HOME · NEWSLETTER · MOUNTAINCOW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER (MAY 2004)

More reasons to throw a party
Memorial Day is the official kick-off to summer – isn’t that enough reason to celebrate? Now there’s more. Mountaincow has made designing invitations a whole lot more fun by introducing two new packages of fonts and graphics. Fonts & Graphics, Collection 2 and Decorative Letters & Numbers are both available from our online store for $39.95 each.

Fonts & Graphics Collection 2 offers a collection of 12 original fonts, 250 new images, 100 colorful borders and 50 background patterns. Decorative Letters & Numbers includes more than 2600 designs and 2 special fairy-tale fonts.

Use the new Grand ol’ flag graphic from Fonts & Graphics Collection 2 for your Memorial Day celebrations. Make your invitations even more patriotic by alternating your text in blue and red. Print four 4.25 x 5.5 invitations on one sheet of card stock, trim into quarters and send them as a postcard for a casual celebration, or pair them with a A2 envelopes for a more formal look (shown at left).

Platinum users can use another new flag graphic as a background image and layer text over the red stripes. Make a new text box for each line and change the color of the text to off white. For more design instructions on printing white text on a colorful background, see last month’s Mountaincow Monthly.

PrintingPress Platinum sample
(click photo to enlarge)

PrintingPress sample
(click photo to enlarge)

Taking Notes
The next time you think the back of an old envelope is a good place to write down something important, turn to PrintingPress. We’ve designed cards for you to keep on hand for writing quick notes. Compose messages to your kid’s teachers, the school nurse, your neighbors or the babysitter in minutes.

Unless these notes are going through the mail, you can use the inner envelope option that just prints the recipient’s first and last name on the front of the envelope. Use your favorite graphic and type your name at the top of a 5x7 card for informal personal stationery. Platinum users: check out the stylish new pink and brown argyle border from Fonts & Graphics Collection 2. Adjust your margins to 0.9" and personalize in matching brown text.

With notes this beautiful, you know your message will be well-received.

Pomp and Circumstance
A mortar board is not the only graphic you can use on a graduation party invitation -- though
PrintingPress has a cute one if you want it! Instead, use creativity to create an announcement or invitation as impressive as the achievement.

For a formal invitation, start with a folded 10" x 7" card and just print on the outside front. Find the alma mater’s emblem, or snap a digital photo of the school and import it onto the top of the page. Below, provide all the details of the diploma and event, highlighting the graduate’s name in the school color.

Graduation party invitations can also use the year as a decorative element. Create an impressive “2004” for the top of the card, or platinum users can use a vertical text box for the year to read down the side. We used a 4.25" x 5.5" card with a one inch margin on the left. These can be printed four at a time on one sheet of letter paper, and trimmed into quarters.

Announcement using new Isabelle font
(click photo to enlarge)

For perfect ribbon placement every time, make the top margin 1.2 inches. Choose ribbon hole markers to be .65 of an inch from the edge of the paper with .6 of an inch between them. Right under the margin, import a photo of the baby. Choose “Fade image border” from the Image menu and select the default option: 30% fade from the center in a rectangle. Depending on the photo, you can change the shape, direction or percentage of the fade. Platinum users can make their baby look rosier by slightly recoloring the image. In the Design menu, choose Image, and select “Recolor Image.” Adjust the hue and the brightness for the look you want. You can always choose “Restore Original Image” if you decide that you prefer the original photo.

Bleed to the edge
You can now have stylish patterns on your invitations and stationery without having to buy special paper. The new Fonts & Graphics Collection 2 includes 50 background patterns for full page designs to match your mood. To make the patterns bleed to the edge of your paper, follow these instructions.

The first thing you must do is decide what size card you’d like to use and then add 1.5 inches to each dimension. For example, if you’d like to print a 5 x 7 card, create one in PrintingPress that is 6.5 x 8.5 inches. Most printers leave a half inch margin of blank space around the edge, so this extra size will leave plenty of space for trimming.

Once you’ve set the dimensions, Platinum users can choose “Background Image”, “Add Background…” from the Design menu and select an image. This will automatically import the image to fill the page with a half inch margin around the edge. The stationery margins should then be adjusted to 1.25 inches on all sides. Once the project is finished and printed, trim .75 inches off each side.

Customers using the standard edition of PrintingPress can achieve the same result by creating two cards and printing twice. In PrintingPress, the first card should be the size of the finished card with an extra 1.5 inches in each direction and the margins set to zero. Import a background pattern and enlarge it to fill the entire card. Print, and trim .75 inches off of each side. Next, create a card set to the new trimmed size, design the text and print again.

See Mountaincow on Martha Stewart Living
Tune into Martha Stewart Living’s television show on Friday, May 14th at 9 am. Weddings Editor Darcy Miller will be reporting on trends in wedding stationery, including invitations printed using PrintingPress software with the included fern design. To find your local station, check out the Omnimedia Station Guide.

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