ANNI ARTS PRINTABLE CRAFTS

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:27:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FREE FRIDAY
Recycling Christmas Cards Ebook and Templates Sample
NEWS FLASH:
Recycling Christmas Cards Ebook and Templates is 50% off!

Are you a tenacious recycler? I am working on the sequel to Recycling Christmas Cards Ebook and Templates that will be about recycling other greeting cards into practical and pretty items too! So the first Ebook and Templates are on special offer till end of August –to give crafters a head start with recycling old Christmas cards for the upcoming Christmas craft fairs. Do have a look, get the free template sample from the blog freebies and versatile wrapping paper from the tryout freebies for subscribers – and recycle away.

50 LOVELY PROJECTS 40 CRAFT TEMPLATES

This Ebook and Template Collection is a popular product, with many proven craft fair favorites to make from used Christmas cards. The templates are ready and scaled to size. And no Anni Arts crafter's license is required.

Recycling suggestions mostly involve the making of yet more cards, but this two-part set has instructions, color photo's of each project and a collection of templates to create beautiful and durable new items like:

• FABULOUS SCRAPBOOKING

• PRETTY PACKAGING

• LITTLE PERSONAL GIFTS

• FUN FAVORS

• SMALL TOKENS OF APPRECIATION

• CREATIVE CONTAINERS

A CD sleeve sample from the template collection for recycling used Xmas cards

The monthly FRIDAY FREEBIE (above) for August is up, so sign in here
(You have to subscribe first to get the Friday Freebie and password then follow the link above – the blog freebie is only available by clicking the links on the blog. Other freebies have nav buttons on my site). The same password is valid for all Anni Arts freebies.

Lots of freebies!: Subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

Don't miss the Weekend Wrapper series free on this blog. Chocolate wrappers from Vintage graphics with many themes for all occasions! Nothing beats a nice choc slab as a quick gift. Start collecting your arsenal of wrappers.
• Anni Arts has Valentine cardmaking kits, printables, chocolate wrappers and 3D cards.
• Printables created with vintage scraps, like Vintage Valentines are part of the special Anni Arts Vintage ranges.
Find unique cardmaking kits, templates, scrapbooking, chocwrappers, wedding stationery, favors and ebooks to download and print. There's a super Anni Arts Printable Crafts Club, Licenses for Home Business Crafters and many Freebies for Art Mail Subscribers too. And if you like the designs, but are not a crafter, there are many ready goods and online scrapbooks to order.
http://www.anniarts.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:50:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FREE FRIDAY
Blue porcelain tea cup paper

The monthly FRIDAY FREEBIE for July is up, so sign in here
(You have to subscribe first to get the Friday Freebie and password then follow the link above – the freebie is only available by clicking that link). The same password is valid for all Anni Arts freebies.

Lots of freebies!: Subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:36:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER 7: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER

VINTAGE FATHER'S DAY

Use it to wrap a bar of chocolate for a quick gift for Father's Day, birthdays, promotion etc.

Make sure you collect all the Weekend Wrappers, because you will build a library of wrappers perfect for any occasion or person! A wrapped chocolate bar is the perfect little gift. My favourite bar is a Green and Blacks organic slab, but every country has its own brands of chocolate slabs.

This wrapper will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first to get your password for all Anni Arts freebies!)

LOTS OF VINTAGE GRAPHICS AND INSPIRATION FOR PROJECTS IN THE ANNI ARTS STORE:

These craft books and many more are available from the Anni Arts Craft Store

Don't miss the Friday Freebies!

And a new article series on Black and White Designs, Weddings and more has started.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

Dont forget:

This month's Free Friday link
There are more articles for syndication on Anni Arts

Find unique cardmaking kits, templates, scrapbooking, chocwrappers, wedding stationery, favors and ebooks to download and print. There's a super Anni Arts Printable Crafts Club, Licenses for Home Business Crafters and many Freebies for Art Mail Subscribers too. And if you like the designs, but are not a crafter, there are many ready goods and online scrapbooks to order.
http://www.anniarts.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:58:00 +0000

Continuing the series on black and white wedding themes.

2 IDEAS and INSPIRATION FOR A BLACK and WHITE WEDDING

A black and white wedding is suitable for many wedding styles. One of the most adaptable is a relaxed country-style wedding. This in turn could be of the grand manor house variety or be cozy and pretty cottage affair.

When I talk about country style I don't mean the frilly, fussy and contrived country style of a couple of years ago. I'm talking about a contemporary version with easy coordination, retro touches, romantic overtones and attention to small details. The type of wedding where everybody is at ease - in the spirit of old time country weddings when an entire villiage and district would turn up. And invitations, favors, flowers and food were homemade, handmade and self made.

If you want to go upmarket with a more sophisticated touch, the venue could be a pretty country hotel, an established country club, a country estate complete with manor house, or an old wayside inn. In the European countries you could opt for a rural French chateau, a German Landhaus, a Swedish slott or the equivalents of these in old countries.

