Using Stamps Without Stamping: Love U Valentine Card

Have you ever been inspired while cleaning out your craft room?  My room is a disaster, and I know I need to get rid of some things I no longer use.  One of those things are my stamps.  Stamping isn't my mode of choice for putting sentiments on cards.  I prefer to use one of the many fonts on my computer to simply print something.  I know there are more ink options with stamping, but I guess I don't have the patience for it.  So, I decided I would give away some of my stamps and while going through them, I saw a very small one I hadn't noticed in a set by Fiskars.  It simply said "LOVE".  How appropriate for a Valentine's Day card. Instead of getting out my ink, I started up Photoshop and scanned the plastic piece the stamp was stuck to which had a picture of the stamp image.  After importing it into Photoshop, I extracted the stamp from the white background it was on by using the magic wand tool and selecting the white area and hitting delete.  It was on a transparent background, but it wasn't perfect.  When I magnified the image I discovered a grey area around the letters, and I had to do a little more work to get rid of that.  Once it was done, I created a brush with it so I could use it over and over.  I created a background with the brush, and put it on to these cards:

Love U x3!

 

The card at the front is the first one I made.  I decided I didn't like the "U", and changed it to another font for the other two.  The background behind the stamped image was created using the gradient tool in Photoshop.  I played around with it quite a bit and had a lot of fun seeing the different effects.  My favorite one is the one farthest back where I used a radial gradient.

That's a LOT of LOVE for U!

This picture doesn't do it justice.  I have a lot to work on with my photography skills!  What I love about this card is the simplicity of it, but it still looks nice.  The "LOVE" stamp almost appears to be embossed because of a drop shadow and outer glow effect.  And I said there were more ink options with stamping, but look at what can be done without stamping!

No stamps involved!

 A teeny little stamp, given new life.  And once I've gotten my other stamps digitized (I don't have a huge amount of them, thank God!), I'll give them to the local church that runs a thrift store in my area.   Of course I had to add a sentiment to the inside of the cards:

 Ahhh, more space for new craft supplies less clutter.  Who would've thought a cleaning attempt would turn into inspiration?  I use the word "attempt" because not much cleaning got done as a result of this!  Has this ever happened to you?  Do you digitize your stamps?  Let me know how you do it!  If you haven't, give it a shot, I'd love to hear how it worked for you!

Here's what I used:
Photoshop
Fiskars Stamp "LOVE"
LD Sketch Font
LD Hang Ten Font

Now, start cleaning and get inspired to Have a Crafty Day!

Calendar Day...And A Tidbit About Clipping Masks In Photoshop

Ready for Spring yet?  I most certainly am.  Too bad we've got to get through February, and perhaps most of March, before hints of Spring start to show.  That good old groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania saw his shadow, which means six more long weeks of winter, ugh.  One holiday that helps ease my winter blues is Valentine's Day, (I think it might have something to do with chocolate) and my calendar for the month is all about it.  Instead of the usual calendar grid, I created rows of hearts for the days and clipped paper to them.  Using clipping masks is one of the most basic things to do in Photoshop, but I think it's tons of fun.  Take any shape you have and make it look the way you want.  This adds value to your cut files because you can convert them into PNG files using Make The Cut! and use them as clipping masks.   Check out how I did this in my calendar below:

Hearts A Plenty!

Underneath "February 2014" is a notebook shape that started out as an SVG file from SVGCuts.com.  I imported it into Make The Cut! and saved it as a PNG file.  This is necessary since Photoshop will not import SVG files.  I imported the PNG file into Photoshop and clipped some notebook paper to it by putting the paper above the shape and pressing CTRL+ALT+G.  Make sure your paper is completely covering the shape, it helps to magnify what you're doing to be sure.  Depending on the size of your shape you may want to scale down your paper.  You can move the paper layer separate from the shape layer to get the look you want.  When you're all set, press CTRL+E to merge the two layers together.  You now have your paper in the shape of the notebook paper, pretty cool.  The heart shapes for the days and the pink mat underneath were already PNG files I'd purchased.  The cool thing about those is if I decide I want to cut them, I can convert them into SVG files using Make The Cut! as well.  Now that's thrifty in my book, but then again, I most definitely am not the queen of thriftiness (just ask my husband).  So what do you think?  Have you tried this already?  If not, give it a go and have some fun!  Let me know how you do!

