Digi Tips Week... Day 1

Hello. Hope you are well.

I though I'd have a digi tips week this week, sharing some thoughts and ideas about digital kits and products and creating hybrid cards. I hope some of you may find it useful.

Today I thought I'd start with the basics - using digital papers.
All the Screenshots show me using Microsoft Word.

I use a LOT of digital papers, so I had to find ways to make it economically viable. I have some tips for you where money is concerned... although it is not as expensive as you may think.  I have to replace my inks about 4 times a year - seriously.  And remember I use a lot. :) I have a Canon inkjet printer - nothing special or fancy - and it doesn't seem to guzzle ink.

My best tip is to plan before you print.  If you know you are making a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card - the standard American notecard size - then print only enough paper for the card.
Resize the patterned paper...
First, I import my paper into Microsoft Word.
Then, I resize it to 5.4 x 5.4" (click on the picture and format it.)

Here's a close up...

Then, I crop from the left or right to make it the correct width.

Close-up:

I always find that when I use 6 x 6 papers, I am left with loads of strips as I tend to only use enough to cover a notecard. This way, you waste no paper at all. Better for the environment as well as saving money. Yay!
AND, when I have a few cards planned, I use a single sheet of paper to the maximum. :)
I know that I'll have a margin behind the patterned paper - I always do.  So I only need my paper to be 5.2 x 4".  I can therefore print 4 sheets of patterned paper on one 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper.

This means you hardly waste any paper at all.
And, if I want a bigger sheet of paper - say I'm making a square 5 x 5" card - then I use the rest of the paper to print a few extras...

OK - there are my tips of the day.
And now, here's a card made using some yummy Hero Arts digi papers.  Like all the samples above, I used the Pool kit and the Earth kit for this card, combining it with stamps from My Happy, Just Because and Good Friends.

Hope you found something of use here... more to come in the next few days. :)
And please email me if there's something you'd like me to write about - I've not pre-prepared these so will be happy to help (if I can... I am no Photoshop expert I'm afraid!)

Supplies

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