Let the Festivities Begin!

Many of you already know that Saturday, October 6th is World Card Making Day (WCMD)!  In honor of this FABULOUS holiday, Papertrey has teamed up with Paper Crafts Magazine to offer you

THREE Digital Card Making Kits!  Absolutely FREE!

Two of the three have already been made available for upload on the Paper Crafts Magazine website.  One of which is entitled Spiral Bouquet Boutique:

(By the way, if this artwork appeals to you, you won't want to miss the coordinating stamp set being released on October 15th!)

Many people may see the term "digital kit" and immediately run in the other direction.  If this is you, then you probably fall into one of two categories...

-You aren't very computer savvy and the idea of using the darn machine for paper crafting frightens you!

-You're a tactile person, you like to touch and feel your paper crafting materials.  The look of three-dimension really appeals to you.

If you fall into category one, and you just don't feel as though you have the computer skills to use a digital kit, I am going to show you just how easy it is, step by step.  All you need is a word processing program (like Microsoft Word).

If you fall into category two, you will be amazed at how fun & easy it is to integrate your love of dimension and texture with a digital kit.  I'll be showing you a perfect example of this in just a bit!

Now I am going to take you step by step through the process.  When I was thinking about how I wanted to approach this blog post, I decided it was better to be overly informative, rather than leave someone confused.  So I have divided the directions into three easy to swallow pieces.  That way, if you already know how to do one aspect of the process, you can easily skip ahead to the area that you might be unfamiliar with.  The three chapters are Downloading, Inserting and Creating.

CHAPTER 1: Downloading

To download your very own FREE version of the above digital kit, Spiral Bouquet Boutique, click HERE.  The page you come to will look like this:

Click on "Download Spiral Bouquet Boutique".  You will then have a smaller window pop open that looks like this:

You want to select "SAVE".  A second pop-up window will appear that looks like this:

 

You want to enter the name of the digi kit so that it is easy for you to locate it later.  You may want to even start a special folder just to contain all of your digi kits so it becomes you one-stop reference.  After you have entered the name, hit "SAVE".  A pop-up window will appear that looks like this:

You will visually see papers flying from the globe to the folder.  It will take a few minutes for the files to be downloaded, depending on your internet speed.  Once it has completed, you'll want to close all of your current windows and open the folder that you just saved the digital kit to.   

If you'll notice, the file type is a "zip" file.  This is just a special way to save several files within a folder and make it faster to download.  (You'll notice the little zipper on the folder icon).  You need to extract the files from the folder in order to use them.  So click on your zipped file, and this window will appear, listing all of the files contained in your folder (in other words, ALL the cool elements you get to play with shortly!):

You want to click on "EXTRACT FILES".Then this window will appear:

At this point you want to choose the location of all you new files.  I put mine right back in my Spiral Bouquet Boutique Folder.  Click "EXTRACT" after you have selected your folder.  Once that is completed you're ready for the fun stuff!

CHAPTER 2: Inserting

To use all the fabulous stuff you just downloaded, you need to open just your basic word processing program (like Microsoft Word).  You want to open a new document so you have a blank canvas to work with!  It will look something like this (depending on what version and program you're using, but the steps should be the same regardless).

You want to select "INSERT" from your upper menu bar.  Once you have done that, it will provide you with a box to select the folder containing the digital kit.  Once you have selected the desired folder, a lit of all the images contained in it will appear, just as below (look at all those fun goodies!  And to think they are FREE!!!)...

Simply click on the image you want to use and it will be placed in your blank document.  (I decided to use the Flourishes & Curls paper here)

You can "pull" the toggles at each of the four corners of the bounding box to change he size of the image.  (As another helpful hint, make sure your margins are set at the lowest they can go and still remain compatible with your printer.  This is to allow you more printable space). After you have sized your image to your liking, just hit print!  (As a side note, it is very easy to insert more than one image onto a sheet so that you conserve paper!)

CHAPTER 3: Creating

I decided to create a SUPER SIMPLE project with this digital kit.  I printed out the Flourishes & Swirls patterned paper along with the Gratitude sentiment. 

I punched out "Gratitude" using a Mega Scalloped Oval Punch.  I also cut a piece of the patterned paper down to size to fit on a card front (4-1/8 x 5-3/8 inches).

I then sponged the outside edges of both the sentiment and paper with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink from Ranger.  I also pierced a small hole in each scallop with a thumbtack.

I matted the patterned paper with brown cardstock and tied some pretty ribbon it.  I adhered it to my white card base.  As a final step, I attached the sentiment with foam dimensionals over the ribbon.

Viola!  You did it!!! You've gone "DIGI"!  Let me know if you have tried digital for the first time with this tutorial and whether or not you enjoyed it.  Do you think it is something you would like to expand on and learn more about?  Do you see yourself reaching for different elements of this digi kit in the future?  I wanna hear about it!  The digital part of this industry has really captured my interest!

I will be posting later this afternoon, some details as to how you can use your new digital skills to win some FREE stamps!  Be sure to stop by!

   

Comments

[Denise]

Awesome!!! I am new to digi-scapping and have not ever made a digi-card- but will now! It's adorable!

[Alli Miles]

Gorgeous and fun! Can hardly wait for the coordinating set. I may even give the digi thing a go.

