Mountaincow Monthly (June 2009)

HOME · MOUNTAINCOW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER (JUNE 2009) Summer hasn’t quite reached us yet in our rainy corner of New England, but we’re longing for our summer wardrobe with bright colors and breezy looks. Since the rain and cold are keeping us in sweaters, we’ve designed fabulous new summer stationery to brighten everyone’s day. Give any gift in style using our new custom gift wrap with your monogram to identify your gift among the pile of presents. If you’ve traded your business suits for a stroller or if you just don’t want to give out your work info to new acquaintances, our fabulous calling cards are all the rage. With all the newborns around, we still have babies on the brain. Our fun new birth announcement designs let you feature photos of your new little one. Check out tips on downloading projects, borderless printing and more in our Newsletter Notes section.

Summer fun If you dread moving your winter sweaters into storage and digging out your sandals and capris, why not update your stationery wardrobe instead? There’s no heavy lifting required, and you can adjust the color scheme as often as you like! All of our designs feature flat and folded cards to suit whatever writing style you choose. Our PrintingPress design is perfect for anyone who’s ready to hit the tennis courts. We added a pair of crossed rackets in green at the top of a White A7 flat card. A pink tennis ball hovers between the pair, ready to start a game. We added the name in the same pink below the rackets using the Benjamin Caps font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We added the same design to the front of the White A2 folded note card. We lined the Clover envelopes in Deep Pink and added tennis rackets (green & pink) Personalized StationeryStamps. For a mix of modern and traditional, try our PrintingPress Platinum design featuring crisp White and Yellow stationery. We added a graphical border made of a modern geometric pattern in yellow with a traditional black frame in the center of the border. We added the initial “S” in black using the Alyssa font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings in the center of the black frame. Next we used a floating text box to add the full name at the bottom of the card using the Benjamin Caps font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We expanded the character spacing for an airy look. Since the geometric border runs all the way to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print the card. We added a background image that uses the same geometric pattern and frame to the front of a White A2 folded note card. We added both the initial and name inside the frame. We added the “S” above the return address and lined the White envelopes in Yellow. We added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps to showcase the bold pattern outside the envelope. Our PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 design features bright colors and a modern design. We added a custom stationery border to a White A7 card and set the border’s shape to Line (Left). We filled the border with a new geometric circles (magenta & green) pattern and added a 4 point inner pen to the border using the Sample Color tool to match the magenta in the pattern. Next we used a floating text box to add the name using the Beckles Wide font in white. We then set the background color of the text box to magenta and added a green border to the text box with the border shape set to Double Line (Top/Bottom). We placed the text box atop the stationery border so that it cuts the pattern neatly in half and really pops. We filled the background of the coordinating White 4-bar folded note card with the same pattern. We added the text box and stretched it to spread across the front of the card. Since both designs bleed to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. We lined the Magenta envelopes in Clover and added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps for a bold look.		PrintingPress sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Platinum sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 sample (click to enlarge)
PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 sample (click to enlarge)	Signature style You may have your signature lipstick, perfume or color, so why not have your own personalized signature gift wrap? Everyone will know the gift is from you the moment that they see it. Since you are the designer, you can choose the exact pattern, style, color and repeated text or monogram to express your personality. We used PrintingPress Extreme 5.0’s custom pattern creator to create a sweet gingham pattern in pale green. For tips on customizing the pattern, see this month’s Extreme Tip. Next we used the repeated text feature to add a grey monogram scattered across the gingham. We set the monogram style to Circle and added a custom border with the border shape set to Oval and double lines in green and grey. We turned off the Make white background transparent setting so that the gingham does not show through the monogram. We printed the design onto 13 x 19 inch sheets of blank white gift wrap using a wide format printer. If you don’t have a wide format printer, use 8.5 x 11 inch sheets. Don’t feel like printing? Check out our new Personalized Gift Wrap in our online store. Just choose the style, enter your personalized message and we’ll print it for you.
