14 posts tagged “minicards”

We announced MOO's API the other week - which allows people with just a little tech knowledge to create cool apps that integrate with MOO's process. If you don't have the tech knowledge but still fancy making something cool, you could try using Photoshop instead.

Two talented MOOsters, Dawn Mikulich and Aral Balkan have posted their creative Photoshop templates online. Each produce very different, but very cool results.

First up, Dawn. A talented photographer based in Chicago, Dawn recently made this set of MiniCards:

With beautiful bright images, the cards are split into sections, perfectly showcasing several photos at once. Dawn has kindly put the template online - and it sounds like it's going down a treat! If you use it, do let us know in the comments, we'd love to see how your cards turnout.

Next up, Aral. You might remember him from last year. He made MiniCards featuring the code needed to get the 100 most recent photos from Flickr into Flash, using SWX. They're very cool - take a look

This time, he's been making mosaics. (MOOsaics? Gah!)  
Here's a photo, taken by Relly so you can see what I mean:

Aral's online template is pre-set to the correct dimensions, and is 'sliced for your convenience'. All you need to do is import your photo, make sure it fits in the document correctly and 'Save for Web'.

jenschr has already tried it out - and got a great result:

Again, if you make cards like this, let us know!

And finally, many congratulations to MOO customer, Yves Snoeren. The Snoren's have recently had a new addition to the family, in the shape of a beautiful baby girl. There's been no time to waste since the birth however, as Yves has been racing about creating the birth announcements! With custom M&M's and a cute little teddy, all that was missing was something small and funky, with the details. Luckily, MiniCards did the trick:

and they didn't do it just the once - but many times!

Congratulations, from everyone at MOO :)

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Ps - our Flickr pool recently got it's 6000th member! Congrats to Katie Strang... Now, who'll be the 10,000th?

One of the nice things about MOO products, is the chance to get your stuff OFF the computer and into people's hands. As more and more people take digital photos, more and more people have virtual folders full of stuff they never do anything with. You can't stick a digital file on the fridge, and you can't prop it up on your desk. You can't send it in the post, and you can't frame it and put it on your wall.

And you know what? It's a bit of a shame, that.

Today we're going to celebrate people who take 'getting-stuff-off-your-computer' one step further. Scrapbookers! MOO cards and stickers are all acid and lignin free (took us a while to research that one, but people asked, so we thought we should check.) This means they're perfect for adding a unique and personal touch to your scrapbook designs... Something you can't buy in a shop.

It also means you can make a scrapbook full of images about your life, loves and friends and get everything lurking on your hard drive *off* and turned into something beautiful.

Here's a lovely example by Relly, who used MOO MiniCards for this design:

And another example using MiniCards - this time in a journal, by Heather:

Taking a different tack, Jamie Bloom made this beautiful calendar:

and Gina created this mix of painting and collage.

Relly has also taken advantage of MOO Stickers - to great effect. Look at this! Its a page full of a whole StickerBook's worth of images, detailing an entire year:

(If you fancy making Stickers, now's a good time - we've got a special offer!)

But some people do scrapbooking a little differently. These beautiful cards have been made by Renske. She creates collages and then photographs them. The resulting pictures make great MiniCards themselves:

and I've just spotted this - a scrapbook style design, made of the MiniCards which feature photos of Renske's scrapbook style designs!

Scottish scrapbooker, Emma has done something similar, and used photos of her beautiful collages, for MOO Postcards. Her designs are fantastic - check out the more detailed photo.

So, the moral of the story? Get out the glue, get your photos off the computer, and get creative!
Happy weekend, everyone!

One of the cool things about MOO products is that you can hand them to new people to introduce yourself, and you have the immediate potential of making new friends. Making new friends is nice. New friends make you smile - sometimes they even make you laugh. (Occasionally they send you sweets... not that I'm hinting or anything.)

For quite some time we in the MOO office have wondered exactly who it is that works over the road from us. Their office kind of looks into ours, and we can see enough of theirs to know they have a huge map on the wall. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just reach over, hand them a MiniCard and say 'Hi! We're MOO, how do you do?' As it happens, it's not that easy, we're one story up, and the other side of a busy road. Reaching over and saying 'hi' will likely result in several broken limbs, possibly DEATH. We're a friendly bunch, but even we have our limits.

