Showing posts with label desktop calendars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desktop calendars. Show all posts

Saturday, May 10, 2014

may desktop



So I'm doing pineapples because that's what everyone else is doing. Not really but sorry nonetheless. I just keep seeing these darn things everywhere and, for once, I actually kinda like them. This was more of an experiment to see how well I'd be at sorta kinda "drawing" a pineapple in photoshop and making my own repeating pattern with it. I think it turned out ok -- graphic-like, better if viewed from a distance in my opinion. So if you don't like this particular desktop, that's cool. To be honest, in about another month I'll have seen so many pineapples, I'll never want to see another one again, either.

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ipad


iphone/ipod

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

april desktop


I'm having a moment with neutrals and neon brights. This month's calendar was inspired by this pin. I really love that look. I need to find myself a trench coat.



Saturday, March 1, 2014

march desktop

So far, one of my favourite stores in Finland has got to be Tiger. I don't know quite how to describe it other than to say it's sort of like an upscale, cooler version of the dollar store. There're so many neat things, I usually have to wander around twice just to get a look at everything.

Probably one of the best things I've spotted was a basic spirograph. Since getting this mini one, I have not been able to put it down. The combination of patterns is endless and no matter what I do, the designs always turn out super pretty. I'm completely addicted!

Thankfully, we have gotten ourselves a scanner/printer, so I made some designs and scanned them in for a desktop wallpaper this month. I hope you like it!



Monday, February 3, 2014

february desktop

 Obviously, it's February which means only one thing (Valentine's day), so I thought I'd do something a little more romantic this month. (Although, I would use this one any time I'm in a pink mood.)




Choose this wallpaper if chocolate's more your thing than flowers.



Friday, January 10, 2014

friday fixations: free printable calendars

free printable calendars

Still haven't found a calendar you like? Why not print your own? 
From top left, clockwise: wrap around calendarmood calendarjanuary calendar (including desktop, phone and tablet options. Also I would be surprised if she didn't post a full series of these over the year), year of colour calendarpatterned calendarfull year calendar

Not pictured: sweet new year calendarfull year gemstone calendardiy linen calendarpolka dotted calendar, floral calendar (also with desktop option), extremely minimal calendarpretty patterned calendarglitter calendar

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

january desktop

Hi! Happy new year! Sorry for the delay on getting this out to you. We were moving (again) from our temporary apartment to a permanent place. We've done so much moving in the span of one month!

This comes from a picture I took on Instagram of the dining room in the temporary apartment. I love how that picture turned out. I kept staring at it lovingly, so when it came time to figure something out for this month's desktop, no other picture would do. I recreated it artistically since Instagram pics don't lend themselves very well to resizing, but you can see the original here.


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

december desktop

Just a few days late, not too bad considering we have finally moved and are now residents of Finland!

Granted, it's only been two and a half days since we arrived (after a rather nightmare plane experience), but so far so good. The apartment we have is light and bright and cozy (and quiet!), and we had our first official grocery shopping experience yesterday. Two things that I liked there: when you get vegetables, you have to make a note of the product code (kind of like when you buy from bulk bins in Canada), then you weigh the item on a scale and print your own bar code which you stick on the bag yourself for the cashier. I love this so much! You know instantly (and I mean instantly -- it's very fast) what price you're going to be paying so you can take a tomato out if it's too much or scrap the purchase altogether (I've always hated the whole vegetable guessing game we play in Canada and how nice is this for cashiers?). Also all lettuces are sold with their roots and some dirt in a little pot (I guess you'd call it), and they're wrapped up like little potted plants with cellophane around them. I didn't know how to handle it, so I put them in cups of water and they perked right up. They seem so much fresher this way and I just had to snap off a few leaves for our salad. Cheap me wishes I had a planter box.

