[.end.of.year.journaling.]

It's a very busy end of year for me. But at least, I can say, 2009 has been an interesting year. Tomorrow last day at work in 2009, then a long new year weekend. No I'm not going to a party. Probably some of you would prefer to hear that I'm back to creating graphics rather than about me partying hihi. Ups and downs of my life in 2009 has prevented me from having much time to sit in front of my laptop creating graphics. That sounds really baaaad, doesn't it. I always needed aloooot of time when drawing graphics, because it's been always full of fun - and rewarding - trials-and-errors ;-)

But I have one thing I'm really proud about..it's that despite the so-often-chaotic day-to-day of mine, I never gave up journaling. Sometimes only a few lines, sometimes a few pages. And I put here and there some collages from magazine cutouts. Just like any previous end-of-years, I would look at my journals again, tracking what's up and where life had taken and guided me, what has made me feel good, what has made me down. Lately I tend to write "current state of spirit:" at the beginning of each entry (describing what I feel at that time of writing) then under that line i would list anything what I did, what I read, what I ate, what I heard, etc, before that. Sometimes just by looking at the list I could instantly evaluate the process. After awhile I noticed that (for example) I would feel happier in the morning when I woke up early - or event what kind of pens that made my handwritings look better :-D

That, I have no doubt saying it now, is the kind of journal that I really like. Now that it's time to evaluate, I found it very helpful when it comes to making plans for 2010. Focus on what makes you feel good and happy. I can complain about too much work but I can focus instead on the fact that I have an exciting and rewarding job. That needs a constant practice :-)

Ah, last note, I also discovered it's so much fun creating 'impromptu' collages in the journal. Mostly my cutouts are from Country Living UK, old magazines from France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden - postcards, as well as printouts from the internet, images from blogs I like. By the way, I also learned it needs a constant practice...

See you next time with new graphics soon!

[wallpaper: happy halloween]

Oyyoy! Two months have passed since my last post! I've been very busy at work lately. But I hope, till I can catch up with the next updates, these halloween wallpapers are not too late :-))

Click on the images, let it open on a new window then right-click and save as.

I hope you enjoy them!

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{deco flora webset}

Hello! I'm so happy that finally the Deco Flora webset is up today! I got a small accident that crushed my right finger tip sometime ago - that gave me a bit of difficulty to draw, let alone to hold the computer mouse or to type on the keyboard!

It's getting better now and you see I managed to finish drawing the Deco Flora set :o)

This collection contains over 200 background tiles (variations from 15 hues) + 169 graphics including cliparts, web-stuff, signboards, quilts, banners, etc. The set is divided in several pages each with different layout that you can copy.

If you're member you can find the set in the member area. If not, the set is also sold individually for $4.

Here are some more screen shots:

{free.rosebears.sample.webset}

Hello! I decided to put the link to where you can download the free sample webset here - so you can download it directly without having to fill in the request form :-)

Scroll down a little bit, for those of you who haven't got it. Members do not have to download this sample, it's part of the big rosebears webset that you can get in the member area.

Here it is:

Cute smiling bears with lots of roses, pink big roses. ready to decorate your pretty pages. 56 graphics (.gif) including bears, pink roses buttons, banners, quilt squares, sign boards, toppers, borders, email, guestbook, and background tiles.

Download here.

{scrapbooking sunday: choco-dots freebie}

Can you believe it - I still can't manage to finish revamping amretasgraphics.com :(

There are so many details, new stuff, changes here changes there, uploads and downloads, checking this and checking that...whou, but I do hope that all will be ready in July. I'm working really hard here...thanks for bearing with me ;-)

And while waiting...here's a new freebie, a sneakpeek to what's new on amretasgraphics.com when it's ready: Choco-dots scrapbooking kit. The idea came two weeks ago when I wanted to scrapbook with photos of my nephew, baby Attila who was 6 week old at that time (now he's 2 months old). My sister, Attila's mom, is a choco-holic so I thought something chocolate-related would be perfect :o)

Also only two weeks ago I came across the cutest site on the web where you can find the cutest fonts: kevinandamanda.com. Fantastic! And you see I use their fonts for the scrapbooking kit as well, I couldn't help it, you know, the fonts are just oh so cute!

