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Hi. I am wondering how people feel about the traditional handmade card vs the newly popular digital way? I have enjoyed the handmade route for many years and love how people react to them. However, I have been testing out the digital techniques recently with mds2. I like the fact that once you purchase the software, you could get by with minimal supplies and expenses (printing ink and paper, mostly) as opposed to the handmade versions that cost you more for all the supplies you need to replenish.
I think the digital way is great for scrapbooking but for cards, I'm worried that it won't be as appreciated. What are your opinions on this subject? Do you think it's just as nice to receive them as the handmade ones, with all the cool embellishments, etc.? I look forward to your comments.
If I am being brutally honest, I really do not like 'digi stamping', and I suppose I feel the same about digital card making generally. I can see the use occasionally, if you need a card that you don't have the right stamps for- but personally I feel that they would be too 'flat'. i love the creating of texture, whether its by dry embossing, or heat embossing, adding embellishments etc. I think its this sort of thing that makes a hand made card- digital printed ones are not very different from shop bought, I think. Its the creative 'hands on' part that I enjoy as a crafter.
I think that anything that arrives in the mail with a stamp on it that is not a bill or junk mail will be appreciated! It's such a shock to receive "real" mail nowadays. I say do whatever makes you happy, because it's guaranteed to make the recipient happy!
I tend to agree. I to like the 'texture' of handmade cards. Digital is less expensive and you do still 'design' it but it is 'flat' in many ways. Not sure which way to go.
I made cards on the computer for 11 years and got bored with it. I prefer the tactile experience of using actual products. I make an occasional sentiment with a desktop publishing program and print them out for seasonal cards, but with MDS now so much cheaper I may finally get it just to give myself more options.
I think people mis-understand what it means to use "digital" supplies. I use digital all the time and I think that if I didn't tell someone it was digital they wouldn't know the difference. I think actually that I am more of a hybrid crafter rather than 100% digital.
Here are two cards that I've used digital papers :
This one is all digital except for the sewing around the edges - that's a Technique Tuesday stamp:
I don't normally design a card digitally and then just print it out and send it flat. I've only done that once as a thank you card for a swap I hosted. It probably took me just as long to design it digitally as it would have to make a paper card.
Hi. That sounds good... a hybrid crafter. I like that. :-) I think that's what I'd lean towards - printing out certain elements from the software (papers, stamps, etc) but still assembling the card.
Thanks for all your comments.
Ardis
__________________ Making cards is my escape for daily life challenges. By day... Graphic Designer (for print advertising) www.allykatgraphics.ca
How could you tell the difference bt cards made with a wooden/acrylic stamp or cards made with a digital image? The tactile process is the same after you download the digital image for about $3.00 (which you can size to fit your needs). You still have to cut the card stock, color the image, add embellishments, etc. The only difference is you don't have a physical stamp costing at least $20.00 taking up space. Paper crafters are SHARPLY divided on this issue. I believe we should be compassionate with each other. People who allege that digitals are not true "stamps" should not use digitals, but should not denigrate those who choose too.
To me there are two different discussions. Digital cards and digital stamps.
A digital card is completely flat but then again so are CAS cards.
I made this card Krikey Kreations: Happy Brrr-day to you... for my eldest for his last birthday. It went much quicker doing it digitally and if I hadn't miscolored the feet (which I ended up paper piecing) it would have been absolutey flat. I actually made a point of not using the already colored stamps.
I will be honest I didn't get as much creative satisfaction from just coloring a card. So I will probably stick with hybrid cardmaking as well
Although you did make me laugh with the being happy to get a card instead of a bill... my overseas MIL complained to my DH that her Mothering Sunday card was one day late. I have threatened to us the computer and just print out cards for the next few holidays/special days and print "Generic On time Birthday Card" on the front etc.
I am a fan of "digital images" being used on cards. I can Copic or color them just as I can the many rubber stamps I have. If I want to water color I make sure I use a rubber stamp and the appropriate ink.
I can't afford the multitudes of sentiment stamps I would have to purchase and I have no problem whatsoever printing off whatever sentiment I want and using it on a card....nor printing off something personalized for inside.
I would like to know what is the difference between creating and printing your own paper for a card or, going to a store and purchasing paper? To me...it is no different.
Cathy
__________________ I stand alone without beliefs...the only truth I know is you
RiverIsis has summed up how I feel. There are digital cards - totally flat, designed in a programme and printed. That's how I used to make mine way back when, before I got into stamping. People loved them because they were highly personalised.
BUT - having got into stamping, I don't think I could go back to that, and I think my recipients would be disappointed too. Apart from the colouring process, I love the layers and texture - which is what you can get with digital stamps as Cat_Woman's great samples show.
I think the OP is asking about the first - 100% digital cards, and my answer to that is that while any happy mail is nice to receive, I would definitely prefer an actual "crafted" card. I do also send online cards - digital is great for that!
I guess I do some "digital" stamping as once in a while I'll print out a sentiment but that's as far as I go. I think both types of "stamping" have merit so I say "whatever floats your boat".
