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Technique

  • Photo cards - easy as 1,2,3

    Amber, one of our design team members shared her holiday photo card with us.  Besides being a mom and working at Impress two days a week,  Amber is a photographer.  She took this shot of her daughter and then had the photo professionally printed on matte paper. To embellish, she then embossed the greeting stamp with white embossing powder and added a metallic touch using a Savvy DIY wreath die and mirror paper. Thanks for sharing Amber.

    adda

  • Holiday greetings . . . .

    Everyone loves to get holiday photo cards from friends and family.  Here's a simple one anyone can make in a short time. Simply print your photo, attach to your card and embellish with Savvy's happy holidays banner cut from gold mirror paper. The contrast of the shiny metallic banner and the natural kraft card stock is eye catching.

    blog_photo

    Here's a few design tricks we use when creating photo cards at Impress.

    - We always start with the photo and then pick our card stock.  It's like matting an art print - you want to pick papers and layers that enhance the colors of your image.

    - We often print our photos on ordinary card stock like our smooth 80 pound Neenah classic white card stock. We like the natural, non glossy look.

    -  We often like to adjust the size of the photos so they don't look like the usual 4" x 6" prints one gets when ordering photo reprints. An unusual shape or size adds interest.

    We'll post more photo card samples later soon.

     

     

     

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  • It makes me happy . . .

    greenleaf

    I see many handmade cards every day but every time I look at this one that's been on Impress' counter, I think, "I like this card".  It makes me happy!  Maybe it's the watercolored mint green leaf or the way the color goes outside the lines on this beautifully detailed leaf image or the splatters of metallic gold color shine, I enjoy looking at this card. Thanks Cindi!

    ,colorshine

  • Make Your Own Ombre Ribbon!

    Ombre is everywhere! Here's a collection of valentine cards for inspiration, each with an unique way of creating the ombre look.
    ombre
    We even colored our own ribbon!  Copic Markers are perfect for coloring on the ribbon because they bleed and blend so well.  I used colors: RV000, RV02, RV, 04, and R37.
    tag
    First, run the pen along the seam with the darkest shade. The pen ink will slightly bleed.
    color 1
    Then, keep adding colors and slightly blend the two together. The ribbon will help do this on its own.
    color 3
    color 4

    close up of tag
    This is a fun way to dress up a simple kraft tag or the added touch to any card!

  • Make your stamps work for you!

    background_stamp

    I love it when one can use a favorite stamp in different ways. Check out how we used our christmas words background stamp. First it was stamped with fresh ink provincial gray. Then it was stamped again with red current on another piece of cardstock and just the words "we wish you a merry christmas" were cut out. The pine sprig stamp and snowflake ornament were stamped over the background and the greeting was attached using double stick mounting tape. Red string added the finishing touch!

    wish+you

  • Wishing you all the joys . . .

    copic_blog

    I saw this pretty post on Savvy's facebook page - I love the simplicity of this card and how it shows that just a few simple strokes of a couple of copic markers can bring a design to life and make a card special. Colors used on this card are G99 and G82. Notice how the vertical greeting becomes part of the design, not just a sentiment. The tree used is called the leaf tree.

  • Welcome Fall!

    welcome_fall2

    Here's a work in progress. To get this far, we stamped a solid square stamp three times with peach fresh ink and then masked it off with stamping mask paper. Next we stamped the oak, ash and maple leaf stamps using fall ink colors over the stamped square extending onto the stamping mask paper. Looks like a mess doesn't it but here's the fun part. Pull off the mask and you get to see what you've created!

    welcom_fall1

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