Please feel free to use any of the vintage images on the website in your artwork. Be sure to share your artwork with us. This is a labor of love and I love to see what you create. Please do not post the original unaltered image on the web but post your artwork and link back to this site for the original image. Please do not sell or post the image alone or in a collection without my permission. Thank you. I can't wait to see what you create!


Sunday, March 13, 2011

How Do You Use Digital Images?

Lately I have gotten a few questions about how to use the digital images. Also questions on the types of printer I use so that copic markers do not smear. I thought it would be fun for each of you to answer these questions. Let's see what creative ways you come up with to use digital images. You can see my answer in the comments section.

22 comments:

  1. Well I am not extremely creative with the images. I mostly use them like a rubber stamp and color them in with Copics. I did make a mobile out a group of the images and a beautiful booklet with a nurse on it for the school nurse at my daughter's school. My trick for using Copics with an inkjet printer is to wait a few days before coloring. I also try to avoid coloring on the lines. The paper is very important. I use Neenah Crest Cover.

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  2. Hi Cora

    First I wan to thank you for your freebies, I like them and I don't often leave comments, english is not my language so...

    I use them as you do. Color them and than make cards. For the paper I use Beckett and it works perfectly.

    Have a nice week

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  3. Believe it or not, I print from a cheap ink jet printer onto Staples copy paper, leave for about 15 minutes (too impatient to wait longer, lol)then colour with Promarkers...never had a problem!

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  4. I print my images onto Neenah Solar White using my Epson Ink Jet Printer. I don't leave them for long, maybe 10 minutes or so and then I colour them with either Copics or Promarkers. I have never had any problems using them this way.

    Hugs
    Penni
    X

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  5. I print onto Ryman's coated card for those in the UK, and have found I get better results if I set the print quality to draft, rather than normal or high quality - the ink is less likely to smear. I use promarkers, rather than copics to colour and basically use digis as I would rubber stamps.

    They have the advantage of taking up less storage space, being resizable, and you can find one even on a Sunday evening for that last minute card!

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  6. A big, big thankyou for all your freebies.
    I have a cannon printer MP160. I have had it for ages it seems and prints well, it feels like I go through the ink quickly , but i do use it a lot, I use MS Publisher or MS Word to print. I open a new page and insert from my digi stamp file. I love digi stamps, because you can change the size to whatever, and also 'layer', even though I am still learning how to do all of that. I only just found out you need to use the png files for that not the jpg. ( So now I find out after saving all my files in jpg,lol. The difference is apparently that with the png files there is no background so easier to layer.)
    I use whatever card stock I have, no particular brand, some work better than others, but in general once the ink is dry, I have had no problem. I have been experimenting with high grade thick watercolour paper (300). That is working well, and looks like that could be more cost effective as well. I use Pro Markers,(only because they were cheaper to start with)Hope this helps someone out there,I always find things out by trial and error.
    Blessings Hilde

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  7. I too want to thank you for the great images. I have and HP inkjet printer. I print on Georgia Pacific Image Plus Cardstock. Once printed, I spray the image with Workable fixative and then use my embossing gun to heat the image until the page curls a little (it straightens out as it cools). This is the only way I don't get smears LOL

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  8. I use a Samsung CLP-310 Series laser printer on any kind of paper that fees through. I haven't learned how to layer anything, so use it like a stamped image to color with Copics or any other marker I have on hand. I usually have no problem with smears.

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  9. Hi Cora, wow what a great blog today. I already learned something by reading all the comments, so far. I posted this question on the (CDAC) crafters digital art center blog about what kind of printer to use when printing digi's . My images were smearing when I used copics. Well, I will try some of the other ladies ideas, but for now, I switched to my husbands lazer printer. No smearing from this ink. I mostly use my digital images for cards and ocassionally my scrapbook pages. Thanks for a great blog topic today.

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  10. A tip I have heard about (but never actually used so far as I mostly colour with pencil crayons) is to use a hair dryer to "set" the image before using markers.

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  11. I usually just print and colour, I'm not too good at the clever stuff like layering. I use an epson printer and neenah solar white card. If you use eclipse masking tape on copier paper to print the same image again you can cut out a mask for your digital image and then get creative with your background. I love this technique as it means you can brayer a background scene behind your image
    Thanks for all the gorgeous freebies Cora
    Claire xx

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  12. Thank you for sharing these beautiful freebies.

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  13. I like to use colored pencils to color my digis. I really enjoy your flowers for cardmaking! Thank you.

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  14. I find that I use chalks mostly on digi stamps - but not a blender pen as I invariably smear the stamp.... I print from an HP inkjet, and often heat the image with my heat gun to be sure it is dry. I mainly use a light weight card to print on.

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  15. I use a laser printer, so I can color with anything in my craft area. I only have a few copics, so I don't use them too often. I like how the toner resists water, making watercolor very easy if the cardstock is sturdy enough.

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  16. Thank you so much, with hugs Shirleyxxxx

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  17. Love these two images! I can certainly see them used alone or as backgrounds as well. thank you.

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  18. I appreciate your freebies as well as your kind spirit. I'll be visiting your etsy site as soon as I leave here. I like to print black digital stamps or other stamps for that matter on different colors of paper. Then I use water color pencils to either shade them in or give them just a bit of color. Thank you Cora. Also read your post about your father passing, sending my condolensces. My father passed years ago, but the sorrow in my heart is still larger than life.

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  19. hi thank you for all the freebies there great! You can use digital images in jpeg gif or png etc files png you can take into a graphics program like craft artist and manipulate layer or just print them onto pretty patterned papers without the white! png are transparent. If using them like a stamp if colouring them in i think the rule is ink jet printer use water based pens aqua markers or water colours. laser printers use ink based pens promarkers this way no smudge. Also using good qulity crd or paper saves you money in the long run s it doesn't absorb all the ink. supersmooth is gret or neenah.Ive also heard drying with gun or spraying with hairspray never tried this though. Hope this helps. sharon

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  20. Cora...this is long overdue; thank you for all the images (again) and also for these comments. Very helpful, indeed. I print from an HP 5740 printer that is several years old. I use draft setting on Red River Polar Satin stock for my card images. Then I heat set the printer ink with my heat gun and color (carefully!) with my Copics. I also use my watercolor crayons; as long as I am careful about staying away from the ink outlines, They turn out very well.

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  21. Thanks so much for all your freebies you are so kind to share with us! I don’t used any special cardstock just heavy white cardstock. I copy your art with my Lexmark printer ( I think I paid like $25 used ) once that is done I wait like 10 minutes then I go right to work.
    I do a bit of layering with black and white card stock mostly because I don’t color your images I love black and white together. There is tons of black/white designer paper on the market now to use on the background.
    When I do color I just color a small part ( like a necklace or ribbon that’s on a hat )
    I use Bic markers, found them at the dollar store. And those I do color I layer with whatever marker color I used.
    I find you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a really nice looking card !!

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love to hear from you.