Then again it might be a vintage town or church hall, a childhood home, a barn on a farm or a summer cottage garden. The venue can even be the couple’s own first cottage, townhouse or apartment if it is a small event with only the closest friends and family attending. Intimate wedding celebrations have been of the nicest I have attended and I see a return to this trend now that weddings that have the budget of a small country, might be out of financial reach for many people.

There are many ways to get country-ease even in the busiest city. It all depends on the mood and the look. Keep it informal and make it pretty. Once you've decided on a style your next task will be to choose a graphic for your black and white wedding theme.

Staying with the country-style, a suitable BW graphic could be:

• An old engraving or lithograph

• An illustration from a vintage advertisement

• A toile de Jouy-type bucolic landscape and people

• A BW botanical print

• A woodcut or scraperboard illustration

• An etching

• A pen and ink drawing

• Folksy paper cutouts – many countries have folk tradition of paper cutting and contemporary artists love this medium too.

• Black and White Clipart

• A bold lino cut or silkscreen

• A black and white photograph of a romantic scene, flowers or vintage wedding.

It is important to start with a suitable graphic because your wedding stationery sets the tone for the entire black and white wedding theme. It’s a winning choice – whether you choose plain white budget stationery or fancy textured paper. You could also opt for cream or ivory colored paper - especially if your dress is going to be any of these tones.

Anni Arts has Black and White Wedding printables in a pretty BW paper-cutout design, as downloads, CD and scrapbook items

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

You may use this article in its entirety as long as the Anni Arts credit above is included

• Printables with a birdcage and lovebird theme in Black and White or in Black and White plus pink or red

• Silver and white make a nice alternative and is also applicable to silver wedding anniversaries

• See the whole Anni Arts wedding index

Anni Arts designs unique cardmaking kits, templates, scrapbooking, chocwrappers, wedding stationery, favors and ebooks to download and print. There's a super Anni Arts Printable Crafts Club, Licenses for Home Business Crafters and many Freebies for Art Mail Subscribers too. And if you like the designs, but are not a crafter, there are many ready goods and online scrapbooks to order.http://www.anniarts.com/

• Subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail

• The same password is valid for all Anni Arts freebies.Don't miss the monthly Friday Freebie and weekly Weekend Wrapper series free on this blog. Chocolate wrappers from Vintage graphics with many themes for all occasions! Nothing beats a nice choc slab as a quick gift. Start collecting your arsenal of wrappers.

Weekend Wrapper 7

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:53:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER 6: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER

VINTAGE FLOWERS

Use it to wrap a bar of chocolate for a quick gift for Mother's Day, birthdays and friendship

Make sure you collect all the Weekend Wrappers, because you will build a library of wrappers perfect for any occasion or person! A wrapped chocolate bar is the perfect little gift. My favourite bar is a Green and Blacks organic slab, but every country has its own brands of chocolate slabs.

This wrapper will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first to get your password for all Anni Arts!)

SIMILAR GRAPHICS AND INSPIRATION FOR YOUR PROJECTS:

These craft books and many more are available from the Anni Arts Craft Store

Don't miss the Friday Freebies!

And a new article series on Black and White Designs, Weddings and more has started.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

Dont forget:

This month's Free Friday link
There are more articles for syndication on Anni Arts

Friday Freebie for May

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:16:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FREE FRIDAY

The monthly FRIDAY FREEBIE for May is up, so sign in here now

(You have to subscribe first to get the Friday Freebie and password then follow the link above – the freebie is only available by clicking that link). The same password is valid for all Anni Arts freebies.

Lots of freebies!: Subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

• Anni Arts has Valentine cardmaking kits, printables, chocolate wrappers and 3D cards.
• Printables created with vintage scraps, like Vintage Valentines are part of the special Anni Arts Vintage ranges.

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:22:00 +0000

I have been doing a lot of travelling since the last post, so my blog has been severely neglected. However, I'm back with a new series on black and white wedding themes.

1 A BLACK and WHITE WEDDING THEME:
VERSATILE and EASY

A black and white wedding theme might be a novel idea to many brides-to-be, but this classic, dynamic, graphic, sophisticated and romantic combination really is the best of all wedding color schemes.

These colors combine effortlessly. No complicated matching of exact shades and colors across a variety of materials and wedding products! No need to carry around swatches and samples. Black and white is black and white. Even if there are slight variations of tone, it will still be interpreted as black and white. Or you could consciously choose crème or ivory in stead of pure white for paper, textiles and your dress.

It is a very versatile scheme – and need I say it – SO fashionable right now. You can dress these two colors up or down. They are perfect for any style and can be adapted to any theme.

The beauty of planning for a black and white wedding is that this color scheme enhances both the most sophisticated and the most humble of materials. Flowers, crockery, cutlery and table linen all benefit from this color partnership.

Fine bone china and silver reach a new level of sophistication. Paper picnic ware and plastic cutlery instantly develop a cheerful smartness. White stoneware takes on a bistro air. And pretty mismatched china becomes a unified cottagey collection when teamed with black and white. Think black and white gingham, dots or stripes as background to mismatched floral china.

