Monday, July 11, 2011

Less Is More: Things with Legs

I am so not a summer person.  I love fall and winter.  I love the colors of fall and winter.  So I am already putting away pastels and flowers and butterflies and thinking ahead to rich colors and autum leaves and Halloween images.  The Less Is More challenge this week - Something with Legs - was easy - a spider!!  They definitely have legs!


I am such a geek!

Let me tell you the story of this card.

I knew that I wanted this spider dangling into a frame with a fun sentiment in the corner.  The problem was that I didn't have an appropriate sentiment.  So I hopped online and googled "Halloween Digital Stamps", then I realized I got better results with "Halloweed Word Art".  And as I was looking at those results I found a fun Word Cloud site.  Word Clouds have been around for awhile but I certainly haven't done anything with them.  But they are so fun and so easy.  Here's how...


WORD CLOUD SITES
I used Wordle.  It was the first one that turned up when I checked popularity.  There are many others - but this one had a lot of great options (although it does appear rather "bland" on the surface).  It was also a site that clearly stated you could use your clouds for anything - print them, on your blogs, make T-shirts. 


PICK YOUR WORDS
Click on Create and then you can type a bunch of words (or copy text from elsewhere).
  • The size of the words in the Word Cloud is based on how many times the word appears in your text.  As I was using a spider image, I typed "spider" and "web" more often to get them a little bigger.
  • You don't need a lot of words.  I typed the words you see on the card, just typing "spider" three times and "webs" a couple of times.
  • If you want words to stay together in a saying, such as "happy fright night", you type them with a tilda between each word, i.e. happy~fright~night.
  • Be warned that once you create a word cloud, your typed words are no longer there to edit.  So, I actually typed my words into a Word document then copied them over then I could change them and re-use them as needed.

CREATE AND PLAY
At this point, just type "Go" and it creates your cloud.  And now the fun begins!!  You can play with that cloud until you like what you see. 

The menu that includes "language", "color", "font" and "layout" is the fun part.  If you click on "language" you can choose upper case, lower case, etc.  "Layout" lets you pick if you want horizontal or vertical words or a mix.  "Color" and "font" are probably self-explanatory.

I wanted my cloud to have open space for the spider.  First I changed the colors knowing I want blacks and grays.  Then I just kept playing in the Layout section until I got one with open space.

FYI: On your word cloud, you can delete a word.  Just right click, the remove.  But...the entire layout changes when you remove a word.  I was so close to the layout that I wanted, I just had one word hanging out too far, so I removed it.  Bummer - everything and my layout was GONE.


COPY IT TO YOUR CARD
Now you need to get it to your card.  Wordle has an FAQ section and they talked about converting to PDFs and then special software, etc.  You do not need all of that.

I simply took a "Screen Print".  In Windows, on my particular keyboard, I just hit "Shift" and "Print Screen".  When you do that, nothing seems to happen, but it is actually sitting out on a Clipboard.  So I popped into Word and pasted - there it is!!

Of course, because I copied the entire computer screen, I had EXACTLY what was on my screen, e.g. all the internet stuff also.  So I simply clicked on the picture and got options for formatting.  I selected crop and simply drug the edges in until the only thing left was the cloud.

Then, for my card, I stretched it a little horizontally so it fit a standard card front.  I copied and moved it around on my "landscape" Word layout until they were on the bottom half of the paper and I could get two cards out of it.  I printed onto white cardstock and I was ready to decorate.


FINISHING TOUCHES
To complete my card, I stamped the spider.  Then I used a rectangle nestability as a template to draw a square frame leaving it open near the spider.  I also left some small white openings on the upper right side so that I could dab on some Stickles.  Then I used a straight edge to add the little line of web down to the spider.  A bunch of Orange Peel Stickles and a little bow of Martha Stewart twine and I have my first Halloween card of the year!!

I hope you enjoyed this.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

  • Stamps: Memory Box Spider
  • Ink: Stampin' Up Markers in Basic Black and Basic Gray
  • Paper: white
  • Accessories: Orange Peel Stickles
     

24 comments:

  1. Wow Kim... this is a sensational post... when I've got my concentrating head on, I'll have to have a go... thanks so much for the detailed instructions, but as I'm no great techy it may prove a little tricky!
    Your card itself is fabulous!
    Thanks so, so much!
    Chrissie
    Lady LIM
    "Less is More"

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  2. Wow Kim, what a fantastic card and how clever. Not sure I`m techy enough to do that but it`s worth a try (maybe wait until geeky son`s here lol) Thanks for your comment on my blog about commenting, made me feel much better.
    Lynne xxx

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  3. This is brilliant Kim. Love the spider image and your instructions for the word cloud are great...Thank you.
    I sort of understand it which is amazing for me and hopefully it will become clearer on the site :)
    Jenny x

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  4. Kim, you always find the coolest stuff! I can't wait to try this. Your card rocks - especially the orange, glittery spider! :)

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  5. First of all, I love your card, the red spider is fab. Secondly, you are so clever in figuring out this word cloud stuff. Will definitely have to check it out. xx

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  6. Fab card as ever Kim and thanks for all the details of where the sentiment came from. Zx

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  7. Interesting post... will have to have a go at the word cloud... I like the end result of all your words, but sorry I dont like spiders, your card made me shiver LOL xx

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  8. Totally FANTASTIC crd Kim
    I will have a delve into that link, FAB instructions
    Thank you for posting them
    Thank you so much
    Diva LIM
    "Less is More"

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  9. Sensational card Kim - love the clean, white graphic style!
    Thanks for taking the time to provide the word cloud instructions. My daughter uses these in large format in her school folio work, but you have translated this concept so well to your card. :)

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  10. Fabulous card, very, very clever
    Beryl x

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  11. Fabulous image love it! XOXO Zoe

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  12. Fab card and thanks for the heads up about the word cloud..I'd never heard of one before. Ps saw your Birds Ass comment on Lynne's blog about 5 mins ago and I'm still chuckling now....hubby thinks I've gone stark raving mad ;-)

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  13. First - this is a brilliant card! Great use of word clouds, and the colour just pops!! It' fab!

    The word cloud info is excellent - I may have to have a go!

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  14. Great card. loads of impact, the little touch of orange on the side of the frame to represent the sticky stuff spiders use on their webs is a touch of genius. Thank you so much for the detailed description of the 'cloud' site. must go and have a try.
    Happy inking

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  15. Brilliant idea. I've allready seen it somewhere, but never took the time to learn how to use it.

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  16. This is a really great card with a fab modern look - I can't keep my hubby off Wordle!

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  17. Such a great card Kim, must check out the cloud thing too, thanks for the info.I am also still chuckling about the bird ass thing too he he:O) Viv xx

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  18. This is a terrific "leggy" card! Your words are amazing! Thanks for the tips. I'm going to bookmark them, but I'm not sure this old brain can do all that. Might just give it a try one day though.

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  19. Wowsers! This is super! And ... as always ... you are so generous taking the time to share all the techy stuff! I wish I could come and visit for a week ... and just learn all the stuff you share here! Have already "opened" Wordle ... will go and have a look! Hugs xxaxx

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  20. Wow, fantastic card, love the layout and thanks for the tips!
    Helen x

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  21. Fantastic idea, fabulous card. Thanks for the explanation. Carol x

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  22. Wonderful idea, Kim. I love that little spider hanging down through the words. I've never used Wordle, but you've certainly inspired me!

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  23. I just found this! Thank you so much for the instructions. It was a ton of fun to do!!

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