Thinking Inking

Thanks So Much

Last night I needed a thank you note. I wanted to use the scraps of the digital Summer Posies papers (Shabby Miss Jenn) that I had printed out to make a PaperTrey project last week--they were too pretty to waste!  I thought I would keep it simple and use my Hero Arts CL130 Frames and Messages set.

I inked the frame in Key Lime and Tea Leaves Versamagic inks, and the sentiment in Red Magic Versamagic ink.  I used a Spellbinders  Fancy Scalloped Pierceability Die for the scalloped edge, and my sewing machine to add some framing-stitching.  A bit of sanding, scraping, matting, sponging with distress ink (Antique Linen), and "Stickling" finished the card for me, along with a red button and a snippet of  PaperTrey Ink New Leaf grosgrain. I used a Crafter's Companion envelope template to make a coordinating envelope since I had one scrap that was large enough. ( I may turn into an envelope junkie after playing with this template for half an hour. . .)

Have a beautiful day!

About the Future: CPS 81

I'm late getting my CPS card done this week; between starting school with a new curriculum, and several stamping deadlines, it's been a busy week!

Our sponsor for CPS this week was a new one to me: ScraPerfect with their Perfect Printing Pouch. I have no idea what's in that little pouch, but it certainly seemed to improve the detail and color on my inkjet-printed digital papers. After I wiped the pouch across cardstock before printing on it, the ink dried quickly, and the paper (inexpensive Georgia-Pacific cardstock that I printed the digital papers on) held detail well.  I'd give it a thumbs up, and I'm quite sure that I'll use it again. (By the way, it's not that I have a great printer either--it's a $29.95 inkjet!)

Digital paper here is from Shabby Miss Jenn's Love Shack Collection, and the stamp is a Wordsworth stamp--Wordsworth Remembering, Abraham Lincoln Set. This is a a super-simple sketch if you have time to play this week. Thanks for visiting!

The Fine Print
Stamps: Wordsworth Remembering: Abraham Lincoln Set
Papers: Shabby Miss Jenn's Love Shack--printed using Scraperfect on the plain white cardstock
Cardstock: Spring Willow Medium (Prism), Stampers Select White for stamped image (PaperTrey Ink), Georgia Pacific white cardstock for digital papers
Ink: Adirondack Meadow, Antique Linen Distress ink
Accessories: mini brads, pink taffeta (Stampin' Up)

P.S. I almost forgot! Nichole, Lauren, Pine, and Melissa all have some cool new PaperTrey images up!

Two Hearts, One Love: CPS Sketch 63

I loved this week's CPS Sketch!  Our sponsor this week was Scor-Pal, so I wanted to incorporate something other than my normal fold. I started with a 4-1/4" x 12" piece of cardstock, then scored it at 3" and at 8-1/2". I then laid it out in a landscape orientation and folded the right flap in first. The left flap has the bracket box attached to it.

How about those papers? Digital! I wasn't very confident after my hybrid foray a few weeks ago, but I just kept getting good deals on lovely digital papers--the ones that I'm "someday" going to digi-scrap with. When I looked at this week's CPS Sketch and saw a box, I wanted to use a bracket box. I had ordered some online not long ago, and when I got them, they were too large for cards. What I needed was a bracket box that I could control the size of. . . Wait a minute! I started checking my digital files, and there were several choices--woohoo! So, other than the plain cardstock on this card, a natural vanilla (Prism), Bordering Blue (SU), and Spring Moss (PaperTrey Ink), everything else is from Shabby Miss Jenn's Lil Guys Collection. I have so many pink, flowery papers, but I wanted an anniversary card to appeal to both genders, hence the blues and greens.

Printer Ramble: When I print digital papers, I have the best luck using heavyweight matte finish paper on best print setting. And if I need only 5-1/2", I resize the 12" x 12" file in my print dialog box to 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" so I'm not wasting ink printing paper that I don't need. Then I can turn the paper around to the other end and print a second 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" pattern, or some smaller elements so that I don't waste paper. I also have a printer for which I can get very economical generic ink, and it will be a sad day when it dies. (It's a Canon Pixma iP 3000. It's probably outdated, but I knew that I would get e-mail asking about it if I didn't tell you what it was. Your best bet on choosing a printer is to check Consumer Reports or something similar. Then check the online ink vendors to see if generic ink is available for the model that you choose. I think my printer was only about $50, so a decent printer doesn't have to cost a lot to buy or to re-ink. Okay, printer ramble has now officially ended.

