Showing posts with label what's new. Show all posts
Showing posts with label what's new. Show all posts

Friday, May 21, 2010

Add New Meaning with Text as Design and Two Free Templates from Brian

This month, Brian helps you get art-savvy with two free photoshop downloads that will help you use text as a design element.
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Font Tip: Add New Meaning
by Brian Tippetts

By now you should know that I love playing with type and letterforms and adding meaning into my designs. In fact, my favorite thing to do while shopping at IKEA is to go to the frames section to see what new posters have been added that only use letterforms for the design. I always seem to come home with a new addition to my collection.

So where did my love for creating designs out of type come from? Well, in my junior year of college, I had an upper level English class that involved a lot of writing. I found myself behind on a number of papers and had to figure out a way to “spruce” up my papers to get the highest possible score. I knew that the teacher’s assistant would be the one grading the papers, so I needed to impress her.

I decided that for my paper written about my favorite subject at that time—surfing, that I needed to add some design flair. I input the text and made it flow in the shape of a wave.

When I got my paper back corrected, the TA had written, “How did you do this?” and “Wow, that’s amazing!” She loved what I had done to the design of the text and I ended up receiving an ‘A’ from that class.

What I learned from this experience is that the story or meaning of the story can be larger than the just the words. Through the design and the words, new meaning can be displayed.


100 THINGS I LOVE

From the moment I received the layout “100 Things I Love” by Deena Wuest for my book, Get Creative with Type, I have wanted to create a layout following her design.



I have been thinking a lot about my wedding anniversary of 19 years in May, so I decided that I would put together a “100 Things I Love About Amy” layout to present to her on our anniversary. After spending hours and hours to come up with the right words and getting it input into Adobe Illustrator (it is also doable in many other programs like Adobe Photoshop, CorelDRAW, and Microsoft Publisher) and playing around with 5 different font and various sizes, I was finally able to put together my own “100 Things I Love” layout.

This was a fun project and as you can see, my results are exactly what I wanted.

Do you want to create a “100 Things I Love” for yourself? Well, I have created a Photoshop template to help you out. You will still need to come up with the list of 100 things for your specific need, but I have shown you two samples to get you started with ideas. You can also change the color and modify anything that you want. The file is saved in layers to make it as easy as possible to use. I am also adding another Photoshop template (with a heart shape) that you can use to add as many (or as little) words, phrases or text to express your thoughts to a loved one. You can download both templates here.


Get started today by adding those sentimental thoughts or words of encouragement to fit in these basic shapes and make it meaningful.

Take care,
Brian


BONUS:
Okay, so I love to talk about the fun things going on here at scrapNfonts. We have a new, deco-art inspired font collection that is now available. SNF Cresota includes the decorative initials and small caps perfect for any title or heading. It can also be used to create a fun journaling block or quote. SNF Duluth and SNF Duluth Block can be used interchangeably for a fun deco-art journaling block or title. I could see this being used to recreate a favorite movie poster or when you want a custom, fresh feel to your card or scrapbook layout. Also included in the bundle is the Geo Deco Outline Doodlebat. The images from this doodlebat can be used easily with any of the Deco-styled fonts. Check these fonts out now and enjoy this month's free art-deco inspired download.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Five new fonts from Brian are playful and cute!

Hand-drawn lettering, hatchings, scribbles and doodles are fun styles of lettering that are super popular. These playful elements add a youthful feel, you've probably noticed them lately in advertisements, catalogs and magazines. Capture the same look on your scrapbooking, card and paper crafting projects with a new bundle of sketch fonts designed exclusively for scrapNfonts by Brian Tippetts!

This month, Brian highlights the new Sketchbook Bundle with project samples and a free download. PS- You can buy the Sketchbook Bundle here for only $10.
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Font Tip: Let's Play
by Brian Tippetts

In my March tip I talked about many different font styles and ways to find your own font style. In addition, I showed samples in each style to help you get started.

In this tip I am very excited to focus on a new bundle of fonts that fall in the “playful and display” style of fonts. The fonts are all included in the Sketchbook Bundle and are available now at ScrapNfonts.

This “sketch” style of font is very popular now. In fact, just the other day I received two catalogs in the mail that were both using this style of font. This fun, sketchy style is being used to add a fun and youthful feel. The same look and feel is now available for you to use on your scrapbooking, card or papercrafting project.




Included in the Sketchbook Bundle are four different fonts and one DoodleBat font, providing a great opportunity for mix and matching of fonts within the family.

There are many ways to mix and match fonts from the same style or font family. In this case, these fonts all have the “sketch” style and can be mixed together easily. I have created a few different samples of cards and invitations to show you how these fonts could be used.

In this first sample, I wanted the design to be simple and youthful. I used an “I” and “U” from SNF Sketch Block and the heart from DB Doodle Sketch. You can see how they can look identical, yet a great way to mix in some DoodleBats into your message. Then I used SNF Sketch Black Out for the text below. Oh, I almost forgot, the photo corners come from the DB Doodle Sketch too.



To create an invitation for an upcoming family picnic, I wanted to create a fun, graphic look. By using SNF Sketch Black Out for the large letters to create “Summer 2010 Picnic” and then the rocks at the bottom, the sketched letters are easy to see and very fun. For the message to attend and the date, time and location, I used SNF Sketchy in all caps. I used “earthy” colors to tie the whole design together and it looks great.




For this card, I wanted to see if I could add my own touch to the fonts. I used SNF Sketchy for the title, then used the same heart as the first sample from DB Doodle Sketch. To customize it, I drew the wings in Adobe Illustrator to add to the heart to go along with the saying. It turned out perfect. I’m guessing that you would love to have the “winged heart” for you own use. Well, you’re in luck, I have included the “winged heart” as part of a fun, free download.






Well, I hope you are excited as much as I am about this new “sketch” collection of fonts. As you can see from this layout by Merrilynne Harrington, they are a blast to use and really add a touch of playfulness to any scrapbook, card or papercrafting project.




Enjoy these playful fonts and please find someone to send a “winged heart” to.

Oh, and PS- Show me the projects you come up with using these new sketch fonts by sharing them in our Idea Gallery.
Brian

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Meet designer Kim Hughes!


Popular artist Kim Hughes is behind many of the fonts you love at SNF, including the new SNF Lollihop and SNF Goody featured in the cards she designed above. Here's a little more about this talented lady!

"Hello! I am a proud mom of two wonderful kids who are ages 10 and 12. We currently live in Arizona, but we are originally from upstate NY and have lived in four other US states. You can say that we love adventure and aren't afraid to take some risks!

I have been paper crafting in some way for about 10 years now and can't imagine my life without it. I am currently one of six Go-to Gals for Paper Crafts magazine and have worked closely with many other publications and manufacturers in the past.

Presently I design for Zva Creative, Papertrey Ink and Ellen Hutson LLC. I was a stamp illustrator and have designed multiple fonts for Creating Keepsakes and I look forward to creating fonts once again for scrapNfonts!"

Read Kim's blog
View Kim's resume