. Those are kind of standard dimensions for blogs and  I hope those will be useful.

The advantage of those headers is that, so far, no one has them. So, if you use those and add your own “final” touch to them, you will have unique blog headers without having to do everything from scratch.

Also, this is kind of presentation of my latest free Photoshop brushes set: Circles circles because headers were made with those brushes.

I did not want to fill it with various graphic details. I left the backgrounds pretty “light” in purpose. “What purpose?” I hear you say. “I want them loaded with stuff!”

Well, as I said, these are just to get you started. You can open one or all of them in your favorite software application and add your own, personal “touch” to give them unique look.

Hey, another thing just occurred to me!!! Why don’t you just do that?!

Add your final touch to those headers, send them back to me (or post them to Graphics-Illustrations Facebook page and I will reward the best ones with a prize! See the prizes here!

Yeah! Let’s just do that and see how it goes. I will just have to figure out what prizes to offer. Anyways, until then here is something for you to think about.

So, here is what to do. Three simple steps:

1. 1. download the headers,
2. 2. add a “final touch” to one or more of them. (To make it even easier, feel free to use Photoshop brushes too!)
3. 3. send them back to my email address or, even better, post them to the Graphics-Illustrations facebook page before 5th 12th of July 2009.

So, if you feel like creating something but need a little “push” - well, that’s it, there goes your “push” :)

[ DOWNLOAD ZIP 2 Free Header created with Circles circles Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

Love you all,
Silvia

P.S.
For much more Photoshop brushes with commercial license visit products page ->

Well, it’s been fun. I think we will probably spend more time doing the animations in the future.

I mean, I used to make animations in Flash. But, that was years ago. Then dropped it and just focused on design. And then, yesterday, just out of curiosity, I opened the latest version of Flash. Just to see what it looks like and how much did it change since I last worked on it.

Gosh! It looks like a complete new application. And it looked sooo complicated! And then I realized how it’s not just Flash, it’s Photoshop too and it’s the case with almost all popular applications, it looks like they are becoming more and more complicated with each new version. Back then in the Photoshop 2.0 it was a piece of cake to learn how to work in Photoshop. Anyone could do it. Even in Photoshop 7.0 it was quite simple, but today … you need a University to master Photoshop today! And Adobe sure has some kind of University. It’s not called like that though. They made it so complicated. Especially if you’re a newbie. It was easier to be a newbie back then when all these applications we’re still young :)

Well, at least, with my Photosnop brushes, I make things easier.

So, as I said, we thought it would be cool to have a video presentation of Photoshop brushes, played a bit in After Effects (believe it or not, it took a day to do all this) and - voila!

This is the presenation of Hearts Photoshop brushes that are available in Shop.Graphics-Illustrations.Com for just $9.99 and are also a part of the big 800+ Photoshop brushes MEGA Set!

Find out more about Hearts Photoshop brushes set ->

Love ya all!

Silvia

Thanks To Our Sponsor: All Photoshop Brushes for 1/2 the price! 24 PREMIUM PRO Photoshop brushes sets for half the price

I didn’t feel quite well last few days, but today I’m all back on track now, almost fully recovered and in a great mood.

What does it mean? It means that, the time has come, for the brand new, and free, and totally cool, and … well,

ladies and gentleman, let me present you

Circles circles Photoshop brushes set (15+15)

Why did I call it Circles, circles?

Because, one “Circles” just wouldn’t cut it! That’s why. These are really “Circles, circles!”

Now, these might seem to be quite simple all right, but in a smart combination with other brushes, backgrounds and graphics from my little factory, these can fit in just perfectly and round your work up :)

Some of you probably noticed how my brushes come in two different sizes. I do it on purpose. Why?

Well, you see, when you increase or decrease the size of the brush too much outside of it’s original dimensions it tends to lose quality.

Since I have always been a perfectionist and just could not stand to see ANY quality loss whatsoever, I figured it’s only fair to produce brushes in two dimensions.

So if you need smaller size, you pick smaller size and just fine tune it.

Same goes for the big ones. If you need a big brush, pick up the big brush from the brushes window and  just fine-tune it’s size for your graphics until it fits perfectly into what you had in mind.

Gang, this set is completely FREE. If you are looking for some real PREMIUM stuff - click here ->

So, here is what to do:

[ PREVIEW Circles circles Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

[ DOWNLOAD ABR Circles circles Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

[ DOWNLOAD ZIP Circles circles Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

Love you all,
Silvia

P.S.
I know you already saw my 800+ Photoshop brushes MEGA SET page, but I’m not sure if you’ve seen what others had to say about my brushes! *Click here* for TESTIMONIALS ->

Today’s topic is - Friends!