There is no need for specific black and white wedding supplies either. Those "plain white” items from the caterer are exactly what you need. Embrace all the regular white crockery, chairs, tents and flowers. And keep an eye out for “budget” items from discount stores. They’re just waiting for sassy black and white accessories.

The discount special on “black ink and plain stock” card and paper from the printer is tailor made for your black and white wedding invitations and other stationery. Just add a black and white ribbon to a card with stock wedding graphics and you suddenly have something special.
Or better still – print them yourself.

Because this is a perfect, foolproof, easy – and best of all – budget color scheme, it is ideal for crafters, printable crafts and do it yourself weddings.

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

You may use this article in its entirety as long as the Anni Arts credit above is included

• Anni Arts has Black and White Wedding printables in a pretty BW paper-cutout design, as downloads, CD and scrapbookitems

• Printables with a birdcage and lovebird theme in Black and White or in Black and White plus pink or red

• Silver and white make a nice alternative and is also applicable to silver wedding anniversaries

• See the whole Anni Arts wedding index

• Subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:04:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER 6: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER

CELTIC ANIMAL STYLE ORNAMENTATION

Use it to wrap a bar of chocolate for a quick gift for e.g. Irish occasions, birthdays and events

Make sure you collect all the Weekend Wrappers, because you will build a library of wrappers perfect for any occasion or person! A wrapped chocolate bar is the perfect little gift. My favourite bar is a Green and Blacks organic slab, but every country has its own brands of chocolate slabs.

This wrapper will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first to get your password for all Anni Arts!)

SIMILAR GRAPHICS AND INSPIRATION FOR YOUR PROJECTS:

These craft books and many more are available from the Anni Arts Craft Store
Don't miss coming Friday for this month's Printable Crafts Friday Freebie

I hope you enjoyed the articles about the history of scraps and albums.

And a new article series on Black and White Designs, Weddings and more is starting this week.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

Dont forget:

This month's Free Friday link
There are more articles for syndication on Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:55:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FREE FRIDAY

The monthly FRIDAY FREEBIE for March is up, so sign in here now

(You have to subscribe first to get the Friday Freebie and password then follow the link above – the freebie is only available by clicking that link).

Lots of freebies!: Subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail. The same password is valid for all Anni Arts freebies.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:08:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER 5: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER

BLACK and WHITE VINTAGE ENGRAVINGS

Use it to wrap a bar of chocolate for a quick gift. Add a tag and ribbon in a contrast colour if you wish.

This wrapper will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first to get your password!)

SIMILAR BW VINTAGE GRAPHICS FOR YOUR PROJECTS:

These craft books and many more are available from the Anni Arts Craft Store
Don't miss coming Friday for this month's Printable Crafts Friday Freebie

I hope you enjoyed the articles about the history of scraps and albums.

And a new article series on Black and White Designs, Weddings and more is starting this week.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

Dont forget:

Previous month's Free Friday link
There are more articles for syndication on Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:22:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER 4: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER

HOPE AND FRIENDSHIP VINTAGE SCRAPS

It will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first to get your password!)

A History of Printed Scraps
THE HISTORY OF SCRAPBOOKS AND ALBUMS

The last article in the series that was compiled from the interesting book below:

Scrapbook albums flourished from the early 1800s to late Edwardian times. Early scrapbooks were an extension of the vogue for recording personal mementoes and thoughts, which was popular at the time.

A great deal of personal writing and poetry was included which often included personal narrative and verses in journal-style. Extracts of plays, passages from literature, and dedications on the flyleaf were also featured.

Pencil drawings and water colours are a feature of the early scrapbooks too.

The scrap evolved from the simplest black and white engravings to heavily embossed chromolithograph reliefs printed in sheets. As scrap albums became popular, they were crammed full of scraps of embossed reliefs.

Albums revealed a spectrum of subject matter and included pictures ranging from the romantic to wildlife, agriculture, architecture, the military, flowers and seasonal.Quips, comments and verses were included.

The scraps were combined with a variety of material selected by the compiler of the album. These included photos, postcards, certificates, greeting cards and advertising material. In fact, scrap albums can be roughly dated by the type of material included in them.

Some of the earliest examples of embossing in the UK were decorative and embossed price tags, wrappers and milliners stock control tickets from 1820 to 1830. These were often ornately illustrated and were valued motifs in scrap albums.

During the 1830’s and 1840’s companies dealing in reliefs and chromos expanded their production of luxury paper goods to include specially manufactured albums.

Albums of this era were of high quality with covers of fine-tooled leather and paper of exceptional quality. They included prepared pages with rectangular and oval spaces for the insertion of lithographs and printed material and had lavishly printed endpages. Beautiful pages with scraps devoted to particular themes were created by creative owners.

Some albums had engraved clasps and brass locks. Many had extra pages with magnificently embossed images like birds and flowers or additions of thicker pages for drawings and water colours. Some also had decorations preprinted onto some of the pages and contained preprinted poems and texts from plays and literature.

