Serious Tech Issue

Dear Friends:
Today is January 10, 2012.
Our apologies for not visiting you all with comments, etc., as well as for seldom answering your emails.
Here's what's wrong.
We are currently experiencing a heavier-than-usual tech issue which escalated over the weekend, and then redoubled yesterday.
The Studio's work horse computer is a Mac which has been invaded by a developing virus which has crashed it too many times to count.
Tomorrow afternoon, we'll hopefully have everything under control again.
This will require serious overhauling, including some uninstalling and fresh installation of software after scanning for virus activity.
We are unusually careful anymore, having discovered how Macs may indeed be invaded, even if firewalls are turned on. We have added extra security over time, and routinely perform multiple scans of the HD and EXHD, yet somehow this got in under our guard before we were quite prepared to handle it.
The computer I'm currently driving is an old laptop which miraculously (after much coaxing and a certain amount of fuss) finally would allow protective downloads at Microsoft. But we are concerned this may not have been enough, and thus won't be online for much longer than needful.
Whatever struck the Mac is still at large.
We want to urge any Mac users to please be extra careful with their machines today.
It is a well known fact in the tech industry that Macs are not impervious to viral problems like this one. In fact, even Apple tech folks can tell you it's doable for anyone bothering who might be aware enough of Mac technology.
There are currently free downloads available (our first one was Sophos, now at Apple's website), along with industry software available which can scan Macs and even isolate and get rid of spybots, etc.
Please do not think you are exempt.
That just isn't the case anymore, as our situation illustrates.
Tomorrow's appointment with an Apple Care Tech should help us clean up our workhorse and make it run properly again.
Wish us luck!
We'll surely keep you posted as to any upshot.
Till then, we hope you'll coninue to enjoy our many image sets and singles, and perhaps share with others what you've found that pleases you.
Thank You for visiting us today with your---
Happy Creativity
Rose

A Chance to Own Some Special Artwork

I have been very fortunate in my time blogging. 
In only 3 days, PPS will have been up and running for one whole year, and during that time, we've met many new people, become friends with a lot of you, and gotten to know personally a few fellow bloggers as well.
It's been a long haul since the old days, when hardly anything was doable for those of us then involved here at the Studio. While our ranks did change up over the summer, and new friends did join our fun, those changes seem to have only made the commitment to excellence continue.
We are learning nearly every day how to better serve you, including how to make our images more workable for the average visitor here.
One of the many benefits of blogging would have to be the wonderful gifts and/or prizes others offer. Over at Artfully Musing, for example, lovely works of art get offered fairly frequently, all of them really quite exceptional.
I am now the lucky holder of one of the prizes from last month, which Artfully Musing's Laura Carson carefully posted to the Studio's office, and which arrived in perfect condition.
Isn't it a thing of beauty?

I think it's gorgeous!

:)

This will be a part of the decorative touches in the office next Christmas.

Thank You, Laura, for sharing such beauty with this ardent admirer of your work! I take such pleasure in visiting your blog for each new post. Your work truly inspires me.

Rose

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Set

Our series of various confectionary or chocolate looks and color choices for you continues with today's post, all about chocolates. 
This time, we've thrown in a marble background with coordinating color way for you, along with our fresh set, all of it so you can play with chocolate without needing to diet afterwards.
;)
We hope you'll enjoy our latest choice in colorways for you, and have fun building different valentine looks with our variety of choices upcoming.
Happy Creativity!
Rose


P.S. You may find there is more than one heart in our last post which fits our current post's colorway.

PPSDigiScrap™ Set: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Hearts

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

Raspberry Truffle Marble Background

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Digital Brush Credit: Obsidian Dawn

You are free to:
use these in art-making for sale and personal use.
Obsidian Dawn have changed their policy regarding the right to use their particular brushes in items for sale. 
They require that attribution for their brushes be included in the description of the source material and processes in each art piece.
And it won't cost you  a dime.
:)
Please also understand, these sets are never to be repackaged and/or sold online or elsewhere.
Thank you for cooperating.

Happy New Year!