Friends and the things we can do to illustrate our friendship. I created Friends Digital Scrapbooking Quick Page for my dear friend Iva and I wanted to share it with you. Of course, such thing can not be done without Photoshop brushes. Because, in scrapbooking, Photoshop Brushes are your best friends :)

So, as I said, this one is dedicated to Iva and to all friends in the world! I photographed Iva back in the old days when I had my own photo studio. (I still have the equipment and the way things are going right now, I just might organize my own photo studio again. But I’ll tell you more about it on some other occasion :))

Here is the recipe, or should I say, here are the ingredients of my latest free Quick Page - Friends 4ever:

1. 1. One green background
2. 2. Grunge alphabet and numbers with swirls, Photoshop brushes set
3. 4. Swirled Floral Edges Photoshop Brushes set (18)
4. 4. Hearts Photoshop Brushes Set (32)
5. 5. Photoshop Brush - Floral DUO (62)

And here is the Quick Page:

I hope you like it!

This QP is downloadable in .png format, so you can just insert your own photo into the frames.

[ DOWNLOAD PNG Friends 4ever Digital Scrapbooking Quick Page HERE ]

[ DOWNLOAD ZIP Friends 4ever Digital Scrapbooking Quick Page HERE ]

And, that’s it!

I hope you liked my little presentation, of course, possibilites are limitless!

Once you put your hands on Photoshop brushes (for instance my 800+ MEGA Set) you wont be able stop playing with them, like … ever!

Love ya all,

Silvia

Thanks To Our Sponsor: All Photoshop Brushes for 1/2 the price! 24 PREMIUM PRO Photoshop brushes sets for half the price

I got so excited when I received that email from Vivayne! And If you check on her web you will know why.

Vivayne is one extraordinary scrapbook artist and she always amazes me with her new creations.

So, when she told me she made a brand new scrapbooking kit with my “Finest Floral Photoshop brushes set” I just knew we’re onto something real good! And boy was I right!

She prepared new digital scrapbooking kit called Island Paradise. Perfect kit for this summer time!

But, then things got even better. Here is what she said:

“I have made a kit called Island Paradise with your floral brushes. I just love how the papers turned out! It’s a full size digital scrapbooking kit :)

This kit will only be free for something like 48 hours. If you would like to blog/post it - It will be released on June 12 (friday) for free and moved for sale on June 14th (sunday) at 11 am US central time…“

So, I think this post comes just in time. If you are quick enough, you can get this digital scapbooking kit for FREE!

Get it at Vivayne.Com

As we said, in this kit she also used “Finest Floral Swirls Photoshop brushes set (120)” - which is available in Graphics-Illustrations.Com Shop.

So, in my oppinion this is one great example of perfect Photoshop brushes usage.

As always, thank you Vivayne for sharing your talent with us and I wish you many many new scrapbooking kits in a time to come.

Love you all,

Silvia

P.S.

If you used the opportunity to peek into my shop and found out that you like many of the brushes there (they all come with commercial license), here is your chance to get Photoshop brushes w/commercial license at 1/2 the price.

I worked all night just to make sure I will be on time with these ones. I know, father’s day in U.S.A., Canada and U.K.  is in 21st of June, but we all know how tough it is when you do these things in a last moment.

So, today is 9th of June and it is my pleasure, ladies and gentleman, to present you the one and only (we’ll I’m not sure if it is one and only but it is one and only at Graphics-Illustrations.Com for sure), so, where was I? Ah, yes! Let me present you, the one and only:

Fathers’ day Photoshop brushes set

(32+32)

For all those of you who were lucky enough to have great dads and want to show how much you appreciate him (you know that you should show it, don’t you) and for those of you who need to design something for the Father’s day (for your business or something) this is a great opportunity!

Gang, this set is completely FREE.

There is no Premium version of this one, there is only this version which is free and it comes with a commercial license! This is my way of saying thank you for your support, for being a GBG member, thank you for being a Graphics Illustrations Facebook Page fan and I just know you will make great graphics, digital scrapbook pages, photo albums, mugs  and all kind of great creations with these brushes.

As always, I made sure that they are in High Resolution so that you can make huge printouts if you want. Of course, they are compatible with Photoshop 7.0 up to CS4, with PC and Mac (by the way, I still don’t have Mac but I’m getting there :)

Also, you will see that some of the brushes are complex shapes and some of them are just components, so you can use several brushes to combine them into a completely new shape. Add different brushes different colors and you get a zillion of different combination (ok, maybe not zillion, but killion .. :))

Anyways, here are the links. Enjoy!

[ PREVIEW Father's Day Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

[ DOWNLOAD ABR Father's Day Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

[ DOWNLOAD ZIP Father's Day Photoshop Brushes set HERE ]

Of course, I know, one can never have enough of good HiRes Photoshop brushes, so when you are looking for more don’t forget to visit my little shop and my 800+ Photoshop brushes MEGA SET page!

