It’s December. It’s dark and cold and it’s been a long year. The holidays are approaching. I think most of us could do with some inspiration, some fresh energy and a sense of peace!

This month, the Big Peace December will present daily objectives or exercises as well as interviews with top experts to help you change your focus and create your own daily practice for a peaceful mind. For a brand new year!

It’s all about thinking differently!

The Big Peace December is brought to you by my fabulous coach and guru, Suzy Greaves.

Related Links

Suzy Greaves’ blog with the Big Peace December
Suzy Greaves’ coaching company the Big Leap
You can also follow her on Twitter!

Tags: peace, feel-good, personal development, motivation, coaching, events

Frenzic, is a fun and highly addictive puzzle game that only takes minutes to learn, but months to master.

This is an exceptionally beautiful game with a glowing, futuristic interface that sits right at home on the iPhone’s revolutionary touch screen.

The hypnotically jazzy music and sound effects are so dreamy that it leaves me wishing there was a version of the music that I could play when I wasn’t playing the game!

There is a dash of social networking built into Frenzic. If you like you can set up a player account at Frenzic.com. This enables you to make friends with other Frenzic players and gives you access to detailed high score statistics from players across the globe.

This gorgeously designed game will give you countless hours of enjoyment in your digital life and is the ideal application for showing off the amazing capability of your iPhone or iPod Touch!

Brought to you from The Iconfactory and ARTIS Software, Frenzic is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch directly from the iTunes App Store for $4.99.

Tags: futuristic, bold, game, iPhone, iPod Touch, social networking, software

I totally forgot to mention that a new set of iPhonica icons has been released over at the Iconfactory! iPhonica Volume 4 features twelve new iPhone style desktop gumdrops on the theme of being connected and communicating in our digital life.

This set of application icons includes our favourite software that help us stay in touch, making telephone calls over the internet, using wireless personal area networks, instant messaging, micro-blogging and browsing: Adium, Bluetooth, Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, MSN, Netscape, Opera, Safari, Skype, Twitterrific and iChat.

While you’re at it, be sure to check out iPhonica Volume 3, for more desktop inspiration. A collection of application icons for Apple’s iLife series – it’s been updated with large resources for Leopard and Vista. Featuring application icons for GarageBand, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto and iWeb.

Tags: iPhonica, iPhone, Leopard, Vista, Mac OS X, Windows, interface, desktop customization, application icons

I use a large graphics tablet for drawing images on my computer in the studio, but I felt I needed a small pen tablet to have at my desk at home. This weekend, I finally got round to getting a Wacom Bamboo tablet and setting it up.

Though I have had a Wacom tablet for quite a while, I suspected I wasn’t really getting the most out of it and I wanted to find out what I was missing out on...

Luckily, you don’t have to set your tablet up very often and luckily, I found two really helpful tutorials on how to set up your Wacom tablet.

How to Set up Your Wacom for Awesome Results from GoMediaZine
This is a great tutorial on how to get started with the Wacom tablet and use it in Adobe Photoshop.

Wacom Settings In Illustrator from Vectips
An informative guide on to how to set up a pen tablet to get the most out of using it Adobe Illustrator.

Tags: design resources

You might have noticed that there was a ghost in the machine, an internet hiccup, fairies in the server...

But now the problem has been resolved. I am glad to be able to say that we’re back and everything is in ship shape!

November is here and after a Pink October, it’s time to switch back to orange at Marmalade Moon!

I have created two new desktop backgrounds inspired by the golden autumn. Vanilla Swirl and Mustard Swirl, bringing a splash of colour and energy into the dark winter month of November.

Organic bands of red, yellow and green - also make a perfect companion desktop wallpaper for Ready Steady Go folder icons. 

This month members of Club Marmalade Moon receive November desktop calendar versions of both Vanilla Swirl and Mustard Swirl.

Join the tribe to get your limited edition, premium desktop art for free!

Tags: autumn, fall, desktop calendar, abstract, organic, desktop customization

Detoxing your desktop and keeping it uncluttered is an easy and enjoyable task with Ready Steady Go, the third volume of Luminous folder icons.

With a total of twelve folder icons in shades of red, yellow and green, Ready Steady Go is designed to make it easy to customize your desktop creating a productive desktop, helping you stay focused and organized by color coding your projects. Think of it as a stimulus package for your desktop!

One way to make it easy to manage your projects is to use these folder icons to indicate how urgent a project is. Red for urgent, yellow for medium and green for finished projects. These folder icons are designed to kick start your autumn with an uncluttered, productive and beautiful desktop environment!

Ready Steady Go computer icons were taken on a test run by members of Club Marmalade Moon and as a result I added two more muted yellow folder icons. In the final release of there are four different shades each of red, yellow and green.

I hope Ready Steady Go folder icons help to brighten your desktop and make your work, studies and personal computer projects at once more pleasant and efficient!

