In recent years, font developers have been creating more and more Open Type Fonts, denoted with “OTF” at the end. This font type is an extension of the True Type format and will also work with both Windows and Mac, but here’s something that many font users don’t know… Open Type Fonts have many more capabilities than True Type Fonts. Many Open Type faces come with options called Stylistic/Contextual alternatives, meaning that you can change the way a certain letter looks in different situations. I’ve put together the example on the right using the font Reminga. (By the way, there are lots of free Open Type fonts out there, check out this list for a few ideas).

In the first example, you can see that I’ve turned on the Stylistic Alternatives option, and the “s” becomes an old-fashioned one, giving the whole phrase a new look. To do this in Photoshop, I opened my Type dialog and checked out the menu options. Not all Open Type fonts have all options. In fact, many don’t even take advantage of the feature at all.

With contextual alternatives you can really change the look of certain letters, depending on the situation or where they are in your text or title. So let’s say I want to create a piece of word art for a title on a scrapbook page or a sentiment for a card. I can do several different options using different alternatives.

In the last example below, I’ve created one title with the default letters in the high-end font Affair, a second with stylistic alternatives, and the third with contextual alternatives. The “s” changes with each selection, and the “l” changes with the contextual alternatives.

Next time you’re playing with fonts, check out the Open Type fonts you have on your computer. You might be delighted at the fun titles you can create and print by changing up the type face with Open Type features. What I’ve shown you here is just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of Open Type fonts out there with many fun alternative letters. Have fun creating!

Click the image to visit Clever Some Day and download the free dingbat font.

This free font from Clever Some Day is so cool, and I can just imagine the uses for this with hybrid crafting. Just type one of these out in a word processor or photoshop, resize as desired, give it a color (or leave it black!) and print. Then match up with a Nestability and cut and emboss! So cute!

While it is made for electronic cutters, I think it would work fabulously to decorate traditional die cuts in a different way. I plan on giving it a try very soon. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I am so thrilled to have been a part of the Spellbinders Blog Frenzy. I’ve been overwhelmed by the kind comments several of you have made. I’m so glad that many of you appreciated the tutorial. I can’t wait to make more for you.

As promised, I’ve put together a digital kit containing the embellished shapes from my scrapbook page as well as five free digital papers. For tips on printing out digital paper and using it in your papercrafting, check this post from a few weeks ago.

I put together another card with the digital files that I created for the layout. I love how quick and easy the hybrid thing is!

Supplies

S4-207 Kaleidescope Pendant, S4-216 Kaleidescope Borderabilities, S4-161 Labels One: Spellbinders; Renew Digital Kit (download below); Everyday Photo Paper: HP; Cardstock: The Paper Company; Brad: Creative Imaginations; Ribbon: Unknown; 3D Adhesive Squares: 3L

Here’s the zip file containing the five papers, three kaleidoscope printables, plus a bonus of three Labels 1 shapes. All of the pendant die templates are available to order starting today directly from Spellbinders. Those of you who find this kit via digi-free or other freebie service, please keep in mind that the shapes are designed to specifically work with the Spellbinders dies listed. They are not meant to stand alone and to use them as such is to violate my terms of use.

If for some reason the download window does not automatically pop up when you click on the above preview, right click the image and select “save as” to download the file.

Comments are greatly appreciated on my freebie kits! Have a great day!

Jen

Spellbinders Introduces:
Shapeabilities Pendants Blog Frenzy
June 22 through June 29th, available for ordering June 30, 2009

Commenting on this post is welcome but does not enter you into the contest. This contest is sponsored directly by Spellbinders Paper Arts. Please read the post to find directions for entering. If you have any questions, please e-mail PenContestQuestions@Spellbinders.us.

Welcome to the 8th (and last!) day of Spellbinders Pendants Blog Frenzy!

