So Sweet Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:04:00 +0000

Closing Down

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:34:00 +0000

I have made the decision to close down So Sweet Designs. The economy has really affected everyone even the blog designers. When people do not have a lot of money to spare the last thing they want to think about is a blog design and well I do not blame them. People just rather learn to design themselves and I want to help teach them. I still do get a good supply of orders but I just do not feel like I get back all that I put into this blog. I LOVE designing and all the tutorials that I do of course, that's just me.

I have a personal blog and for I really never wanted to mix my personal life with my business blog. But I have decided to just merge this blog with my personal blog. I have actually already merged every post on this site to my other one. I will continue to post tutorials, freebies and such like I always have I just do not want to have to keep up with an extra blog anymore. And if I get an offer to be commissioned for a job that I like then I will take it on. I will not be posting anymore at this site and I plan to redirect the url to send visitors to my other blog.

So please go to my other blog Little Pink Strawberries and follow me there.

Design Book Must Haves

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:46:00 +0000

{via weheartit}

When I shop for design books to add to my collection I am pretty picky in terms of what the book can and will offer to me. I usually only grab one book at a time but if I see others I adore I quickly write them down for future reference and to share with you. I found a great supply of design books at Virgin Records in Dubai. Here are some of the design books all designers or aspiring designers should have.

1. Hyper-activi-typo-Graphy from A-Z
(Gestalten)

2. Handmade Graphics
(Anna Wray)

3. A Graphic Design Project from Start to Finish
(indexbook.com)

4. Pattern + Palette 4
(Kathie Alexander and Harvey Rayner)

CameraBag

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:07:00 +0000

{shot from Kutabeach, Bali}

CameraBag is an awesome desktop and mobile picture editing software. CameraBag has several filters that allow you to make the most out of your pictures along with various processes, sizes and borders. For those of you who do not own any Apple products you can get that awesome and popular Instagram look easily and the best thing about this software is that you do not have to be a Photoshop buff. Anyone can do this all you do is drag your image and push a few buttons and ta da you can have several different looks for that one shot.

Even though I do have Photoshop I am so in love with CameraBag. I think everyone who loves to take pictures should own a copy. You can try this software out for free for two weeks and then if you love it you can buy It for only $19.95, that’s a steal. You seriously have to check out their for all the cool things.

Download Here

NexusFont Manager

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:42:00 +0000

If you love and have a lot of fonts like I do then a font manager is essential. It helps you easily sort through your fonts and see what would look best in what you may need it for. This is one of the best out there that I have found for free and what I use. It is a powerful font manager with an extensive range of font and file attributes that can be viewed and sorted by. Unlike most of the other programs, NexusFont mainly works from the main window instead of having many different windows or panes. Windows XP – Windows 7

Check it out here

Photoshop Must Haves

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:41:00 +0000

{I used a FloraBella action with this picture}

I can easily spend hours on Photoshop playing around. I mean I truly love the product. You can do so many things with it and can find amazing products to add, most being for free. My most beloved site for all things Photoshop is defiantly Deviant Art. You can get styles, patterns, brushes and actions all for free and the selections are astonishing. However, when it comes to the things I add to my Photoshop I am extremely picky. I just do not like to have a lot of things nor things I do not use. Here is my Photoshop action list must haves:

FloraBella actions (I have them all however these are not free)
Instgram Filters
Pioneer Woman actions
Atomic Cupcake actions (they have a freebie a month)
Centre Point
MulletGod
Nelly Nero
Rounded border
Spring Fever
Only Red
SA Cool
Hard light
Correct underexposed pictures
Triquil lomo

When it comes to styles I usually buy them because I have not found free ones that suit my personal needs. I only have a few that I have bought from SugarHill Co that are skin tones, card stock and other crafting textures. And my favorite patterns and brushes have all came from Deviant Art. I also make a lot of patterns and brushes myself they are extremely easy to make.

Choosing Color themes

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:43:00 +0000

When I have spare time I look through websites or magazines for color inspiration. I am often drawn to soft colors but will throw in a darker color from time to time. I usually pick anywhere from 4-6 colors when I make a pallet. I save my pallets for later usage and as of now I have several pallets that I have made. This makes it easier for future designs. I just take a look into my color pallets folder and find something that I feel works with what I am going for in a design.

