10Steps has put together a list of 40 high-quality layered Photoshop files that you can download from various sources. While all of the files are of stunning quality, the real value in these files is seeing how they’re constructed by looking at all the individual layers & settings. It’s a great way to learn new techniques. I really liked the DVD Plastic Case by Manicho, in particular.
Tagged: free
Free Apple themed desktop wallpapers
For no reason whatsoever, I decided to throw together a collection of Apple-themed desktop wallpapers, titled Apple Chrome, and make them available for download. 
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Free cardboard textures
HighResolutionTextures.com has released four free cardboard textures for use in your next personal or commercial project (CreativeCommons Attribution License). There are plenty of other textures available on the site, so be sure you check them out, and subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified when more become available.
Free envelope sizes and die lines
I may have mentioned DesignersToolbox before, but I can’t say enough how handy their resources for designers are. In particular, the free envelope size and die line charts. 12 basic envelope styles, with all the different standard sizes for each style listed out – for a total of well over 100 different size envelopes. Along with each size, a link to the .eps die line you can use for your projects is provided.
Free high-res old film textures
The latest in the Free Texture Tuesday series from Bittbox includes five great old film textures. Each image in the old film series averages 10×12 inches at 300dpi, suitable for commercial printing.
Free Silk icon collection – 1,000 icons for your Web design projects
Free icon collections are nothing new, darn near everyone offers a few icons here and there for download. But rarely does a collection the size of Silk come along, let alone for free. 
Mark James’ wildly popular Silk icon collection has grown from just over 300 icons in 2005, to over 1,000 now. With the release of version 1.3 of Silk, James is now calling the set “complete.” The Silk icon collection (16×16 pixel, .png format) can be downloaded for free, but comes attached with the CreativeCommons Attribution License, meaning you must credit James with a link on your site if you use them.
Free font: Sansation
Bernd Montag has updated Sansation, a beautiful sans-serif font he released late last year on dafont.com. The font comes in three weights; regular, light and bold. An italic version appears to be on its way.
Free high-res smoke textures
The latest in the Free Texture Tuesday series from Bittbox includes five great smoke textures. Each image in the smoke series averages 7×5 inches at 300dpi, suitable for commercial printing.
Free passenger/pedestrian symbols available for download
The complete set of 50 passenger/pedestrian symbols developed by the AIGA is available for download, free of charge, in EPS format. You can download individual symbols, or the whole set from the AIGA Web site. This system of 50 symbols was developed for use at the crossroads of modern life: in airports and other transportation hubs, as well as large international events. Produced through a collaboration between the AIGA and the U.S. Department of Transportation, they are an example of how public-minded designers can address a universal communication need.
Free Photoshop lens flare brushes
ColorBurned has made available a high resolution set of Lens Flare Photoshop Brushes for download. The brushes are based on the Knoll Light Factory plugin set. They’re not as flexible as the plugins provided by Knoll, but they’re free! It’s not often you find yourself needing a lens flare in an image, but when you do, it’s nice to have something a little nicer than Photoshop’s rather lame built-in lens flare tool.