Spellbinders is celebrating the introduction of Pendants die templates, a new die line that will inspire your creative mind.  You have the opportunity to win the Pendant and Borderabilities dies I’m introducing today by entering the contest at the end of this post.  Be sure to read all the rules before entering! You still have until June 29th, 11:59 pm EST to enter Linda Duke’s blog contest at: http://www.lindaduke.typepad.com and until July 1st, 8:30 am EST to enter mine.

Edit: due to issues with my blog and Internet Explorer, the contest deadline for Day 8 has been extended until July 1st, 8:30am EST. I am very sorry for the inconvenience this issue caused. I believe the problem is now fixed. Thanks for your patience!

To see previous reveals, feel free to visit the following:

June 22, 2009 -  Beccca Feeken     http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/

June 23, 2009  – Debbie Olson     http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/

June 24, 2009  – Michelle Wooderson     http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/

June 25, 3009  – Keri Lee Sereika    http://pinklemonade.typepad.com/my_weblog/

June 26, 2009 –– Sherry Cheever     http://sherrycheever.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

June 27, 2009  – Heidi Blankenship     http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/

June 28, 2009 -– Linda Duke     http://www.lindaduke.typepad.com/

I am so excited to present the last of the Pendant die templates: S4-207 Kaleidoscope Pendant

and the coordinatingS4-216 Kaleidoscope Borderabilities.

I am so thrilled to have been assigned this particular set to reveal because I think it really embodies some of the latest cool trends in papercrafting. The S4-207 Kaleidoscope Pendant set features a large pendant, a matching center, and two coordinating accent pieces. I love how the centers can be layered over the top of the pendants or used to cut out the middle of the pendant. The S4-216 Kaleidoscope Borderabilities set features two beautiful border dies, one of which has an “open” side and makes a fantastic edge to any card. The other border cuts on all sides, making perfect accessories for any project. Both of these sets will be available for order starting tomorrow, June 30, 2009.

For my first project, I chose to create a pop-up card with an edgy “rock-star” feel to it and I really love how it turned out. The front of the card features a variety of fun techniques including digital die embellishment, air-brushing with Copic markers, reverse stenciling with acrylic paint and cutting and embossing felt. I should give a special mention to the method I used to decorate the pendants on this card. I used my computer to digitally embellish the shape, then printed it out and used the Kaleidoscope Pendants to cut and emboss the digitally-decorated design. Such a fun way to add character to your die cuts!

Spellbinders Supplies:

S4-161    Labels One
S4-207    Kaleidescope Pendant
S4-216    Kaleidescope Borderabilities
S4-199    Floral Accents
I2-1004    Impressabilities Flowers
S5-001    Unicase Mosaic
S3-150    Ribbon Tag Trio
S4-126    Classic Squares, Large

Other Supplies: Medallion Journal Spots Brush Kit: Rhonna Farrer/House of 3; RV19 Marker:  Copic; Ribbon, Bits of Bling: Creative Impressions; Black Chalk Ink: Clearsnap;Sentiment & Flower Stamp; Stamper’s Anonymous; Cyan,Black Cardstock: The Paper Company; 3D Foam Squares, E-Z Dots Scrapbook Adhesives; 3L, Flourish stamps: Technique Tuesday; Green & Blue: Printed Paper; Jennifer Davis; Pink Cardstock: Worldwin; White Cardstock: Neenah; Tuxedo Momento Ink: Tsukineko; Fuschia Stick-It Felt: CPE

The inside of this card opens to reveal an awesome surprise. I’ve layered three pendants together to create this cool pop-up – and the best part is that it is super easy!

There are so many techniques on this card that I thought the best way to share a tutorial would be through video. This two-part tutorial was very fun to put together. Please watch and enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2:

The next project I created is a scrapbook page of my children taken this past Easter. We have such a hard time taking Easter Sunday pictures, and I truly have no idea why! Nonetheless, my kids are adorable, and these pendants and centers make absolutely perfect embellishments to this page!

As in with the card above, these pendants are digitally decorated and I will be posting up a downloadable kit tomorrow containing the digital papers and files I used to create this project.