More interesting Vintage Valentine Books

The fronticepiece of an album often contained a pun on the word scrap. Examples are titles like “Scrapiana” and a picture of dog with a message in its mouth that reads: “Scraps most greatfully received” or “ I want all the scraps I can collect”.

The 1850’s to the 1880’s saw a great increase in the use of cut out paper material juxtaposed with reliefs. Clippings and pictures from newspapers, magazines and Ladies’ Journals were used alongside embossed scraps. Many collectors arranged their albums thematically and some spectacular reliefs were devoted to topical scrapbooks like Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.

The period from 1880-1890 was the Golden Age of the printed relief scraps. Sophisticated albums were created with many categories of reliefs. The enormous range of subject matter mirrored the varied interests of the age. Scrapbooks often had material from many different countries.

The scraps of the First World War and depression era were produced on poor quality paper with bleeding inks. After the 1930’s the demand for scraps started to fall. People stopped creating their own entertainment when radio and cinema became ever more
popular. The rise of popular photography also meant that albums were devoted to snap shots and captions in stead of scraps and journaling.

After the Second World War, the look and nature of scrapbooks changed completely as they simply became holding places for clippings from magazine pages and newspapers and were often chucked away. They no longer were the cherished creations of the 19th century.

Scrapbooks had to wait for the scrap revival of the 1990’s to once more take their place as lavishly created keepers of memories. Professionally designed scrap pages and elements reappeared to enchant creative scrappers with endless beautiful themes.

There are more articles about Printable Crafts, Design and Art to follow, so visit often.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

Dont forget:

This month's Free Friday link
You may use this artcle as long as the above paragraph with link back to Anni Arts is used. There are more articles for syndication on Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:08:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER 3

Vintage scraps of winter fun and a winter kiss on this Weekend Wrapper. It is in high res 300 dpi PDF format. It will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS

(You have to subscribe first to get your password!)

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

See More Valentine Printable Crafts by Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:42:00 +0000

A History of Printed Scraps
THE TRADE IN FANCY GOODS

The following article was compiled from the very interesting book below:

The scrap, which evolved from small black engraved images, developed into black and white lithographs. In the early 1800’s stationers and book-sellers sold black and white lithographs as juvenile scrap sheets – also called comic cuts. These black and white scraps were often skillfully coloured by hand.

Images on the early sheets were seldom clearly separated and would often run into one another. Some were separated by a white margin. Often there was one central panel with a variety of related scenes around it.

The development of colour lithography (chromolithography) in 1837 led to heavily embossed chromolithograph reliefs printed on sheets. The images were first reproduced on clumsy lithographic stones, followed by the development of steel lithoplates which made large scale printing possible.

The first significant use of small hand-tinted litho prints were German bakers and the scraps or “Oblaten” they used to decorate confirmation wafers. The bakers placed scraps as educational pictorial aids on the wafers.

The name “Oblaten” was retained even when it was extended to non-religious products and become a general term for scraps. The scraps were also called Reliefbilder, Pressbilder and Glanzbilder which referred to the glossy sheen from the gum and gelatine coating.

Printers began providing a wider variety of decorations for the baker’s trade as the bakers extended the scraps from religious to festive fare. These included cakes and confectionery for birthdays and parties, as well as for traditional festive and seasonal occasions.

People began collecting the pretty decorations on the baked goods. A favourite was the figure of Saint Nick for the 6th of December. Biscuits were stamped into Santa shapes with a full-colour scrap of him on the biscuits.

More interesting Vintage Valentine Books

Germany was the best and most prolific producer of high standard scraps and charming cards. The German scraps became very popular in all of Europe, the UK and the colonies, America. In Scandinavia they were called “glansbilder” or “glansbilleder” and in France were called "noveautes" or chromos.

Interest for scraps extended to UK and its colonies, America, Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. In UK, America and elsewhere the imports and the increased local production led to an increase in trade of scraps and fancy goods like albums and cards.

From 1850, dealers and publishers of fancy stationery and fancy boxes were quick to use the new materials and their businesses flourished.

Augustine Thierry introduced the Xmas card to England and the chromolithographs imported by Edward Elliot led to the rapid rise in the sale of Valentines. Scraps were also popular for Christmas, Easter and Birthday cards.

Sheets depicting scenes and views on a rectangular format were produced for albums, scrapbooks, boxes and screens for crafting by ladies of leisure. The supply of small chromos and sheets of elaborately embossed reliefs in a vast array of subject matter and for every occasion spread as an independent business.

Improved methods of production resulted in large numbers of fine quality reliefs being exported from the continental countries like Germany and France.

By the close of the 19th century scrap sheets were a highly lucrative business.

There are more articles in the series on the History of Scraps to follow, so visit often.

Dont forget:

This month's Free Friday link and This week's Weekend Wrapper link!

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

You may use this artcle as long as the above paragraph with link back to Anni Arts is used. There are more articles for syndication on Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:47:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER 2

Sweet Vintage Valentine scraps on this Weekend Wrapper. It is in high res 300 dpi PDF format. It will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first to get your password!)

