Creating Your Own Digital Cards | What Program To Use

I'm going to start doing some tutorials and tips on my blog about how to create your own digital cards. I hope these help you create custom designs and inspire you to be more creative.

 Digital cards are so much fun to designs for all kinds of occasions and you can easily print them off or you can even email them or post them to your social medias.

What Program Do I Use?
The first thing we need to talk about is what program to use to create your designs. There are so many different programs you can use and everyone has their own opinion about which program is best. My personal opinion is, for the price and ease of use, the best program is Adobe Photoshop Elements 10. Not only can you create cute custom designs and artwork but you can also edit pictures and so much more.

The price is only $74.99 on Amazon. This is a lot cheaper than the full version of Photoshop or other programs that run hundreds of dollars. $75 is pretty doable for a program you can use for years.

Also, Photoshop Elements is pretty easy to learn to use and is very user friendly. I have self taught myself everything I know in Photoshop Elements. All of my design tutorials on this blog will be shown with this program.

So make sure you purchase this software if you want to follow along with my tutorials or if you already have it you are one step ahead. Also, check back weekly for new tutorials.

What are your thoughts on what is the best design program? What program do you use?

My Favorite Fonts | Part 1

Thank you SO much for all of the wonderful responses I got from my last post about what types of freebies you all want. It has given me lots of ideas so keep an eye out for those in the future.

Today I want to start a series called "My Favorite Fonts." I think the number one thing you can do to make your designs creative and fresh is to use fun fonts. There are so may free fonts out there you can go crazy downloading them all.  So I'm going to show you some of my favorite ones right now. Keep in mind that I am always looking for new ones and falling in love with a new font each week. I just can't get enough of them. So quit using all of those boring fonts that com per-installed on your computer and download some of these fun ones.

Here is Part 1 of "My Favorite Fonts."
And the best part about it is these fonts are all *free*!!

Hope these are helpful! Enjoy!

1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | 9. | 10.

What are some of your favorite fonts? I'd love for you to share.

Very Jane Deal

 I have an awesome deal going on over at Very Jane.

You can get a custom graduation announcement, baby shower invite or birth announcement for only $3.50 (regularly $5.00).

Check it out! 
(deal is only active for a couple of days so hurry and grab it now!)

Washi Tape

Isn't Washi Tape just the cutest thing ever?!? There are so many different styles of it and SO many different things you can do with it. A fun way to spruce up some of your cards would be to us a little as an envelope seal or put a strip of it on the front of the envelope as a fun decorative touch. Here a  few fun places you can purchase this darling Washi Tape.

1. KitChenKitChenFUN | 2. Heidi Swapp | 3. Pretty Tape | 4. Hambly Studios

5. HappyTape! | 6. Chickydoodle | 7. Wishy Washi Tape

Custom Return Address Stamps

I have been gushing over all the custom return address stamps I've seen all over the internet. There are some of the most darling designs. I keep putting off buying one because I can't decide which one I want. These are such a cute way to decorate any of your cards and would be a fabulous house warming gift. These are just a few I've seen that I love.

1. SaveTheDate Design | 2. alli's creations | 3. SaveTheDate Design | 4. Foryoo
5. Stamp Out Online | 6. Foryoo | 7. The Chatty Press

Have any of your purchased an address stamp? Any recommendations on which one I should get?

Envelope Liners

Another fun way to jazz up your cards is with envelope liners.
You can cut them out yourself and glue them into your envelope or you can purchase pre-made liners.

Such a cheap, cute way to set apart your envelope from the rest!

Image via here.

Here are a few places you can purchase cute envelope liners.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

And I'll be back next week with a little tutorial on how to create your own liners.

Envelopes

I wanted to talk a little bit about envelopes today. If you are mailing out any of my designs you will need envelopes and there are plenty of ways you can jazz up your card with envelopes.

Most of the designs I sell are 5"x7" size so I am going to show you some fun options for envelopes this size along with some links where you can purchase them. These envelopes are sometimes referred to as size A7 and are actually 5 1/4" x 7 1/4".