Anyway, the December calendar is kind of Finnish inspired and it definitely supports my growing fixation on black and white and geometric shapes. It's pretty simple, but it did take me a while to figure out how to draw the gems in photoshop. Not too shabby!



iphone/ipod

Friday, November 1, 2013

november desktop

I wanted something simple and graphic this month, so I came up with this. I can't believe it's November already. Time really flies when you've got a huge to-do list to burn through!



iphone/ipod

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

halloween desktop calendar (and how to use Photoshop brushes)

I'm feeling little ghosties this year. Admittedly, I sort of cheated with this wallpaper. It was extremely easy to put together because of this great little ghosties brush pack for Photoshop. I love Photoshop brushes, but I rarely get a chance to use them. This was one of those times when it seemed kind of necessary (my first ghosts were upside-down tulips and did not look good). Click here if you want some ghosties haunting your brushes, too. 


{note} A quick Google search for Halloween brushes will find you some really great sets that you can use for invitations, treat bags, and all sorts of things. Sometimes a person's first search for these types of crafts is for clip art but it can be a long hard search finding exactly what you need. Brushes offer a lot of options and are definitely way easier to use. If you're confused on how they work, I have Photoshop Elements, and all I have to do is click on the brush icon, then click on the style of brush at the top. There're some little white arrows to the side of the brushes available, and if you click on that, it takes you to a list of all the brushes you can use. Just click on Load Brushes... and go to the file where you've saved your ghostie brush set. Then you'll be able to choose from all the ghosts available in that set. There's probably a way to save it permanently in Photoshop, but it never works for me so I just load them as I need them. Brushes work as simply as choosing the one you want and stamping it. That's all! Brushes came into my life when I came across some really great sets like arrows, washi tape, and artistic inky brushes. They've proven really helpful for blog posts! I rarely go looking for clip art anymore.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

october desktop

Remember our vacation to Helsinki? Well, you probably figured it was a little odd that we up and went to Finland for the weekend (of all places), but we had a good reason. Idle Husband had a job interview and it went really well...

And are you getting where this is going?

We're moving to Helsinki!

That's a little bit of the reason why I've been so quiet on here for so long. We've been doing so much thinking and talking and discussing everything involved with something like this. We came to the (natural) conclusion that it's not a death sentence and other than the fact that we have a lot of stuff to do and decide about before we go (I have a LOT of stuff to sell or get rid of), the whole thing will be a really great learning and growing opportunity for both of us (and honestly, the idea of a super fresh start really appeals to me).

So in the new year, expect more pictures and crafts Helsinki related!

To celebrate, the desktop this month is one of the little pictures I took in Helsinki (but I'll probably make up a Halloween-style desktop later in the month just cuz that's usually my primary method of getting into the spirit of fall).

Sunday, September 1, 2013

september desktop

Here's probably one of the last leafy pictures I'll get this year. Which is pretty fine with me as I'm really looking forward to things cooling down and turning orange. And pumpkins. And cinnamon-y spices in the air. Ah, September. I love you just as much as I love spring.



Thursday, August 1, 2013

august desktop

Naturally, I would never forget about the desktop for August! I still feel badly about cutting off all of my hoya's flowers, so I decided to pay homage to them this month. Yesterday, I decided to cut off all the rest of the buds in one sweep. It's much better than waiting for them to open and smelling them at an inopportune time (like at 3 a.m.).

They look like little pink stars, though, right?



iphone/ipod: lockscreen; homescreen

Monday, July 1, 2013

july desktop

Happy Canada day and happy July first! I made this silly little ice cream pattern this month. I hope you like it!

Due to a little bit of a mix-up on my end, I won't be sharing photos through Flickr anymore. I'm going to (slowly) go through my archives and fix the links (if I can) to any previous desktops and photos, but for the most part, you won't be able to access anything before last month.





Saturday, June 1, 2013

june desktop

DSC08722_1080

A little greenery for your month!

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iphone/ipod: lock screen; home screen

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

may desktop



Why is it still so cold?! The only blessings from April and now May have been clean pathways devoid of snow (though there are still banks of snow in shady areas and, on Monday, I almost fell on ice, so there's that).

I've been really obsessed with dark pictures of flowers lately (but really, you could say always). Here're some orchids to start your May right.

Monday, April 1, 2013

april desktop

I swear! This is the last desktop till May!



Wednesday, March 27, 2013

bunny desktop and easter ideas


I know, I know. You're getting sick of desktop wallpapers, aren't you? Well, I can't help it. I've been feeling very uninspired this month and when I get even a hint of an idea, it turns into a complete flop.