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

See More Valentine Printable Crafts by Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:54:00 +0000

A History of Printed Scraps
PRINTING and PRODUCTION

The following article was compiled from the very interesting book below:

Scraps refer to small images that were engraved or lithographically printed and often embossed. They date from the late 1700’s to the 1930’s. They were used on cards, in albums, on fancy boxes and on screens. They were also referred to as chromos and reliefs.

Small black engraved images had long been printed for publication and a variety of other uses. In 1789, black and white lithography was invented. At first the images were reproduced on clumsy lithographic stones. This was followed by the development of steel litho-plates which made large scale printing possible.

An early form of crafting with scraps was the application of these small prints to furniture and boxes for what was called The Art of Japanning. These objects were then lacquered to achieve an oriental gloss effect.

In the early 1800’s stationers and book-sellers sold black and white lithographs as juvenile scrap sheets –also called comic cuts. These black and white scraps were often skillfully coloured by hand and depicted themes like agricultural scenes and trades.

Colour lithography (chromolithography) was developed in 1837. A picture was separated into its constituent colours. A plate was prepared for each colour and high quality prints could have as many as 26 colour separations.

More interesting Vintage Valentine Books

Relief embossing – which produced a 3D effect– was then introduced as a next step. The first presses which worked with counter-balanced swinging weights were later replaced with steam-driven presses.

Before embossing, the artwork was coated with a film of gelatine and gum. Then a die was stamped into the reversed side of the colour-printed sheet, which slightly stretched paper. The gum and gelatine prevented the stretched paper from cracking and also provided a highly glazed sheen. The early chromos were so deeply embossed that they resembled carvings. Some pictures were embossed on a stiff textile called cambric.

A further process used a cutting die to separate the surplus areas around the shape of the image. The die-cut pictures were held together on a sheet with connecting paper ‘ladders.’ Manual labourers had to ensure that all excess paper was neatly removed for a picture with a clean outline.

Later, a frosting of Mica was additionally sprinkled on to the scrap on selected gummed areas for a glitter effect.

Most expensive was the process of finishing the reliefs with gold leaf. This was done between the embossing and cutting processes. A sheet of gold leaf was placed on the surface of the scrap sheet and then heated with a brass die. The lacquer on the scraps were melted and fused the gold leaf onto the relief.

Innovative developments within the printing industry enabled the price of scraps and reliefs to be lowered. The sizes that could be efficiently produced grew from the early small scraps to large beautifully printed reliefs.

There are more articles in the series on the History of Scraps to follow, so visit often.

Dont forget:

This month's Free Friday link and This week's Weekend Wrapper link!

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:05:00 +0000

LUCKY IN LOVE

Feeling lucky? There are ready products with filigree hearts and lucky charms, luck gifts to personalize, online scrapbooking, scrapbooking for your walls with these posters, cards and printable crafts in the Anni Arts Luck ranges. The lucky in love range is perfect for love and Valentines with a card, chocolate wrapper and nifty little gift pacakges.

Don't forget this month's Friday Freebie and this week's Weekend Wrapper printable crafts freebies. You have to follow each link from the blog!

FREE FRIDAY VALENTINE NOTELET

The monthly FRIDAY FREEBIE is up, so sign in here now (You have to subscribe to get the Friday Freebie and password)

WEEKEND WRAPPER

A collage of Old Vintage Valentine cards on this Weekend Wrapper. It is in high res 300 dpi PDF format. It will stay up for a limited period to make space for the next one, so download when you see it from ANNI ARTS (You have to subscribe first remember to get your password!)

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/
See More Valentine Printable Crafts by Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:55:00 +0000

WEEKEND WRAPPER: FREE CHOCOLATE WRAPPER

(You have to subscribe first to get your password!)

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

See More Valentine Printable Crafts by Anni Arts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:06:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FREE FRIDAY

The monthly FRIDAY FREEBIE is up, so sign in here now

(You have to subscribe to get the Friday Freebie and password)

VINTAGE VALENTINES A History of Printed Scraps
The images of vintage Valentines, so popular today, are closely associated with the development of scraps, scrapbooking, card making and decoupage.

Get a freebie of this set: subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail

The small images, referred to as scraps, developed first from black and white engravings and hand-coloured lithographs to colour-printed chromolithographs. From the early 1800’s to the 1930’s, scraps were used to decorate specially manufactured blank greeting cards, albums, boxes and furniture such as room screens. The scraps portrayed a vast spectrum of themes, including the outrageously romantic.

From the 1850s, sheets of scrap reliefs were especially manufactured for Valentines with small corner scraps that were surrounded by main ornamentation and verses. Tiny scraps of embossed figures, children, trumpets, hearts and flowers were arranged on sheets and could be added to the Valentines.

Flowers were also an important theme on printed cards and images of magnificent bouquets were printed on cards of exceptional paper quality. Sometimes manufacturers printed interesting words and verses on the back of scraps. Scrap reliefs were often hinged and then showed the verse when opened.

