A dull blade can cause your paper to shred or cut inconsistently. Over time, you’ll find that cutting certain materials will make the blade dull more quickly. So it is always wise to keep extra blades on had so that you can change them out as frequently as you will need to.
Do you like your own handwriting? I have to admit that I don’t like mine very much. But it is mine and anyone who knows me will recognize it immediately. I remember as a teenager I envied the girls who were making their own beautiful lettering and doodles. I always wished I could do that but I struggled to get a decent grade in penmanship so making a beautiful signature was always something out of reach. I think I am too old to reinvent my penmanship but I do wish mine was prettier.
Melin is at it again. Even when she ventures into a different style, she creates another masterpiece. This page is just wonderful. I love the shabby chic feel this layout has. Melin has a wonderful sense of color.
For all of you card makers that are using the Inspiration to cut your welded salutations and embellishments. It can be pretty easy to get discouraged with the quality of the cuts depending on the font selection that you use. One of the reasons for this is because of the amount of detail and generally the size of the words that go on such a small pallet like a card.
I hope you had a great Fourth of July! I know I did. I ate way too much food, stayed up way too late and had way too much to clean up on Monday. Now that I have recovered it is time to look at the pictures I took. I have 9 grandchildren who live nearby and the annual fireworks-in-the-backyard event gives me lots of great pictures to scrapbook. I had one picture of my grandson, Jeshua, from last year that begged to be the ONLY picture on the page. I like the idea of featuring a single picture on the page but don’t always want to fill the page by using a lot of journaling. That is when I like to use paper lace overlays. They fill the page, add dimension and are a lot of fun to design. Pazzles sells a wonderful CD of paper lace designs but you can also make them yourself.
Pazzles is going to be in the Atlanta, Georgia area July 9th and 10th. We will also be in Des Moines, IA on the 9th and 10th! Come visit us in Duluth, GA at the Scrapbook Expo! Or visit us in Des Moines, IA at the CKC convention! Pazzles will be there to answer any of your questions, help you stock up on supplies, or get a great deal on images or a brand new Inspiration! To learn more about the Expo in Duluth, GA click here! To learn more about the CKC show in Des Moines, IA click here!
Happy Independence weekend! From everyone here at Pazzles I want to wish you a wonderful (and safe!) 4th of July. We hope your weekend is filled with sunny skies, friends, family, food, and fireworks!!
The first word that came to mind when I saw this fabulous project by PaperKutz was "WOW". I sat back and was taken by all the elements in this Aztec design. I can understand why it would take the better part of three months of free time. I believe it would have taken some of us a lot longer. Designing alone is only half the battle but then to paper piece it all back together is amazing. True paper piecing at its finest.
Did you know that you can make your own fonts in the Inspiration Studio Software? YES!! You can! You could take your own handwriting or maybe your children’s handwriting and turn them into fonts to cut. You can also take a favorite font and turn it into a single stroke font for journaling with our Pen Tool.
Today I picked up my mat and looked at all the scratch marks, titles, and images that I’ve cut at one time or another. As a seasoned Inspiration user, I know that it’s normal to see all the things I’ve cut on my mat. In fact, it would be almost impossible to avoid it from happening since the blade lightly scores the mat as it cuts your images.
When I saw this project uploaded to our image gallery, I instantly fell in love with it. This is a perfect example of how two types of patterned paper can complement each other so well. The pinks and greens are perfect together and move away from the traditional red and green that we normally associate with a strawberry.
I know that we all love the sing, song sound that the Inspiration makes. I’ve heard it referred to in a number of ways from famous Star Wars characters, to a music box. Regardless, we all love that sound. It means that our Inspiration is merrily making the cut to complete our project. What do you do when the Inspiration makes a noise of a different sort?
Paper lace has to be one of my favorite inventions of all time. I love using them as overlays for my pages and there are just so many different designs and ways to use them that the ideas just keep coming! Many of you have already seen our Paper Lace CD (a personal favorite) and been inspired to create your own paper lace designs. But, making them yourself can prove to be a little trickier than you might expect! Thankfully I've made enough paper lace designs that I have it down to a science...well ok, almost.
