I have discovered Big Maybelle.
I've just about mastered text... importing illustrations I've made in other applications though... Hmmm? I think I will have to take a class eventually. My pre-press skills suck! I have forgotten everything I ever knew about knockouts, CMYK, and registration marks. However, I do have my first client: a catering company that wants me to do some corporate branding. I generally suck at logo design, but I have an eye for color combinations and such. I can make a pretty decent looking menu, though. Here's my latest practice one. I made up the name.
Who knew that I had enough Pepsistuff points to buy almost the entire album.
This is more fun than a 45 year old woman should be permitted.
I wonder what other freebies I'm missing out on by not redeeming points/miles/reward credits. Geez! I need to log into my various accounts more often.
There is really no point in looking for a job right now. No one is hiring three weeks before Christmas. Unfortunately, to receive unemployment benefits you have keep feeding the resume munching machine.
On a positive note I have rediscovered my inner homemaker. I have been baking bread and eating wholesome things like soup. By the time Christmas actually gets here I expect I'll be up to baking cookies (fully decorated, of course) and cutting out paper snowflakes to hang around the house in manner of festive elf.
I know: kill me now!
If someone took white vinegar, a drop of yellow food coloring, and aged it in oak barrels... that used to contain turpentine, you'd get this:
Learn from me: do not buy wine that comes in a glorified juice box. Wrong on so many levels!
My first unemployment check arrived today. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to storm down to the unemployment office and go postal up in there!
In order to make myself more marketable, I'm in the process of teaching myself various graphic programs that I have neglected to learn (meaning too cheap to pay for a course). One of the programs I always wanted to learn was Quark. I mean, I sorta knew PageMarker (sorta) and I thought that those skills would transfer over to Adobe InDesign.
Uh, that would be NO! When it comes to InDesign, I'm kind of an idiot.
So, there's a QuarkXPress 8 trial (60 days, image that) over at the Quark site. Well, I have nothing but time on my hands these days and no extra money, so why not. I've always wanted to design restaurant menus and I've been collecting them for nearly 3 years for inspiration in anticipation of doing exactly that.
Here's my first attempt at a page layout in Quark...
I did not come up with the actual design, that's someone else's genius, but this is my handiwork. I wanted to see if I could lay it out with my new Quark skills. Not bad after four days of training. On the left hand side you can see that I was too lazy to type out the dishes, so that is why it says Japanese Pan Noodles over and over again. (Geez, I'm hungry!)
The next thing I create will be from my own brain. I need to put a portfolio together rather quickly so I can drum up some business. As for the resume, I've already added QuarkXPress to my list of computer skills.
I filled up my gas tank today (from empty) and paid less than $20.
$18.78 to be exact.
If that is not cause for celebration, then I don't know what is!
Almost too gorgeous for words!