Maybe it's because Easter was early this year and coincides with my birthday or maybe it's because I don't can't eat eggs (they make me so sick!), or maybe (just maybe!) I still haven't gotten over the parking lot bunnies eating a lot of my garden plants last summer. So really, everything that goes along with Easter elicits a big "why bother?" or a "what's the point?" ala Aunt Linda (facial expressions, eye rolls and all).

I might also just have the winter blues. It feels like everyone's talking about crocuses, while we're still trudging around through snow and ice (it literally felt like I was walking through a glacier after they finally plowed out all the huge snow drifts on the walking path yesterday. The snow is me-high in some places!).

Anyway! Enough of my poor-me story. I was in a thrift shop last week and found this super cute little ceramic bunny. There were other ones there, too, and I wanted to say that you should look in your local thrift shop for Easter stuff. If you find some bunnies but don't like how they're painted, just get the ones with the shape you like and spray paint them. Gold seems to be trending right now for eggs, why not spray paint a bunny gold?

I liked the look of this one, blue (like how I'm feeling) and modern looking (which is a lot to ask of thrift store merchandise). I also like that his face isn't too sweet.

So the best part about this guy? I think he was (or is) a cotton ball dispenser.

Behold:


There's a hole right where his little fluffy tail should be and it's the perfect size for a cotton ball.

I'm sure you know where to go to download the desktop wallpapers by now. They're all in my Flickr photostream. I like the iPhone and iPod ones. Bunny face for the lock page and bunny bum for the homescreen. Due to an error on my part, I'm without a Flickr page and all of my Flickr photos have been binned. You can now find the photos here:


You'll give me extra points for this, though, right?


Oh yes. And I thought I would share some of my favourite Easter Pinterest pins with you in a post, but those amounted to a whole three of them (whoa!). There are lots of others that I like on my Spring and Easter board that might tickle your fancy, too. Especially if you needed some last minute ideas.

My top three (that I would probably do if I weren't so grumpy):

I would use the Paint Chip Carrots on cards instead of as a garland.

These bunny ear sachets are so cute! I just wish I had some use for them! I wish it so hard!

I love anything having to do with origami (cuz it's easy and cheap!). Actually, I should rephrase that. I'm more into origami shapes right now than I normally am because they're so graphic and geometric! I love these paper bunnies and these bunny treat holders. I mean, if you were doing an Easter supper, I can really see either of these sitting at every place setting. And I forgot about this origami bunny print which you could use as wrapping or on a card.

Also, I have to tell you. When I went to Greece, we did a lot of family visiting, and, well, obviously, for me there's this huge language barrier that pretty much leaves me just sitting and smiling quietly for hours on end. My one moment of grace came when there were children around and paper and I created the two origami figures I have memorized -- the paper crane and the paper balloon. And they were such. a. hit. Words cannot express how quickly I went from "that Canadian girl who knows nothing" to the superstar hero cool dude of the room. If you were to just learn how to fold a bunny (or anything, really), you'll be the friggin' star of any party you go to forever. And finally, don't forget to blow their minds when you make one out of a gum wrapper. Trust me. Parlor tricks. You should really have some up your sleeve.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

bonus: green desktops

We don't really do a whole lot around here for St. Patrick's day. We don't eat green potatoes or drink green beer and there certainly won't be any pinching if we're not wearing green. But I still wanted to do something green in celebration of St. Patty's day and (the idea of) spring (we're so very far from it still), so I made up some bonus desktops for this month.

I was inspired by another photo blog who took these sorts of pictures with their house plants, and I thought the photos infused just the right amount of green into the day and were so light and airy that I just had to take some of my own.



hoya


christmas cactus


mystery plant

Friday, March 1, 2013

march desktop wallpaper


Yay! It's March!




(or vice versa, of course!)

Friday, February 1, 2013

february desktop

I've been learning and trying a few new things over on Pugly Pixel's resource page, so I thought I'd have a little fun with the desktops and use filters this month.











I was also reminded that I had this fun rose background so I thought I'd add it again since it goes so well with the lovey pink and red Valentine's day theme of February.