Here's what I used to make my calendar:
Make The Cut! software*
Photoshop
Love Story Paper Pack 2 by Echo Park (Valentine papers)
Love Story Element Pack 2 by Echo Park (Journal cards)
Be Mine Element Pack 2 by Echo Park (XO Border)
Babysitting Adventures Paper Pack by Lettering Delights (Notebook paper)
LD Charming Bold Font
LD Remington Portable Font
LD Jub Jub Font
Notebook SVG from Miss Baker's Classroom SVG Kit
Carina Gardner Photo Masks MEGA Collection 

Whew, that was a long list!  Keep warm, and Have a Crafty Day!

*I am an affiliate for Make The Cut!  Thanks for your support!
 

Hoppy Valentine's Day!

Hoppy Valentine's Day to you!  Well, that's what this frog would say if he could, right?  He let his heart do the talking instead!  I used Make The Cut to design this card with a little help from Jin at Under A Cherry Tree.  She has an excellent tutorial for making shaped cards in Make The Cut.  She uses a method which involves taking the two shapes (in this case a frog), flipping one and then putting them next to each other and creating a shadow.  It is much easier than the way I was doing it.  By the way the frog is from the Frogs and Kisses SVG set from Lettering Delights.  I love this set, it is too cute!!  It includes a few frogs and some really adorable sentiments.   I made this card for my daughter's teacher since she happens to have a thing for frogs.  I knew this would be perfect for her.  I couldn't get enough of the frog, so I had to make a matching envelope!  I just welded him to an envelope I created using basic shapes in Make The Cut.  In order to get the printing on these hearts I had to use the hinge method I learned about on Cleversomeday.  I have not perfected the print and cut with Make The Cut, and I believe it's because my Cricut is inconsistent with where it cuts.  The hinge method is much more accurate and less frustrating for me!  Hope your Valentine's Day is full of love and happiness!  Feel free to let me know what you think of my frog shaped card.  Here are a few more pics (sorry, I really like this one!).

Thanks for stopping by!!

You've Got Mail!

 

Have you gotten all your Valentine's completed and mailed?  Here are a few little notes I made for my daughter to take to school.  I also made a drop box using the Lettering Delights drop box SVG.  The valentines are just simple 3x3 cards with a mat and two cuttlebug die cuts and another smaller square.  I wanted them simple because I had to make 20!  I also created the envelopes to go with them in Make The Cut.  It was fun to design my own, and I think they came out cute.  The other small card was just a stamp with a strip of paper I border punched and added some ribbon to.  The drop box was a lot more difficult to put together than I thought it would be.  I wish I'd had this tutorial from Under A Cherry Tree to guide me, but I didn't.  I think it still came out very well, and I know the next one will be easier!  Here's some more pics of the drop box.

I made the "love letters" in Make The Cut using the typeset font from Lettering Delights.   The "You've Got Mail" is the Buttercream font from Lettering Delights.  This is one of my favorite fonts!   I love how you can make shadows of your letters a gazillion times easier than you can in Design Studio!  It's just a matter of clicking your mouse and adjusting the size.  I also love how the mat can be formed by blacking out the shadow just by checking a box!  Make The Cut ROCKS!!!  If you haven't discovered this program, you MUST try it out!  I'm not an affiliate or anything (although I'm considering it since I LOVE this program). I have nothing to gain, I just want to shout how much I love MTC to the world!! For the base of the box I used a thick cardstock that came in a DCWV packet.  I then put the patterned paper over the top.  I think it made this box quite sturdy, which is essential when your kids will be messing with it!  Hope you like my valentines and I hope you're ready for tomorrow!  If you have the time please feel free to leave me some love! 

The Love Puppy Says....

What?

So this is the card I mentioned in my last post that I was not too happy with.  I think the idea is cute, but the execution of it not so cute!  I used the Paper Pups cartridge for the entire card.  For the opening behind the dog I used some packing tape and added some Martha Stewart glitter, which as you can tell did not adhere well.  I got this idea from the everydaycricut site a while ago.  The woman who did the card there did a much better job!  I had to add the borders I made with an EK Success punch on top and bottom because as I was applying the top layer my doorbell rang, causing me to rush and place it crooked.   At least it covered it well and added a little interest to the front.   I do like the colors of this card and the little i rock gem on the puppy's nose!  I love the Paper Pups cartridge, there are so many cute images on it perfect for Valentine's Day.  I may have to attempt another card just to make myself feel better!  So what did the Love Puppy say?

I think I like the inside of the card much better than the outside.  Have you ever tried using packing tape and glitter?  I'd love to hear about how your project turned out!  Thanks for your time and have a great day!

