Has this ever happened to you? You are creating a card and you want to make it more personal? Or you need a sentiment that just doesn’t come on a rubber stamp? What to do? Head to the computer!
It’s actually very easy to do and you can totally customize what you want to say! With a little creative ink, you can make a computer sentiment look like it was stamped! Let me TEACH YOU HOW….
- Open any word processing program. I am using Microsoft Word but any program will do.
- Type in the text you want to use.
- Center it, justify it, tweak it to your liking.
- Have some fun with FONTS! Fonts are so much fun to play with.
- To change the font, highlight your text.
- Click on the FONT icon and scroll through. Click on different fonts and when you’re happy, you’re good to go.
- Now you want to change the SIZE of your text. Click on the FONT SIZE icon. It can be a little tricky knowing what size to choose since you may not be sure what size the final image should be. I recommend around 12-18, depending on how many words are in the text itself. In my sample, I actually wish I had made it a little smaller.
- Time to add some color! You can leave the text black OR you can create text in Stampin’ Up’s custom colors.
- Click on the FONT COLOR icon. You can choose any of the pre-determined colors or click MORE COLORS to customize.
- To create a custom color, use the RGB codes found in the DIGITAL COLOR CONVERSIONS CHART (a huge shout out to my friend Nicole for creating it and letting me share). Just add the numbers for R (red), G (green), and B (blue). Boom! Stampin’ Up colors!
DOWNLOAD THE DIGITAL COLOR CONVERSIONS CHART HERE!
- Place a piece of Stampin’ Up’s Whisper White cardstock in your printer and print out the sentiment.
- Now let’s make your sentiment look less “computerized” by adding some color.
- I have rubbing alcohol in my Aqua Painter and I pressed the lid of my Crumb Cake ink pad to the ink pad itself.
- See that little puddle of ink? Make sure your Aqua Painter has some alcohol going through it by gently squeezing the barrel.
- Sop up some ink and spread it around your sentiment OR over just individual words. This is only one way you can add color to your computer sentiment.
- How about highlighting a word here and there using Stampin’ Write markers that match your cardstock? Underline words you want to punch. Get creative!
- Trim your sentiment down to a workable size. You will have plenty of cardstock left over to use as a card base or scrap for punching later on.
- Pick out a framelit that will fit your sentiment. This is where you are going to be SO happy you have all those layering framelits – squares, oval, circles, and Stitched Shapes.
- Run the sentiment through your Big Shot machine and you’re all set!
- Now you’re ready to create a card using your custom sentiment!
Here are the measurements for my card but get creative with your project:
- Early Espresso – 8 ½” x 5 ½”, score and fold at 4 ¼”
- Berry Burst – 4 ¼” x 5 ½”
- Whisper White – 8 ½” x 11″ (so it can go through your printer)
- Gold Glimmer Paper – 1″ x 4″
Want to create my card using this technique? Just click a pic to order!
One last thought on today’s TEACH ME THAT. Where to find ideas? Well, my favorite place is memes. They are always so funny and I want to add those humorous quotes to cards sometimes. You see them on Facebook all the time OR you can Google them too. For example, for today’s card, I Googled “Coffee memes” and I had hundreds of ideas at my fingertips. Start a file on your computer with fun sentiment and have some fun creating custom cards!
Funny story about today’s card though. I colored my text for my card and wouldn’t you know it? I ran out of ink! So, I had to go with black. 🙁 I wanted it in Berry Burst. Well, like any creative project, you work with what you’ve got. Are you ready to give today’s technique a try? I hope so!
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I do this all the time Connie, I do special orders on cards for a few ladies at church,and customers; and there isn’t always a stamp that will work. I did take a few tips from your posting though. Thanks
Love it! Great minds think alike!
Thank You, Connie. I knew how to do most of those ideas, but not all. I just never thought about putting them altogether, printing, and using the framelits. SOOOO thanks again.
Thanks for sharing this info, Connie! Another color tool for my slowly expanding repertoire 🙂
Have fun!
Yay! I love that you learned something new.
THANKS so much!!!! Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks Emmy!!
Why alcohol instead of water?