Stamps, etc.: For stamps, I used Stampin' Up's Kind Thoughts set along with a sentiment from Favor It Weddings by PaperTrey Ink. For the tag, I used one of my new Spellbinders Tags Trio dies, and for the circles I used my Spellbinders Nestability Plain and Petite Scalloped Circle dies. Ribbon is PaperTrey Ink's Spring Moss stitched grosgrain, and those cute little heart rhinestones are made by A Muse. (Yes, I've been waiting for at least a year to use these on something! :-D)

Finally, a word about scoring tools: if you don't have one, and you are an avid papercrafter, you need one. (No, no one asked me to say this. It's my version of a public service announcement. :-D) Here's the scoop: I looked at scoring tools for two years before I decided to buy one. I just kept thinking, "That's two sets of stamps that I'm giving up to buy a tool." I had a little scoring blade for my smallest paper cutter. In fact, I had two of them: one was dull and didn't score well, and the other was sharp and cut into my paper unless I remembered to score lightly. I finally bought a dedicated scoring tool, and I don't think I have made even one card in the past couple of years that I haven't used a scoring tool on--yes, to me, it's that important.  I now have two different brands of scoring tools, and both work  beautifully. Truthfully, the Scor-Pal is the one I use most for two reasons: first, it is lighter to pull off of the shelf while I'm sitting down working, and second, I don't have to bother to look at measurements. I can simply align the cardstock in the corner, and 95% of the time, I'm good to go. (Occasionally I may be scoring a non-standard sized item and use a different tool, or  I may have a piece of cardstock that is 1/16" short. That would account for the other 5% of the time, in case you're wondering.)

Goodness, I'm quite verbose when I'm typing a blog post during the day instead of the middle of the night! Don't worry: I won't make a habit of it.  Have a blessed Sunday!

_______
Credits

Stamps: Kind Thoughts (Stampin' Up), Favor It Weddings (PaperTrey Ink)
Papers: (DIGITAL) Shabby Miss Jenn's Little Guys Collection
Cardstock: Prism Natural; PaperTrey Ink Spring Moss; Stampin' Up Bordering Blue
Accessories: Ribbon is PaperTrey Ink Spring Moss Stitched Grosgrain; heart-shaped rhinestones are A Muse Twinkle Stickers
Tools: Scor-Pal; Spellbinders Tags Trio and Nestabilities Plain and Petite Scalloped Circle Dies; Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque pen; piercing tool, foam tape

CPS Challenge 59: Digitial or Hybrid

This week's CPS Sketch 59 was definitely a stretch for me!  I am fairly competent in graphics programs and thought that putting together a completely digital card would be a piece of cake. Three tries and several hours later, I decided that I'd better just go for hybrid (meaning partially digital--perhaps only digital papers, or even a computer-generated sentiment)--and let myself off of the "completely digital" hook.

If you own more stamps than you'd care to admit to the general public, you might be wondering what the point of digital elements would be anyway. Well, let's say that you don't have the perfect sentiment: it's really pretty simple to find neat free fonts and print your own. I love digital papers too; I've bought far more of them than I've actually used though! I like the idea of starting with a digital file and changing colors to get a color scheme that I want to work with and that goes with my traditional inks and papers, (which I did here.) I also really like the idea of scrapbooking digitally so that I can print off multiple copies for the grandparents, aunts and uncles. Even if you aren't ready to purchase digital kits (which are relatively inexpensive), you can find free kits at most digital sites. The other things you would need is a graphics program of some sort. One common one is Adobe Photoshop Elements--a simplified and considerably less expensive version of Adobe Photoshop. If you'd like to play with a digital program before committing to a purchase, you can normally get a free trial version that will expire after 30 days--very nice to be able to decide if you would use it or not!