A further development of the valentine card was the much cherished Valentine box. These were often very elaborate, costly to produce and many hours in the making. The boxes were decorated on the outside and inside with scrap reliefs of flowers, hearts, birds and other images, ribbons, beads and feathers.

Get a freebie from this set: subscribe to Anni Arts Art Mail

Valentines were in decline by the early 1900's. They had almost fallen into disuse when they were revived by the English printer Raphael Tuck in 1926. After another period of decline due to WW II, Valentines steadily rose in popularity again to become the lucrative business it is today.

Printable crafts in our day continue the tradition of special paper crafts for Valentines. And those original vintage Valentines from the heyday of scraps are once more produced as elements for scrapbooks, card making, journaling and decoupage.

Anni Arts has professionally designed and illustrated printable crafts, templates and graphics specially created for crafters by designer Anneke Lipsanen http://www.anniarts.com/

You may use this artcle as long as the above paragraph with link back to Anni Arts is used. There is an extended version of the article for syndication too on Anni Arts.

• Anni Arts has Valentine cardmaking kits, printables, chocolate wrappers (above) and 3D cards.
• Printables created with vintage scraps, like Vintage Valentines are part of the special Anni Arts Vintage ranges.
Find unique cardmaking kits, templates, scrapbooking, chocwrappers, wedding stationery, favors and ebooks to download and print. There's a super Anni Arts Printable Crafts Club, Licenses for Home Business Crafters and many Freebies for Art Mail Subscribers too. And if you like the designs, but are not a crafter, there are many ready goods and online scrapbooks to order.
http://www.anniarts.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:15:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS IDEAS VIDEO
I would like to share this video I made from photo's of printable crafts made with the Anni Arts ranges on the "Best of Anni Arts" printable crafts CD. They are also some of the ranges in the Printable Crafts Club.
http://www.youtube.com/user/printablecrafts

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:19:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FOR HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS 5

Part five in the series of uses for printable crafts

Favors for Special Occasions. A Favor is a small token of appreciation. For example: a guest can give a favor to a hostess for having been invited for dinner. Or the hostess can give guests a small favor, usually by putting it at each place setting. The most famous favors are of course those given to wedding guests by the bridal couple. And then there are the "loot bags" of children's parties.

Printable crafts were made for the creation of pretty favor containers. Such containers enhance the contents of the favor. Printable packaging can be customized with carefully chosen graphics and personalized for each recipient. And packaging that you print yourself cost a fraction of store-bought ones. I am astounded by how speciality packaging in the stores almost cost as much as the gift!

Many packaging templates are very quick to assemble and I would recommend them for favors. More expensive gifts can have special packaging that take more of your time.

• A cone printed out as a complete template on paper or cardstock can be filled with candy, chocolates, almonds or wrapped sweets. The items can first be wrapped in a tissue cone before inserting that into the printed cone. Either put the cone on a plate at each place setting, or attach a handle and hang it from a chair. Cones are also great on Xmas trees and Easter branches.

• A small shopping-type bag is another perfect container, as it can be filled with anything from chocolates to a charm bracelet. Either seal it with a sticker, or add handles from ribbon or a paper strip. Add a tag with a message.

• Pillow packets are easy to construct and snap into a puff pillow that can contain a hankie, candy, votive candles, soap and so on.

• A little box is trickier to construct, but it turns even a single chocolate truffle nestled in tissue paper into a glamorous presentation.

• Then there are flat envelope-sized packets that can be filled with cocoa, coffee, small sweets, seeds, bath salts or a single flattish cookie.(Put anything that can make grease spots in food safe plastic packets first.)

Use versatile printable crafts next time you need a nifty favor container for a hostess, wedding, guest or birthday party.

Happy printable crafting

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

The items above are printables from Anni Arts Wedding Favors in pink, black and white. There are other colors available too, as well as a Template Collection to use with your own paper or the Anni Arts printable Pattern Pages for template crafts. Do subscribe for Anni Arts freebies!

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:05:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FOR HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS 4

Part four in the series on the wonders and possibilities of printable crafts.

Little gifts and tokens of appreciation are perfect items that can be crafted with printables. We all sometimes need to give a "little something" gift. A small token of acknowledgement, congratulations, or thank you. To wish someone luck or hope, or to get well. Or as a birthday gift to e.g. a co-worker. You may not know them very well, but you would still like to acknowledge her or his special day.

Printable crafts are one way to make a modest item special by personalizing it, or to specially create a new item entirely for the recipient.

I am assuming that besides your computer and suitable software, you also have basics like scissors, a craft knife, a steel-edged ruler or guillotine, glue and suitable paper or cardstock to print on.

• An easy, favorite and all-occasion winner is to print a pretty wrapping with personalized text for a bar of chocolate. Two of the most widely available and suitable sizes are 1.55 oz Hershey bars and 100g European chocolate slabs.

