Vintage Valentine Ideas, Giveaway Winner, Best 12 x 12 Printer under $198.00

Hi Everyone,  

Aaarrgghh… DELAY due to computer grief but I'm back with some fun Valentine ideas and samples to share and the low down on best 12 x 12 printers if you scroll down.  My fav was $198.00 but when I clicked this link today it was only $189.79 – amazing!   

Also, congratulations to random.org winner # 162 Corrine Ann who won our $30.00 gift certificate!  There were 162 comments with so many fantastic suggestions – so THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for all your great ideas - I've already started working on 3 new sets - Children, Garden & Music!

I get so excited and want to show everything but there is so much I have to split it into 2 posts as it was making Blogger freeze and not work at all!  I also got an idea yesterday (after so many of you asked for Vintage Valentines) to do a Digital Valentine Download  and it put me behind. It took ages to round up all the images for Cindy and I found stuff I forgot I had. It takes 100's of changes so this is just a little preview. I will post more details next week and this Digital Package will be available next Wed, Jan 25 with sheets of paper, valentines, tags, some digi stamps and a cute template! 

I will discuss the large format color printers before I start showing all the valentine ideas. So many of you have asked about printing the 12 x 12" papers and illustrations from our two CD's, #1 Creating With Vintage Patterns and CD#2 Illustrations .    I wanted to find the best deal for price and quality. Amazon is my fav place to read reviews and and I only looked at printers under $500.00.  

Canon won for the highest reviews and low price and Epson came in 2nd place.  What I learned is people buy based on reviews but newer (and often superior models) don't have as many reviews so the highest rated is a 2009 model and one of the newest printers that Canon introduced last year only has 30 reviews but everyone is as happy or more so, plus it's better technology and is less $$!

Read all the details, look at features, warranties and if on a budget consider a refurbished model from a reputable seller.

I believe the ix6520 Canon Inkjet Printer is the winner hands down for low price, 4.5* reviews, excellent quality & easy to use features. It lists for $229.00 but Amazon.com had it for under $200.00 and the link gives the current  lowest price (which fluctuates) as low as $189.79.  I bought this printer 2 days ago after talking to the Canon office. It only uses 5 ink tanks with smaller droplets giving superior  coverage. Some of the older models use 8 ink tanks. Plus it's one of the newest models at this price point to print up to 13" x 19" and can print on different mediums. I promise to test mine out on cardstock, canvas, vellum and transfer sheets and post results for this printer

The other 2 printers that got great reviews are listed below.  My TIP: Decide which printer you like the best and check Ebay to see if any reputable sellers have a better price.  I found mine with free S&H and bought a 3 yr warranty for $32.00 but need to drive across the border to pick it up.  Geez - I guess I'm a traitor as I never even checked amazon.ca as we are only 30 minutes from the USA and drive down so often.

Canon Pixma Pro9000 Professional Large Format InkjetPrinter has 161 reviews with a 4.5 * rating on Amazon but the list price is $499.99, on sale as low as $328.00 from other amazon affiliates. I also saw new models for less than $300.00 on Ebay but stick with a seller with excellent feedback.  This model may print better (I have no idea) but the reviews & price of the ix6520 won me over.

Epson C11C655001 StylusPhoto 1400 Large Format Printer  has 152 reviews with 3.5* average, It lists for $399.00 , on sale $328.31 and prints up to 13" x 19" with 6 color ink - but so many people complained about quality issues with plugged nozzles.

Okay , now onto Valentine ideas and  samples!  Many of these samples I have were made by DT Leader Vicki Chrisman because she has been with us since the beginning when we came out with our very first vintage product - the Vintage Cuts in 2004.  Over the years she has become a dear friend so I'm very sad to say Vicki's mom had a stroke and passed away. Her funeral was today and you can leave condolences by the link above. Her mom, Evelyn got to celebrate her 90th this summer. She was the best and my heart aches for Vicki and her family.

Here is an old photo mat Vicki altered with a photo of her mom & dad using our Valentine Stickers. You can see a bunch of other sample when you click on the link.

Have you ever made a folded paper fortune teller?  This is one Vicki made years ago and decorated with our Valentine stickers. Add personal messages and this would be a fun project for kids as well. I love the scallop edges!

Look around second hand stores or maybe you saved an old chocolate box you can decorate but any container will do - it doesn't have to be heart shaped you can add hearts.  The box by Vicki has a tag using our Cotton Romance Scraps on sale for $3.99 (the edges fray so nice).

 Here is an idea of what you can fill your box with, cute cards all ready to give to a busy friend, or save your favorite valentines in a treasure box.   These cards were created with an combo of our Stickers, Cotton Scraps and Seasonal Booklet.

Here's an adorable card by Lisa Zappa with Romance Cotton Scraps & our Cherish Stamp Set

 Lisa also created this card with the Cherish set and you can see a bunch of samples here

Our website Gallery is messed up so I've added over 500 samples to our online Shopatron Store and you can see all the LOVE THEME SAMPLES HERE!  by our Design Team.  I encourage you to go back and look at any products you may have bought in the past if you are looking for ideas as so many samples that have been added!

These are Valentines I didn't add as they use a combination of stamps in Cherish, Cherubs and Love Mail Stamps. The way Vicki created contrast is simple and lovely

 Here are more with different papers (sorry don't have paper brand) but I LoVe the punched flower idea glued to the swirls.  No fancy coloring, just add a little bling.

 Here a card by DT Member Michele Kovack and Click HERE to see the adorable snow card she made with our Winter Wishes Set!  Michele used our Cherub set on this card

Recycled glass bottles and jars are great to dress and hold flowers or store stuff and our Mini Vintage Scraps are perfect for mini jars. They look great under a glass dome cabochons (we will add 1 to every order until Mon as an extra gift as we don't sell them). Just cut any image, photo or words to same size and use a clear dry glue to adhere to glass dome and glue it to a jar or bottle. You can always seal an image with Diamond Glaze and if you let it dry and repeat you can create a raised dome affect.  Vicki sent me the sweet Button Flowers

If you click on the photo you will notice my little ink jar looks stained and cloudy  but came across this amazing idea and recipe from Lucy at her Craftberry Bush Blog and you have to check out how she turned these mason jars to cool blue with some food coloring and glue!  I am so going to make some pink glass jars for Valentines!  Lucy has so amazing ideas like this wire Heart Wreath!

I will show more valentines projects next week as Blogger is not behaving!  I'm also going to report on great places to get 12 x 12 prints and scrapbooks printed next week.

Have a great weekend!

Sandy

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