Luckily, an odd chain of events came to our rescue:

We have a little 'yay' sticker, stuck to the sign outside our office. It looks a bit like this:

If you look at that photo in detail, you'll see it's been fandalised (a word I've totally stolen from MiniCard 'leaver' Simon Dee). The person responsible? A one Kai Chan Vong, himself a maker of MiniCards.

Well, the above photo was spotted by Malinki, a MiniCard Trader, MOO Sticker maker and all round creative swapper. Malinki had been for a job interview in the very office opposite ours, and spotted the sticker outside our office as she walked past. Better still, she got the job!

A flurry of emails later, and we arranged a little window waving session, which sadly the MOO team managed to miss. The only answer was a TOP SECRET MOO signal. A smilie face made of Post-its:

Luckily, Malinki and her new employers - now our new best friends - responded in kind (actually theirs was a bit more creative than ours but we wont talk about that now).

So we have at last made some new friends, and we very much hope they're looking after their latest employee.

(There was actually a follow-up note, from Stef, our CTO - sadly, while they did have cake, it wasn't enough for us. All we can say is, buy more next time, and we might think about letting Stef out of the cupboard.)

Happy New Year! If you're looking for a new hobby to start 2008, or something to get your creative juices flowing, you could do a lot worse than check out the MOO Flickr pool. And I'm not just talking about making MiniCards, I'm talking about all the great pictures people put on the cards. There's a wealth of creativity and extraordinary hobbies and pastimes out there - these are a few we've spotted.

Henna Bee uses her cards to show off the amazing henna tattoos she creates.

If this idea appeals, check out more of her photos, she's created some beautiful designs.

If you fancy something more permanent, how about chainmail? We came across these photos simply because there's a little MOO Sticker on the laptop - but look! trvance is creating a tiny chainmail bag piece by piece. Check out the 'chainmaille set', beautiful photos and some lovely work.

This is the work in progress (complete with MOO sticker.)

And here's another of his beautiful pieces:

If you wanted to make something to wear, but don't have the strength for chainmail, maybe beaded jewellery is more your thing? These lovely cards were created by blamedstarlie, and feature her own work.

This one might need a bit more kit to take up - but c-urchin's stone, ceramic and glassware is really inspiring.

These are her MiniCards

And here's a closer look at one of her pieces.

And finally, not so much of a hobby, but certainly something to pass a few minutes... emelynilsson models her cards, like a true professional.
    

Happy 2008, everyone!

Time for a round up of some of the great MOO photography we've spotted out there recently. A relaxing little read for a Friday afternoon...

Look at these lovely designs for Stickers, by shutterblog! Nice subtle colours and strong graphics make for great Stickers to be used on envelopes and gift bags.

piktorama* is a MOO designer, and these are some of the lovely Postcards she's made, using her own designs.

Gumby and Pokey are old MOO friends (scroll!), and look - they like Stickers too! This photo was taken by horizontal.integration

Do you ever wish computer commands would hop off the computer and into your real life? Well, Flickr faves have just lept off screen and onto MiniCards, aided and abetted by nataliej. She's even set up a group to go with them, so have a little read, to find out more. (Personally, real life 'Control Z' is what I need...)

Ella Pedersen has made a MOO memory game. This is an idea we blogged about a long time ago, and then mentioned in our email newsetter. Easy to make, and a great little personalised gift.

Meta MOO - this is great, by splityarn although it almost made my head pop... You need to see a larger version to get the full effect.

And finally, if we don't get a chance to say so on the day... HAPPY CHRISTMAS! We hope you have a great day, whatever it is you get up to. Here's a few of the MOO crew, to wish you well.

(Or at least I think that's what they're doing... Although now I come to think about it, I think someone had just offered them a drink.)

Happy Holidays everyone!

This is important! If you want to get your orders in time for Christmas please check out the Shipping dates. If you can't face doing that - I know, it's Friday, every click hurts - here's the basic facts:

To ensure receipt of your items by 24th December these are the dates you need to remember:

If you are in the UK then you must place your order by;
Sunday 16th December

If you are in Western Europe you must place your order by;
Wednesday 13th December
(StickerBooks should be ordered by 7th December OR if you choose express shipping, by midnight GMT, 12th December )

If you are in USA, Japan, Canada or Eastern Europe you must place your order by;
Sunday 9th December
(StickerBooks should be ordered by 7th December OR if you choose express shipping, by midnight GMT, 12th December )

If you are anywhere else you must place your order by;
Friday 7th December

Express options are given on the shipping payment page, so if you're in a hurry do check that out. (If you're you're bored of shopping already, go gift certificate, give yourself a stress free Christmas!)

