Well, the cards are almost done, but I need to put some innards in them. The thought of hand-writing messages in almost 60 cards makes my hands protest (writing 'Season's Greetings' that many times, in two languages is just asking for a meltdown), so I decided to have a printed message in each card and from there we can personalize them.
That, however, was easier said than done. I have tons of cool fonts on the Dell laptop which I consider mine (hey, DH said I could use it for my Sil - and I use my Sil a lot and he has the HP and the Mac, so I am right!), but the main printer is not wireless, so I needed to use the Flagship (sounds important, right?) Unfortunately, the Flagship (I hear cannons shooting) doesn't have all the same cool fonts. It has endless versions of Arial and Times New Roman.
Seriously! I spent 20-30 minutes (or was it an eternity?) trying to find something I could use in each of the card styles. Word in XP, though, won't show you what the font looks like in the menu - you have to highlight your text. I nearly went insane ( I know: short trip!) trying to find something that would match each card. Most of the fonts had such subtle differences I kept checking to make sure I had picked a new one. Whose idea was it to have cool names like Verdana and Tahoma when there is visibly NO DIFFERENCE!!!??? My eyes started to glaze over...but I persevered and found three different fonts, whose names are now lost to me.
So, now I have two ideas running through my head: 1) I now understand why people have so many fonts for journaling, since most of them are variations of the same font and you need to really hunt for something different and 2) If your are a font designer and you are just changing Arial or TNR, don't give the result a name like Verdana because someone might just think you have done something really cool when all you did was make the letters a tad wider. If that indeed, is what you did!
Okay, off my soapbox now!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sil Pens as a Swap Saver!
The Sil pens are not only fun, but they can save your scrap hide! Found that out on Monday. I signed up to do two different designs in TXAngel's post card swap. The poinsettia gave me a headache - but that was thanks to the glitter. It was fine for outline, but not all over, so that took me longer than planned. Like two weeks longer. I got so frustrated I tossed them all. I then redid them with marker edging and a pinch of Stickles. I needed to change my second idea and quickly because a highly decorated snowman was going to take more time than I had.
I went through my Sil designs and found the perfect idea : pen snowflakes background with a horse and sleigh silhouette on top. The background turned out lovely, even though I cannot rotate the flakes. The horse and sleigh, however, were an absolute nightmare. I tried cutting them out in two different sizes on two different types of textured paper. DD was not impressed with the lack of quality. The little ones were a series of dashes and the larger ones looked like a child cut them with a craft knife.
I then hit upon a solution: my pens! I tried it out on white paper - and it worked! I had to color them by hand and cut around them, but they melded into the mostly white background. Not perfect, but much better than using the other ones, which is a bummer, because I was really taken with the design I had created. Oh well, maybe next year for cards for DH's work.
The pens also made light work for those cards for this year. I took the Season's Greetings with a shadow and just switched out the pens for the different 'layers'(I drew lines around the edges) and in less than an evening, I had 28 card fronts (4 per sheet), ready to glue to cards tomorrow night.
As for photos, would you believe I sent out the cards without photographing them? I will post photos of the Season's Greetings soon, though!
I went through my Sil designs and found the perfect idea : pen snowflakes background with a horse and sleigh silhouette on top. The background turned out lovely, even though I cannot rotate the flakes. The horse and sleigh, however, were an absolute nightmare. I tried cutting them out in two different sizes on two different types of textured paper. DD was not impressed with the lack of quality. The little ones were a series of dashes and the larger ones looked like a child cut them with a craft knife.
I then hit upon a solution: my pens! I tried it out on white paper - and it worked! I had to color them by hand and cut around them, but they melded into the mostly white background. Not perfect, but much better than using the other ones, which is a bummer, because I was really taken with the design I had created. Oh well, maybe next year for cards for DH's work.
The pens also made light work for those cards for this year. I took the Season's Greetings with a shadow and just switched out the pens for the different 'layers'(I drew lines around the edges) and in less than an evening, I had 28 card fronts (4 per sheet), ready to glue to cards tomorrow night.
As for photos, would you believe I sent out the cards without photographing them? I will post photos of the Season's Greetings soon, though!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Pens on Silhouette Rock!!!
Ohmigosh!!!
I cannot believe how versatile the Silhouette is! I have used it for creating my own designs, but there was something I hadn't yet tried: the pens. I knew it could be done, but I lacked the bravery to try them.
Christmas' approach gave me an urgency which overwhelmed my fear. Throwing caution to the wind, I chose to start my pen attempt with the calendar from Sil. How bad could straight lines be? I started with black, worried what would happen....
