OUI!

Finally! New stuff! And what's great about it is it's all digital so you can download and use right away! 

I've had a few questions on how I print my cards and that some don't get such great results when printing from home. It all depends on your printer, settings and paper. You also have the option of using a professional printer such as Persnikety Prints. 

I use a Canon MG6320 printer which I've loved since day 1. I had an Epson before and loved it as well.

Matte photo paper is my favorite. I've tried printing on several different cardstocks and the color in never as vibrant as the photo paper. I've used both Epson and Office Depot brand of matte photo paper. The ones printed above is the Office Max brand. 

Here's a little run down of how I open and set up my print job at home.

I've used Preview to print for years. It's my go to. I know there are probably better ways to print but this has always worked for me. 

From the Preview option, choose Quality & Media. Set the Print Quality to High. Whether you're using Gloss or Matte photo paper, make sure you choose the correct Media Type. 

When I forget to set the quality from standard to high, my prints always come out with streaks. 

Hope this helps some of you! Have a happy weekend
Tina

Studio Calico Park Ave reveal

You may have seen the announcement of the new Studio Calico Creative Team on the blog. A few new faces mixed in with returning designers. I'm happy to see some of my favorite paper crafters on the team. You'll also notice a list of contributing designers which is where I'll be for 2015. 

What does that mean? More time to explore and create on my own terms. That was the biggest reason I decided to apply for this part of the team. Getting a box of goodies each month and having to create a set amount of layouts sounds like a dream job and it is for the most part but after 7 straight years, a change was necessary. 

This is a super positive change and I'm looking forward to having more time to invest in taking some classes and finishing a few projects for the LLP shop . I really want to take this year to polish up my skills as a working artist/illustrator/graphic designer. 

Yay for change! 

Okay so I wanted to do a quick tutorial on how I added gold foil digitally onto a photo. 

First, you'll need a nice gold foil image. The image I'm using can be found here along with some other gold textures. 

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Easy peasy! Also works great on digital stamps like this one from Studio Calico's .

There is another way to apply gold foil digitally and that's using the clipping mask option in the Layers menu. Bother are simple ways of adding a little shine to your paper crafting.

make this! easter cones

It all started with some pretty party hats. Oh Joy for Target party hats to be exact. I purchased them for my birthday (yep, bought them for myself), had a little fun with them but didn't want to part ways just yet. The colors are the perfect shades of spring & they make instant containers. Cue in the Easter cone.

It's extremely simple & a great way to reuse something too pretty to toss. (I snipped up one of the hats for my scrapbook which is just about done)

I've heard that the Oh Joy line is becoming scarce and will be gone in a few weeks.  If you can find these pretties, yay! If not, I'm sure there are other suitable pretty party hats around.

These are incredibly simple and only require a few things any everyday crafter would have on hand.

A few notes... *Oh Joy for Target hats were purchased at my local Target. They cost $3. *The  ribbons and washi tape are all from past Studio Calico kits. The twine is also from Studio Calico. *All other items (plastic eggs & grass) were purchased from my local Target. *After peeling off the tape, you do want to remove the elastic string.

Have fun giving these a try! My little guy loved helping me put these together. Great make for little ones!

Tina

weekend desk

I had a lot of projects going on this weekend and felt the need to fit in some PL time. I always feel more inclined to catch up when a new month begins. Keeps me on track....I figure if I don't get more than a month behind, I'm ok. I started with the current week and now working my way back.

I wanted to do a quick tutorial on my most recent Instagram post.  I think this is a really cute way to add these types of photos into your scrapbooking. I do this before deleting all them because who needs 20 photos of the top of your child's head.

Hope you had fabulous weekend full of good things. xot