theBlog @reneepearson.com
Freebies on Friday: Brushes
Can you ever have too many brushes? I say not really. When you see beautiful Photoshop brushes like the ones shown above in Shiny Flower Brushes by Heygrey, it’s hard not to say ‘I want those brushes.’ It really makes you smile when the brushes are free.
I was checking out Brush Lovers earlier today and could not believe the beautiful free Photoshop brushes available there. Besides Shiny Flower Brushes, my other favorites were Rosy Watercolor by Heygrey and Flowers & Fruits Old Postcards by PinkOnHead shown below.
Brush Lovers has an amazing selection of Photoshop brushes and they’re all free. Check them out. While you’re there, take a moment and let them know which are your favorites. You’re gonna love these brushes. Enjoy!
Web Freebies: Photoshop Text Effects
Friday’s Freebie: Serenity App
“Life can be chaotic and stressful. Take a break and relax with Serenity, a collection of beautiful, tranquil destinations in your pocket.” — taptaptap
From the makers of Camera+, everyone’s favorite mobile camera app, comes Serenity: The Relaxation App, free for a limited time. Serenity strives to ease your mind in the midst of daily stress by providing more than 30 relaxing videos for tranquility and relaxation.
Florence Arnold, the Serenity developer, wanted to give people a tool to help them pause. She’d seen way too many folks tie their bodymind into knots — literally — for lack of pausing. (Color me guilty!)
My first experience with Serenity was to take what Florence calls a “sound bath,” a mix of equal parts Serenity, headphones and me. I chose a waterfall screen and set the built-in timer for 15 minutes. Not only is there a video of the falling water, the sounds are there, too.
It’s important to walk away from the computer, into a quiet area, and sit or lie down. After watching the video for a few minutes I swear I could smell the water! When my 15 minutes were up the sound and video ended. I relaxed for another minute, then rose, stretched and returned to work refreshed. It works!
There’s no “new age” magic in Serenity. In fact, you can achieve the same results by closing your eyes and going to your happy place for 15 minutes. But it’s so much more fun to escape to a beautiful landscape and the sounds of nature instead.
“Serenity for iPhone takes you on a vacation every time you start the app.” — appstorm
Friday’s Freebie: Fresh Free Fonts
Every Friday we bring you pointers to some of the best freebies on the web. Today, we’re sharing a handful of fresh fonts to add to your collection.
Lavanderia
Abraham Lincoln
Mosaic Leaf
Weston
Static
Friday’s Freebies: Envato Marketplaces
The Envato Marketplaces allow anyone to buy or sell digital goods like photos, graphics, background music, WordPress themes and much more. The marketplaces are home to a thriving community of over 500,000 users, authors and buyers, and every day hundreds of new files are added.
I’ve made quite a few purchases from Envato because I think the work is good and the prices reasonable. I also look forward to their monthly freebies, offered in all categories they cover. This month, I grabbed the stock Easter egg photo above from PhotoDune along with…
Orange Ribbons #3 vector files from GraphicRiver
Breathing of Rhythm audio file from AudioJungle
[video mp4=“http://www.reneepearson.com/movies/audiojungle.m4v” poster=”” preload=“true” width=“530” height=“330”]
Be sure to check-in at Envato every month for more freebies!
Friday’s Freebie: Daily Drop Cap
aily Drop Cap is a project by designer & illustrator Jessica Hische. Starting in September of 2009, an illustrative initial cap was posted daily (or at least regularly), to prettify the internet and beautify your blog posts. Individuals are welcome to use the drop caps within blog posts by following the instructions below each letter. The project ended after the twelfth alphabet was complete, but the site remains up for your use and inspiration.
I can totally see one of these caps on a scrapbook page. Can’t you?
Friday’s Freebies: Creepy Halloween Printables
When a design blog’s tagline reads, “Design juice. Not from concentrate,” there’s gotta be something fun there. And there is at Funkytime. Considering the time of the year, I couldn’t resist sharing these free Halloween printables with you.
My particular favorites are “Spill Your Guts” and “Brain Reserve.” Imagine the Halloween “treats” you could put inside jars with those two labels! Anyway, head on over to Sybille’s blog and pick up your freebies. And have a look around while you’re there!
Enjoy!
Friday’s Freebie: Crumpled Paper Effect
Today’s web freebie pointer is a very cool Crumpled Paper text effect combo pack.
It includes the fully editable layered PSD you see in the picture, the layer styles used for the effect in an .asl file, and a .pat file that contains the patterns used to create the background.
Pick up the pack at webtreats.mysitemyway.com.
Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Friday’s Freebies: Twitter Tools
Before we get to today’s freebie pointers, a quick reminder. The $10 discount off Tiffany Tillman’s “Scraphic Design: Foundations” ends today at midnight ET. If you missed it the first time through, now’s your chance to grab a seat.
The phenomenon that is Twitter has spawned a whole slew of addons and apps to make twittering easier. Here are a few I think are worth a second look. Plus, some of the names are a real “hoot” (pun intended).
I’m skipping the obvious suspects like TwitPic, HootSuite, & TweetMeme. These are the ones that are new to me and hopefully new to you, too. (more…)
Friday’s Freebie: Modern Glass & Shine Layer Styles
Today’s Freebie pointer is to 25 modern glass and gloss layer styles that will add a stylish look to your titles. All the styles are editable, and are shown in the included Photoshop psd document. The styles range from transparent glass to gloss, stripes and patterns to textures, all in one handy pack.
What’s included
Photoshop .asl file with 25 styles
Photoshop .psd file with the 25 styles for easy editing
Read me file
Source: Spiral Pixel Design
Jo, the owner of Jo’s Web, is a professionally qualified graphic designer and illustrator who has been involved in the industry for over 20 years. She has worked as an art editor for London publishing houses, B.B.C & Haymarket and now runs Spiral Pixel Design.