Staying safe online!

Okay so should be reivising but I just wanted to give you some tips to stay wise on the net!

As many of you are aware fraudsters are everywhere!

Many of them will send you emails or even phone calls pretending to be a company or bank that you trust. These guys are clever in how they trick you out of money or details, HOWEVER there are faults in their methods! And I almost fell for one the other day pretending to be Amazon (as I have put a couple of things on their to sell as their not wanted no more), their very clever in how they do it too, a 'customer' contacted me via Amazon asking me to send pictures to show its condition, therefore I did so thinking it was a genuinely interested customer. Not did I know that they was only asking to get hold of my email address to send me emails from the 'customer' to say their happy with the condition and are going to purchase, followed by another email from Amazon (fake one) sending me what looks similar to the notification that I would receive when someone purchases a product from me on Amazon. Although, like I said their were faults to the email.. different layout, extra text, grammar not quite correct and email addresses for me to contact that were not @amazon.co.uk. Long story short I checked up on the email address domain (the bit after @) and it turns out its used frequently by fake companies!

So here are my tips for spotting a fraudsters email:

• they will ask you for details such as address, bank details, credit cards, passwords etc (real companies will never ask you this in an email!
• if they contain email addresses outside of their usual email address domain (e.g. if they usually send emails from @amazon.co.uk but state email addresses @consultant.com, don't trust them and certainly don't send them anything, check with company first (email amazon directly before sending anything to that address)
• read through all the text, if it doesn't sound right in some places its usually because they've used an online translator or have not read through the text)
• if it is an email from Amazon or EBay about an order check in your account online if it's not there then there's no real order

If you get a call from your bank to confirm details and are suspicious don't say any of your details, tell them if it's important to do it you'll go into your local branch, if it really is your bank they can't argue there!

Stay Safe!!

My First Crafty Idea - Photo Decoupage!

Something simple and adds a real personal touch to any card (can also be used on scrapbook page!)..


This tutorial doesn't need much use of a computer apart from adjusting the size to fit your card.

1. First select you picture..you'll need your photo on your computer you'll so that you can adjust the size, if you fancy using an old photo or only have a print of it then you'll need to scan it onto your computer (if you don't have a scanner you could photocopy it onto card or photo paper)

2. Once you've chosen your photo and it's on your computer, you'll need a programme to be able to change the size of the photo to what you want. If you have Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Powerpoint etc) their will be a programme called 'Microsoft Office Picture Manager' this is what I will use for this tutorial, however there are other programs you can use such as Adobe Photoshop or HP Photosmart, if your not sure if something you've got on your computer will do the job, open it up and have a look around if you can see 'resize' anywhere if so then your good to go. However if all else fails, you can use Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works Word Processor, copy the image into the word document and use the ruler at the top of the document to get your approx. preferred size.

3. Decide what size you'd like the decoupage to be, sadly most of these programs work by 'pixels' not cm or inches which would be helpful. But here is a quick conversion for you:

8cm = 227 pixels

10cm = 283 pixels

12cm = 340 pixels

15cm = 425 pixels

(1cm = 28 pixels approx.)

 Tip: when you are resizing if it asks you for a custom width x height enter the largest measurement/ pixels into both boxes, they will usually suggest what measurement will keep the picture at the same dimension that it is - to save ruining the photo if its still wide or tall then 'crop' it down to your preferred size.

4. Before you print your photo you'll need to decide how many layers you'll want, the best way to decide is to look at the photo, what parts of the photo are the furthest away (in the photo above this will be the trees in the top left), what parts are very closes to the camera (the very closest will be things like their arms and shoulders) and what's in between (one layer could be the car and the couple, another on top of that could be the couple themselves). There I have distinguished 4 layers to my decoupage.

5. Now, you will need to print your photo as many times as you have layers, in my case this will be 4. However trying to print your photo at the size you want can be tricky depending on what program your using, if your using Abode Photoshop all you have to do is make sure that scale is at 100%. If your using Microsoft Office Picture Manager and your photo size is at 13x18cm, 10x15cm or 9x13cm , then make sure you select that size when printing, if not then you'll need to copy & paste it into a word document because Microsoft Office Picture Manager won't let you print it at its actual size. You can print on photo paper glossy or matte depending on what best suits the photo and the occasion.

Tip: Most printers will only take up to 200gsm card/paper check your printer manual just in case and ALWAYS test a new thickness of paper before printing something for 'best'.

6. Just like Craft Creation's decoupage you can now choose where to cut to create your different layers.  Here you can see where I cut my layers. Because my photo is at a perspective angle I chose to add an extra layer to include the happy couple & more of the trees further into the distance.

Tip: Using foam tape instead of foam pads is a lot quicker (unless it's intricate) and easier plus also gives the layers a bit more support especially if your photo paper is quite thin.

All there is to do now is to layer them up using 3D foam pads/tape and the rest of the card is up to you!

Here is my finished card..

On this card:

- Core'dinations card

- Pearl Card

- Wisteria 12x12 Paper

- Grograin Ribbon

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please leave a comment :) Laura x

I have joined!

Yes! I have joined the new blogging craze in In2Crafting! And I feel ashamed that it's taken me this long!! Especially as Im the IT Dept! Anyways Im here now anddd I shall be doing some Crafty Computer Techniques (as the name suggests), as I don't own a Cuttlebug or Cricut or Big Shot :( I have my trusty computer to provide me with some crafty ideas! I'll try to post on here as much as often with new ideas and inspirations, but cant promise anything due to my time consuming college :(

PLUS
If you have any computer queries you can contact me for help and advice or if you have any ideas of what you would like to be able to do using your computing for cardmaking, scrapbooking or more hobbies, feel free to contact me and I will try to find a way! I love a challenge!