Wishing all of you a boundlessly blissful and peaceful 2012 with health and good cheer from beginning to end.
Today's offering comes two ways, one with a greeting, and the other that is blank for your own greetings and good wishes.

This is not a raw image. 
By that I mean that I have not simply found it and then changed the banner that hangs from the horn. This took hours for me to clean and make ready so that you might have a better version of it. Please see the Guidelines that are written in red that are located beneath the pictures. Thank you.

Victorian Lady Dressed as a Fairy

With the Greeting

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Without the Greeting

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Credits: Original 1890's image (prior to our fiddling) from

the New York Public Library at nypl.org

You are free to: 
Use these items in your artwork that is either 
for giving or to be sold. 
You are not free to:
repackage this item and sell it on its own or as a part of a set.
This is not a raw image.
It took many hours for me to make it as usable as it is now.
Thank you 
for helping me to 
keep free things free!

Family Fun Project: A ColorMe™ Game Board for Young & Old

We recently dove into game-making head first with our temporarily posted Steampunk-themed parcheesi game set, and are enjoying it so much, we decided to go one step further.
This time, you may partly design your board's look using crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc., and make it a family project at the same time.
Our game board sports a storybook look, with four squares to color in. Adults may have to supervise the board's final look by helping to choose which colors to apply to the spaces provided.
GAME RULES
You may go HERE to find those basic rules necessary to get started. Notice the crown motif, moms, if you will, and note also how the rules call for pieces to enter the pathway on the board in that special spot.
ASSEMBLY
It's fairly self-explanatory, involving your supervision only if children may get confused about which areas of the board to color which way. Simply download each corner section below, then print each one for coloring. We've sized our board fairly small, for ease in printing, but you may choose to enlarge it via your local extension or copy center. We actually do recommend that you make multiple copies, as, in the excitement, children often will fumble, and to be disappointed is not something worth remembering.
Also, it may be useful to try for copies made with toner instead of ink, as these will weather the transformation from black and white to colorful finished product much better.
You may laminate it onto your choice of backing. Wood, cardboard, even cloth when iron-on sheets are available for use, may give fine results.
TOKENS or GAME PIECES
Our game was made to be played using dice for moves around the board.
Also, while the instructions site to which we linked, above, offers you the added option of using spinners, our choice would be dice, but you and your children may opt for either.
For tokens, buttons, coins, flat-backed colored marbles (for use with floral arrangements), or game pieces from other games offer several options. Let each child choose or make it a random drawing which decides who gets to move which pieces.
Once the game's assembly is complete, you may want to protect its surface against the general wear and tear expected in times of play. Everything from sticky-backed clear shelf paper to Mod Podge or any other common household child-safe varnish may work quite nicely for your family.
So, gather your kids together, and break out the crayons, markers, etc., and then watch as it all comes together from creating to gaming.
And Happy Creativity, everyone!
Rose

Example of Assembled Product

(for display purposes only)

Section One

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Section Two

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Section Three

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Section Four

Download 300dpi Printable HERE

Our game board was designed to be free to the public. It should remain so. You are free to use it, but not to sell it as is, or even fancied up as a finished product.
Thank you.

Steampunk Game Board: Parcheesi

This project has been long in the making--several months' worth, in fact.
But it has been a real labor of love.
:)
I created it so that it might be used as one of the games for a Steampunk themed party, taking into account it might also serve as a little conversation piece of a sort.

For the other matching items in this ongoing set, simply go to the PPSPartyGear™ category HERE.

This is work is copyrighted. 
I mean that sincerely.
Anyone who chooses to sell this one, or copy it and post it as being theirs (in other words, steal)  is liable for prosecution under the law. Within U.S. copyright, the moment it was created, it gained copyright status. Same with publishing here to PPS's line-up. So don't be fooled.
I may offer, and you may make copies enough for home use only, or for use in gift-giving, and never for sale in any way.
This is due in part to the digital brushes made by other people, as well as the various share-alike + attribute types of licenses attached to the various images used in such a collage piece. 
In other words, it cannot be legally copied for sale in any way.
I appreciate your help in this matter.
Thank You.