Will You Be My Valentine? Card

Here's a simple card I made while making another card I wasn't too happy with.  Did that make sense?  I started to make a card using the Paper Pups cart (because I just LOVE those pups!) and I got a little annoyed with how it was turning out so midway I veered off and started to make this one!  The hearts are actually the insides of the heart border I was using on the other card.   I used a stamp I picked up from the clearance bin at Joann's last year.  Sometimes I think I make things too complicated- this simple card is so much better than the one I was trying to make!  It is also made from my scraps except for the card base.  I love using up those little pieces of paper (especially when it's Core'dinations) that you feel a little guilty just tossing.  I finished off the inside as well.  I really like doing that, it adds more stability to the card and gives a nice finishing touch.

Hope you like it and that you're ready for Valentine's Day- because I'm not!  My daughter just came home with her list of 20 children she needs to make valentines for and I know my son will be bringing his list next for at least 20 more!  OK, I'm tired already, but the secret is it's too much fun!!  Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your "valentine prepared status"!  Thanks for taking a look...... 

Be Mine Valentine Card with Make The Cut!

This card was inspired by Jin's tutorial at Under A Cherry Tree.  She is doing an entire series on how to use Make The Cut!(MTC) software and Lettering Delights images with your Cricut.  If you're new to this, you should check out her blog.  Since I don't have the SVGs and font from Lettering Delights that Jin used, my card looks a little different.  The heart is from the shape library in this amazing program, and the font, Monotype Corsiva, was already on my computer. The Martha Stewart border punch is called Doily Lace.  I also used an i Rock gem for the dot on the i.  One of the wonderful features of this software program is that you can print directly from it.  That's what I did with the "Be Mine".  I typed it into MTC and put it exactly where I wanted it to print.

This is so convenient and it's one of the things I've gleaned from Jin's tutorial.  I've had MTC for a few months now and I'd not tried doing this before.  I like the way it works, it seems much easier than using Word.  Another fabulous thing which can be done with MTC is importing textures or patterned paper!  Then you can print them and cut them- sounds like a more economical version of the Cricut Imagine to me!!  Here's a picture of my preview page in MTC with the papers I used applied to the shapes.

This is so helpful when you want to visualize how something will look before you cut (and possibly waste) anything!  One thing that is absolutely necessary when doing this is to make sure the paper image is under 512KB.  I found out this little tidbit at the MTC Forum.  When I just brought in digital papers as they were, it caused my computer to lag. In order to make them smaller I used Photoshop Elements (PSE) and resized them.  Once I did that everything worked fine.  Since I didn't actually print these papers I don't know what that will do to print quality- it's something I plan to test out.  I used the actual papers on my card and then just scanned them into my computer.  I really enjoyed making this card, it's so much fun to learn something new!  One note I should mention is Provocraft for some odd reason does not approve of third party software and using it with your Cricut will void your warranty.  My Cricut is out of warranty, so this poses no issue for me, but even if it was still under warranty I would use MTC with it.  I've never experienced any problems using MTC.  This is just my personal take on it, you have to decide for yourself.  I think this software was money well spent!  I know I haven't even tapped into all the things MTC can do!  See you next time............

Last Minute LOVE card

Made this card before Valentine's day and forgot to post it. Pretty simple. The LOVE is from Home Decor. I love that cut for some reason! I embossed the black paper with the heart blocks embossing folder, put some ribbon and glue drops on, added plenty of stickles and there you have it. Hope you like it!

Two Simple Cards

I was inspired to make these quick cards after watching Robyn over at MyPinkStamper. I like her cards since she makes them simple and quick! I like the idea of having cards around so when you need one you can just grab it and give it. For the red one I still need to stamp a sentiment, believe it or not I have no Valentine sentiment stamps! Well, that's a good reason to run to the craft store. If only it would stop snowing and raining!! Thanks for looking!

Just a Valentine card idea I got from someone's card on the PC website. She used the CB dies for the man and woman. I used the cuts from the Going Places cartridge. The base card is from WildCard I think. When I use my Gypsy it's hard to remember! The first scalloped heart is from Doodlecharms and the last heart I had to cut myself since my Cricut wasn't cutting this paper so well. Originally it was a smaller version of the scalloped heart, but every time I cut it the Cricut made a mess of it so I cut off the edges and inked them. Guess it's time for a new blade! I made the skittles or dew drops, I like to call them glue drops since that's what they are, with my mini glue gun and some glitter sticks from Michael's. I got this idea from the Frugalcrafter's blog. She has some neat ideas for making things out of stuff you have around so you don't have to go out and buy everything! I haven't put the inside sentiment in yet, I was thinking it would be: "Looks like we're stuck together". Okay, a little silly but I always like a play on words. Should I give this to DH? He's not the romantic type so he may appreciate it... a little.