Perfection!!! The calendar page was gorgeous, nary a flaw. So I made another, then another. Mightily impressed, I changed inks. The green and red were beautiful, as were the purple and navy. Pink, however, well let's just say I wouldn't be the Scrapklutz if I had perfect luck. My pink pen leaked. On the calendar page. On my cutting pad. On the left-hand roller of my Sil. Of course, I had no idea of the magnitude of the disaster until I went to load a second page and got ink on it. Two sheets later and I gave it up. I thoroughly cleaned the pen and put it away.
Then I tried to draw shapes for the background of the Feb page. I used Red, Purple and Pink - which thankfully didn't leak. Unfortunately, the page didn't turn out how I had hoped. It needs solids, not outlines. Oh well, back to the drawing board!
I cannot believe how versatile the Silhouette is! I have used it for creating my own designs, but there was something I hadn't yet tried: the pens. I knew it could be done, but I lacked the bravery to try them.
Christmas' approach gave me an urgency which overwhelmed my fear. Throwing caution to the wind, I chose to start my pen attempt with the calendar from Sil. How bad could straight lines be? I started with black, worried what would happen....
Perfection!!! The calendar page was gorgeous, nary a flaw. So I made another, then another. Mightily impressed, I changed inks. The green and red were beautiful, as were the purple and navy. Pink, however, well let's just say I wouldn't be the Scrapklutz if I had perfect luck. My pink pen leaked. On the calendar page. On my cutting pad. On the left-hand roller of my Sil. Of course, I had no idea of the magnitude of the disaster until I went to load a second page and got ink on it. Two sheets later and I gave it up. I thoroughly cleaned the pen and put it away.
Then I tried to draw shapes for the background of the Feb page. I used Red, Purple and Pink - which thankfully didn't leak. Unfortunately, the page didn't turn out how I had hoped. It needs solids, not outlines. Oh well, back to the drawing board!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Adhesives Hate Me!!!
Why do adhesives hate me? The pens get all over the place - or just refuse to work. If they get on somewhere they shouldn't be, they refuse to erase and show up shiny where I don't want it. My Xyrons (I have three: X, 250 and 500) all leave boogers, or worse, have extra adhesive that sticks in areas and refuses to be erased, thus leaving shiny sections. My Glue Gun Pro's Repositionable adhesive refuses to stick, causing everything to fall off when I lift my pages off of my desk. My ATG is hard to refill, and once I have put something together with it, it is stuck PERMANENTLY. No mistakes allowed with that. That is nigh-impossible for me - afterall I am the Scrapklutz!
Okay, rant done. I need to think about my new DT projects.
Okay, rant done. I need to think about my new DT projects.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Halloween Frame and Minuscule Pieces
It seemed like a really good idea at the time: use the new Sil bat and spiderweb frame for the Halloween postcard swap. How I didn't see all those little holes/spaces that would need to be cleaned out is beyond me. Or, I REALLY need glasses. There were lots of little spaces, and I made the frames to fit on 4x6 cards, so some of those spaces were darned near microscopic.
Did I mention that I needed 15 frames? And that it took me a few cuts until I figured out that I needed to have the Sil cut each frame twice? Then I had to punch out/cut out/stab out all those little pieces, because some just did not want to come out.
So, now the frames are on the cards - and there are all sorts of minuscule pieces of black paper upstairs (my desk) and down (while waiting for the UPS guy I had to have something to do!) and I am not planning on cutting out that frame for quite some time - and not that small. Not for quite some time - say October or so!
Did I mention that I needed 15 frames? And that it took me a few cuts until I figured out that I needed to have the Sil cut each frame twice? Then I had to punch out/cut out/stab out all those little pieces, because some just did not want to come out.
So, now the frames are on the cards - and there are all sorts of minuscule pieces of black paper upstairs (my desk) and down (while waiting for the UPS guy I had to have something to do!) and I am not planning on cutting out that frame for quite some time - and not that small. Not for quite some time - say October or so!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Embossed Homeless Dragon
OOPS! I accidentally deleted this photo from both my phone and Photobucket!
Whaddathink? Does it look like a dragon? It was made using a new stencil that I picked up yesterday. DD has decided with the help of her best friend, that stencils rule, but no stores around here have a wide selection, so we had to order some from a store in Plano. That was in June and DD ordered a unicorn stencil and a Japanese kimonoed lady. I ordered the dragon because I thought it would look awesome for Martial Arts pages.
