My “templates” are available for download at my deviantART gallery.

And “my web and graphic design ideas” will be found at my LJ blog.

P.S.: It’s nothing great but I create them for my own pleasure and maybe, just maybe, someone else might enjoy something that I’ve created, which would be a great feeling.
Thanks for your interest.

Burnt Paper Effect With the GIMP

For this we will use four layers.
Create a new image of let’s say 400px X 600px (but any size will do) and set the background to transparent.

Next add a new layer, name it bump-map and fill it with white.

Add the third layer, name it paper and fill it with #cc9966 or a similar color.
Our last layer (on top of all others) should be transparent and name it burn.

Activate the burn layer by clicking on it from the layers menu. Change the foreground color in the toolbox to dark brown (something like #492209 – but you may chose your burnt edges to be of a
different shade). Now select the gradient tool and from your gradients choose “FG to transparent” and use it just around the edges of the burnt layer. Use several strokes to have a darker result, you might even like to add some more to the corners. Also apply a Gaussian Blur of about 100px to this layer. (Filters >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur).

Now make this layer invisible by clicking on the eye next to it in the layers menu.

Click on the paper layer to activate it. Use the free selection tool and make a very uneven selection around the layer’s edges. Invert the selection (from the top menu choose Select >> Invert) and press Delete.
Keep the selection active and make the burn layer visible again, then activate it by clicking on it and press Delete again.

So far so good. Deactivate the selection (Select >> None) and make all layers invisible except the bump-map (the white layer).
Activate it and use a large brush and the eraser tool to make big holes in it. Choose a brush with feathered edges, and erase a big part of the bumpmap layer leaving white patches all over it.
Add a gaussian blur to it (I used a value of 50px for this image).

Make the other layers visible again. Click on the burn layer and select Layer >> Merge Down.
Now you’re left with three layers, activate the one named paper. Select Filters >> Map >> Bump Map and select the bump-map layer for the map.
For this image I used the following values:

Azimuth: 135.00
Elevation:50.00
Depth:30

X Offset: 0
Y Offset: 0

Waterlevel:130
Ambient:130

(Feel free to play around with the values, you always have the Undo option if you don’t like the outcome).

Optionally, you can now use the burn tool with the edges. Use a large brush and apply the tool selectively to the paper layer.

Now just delete the bump-map layer and you have your old parchment paper. You can make its background of any color you like.
And, well, that’s it…
This might not be the best way to do it, but it does create a burnt paper effect, right?

Wine Template by ~Solemnity111 on deviantART

Vintage Restaurant Template by ~Solemnity111 on deviantART

The one I’m working on is a billiards themed design and it seems to be one of the most challenging ones so far. You’ll find it on my deviantART page when it’s finished.
To me this is just about “fun” or rather passing my spare time trying to be creative rather than staring at the walls.
Anyway, I enjoy designing web pages, and even though they are not really optimized for the web (as in they contain large images, they all have fixed widths, my codes – although they validate – are quite messy, etc. etc.) I still hope you’ll like them.

You can download any of them from my deviantART profile. I don’t mind if you add minor modifications to them to correct the above mentioned and/or other issues and make the tempate more “web-friendly” but, please don’t post them for public downloads, and if you decide to use any of them on your website, please leave a link back to solemnity111.deviantart.com/.
Thank you for your interest and enjoy!

Every night I pray to fall asleep
And dream for all eternity
But I wake up every morning to live
Another day of unbearable reality

I open my eyes and look around
To forget a dream so painfully
And lose what I once dreamt to be
So precious and so dear to me

Each day I learn in this world of madness
How to cry and suffer the pain
Each day I try to hide from sadness
But my effort is all in vain

Sometimes I try to be numb and careless
But I feel I’m fading away
I step back to conceal in closeness
And every day seems to be the same

Night comes again – darkness it brings
I close my eyes and fall asleep
Once more I can have what – in my dreams -
Is so precious and so dear to me

Maybe now, so far from the past,
Maybe now, we can forget
Maybe now we can live at last.

Maybe now, that it’s all over,
Maybe now, that we are older,
Maybe now, we will be stronger

Maybe now, that nothing seems strange,
Maybe now, we can finally change,
Maybe now…

Maybe now, once more we can try
Maybe now, we won’t have to cry
Maybe now…

Maybe now, that the world has ended,
Maybe now, our wounds get mended,
Maybe now…

Maybe now, that we learned how to live,
Maybe now, in peace we may leave,
Maybe now…
Maybe now…

The journey is long on the road of Life
You don’t know where it leads
It’s so hard to stand up
Then you fall again
It’s life – as it will always be

And when you feel you’ve finally reached the top
Don’t ever look back – just go on
You’d only see your painful past
Memories which would pull you down

And if you think you’ve seen the very worst
Don’t go on without some fear
You never know what the future brings
And pain is always near

If you have the chance to choose your way
Be careful with your choice
Think twice before each step you take
Don’t let your life be destroyed

The journey is long on the road of Life
Confusion brings it to an end
You think you’re high
But you’re going down
Your life slips from your hands

So when you feel you’ve finally reached the top
Don’t look back until you fall
And when you’re down remember the sweetest thoughts
Memories that will help you go on.

Laying under the star-lit sky on a warm summer night
Watching millions of stars shimmering ever so bright.
Breathing the fresh, clean air, listening to the stillness,
Nothing breaks the silence except the dim sound of airplane engines.

From time to time I hear the noise of a train passing in the distance
And as it slowly passes by the sound fades as one listens
Now and then a bird flies freely across the starry sky
Flapping its wings airily as it disappears into the night.

As I lay there I feel a warm wind gently stroking my face
It’s almost as if all my fears are – for the moment – erased.
It seems that there are no more minutes, hours or days
Time had stopped for a while, it is no longer traced.

Sometimes shooting stars flash into and out of sight
And I make a wish in the middle of the summer night.
I make a wish almost every time i see a shooting star
And maybe someone else does the same somewhere far apart.

I wish for peace, love and serenity
I wish we could make the world a better place to be.
But somehow I know, tomorrow will bring nothing new
The wish I made tonight is never to come true.

And the gentle wind slowly draws clouds onto the sky
And I can no longer see stars glittering in the night.
The warm gentle breeze becomes uncomfortably cold
And cold raindrops begin to fall once more.

Live for today
Live to fight
Live for anything you think is right.

In the name of love
In the name of life
In the name of all for what
It’s worth to fight

I had to chose
Between all or nothing
And I ended up
With losing everything

Forget the past
Kill the pain
And if you fail once
Stand up and try again

There is no way forward,
And I’m not staying behind.
For me it’s either up
Or all the way down.

Never let them tear you apart
Never let them break your heart.

Let your clear mind lead you
You’ll see that time will heal you
You can do anything you want

There’s a reason for all you’ve been through
There’s always a light to lead you
Shining all through the night

Never let them tear you apart
Never let them break your heart.

Let your clear mind lead you
You’ll see that time will heal you
You can do anything you want

I envy the tree, which sprouts in the spring
And thus, to the world, so much beauty it brings
I envy the brook, which so freely flows
And the warm sun, that so brightly glows

I envy the stars, which lighten up the sky
And the moon yielding brightness in the night
I envy the winter, the snow-covered landscape
The blinding whiteness and its freezing grace

I envy you and your dreams – alive
I envy your existence and your beautiful life
I envy the fire, that burns deep within you
And all the creatures whom you give your love to

I envy all those, who don’t fear the future
And all within whom hope lives forever.