Sarah, it’s a personal preference. Alcohol dries much faster and doesn’t seem to warp cardstock as much as water does.
Connie, this one of your best tips ever. LOVE this idea!!! Thank you, thank you. Be sure to tell your friend, Nicole, we so appreciate her sharing the color PDF file. I’m so anxious to try this. Connie, you ARE AWESOME!!!
I will do that! Thanks Karen!
I already knew how to print card sentiments but I had trouble thinking of what to say. Thanks for introducing me to Memes on Google. Also, thanks for the fun time I had reading them. You are the best.!!
Memes are addicting! Have fun!
I knew how to do most of the things you posted but, you explained them so easily. I love tea, so I will use a teacup instead. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Have a beautiful day..
That would be so cute~
I create my verse quite often. Love your most wonderful tip of creating similar SU colors!
I will try this today with a verse I created just yesterday.
Please thank your wonderful friend for me for letting you share this with us.
So glad you enjoyed the download file. It is wonderful!
PS, Connie what is the reason for mixing alcohol in the ink?
Also are you using a laser printer? The inks most likely would smear in most inkjet printers. I am fortunate to have both the ink jet and laser printer.
It’s a personal preference. It dries so much faster than water and it doesn’t seem to “warp” regular cardstock like water can. As far as the printer, I use an inkjet and I didn’t have any issues with the ink running. I was worried about that but I didn’t have any issues.
Is the alcohol to make the ink dry faster? I did not know about the memes stuff – wonderful! I wish I had a color printer so I could take advantage of Nichole’s color PDF file, maybe some day. Love the card and thanks for all the wonderful tips!
Correct. It dries super fast and doesn’t seem to soak into the cardstock like water can.
Connie, love this fantastic idea … you are great! 🙂
Aww, thanks Sue!
Thank you SO much Connie and Nicole! This color chart is awesome!
Thanks Connie for all the tips on this!! I actually like the coffee colored ink best to go with the coffee cup! Thanks again!
My printer is very finicky with cardstock. I am not able to use stampin’ up card stock. Even with using the setting “other specialty paper” with my printer, most of it gets stuck. I can use thicker than printer paper, but not su’s cardstock. Do you know of a different setting? I have an HP officejet 5610 all-in-one. Thanks for your great info that you so willingly pass on everyday. I really appreciate you and your ideas. Thank you, Connie!
Oh, I wish I could help but I really don’t know a lot about printers. I know how to use the one I have and that’s about as far as my knowledge goes. Sorry I can’t help you.
Love the conversion for the stampin up colors. I do use the computer to personalize the message–especially for weddings and new babies.
Only caution is that if you are not using a laserjet printer–don’t spread water/alcohol over your printed sentiment. Will not work without smearing with inkjet
Hmmm, I didn’t have any issues. I have an inkjet printer. I would advise anyone to test it first.
Sally, I am sorry to hear your HP is finicky I had an HP for over 20 years and my favorite card stock weight to use was 110#. Products were made to last way back then. My son -in-law bought me a Cannon printer for Christmas last year. I think HP has the best true ink colors of all the printers out there. I also have a laser that I love.
Connie, I appreciate the information about the ink. I will try the alcohol instead of the water.
Hope that solves the problem!
Thank you so very very much for this conversion chart. I love it!!!!
I was hoping you would enjoy it!
Thanks Connie! I appreciate all you share. Can’ wait to try this.
I appreciate that Barbara!
I still have my CD’s from when Stampin’ Up had their fonts available. Write me a Memory was the name. Journaling fonts. I just found them in my pile of CD’s and need to get them on my new computer. Gonna try those memes!
Oh, I remember those! They were great!
Another great gift from you to stampers! I use Apple’s Pages Word Processor instead of Microsoft and it worked perfectly! Thanks so much! By the way, though I live in Canada now, I was born and raised in OKC.
Love meeting a fellow Okie!
Thanks Connie. I’m from South Africa and just love your Tuesday tips. Can’t wait to try this one! I made some cards as a gift on Sunday and used one of your ideas with designer paper. Thank you for your inspiration and clear way of explaining. Yolanda (just wish I could also buy the awesome products from SU).