Design House Digital

Posts Tagged ‘Printing Digital Projects’

Teacher Appreciation Week – Hybrid Inspiration

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

As many of you know, and maybe many of you don’t know, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  I’m sure we are all grateful for our children’s teachers everyday, but this is a special time to show it.  This year I decided to put together a little gift for each of my daughters teachers.

I’ve had several CD tins laying around for awhile, so I wanted to use them somehow.  I also loved the bright primary colors in Audrey Neal’s Everyday Celebrations kit, and thought they would be perfect for a teacher gift.

I started by creating a couple mini layouts for the front and back of the tin.  I found a cute poem about teachers to put on the back, and I put a picture of my daughter with her teacher on the front.  (I used mod-podge to adhere the layouts to the tin.)  Then I designed and printed some simple little notecards using Audrey’s Everyday Celebrations kit and Spencer’s Sketchy Elements kit to put inside.  I wrapped it all up with a ribbon and Voila!… a simple gift to show your teachers how much you appreciate them!

Collage

If you don’t already have a gift idea for your teachers, browse through the store.  There are all sorts of fun boxes/bags that you can simply print out and assemble.  Fill them with a treat and you’re done!  Even just a card would make your teacher feel appreciated  (and we’d love to see your creations in the gallery!) :)

Credits: Everyday Celebrations by Audrey Neal; Sketchy elements (frame) by Spencer Nugent; Just my type (note paper) by Audrey Neal; Noted Doodle Stamps (arrow) by Jen Allyson; Real Simple Poloroid Frames by Jen Allyson

Karen

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | 2 Comments »

You can have your cake, and DIGITIZE it, too!

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Final

Don’t you just love it when you find a use for your digital kits outside of the album?

For my son’s second birthday, I wanted to do a special cake. Normally I like cake decorating, but today… it wasn’t sounding super fun. I quickly dismissed the Big Bird cake (which I had for my second birthday) and the SpongeBob Squarepants cake; they both were too much work. Cupcakes, which are my normal fallback, weren’t sounding too fabulous either, since my daughter requested them for her birthday last week.

Enter: The Monster Jam cake. Are you ready?

Really, REALLY ready?

I started out by opening up Spencer Nugent’s Monster Jam Sticker Pack kit. I dragged each of the elements on to a new canvas, which I sized to 13″x13″. (If you have a regular sized printer, just keep your file at the standard 8.5″x11″.) I didn’t do any resizing of the monsters, so they were all in the 3-4″ tall range.

DSC_0130-copy

Next, I printed it out onto cardstock. I used Staples brand Photo Supreme paper, which is a double-sided matte paper. I love this paper, and use it to print out my layouts, prints that I sell on Etsy, plus various other projects. I cut out the monsters, leaving a small white border around each one. That’s a lie. I cut out about three, and then enlisted a helper. I didn’t even have to pay her, because she thought it was fun!

(more…)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Classroom, Inspiration, Tutorials | 13 Comments »

Hybrid Card Tutorial

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Many scrapbooking enthusiasts don’t even realize that they are hybrid scrappers.  I used to type out most of my journaling with the computer and adhere it to my paper layouts or print designs on transparencies without calling it “hybrid”. The assumption that you have to be all paper or all digital just isn’t so!  The term for combing these two methods of scrapbooking is called “hybrid”.  A broad definition of hybrid would be: using your computer as a scrapbooking tool.

While I personally like to do all my layouts in digital, I do like to dabble in hybrid projects, especially cards!  This tutorial will walk you through the all of the steps needed to make a hybrid card.

I have created my card in PSE 7.0, and selected the digital elements that I will also be printing out for my card from Spencer Nugent’s  Monster Jam Papers and Sticker Pack found in the Design House Digital Shop.

hybrid card close upThis is what my finished card looks like in digital form.  The following steps will turn this into one adorable hybrid card.

(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog, Classroom, Tutorials | 9 Comments »

So, I’ve finished my first digital layout…Now what?

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

So, I’ve finished my first digital layout…Now what?

I know that’s what you’re thinking, don’t even deny it.

Just like with digital scrapbooking, the possibilities are many, so we’ll touch on a few.

1) Print it yourself. This one is pretty obvious, I know, but there are many benefits to printing at home. Instant gratification, anyone?

2) Have it printed, by page. Obviously, a nice feature of our digital age. You can upload, have it printed, and shipped right to your door. Perfect for those hectic times when we get a bit behind. Or those lazy times, when you’re vegging in your pajamas all day.

3) Have it printed, by the book. That’s right. You can upload all of your pages and have them printed in a single, bound book. How cool is that? Again, delivery to home is a nice benefit.

4) Don’t print it. No one says you HAVE to print your layouts. (I have a friend who has never printed a single one, because she likes the way they look in her monitor!) Display them in a digital frame, post them to your blog, or carry them around on your iPod or cell phone. And don’t forget to share them in our Gallery at Design House Digital!

Of course, this can still raise a lot of questions. Can I really print it at home? Do I need a special (super expensive) printer? What company is the best? What if I drop my iPod in a puddle?

Don’t worry, we’ll address all of these (in more detail) in upcoming posts. For now, just realize that one of the coolest things about digital is that you’re not locked into ANYTHING. You can print twenty of the same layout, without having to buy twenty packs of embellishments. You can print it now, and have it printed into a book later. And then blog it.

Ain’t digital grand?

ex-guru

Tags: ,
Posted in Ask an Expert, Blog, Classroom, Getting Started, Now What | 3 Comments »