A sneak  peek if you will:

Valentine’s Day is literally around the corner, and I’ve been putting forth a good amount of effort to create a pair of Valentine cards. Today I finished with the one and in the style of the fashionably late, I should finish the second one on the day after Valentine’s Day. It’s the thought that counts, right?

One of the main themes I’m using in these cards is smoke. The aesthetic of curling tendrils of smoke is captivating—it floats along being pushed and stretched and finally fading away. Kind of a fantastic metaphor for life and love.

While looking for a good way to create smoke effects without having to find or create pictures of smoke, I discovered a very nice set of photoshop brushes at qbrushes.net recommended by abduzeedo.com Essentially I followed the tutorial on abduzeedo.com and made some tweaks and adjustments to get more of the effect that I wanted. I think brushes can really be a nice tool when used effectively. I like the way the first card turned out, but I also think I tend to overuse and abuse effects when I first test the waters with them. I hope the second card will strike a better balance of design. Finished designs will be up on Tuesday!