Spellbinders Supplies

S4-207    Kaleidescope Pendant
S4-199    Floral Accents

Other Supplies: Ribbon, Brads: Creative Impressions; Orange, pumpkin spice, green chalk ink: Clearsnap; Rub on: Crate Paper; 3D Foam Squares Adhesives: 3L; Cheese Cloth; Printable die template: Jennifer Davis; Digital Patterned Paper: green stripe, green, pink, peach; Jennifer Davis; InkJet Transparency: OfficeMax; Computer Fonts: Champignon, Optima; Foam: STYROFOAM Brand

So… we’ve reached the final day of the Spellbinders Blog Frenzy, and here’s the contest low-down one last time…

After the entry deadline is reached, Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each Blog Frenzy reveal as stated in the “Rules”. Winner will be contacted by e-mail within 24 hours of the contest deadline. Winner will have 72 hours to reply to that e-mail to claim the prize.  If Winner fails to respond within 72 hours, a new name will be drawn for said prize.   Winner will receive the new die templates being revealed on the specific daily blog post they are entering.

Entrants visiting all 8 Spellbinders Pendant Reveals and correctly entering their information into the separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a full set of the 8 Pendants die templates and 8 matching Petite Border die templates being revealed.

Rules
Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders Pendants die templates Blog Frenzy give-away must adhere to all of the following rules. We are happy to welcome US and international blog guests for this Frenzy.

To enter each drawing on sneak peeks between June 22 and June 29, visit the reveal blog and click on the contest link to reveal an e-mail window. In the subject line of the e-mail, enter the die template name being revealed. Each blog reveal will remain open for 48 hours. Only 1 entry per blog is allowed and participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry, no exceptions. Please consider whether you will have access to the same e-mail address from June 22nd through June 29th and plan accordingly.

Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawings.

Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Pendants Frenzy Grand Prize must enter all 8 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.

Please note:
*Spellbinders will only use email information to contact the winner.
*Spellbinders will not share this email address with any other parties.
*Spellbinders will not use this email information for advertisements or communications other than to contact the winner.
*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders, please go to their homepage SpellbindersPaperArts.com and sign up for their newsletter.

Spellbinders Pendants Blog Frenzy drawing

Click Here to enter

(If you use an e-mail client that does not work with this pop-up box, you may copy and paste this address to send your entry to: PendantContestDay8@spellbinders.us

For more Spellbinders product release information go to SpellbindersPaperArts.com/blog

If you have any questions regarding the contest, send an e-mail to: PenContestQuestions@spellbinders.us

Thank you for visiting! Come back soon!

The page I’m sharing today is another Hybrid page made with the Express Yourself free Digital Scrapbook available at ShabbyPrincess.com along with several now-retired Spellbinders dies. The circles in this layout really pull the whole thing together as well as help draw attention to sweet baby Hannah’s face.

At the time this layout was made, we were just barely starting to make some progress in getting Hannah to eat solid foods. She’s turned out to be very stubborn in that department and her weight stayed constant at 16 pounds for several months – to the point of worrying our family physician.

Finally now at 13 months, she is eating larger volumes of select foods and gaining weight. We’re looking forward to her next check up next month to see if she’s come back up onto the growth chart.

As Debbie mentioned, printing and using digital scrapbook papers can be super addictive, and there are literally thousands of free papers and embellishments out there in the blogosphere, just waiting to be found. My favorite spot to find them is the Digifree Search engine, an automated search blog that gathers up all the freebies you can imagine and lists them in one place. They update daily, or very close to it. Here are a few tips for printing digital paper:

• Use cardstock: the better quality cardstock you use, the better your paper will look. Most printers have settings that will allow you to print on heavy or thick paper.
• Set your printer quality to “best.” Otherwise, your paper may come out looking dull and less vibrant than on your monitor.
• Be careful not to resize it, unless you mean to. Depending on how you print, some applications will automatically resize things to fit them on a page. With 12×12 papers, they won’t fit onto an 8.5×11″ piece of paper, but if you let the computer automatically resize it, you may end up with something different than you intended, ie REALLY tiny little damask ornaments. Make sure that whatever application you use to print, you do so at 100% of the original pattern size.
• When I’m printing a number of papers or an entire layout, I opt for full size prints using 13×19 Matte Photo Paper from HP. I’ve yet to find 8.5×11″ paper that I’m crazy about. I sometimes use the Wal-mart stuff (Georgia Pacific) but I’m going to try some Neenah Solar white later. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Here’s a hybrid project that I did using the same damask paper that Debbie used. As with my last post, this was also a Design Team entry project. I loved putting all the separate little elements into this. It was a blast!