I love summertime with the kids . The hot days are accompanied by all the wonderful activities of summer.. I cannot think of a better way to show this then through a scrapbook page. This week's Fabulous Find goes to Loretta for her "Summer Fun in the Sun " page. This two page layout is so adorable. It truly captures what summer is all about.
There’s nothing like the smell of a new Inspiration mat. It reminds me of my first Pretty Pony. Those are such great childhood memories for me. For those of you lucky enough to have the Inspiration a new Inspiration mat can have some pretty good memories too! Just think of all those beautiful projects you’ve been creating using your Inspiration.
Recently, someone asked on our forums how to measure just one part of an envelope. There were many answers. Each person had their favorite method, some used the measuring tool, others liked to use line guides. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my favorite is to draw a rectangle or square.
Father's Day is this coming Sunday! Finding a gift for dad can sometimes be difficult, not to mention making a card! Many of us are so drawn to the beautiful designs that include lace, pink, flowers, and elegant girly designs that when it comes to something for the boys we are a little lost. We decided to tackle two birds with one stone by making a Father's Day card that doubles as a holder for a small gift, all done with a recycled CD case!
Pazzles is now on You Tube! Subscribe to our You Tube channel to stay up to date on our latest tutorial and informational videos. Have a friend who you are dieing to share some information with about the Inspiration? Send her one of our great videos! We have also scoured You Tube for the fantastic Inspiration tutorials uploaded by Inspiration users. Check out our favorites to watch some truly remarkable videos uploaded by Inspiration users just like you. Click here to visit our page or visit us any time at http://www.youtube.com/user/pazzles
She shoots….. she scores! This week's Fabulous Find goes to cindibasson for her Iron On project. We all love iron on projects when we see them but often we are afraid to attempt them ourselves. But why is that? After all, it can be so much fun and is so versatile. I simply had to show off the t-shirt that cindibasson made for her son’s soccer team. I love how bold and bright you can be with the designs on soccer uniforms.
I think a sign of a product that’s well loved is a lot of use. Take for example my car, it’s older and the paint job isn’t as lustrous as it was when I bought it new 9 years ago, but it’s dependable and I really love it. So even though it has a few dings, and it makes funny noises from time to time, I still love my dependable car. It’s kind of like that with my Inspiration too. I use my supply of wet wipes to clean it up, and make it pretty when friends come over to create projects with me, but there’s some spots that just don’t clean up as easily as they used to. I think that’s a good thing though, because it means I’m creating projects and my Inspiration is getting used!
But, I’m not really upset because my paper is what’s distressed. I recently wrote an article and created a project for a magazine that featured the Pazzles Distressing Tool. I fell in love with the distressed look all over again. I realized that distressing is a whole lot more than a bit of sandpaper on some white core cardstock. I used to think of distressing as being somewhat imprecise but with the distressing tool I can be very detailed.
Everybody likes customized gifts, and I mean everybody!! I love showing up for parties and events with customized treat bags, glasses and clothing. Nothing says I love you more than a gift with them in mind. Anybody can go to the store and buy a simple gift, not everybody can create personalized gifts for that special somebody. I can honestly think of a million uses for iron on material. I was at the store last night looking at fun iron on images and just smiled because as much as I liked them, I didn’t like the price tag. On top of that, I knew that I could create them at home, and make them even better!
Often when I am surfing through the gallery searching for a Fabulous Find, I look at the cutting files and wish they were on a page so I could showcase them too. This week I just could not let one particular cutting file go without mention.
A DXF file (or Drawing Exchange Files) is a vector file (remember that “Vector” refers to the cuttable lines in your design) that has become a popular file type because there are so many different programs that can open them. The great thing about these files is because they are “vector” files you can open them up in your software and cut them right away without having to use Auto-Trace or Manual Vectorization.