HINTS AND TIPS

Printing digital papers - Cost v. Convenience.

Hi, Ann here - I just wanted to answer a question that I get asked alot about the cost of printing digital papers. As most of you know that visit my blog, all of my designer papers are printed from digital downloads. When I first started to do this, I could not decide which papers to use so I used to print off a selection and then make up my design - well as you can appreciate this can get quite expensive, especially when you only use half of them. So I decided to spend more time creating a plan of my creation - in quite infinite detail before I printed anything off at all.

When I matt and layer my papers, I measure each element and then I image each one to the correct size and print off to size, this way I can get at least two different designs on 1 A4 sheet of paper if I were making a 6 x 6 inch card. I do tend to complete the inside of my cards and make matching envelopes, so you really have to plan each stage - but the beauty of doing it this way is that I am able to create a file on my computer for the creation I am making, right down to the paper size and design for each element, so that if I want to create another one, you are able to print everything off right to size - so you just need a good paper trimmer and you are away.

So, downloading digital papers can really be a great option, it allows me to change the colours, the pattern size, overlay designs, and print off just the amount I want without wasting too much of that really expensive ink. Hope this helps. xx

Installing new Fonts on your Computer

This week in the Grab Some Stash section we have some fantastic free fonts for you to download. Here is the instructions of what to do with them when you have the downloaded the font file.

Click on the download button link and click to save to your desktop on your computer. Right click on the file and select copy. Navigate on your computer to Control Panel – then to the Fonts folder. Open this and then click on Edit and Paste. The font you have downloaded will then be saved into your Fonts Folder.
When you next open your Word document click on the top bar and scroll down the font list until you see the name of the font you have downloaded and select it - it is as simple as that.

UPDATE/FIX on Blogger Viewing Issues

Blogger have identified that the issues with the Operation Abort error message in Internet Explorer is due to the Followers link being on the sidebar. They are trying to find a resolve for this but in the meantime they are saying that first move the Followers further down your sidebar, do not keep it near the top, this may resolve the issue. If this does not work then remove it for the time being until they have a fix. The problem occurs not only on your own blog but when you log onto any other blog that has the Followers link near the top of the page, that is probably why we keep getting the error message. Remember that if you are visiting a blog that gets the error message, click ok to the error message, and on the white page click the back button on your browser, this seems to allow the page to load and you can move around as normal.

Creating a hyperlink on your Challenge entries.

Below is a tutorial on how to create a Link to make it easy for everyone to quickly click to visit your blog page.

When you post your challenge entries in the comments section would you please add a direct link to your blog page to make it easier for people to just click on the link to visit you without the need to copy and paste into the address bar. This is quite a simple process (when you have got used to it) so here are some guidelines on how to do it.

1. First open up your blog page with the Challenge entry on the page and then at the top of the title bar you should see your own blog page starting with http:// etc etc.

2 .Highlight your address bar by right clicking and select copy from the drop down menu.

3. Until you are used to creating the link, it is best that you open up a word document and then carefully type in the exact line as below. Then remove the letters URL and in their place insert your blog address bar by pasting this into the line in between the inverted commas - make sure that you do not delete these - they are needed to make the link work. You may find it simpler then each week just to go back to where you saved this link and just copy and change the URL section to link in with the relevant page of your blog and then you are ready to copy and paste your link again on the comments page.4. It is always worth previewing your entry on the comments page before you publish it just to make sure that it appears as a hyperlink so you know it will run properly - it should just show the words Here's my entry with no other detail.