Precious Moments Searching Saturday

Who doesn't love Precious Moments. This image was given out as a homework assignment for the copics class I am taking. I Googled some sites where you can find images and paper tole images, which you can find below. (you can see some of my paper tole Percious Moments here and here)

Images:

Tons of images HERE

There are a few HERE, just do a search under the children catagories, there are 5 of them. After clicking the catagory, you will need to scroll to the bottom and choose b&w or colored. There are some in each.

Adorable images HERE (Henny sent me this site, you can see her blog Here)

Paper tole (I have not found any from the US):

Sharon Duncan
Crafts-too
Dottie 4 Crafts
Kards And Crafts
eBay

The card is super simple, even the image was simple to color. I did not find this image on the sites above, but maybe you can find it in your own search. If you do or find other sites, let me know :o) The more the merrier, lol

Have fun with all the new Precious Moments images you will find!

Hugs,

Searching Saturday on Sunday: Links for Printables

Yesterday I shared one of my hybrid cards with you and promised to share some links. This, by no means, is a complete list. If you know of any other sites, leave me a comment or send me an email. I will add it to the list giving you credit for letting me know :o)

Most, if not all, of these site offer freebies too. So if you want to see if you like making some cards or scrapbook page this way, you can try several companies out.

Mail Order PLUS instant downloads:

Charmed Cards & Crafts

Clip Crop Crafts

Papertole ~~~ Has much more than papertole items

Top Topper Shop

Instant Downloads:

The Cutting Cafe

Scrapbooking Mad

SAM Cards

Printable Haven

My Grafico

Lisa's Paper Craft Disigns

Lily Pickle

Computer Scrapbook

Crafty Designs

Cards 2 Craft

Card Making World (printable craftshop)

Busy Bee Clipart ~~~still fairly new, so in the proccess of add more items

Backing Papers Direct

Aimee Asher Inc.

Paper Shapez

Crafts U Print~~~has some great paper craft tutorials

D.A.I.S.I.E Company

Free Sites:

All Free Printables

Free Craft Downloads

Jersgirls

Have fun checking out the sites! Hugs, Sandy O

Comments from before moving to blogger

added a translator in my blog! XDThanks for the visit! Posted by: Chiara Handmade May 04, 2010 at 05:07 AM thank you for the link!!!very useful!!!Have a nice dayChiara

Comments before moving to Blogger added a translator in my blog! XD Thanks for the visit! Posted by: Chiara Handmade | May 04, 2010 at 05:07 AM thank you for the link!!! very useful!!! Have a nice day Chiara

Iris Fold

I love the look of Iris Folding and finally decided to try my hand at it. Here is my first attempt.

The paper I chose to use is digital paper from Fred She Said called Tie Dyed Cherry Blossoms. I printed out 5 colors, which the pattern idicated I needed.
The flower in the center is one of the cherry blossoms that you can purchase as either pre-colored or black and white.
The iris folding is really quite easy and fast. It is the preperation that takes the longest.
U-tube videos with instructions, each with their own tips and tricks:
How to do Iris Folding
Iris Folding Heart
Iris Folding 101
How to do Iris Folding
Sites with free patterns
Simplicity of Iris Folding: simple basic geometric shapes, a few more complicated shapes and some downloadable paper to print
Handcrafted Greeting: Instructions, free patterns under the "patterns & instructions" link
Iris Folding Patterns
Craft.brod.org.uk:  Instuctions, free templates, directions to make your own templates
Clip Arts and Crafts:  Interesting background pattern for your iris fold circle
Patterns to purchase
Simplicity of Iris Folding:  books
Creative Papercrafts:  brass templates which include the paper folding diagram and complete instructions
Iris Folding Patterns:  patterns on CD. Has a link to reverse iris folding on the bottom of the page. Really neat!
Tea-tastic:  click on "place order" in right side bar to purchase
Dandee Images:  pre-cut white cards (not sure if the paper folding pattern comes with them) Pattern books lower on page.
I plan on practing this technique often. I hope you do too.
Hugs, Sandy O
Comments from before moving to blogger This is gorgeous Sandy. Something I haven't tried yet either. You did a fantastic job!! Posted by: Ellie | February 22, 2010 at 05:35 PM

Design Elements

I am sorry this post it late as I was not feeling well over the past few days.

