Graffiti Drip Stamp Card - Digi Style

Happy Thursday!

It's time for another paper project gone digital. Today's inspiration is from my friend Julie Heyer. Julie created a number of cards in her Monday blog post and one of them just called out to me to be done digitally using the Graffiti Digital Kit.

Here's my inspiration:

Cool, huh?

Let's get started on the digital version...

1. Create a brush with the Graffiti Spritz Drip Image: Using the marquee tool, select that image and drag it onto a new blank file. With the image selected, choose Edit -> Define Brush Preset and click 'Okay.' Close the file without saving it.

2. Create a new document that measures 5 inches wide and 7 inches high, 300ppi resolution.

3. Fill the new document with white.

4. Create a new layer.

5. Select the Brush tool and select the Spritz Drip brush. Set the size to approximately 1000 - 12000 pixels.

6. Pick a bright (think 'neon') foreground color. Start with Hot Pink and move your way through the rainbow.

7. Click to stamp the image in the upper section of the card.

8. Repeat steps 4-7, changing colors and moving down each time. Don't worry too much about exact placement. Because each color is in a separate layer, you can adjust the actual position once all the colors are done.

9. Move things around until you're pleased with the look.

For added variety, I 'flipped' the image on a couple of the colors.

10. Select a sentiment stamp and add it as a new layer on top of the rainbow drips. I used a quote from the Graffiti kit, but you could easily follow Julie's lead and pick something from another kit as well. Really, the sky's the limit with this one!

11. Add a black background matte to really make the card pop.

Adding the quote 'off center' adds a bit more interest.

12. Email to a friend (or several friends) or post it on Facebook.

Wasn't that easy?

Hybrid Variation 1: After step 10, print the card out on white card stock, trim and mount onto a black card (or black panels on white or multi-colored cards).

Hybrid Variation 2: After Step 9, print out several on white card stock and trim to size. Stamp with various sentiments using Club Scrap's India Ink and mount onto a black card (or black panels on white or multi-colored cards) for a collection of hybrid cards!

I hope you enjoyed today's inspiration. Thanks, Julie!

Until next time,

-Ron

It's Graffiti Blog Hop Time

Welcome to the Graffiti Blog Hop!

I've been having a great time playing with Graffiti . . . did you know this collection goes with almost everything? To prove my point, check out the cards I whipped up this week:

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I thought I'd see how well the Graffiti Stencil and the Love Bites stamps would play together. I think it's a match made in heaven!

I thought this card would be fun for my niece who turns 17 on Saturday. You might not notice it right away, but the background stamp on this card is a border stamp from the Hopes FontArt UM. It reminded me of chain link fencing. Cool eh?

I just love that Graffiti Art stamp, and it was perfect for this resist technique with the Green and Blue Neon Ink Pads. I paired it with a sentiment stamp from the Fire & Ice FontArt UM.

Can you guess what vintage kit elements I used for this card? You might not recognize them right away. I started with a Graffiti Print panel, overstamped with a huge text stamp from Up, Up & Away. Then I used white acrylic paint with the circle pattern on Fizz Stencil. I traced the arrow image from the Mirror, Mirror Stencil onto Graffiti pink, and cut it out with a craft knife. Finally Fizz pink brads added just the right finishing touch.

I encourage you to see what mixin' and matchin' you can do with your Graffiti kit and collections from the past. It's great fun!

Ready to hop? Here are the amazing bloggers sharing their artwork with us this month:

Julie at Cape Cod Scrapper

Inkstains with Roni

Deb at Liftbridge Cards and Crafts

DebDuz Scrappin' 

Jill's Place 

Tricia at The Efficient Crafter

Hetty at Craft Chaos

Kay's Keepsakes 

Cathy at The Artful Gamut 

Anne at Crzymom's Tidbits

Shona's Scraps 

Debby at Masculine Inspirations

Dishing with Janet 

Tiare at iClassyGirl

Lisa at Carpe Memoria

Marya at A Notebook Novel

Annette's Digital Musings 

Creatively yours,

Karen

Neon Card Mash Ups

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

I missed you all last week. While I was away from the blog, I was busy creating this colorful array of cards using a "Mash Up" of kits. I created backgrounds using an art orphan and print outs from this month's Graffiti digital kit. I used papers from the Science kit (the orange/yellow, blue, and purple) that worked so well with the prints from this month's kit and an assortment of past kit stamps.

So sit back and relax while I take you on a little tour of how I created some of my cards.

1. Print out the black and white digital print from the Graffiti Digital kit.

before

2. Grab your Neon Dabbers and color to your hearts content! I had so much fun with this. I added a bit of white paint dauber swipes to areas that were too dull gray for my liking. It lightened the piece up a bit.