Love you all,

Silvia

P.S.
If you saw my 800+ Photoshop brushes MEGA SET page, but are still not sure, visit this page ->

Thanks To Our Sponsor: All Photoshop Brushes for 1/2 the price! 24 PREMIUM PRO Photoshop brushes sets for half the price

I didn’t plan to make another post until my next Photoshop brushes set is finished.

But, after I received an email from Kira I just could not wait to share this with you (after getting her consent of course).

Kira made her web site home page using the following Photoshop brushes:

1. 1.  PREMIUM Floral shapes (37)
2. 2. PREMIUM Paisley Designs (75+25)

She also used LITE version of Birds which is available as a FREE download once you join Green Bulb Gang.

But, this is not all!

Kira did a great job on the digital scrapbook for her sisters wedding:

In this digital scrapbook page Kira used Swirled Floral Edges Photoshop Brushes set (18)

Here is what she said:

“… I purchased the mega-set of 800 brushes in May, and created my landing page www.kiraslye.com with the Premium floral shapes, Premium paisley, and lite birds sets, in Photoshop CS3.

I joined the GreenBulbGang to see the quality of your brushes, and after downloading a few free sets decided to make the purchase. I will never regret it and plan to add more of your premium sets to my collection“

So, what can I say? Thank you Kira for your kind words and thank you for sharing your talent with us! More Photoshop brushes are in preparation right now - so stay tuned :)

Love ya’ all!

Silvia

P.S.

If you are interested in finding out more about the 800+ Photoshop brushes MEGA SET, click here ->

And no matter how cheese some of you might think it is, somewhere deep inside we all actually love the sunsets in the summertime.

And why is that? I’d say it’s quite simple. On summer, when we were teenagers, there was no school and, one way or another, it was the time to do what we want to do, time to experience freedom, new friendships and more often then not - our first kisses happened exactly in the summertime while the sun was “settling” down.

For photographers, sunset is the best time to take pictures. Due to the sharp angle of sunlight as it hits the earth, colors become more vivid, more “reddish”, colors slightly shift from “normal” to “romantic”. But if you are passionate photographer in love, here goes the trouble :) Kiss or shoot? ;) Just kidding, of course, the choice is obvious, no? I know, it depends on who you ask and what kind of camera you hold. I tell ‘ya, one Hasselblad would surely make me think twice (or once) :))

And, then, once the summer is gone, we all end up with a bunch of photographs, that many of us just love to organize in scrap books. We might even want to prepare a video, a DVD with menus that have backgrounds, many of us are in wedding photography business or just graphic design business, no matter what it is, ladies and gentleman, it is my pleasure tonight to proudly present you the latest Graphics-Illustrations product:

Summertime Sunset Backgrounds

Yes, and they come in high resolution so you can even print posters without any fear for the quality of the printout, we’re talkin’ 16×11 inches at 300 dpi (5000×3500 pixels) resolution!

It is 5 of them, backgrounds and I prepared them as a combination of photos and illustrations to awake that warm summertime sunset emotion :)
As usual - commercial license is included and they’re jpgs.

I made this little picture down there using one of the Summertime Sunset Backgrounds AND Photoshop Brushes: Birds (45+45) (dark trees and birds silhouettes) AND Floral Signs Photoshop Brushes set (20) (this little number five in floral shapes).

[ PREVIEW Summertime Sunset Backgrounds (5) here ]
[ Buy 5 HiRes Summertime Sunset Backgrounds FOR $3.99 ONLY ]

Of course, for those of you who can not afford, as usual, I prepared a little something for free.

Here is one Summertime Sunset Background at the smaller size but still very good quality- 2500×1750 pix at 300 dpi (8,3×5,8 inches - print ready):

[ Download Free Summertime Sunset Background 2500x1750 pix at 300 dpi sample ]

So, I hope you liked them because I know, they like you.  I know, I made them :) Like Gepetto! (I hope you know about Pinocchio ->)

By the way, Pinocchio was one of my favorite stories when I was just a small little kid (as if I am much different now :)). Actually, my mother bought it on a vinyl record and I listened to it on the gramophone over and over again. For younger visitors, I suggest looking up gramophone and vinyl records in Wikipedia.

Anyways, I’m not gonna bother you with my memories any more (sometimes I got really sad listening to that story though …).

I hope you will like the free download.

I would be hilarious if you decided to buy the pack and I would go totally EUPHORIC if you decided that you want to have this 5-pack for free by buying 800+ Photoshop brushes MEGA SET by 10th June 2009.!

Love ‘ya all!

Silvia & the “hilarious hoping to become Euphoric”

:)