Design Elements are elements that build upon one another; compliment each other. Most of what I have read relates to art such as painting, sculpture and all forms of art beside paper crafting/art. Some of what I found is focused on scrapbook pages. I did glean much over the past few months that I apply to card making or at least try to, as well as other forms of paper crafts that I enjoy. Admittedly not scrapbooks which I tend to avoid.

I hope you find these helpful. Many you probably already follow, as I did, even if you did not know "what" it was. At the bottom I provide some internet resources for you to read for more in depth reading on the subject. 

*I use the word "eye" to mean the eyes of the onlooker/person viewing the project.

Focal Point: usually the largest part of the scrapbook page or card . This is what you use to draw attention. On a card it is usually the image, while in scrapbooks it would be a photo.

Line: lines can be straight or curved. They should follow the natural lines of the subject or can be used to guide the eye. In card making, as you color an image, you will want to follow the  natural curve of an animals shape for example. A scrapbook  example would be to make sure a person in a photo does not look toward the outside of the page where the eye will automatically follow. Unless it is a two page spread which this can be used to guide the eye to the next page.

Point: The brain will automatically follow certain pattern. Having the focal point draw the attention of the viewer, their brain will instantly look for a pattern to follow. In card making or scrapbooks, this could be embellishments or smaller photos.

• The "Z" pattern which is like reading,
• The triangle pattern , having elements on a card or page create a triangle. Such as a flower on each of the upper corners with the focal point in the center of the card or layout.
• A straight line in which elements draw a straight line. This can be a line of brad on a card or a row of three small photos on a scrapbook page.

Clustering: clustering elements around an image can create a frame for it. This can be used to draw the eye to the focal point.

Uneven Numbers: As I spoke about in my previous post, uneven numbers are much more appealing to the mind. Therefore, 3 in a cluster will look better than 4 or 5 brads in a line will look better than 6.

Echoing: Creating a connection. Using the same colors, patterns, embellishments, etc. on each page of a 2 page spread or the inside of a card.

Counter-Balance: To create even more visual interest you can use both horizontal and vertical lines together. For example, if your focal point creates a horizontal line, use vertical line elsewhere. Such as a photo or image that is wider than it is high, you can add ribbon/bow vertically.

Tilting: Not everything must be in straight lines horizontally or vertically to create visual appeal. Try tilting your photos on a page or a ribbon on your card.

Color: WOW, tons can be said about color. Enough to make a whole week or more of posts. Basically,  you want the colors to look good together; to compliment one another. Using primary, secondary, tertiary...colors for example.

Value: Value give the color a specific purpose, such as creating highlights/shines or shadows, or to give a sense of depth. A good rule to remember is that light colors bring the subject/area closer, while dark colors pull back.

Texture: This gives visual interest to the project. Adding texture can be as easy as using dimensionals as adhesive, embossing, distressing or adding embellishments such as brads and ribbon.

I know there are more Designing Elements, but these are some of ones I try to follow. I don't always remember them though, LOL

Here are the links I promised:

Six Visual Elements

The Elements of Design

John Lovett: The Elements of Design

Ask.com: Elements of Design

Elements of Design: student handout

Ask.com: Graphic Design Basics

Layouts for scrapbooks: 7 elements of design

Introduction to element design

Visual arts: elements and principles of design

Books: There are many books on the subject that can be found doing searches on Google, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. The book that I first used and which prompted me to dig deeper is Design Elements published by Hot Off The Press. 

If you found this helpful, please let me know by leaving a comment.