3. Let your paper dry and then add interest to your colored piece using a white Uni-ball Signo Broad pigment ink pen.

After

4. Print out some of the other colorful prints to use for backgrounds for your cards on matte photo paper.

5. Marya and Anne Marie host a card sketch challenge on the Club Scrap Community Forum and I created these cards using tissue tape colored with Neon Dabbers. I also used the fun mini chalkboard as my template for the hole to be cut out of the front of the card.

6. Stamp the "you are 2 COOL" images in white dauber paint (make sure you clean off your stamps so the paint doesn't dry on them) and add a bit of Neon Pink Dabber ink to the outside edge of the chalkboard. Trace the chalkboard with white pen and cut with a craft knife.

7. Save the cut out to be used on a second card. Check out this LINK to learn how to create a dimensional star. Do you recognize this art orphan I used for the background paper? It was created using the plastic wrap technique I shared on a previous blog post which you can find HERE. Stamp the Take Wing greeting directly onto the background paper.

8. Stamp the Graffiti spritz drip image in all the Neon Dabber colors to create this rainbow effect.  Stamp directly over the image when dry using black ink using the Take Wing stamps.

9. Now it is time to create your A2 cards. Cut black and white 8.5x11" cardstock horizontally at 5.5 and score each 5.5x8.5" piece horizontally at 4.25".  This will result in two A2 size greeting card bases from each sheet of cardstock.

Here are all the cards I created using the above techniques.

Digital Black and White print colored w/ Neon Dabbers, Science Purple and Orange mats, Neon Doodles sentiment, and Graffiti fiber.

Digital Black and White print colored w/ Neon Dabbers, Black card base and panel edged with white paint, Neon Doodles sentiment, and Graffiti fiber. 

Digital Black and White print colored w/ Neon Dabbers,  Science Blue and Orange mats, Take Wing sentiment, and Graffiti fiber. 

Digital Color print, Science Blue mat, Memoirs splat stamp, Graffiti sentiments and fiber

Digital Color print, Science Blue mat with white paint edges,  Graffiti sentiment and fiber

Digital Color print, Science Purple mat with white paint edges, Take Wing sentiment, and Graffiti fiber

Card Sketch Challenge card #1 Graffiti sentiments stamped on mini chalkboard.

Card Sketch Challenge card #2 Take Wing sentiment and images on white star.

Graffiti Spritz Drip rainbow, Science Purple mat, Take Wing sentiment and feather. 

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to join me and my Club Scrap enthusiasts this Wednesday January 29th for our Graffiti Blog Hop!

SPOILER!

I will be sharing a fun project with you at my CapeCodScrapper Blog.  Be sure to check out what I created to store all of my colorful cards!

Julie

Digital Tutorial: Make Your Own Wallpaper

Happy Thursday!

Today I'll share some information and hopefully some inspiration about making your own wallpaper for your computer, smartphone and/or tablet. I'll cover some general guidelines, but creating wallpaper is much like creating a digital layout--assemble in a pleasing way and done! It's all about what you like.

SIZES
First, here are some common desktop sizes (in pixels):

• 1024 x  768 (Fullscreen)
• 1280 x 1024 (Fullscreen)
• 1280 x  800 (Widescreen)
• 1920 x 1080 (Widescreen)

Start with a blank canvas.

There are many others, but this is a good starting point. If you want to check the resolution of your computer's screen, go to the 'Display' setting in the Control Panel and see your specific info. But really, if your wallpaper is a little to big (or small), there are settings that will automatically resize it to proportionally fill your screen, so it's not critical to get the exact number of pixels in your display.

If you want to create for phones or tablets, use these sizes (in pixels):

•  640 x 1136 (iPhone)
• 1024 x 1024 (iPad)
• 2048 x 2048 (iPad Retina Display)

If you're an Android user, please check you specific device, as there are many different screen sizes for Android phones and tablets.

Note, even though an iPad screen isn't square, it's better to create a square wallpaper. When you rotate the screen between portrait and landscape modes, your wallpaper doesn't distort.

Always create your document in pixels and be sure to start at either 72 or 96 ppi for desktop or laptop computers. For iPhones, use 326ppi; for older iPads, 132ppi; for newer, 'retina display' iPads, 264ppi.

Once you've created the file, go to Image -> Image Size and change the resolution to 300ppi. Since all Club Scrap Digital Kit items are saved at 300ppi, it will be easier to create your desktop image at this resolution. When you're ready to save your final JPG, change the resolution back to where you started.

PATTERNS
For desktops, subtle patterns tend to work a bit better, especially on the left and right edges, where most of the icons tend to live. Too much 'stuff' happening in the background can make those icons on the desktop a bit more difficult to find.

Add a background.