[chelsey n]

this is awesome! i dont scrap but i could totally see myself using this kit, my mom would love the colors and so do i!! im kinda depressed taht i cant take part in WCMD but a friend of mine is getting married on Sunday and there is stuff Sat. eve and i have to clean house aswell on sat. oh well i'll download tehkit and hopefully make soem cards with it tomorrow eve.

~Chelsey @ onecanadianchick.blogspot.com

[Heather J]

That was a lot easier than I thought! Thanks for the instructions. Heather

[Ruth M]

The digi kits are gorgeous - but then we wouldn't expect anything else from you Nichole LOL! Thanks so much!

A note about printing - I've always understood that you should select the 'Photo' quality option when printing digital downloads so you get the best quality images.

[Letap]

Nichole - this was easier to download than I thought it would be. Thanks for the instructions and your super sample card. Love your blog and your 'style'.

[Marlene]

I am computered challenged. Basically I can do e-mail. Your directions are great I just tried it and it worked!! Thank you for all of your time and effort. It was fun - can't wait to play with it but must get everyone off to school.

[Pat]

Thanks, Nichole! Happy World Card Making Day to you!

Pat

[Lorri Feidt]

Thank you so much for this little bit of fun! A new avenue for creating!

[ChristieW]

My first try at Digi and it was easy to download but I have a problem with the printing. I inserted the "you make everthing bloom" tag and when it prints its huge. How do I size it to fit the scallop punch?
Thanks for everything

[Deidra]

You are wonderful. Thanks a lot! Can't wait til I get home today and try this. TGIF!!!!!!

[Julie C.]

Thanks, Nichole...you're the best!! TFS!

[Melanie Muenchinger]

I just made one and it was easy, although sometimes it didn't "behave" quite the way I thought it should be, I tried getting as many elelements on a page as possible and it kept wanting to put it ona separate page even though i had rroom or had resized it. Any tips for how to make the objects exactly the size you want other that looking at the ruler above and seeing it looks like it's about 1 1/4 " for your punch? Thanks! I look forward to more tutorials. Any way to change the colors to get a match with the cardstock/ribbons you have on hand?

[Melissa Flieg]

Love the digi kit. Can't wait for the coordination stamp set. Have not done digital cards yet but looks easy enough. Just need to get a colored printed.

[Gretchen]

love the digi kit!!!! thanks, i can't wait to try it out

[CatherineH (Kiko)]

Thanks Nichole. The style and colors are yummy. Can't wait to see the stamp set!

[Janet Douthit]

Well who would of thought! This was fun, and fairly easy. I think I have an older version of word... but it still came out, and somehow I managed to use a photo setting and get more of the little tags to print on one page. Note to self.... get a new printer, the one I have doesn't do the colors justice, nor the quality, but I am off to turn it into a card pronto! Thanks for the help... so easy!

[Catherine]

Oh my, oh my... thanks you so much for the tutorial regarding digi-scrapping. I can never understand how to use it...until now. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I can't wait to see/meet you next year along with Ms. Gina and Ms. Em :)

[~Lana B.~]

Nichole, I downloaded the kit and followed your directions immediately. Holy Cow! I have been downloading all sorts of free digi stuff for months thinking *one day I'll learn how to use it.* Well, today is the day!!! I guess I always thought I HAD to learn how to digi SCRAP with it all and never thought of making cards. What a lightbulb moment!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH and keep these tutorials coming!!!!
Thanks again,
~Lana B.~

[Janette R]

Thank you so much for the tutorial!! This is amazing. I've been wanting to learn how for a long time, and you make it look so easy.

I really appreciate it!

ps - would go on the cruise, but I have a sabbatical that ends 9/30/08. It sounds like a ton of fun, and I will be counting down with you all!

[MSBetsyZ]

Oh!! Nichole, thank you so much for the tut! I do know l the ins and outs of downloading, but I was SO clueless about actually using these files! GORGEOUS!! Thanks so much for the spark to get my juices flowing, lol!

Hugs,
Betsy

[Michelle Johnson]

Wow! This is so awesome! I was SO not a digi-girl, but I just went and tried it! I LOVE it!!! You make it so easy and fun!

I will definately be turning to this in the future!

Thank you!!!

[Carol Wells]

I have done some digital crafting (mostly using CDs I've bought of vintage images)and enjoyed it, but I do find it can take a long time to find and pull together co-ordinating bits from my stash to go with the one digital image. So these combos of background paper, tags, sentiments, borders and 'ribbon', etc., are FANTASTIC, and (whoo!)they're FREE!! I've already downloaded most of the ones that are up on the Paper Crafts site!
**One question I've always wondered about -- there are typically 2 copies of each image, one PNG and one JPEG. What would be the reason for using one over the other? I think I've been able to print either type, but maybe some users can't, is that it?

[Julie Masse]

Fabulous Nicole!! Thanks so much for the tutorial - I've been wanting to try digi stuff so what a great time to do it!! :)

[Jennifer S]

Thank you, Nichole, for making this so easy. I have never tried digi before, and you made it as simple as it could be. Yeah! I'm not afraid of digi anymore!! But, I will always love my stamps and paper. Can't wait for the next release.