Mountaincow Monthly (September 2008)

HOME · MOUNTAINCOW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER (SEPTEMBER 2008) The stores are filled with Halloween gear, and the kids are already clamoring for candy. Why not gather everyone’s kids together for a Halloween parade before the trick-or-treating trek begins? We have a variety of invitations to fit any style gathering. Our sophisticated new personalized stationery designs will have you itching to pen some notes. If your little one is about to reach his or her very first birthday, we have adorable invitations to help you celebrate the milestone. And since it’s always wedding season here at Mountaincow, we have beautiful new wedding invitation designs featuring our Mountaincow Pocket Folders. Of course, don’t forget to order coordinating StationeryStamps, which are available for most of our designs. Check out tips on downloading projects, borderless printing and more in our Newsletter Notes section.

A treat for everyone One of the best parts about Halloween is seeing all of the kids dressed up in their costumes, so why not organize a Halloween parade for your kids and their friends? The kids love showing off their spooky selves, and it’s a fun way to get everyone organized to go trick-or-treating together. Our PrintingPress invitation features a cauldron filled with apples at the top of a White 4 x 5.25 inch custom cut card. We added the invitation text beneath the apples in black using the Benjamin Strong font from Fonts & Graphics 2. We used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the invitation to a Black A2 card. Send in a Deep Red A2 envelope with apple cauldron StationeryStamps. For a witchy affair, try our Platinum design. We added an adorable little witch to the bottom left corner of a White 4.5 x 6.5 inch custom cut card. Since we added the witch as a floating image, we adjusted the card’s margins to center the invitation text to the right of the little enchantress. We added the party details in black using the Charlotte font from Fonts & Graphics 3. Next we used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the invitation to a Black A7 card. Pair with a Mandarin Orange A7 envelope with our new witchie poo Personalized StationeryStamps. For an elegant gathering, check out our PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 invitation. We created an elegant design of vines surrounding an orchid in black & white and arranged two in the top left and bottom right corners of a Margarita A7 card. Then we created the same designs in off-white and recolored them to green and added three in each corner beneath the black orchids. Since we created the designs in off-white, you can easily recolor them to suit any color scheme. For tips on recoloring an image, see this month’s Extreme Tip. Next we added the invitation details in black using the Alyssa font and the Benjamin Caps font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. Since the orchid design goes all the way to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. We added our new gothic orchid (black & green) Personalized StationeryStamps to the Clover A7 envelope to complete the look.		PrintingPress sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Platinum sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 sample (click to enlarge)
PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 sample (click to enlarge)	Staying social We always love a good excuse to design new personalized stationery so you can send fabulous-looking notes to all your friends. It’s also an inexpensive way to update your style with the seasons – your paper style, that is! We used PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 to dress up our elegant Ecru stationery. We created a shape and filled it with a new woven pattern. We added a border to the shape and set the shape’s Shape to Line (Bottom) so that the border runs along the bottom of the shape. Next we set the shapes size to 5.5 inches wide by 2 inches tall and aligned the shape to the top of the Ecru A7 card. Then we created a floating text box to add the initial “M” in green using the Alyssa font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We turned off the text box’s Make White Transparent setting so that the text box’s background remains opaque. We added a custom border to the text box and set the border’s shape to Ticket (Landscape). To add the name, we created another floating text box and added the first and last name on two lines using the Benjamin Caps font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We centered the two text boxes atop the shape object so that the “M” is visible beneath the name. We filled the background of the Ecru 4-bar folded note card with the same pattern, and added the initial and name floating text boxes centered on the card. Since both designs run all the way to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. Both cards are paired with Ecru envelopes lined in Avocado. For a special touch, add our woven (willow) Personalized StationeryStamps.