Another question that I have been asked regarding using digital papers is what kind of printer I use, and whether it is cost-effective, considering the cost of ink.  I have a two or three year old Canon Pixma iP 3000--an inkjet printer that was less than $100. I bought it because at the time Consumer Reports rated it highly and said that it was fairly inexpensive to run--just what I was looking for! I have been using generic ink in it almost the whole time that I've had it, so ink costs are negligible. I get my best print quality when I use good paper, such as an all purpose matte photo paper, for printing my digital backgrounds that I intend to use conventionally. I also tweak my printer settings to best quality, and sometimes higher color saturation as well.  I am NOT claiming to be an expert in this area--just dabbling in digital. If I were really ready to commit to digital scrapbooking, I'd love to have a large-format printer that uses six colors of ink and is rated archival. . . (No, that's not in my foreseeable future.) If you are considering playing with digital images and printing them out, be sure to check out not just the cost of the printer, but also the cost of inks for that printer.

On to the card (detail shown above): For digital papers, I used the  Flower Stand by S Bartolini and Shabby Miss Jen from Shabby Miss Jen
Stamps: "hello" tag from Mixed Messages by PaperTrey Ink
Accessories: fun foam flowers are cut with a Spellbinders S4 072 Flower Creations die; pink taffeta ribbon by Stampin' Up; Cotton Candy Stickles; brad is Two Scoops by Basic Grey

Now, just so you can see just why I decided to go hybrid rather than all digital, I'll attaching my all-digital try first. (Humility is good for the soul, right?) I know how to add drop shadows, but seeing printed shadows still isn't quite the same for me as being able to see actual raised elements and being able to feel texture on a card! (You can click on any images on my blog and get a larger version.)

Compare that to the hybrid version to which I added some Stickles, a tag stamp, a couple of mat layers of cardstock, ribbon, and some fun foam flowers that I die-cut. It makes a difference! Still, digital design has great possibilities and is great fun to experiment with.

Some of my favorite digital shops are these:
The Shabby Princess/Shabby Shoppe
Shabby Miss Jen Designs
OScraps
Jen Wilson Designs
Digital Design Essentials

For some great information on how to start playing with digital images, check out this post. If you have some digital shop favorites, feel free to list them in the comments section following this post. Tomorrow night, I'll stick to stamping! Have a lovely day!

 

Mother's Day Monogrammed Card Set

Did you see Sharon Johnson's fabulous monogrammed cards yesterday?  I had recently gotten a Just Rite round monogram stamper as well, and Sharon's cards, combined with Taylor's amazing stationery set from last week, convinced me that I needed to make time to play with it! (Guess I'll have to work on taxes later tonight. . .)

This is a very easily reproducible gift set. Although you could use any patterned paper that you have on hand, I started with a digital paper file, Scalloped Mask from the French Linens kit by Denise Zavagno. I downloaded this paper as part of a digital freebie kit when Little Dreamer Designs was having an apprentice contest a few weeks ago. At the moment, it is still up on the Little Dreamers site here, BUT you must register as a user to access the gallery/download. If you want it later and this link no longer works, try e-mailing Denise at that point.

The original Scalloped Mask color scheme is shown on the left. I manipulated the colors in Photoshop Elements  to get a soft blue, pink, and green. I then used a fairly heavy matte paper to print on, and printed at an 8" x 8" size. This gave me enough paper to cut my card front from the center of the design and have strips left over to glue to the envelopes. (You could print directly on the envelopes too.)

I next inked my empty stamp cartridges with blue (SU Soft Sky), pink (mixture of SU Pretty in Pink and Blush Blossom), and green (SU Certainly Celery) re-inkers. These worked much better after sitting for a couple of hours; I think that it gave the ink time to spread out. (If you don't get good coverage, add more ink. If it gets too juicy around the edges, again, letting it sit will help to spread the ink evenly, and stamping on a scrap paper will help as well.)

It was super-simple to create the monogram; I used only four pieces--a circle and three letters, which fit into a track that made getting them evenly spaced foolproof. (Track pictured in this post by Kellie Fortin.)  I stamped them on Cryogen White/Shimmery White cardstock and cut and embossed them with my Spellbinders Nestability plain circle dies. I then cut scalloped mats from SU Soft Sky, and PaperTrey Ink's Spring Moss and Sweet Blush. The wide satin ivory ribbon was from Jacksonbelle Embellishments, and the rhinestones are A Muse Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers, except for the green ones, which are clear Hero Arts rhinestones that I used my Copic YG03 to tint the right green shade.

I made two cards of each color, as well as coordinating envelopes. Tying these in a bundle with a length of the satin ribbon and adding a tag will finish off the set. I think that my Mom will enjoy these! If you make a set, I'd love to see what you come up with! Thanks for visiting.