But I'm just fine, really...just been busy with oodles of various projects. Check out my LJ if you'd like to know what's going on! :@ )
04/28/2008
09/07/2007
Support teh Bewbies!!!11one
Support teh Bewbies!!!11one
Seriously, please think of all the "pink ribbon" walkers doing their thing in Seattle this weekend, as well as those who have walked or will be walking in the next few months for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Let's put an end to this disease, so no other women and men (as well as their families, friends and colleagues) have to suffer! Let's keep walking until we find a cure!
Thank you.
05/15/2007
Wahahahahaha! This message was sent
Wahahahahaha!
02/27/2007
02/21/2007
Meet My Newest Pet!!!
This little guy was waiting for me when I got home today. I named him Eduardo, LOL. He's a low-maintenance Betta fishy...woo! Isn't he cute?
02/01/2007
Introducing the iCat Banner Series.
I'd like to introduce my latest series of VOX banners - the "iCat" banner collection!
A kind of funny story goes with this, but I'll try and make it brief. It was one of those sort of "accidental" brilliant moments of creativity; I was basically just fiddling in my graphics program and trying to come up with something cute to doodle, and being the cat lover I am, decided to try drawing a kitty, possibly for a future banner. At first I was just trying to recreate one of my "Tuxedo" cats, as the pictures below illlustrate...
...but then I found as I doodled some more, inspiration struck! After sketching out the body and head, once I got to hashing out the details, I noticed that against the "temporary" blue colour I had in the background layer, the whiskers and feet stood out in a way reminiscent of ads featuring a certain popular music player. (I guess that's pretty obvious, though.)
<-- As you can see by looking at the drawing, I decided to play with that idea some more, just to see if it "worked". In the end I was fairly pleased with the result; although it's not the greatest work of art ever, I had fun with it. Still wanting to try and "bannerize" the image, I then resized the kitty layer and pasted it into a banner template. Voila! I thought it looked pretty cool, and thus the "iCat" banner was born. (Here's hoping the folks at Apple won't mind my take on their design.)
I know other people have spoofed similar images, therefore not exactly making this a cutting-edge or amazing new work, but this is just my own version of it. And besides, I wanted a unique banner I could use on VOX, and the existing kitty banners on the site, while cute, weren't based on any of MY cats, and I wanted to fill that void. It's simple, but whimsical at the same time. (At least, that was the goal.)
The cat in the drawing turned out looking more like Bootsie than Lucky (Lucky is a lot more plump) - she even has a powder blue collar just like the one in the image! Not to mention she tends to keep her back turned away when her "cat-itude" strikes. So really, this pretty much sums her up perfectly. Bootsie just so happens to also be my oldest cat at almost 16 years-old! Not bad for a former stray kitten that I rescued way-back-when!
Long story short, after finishing and testing the first "Blooage" banner on VOX, I played some more and found myself creating banners in every workable colour scheme I could imagine, mainly focusing on ones that would match existing schemes, with variations for more later. I tried not to go too overboard, but given I made 14 different ones, I guess you could say I had a bit of a creative heyday.
So, here they all are - in the order I made them. These are available to all VOX users to be used any way you'd like; let me know if you use and enjoy them. As long as one keeps the "signature" in the banner intact, I don't mind at all, and in fact hope they can be put to good use. If you can think of other colours you'd like a matching banner for, I can certainly give it a go.
It's too bad I'm not really a dog person, or rather, can't draw them, because I bet this would be cute in an "iDog" style banner. If someone wants to try it, I'd definitely love to see how it turns out! I suppose any animal could be used (birds, rabbits, snakes, fish, etc.), really. Let me know if you spot/make any other variations, and I'll have a look! And if you'd like a copy of the original layered image to base them on, I can E-mail the source file to those interested.
Thanks again for reading and checking these out, and enjoy! -Jill :@ )
01/30/2007
The Release of the Valentine's Banners!
Since none of my banner designs were chosen for the Vox contest, I am officially "releasing" them to the public for usage, should anyone be interested.
There were so many great designs in the contest, and I saw quite a few I thought would be picked that weren't, but I know the VOX design team only needed so many banners anyway, so they couldn't choose them all. But hey, Spring is just around the corner, which I'm sure means more contests. ;@ ) Congrats to the winners, however - I think some very lovely designs were chosen.
Anyway, I'll spare y'all any further commentary and get to the banner-sharing! They all have my "signature" somewhere in the image, and as long as one keeps those intact, you may use them however and wherever you'd like. Let me know if you like them and/or are using them, as I'd love to see how they're being incorporated on the site. I've seen a few of my other banners being used and have been receiving nice comments, and I thank you all for your encouraging words! I will definitely keep making more as inspirations (or contests) strike! And if anyone can think of a way to improve upon or add to/modify these, let me know; if enough people request, say, colour modifications or whatnot, I may just release some more versions of these! ^_^
01/25/2007
My VOX Valentine's Banner Contest Entries.
I figured I should make a post with all my entries together, as to not clutter my blog here. Each design has the details behind it when clicked on; hopefully it explains why I did what and soforth. These are by no means the best out there, but I had fun making them, and it's good design practice; I'm by no means a professional artist or anything, or as the infamous William "She Bangs" Hung said on American Idol a few seasons back, "I have no professional training". I've seen many that are waaaay better than mine already! Anyhoo, I digress. ^_^
Check 'em out, and comment if you like them, or would like to use them. If any/all of these end up not chosen to win, I will "release" them for public usage (but I'll need to add my signature to the bottom first). Any that are chosen by the VOX Team as winners will end up in a future release, so they'd be available anyway. I have no problem with people using any banners I make as long as you credit me, but it's always good to ask if they're not tagged with "share this banner" first.
Enjoy, and good luck to the fellow contest entrants! And, thanks for reading!
Edited to Add: Another version of the "Valentine's Pendant" has been created - I didn't like how there was so much white space and wanted to see how it'd look with another line at the bottom. I think it's an improvement!
01/17/2007
Presenting "Spots N Sots"...
This is my first "series" of banners on VOX, so be gentle with me! Figured I'd do a bunch of versions, to cover people's various colour preferences, but I'm sure I missed a few. Best suited for schemes with dark fonts to go in the menu box, but I can do darker ones by request, so just ask! These are meant to be fun and bubbly, without going overboard. (And no you don't have to be a sot to use them - it just happened to be the first name that came to mind!) Especially *cute* with the schemes that have dotted backgrounds, but will work with most anything.
These were done as .png files, but should load fairly quickly. If you want to use/share them in your blogs, please do, just be sure and keep the files intact with my "signature" in the bottom right corner - thanks!
Room for improvement or suggestions? Want to hate or love on me? Well, I might not do anything about it, but feel free to tell me what you think. ^_^
Without further ado...here is "the collection":
Thanks for looking, and enjoy! Happy VOX-ing! -Jill
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