The first of many Your child’s first birthday is a very special occasion, but you’re so busy taking care of your little one that you don’t have much time to plan the festivities. Don’t worry – we’ve got adorable invites for that special birthday boy or girl that you can whip up during nap time. Our PrintingPress design features a classic childhood icon: the red wagon. We added the wagon to the top of a White 4 x 5.25 inch custom cut card. We added the invitation text in all lowercase using the Times New Roman font. We used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the invitation to a Red A2 card. Send in a Deep Red A2 envelope with our new red wagon Personalized StationeryStamps. For a girl who loves puppies, try our Platinum invitation. We added an adorable puppy with a blue flower tucked behind her ear to the top of a White A7 card. We added a border of blue flowers around the edge of the card, and added the invitation text in blue using the Brina font from Fonts & Graphics 3. Since the flowers are so close the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. Tuck the invitation into a Dusty Blue A7 envelope lined in Powder Blue, and add puppy (blue) Personalized StationeryStamps for a dangerous level of cuteness. Our PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 design begins with a cupcake. We created a brown and white cupcake that is filled with a combination of white and off-white so that a pattern can be used for the frosting. We added the cupcake as a floating image and then created a shape object and floated it behind the cupcake. We created a custom pattern of pink and white polka dots to fill the shape. If your little one is a boy or just doesn’t love pink, create a custom pattern using any color that you like. For tips on creating custom patterns, review the Extreme Tip from the November 2005 issue of the Mountaincow Monthly. We added a custom border to the White 4-bar card, set the border’s width to 0.5 inches and filled the border with the same pink & white polka dot pattern. We added a 6 point brown inner pen to the border and set the line type to Dotted (overlapping fill). We added the invitation details in brown using the Charlotte font from Fonts & Graphics 3. We lined the Chocolate envelopes in Pink Lemonade and added cupcake (pink & brown) Personalized StationeryStamps.		PrintingPress sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Platinum sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 sample (click to enlarge)
PrintingPress sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Platinum sample (click to enlarge) PrintingPress Extreme 4.0 sample (click to enlarge)	Tying the knot Creating new wedding invitation designs is one of our favorite pastimes here at Mountaincow. We love to put together new color combinations, create stylish new motifs, and of course design coordinating postage. Our new wedding invitation designs are a mix of elegant and playful, and will work with almost any color scheme. For a fun, bold invitation, try our PrintingPress design. We started with a Black Mountaincow A2 Pocket Folder (pointed flap) as the base. We used a Sky 4-bar card for the invitation, adding black sketched outlines of flowers in the top left and bottom right corners of the card. We added the invitation text in black using the Benjamin Caps font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings, and added the bride and groom’s names in black using the Noodles font from Fonts & Graphics 3. Since the flowers are cut off at the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. Next we used a double-stick tape gun to mount the invitation to a White 3.875 x 5.25 custom cut card, and then mounted the pair to the Pocket Folder. We used a Sky 3.875 x 5.25 custom cut card for the directions insert, and used a Sky 4-bar card for the response card and paired it with a White 4-bar envelope. We repeated the blossom on the response card and then again on the Sky 3 x 2 inch seal, which was printed 4-up onto a 4 x 6 inch custom cut card. We used our printer’s borderless printing feature again for the response card and the seals, which we trimmed using a rotary trimmer. We used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the seal to a White 3.25 x 2.25 inch custom cut card, and then attached the pair to the flap of the Pocket Folder. Send in a Sky A2 envelope with blossom (sky) Personalized StationeryStamps. Our PrintingPress Platinum design centers on a decorative ampersand graphic, which is composed of small black squiggles and spirals. We created the project using a Mountaincow Complete Pocket Invitation Set in the A7 Landscape (rounded point flap) size. We added the ampersand to the upper left corner of the White invitation card, then used floating text boxes to add the bride and groom’s names in avocado on either side of the ampersand using the Alyssa Afternoon font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We added the invitation text to the bottom right of the invitation in black using the Benjamin Caps font from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings, adding the bride and groom’s names again in avocado. We used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the invitation to the Avocado backing card, then mounted the set to the Black Pocket Folder. We added a flourish to the top of the White directions enclosure card, and a different flourish to the White response card. We created 3 x 2 inch seals which we printed 4-up borderless onto White custom cut 4 x 6 inch cards, then trimmed using a rotary trimmer. We