That being said, it is hoped that visitors with an interest in Steampunk and/or board games for home use may enjoy this little offering to its fullest extent.

Game Rules

There is an online resource for Game Rules of many kinds, where you'll find basic rules for the set being offered. That site's version of Parcheesi Rules may be found HERE. Just click on the link, and scroll down.
Be advised, theirs is a version which would assume there is a spinner to hand. It is highly recommend you use dice instead, unless a spinner can be found which can be altered. However, to start one's move using dice was how it was played initially.

Assembling the Game
For tokens, you might try using coins in lieu of having anything on hand, or try making a few of your own based on the 4 designs I offer in my separate printable. Once glued to or printed out onto card stock, they can be then backed with cardboard, then given either felt or cork footing to spare the board's surface. They measure each just 1/2" in diameter, being made to fit the spaces given, but you could always expand via copying larger and/or digitally manipulating the sizes.

Also, it is highly recommend that you head for the nearest extension or copy center where there is a toner based color copier (for better transference, without smears). There you will need to make 4 copies, one of each quadrant of your board, then join all to your chosen surface (I recommend book board or double thickness illustration board or, perhaps, an old table top) using either Dry Mount Tissue (photography studios use this a lot for mounting pictures), or good old fashioned Mod Podge, finishing up with a clear top coat by Mod Podge, and (once it's had a chance to dry completely) perhaps a good buff using either a dab of finishing wax or one of MicroGlaze to reduce moisture damage.

~A second option might be to print all 4 quadrants onto card stock paper. The stiffer paper will hold up to more handling at this point. Follow that by using clear Contact shelf liner and perhaps stiffer cardboard backing.

~Option number 3 might be to use an iron on sheet per quadrant, then position carefully and iron all four sections onto tightly woven fine grade cotton that has been laundered beforehand without any dryer sheets being used. This could be either rolled up for travel or storage, or else folded carefully and tucked into a drawer.

Each quadrant section measures only 8" by 8", not too large for the average home printer.
This means that the board should finish out at about 16" square--a nice size for a game played by 4 players.
Anyway, I do hope you'll enjoy putting this new game together. 
I intend posting a second version of the same game, only this time with a family slant.  That might make a nice family project.
Happy Creativity!
~Rose

Dital Brush Credits:

www.obsidiandawn.com

You are free to 

play with this game and may have it for your own personal use.

Due to copyright issues, however, you are 

not free to:

sell this game board or any portion of it 

for any reason 

here in the United States or worldwide.

I respect the holders of the copyrights embedded within

this work, and respect anybody else who will join me in doing so.

Thank you for cooperating in keeping free things free!

PPSCustomGames™: Steampunk 
Parcheesi Board + Tokens

Upper Right Section

Download HERE

Lower Right

Download HERE

Lower Left

Download  HERE

Upper Left

Download  HERE

Display
(lower quality than the download)

TOKENS

Download HERE

Thank you for cooperating in helping me to keep free things free!

Our Next Episode Is Now Ready!

Here are a few display examples (resolution 96 dpi) of the offerings currently available over at Steam Tea Travels.
If you have time during this hectic season to take a breather for a spot of fun and a warming cup of Victorian cocoa, we'd love to have you as our guests there.
Hope to see you soon!
Rose

(Display Sizes Only--for links to 300 dpi versions, you can go HERE)

You are free to:
Make art using any of the items in this post. We would like a link back to this blog, with full credit only as having processed and altered the images chosen by us.
You are not free to:
repackage these for sale as a set. They have been offered for the public's use, and must remain available that way.
Thank you.

Celebrating Jane Austen All Weekend!

For those of you used to PPS's posting an item or two each time, this will be a departure from the usual.

Please observe the red letter Guidelines located at the foot of this post. Thank you.

