Ann-S-Thesia's Template Designs

This template is the reason I absolutely love Filter Forge. It's not the textures (and it makes wonderful textures), but the objects it create...like...daisys and...chains. The daisy came from a "Sunflower" filter that I tweaked to make a plethora of other floral species, and a chain filter that I also tweaked.

Some of the users of Filter Forge create their own filters...and if your filters become popular, it will get you a free version of the software. I don't have an interest in creating filters, but in using the ones already created and manipulating them to the fullest to get some wonderful effects.

While I was making this template, I was reminded of a dress I used to have about 15 years ago with white daisies against a black background. Those were the days.

Here's a neutral grey one using my legacy "Environment" graphics.

This one has so many parts to the construction. The decorative "snowflake gear" header area uses a top header that I made previously (still available for sale on the older part of my Ann-S-Thesia site). That top header uses various fonts I created that I sell at The Dingbatcave. I also created a  gear and a snowflake (the  foreground portion in the top header, and the background object on the left side of the page on top) with Filter Forge...there's filters that create such things. I had a lot of fun with this one!

Ever have something remind you of something but you can't place what it reminds you of? That's what these graphics do to me. They remind me of something from my past, but I don't know what. I have garnet jewelry, but it's not that. I have a bracelet of semi-precious stone scarabs in a goldtone setting that they sort of remins me of that I got from The Museum Shop over a decade ago, but I made these graphics longer ago than that (this is a re-adapted "Environment"). It is a puzzle.

Luscious puffy clouds of ruby colors, gorgeous glowing gems.

Graphics from my Environments adapted to the new Blogger format. I love the way I was able to make gems back then. Unfortunately, the software I used was never updated to be used on an Intel Mac.

This is one of the first templates I made in this new decade after I decided to start making templates again. It has sort of an ancient Greek feel to it. The round decoration in the header is made with one of my dingbat font families, "Timepieces" from The Dingbatcave.

Graphics adapted from an old "Environment". I think the stone is Sugilite, which is a gorgeous purple stone that people mistake for Purple Turquoise...except there is no Purple Turquoise, just dyed Magnesite. Yet, I digress into my other life as a jewelry maker.

Here's another play with plaid, made mostly with Filter Forge. The plugin has several plaid filters available, but I also used a pretty unique filter called "Shoujo Strands" which is sort of a hair generator. Reminds me of when I colored a swatch back in 1982 hot turquoise and magenta. Crazy Color wasn't all that permanent, but it was really cool while it lasted. Plaid hair would be even cooler...I'm sure hair tech can figure out a way.

Zany name old school graphics, but adapted in a fairly conservative style to the new blogger.

I used Filter Forge to create some awesome effects in this one, like the background bricks and the steel globe graphic. Steel Clouds is sort of an oxymoron, but it works.

An Oldie but Goodie. Adapted Graphics from the "old days", and very green for spring.

I have this weird love/hate relationship with plaid. I used to hate it. Plaid flannel shirt people populated the Colorado campuses back in the '80s with their split personality deadhead trustfund mountain man styles. And the yuppies with Plaid's little cousin, Argyle. And soon as I started noticing Plaid (and Argyle), it started popping up more and more! This was 1983. Plaid came back in style with a pastel vengeance. So I started to use it in my art...both my figurative intaglio prints and my abstract acrylic paintings. I still have "Plaid Massacre" (the painting...I also did a print by the same title) hanging in our house today.

I still play with plaid, now digitally. I made this one with Human Software's "PhotoWeave," as well as Alien Skin's Zenoflex "Flag" (to get the warping). To get the fringe, I used Flaming Pear's freebie, "Transline." ("It was plaid...with a fringe.")

FWIW,  Filter Forge has some great plaid filters...really easy to use too.

Here's another one using my "Legacy Graphics." Turquoise and Gold in a deco style evocative of earlier last century. Digging up my old graphics was sort of like digging up long-forgotten treasures and using styles from another era and adapting them to a new one.

Here's a new one I just recently created, made with my swirly round dingbat font, "Sexos" from the Roundabouts font family available at my dingbat site, The Dingbatcave.

This one is also done with older graphics formerly from an Environment, now updated for the Blogger.

Because one can never have too many planets.

Funny how the words: sunset, sunrise, and sometimes even moonrise are used, but you never hear the word "moonset."

This template contains the first graphics I ever offered up as "Environments." That was not just in the last decade, but the decade before that. Stan was right...the 90s weren't all that great. But I still like the graphics and adapted them to the new Blogger layout.

Well, I'm a little late posting this for St. Patrick's Day, but lovers of green stones can use this any time. I made many--but not all--of the graphic components in Filter Forge, like the Malachite sphere on the left (they actually have a Malachite Filter!), the celtic knot background, and the blingy header background. The main emerald cut gem is a secret. ;)