Supplies:

Damask Paper: Inauguration Paper Pack

Red Mulberry paper

Red, cream, white, black cardstock

Green patterned paper: Making Memories

Arrow patterned paper: Scenic Route

Circles, watch face, charm, symbology, doodle dies: Spellbinders

Stamps: K&Company, Stampin’ Up, Spellbinders

Black Paint

Inks, ribbon, staples, jump rings, brad

old sewing pattern

baseball card protector, cut up

Thank you again to Jennifer Furlotte at Pixels & Ice Cream for the original damask pattern that I used to create the red damask paper. She does great work.

The 5×7″ body of it, as well as the scalloped edge was created with the Silhouette, which works really well for cutting large, unique card shapes.To create both shapes, I drew the vector outline in Adobe Illustrator, plugged the Silhouette into my Mac, and cut it right out. I’ve played with both my Windows PC and my Mac with the Silhouette, and they both work fine, I do like the software that is available for Windows better than the Illustrator plug-in. It has better pre-sets for cutting different types of material. Using the Mac gives me greater control over my designs… or at least it saves me a few steps. To create your own designs in Windows, you have to design it in Inkscape or Illustrator, export it, then import it into the Silhouette software. Cutting straight from Illustrator is a bit easier in that sense.

I love the Silhouette and the ability that it gives me to cut designs from my computer. It really appeals to the techie part of me. As shown in this card, there’s definitely room for both the digital cutter and the hand cutter. The textures (blue dot circle) and the embossing (tag) just aren’t possible with the Silhouette alone.

The stamp that matches the Spellbinders Reflections Butterfly is now retired, which is kind of a sad thing, because I really love the stamps that coordinated so well with the various Shapeabilities. They were just my style.

The dot stripe stamp has been my go-to stamp for almost a year now. I love Impress Rubber Stamps, and I definitely need more.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:

Yellow Dots Patterned Paper: Jennifer Davis

Happy Spring & Branch stamps: Taylored Expressions

Labels 1, Nested Birds, Petite Scalloped Ovals, Petite Classic Ovals: Spellbinders

Ribbon: Creative Impressions

Impressability: Spellbinders

Marker & Airbrush system: Copic

Brad: Chatterbox

Corner Rounder: Creative Memories

Brown & green ink: Clearsnap

I mentioned earlier that the birds are hybrid pieces created specifically to match the Spellbinders Nested Birds die. The hybrid files are simple and fun to use. I’ve included them for download here, along with a copy of the matching patterned paper that was previously posted:

To use this or any of my other hybrid printables:

1. Download and unzip the file.
2. Open the package file and print it onto the paper of your choice. I recommend whatever white cardstock works best with your printer.
3. Cut a very rough outline around each bird with scissors.
4. Attach the Spellbinders Nested Birds dies to each printed bird, matching sizes and lining them up inside the pink outline. Affix with Removable Tape if desired.
5. Cut and emboss the dies in whichever die cut machine you prefer. Spellbinders dies work fabulously with most other machines, including but not limited to the Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Big Kick, and Revolution.

These hybrid files are made specifically for use with Spellbinders dies and I’m providing them free for personal use only. Thanks!

I’ve also recently become a huge fan of Dew Drops from Robin’s Nest. They add the perfect touch to projects. You can see them on this page surrounding the “1.”

Isn’t my baby Hannah just beautiful? It’s hard to believe she’s over a year old now.