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Where To Print Your Digital Cards

I have gotten this question a lot lately, "Where is the best place to print my digital cards?" So, I thought I would do a blog post about it to answer all your questions. My answer would be, it depends on how much you want to spend and what kind of paper you want it printed on. Here are a few of my suggestions and you can choose which option is best for you.

First, be aware that there are 3 different papers I recommend with cards. Linen paper, pearl linen paper, and photo paper. Linen paper is more of a cardstock paper that looks the best for cards. Pearl linen paper is the same but has a little glitterly shine to it. And, photo paper is what you print your regular photos on. Please note that if you are printing on photo paper, cards look best with a matte finish.

Second, price. Linen paper is a lot more expensive than photo paper, but like I said it looks a lot better for cards. Photo paper still looks great though so just decide how much you want to spend and what look you want to achieve.

Third, print shops. Here are my recommendations for where to get your cards printed:

 

Persnickety Prints is my #1 suggestion when it comes to printing your digital cards. Not only are they the best people to work with, but their products are top quality. They also print with full bleed so you don't have to worry about any of the edges of your card getting cut off when printed.

They can print on linen paper, pearl linen paper, or photo paper. (Linen paper is a little more costly than photo paper but it looks a lot nicer for cards.)

Here is a link to their pricing.

And if you live in Utah you can pick up your order for free so you don't have to pay for shipping.

They also include envelopes with your card order.

Costco is the best if you are looking to just go the inexpensive route but still want quality. Please be aware that they don't print with full bleed so a little bit of your edges will be cut off. That's OK, just make sure nothing important on your card is right on the edge.

Remember, they don't include envelopes so you will need to buy them at your local craft store or office supply store. Also, you do need a membership to order from Costco.

If you are wanting to print on photo paper, really any local photo lab can do it for you. Remember, most photo labs don't print in full bleed so the edges of your card will be cut off. Also, they won't include envelopes.

Please also note that a lot of local photo labs may have different coloring than what you see on your computer screen. If I am printing with a new lab, I always print one test card to see what it looks like and make sure I like what it looks like printed out.

Hope this helps in printing your Becky Young Designs cards!

A Merry Celebration by Digi-Designs by Nicole

Nicole of Digi-Designs by Nicole has a fantastic new kit out called "A Merry Celebration." I had so much fun working with all of the cute elements and papers and love the color pallet. You can pick it up in her store here.  There is also a set of QP's you can get. And here is a preview of the full kit.

And here is the layout I created with this kit:

Mixbook

I found my new favorite place to have my photobooks printed. Have you heard of Mixbook?

They are a fabulous printing company. I recently had my 2010 family blog printed with them and I love how it turned out. I printed it with a soft cover at 10x10 size and it looks perfect. I had so many pages that I decided to split it up into 2 books. Check out what they look like.

I am so glad that I have these books and all the memories they contain. I've been debating if I wanted to keep up my family blog but after I got these books I decided I wanted to keep going so I can have all our fun memories written down.

See how I created my blog book here.

And, Mixbook is having an awesome sale. 40% off photo books and cards. Hurry and place your order now!

Persnickety Prints

I picked up my first batch of prints from Persnickety Prints last week and I just had to tell you how awesome they are. The quality is amazing and they print in full bleed so none of the edges of your layout gets cut off. I've had so much fun look at the printed layouts. I can't wait to get more printed.

I have my scrapbooks printed in 12X12 which I really like how big they are.

Also, did you know that Ginger Scraps has teamed up with Persnickety Prints to offer you an exclusive deal. Just for ordering your prints through Ginger Scraps you get 10% off your whole order. How awesome is that!?!

Ornate Frame

I have been looking for a fun ornate frame for awhile to put in my home office that we are currently remodeling. I finally found this cute one from Ikea for only $29.99 (which is a lot cheaper than any other I've found). I'm planning on spray painting it a lime green or light blue. Still haven't decided on the colors for the office yet.

No I just need to make the time to head over to Ikea to purchase it.

Ruffled Shower Curtains

*Images via Anthropologie.