Hugs, Sandy O

 

Digital Stamps: Information and Uses

When I first heard of digital stamps, they sounded so confusing to me. I am no computer expert for sure...I would put myself at a 3rd grade level, LOL. Since they have been around for a while, I would read a bit here and a bit there over time. Eventually I read enough so that I was actually comfortable and tried one. I fell in love wit them right away.

I still love my rubber. the wood mounted and easy mounted, even some of the acrylic stamps, the smell of the ink and the many techniques that can be done with them that can not be done with digital stamps.

By adding digital stamps to my collection, I have expanded my crafting tools.  Now, I would like to share with you some information I found helpful in learning about this new way to "stamp".

When you first purchase a digital stamp, you will be sent a file to download and keep on your computer. If you have ever saved a photo onto you computer, it will be the same idea. When you click to download the image, you will have to choose where to save/file it. I keep mine in my documents in a file created just for my digital stamps. In this file I created files for each digital stamp company I have stamps for. This way I know where they are and whose they are.

Before printing and printing your digital stamps:

Resize and Print I

Resize and Print II

Changing color of stamp with photo shop

Coloring stamp before printing

Playing with before printing

Printing only part of an image using Adobe

Printing only part of an image using Word

Combining Digital Images

Placing text where you want it using Word  (VIDEO)

Printing duplicates on one sheet

Card making tricks using Word (VIDEO)

Printing a greeting

Cutting out with your silhouette

What Now:

There are loads of sites and tutorials for getting, filing and printing digital stamps, as you can see…BUT what now? I am still on the search, but have found out a couple of things I want to share. I also found some fun videos on other unique things to do. I have not tried 5-11 yet, but will certainly be posting when I do.

1. Cut the image out by hand as I did in these posts, Dec 31, 2009  And here Jan 1, 2010   
2. You can used a die cutting machine as I did here   Jan 5, 2010
3. You can multi-layer it (similar to cutting by hand) as I did here  Dec 31, 2009
4. Sew it to felt or fabric as I did here  Jan 2, 2010
5. Print right on a card (VIDEO)
6. Coloring with markers and pencils
7. Watercoloring
8. Heat Embossing OR use glue pen on the lines of a simple image
9. T-Shirt transfer (VIDEO)
10. Print directly on fabric
11. Ink jet transfer stamping

If you know of more...please drop me a comment or email. I would love to added them to another post for all to try.

Helpful answers:

>>>What exactly is a digital stamp?

>>>Can I keep them on disc?  YES...it is encouraged to save your files in/on a back up source such as a disc or external hard drive.

>>>Can I share them with my friends? No...You may use them over and over, but sharing them with others, though it seems like a simple thing to do, is against the artists rights. You can however give them the URL of the site you purchased it from so they can purchase their own. See Digital stamp Angel Policy (scroll down just a bit for digital stamps AP)

>>>From the Squiggle Fly site:  Though this talks specifically about thier images, we have all gotten images that appear like this from other sources.

Help! The images look enormous on my screen! What do I do? This is because Squigglefly images are sized for your printer, not your computer screen. A higher resolution ensures smooth, crisp print quality. They will look big on your computer screen, but will print out on paper at the correct size.

>>>From Carol Ann's Studios  .Jpg vs PNG

Which image format shall I use and when?:-

.Jpg is the most widely used format for graphics. It can be used with just about any programme that uses graphics. .Jpg images will show any transparent area as a white background. Your .jpg Digital Image Stamps can be resized to suit your project requirements, printed and coloured in the traditional way. All our .jpg Digital Image Stamps are saved as high quality 300 dpi images.

.PNG is a newer format that is becoming more popular, especially with cardmakers and scrapbookers but especially with digital crafters. PNG files can be used with most, but not all, graphics programmes. .PNG images will preserve any transparent areas. Your .PNG Digital Image Stamps can be resized to suit your project requirements, printed and coloured in the traditional way, digitally coloured and printed or used on your digital projects. .PNG files can be digitally layered onto your crafting projects and then can either be printed out or displayed digitally. Because the transparent layers are preserved your graphics can easily be overlapped. Image quality is high with .png files. Our .PNG Digital Image Stamps are saved with transparency for easy layering.