Playing with layer styles or opacity can help you add some visual 'texture' without  making the background too busy.

And a little extra item for added interest.

EXTRAS
If you want to add a calendar to your desktop, there are many sites that have options for calendars in different formats. I like timeanddate.com. Just download the PDF version of the yearly calendar. When opened in Photoshop, it opens with a transparent background so you can just use the marquee tool to select the desired month and drag it onto your desktop layout. Apply a color overlay to match it to the kit you're using and it's good to go!

You can add various digital embellishments, fibers, photos, etc. exactly the same way you'd add them to a digital layout. Don't forget to add drop shadows where appropriate!

And a few more elements to complete the wallpaper.

Above, you can see that I'm being mindful of the desktop icons typically arranged on the left and right edges of the pane.

IN CONCLUSION
Flatten and save your wallpaper at the original desired ppi when you're happy with the design. That's all there is to it! Experiment until you're happy with a layout. Make several and share them! There's a wallpaper swap each month at the Club Scrap Community. You can get more information about the swap HERE.

Now go make your own and have some fun!

See you later!

-Ron

Quickie Quad Card Cuts

Hello, Club Stampers!

Have you received your Graffiti Club Stamp kit? As you may have suspected, the prints are tons of fun! Today I've put together four quick 5x7" cards starring the Club Stamp Text Weight Print.

1. Trim the text weight print vertically at 6.75, 4.25 and 2.5". Cut each 2.5x11 strip horizontally at 9, 5.5, and 3.5". Trim each 1.75x11 strip horizontally at 9.5, 5.5 and 4". (Save this formula and use it again and again on future CST quad-style prints!)

2. The trimming process will divide the print into a total of sixteen interchangeable sections of artwork.

3. Cut four black 4-1/2x6-1/2" panels and stamp the greeting onto the bottom 3/4" area.

4. Assemble panels using one piece of each print/size per card panel.

5. Embellish each panel with glitter brads (included in the Graffiti Embellishment Pack) and layer onto the 5x7" card base. I thought it was fun to use papers from past kits since this print has so many color options!

If you happen to be looking for more information on the Club Stamp Kit Membership, click HERE.

Enjoy the Club Stamp Kit Prints and thank you for stopping by. 

Kay at Club Scrap

Graffiti's Club Stamp 12-pack Colorbomb

Hi, Stamping Friends!

With the 4-up text weight prints and two additional 8.5x11 prints in the Club Stamp Graffiti paper collection, I had all sorts of colorful card making options this month. And between our polar vortex and the Alberta clipper, I'm so glad we had something cheerful to help us survive the month of January!

Here are your cutting instructions to make a total of fifteen standard-sized (A2) cards:

1. Trim both 8.5x11 White Text Prints vertically at 4.5 and 4". Cut each 4x11 horizontally at 5.75 and 5.25".

2. Score each of the seven papers listed in the diagram below vertically at 4.25". Cut horizontally at 5.5" and fold in half to make fourteen card bases.

3. Trim the 8.5x11 Black Smooth Plain horizontally at 10.5, 8.25 and 5.5". Trim the 2.75x8.5 horizontally at 8 and 4". Cut the 2.25x8.5 and .5x8.5 horizontally at 4.25". Score and fold the 5.5x8.5 horizontally at 4.25".

4. Trim the 8.5x11 White Smooth Plain horizontally at 9.25, 6.75 and 4". Cut the 4x8.5 horizontally at 6.75, 4.75 and 2.75". Trim the 2.75x8.5 and 2.5x8.5 horizontally at 7.5 and 3.75". Cut the 1.75x8.5 horizontally at 6.5 and 3.25".

5. Trim the 8.5x11 Black Smooth Plain vertically at 8 and 4". Cut each 4x11 horizontally at 10.5 and 5.25". Trim the .5x11 horizontally at 5.5".

I incorporated all sorts of techniques into the cards. I'll try to touch on just a few . . .

The rainbow on the left card panel was made with swipes of ink directly from the Neon Ink Pads. The panel on the right was done with the Neon Dabbers. Two great looks!

One 8.5x11 Black Smooth was trimmed into four 4x5.25" panels (see photo below). I brushed a coat of white acrylic paint onto each of them and used it as a stamping surface. The teens in my life are going to be so jazzed when they receive these lively cards.

Such a quick set of cards . . . I used the 8.5x11 White Smooth Print as the card base and layered strips of washi tape behind the panels on the two cards on the left.

The White Smooth panels are trimmed to fit quotes from the unmounted stamps in the collection. Each panel was edged with a Neon Dabber. Neon inks were used to alter the black/white panel in the card at right.

The quad printed panels make it so easy!

Check out the addition of the printed sequins included in the set!

I hope you enjoy making your version of the cards. Have an artful day!
Tricia