Aren't these ruffled shower curtains to die for. I personally love the blue and green one better.
If only they weren't so expensive.:(

What do you think?

Find them here and here.

M·A·C FluidLine Eye Liner

I know this has nothing to do with scrapbooking but I just have to share with you one of my favorite make up products. I first discovered this gel eyeliner from M·A·C last December. It is called FluidLine. It's not as runny as liquid eyeliner and not as dry as a pencil. You just put it on the a straight edge brush. It is so easy to apply and so easy to work with. You don't have to worry about smudging or getting too much on your eye.

It is a little more expensive than regular eye liners, about $15, but as I said I bought mine last December and I haven't had to buy a new one yet. I plan on it lasting me over a year.

I use the dark brown color because I think it is more subtle than the black but still is very dark. It also comes in other fun colors as well such as purple, blue and orange. I usually buy mine at Nordstroms here.

Earring Holder

 I've been wanting to make something to display my dangly earrings better and keep them more organized. I ran across this idea and decided to try and make one myself. I had an old black frame that the glass had broke during one of our moves which was the perfect size.

I sanded the frame a little.

And then I gave it a few coats of blue paint.

I used the extra paint from when we painted our dresser.

Once it dried I sanded the edges a little bit and then I just used duct tape and attached some twine to the back to hang the earrings on. And here is my end result.

I'm thinking I need some more earrings to fill this things up!!

This project was seriously so easy and only took me like 30 minutes. Best of all it didn't cost me anything because I already had the supplies at home!!

Dresser Revamp

I know I usually only talk about scrapbooking on my blog but from time to time I will talk about other creative items. So today I want to show you a dresser revamp my husband and I did for our home. We had this old ugly dresser in our bedroom that I always wanted to fix up. I think someone gave it to us when we first got married. So one night we decided we would finally do it.  Here is the dresser before. I forgot to take pictures of it assembled but it just had 4 drawers.

And here is our dresser after. Our bedroom is all light blue and black/brown, so we decided to paint the dresser blue and the knobs are black.

So here is how we did it. Since we use it as a TV stand as well we decided to get rid of the top drawer and turn it into a shelf for our cable box and DVD player. We just cut the bottom of the drawer out and screwed it on to make a shelf. Then we sanded the whole thing down and painted three coats of paint. Once it dried we put the new knobs on. So easy and we love how it turned out.

And the best part about it was how cheap it was. Here is what we paid for it:

Sand paper, paint, and paint brushes: $11.72

New knobs: $2.33 (I had a $15 gift card to the place I bought them at)

TOTAL: $14.05

It was such a cheap way to make the dresser look a lot cuter. I'm now inspired to take on more project, hope you are too.

Digital Cards

I always make my Christmas cards, invitations and announcements digitally for a number of reasons. They are really easy and quick to make, they are pretty cheap to print, and they look really nice and cute.

Check out a few examples of cards I have designed:

I just create them in 5x7 size on my computer and then have them printed. If I want them printed on photo paper I usually print them at Costco or where ever else is cheap. If I want them to look a little nicer I have them printed at Persnickety Prints on nice fabric  paper.

I love these kinds of cards and invitations because you can print just a few or a lot and they don't take very long. I have also printed some and them emailed the card to others in order to save a little money. The possibilities are endless.

Did you also know I have some blank baby shower invitiations in my store. All you need to do is add writing and print them off or email them. So quick and easy. Check them out here and here.

Printing Layouts: Books vs. Single Sheets

For the longest time I've been debating if I wanted to print all of my layouts in a bound book or print them on single sheets. I have personally decided to print them on single sheets and then place them in plastic protectors and place in a binder. Let me explain why I chose this option.

 

(Photos from Persnickety Prints Website.)

1. Rearrange: If you print your layouts in a bound book you can't ever add any more layouts or rearrange them. There have been plenty of times when I thought I had scrapped all my pictures for a certain time period only to find more pictures hiding away or given to me by a family member. It's nice to be able to rearrange and add or take away layouts.