Some of our Digital Image Stamps downloads include both .jpg and .PNG files to give you the freedom to craft in any which way you want!

>>> How do I unzip my stamp files?  I use WinZip so that is what I am going to show you here.

UnZip your files with WinZip:

Installing WinZip: Go to WinZip and in the right side bar click the "Download a free 45 day evaluation version" button. On the next screen click the download WinZip now and save to your desktop. 

Go to the file that you would like to unzip and right click on it.

When the window pops up, click "open with", then click WinZip

Another window will come up from WinZip. You need to click on the "Use evaluation Version" button. It moves from side to side sometimes when you open it, so make sure it is this button you click on.

The next window will show your zipped file. Go to the top menu and click "Extract".

Now another window will come up, this is where you will tell Winzip where to save the file. It is very much like saving a photo.

Click "Extract" at the bottom and wait...it is usually VERY fast, maybe a second or two, though I have had some that took longer, so don't get nervous.

A new window will pop up showing your new file in the folder you saved it in

Close both windows and you are ready to use your new image.

>>>Images Smearing??? WHY?  from Stretch N' Bubbles
I have not had a bit of trouble with smudged images when I use my mom's printer to print out my images. she has a cheap Lexmark, but on my HP and Epson it smears.. so I did some research online and found out a couple things.. If you are planning on printing a digital image to color with markers or water colored pencils etc.. you will want to look at what kind of ink your printer is using.. Just like regular stamping. ink the type matters. My HP printer uses a black + tricolor combo or a photo + tricolor combo. If you find that your images are smudging the problem could be that you are using a black ink instead of a photo ink. Black ink is designed for text while photo ink (used in place of the black cartridge) is designed for photos and made to be of a more archival quality. So using a design printed with black and tricolor inks the image would smudge but the one with photo and tri color inks didn't budge. So if you are having problems with smudging check your inks and see if that makes a difference, ;)

Try them for FREE:

Most digital stamp sites offer you some free images to try for free. Here are a few for you to start with.

Squiggle Fly

Stitching Cards

Fred She Said blog

*Wink *Wink Ink

Sweet & Sassy

Sew Many Cards

Designed2Delight  She has a very unique way of giving her freebies to you ;o)

Bee Crafty

Charmed Cards & Crafts

D.A.I.S.I.E. Company  (just click on the Santa)

My Grafico (5 pages of them!!!)

There are 2 types of files in these links. Some you will find have a download button which you will click on and save the file. The others you will need to right click on the image and "save as" on you computer in your designated file.

Unique Digital Stamps:

In my search for new digital stamps to buy, I found some sites with very unique stamps. Sites that have a style of stamps I have never seen or rarely have seen elsewhere. Here are a few:

Angel's Landing   Piecing and piercing

Stitched Cards Pattern stamps to stick on the card...all come with directions

Fred She Said Print, cut, score, layer...multi file...some colored, some you color

Mo’s Digital Pencil Too  has multi cultural stamps as well as images with more details which make them more similar to rubber stamps

*Wink *wink Ink  multi file  download..some precolored, some you color

DAISIE Company---WOW, anything you would want digital 

Two Peas in a Bucket digital fonts

Mujka Chic  Borders and elements

News, tips, tutorials:

My Digital Art Studio  Happenings in the Digi World, New Products, ect

Pink Elephant Tip room Tips and trick...digi and other

I hope you found this post helpful to you. If you know something about digital stamps that could be added, please email me. I will put all the information together (giving you credit for sending it to me) in another post.