Even though I was exhausted last night, I just had to experiment. Experiment is the correct term because the first paper I chose was reddish-orange and one of the embossing pastes I chose was gold. After three small sections, I changed my mind and switched to black paper. Then I did something not so smart, I started on the outside edges of the stencil and worked in. I know better than to do that. Needless to say, it was a more frustrating experience than I had counted on, especially since I decided to use three colors: gold, green and red. Don't see the red? Well, it's not there because trying to get the green in between the gold was a nightmare, not helped at all by the fact that the two pastes were of different textures. The gold was sort of like glue and the green was paste. I know that different manufacturers use different formulas, but really - it was like using two totally different mediums.
Well, it has been 12 hours and the dragon is still drying. Didn't know I used THAT much paste! Sorry the photo is not the best quality, but I thought I would play with my iPhone and upload it that way. Think I need more light (and to be more awake, took it about 7 this morning.)
As for its final destination, there is some debate. DD wants it, DS wants it on his backpack and DH hasn't seen it. I think I need to make another with white and then chalk it....
Whaddathink? Does it look like a dragon? It was made using a new stencil that I picked up yesterday. DD has decided with the help of her best friend, that stencils rule, but no stores around here have a wide selection, so we had to order some from a store in Plano. That was in June and DD ordered a unicorn stencil and a Japanese kimonoed lady. I ordered the dragon because I thought it would look awesome for Martial Arts pages.
Even though I was exhausted last night, I just had to experiment. Experiment is the correct term because the first paper I chose was reddish-orange and one of the embossing pastes I chose was gold. After three small sections, I changed my mind and switched to black paper. Then I did something not so smart, I started on the outside edges of the stencil and worked in. I know better than to do that. Needless to say, it was a more frustrating experience than I had counted on, especially since I decided to use three colors: gold, green and red. Don't see the red? Well, it's not there because trying to get the green in between the gold was a nightmare, not helped at all by the fact that the two pastes were of different textures. The gold was sort of like glue and the green was paste. I know that different manufacturers use different formulas, but really - it was like using two totally different mediums.
Well, it has been 12 hours and the dragon is still drying. Didn't know I used THAT much paste! Sorry the photo is not the best quality, but I thought I would play with my iPhone and upload it that way. Think I need more light (and to be more awake, took it about 7 this morning.)
As for its final destination, there is some debate. DD wants it, DS wants it on his backpack and DH hasn't seen it. I think I need to make another with white and then chalk it....
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Stop the Chubbies!
Ohmigosh, QK has got to stop posting Halloween Chubbies on the Sil site!!! I am so in love with them - especially the Chubby Mummy. It is so adorable - and what I have been wanting for quite some time. I have witches, vampires, Frankensteins, bats, owls (okay, so I need those for lots of things) and ghosts. I had no mummies. Mummies are cool. As with the rest, they can be used for not only Halloween, but Scooby-Doo, too. We have lots of photos from the Scooby ride in Fiesta Texas and those chubbies will be perfect. And they will work for the Halloween swaps, too!
So, if I have uses for the chubbies, why do I want QK to quit posting them? Because I cannot quit playing with them!!! I keep pulling them up and shrinking them to see how much detail they retain when fit on say a 2x2 square. The first mummies tore, so I switched to textured paper. They came out fuzzy, and tore in a few places, but usable. Of course, it took me four tries (I needed to change my cutting mat since the sticky went away on try #3). Now I have to place my Chubby Mummies where they need to go. Bummer most of them lost their feet. I am thinking that under two inches is too small.
Of course, I should really try the ghosts. Frankenstein would have to lose his scar and the vampire his teeth. The witch's broomstick might meet the same fate as the mummy's feet.
See, I cannot stop thinking about the chubbies. They are just too cute, too full of promise.
So, no more chubbies - I need to concentrate on other things, like finishing my swaps. I could stop looking at the QK store, stop playing with the images in my library - but how would I know if they came out with a Chubby Werewolf?
So, if I have uses for the chubbies, why do I want QK to quit posting them? Because I cannot quit playing with them!!! I keep pulling them up and shrinking them to see how much detail they retain when fit on say a 2x2 square. The first mummies tore, so I switched to textured paper. They came out fuzzy, and tore in a few places, but usable. Of course, it took me four tries (I needed to change my cutting mat since the sticky went away on try #3). Now I have to place my Chubby Mummies where they need to go. Bummer most of them lost their feet. I am thinking that under two inches is too small.
Of course, I should really try the ghosts. Frankenstein would have to lose his scar and the vampire his teeth. The witch's broomstick might meet the same fate as the mummy's feet.
See, I cannot stop thinking about the chubbies. They are just too cute, too full of promise.
So, no more chubbies - I need to concentrate on other things, like finishing my swaps. I could stop looking at the QK store, stop playing with the images in my library - but how would I know if they came out with a Chubby Werewolf?
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