Desktop folder icons from the Luminous collection:
Luminous: Ready Steady Go Folder Icons
Luminous: Pink Folder Icons
Luminous: Blue Folder Icons

Related Posts:
Creating an Uncluttered and Productive Desktop Environment With Icons
Four Benefits of Customizing Your Computer Desktop and Making it Personal

Tags: folder icons, Luminous, productivity, declutter, desktop customization

Sweet and sticky like cotton candy or bold and bright like fuchsia? If you love pink, you are in for a desktop party!

This collection of pink computer icons is like haute couture for your desktop! And they can help you stay on top of your projects too!

Luminous Pink Folder Icons come in six shades of pink! From dreamy and pale to hot and daring!

Tags: Luminous, folder icons, Pink October, pink ribbon, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, desktop customization

I am working on the last set of desktop art for this year’s Pink October theme at Marmalade Moon, so I was doing some research on the color pink.

I was fascinated to find that the idea of pink being a feminine colour and blue a masculine colour, was a convention that in Western culture, started in the 1920s and got established in the 1940s.

"If you like the color note on the little one's garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention." [The Sunday Sentinal, March 29, 1914.]

Before that, blue was for girls because it was considered more delicate and dainty, and pink was for boys because it was regarded as more masculine and fierce - a paler shade of red.

"There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger color is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." [Ladies Home Journal, June, 1918]

Interesting, I thought. To see how a cultural idea can change, even reverse, and to think about how much these cultural ideas influence us.

Related links:
Pink - Wikipedia
Out of the blue and in the pink by Ben Goldacre - The Guardian

Tags: Pink October, pink ribbon, Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It’s not too late to invite your computer desktop to the Halloween party!

Every year the Iconfactory puts on its Halloween costume and presents an abundance of computer icons and desktop wallpapers to help you customize your desktop in time for the holiday!

New releases this year include Jack O Lantern, undead folder icons: Nimble Halloween and the 1970’s inspired Retro Masks.
Last but not least, the Halloween themed trash can icon replacement set Trick or Trash with pumpkins, caramel apples and creepy coffins!

As usual, all of the computer icons from the Iconfactory are available both for Mac and Windows or as a handy CandyBar iContainer.

Give your desktop some candy! Browse the crypts for even more Halloween themed desktop art from the Iconfactory!

Tags: Halloween, seasonal, desktop customization

Here is a brand new, abstract desktop wallpaper with swirling bands and gentle gradiations, inspired by the pink ribbon, an international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Try Pink Swirl as a background for your digital desktop.

October is pink at Marmalade Moon. Keep your eye out for more pink desktop art!

Stay tuned for more Pink October desktop art from Marmalade Moon by subscribing to have future news delivered directly to your e-mail inbox or in your RSS feed reader.

Tags: abstract, organic, pink ribbon, Pink October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, desktop customization

This book review of Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth by Steve Pavlina will give you an overview of the book and then focus on how this book can be implemented to inspire and develop your digital life.

Pavlina has a background in developing computer games and a fascination with AI, artificial intelligence, in computer gaming. With his experience from gaming and successful blogging at StevePavlina.com his new book naturally relates to many areas of life, including your digital life. Continue Reading »

Tags: review, personal development, productivity, motivation

Here are eight Pink Ribbon icons, avatars and buttons in support of October, the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

These pink ribbons are available both as desktop icons and as avatars as well as images or buttons that can be used for the web.

If you have a blog or a web site and you want to help support the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you can use these pink ribbon graphics to help promote the charity.

Pink Ribbons come in pink and cerise and are designed in four styles. The styles range from elegance to boldness. From an iPhone inspired style to a watercolor brush stroke style.

So head on over to the freebies section to take your pick of Pink Ribbons!

Tags: pink ribbon, buttons, graphics, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pink October, desktop customization

I came across this wonderful, funny, serious and free resource for female designers and thought you might be interested!

She Says is a group of female top designers who hold events and one-to-one mentoring by some of the industry's best. The organisation operates in the UK and the US, but is opening more chapters internationally. 

“The world is pretty much half men, half women. So why are there so few of them at the top on ad agencies, digital or not? We decided to stop chatting about it and do something - hold events, where top females in the industry would share their thoughts and help people to either get started or work their way up. To the attractive pay packets, private car parking spaces and buckets of champers at the top.”

Oh, and She Says will even feed you with wine, beer, and a black olive or three! So what are you waiting for!?

Tags: network, events, mentorship, design resources

October is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I want to show my support for the attempt to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention and cure.

So October is pink at Marmalade Moon.

I am creating some pink ribbons, that will be available both as computer icons and avatars and as images that you can use on your blog or web site.

And there will be more surprises... Stay tuned for a pink October!

Related Link:
Pink Ribbon Inc - http://www.pinkribbon.org/

Tags: pink ribbon, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pink October, events

This month members of Club Marmalade Moon get a free pre-release of Ready Steady Go Folder Icons to take for a test run! The final icons will be tweaked based on input from members of the Club Marmalade Moon and released to the public. Join Club Marmalade Moon to take these folder icons for a free test spin and be sure to let me know how they work for you!

