Digital Stamps: Cards for Kids

A relatively new addition to the stable of card making tools are digital stamps (or digi stamps).  I must admit that I had been struggling with the concept and how it could really be compared with stamping using physical stamps and inks.  I guess they are just a different format.

Digital stamps certainly do have their advantages:

• You can print off a high quality image each time and colour it in
• You can print off a whole lot at a time for later use (saving time later)
• They come at a fraction of the cost of rubber stamps
• You can buy them easily from anywhere in the world
• You can download them and use them straight away
• You can resize them easily using a programme as simple to use as Word to fit any card size or shape
• If you have more sophisticated programmes you can colour them in electronically too.
• No storage problems – just store them on your computer

I discovered that digi stamps were great for making cards for kids and for cards for kids to make.  I had seen an image on a website that I really liked that was from Lillyboo Designs and after some ‘googling’ I found a whole range of images.  I got a whole lot of ‘boy’ designs (as I have 5 nephews) but there are some really cute ‘girl’ designs as well.

There are some easy to use ones that are a whole scene in themselves so you can just print them to size, colour them in and mount them onto cards.  Others you can combine digitally quite easily to create your own scene. You can print out a whole set of these as a gift for a kid so that they can create their own cards, and you can just have these ready to stick straight onto a coloured card or supply more complicated backing cards for a more individual creation.

It is often difficult to combine images into a scene digitally because of the ‘white space’ around the images that cover up bits of the other image you are trying to combine with.  But with a bit of experimenting you can print out a particular character for example in a range of different sizes, then colour them in and cut them out to stick onto different background scenes (or just make a funky card).  I had great fun with Safari Jake (sitting and standing), Jungle Jake and Surfing Jake, trying out different sizes to get different perspectives in different scenes.  For gifts for the older boys I printed out scenes and a range of different sized ‘Jakes’ for them to make their own creations.