As I said I get this inspiration from all over the place. Sometimes I see a picture online that I like or something when I am out. You can easily take pictures and upload it them using the eye drop tool suck the colors from the picture and make your own pallet. The opportunities are really endless. Another great resource is Colour Lovers, which I have proudly been part of for some time now. Many members myself included upload their own color pallets making it easier for others to get color inspiration. And I have recently started buying design books to stock my library one newer buy has been “Pattern + Palette 4”. I grabbed this book while in Dubai and wow I am in love with it; it has over 1,000 pallets and patterns. What an amazing book for inspiration.

A lot of people are afraid to mix certain colors but the cool thing is that were all at a time in life where any mixture of color is okay. As designers we can really get creative with our color themes and play around until we find something unique. You can take a look at some of my past color pallets here on So Sweet Designs and some others at Colour Lovers that I have made. Happy Coloring..

Freebie: Ya Ramadan

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:48:00 +0000

Ya Ramadan is a beautiful custom template. You can see the LIVE demo right here. This template has everything such as a custom made crescent and star pattern, new style page width banner, menu, footer and buttons with star textures, sidebar styling, title font matching header font, rounded radius, star bullets, cute quotes, rss feed, calendar and edit graphics, Allah favicon, shaped articles and much more.

The post width is 650 while the sidebar is 250. This template can be downloaded for Blogger and Blogs for FREE, I also have the files available for Wordpress which I will have up shortly in this post. You can use this template long after Ramadan by changing the name, this template has unlimited usage really.

Download Here

Pre-made Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 07:02:00 +0000

So Sweet Designs has been busy making tons of new pre-made templates. These templates are as customized as you can get down to every little detail. And you can buy them for Wordpress and Blogger, your choice. You even get to have the banner title and subtitle made for your blog. What a steal these babies are at only $15 a pop. Just take a look at how awesome they are.

Vintage Wood (Blogger or Wordpress)

Shabby Blue (Blogger or Wordpress)
See live DEMO here

Retro Rainbow (Blogger or Wordpress)

Upper East Side (Blogger or Wordpress)

Wild Horses (Blogger or Wordpress)

Desert Rain (Blogger or Wordpress)

My Sweet Kitchen (Blogger or Wordpress)

Cosmic Love (Blogger or Wordpress)

Chasing Dreams (Blogger or Wordpress)

Big Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:58:00 +0000

What a great vacation my family and I had but now I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. All that traveling, time difference, hotels, planes woo I am tired from it all. I cannot wait until my jet lag is 100% over.

In my return So Sweet Designs will be having a major sale for the month of August marking down everything in the shop but custom illustration’s to 40% off. That is low down and dirty cheap! So if you have been thinking about doing something for yourself now is the time to spruce that blog up.

You will be able to choose everything that fits you and your style from the color choices, custom made pattern and all the nuts and bolts as well. And if you’re the type that does like the custom made illustrations of yourself go ahead and order one up they are the best quality at the lowest price you will find online.

If this sale sounds like something you want then go ahead and fill out the questionnaire and send it on over so we can get started on making your blog as great as you are.

Summer Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:32:00 +0000

My family and I are off for our Summer vacation and will be away exploring south Asia for three weeks. That being said all custom orders for So Sweet Designs will be closed until after vacation in mid-August. I hope you have all enjoyed the freebies this month I have been feeling ever so inspired and although I will be away you can still expect to see new patterns in the pattern files, I am obsessed what can I say? Have a great Summer everyone.

Ramadan Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:46:00 +0000

You can get a better look and download them in the pattern gallery here.

Shake it like a Polodroid picture

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 06:57:00 +0000

{espresso I had at Ninos}

I have had a lot of you ask me how I make my Polaroid images and if it was an actual Polaroid camera. Nope, its most certainty not but that is why I love it because it sure looks like you used one. I just take a regular picture and then use my secret weapon Polodroid. Yes, Polodroid is the coolest software. You simply slide your image into the frame and in a few minutes you have your very own vintage shot. You can play with the settings to get the look you want but I love the natural one the best.

Daily Drop Caps

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:27:00 +0000

Daily Drop Caps is one of the coolest websites I have seen. The author has plethora of well, drop caps. These beautiful illustrations are truly labors of love which you can tell with just one look. She has several sets of alphabets giving you room to mix and match plenty.

Of course you can use these as drop caps but why stop there? I mean just imagine all the gorgeous things you could make! You could even design a custom header, signature and so on. I have already downloaded a few sets and I plan to download them all. I have been having lots of fun creating things. And how nice of her to just give these away for everyone to use, that’s what art is truly about after all, right?

