MellowButterfly Team Blog

As you may have guessed - or already know, I have a fascination with butterflies. And I also have a thing for surreal art - even hosted an art contest earlier this year aptly titled, The Extraordinary Butterfly.

Anyhow, I was surfing the net today looking for something completely unrelated to either of those subjects (in fact it was genealogy lol) but I came across the most stunning pieces of surreal butterfly art by VLADIMIR KUSH and just had to share them with you!

Butterfly Apple by Vladimir Kush

Departure of the Winged Ship by Vladimir Kush

Fauna in la Mancha by Vladimir Kush

Winged Satellite

Well, ok, not a layout that I designed, but it is a layout using my products! A Touch of Japan is featured on the front cover of the Design Originals’ Digi Scrappin DVD which is being sold in a package of digital scrapbooking educator materials at GetDigiWithIt.com!

The author of the DVD, who also created the layout, tells me that it was a scraplift of this layout by my Creative Team Member Toby:

Now, how cool is that!

My Scrapbook Art is celebrating its first birthday and to celebrate I asked the members to tell me which of my products is their favorite. Well, these are the lucky winners:

digideb won A Touch of Japan, Cindy_rs won Citrus Punch and madelene won Sky Gazing: Over the Rainbow!

Congrats ladies - we hope you’ll share your gorgeous layouts with us!

And for those of you who are members, don’t forget to head over to the forum - because I posted a $2 off coupon, but you better hurry because MSA is closing the birthday thread later tonight!

As you’ve become more familiar with digital scrapbooking and your layouts have become more complex, you’ve probably noticed that something’s not quite right.

Maybe with your shadows perhaps? Especially on those multi-dimensional elements like flowers and leaves and butterflies? Yes?

You’d be right, of course. These elements don’t sit flat like paper, so their shadows would be different. When you look at real paper embellishments, you see that they stand out from the paper and cast a very different shadow – often longer and darker and differently shaped.

This tutorial explains how to get a more convincing three-dimensional effect with your digital elements in Photoshop.

While the instructions are step-by-step, a working knowledge of Photoshop’s tools and layers would be advisable.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting little quiz. I currently live in central Illinois and everyone here constantly comments on my Wisconsin accent….

Take a peek below at the layouts the ‘Fly Girls did with my newest kit Softly, perfect for all those tender moments - be it a baby, a precious expression on your child’s face, a sweet kiss, and many other special moments! The soft hues are accented by bold green and brushed metal embellishments - including a brushed metal alpha!

And if you’re smitten with these fabulous layouts, ‘Fly Girl Toby will be giving the kit away to a few lucky gals over at DigiShopTalk this weekend!

About a month ago I was approached by Eternity, from Solidsnake Designs, for an interview about my art (see my 5 most popular pieces below) and I was so busy this past month that I just completed it yesterday *blush* Anyhow, they were very nice about my tardiness and have already posted the interview - so go have a peek! And didn’t she make a pretty header with my Butterfly Maiden piece?

I am really flattered to have been chosen, especially when I take a gander at some of the other artists they’ve interviewed: Aegis-strife, Mynti, Elandria and spiritsighs just to name a few fellow deviantArtists. Technically this is my first interview - unless you count when Ren interviewed me for the club we ran together lol (Ren thinks she’s only on my CT because she is my friend and not because she is TALENTED! So, I’m just getting back at her with that comment….)

Anyhow, seeing how it has been AGES since I have actually done any “real” artwork, and Ren has been pestering me, I am thinking that I need to get back into it. I think I’ve lost my art mojo doing all these scrapbook layouts and products lol. Although, my guest spot on the Creative Team at Christina Renee Designs does inspire me to create some more collage-inspired scrapbook art. So, we’ll see

That’s right, I have a few mini kits for you to start off the week - all are available NOW in the shoppe (images are clickable).

And be sure to come back this weekend when my newest kit, Softly, will be released. The ‘Fly Girls are doing some fabulous layouts that I can’t wait to show you!

I’ve been doing some gallery browsing and came across these fabulous layouts using my products and thought you’d like to be inspired too! And hey, if you’ve made a layout with one of my products, I’d LOVE to see it and I bet my visitors would too, so send me a link!

A TOUCH OF JAPAN

See more layouts with this kit by the ‘Fly Girls here!

BLUE VIOLET

See more layouts with this kit by the ‘Fly Girls here!

CITRUS PUNCH

See more layouts with this kit by the ‘Fly Girls here!

The lovely ‘Fly Girl Armina is currently hosting a giveaway over at DigiShopTalk and will be picking three lucky people to get my For the Boys kit for FREE! Be sure to head over to DST and reply to her thread for a chance to win!

The kit also is available as separates: Embellishments, Papers & Page Mat, Cardboard Doodle Alpha and Catalog Page Alpha. All are now available here at MellowButterfly and will be available in my shoppe at Purple Paper Flowers on Sunday.

Need some inspiration? Here are some layouts that the ‘Fly Girls have done with the For the Boys Kit - and be sure to check out their MellowButterfly galleries because they have been BUSY making gorgeous layouts with my other products too!