Calling all cards If you meet someone new at a party or at the playground with the kids, a calling card is a great way to give your new friend all your contact info in a gorgeous little package. You can even add your facebook, twitter or other social networking information as well. Our designs are compact enough to fit in your wallet and include all your digits with plenty of room for style. For simple elegance, try our PrintingPress design. We added three geometric blue square designs to the top of the 2.5 x 3.5 inch card. Next we added the name in the same blue using the Benjamin font from Fonts & Graphics 2. We added the rest of the contact info in a smaller point size in black. We used the 4-up feature to print four cards on a single White A7 card and used a rotary trimmer to cut the cards down to size. Summer stripes run down the side of our PrintingPress Platinum design. We added a graphical border with blue, white and brown stripes along the left side of the 2.5 x 3.5 inch card. We adjusted the card’s margins so that the text does not overlap the stripes. We added the name in brown using the Benjamin Drop Cap font from Fonts & Graphics 2. We created floating text boxes to add the first and last initials in blue and set them to float behind the main text area of the card so that they shadow the initials in the name. We added five bullet characters in blue to separate the name from the rest of the contact info. We used the 2-up feature to print two cards on a single White 4-bar card and used a rotary trimmer to separate the cards. Our PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 design is double-sided, featuring a lily of the valley atop a field of blue on the front side of the card. We added the name below the flowers in white using the Arial font with the Small Caps text style and increased the character spacing to create an airy look. We used the label stationery type to print twelve 2.75 x 2.75 inch cards on a single 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of card stock. We created a second label to print the contact information onto the back of the cards in the same blue and green that we used on the front. We printed both sides and then used a rotary trimmer to separate the cards.		PrintingPress sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Platinum sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 sample (click to enlarge)
PrintingPress sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Platinum sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 sample (click to enlarge)	Peek-a-boo Nothing is cuter than a new baby, and nothing makes getting a birth announcement in the mail more joyous than seeing the baby’s precious face. Our new birth announcement designs this month all feature the baby’s photo front and center. Want to make it even cuter? Add coordinating StationeryStamps. Our PrintingPress design features a row of pink apples across the bottom of a White A2 card. A single green apple stands out from the rest. We added the words “the apple of our eye” in pink using the Brina Strong font from Fonts & Graphics 3. We left blank space for the photo to be added later and then added the baby’s name in green. The rest of the baby’s info is in pink above the apples. We used the 4-up feature to print four copies of the baby’s photo onto 4 x 6 inch photo paper and used a rotary trimmer to cut it down to 1.75 x 2.5 inches. Next we used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the photo to Clover 2 x 2.75 inch custom cut card stock, and then mounted the pair onto the announcement. We lined the Pink Lemonade envelopes in Clover and added apples (pink & green) Personalized StationeryStamps. For baby boys, we’ve included a blue version of the design. For a bold, modern look, try our PrintingPress Platinum design. We added a background image with a field of green and a strip of blue stripes along the bottom. We added the parents’ names in white using the Times New Roman font in all lowercase letters aligned to the left side of the card. We wrote the baby’s name in a large point size to make it really stand out. Here’s a tip for changing the text in the main text area of the card: since PrintingPress Platinum does not show white text, change the text to black, edit the text, then change it back to white once you’ve finished. We added the baby’s photo as a floating image and cropped the photo so that it is square. We also added a square white floating image beneath the baby’s photo to act as a frame for the photograph. We added the baby’s stats aligned to the right side of the card beneath the photo. Since the background image runs all the way to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print the design onto a White A7 card. We lined the Clover envelope in Powder Blue and added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps. Our PrintingPress Extreme 5.0 design is dangerously cute. First we filled the background of the card in blue gingham that we created using the custom pattern creator. For tips on adjusting the gingham pattern, see this month’s Extreme Tip. Next we added a custom border with the border shape set to Line (Top). We filled the border in white and added a 4 point inner pen in brown. We added a cute baby bird sitting on a branch in the white border. We added the baby’s name in the same brown using the Times New Roman font. Next we added the baby’s photo as a floating image and cropped the photo to make it square. We added a custom border in white and brown so that the photo pops on the gingham. We added the rest of the info beneath the baby’s photo in brown. Since the design bleeds to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print onto White 4-bar cards. We lined the Powder Blue envelopes in Chocolate and added baby bird (blue) Personalized StationeryStamps in the Small size. If you have a new little princess, we also offer the design in pink and green.
Weaving in and out PrintingPress Extreme 5.0’s custom pattern creator allows you to quickly and easily create a pattern using any background color and one or more shapes or images. With a little finesse, you can create more complicated patterns such as gingham and plaid. To create the gingham patterns used in this month’s projects, we started by setting the background color to white. Next, in the Shape details section, we set the shape to Rectangle and changed the Fill color to light blue. At this point, the custom pattern is a field of blue squares on a white background, as shown below. (click to enlarge) Next we added an alternate shape to allow for both horizontal and vertical stripes. For our example here, we used pink rectangles so that the horizontal and vertical stripes are easy to identify. (click to enlarge) Then we changed the proportions of each shape to make them rectangular instead of square. First we turned off the Lock aspect ratio setting for each shape. To make the stripes the same width, the height of the blue rectangle and the width of the pink rectangle should be equal. Then we made the blue stripes wider so that they can become the horizontal stripes. The width of the blue rectangle should be three times the height. We made the pink stripes taller so that they can become the vertical stripes. The height of the pink rectangle should be twice the width. We set the Opacity for both the blue and pink shapes to 50% so that the stripes will be darker where they overlap. (click to enlarge) Next we adjusted the spacing to join the shapes to form stripes. Set the Vertical spacing to zero to join the pink rectangles and form the vertical stripes. Next set the Across spacing to negative two times the height of the blue rectangle to connect them. (click to enlarge) Now you can change the colors of the stripes to anything that you like – there is a rainbow of gingham possibilities!