I love using digital images and papers on my handmade cards - I've been known to craft late at night and it's nice to be able to take a digital paper, recolor it to the color I need and print it out when I need it - since running to the store at that hour isn't an option. I also sometimes design my cards digitally - I can move my shapes around, resize them, change colors and patterns, and add and take away until I've got what I want without having to be in the crafting cave. Then I can make my time with my real tools and supplies more productive.
I have hundreds of digi stamps in my collection and can go through to find just the one I want, re-size it, alter it, flip it etc before printing. I would never print off a whole sheet of paper, just crop it to the size and shape I want. From that stage on my cards are handcrafted. Having said that I did print a CAS one for my son, though I did mat and layer it.
I think that the reason I am not big on digi stamping, is the colouring! I am just not the worlds best at colouring images, and am rarely satisfied with what I produce. Once in a while I surprise myself, but not often. So I prefer the sponging/brayering etc, especially to create backgrounds for my stamps. As Cook22 said, I don't think people would be happy to get them off me, partly because they'd probably look awful, and partly because they are used to the sort of things I usually do. I do have lots of the Joanna Sheene cds, that have all the papers/sentiments/embellishments on that you print out, and in truth, once in a while I will use them, but not very often. I bought them when I first started, as I did with decoupage sheets- I just gave hundreds of those to my DIL for her & the grandkids to use. I can't remember when I last used them. I did a lot when I very first started, then I discovered rubber stamping & ink! I can understand the appeal of digi stamps, its just not for me. I prefer to have a real stamp in my hand, . I'm the same with reading, I tried a kindle, hated it. I enjoy the feel of a book in my hands, and physically turning the pages. How mad is that? I see people doing altered books, and often it is beautiful artwork. I couldn't do it, the thought of damaging a book horrifies me. As my Mum often says, if we were all the same, we'd be boring.
Everyone makes very good points about this topic! Things I've never thought about, and some that I have.
My response to the OP's question:
I try to think about how I want to make things, and not so much about what my recipients are going to think of them in terms of worth. I'm sure that many of the cards that took me the least amount of time and materials were treasured and saved by the people who got them, and some of the cards I labored over were tossed within a day or two! So trying to gauge how your work is going to be received might be just a crazy-making thing to throw into the mix. There are so many other decisions we all need to constantly make about how best to express ourselves as card-makers.
I think that everyone should make what they love to make, using the things they love to use. :-)!
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
Last edited by Rachelrose; 03-27-2013 at 10:06 AM..
I prefer digital stamping over rubber and ink stamping. I have some clear & rubber stamps but never use them. I have also collected almost all of the Dew Drop inks. Never used them. I like that I can print my image at whatever size I want. I usually print and color the image twice and cut them out. This way I can layer (pop up) the image and give it dimension. I like layers. Just my 2 cents. Also I have gotten a lot of my images as "freebies" on sites. And when I buy digital images online, there is no postage and handling.
I think my recipients would love a digital card as much as a non-digital one. As a recipient, I would love a digital (or a store-bought!) card as well as a non-digital one. But if I was going to make a card, I would not use digital right now, because my printer sucks, and the printer ink is astronomically expensive - $16 for a BLACK cartridge, not even colour!!!!!!!!! Compare this with a high-end black inkpad for $6, which lasts me eons longer than a cartridge... Also, only very thin cardstock will go through my printer. And I am too miserly to buy a new printer.
That said, I DO love to use the computer (digital images) to create flyers for work (for potluck announcements and stuff). Dunno why I love that and I don't like it to make cards with...
Edited to add: ALSO, my crappy printer ink smears with EVERYTHING - Copics, watercolours, even inked sponges!!!!! Frankly, for art, I HATE my printer. But it's fine for mundane printing, which is what I mostly use it for.
Yeah, I moved over to a Continuous Ink Supply System last year for our printer and love it. Cheaper in the long run.
Sometimes the ink smears (I tend to do a paper copy and then a card copy) and I just blast it with the heat gun or let it sit for a day or two.
FWIW I just organized a surprise birthday party for my auntie and what she noticed wasn't the big things but it was the computer generated "Fifty & Fabulous" on the water bottles! LOL! Well she did notice the big things but it was the little things she commented on IYKWIM ;)
I think that when a lot of people hear "digital" they think of back in the day when you bought a disc with 10,000 cards on it and printed them out, folded your paper in 4's and sent them on their way. Times have changed I use the computer to do 75% of sentiments and once I did Google Line Drawing something because I did not feel like spending the money on an actual stamp. That's it though...I don't print my own paper or use digital images.
__________________ "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack" ~Rudyard Kipling my gallery
Have to agree with RiverIsis about the CIS. We switched to it, and have never regretted it. When we need a new printer, availability of a CIS is one of the things we check out. Silly fact, but do you know that printer ink (in cartridges form) is actually the most expensive product in the world?, if you work it out by gallon.
I'm so pleased to read through these comments - like most of the above I consider myself hybrid. I print out all of my cards with my "signature tag" on the back and an inside verse.
Almost all my sentiments are computer generated which can allow for my personalization. With the ability of sizing an image as needed and the choice of fonts, its the way I prefer. And I now have a Silhouette Cameo to print and cut the images or sentiments, I'm doing digital more and more. Thanks for posting the question.
__________________ What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday? Author Unknown. Karla
Digital vs Handmade (Cards)