Today, American time, is Jane Austen's Birthday, and we'd like to do her world honor by adding a full range of fun images for kids and adults alike to "fussy cut" and play with much like we use paper dolls, but without dressing.
That's right! We have a cast of characters in various outfits, along with a selection of backgrounds (both public and not so public) to add to the fun.
Also expect to see a lovely Regency style lady of some distinction toasting her toes next to a hearth.
I can see dioramas, tableaus, and various fun ways with collage out of this set!
It's taken us a long while to process it, which is why we've not been online as much here of late. We do hope the wait has been worth it for our friends here and abroad.
Not everything has the same format, although we offer several items in our popular Digi PNG format as well as in print style.
So, here they are, our cast of characters, along with a few fun ways of displaying them!
Happy Birthday to Jane Austen!
And Happy Creativity to all our blogosphere friends
Rose

A Refined Regency Lady

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Our Main Cast of Players

The Ladies

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

For Print Version HERE

Our Regency "Bucks"

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

A Few More Figures for Fun

Download 300dpi Version HERE

A Few More Ladies, etc.

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE

(Altho' this Christmas tune had not yet been written, the instrument it's played on is very much period)
(Enjoy!)

My Lady's Boudoir

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Regency Buck's Regal Bedchamber

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Regency Family Life

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Regency Era Home Office

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Regency Era Shopping

Download 300dpi Version HERE

Credits: Original 1890's image (prior to our fiddling) from

the New York Public Library at nypl.org

also from Wiki Commons

These we had to take especial care with. Numerous hours were put into our Jane Austen event.

You can imagine, then, why we would like you to credit us for that process in your art, whether for sale or for art-play.

You are not free to repackage our work for sale as such, either singly or in sets, unless you have completely remade them into something else, as in a real art collage with other elements used.

Thank you for cooperating in this matter.

Our Next Chapter!

Today's latest Steam Tea Travels post is now up and rolling!

Do stop by for a peek at our Links Party there, won't you?

You may find it and Downloadable Imagery HERE

Meantime, here is a display copy of only one of the offerings you'll find there (and there are 3 in today's post alone!), all for Free and for use as you choose. Just another service of our Studio's for you.

NOTE:

This set was not pre-packaged when we found it. In fact, it took weeks of searching and then processing and cleaning up to make this set a finished product.

We would never sell anything which you, our guests, had not given us permission to sell, and we ask that that same courtesy be given to us in return.

Otherwise, a theft would occur, or friends part ways. This may not seem all that valuable an item, but it does belong to our Studio, in that it was processed for months before being offered for your use.

Free of charge.

Please be mindful of others' copyrights.

Thank you.

Some Sneak Peek Images
(for Downloads at 300 dpi of the following image sets, 
please go HERE)

Victorian Style Fan Card / Ornament--Now in PINK SATURDAY!

This is a PPS Original, a one of a kind design, based upon an old timey design similar to this one.
It's been revamped, altered to conform with our styles today, and has a brand new outlook. We really hope you'll enjoy adding your own creative touches to it!
You needn't follow instructions here. It's all pretty well self-explanatory. Simply print, copy if need be, and cut to join. The join might well be a corded tassel or it could be a brad or perhaps even ribbon streamers threaded through your punched hole. 
It can be mounted for scrapbooking in an album, and even sent as a card, once folded.
It might make a fun change from the usual family Christmas photo displays, with the oval frame center snipped away, then filled with a photo or other picture of your choice.
Actually, this might do well as a Thank You card, a valentine, a birthday card, a get well card, or just a decorative item.
This will be our very first time joining Pink Saturday! Go HERE to see all the fun pretties there! Thanks so much to Beverly for hosting this creative gathering!

We do hope your holiday season is a delightful one this year!
Happy Holiday Creativity!
Rose

PPSDigiScrap™Victorian Style Fan Set

Download Digi PNG Version HERE

Download For Print Version HERE


What your finished product should look like



What our set looks like before assembling

Digital Brush Credits

expectacularmix, lileya

Credits: Original 1890's image (prior to our fiddling) from

the New York Public Library at nypl.org

You are free to:
use and share this fan, but only for free, 
never for sale.
All of the artists whose work is included in this project 
respect fair use and we hope you do, too.
Thank you
for helping me to
keep free things free!