used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the seal to an Avocado 3.25 x 2.25 inch custom cut card, and then mounted the set to the flap of the Pocket Folder. Both the invitation and response envelopes are Avocado and use squiggle ampersand (willow) Personalized StationeryStamps. Feeling floral? Try our PrintingPress Extreme4.0 design featuring a Mountaincow Metallic Chocolate A8 Landscape Pocket Folder (pointed flap). We added a custom background to the White A7 backing card to fill it with a new custom pattern featuring white orchids surrounded by brown vines on a field of blue. We used our printer’s borderless printing feature to print the card. The White 3 x 5 inch custom cut invitation card features a single orchid in the bottom left corner, with the invitation text on the right side of the card. We added the bride and groom’s names in blue using the Alyssa Afternoon font, and the rest of the invitation text in brown using the Benjamin Caps font, both from Fonts & Graphics for Weddings. We used a double-stick tape gun to mount the invitation to a Metallic Chocolate 3.25 x 5.25 inch custom cut card, mounted the pair to the backing card, and then stuck the set to the Pocket Folder. We added the orchid to the top right corner of the White A7 directions enclosure card and to the bottom of the White 4-bar response card. We used PrintingPress Extreme’s label stationery type to create a sheet of 3 x 2 inch seals which feature the orchid, the bride and groom’s names and the date. We used a rotary trimmer to separate the seals and then used a double-stick tape gun to adhere each seal to a Powder Blue 3.25 x 2.25 inch custom cut card. Finally, we mounted the set to the flap of the Pocket Folder. We added orchid (brown & blue) Personalized StationeryStamps to the Powder Blue response envelope and the Metallic Chocolate A8 envelope.
A kaleidoscope of colors PrintingPress Extreme 4.0’s recolor image feature allows you to lay a color filter on top of any image to adjust all the colors in the image. Since the original color of the image affects the resulting adjusted color, we have found that it is easiest to achieve a custom color by starting from an off-white image using RGB(254, 254, 254). This month’s Extreme Halloween project uses off-white images, which makes it easy to take the design and customize it to your color scheme. And the PrintingPress Extreme’s shape tool is the key to getting the best results. The first thing that you want to do when recoloring an image is to create a shape object in the exact color that you are trying to achieve. This shape is going to act as a swatch of color for you to use to match the recolored image. First click on the shape to select it and then choose Arrange, Move to Back in the Object menu to move the shape behind your image in the card’s layers. Next place the shape so that it is slightly overlapping your image as shown in the example below. We have zoomed in on the image to make it easier to see the colors. For tips on zooming your stationery view, please review the Extreme Tip from the December 2007 issue of the Mountaincow Monthly. (click to enlarge) Now double-click on the image that you want to recolor and click on the Adjust tab. Check the Make white transparent checkbox and choose Recolor in the Adjust color section. Make sure that the Edit image window is not completely covering your shape and click on the Sample Color button in the Adjust color section. Then use the color dropper to get the color from your shape as shown below and PrintingPress Extreme will adjust the Hue, Saturation and Brightness to give you good starting values for adjusting your image. (click to enlarge) Click on the OK button to save the changes and you will see the new, adjusted color on top of the shape as shown below. (click to enlarge) Double-click on the image again and click on the Adjust tab. You will need to adjust the Hue, Saturation and Brightness values to move the image’s adjusted color closer to the desired color. In our example, we need to darken and desaturate the image (make the color less vibrant). So we decreased the values in the Brightness and Saturation fields and clicked on the OK button. The green seemed a bit too yellow, so we double-clicked on the image again and increased the value in the Hue field to move the color away from yellow and towards blue. The finished result is shown below. (click to enlarge) Once you have achieved the desired color, remove the shape object. If you have several images to recolor as we do in our example, write down the Hue, Saturation and Brightness values so that you can recolor the other images the same way. The recolored images are shown below. (click to enlarge) For Experts Only If you need to adjust your color further, another trick is to adjust the image’s transparency. This allows you to further desaturate a color by first decreasing the brightness, and then decreasing the opacity. When adjusting the image’s transparency, you move the shape so that it only partially overlaps with your image and then choose Arrange, Move to Front in the Object menu to bring the shape in front of your image. If you leave the image in front of the shape, the shape’s color will start to affect how the adjusted color looks since the shape will show through the image as the image becomes more transparent.
Note: StationeryStamps™ products are made possible as a result of the expanded Customized Postage Program from the United States Postal Service. StationeryStamps™ are produced in collaboration with Pitney Bowes, an authorized Customized Postage Provider.