I love my husband because he makes me laugh when I want to cry.
— Sara

Recent updates

The “I Love” Project

Every year since 2010 I celebrate my domain's birthday on the 11th October with some kind of project. In 2010, it was the 'Love is...' Project and you submitted your definitions of love. In 2011, you shared what it is that you love.

On the 9th October 2011, this design was released with a rotation above the sidebar with chosen submissions. Read more...

Further links

Icon Tutorial

I decided to make an icon tutorial since I started spending more time on the ones I make.

This icon was made in Photoshop CS2 but it should work in newer versions as well. All resources in this tutorial are my own. If you found this tutorial useful, credit would be appreciated. If you use any textures on your own website, credit is required.

This is what the icon looks like before and after the tutorial:

icon icon

Start by opening Photoshop with the image you want to use. I will be using a photo of my boyfriend’s dog.

Crop: Crop out a part of the photo which you would like to use for the icon. Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard as you drag out the cropping area, as this will keep it in the shape of a square. Double-click on the selected square to crop the image.

Go to Image > Image Size to resize the square to 100 by 100 pixels, the size of our icon.

icon

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Click OK in the dialog box that opens.

A new dialog box should open with a grid. Using your mouse, drag the gradient of the grid a little bit upward, then key in the values 102 for Input and 167 for Output.

Click OK.

curves

Now we will create a new selective color layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Click OK in the dialog box that opens.

A new dialog box should open. Select Neutrals under “colors” and change to the following settings:

Cyan: +46
Magenta: 0
Yellow: -25
Black: +23

Click OK.

selective color

Copy the following texture (created by me, available in full size at Aquapheric.net) into a new layer. Set the blending options to Lighten at 75% opacity. You can do this by double-clicking the layer preview in the side panel, or going to Layer > Layer Style > Blending options.

texture preview

Copy the following texture into a new layer. Set the blending options to Screen at 70% opacity.

texture preview

Copy the following texture into another layer. Set the blending options to Overlay at 100% opacity.

texture preview

Line: Use the line tool to draw a thick line in pink. I have used the colour #F49AC1 and set the layer to 50% opacity. This panel will be a section to put text.

preview

Text: Use the text tool to add text if you wish. I have used the font Gill Sans MT and increased the spacing between characters.

icon icon

When you’re done, save your icon. :)