One more tip I would like to share, but it really has nothing to do with the subject.....but can be stretched to be, LOL....so here it is for you

Cutting in tight places

Have fun! hugs, Sandy O

Searching Saturday: Flowers

Do you like flowers? When I was younger, say in my 20's, I really did not much care about flowers and was certain I would never have a garden. Most flowers are in dirt and I HATED the feel of dirt/sand on my hand and especially under my finger nails! Flowers that were not in dirt were either 1) cut, in a vase looking rather unnatural and going to die anyway 2) plastic, ugly, in a vase looking very unnatural and had no scent 3) floating in mucky water. Yup, back then I saw not much in the way of flowers.

Though I still detest the feel of dirt, I have discovered that with good gardening gloves, it is not much of a problem. Now I have a few small gardens I play in. AND...... I most defiantly love flowers. I also love them in their natural setting, outside in the dirt. I am not even fond of flowering house plants. I will take a variegated ivy for my house any day! But like a bird in a cage looks out of place to me, so does a flower out of it's natural habitat.

So...do you like images of flowers? OH, I most certainly do. My favorite are of the individual flower up close, but any images will do for me.  The flowers, the plant, the garden, the field or mountain, it's all beautiful if there are flowers in it. Even a table with a vase of flowers I can enjoy if the flower is the main focus.

Soo...do you like rubber stamps of flowers? If so, do you like the real looking ones or the cartoon like ones? For me, I drool over the realistic flower images in rubber stamps. The acrylic stamps just do not get the details like the rubber does. When it comes to flowers, the more detail the better. Cartoon ones can be fun to color and are a must if combining with other cartoon like image. A cutesie image of a chipmunk would look rather silly on the same card as a detailed artistic image of a flower! So I do own both types and even some acrylic.

What I have begun to do is collect the beautiful images of flowers that are wood mounted rubber. Most are retired Stampin' Up, but a few are from other companies. I browse eBay and the buy/sell galleries for any reasonably priced retired beauty I have yet to acquire. If...by chance, there are new images in the new catalog, I will snatch them up.  For instance...did you see the incredible "Dear Friend" level 1 hostess set in the current catalog. OH MY....and it matches a retired set I purchased a while back, Flowers of Gratitude, like they were made for one another.

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"Dear Friend" flower stamp images

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Flowers of Gratitude" retired Stampin' Up set 

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I also have procured a set called "Flower of the Month" another retired SU set.

 

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"Flower of the Month" retired SU stamp set

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Do you see the difference between the first 2 sets and the 3rd set? You can click on the photos if you would like to see them a bit larger.

Here is another set that I was just blessed to get of Craig's List:

 

Well, actually, this is a set of 2. The flower shown here and a sentiment.

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"Just For You Series--Kindness Is..." flower from the retired SU set

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Do you see it? Well, the Flower of the Month set has the name of the flower on the image! The rest do not! I could Google Sweet Pea or Aster, print out a few photos of each and off I would go to color my images. I suppose they are all common flowers that everyone knows, but not me. I figured out the rose and one other that I think is the flower that sings in Alice and Wonderland cartoon movie. The large one just above I was almost certain was an orchid. HA! (It is actually an Iris, which I found out after checking the many website I have bookmarked for this very purpose.)

Soooo...how could I color them? And even worse, how do I look them up to find out the colors that particular flower is known for? I have a few gardening books that I went to, but they can't have every flower in them, right?

What I did was I turned to Google, ahhhhh Google---what did I do with out you?---

Search wildflowers by color

Identify wildflowers

Search by scientific name...great photos

Search flower gallery

Search by type then scientific name, fantastic photos

Searchby scientific name--hundreds if not over a thousand types that when clicked have subtypes, most with photos

Search by scientific or common name as well as type, zone, color, flowering time and others. You do need to register to have access to the complete database, but registration is FREE. It is well worth the 3 minutes it take to register.

So, I hope this helps some of you as you attempt to recreate a realistic flower though paper and coloring mediums.

The final flower image says it is from a series, but I could not find any informtion about the others. If you know, please leave me a comment or send an email. I would soooo much appreciate it!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

See you Monday...Hugs, Sandy O