If you love a good pun or just an adorable invitation, then our PrintingPress Platinum 6.0 design is perfect for you. We added a collection of red and green bell peppers as floating images onto a White A7 card. We wrote “jingle bells” beneath the peppers in grey using the Courier New font that is included with Windows. We used floating text boxes to surround the “jingle bells” text with red curly braces using the Palatino Linotype font that is included with Windows. We added the rest of the invitation text using the Courier New font in grey and red. We lined the Deep Red envelopes in Metallic Celery for a hint of elegance and added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps.

Our PrintingPress Extreme 6.0 design offers a classic style with a whimsical twist. We started the layered design by filling the background of a White A7 card in green. For tips on figuring out how to coax just the right hue out of your printer, see this month’s Extreme Tip. Next, we used the Repeated Text feature to add the words “HO HO HO” diagonally across the green background. We added the text in white using the Palatino Linotype font and made one of the “HO”s red to stand out from the rest. Since the background runs to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. We used the Label stationery type to print eight 4.25 x 2.25 invitation cards onto 8.5 x 11 inch sheets of White card stock. We typed the invitation text in green using the Palatino Linotype font with the Text Case set to Uppercase. We changed the text color to red wherever the letters “HO” appeared together. After printing the invitations, we used a rotary cutter to separate the cards. Next, we used a double-stick tape gun to adhere the invitation to a Deep Red  4.5 x  2.5 inch custom cut card and then mounted the pair onto the backing card. We created coordinating Custom Envelope Liners and Custom Image StationeryStamps for the Deep Red envelopes.

Happy New Year!
If you want to throw a bash to ring in 2012, now is the time to start planning. We have fabulous new invitation designs that will work with a range of styles – from casual get-together to elegant soiree.

For a more elegant affair, check out our PrintingPress Platinum 6.0 design. We started by filling the background of a White A7 card in grey. Next, we added a white silhouette of a chandelier as a floating image on the left side of the card. We added the invitation text in white using the Trebuchet font and aligned it to the right side of the card. We used all lowercase letters for most of the text, but added some in saffron using all uppercase letters. We added a black version of the chandelier to the Metallic Saffron envelopes and created coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps. We used our ink jet printer’s borderless printing feature to print the invitations, and we printed the metallic envelopes using our laser printer.

Our PrintingPress Extreme 6.0 design combines a geometric pattern with modern styling. We started by filling the background of a White A7 card with a new honeycomb pattern (black) pattern and used the Colorize feature to change the pattern’s color to blue. Next, we used a floating text box to add “2012” in 210 pt Palatino Linotype and filled it with the same pattern colorized to dark grey. We adjusted the margins for the pattern in the stationery background in order to make it line up with the pattern in the text. For tips on this technique, see last month’s Extreme Tip. We added the invitation text at the bottom of the card in white using the Trebuchet font. We set the Horizontal Alignment to Point Justify Text to make each line of text perfectly fill the width of the card. We added a white custom border with the border’s Shape set to Line (Bottom). Since the pattern runs to the edge of the card, we used our printer’s borderless printing feature. We added a honeycomb graphic and custom line border to the return address on the bottom of the back of the Metallic Slate envelope. We lined the envelope in Metallic Pewter and added coordinating Custom Image StationeryStamps.

Believe it or not, it’s already time to start thinking about the perfect gift for everyone on your list. One favorite for grandparents in our families is a calendar filled with adorable photos of our little ones. We’ve used PrintingPress Extreme 6.0 to create a new version of our desktop calendar design that features your gorgeous kids on every month. We used some of our favorite patterns from newsletter projects from 2011 and used the Colorize tool to match the colors for each month’s design to colors from the photograph. You can use our colors or pull colors from your photos. We printed our calendar onto six A7 Photo Cards (double-sided so you get two months per card) using our printer’s borderless printing feature. Pop the cards into an acrylic photo frame and you’ve got a fabulous gift!

The perfect shade of...
When we create a newsletter design, we calibrate the colors to our recommended printers. But what if you use a different printer? Or what if you just want to use a different color? With this tip you can use PrintingPress Extreme 6.0 to help you determine just the right color values to use with your printer. We will show you how to create test prints with blocks of color using multiple shape objects with variations on the same color and then print to get closer to the desired color.

First create a card that measures 8.5 x 11 inches. Next, create a shape object (the default 2 x 2 inch size is fine, or you can change it to whatever you like).  Set the background color of the shape to the closest starting value that you have. If you’re working with a newsletter project, then the color that we used is a great place to start. Move the first shape to the top left corner of the page. Next, duplicate the shape object, click on the Background Color / Pattern button in the Background palette in the Design palette group and choose More Colors in the popup menu that appears.

We recommend doing a test print of the design using the original color to get an idea of how it is going to print. This will give you an idea of what kinds of changes you will need to make to the color. For example, if the green in this month’s Extreme Cocktail Party design reads too yellowish when you print it using your printer, you’ll want to make the color more blue. You’ll make these minute color adjustments in the Colors window.

If the green was too yellow, then you need to increase the hue. You can either type a new value into the Hue field, or you can drag the crosshair to the desired hue and saturation. Increasing the saturation makes the color more vibrant; decreasing the saturation makes the color duller or more gray. Increasing the luminescence will make a color lighter; decreasing the luminescence will make a color darker.

We recommend that you make one change in each shape object. Try increasing the saturation for one, changing the hue for another, changing the luminescence for another. Then duplicate the row and increase your changes again to see how far you will need to go. Once you print, you can see which square most closely matches the color that you would like. You can start again from this color value and run another round of tests or use it as is.

(click to enlarge)

 EXPERTS ONLY
Please note that printer settings such as Paper Type and Borderless Printing will affect the resulting color. If you are working on a borderless design, then you should run your test print with your printer’s borderless printing feature enabled. Otherwise, you will perfect your color and then it will print completely differently once you enable the borderless feature.

Check out tips on downloading projects, borderless printing and more in our Newsletter Notes section.

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