2. Replace: If a layout in a bound book gets dirty, ripped or something spilt on it you have to re-purchase the whole book again. If you have them in single sheets you can easily just print the damaged page and replace it, saving you time and money.

3. Durable: If you print your layouts at Persnickety Prints*, like I do, the pages are printed on archival quality paper which makes them more water resistant than an ink jet. It would be damaged if you submerged it in water but a few drops of water won't hurt the sheet. It's nice to be able to let your kids look at all of your memories with out being paranoid the whole time. Plus you don't have to worry about wrinkles or fingerprints as much since you have page protectors on each sheet.

4. Extra Photo Sheets: If you print single sheets then you can also have sheets of individual photos behind your layout. I use sheet protectors such as these so I can fit 6 photos on each side. A great way to save space, time & money.

5. Print As You Go: If you print in single sheets you can order the prints as you scrap them. You don't have to wait until the whole book is scrapped. More time to enjoy your printed layouts.

*Just so you know I print my layouts in the 12x12 size and I always print at Persnickety Prints. The cost is about $1.99 per page but sometimes they do sales. You spend so much time creating your layouts that I think it is worth the cost to get them printed at a high quality place that will last a lifetime. They print on the highest quality paper and they print full bleed so you don't have to worry about any of you layout getting cut of when you print it.

Extrenal Hard Drives & Online Backups

If you're like me then you are probably paranoid that you are going to lose all of your pictures and layouts from some freak accident. It's not unlikely that your computer will crash one day and everything on it gets erased. Now I hope this never happens to anyone but if it does it's important that you are prepared so you don't lose your precious memories for good.

The first thing I have done is store everything on my external hard drive. This not only will save you if your computer crashes but it will also help your computer run quicker and more smoothly since it's not bogged down with tons of pictures and scrapbooking supplies.

The external hard drive I have is the Toshiba 1 TB External Hard Drive. It was only $89 and came with free shipping at B&H. I think that is a pretty good deal for 1TB of space. Another plus to having an external hard drive is you can take it with you and use the files on any computer.

So cool!!

Now I know that external hard drives can also crash so the next thing I do is an online backup of my external hard drive. I chose to use Mozy because it is only $4.95 a month and they have unlimited space you can use. They will also send you disks of all of your files if your computer ever crashes. I have been really happy with Mozy so far. I have been using them for about 4 months now. I usually just backup my hard drive every night when I go to bed and it is done by morning. It usually only takes a few hours depending on how much new stuff I have to back up. The initial backup did take about a week because I had A LOT of stuff but after that the backups have been really quick.

The last thing I do is make DVD's of all of my pictures. I haven't been the best at this but a couple of times each year I put all of my new pictures on DVD's and put them in a safe spot. Another thing my mom does is she has a copy of all of her pictures at my house as well. She gave me a little box and it has jump drives with all of her pictures on them. She then gives me more with new pictures a few times each year. This way if there is ever a fire or some other disaster at my mom's house there is also a copy at my house so she doesn't lose anything.

Now it's probably not necessary to do all of these things but I'd rather be safe then sorry. I would just be devastated if I lost all of my pictures and the memories that go with them.

How do you make sure you don't lose all of your pictures and scrapbook layouts? I'd love to hear from you.

Using a Stroke on Your Titles

Recently I have really been into making the titles on my layouts stand out. I have found myself using a font and the using a stroke on it to make it stand out even more. If you don't know what a stroke is, it's just a border all around your item with the color of your choice. Check out these layouts to see what I mean:

This is a layout I did with the "Graduation Day" kit from Scraps n' Pieces. I typed the word graduation in a teal color and then did a white stroke around the whole thing and It really makes the word stand out.

Here is another layout I did using "Her Birthday Surprise" by HD Creations. I did a stroke on the words "Happy Birthday" in this layout. I love how it makes the words pop out.

Here are the steps to use a stroke in PSE:

1. Type your title in your color and font of choice.

2. Simply this text layer. (Layer>Simplify Layer)

3. Apply the stroke to the layer. (Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection)

4. Choose the color of the stroke, the size and the location. Click OK.