There are ready-to-print wrappers available online if you want have a quick and ready solution, or you can use a printable motif and put it in a repeat pattern in a graphics program. A printable vignette picture can also be glued to colored card or paper in a matching color.
Then you could still add a matching printable tag and a printable border design as ribbon around the middle of the bar. A wrapped choc is one of the most versatile quick gifts – and the chocolate bar itself can be an ordinary, budget bar or a luxurious one. The Green and Blacks Organic 100g bar of dark chocolate and a Lindt 100g bar are examples of the latter.

Tip: Unless you buy special made-for-wrapping bars, make your personalized wrapping over the original wrapping so that the recipient can check ingredients in case of allergies.

• A bottle of wine can be personalized with a custom printable label too. Cut your label slightly bigger than the one on the bottle, but leave the small back label visible. You can also soak the label off first (which would remove the back label too) or scratch it off gently with a craft knife.

The same goes for a cooldrink bottle, beer bottle or a health drink – even a bottle of water.

• Items like luggage tags and small sewing kits or shower cap packets are practical little gifts for someone going on a journey. The luggage tag can be laminated in plastic if you have inserted or typed the recipients address already.

• A pretty printable box or packet will elevate a small, gift into something special. Like a golf ball in a custom box, bath salts or potpourri in a pretty packet and candy in a cone.

• Or what about something drinkable like a few special teabags or coffee pods in little printable envelopes, or cocoa in a little bag.

• Lollipops can have little personalized covers and these can be inserted into a bunch of flowers, or can be tied together with a ribbon like a bunch of flowers.

• Candles are another versatile and inexpensive gift. Add a printable wrapper around two candles or around a pillar candle and add a coordinating tag. A votive candle in a glass container can also be dressed up this way.

• Add a printable topper to a packet of home baked cookies. Add a custom label or a tag.

Tip: Wrap any food that can spill or stain in food-safe plastic or cellophane first.

• Nice artisan soap is another item that can be wrapped and beautifully presented with the help of printable crafts. Wrap the soap in plain or printed paper. Then add a border design around the bar and add a tag or label.

• Any bath product – like bath oil, bubble bath or bath salts – can be personalized with a printable label. Tie a matching tag around the neck of the bottle with a pretty ribbon.
Again, I would leave back labels intact so that the recipient can read the ingredients in case if an allergy.

Tip: Why not make up coordinated combinations of many of the above for unique personalized gifts? Coordinate printable craft motifs and colors and put the items in a basket, pretty bag or gallon can for a "pamper hamper."

• Printable crafts can also be combined with store bought items to round out a single item.
You can combine drinking chocolate in a printable packet with marshmallows in a bought mug. The above-mentioned teabags or coffee pods can be combined with a mug too.

A small toy can be combined with a bouquet of customized lollipops for a sick child and a book can be combined with a printed bookmark and wrapped chocolate.

These budget-friendly ideas can all be used to solve those "little gift" dilemmas for any occasion.

Happy printable crafting

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Do visit Anni Arts for more
Printable Crafts on the Photos from the Luck Gifts Printable Crafts range by Anni Arts
Coordinating Print on Demand Luck Gifts are perfect with the printables.
Matching Luck Gifts to personalize online are available too.
Subscribe to the Art Mail newsletter to access and receive new freebies.
The Bumper "Best Of" CD has 14 favorite Anni Arts ranges. Anni Arts has printable Pattern Pages and Favor Templates for further gift crafting too.

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:07:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FOR HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS 3

Part three in the series on the wonders and possibilities of printable crafts.

Now that we are all so used to quick stay-in-touch emails, isn't receiving real snail mail an unexpected pleasure? Printable crafts make it possible to create correspondence that is memorable and that will create a lasting impression with the recipient.

Printable stationery items can be customized on your computer to include names and text of your choice. This further enhances and personalizes the item. All you really need (besides your computer) are scissors, a craft knife, a steel-edged ruler or guillotine, glue, and suitable paper or cardstock to print on.

Here are suggestions how to make stationery that is a pleasure to receive in the mail:

• Craft a card.

Make use of printable cards offered online. They are a good investment, as they can be printed out repeatedly, while costing the same or less than a card bought in a store. You can build up an occasion library to be used again and again.

The quality of modern desktop printing is fabulous and can be further improved by using photo or speciality papers. Printing, cutting and folding a printable card is super easy and much quicker than walking or driving to a store – and ecologically much sounder.

Alternatively, you can use colored cardstock as a card base. Then embellish it with printable pictures for a quick and pretty card. Also use those bits of ribbon off cuts and odd buttons.

To make it more special, you can make a card with a dimensional cover. Print a few copies of the main graphic. Cut out along the outlines. Paste all the pics in layers, or paste just selected parts in layers. Raise the layers by using the little sticky foam squares made for 3D cards.

Use inserts for the card that are a bit smaller than the card itself for inside messages.

The insert can be loose, lightly glued on the spine, or tied in with a ribbon (which looks very pretty.) The insert can be in a color that coordinates with the printable on the front cover.