Anyway here's where you can download the Choco dots kit. I divided the kit into three zip files for easier download. Oh yeah, how could I forget this: the Choco dots kit contains 4 digital papers, 2 frames, 9 embellishments, 2 tags, and a set of alphabets. The font I used for the alphabet is 'A Little Pot' from kevinandamanda.com/fonts. Feel free to use the kit for your personal projects. Please note that this free kit is NOT for commercial use. If you use the kit (or parts of the kit) for blogging or website, please put a link back to www.amretasgraphics.com or to this post, so that your friends can get this freebie as well! Wouldn't that be nice? *winkwink* Thank you sweet friends! :o)

Right-click and 'save as' to download:

Choco-dots digital papers (17 MB)
Choco-dots frames, embellishments & tags (9 MB)
Choco-dots alphabets & numbers (15 MB)

And here's sample layout using the choco-dots kit - and of course with my little Attila in the picture, I am a super proud auntie, hehehe.

{happy father's day}

{busy... and my little shoebox}

My Little Shoebox

Aaaw, I'm very busy this week...determined to reopen amretasgraphics.com this weekend. So my friends, probably there will be no graphic updates in this blog until next week. Till then, I'm leaving you with what inspires me this week: the wonderful collections from My Little Shoebox. They also have a lovely blog with lots of cute inspirations. It was two days ago that I went to a cute scrapbooking shop in a new hip shopping mall in Jakarta. I found there pretty kits from My Little Shoebox and so you see I went online checking their website and..oho, fell in love with all the stuff they display on their website and blog...

{kindwords friday: do good}

"Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In every place you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can."
- JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791)

If you like you can click on the image, save and print it.

Happy Friday!

{blogging tuesday: new blogger backgrounds}

Yesterday I started experimenting with various filters on Photoshop, and whohoo, suddenly I got a background tile that reminds me of the wall in our old home. Experiment number 2 was to create a blog background to share - so I decided to use the newly invented background tile :-)

Then tonight the experiment continued: looking for tutorials on how to post HTML codes / scripts in blogpost. Trial and error..ow I love this part! ;-) Finally found one that looks nice. Follow this link if you're interested.

The experiments took me sometime and I didn't realize it's already past midnight, which means already Wednesday here...but well, the blog backgrounds were intended for 'blogging tuesday' so I thought to post them anyway now.

I couldn't choose which color I would use for the ribbon to go with the tile, then you know why both are posted here :-D I also tried to experiment with photobucket to host the files, but I don't understand why the blog background didn't turn up nicely. So they are at the moment hosted in my server. But that's okay, I think, as long as the amretasgraphics label stays intact with the set, I don't mind direct linking in this case.

And here's a little instruction on how to install the background (the background works best with Minima template):

1. Copy the code from one of the boxes below
2. Log in to your blogger account, open the dashbord and click on LAYOUT
3. Click on PAGE ELEMENT, the "Add and Arrange Page Elements" will open
4. Click on ADD A GADGET
5. When a window with list of gadgets opens, choose 'HTML/JavaScript'
6. Paste the HTML code into the box and click save
7. Enjoy! (and let me know what you think if you use them :-))

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://www.amretasgraphics.com/blog/bloghost/090601_rustyhome/bg_rustyhome1.jpg

"); background-position: center;}</style><div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; width:140px; height:50px;"><a href="http://www.amretasgraphics.com" target="_blank"><img border="0" src=" http://www.amretasgraphics.com/blog/bloghost/090601_rustyhome/amretasgraphicslabel.gif" /><br /></a></div>

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://www.amretasgraphics.com/blog/bloghost/090601_rustyhome/bg_rustyhome2.jpg

"); background-position: center;}</style><div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; width:140px; height:50px;"><a href="http://www.amretasgraphics.com" target="_blank"><img border="0" src=" http://www.amretasgraphics.com/blog/bloghost/090601_rustyhome/amretasgraphicslabel.gif" /><br /></a></div>

I also made simple blank header 660pixels wide and blank buttons 200x150 px and 200x100 px. You can add your own text/pictures to them. They can be downloaded from here.

To give you an idea how the set may look like when put together, see this blog.

Enjoy!

{wallpaper monday: sharing happiness}

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Sharing the same theme with the latest kindwords friday. I love this saying so much I hope you enjoy it on desktop wallpapers as well :-)

To download you can click on the picture and save it to your own computer.

Have a great week everyone!


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{envie: janet hill}

Omygoodness!! They are the prettiest! Read about Janet Hill on Daisy Pink Cupcake just now and I just had to post something about this! Then I followed the link to Janet's blog and I felt like having the prettiest web-wandering :-) Janet also has her shop on Etsy. If you're like me, you're just gonna fall in love with Janet's work, beware....