14 Free Cupids for Pixel or Print

While visiting the office.microsoft.com templates page the other day, noticing their current selection of free Valentine templates, I re-discovered this funny little Valentine that I created while contracting there, and wanted to say a few words about this versatile Valenttine's Day Countdown Calendar which was created as something to be enjoyed in either printed format or in PowerPoint.

The opening screen (or front of the card) of this Valentine features 14 numbered doors with cupids delivering love letters through the mail. What the doors reveal is totally up to you. While the download file has already been preset with images and text - you can easily change these. (The first image below shows the doors - and the second image shows a couple of doors still closed but others revealing images and text).

I haven't had a chance to explore this myself, but I think it would be fabulous to do a version on actual paper. Basically, you would print screen the scene with closed doors, and then print screen the scene with all items revealed. On just the front image, cut in such a way that the doors would swing open. And again, you can customize the back image to contain your own text, images, photographs, etc. Glue the two pieces together around the frame of the doors - and you've got a cool interactive Valentine! (The image below is a mock-up of how this might appear, doors ajar):

If you want to do use this digitally on PowerPoint, this help article (How to create a personalized Advent calendar), while it actually discusses a similar type of PowerPoint template, (an Animated Advent Calendar I had created for Christmas), the basics hold true for updating this Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day 2012...!!!

Free Animal Coloring Books

Okay, so if you haven't figured it out by now, Bindlegrim is obsessed with the holidays, but, perhaps begrudgingly, even he has to admit there are a million interesting (non-holiday) worlds to discover here on earth's little corner of the universe.

So if you enjoyed the Christmas and Halloween coloring books you might also enjoy these eight page coloring books featuring animals from the forest, the farm, and even aquatic animals).

This is free content from office.microsoft.com that I had the joy, while on contract, to create from their clip-art library as downloadable content in the permanent template library. (The result of this blissful project was 5 coloring books taking advantage of one particularly great style of art: #1450).

And, speaking of great style, if you want some fun color-minded music to enjoy while you break out the crayons --- have you ever heard this wonderful mix of poetry and jazz from 1967 called Colors by Ken Nordine???

Did that get you in the mood to color? Below are thumbnail galleries of the three coloring books for your perusal - and be sure to visit the office.microsoft website for the full size downloads.

Aquatic Animals 
(Free Aquatic Animals Coloring Book from Microsoft Office) 

Forest Animals
(Free Forest Animals Coloring Book from Microsoft Office)

Farm Animals
(Free Farm Animals Coloring Book from Microsoft Office)
 

Of course Bindlegrim can't let a blog entry end without mentioning the holidays a couple of times, and if you are reading this entry around Halloween or Christmas, check out additional 8 page coloring books for those festive occasions:

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As a side note - part of the beauty of templates and of Word 2007 is the ability to customize to suit your own tastes. If you didn't catch my original blog entry (on the Microsoft Office blog) that explained the above procedure (creating Word art from the Clip Art library) -- I have recreated the content in this blog entry here.

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Free Summer Santa Stationery Set

While it's cold here in Colorado as December rolls around... (and I imagine Santa is busy making toys up at the North Pole) - we forget here that sometimes Santa just needs a holiday - or as noted to our team back when I was contracting at office.microsoft.com - yes, Christmas does happens during the summer in some parts of the world...!  And so, in an effort to show Santa in warmer climes, I went to work on a summer-inspired set of Christmas stationery. 

The Summer Santa Stationery Set offers images of Santa chilling at the beach with a cool drink, relaxing under the shade of the local palm tree, also visited by, you guessed it, a crab called Sandy Claws. The set for Word 2007 (or later versions) contains everything you need for festive entertaining, and offers the following - 1) Gift Certificate, 2) Stationery, 3) Party Menu, 4) Party Invitation, 5) Thank-you Cards, 6) Large Gift Tags (Placeholders), 7) Small Gift Tags (Address Labels) and 8) Letter Envelopes.


Download the entire set for free and customize in both color and content.  (Note - these were items created while working with the Microsoft Office extensive library of free clip-art... to create content for the free download template library). For this project the goal was to highlight Word 2007's ability to create themes that allows you change color palettes at the touch of a button. And was constructed from items available in their free MS Clip Art Library particularly: MS Clip Art - Style 1450.

If you are interest in using using clip art in this manner, you might study this earlier post that offers an instructional blog entry. And for more holiday-themed downloads (for both Halloween and Christmas) that are free from Microsoft, by designer Robert Aaron Wiley, please check out the Bindlegrim website for Free Stuff! 

Free Printable Halloween Party Set

Continuing the last post of fun holiday content I was fortunate to create during  my contract job at office.microsoft.com. I also wanted to share this seasonal design set of stationery items for Halloween that you can download for free and customize in both color and content.  (Note - these were items created while working with the Microsoft Office extensive library of free clip-art... to create content for the free download template library).

The Halloween Stationery Set (with a sinister witch host, questionable apples, sneaky black cats, and innocent children turning into toads for a costume party) contains for Word 2007 (or later) the following - 1) Gift Certificate, 2) Party Flyer, 3) Stationery, 4) Party Menu, 5) Party Invitation, 6) Thank-you Cards, 7) Name Tags / Placeholders, 8) Address Labels, and 9) Envelope.

For this project the goal was to highlight Word 2007's ability to create themes that allows you change color palettes at the touch of a button. And was constructed from items available in their free MS Clip Art Library particularly: MS Clip Art - Style 1450. 

If you are interest in using using clip art in this manner, you might study the previous post that offers an instructional blog entry. And for more holiday-themed downloads (for both Halloween and Christmas) that are free from Microsoft, by designer Robert Aaron Wiley, please check out the Bindlegrim website for Free Stuff! 

Free Spooky Stuff via Microsoft Office Online

This past weekend was all about touching up the www.bindlegrim.com website... decorating the framework with spooky Halloween imagery from "The Pumpkin Dream" illustrations:

And... installing a new section for FREE! Halloween and Christmas templates that can be used with Word or Powerpoint. (These are templates I worked on during my contract employment with Microsoft Office Online)... and, if I do say so myself, include really fun countdown calendars, coloring books, and stationery sets that are now part of their free download template library. I thought it was worth including these links on the website to direct you there.

NOTE - I should state right off that in this case the art for the templates below was sourced from the Microsoft template library. They have a ton of holiday oriented clip art. (Sadly I can't remember the name of the art contributor - but she has some of my favorite collections) -- see MS Clip Art - Style 1450 in the Office Online Art Library.

Basically, I downloaded the vector art, broke them down in the respective program (that's right - Word can manipulate some vector images now!), re-arranged them, colored them, etc., and turned them into the brand new templates you see below. Microsoft encourages you to do the same, (as well as join and share your creations with their online template community). So here were my contributions to the template library:

Halloween Stationery Set (Nine Items) - Word

Eight Page Halloween Coloring Book - Word

Animated Halloween Countdown Calendar - PowerPoint

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Sumer Santa Stationery Set (Nine Items) - Word

Eight Page Christmas Coloring Book - Word

Animated Advent Calendar - Powerpoint

As with all templates - these are offered to use as is - or better yet - customize with your own images and content before printing and/or sharing.