Tags: productivity, folder icons, Luminous, declutter, usability

We tend to spend more and more time at our computers, both at work and at home. Many of us even spend our entire working days at a computer and computer related hobbies or utilities are getting increasingly common.

We write and check our e-mails, surf and perhaps we make online purchases, chat with our friends and family, handle our banking online, organize and share our photos, post on forums, write our blogs, play video games, watch films on YouTube or browse our social forums in our spare time. The list of things one can do on a computer is endless!

This makes the computer desktop a really important environment! Imagine just what an impact your digital environment has on you for all that time you spend on your computer!

Lets take a close look at four benefits of customising your desktop.

Continue Reading »

Tags: productivity, declutter, folder icons, desktop customization, feel-good, motivation, usability, gui

I am delighted to be featured in Swedish Illustration, “a guide to 149 of Sweden's most exciting and innovative illustrators”! The book is now available at Amazon.com and at major bookstores in several European countries as well as in the USA, Asia and Australia.

Swedish Illustration covers a wide range of work, there are illustrations from children's books, book covers, fashion illustrations, technical drawings, textbook illustrations and travel books as well as the illustrators' personal projects.

“Showing the current trends and offering uniquely Swedish insights about creative interpretations, this engrossing picture book for adults is simply a pleasure to peruse, not to mention a fabulous source of top-class professional illustrators and a cornucopia of inspiring ideas.”

Well, what can I say!? How exciting!

Tags: publications, Scandinavian, Swedish design, illustration

I just finished sending out the free members-only desktop treats for September!

This month members of Club Marmalade Moon receive three minimalist buttons designed in the sleek iPhonica style. These graphics can be used for any personal, non-commercial project and there are many possibilities. You can make navigational buttons for your blog or website or create your own icons for a very clean and minimalist look, combining elements with Gluestick for Mac OS X. Consonance Software offers a free trial of Gluestick on their web site if you want to give it a spin.

Being a Mac enthusiast, I am not sure what kind of applications there are out there for this kind of image editing on Windows? I’d be interested to hear if any of you have some applications to suggest for Windows users!?

There is also a September desktop calendar version of the popular desktop picture with Nasturtiums.

Tags: seasonal, nature, summer, floral, desktop calendar, gui, desktop customization, buttons, graphics

I am excited to announce that the popular desktop wallpaper Floating on Nasturtiums has been re-released!

Hot, orange and red blossoms with crisp lily-pad foilage. Now updated to include some larger monitor sizes that weren’t around when I originally created the desktop picture.

So head on over to the Freebies section to pick this fiery gardener’s delight, Nasturtiums, for your desktop!

Tags: seasonal, nature, summer, floral, desktop customization

Today the August Issue of the Marmalade Monthly is released. This month members of Club Marmalade Moon are in for a fluttering of butterflies as the collection of Picnic Pals expands!

This month’s issue is packed with exclusive desktop goodies. There are butterfly avatars to customize your forums or social networks, your computer log in, or to use as an image for any personal project where you find use for them. A pale yellow Brimstone, a lime green Brimstone and a Common Blue Butterfly.

There is a pre-release of three butterfly computer icons that I plan to release to the public later on this month.

And finally there is a members-only desktop wallpaper with butterflies on a blue summer’s sky!

Join the Club for limited edition desktop art and get your butterfly desktop art too!

Tags: seasonal, nature, summer, bug, Mac OS X, Windows, Vista, social networking, instant messenger, forum, Twitter, desktop customization

Five new limited edition art prints are now available at the shop here at Marmalade Moon!

This collection of prints is called Private Eye and are a few of the images I displayed at my art show.

Private Eye is dark, grainy and gritty. It draws inspiration from the hard-boiled school of crime fiction, from the authors Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and from their time.

Tags: Shop Marmalade Moon, vintage

My marvellous, inspiring coach, Suzy Greaves, is offering The Big Peace, a free 90 day coaching programme to find fulfillment when you’ve lost the plot and I am really thrilled to spread the word!

This pro bono coaching programme is practical and down to earth and is delivered in small, manageable chunks that you can implement directly.

Doing The Big Peace was the best thing I did last year! It gave me a ton of tools to make myself happier and more content. To see my own strengths and to feel less overwhelmed. To regenerate. To feel happy. To focus.

Something that definitely appealed to me, was the hands-on approach, and the fact that the programme helped me make a real change to the way I feel and to my art work and business, and in a short time too!

Suzy does simply fabulous work as a coach! Warm, brave, creative and supportive, she helps me stay on track and is a great inspiration!

On this 90 day journey you will:

• Create a daily practice for a peaceful mind.
• Create new feel-good tools to make you feel calm no matter what.
• Create new supportive beliefs about yourself and life.
• Listen to interviews with the top happiness experts in the world.

Check out Suzy Greaves’ coaching company the Big Leap or her blog. You can also follow her on Twitter!