a new kit BURSTING onto the digi scene!

well, i may have already let the cat out of the bag about gina's new DINO LOVE digital kit, but today i am letting the dinosaur out of the birthday card, in honor of the official release at the tyggereye etsy shop!!!

this card is a perfect illustration of how hybrid papercrafting can get you places that neither plain scrapping or plain digi can. i love that all of the papers & images i used are 100% scalable and look utterly fabulous whether they are half an inch tall (like the dino button), or four inches wide (like the palm trees inside), ...or eight inches square (like the outer card panel) ...or...well... as big or small as i can print them! it's like having every paper collection in EVERY size--with nothing to store!

plus, i can effortlessly add text and embellishments (like the starburst through which my little friend is making his escape) right on my patterned paper*. no template, no tracing, no gluing required.

of course, i could've used drop-shadows to make a *VERY* cute and totally appealing all digital card; but to me there's no substitute for the depth and texture you get with real layers of paper. here i've popped the dino on one layer of foam tape...and raised the front panel from the back on *three* layers. the fact that i sized the palms a bit smaller and manoeuvered them into the opening adds to the feeling of movement, dontcha think?

ok, now tell the truth: as adorable as this guy is...if he wasn't leaping OUT of the card, you'd want to leap INTO it, wouldn't ya?! (yeah, me too!) i guess that's why miss gina calls it "DINO LOVE"! ♥♥♥

(all images from the dino love digital kit by gina cunningham, tyggereye art; additional materials: cry kitty font downloaded free from dafont.com; pop icon brushes downloaded free from designerdigitals.com; kodak premium photo paper; staples inkjet cardstock; colorbox inks; adhesives: tombow monorunner & 3m foam tape)

♥♥♥♥♥

*i know a lot of people like adobe photoshop, and i do own PSE5 which is a very handy and powerful piece of software, but these files will work in pretty much any graphic design or art program you have! i use broderbund's printshop 23 for 99% my digital/hybrid compositions because i find it easier to manipulate layers of papers and images (you never have to lock them to move to the next step), and because printshop assumes you will be using text in a variety of ways and makes it easy and intuitive to do so; whereas PSE's text tool...imo...is almost an afterthought...or at least PSE assumes the PHOTOS are the stars of the show. on the other hand, printshop is *NOT* wonderful for editing photos and has NO blendable layer capability. basically what i am saying is, if you already HAVE art- or graphics software you like, try downloading a free digi-kit (like this one of gina's mebbe??!) and using it in a program with which you are already comfortable before you make a big investment of time or money in software or supplies!!! :)