Design Style

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:26:00 +0000

Overtime web design style changes just like that of fashion and interior design. Nothing stays the same ever and to keep up with it we as designers must change as well. It’s easy to spot recent trends by flipping through magazines or popular websites. You will see which colors, fonts; accessories are all the rage of the current season. Of course as designers we must meet our customers’ needs of what they like rather we do or not. But our overall personal taste and style is what brings the customers we get to us. As someone who studied fashion design in Chicago colors and those extra touches are key to me when designing on the web just as if I was designing a piece of clothing.

I am really in love with the trends right now. The economy always plays a huge part in design. For example when the economy is low you see designers using less expensive materials with more simple colors and fabrics. The majority of people prefer to be more simple then extravagant when times are tough and that is a huge factor in the market of design. As you look around you will start to see these trends play out. I am in awe of the simple looks you find all over the web, they are perfect.

I personally have fallen in love with the no big boxy, flashy banner look. And in my personal designs have implemented a way to make my designs more natural. For examples of what I am talking about just check out these sites; Ya Salam Cooking, Little Pink Strawberries, Ruche, Uppercase, Sugar Hill Co and Design Crush.

These sites are a perfect example of how beautiful and trendy simple banners and the overall sites are. It’s kind of like when you put make up on you should play up one feature like the eyes and go natural with the rest do you do not look tacky. I guess that is how I feel about my personal style with design regardless if it is on me or the web.

I totally love the natural feel of flowers, fabric or paper like backgrounds on the web. Were all seeing a lot of those retro and vintage looks around in design with their soft colors and whimsical elements? Every little piece makes a huge difference such as the fonts, colors, background and over all themes.

When starting a project I usually have no idea what I will make or how I want it, it just sort of comes to me as I get going. Maybe I will fall in love with a fabric or color pallet. Maybe I will see something in a store and get inspiration. I also love to be different why does everyone want to be the same? What is up with everyone wanting to use the same boxy headers and horizontal menu bars? Do you dare to be different? Style is about uniqueness anyway so be the one setting trends not copying them.

Retro build-it Circles

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:20:00 +0000

I have some cute place mats that I bought from Ikea a while ago. I just love the colors and the theme of them and as I was looking at them it came to me to make some digital creations that looked like the designs. And that is exactly how this digital download was created. I made everything separate so that you can choose what colors and styles you would like for yourself. These would be awesome decorations for various projects and also look really cool with your pictures. I am sure the possibilities are endless with the great things that you all create.

You get 5 colored circles, one large circle, one large border circle, five star lines and the two examples that I made in this download. You can re-size and layer the circles and stars to make some great creations.

Download Here

Doodle Arrows

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:43:00 +0000

These doodle arrows are great and you will have TONS of uses with them. They will look super nifty on your pictures, graphics and other projects.

Download Here

Free Seamless Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:51:00 +0000

I have been creating a TON of cool free seamless patterns for you all. I just moved to another site that that should be easier for everyone to download and use. I hope you all love the patterns they are a labor of love to each one of you. You can check out the gallery here.

Cupcake Stock Images

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:22:00 +0000

Here are two yummy chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles just for you my friends. What you get with this download is two high resolution pictures taken and made by me that are 5134 x 3456 in size with no effects what so ever. You can use these stock images for your own personal use in your projects.

Download Here

Crazy Cool Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 05:29:00 +0000

I love using digital tags in a variety of the projects that I do so I decided to make some for you to use as well. You can really do so much with these tags for example you can use them on banners, sidebar tags, graphics, signatures and so on. I used a pretty vintage color theme that I had and made nine tags for you to work with.

Download Here

Circle Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:07:00 +0000

Download Here

25 Heart Doodles

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I spent my morning making these cute heart doodles. I went a bit overboard and ended up making 25 but hey that’s good for everyone in the end right? I envisioned these cute little scribbles looking perfect over your photos. You can even change the opacity up to blend them in more if you would like. Not only that but you can use these in so many other projects that you may have. The possibilities are endless to do with all of these. I made these in some of my favorite vintage colors. These heart doodles are for personal use only.

Download Here

Forum Badges

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:08:00 +0000

Here are some forum badges perfect to use for your administration teams. Have fun and collect them all, change is always good.

July Calender Wallpaper

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:24:00 +0000

1024x780 Download Here

1280x768 Download Here

Fonts I love

noreply@blogger.com (Noor) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:53:00 +0000

I LOVE fonts I mean what designer doesn't right? Here are some of my many favorite ones and guess what? They are all free.