It can also have a miniature of the cover pic, as well as a printed message or poem.

(I suggest you always sign your name in ink though. Having your name in a typographical font would be too impersonal.)

Another alternative is to lay out the card as a quaterfold card. This makes the inside of the card part of the sheet the card is constructed from. It also allows a card to be constructed from paper only, because the double fold makes it sturdy.

The page (A4 or letter size) must be divided into 4 equal areas.

Keep important info away from the edges and floating within each quadrant.

This is because the slightest shift when printing can throw designs with frames and straight lines off-center easily. But it is not really noticeable if a free-floating design is a smidgen out of line.

• It is easy to make a postcard in the same manner, but you might want to enclose it in an envelope to protect your creation.

• Use printable frame designs to make cards personalized with photos. The photo must be in a layer under the frame in your graphics program (e.g. Photoshop).

And the inside of the frame must be transparent for the photo to show.

• If you need to share a fair amount of news, make printable notelets. You can fit two notelets on an A4 or letter-sized page in landscape format. Border designs look pretty at the top and/or bottom. A vignette can be placed in the center top. Your address can be added as a long row below the pic, or to the left or right.

• Embellish a printable or plain white envelope with the same or matching graphics.

Put the address in a frame graphic and use a picture as a seal on the back envelope.

• Consider making a modest little card-and-gift creation. The gift can be a printable bookmark, a printable tea bag envelope or coffee pod in a mini envelope, a packet of cocoa or a flat scent sachet. The beverages imply that you share a cuppa with the recipient, while the bookmark and scent sachet will remind your friend of you when she opens that drawer or the book with the bookmark.

A gift card from a store can also be included and is a nice way to avoid wrapping and sending a parcel.

• Round out your printable stationery range by using a personalized postage stamp. These are available from zazzle.com. Many countries have stamps that can be customized too. Use your theme pic or photo on the stamp to coordinate with your printable creation.

• If you are not a crafter, it is possible to personalize existing card or postcard designs or to upload your own designs to zazzle.com too

Happy printable crafting.

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

DO VISIT www.anniarts.com

Printable Crafts on the Photo from the Dragonflies and Lilies Summer Crafts range by Anni Arts

An extended range of the Dragonflies and Lilies Summer Crafts is also on the Bumper "Best Of" CD

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:33:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FOR HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS 2

I am continuing the series of articles on Printable Crafts by suggesting great uses for this addictive hobby. I will be writing more on the categories in upcoming posts.

You can create special stationery, favors, packaging, gifts and scrapbooking for each favorite holiday at budget-beating prices. In fact, printable crafting is the hobby of choice for frugal crafters. Easy, quick, cheap and fabulous! How many crafts have such credentials?

The availability of speciality papers, cardstock, label paper, as well as printable fabric and iron-off paper make for printable heaven! The possibilities for creations are endless. Consider these creations if you are new to printable crafts:

• Special stationery
• Little gifts and tokens of appreciation
• Chocolate and candywrappers
• Candle and soapwrappers
• Favors for special occasions
• Distinguished wedding stationery and favors
• Packaging
• Giftwrap, tags and printed ribbon strips
• Kids birthday party printables
• Other party and anniversary printables
• Printables for entertaining, wine labels and decorations
• Labels for bath products
• Food labels for gourmet goodies
• School and classroom essentials
• Business identity
• Office stationery
• Home decor
• Decoupage
• Calendars
• Coloring pages
• Seasonal specialities for Halloween, Christmas and more
• Decorations and ornaments
• Scrapbooking elements and backgrounds
• Romantic products
• Iron-off printables on products
• Printed fabric sheets
• PaperdollsInspired to start on a project? I will be writing about such creative projects in up-coming posts.

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

noreply@blogger.com (Anni) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:04:00 +0000

PRINTABLE CRAFTS FOR HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS

Hello all printable crafts lovers!

This is a new Anni Arts blog dedicated to printable crafts. I want to share my passion with you and pass on tips and ideas for inspiring printables.

I just love designing printables, because I can create the same products that I have always loved to design: stationery, cards, packaging, labels and books.
Pretty things.
The only difference is that I mostly design craft products these days and do less corporate work. But the design process is essentially the same.

Holidays and occasions provide high points to the year and are nice events to look forward to. The retail shops would like you to spend a lot of money on each special day as it rolls along, but printable crafts are a much better option.

You can enjoy and get into the spirit of each event for very little effort or cost.
Printable crafts have come a long way since the first heady days of desktop printing in full color. The average inkjet printer now prints with the quality that only the commercial printer down the road could once aspire to.

And that is what makes contemporary printable crafts so great as a creative hobby. The printing results are so good that your printables look like the products in the stores. Plus you can decorate and personalize to your heart’s content.

I will be writing about creative printable crafts and projects in up-coming posts. Do have a look at Anni Arts in the meantime.

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Anni

www.anniarts.com
Printable Crafts on the Photo from the Blue Delft Bird range by Anni Arts

An extended range of the Delft Bird is also on the Bumper "Best Of" CD