Community Favorites

Sunday, June 25, 2017

An Up-Lifting Day ~ PIP Challenge 1726

Hello! Hope you are having a lovely day!!
I am so happy to be sharing this water color card with you!!  The images are from Unity Stamp Co. and is named "Sending Up Something Beautiful" 
The sentiment is part of a kit from Paper Trey Ink called Stylish Birthday Sentiments

I like to pile shapes, layers and colors before I commit to a card's design. I loved these colors together but it still seemed to fall flat.  Solution: customizing the papers!!








What a rewarding task!  I love the whole process of choosing color and pattern!  I hope you are feeling inspired as well! Then head over to the PIP Challenge (ANYTHING GOES) this week sponsored by Di's Digis.  You can earn a great prize from Di's Digis and I know you'll have fun playing along!!



Sunday, June 11, 2017

MHK & Coloring Digitals BEFORE PRINTING!!

Welcome to another fun Inspiration card for PIP Challenges!!  Our sponsor is MHK Designs & wow, do they ever have some great digital images!!  Stop by & check them out, they have great prices and you can get started within minutes, no waiting for the mail!!!
MHK generously provides the digis for our design team to use and I am in LOVE with their butterflies. 
As I have said in the past, I am kinda new at digis and I enjoy experimenting so I decided to  try coloring them before I printed them!!
Wow, it is really fun and addictive! I also used a "colored pencil" filter to change it up a little.  I really can say that I had a lot of fun with this!! Click the selection tool and select the areas that you will have reflect the same color/hue. 

I used a sliding scale to change the colors in the adjust colors tab of my Microsoft Digital Image Standard editing tool. 

If I want something very intense and can't get it there, the trick for me is to "finish" and then reselect adjust color and continue to max out the scale until I get the intensity I am looking for. 

I colored each butterfly separately & blown up large so I could easily see what I was selecting.  When each was finished I copied them to a clean doc - sizing & spacing them to match each other.  Then it was just a matter of printing them (make sure they are far enough off the edge to use your selected die, etc.)

For the label shapes I used matching dies in different sizes. To make the oblong ribbon of paper I first cut the rectangle and then poked each end into the area of the smaller die to make the side accents. 

ANOTHER incident worth noting: I scribbled in the background stripes based on another card I made but the color turned out more intense and the marker left overlap marks instead of the smooth look on the previous card. 
       
The difference?  The kitty card was sprayed with Workable Fixatif which must give the paper a smoother texture that doesn't absorb color as quickly.  I think I may start using it just for that property (I originally got it just to "set" the ink on digis).

To finish  I thought I would make the inside reusable, so I added a note card for my sentiment and/or handwritten note. I put it there with adjustable adhesive on the note card only, then the recipient could reuse the card if she chooses (& who wouldn't !!!!!)

Don't forget, click here to make any order requests on the "HI!" notes Facebook page!!

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Graduation Memories

Graduation season is upon us and waning fast!  My 1st nephew just completed his commencement!  I thought I would share a special memory book I made for my sister to add her favorite photos to.

I love the idea of putting captions and quotes because they lead down the road of memories before the perfect photo or written memory is added in.  I picture photos of childhood friends and events in these pages, as well as things from the actual graduation night and celebrations.

I made each card to insert into the pocket pages and left a little tab on most of them.  This way the cards can be moved around and configured the way the recipient wants.

Unity Stamp Company came out with a great graduation poem.  I took a line from it to top the page of each section of the book, kind of a way to lead you through the book and inspire more photos and journaling.
An ornate envelope is in the back of the book and poked inside are lots of little stamped embellishments to use on top of the pockets or slip inside.  Things like fussy cut tassels, cameras, various frames, a couple of sayings and lots of stars (that's part of the school's symbols) ~ to hold text, frame a photo, accent etc.  I place a couple on top of the plastic throughout the book just as an example to inspire personalization.
 

              

What a blessed season of excitement and hope! Good Luck grads, & parents, God Bless  ðŸ’–                                        All stamped images are available at Unity Stamp Company except for the following:  USA Map & sentiment,  Matthew & Jeremiah quotes from PaperTrey Ink --Say cheese camera, & tassel from  Inkadinkado -- Diploma, "Class of" & grad cap from Stampin' Up! Dies are from many various manufacturers! If you really want to know message me & I'll get you the info!!!!