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So, now that's all over, some fun stuff! Whist having a little mooch around one of the many MOO Flickr Pools I came across this nice picture of a lovely wrapped package, by LadyFort

It's an Etsy order she's sending out to a customer. The next picture is even more interesting - she says, "Because I just can't bear to use Sellotape when everything else looks so scrumptious. So instead I use Moo stickers - these are Lara Cameron's from the Moo designer's range.

It's a nice idea - looks great, and also gets over the problem of never being able to find the Sellotape when you need it.

Using  MiniCards is a popular idea for gift tags this year. How could you not be excited to receive presents like these!

Pretty in pink, wrapped by jek in the box

Smooth and sophisticated, wrapped by Black Dog Designs

Grace and favour, by William Spaetzel - these are actually wedding favours, but you could do something similar as a party favour, or stocking filler. (Extremely belated congratulations to the happy couple!)

Smart as a button! Wrapped by crazycatladymel. (Such a neat idea)

'Scrap bags'? I think not! Beautiful fabric bags, again, by jek in the box

And if you're making tags yourself, these are really lovely, by Yarnissima - who I've mentioned before - she really knows how to wrap!
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If you've got loads of presents to give out though, and you need something a little more obvious to identify what should go where, Text MiniCards are the key. And even better? They're multi-purpose! You can use them for more than just gift tags.

But you know what? However you do it, make sure you have some fun along the way.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Do you like black, orange or red? Know someone who does? Well if you're thinking of buying a leather MiniCard holder for yourself, or as a gift, it might be a good plan to get it right now. Cobu, who make the holders were only able to send us a limited number of each colour, and we've just found out they wont be able to send us more until after Christmas. It seems that these three colours are really popular, so if you'd like one, get it while you can.

If you're not sure about the other colours, here's what our lovely intern, Rui has to say...

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I'm using both leather and felt holders (priviledged as a MOO staff!), and like it very much. Leather holder is really gorgeous. Mine is pale pink, and I love soft pastel color, the smooth touch of leather, a Cobu mark on the back and a cool Cobu rabbit on the wrapping box! The felt one is also very cute. Variation of bright colours reminds me of a crayon box. I like the fluffy touch of thick felt. It's actually slim and convinient!
 
皮製とフェルト製のミニカードホルダーを両方使っていますが、どちらもとても気に入っています。高級感が漂うのは皮製のホルダー。私はピンクを使っていますが、柔らかいパステルカラー、皮の手触り、しゃれたCobuのフォント、ラッピングの箱に印刷されているCobuの兎マークまでもお気に入りです。フェルト製のほうはとってもかわいい！鮮やかな色揃えはなんだかクレヨンみたいです。厚いフェルトを使っているので手触りはふわふわ。実はこれ、薄くて持ち歩きにも便利だったりします。

Here's a pale blue leather holder - you can see the Cobu rabbit, Rui mentions on the outer box.

This is the full range of felt holders

I'd also like to tell you about a new case we should have in a few weeks.  I said 'like to' because I would, but I'm not allowed. Rest assured as soon as they've taken the thumbscrews off, and I can type properly again, I'll give you more details.

In other news, we've seen some great swing tags and promotional cards being made from MiniCards, by the crafters and creative types out there. These are a few of our favourites.

Handmade earrings, tied to a MiniCard, with ribbon. Design and jewellery by Kutuu Jewellery

Beautiful, bright promotional cards, by Flapi

Lovely yarn packages, with a MOO swing tag, by Yarnissima

Oh yes! October is here and Halloween is coming. We're already quaking in our boots, but calming ourselves with the knowledge that there's not a lot in this neck o' the woods that's scarier than the MOO Crew on a good night out.

We've been busy though - look!

All that Halloween schwag! We've made party invitations with NoteCards...

If you fancy doing the same, you can use our designer content - go for something classically scary like this, from Brian Taylor:

or maybe cute - but scary - like this from Blanca Gomez:
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There's more Halloween content too, just have a look around and see what takes your fancy.

We made lucky-dip MiniCards too - although it looks like they might be missing in action until Mr Gorilla Hands can be found...

These are easy to make with Text MiniCards. Design up to 100 cards, with different text on the front of each one.

Not only that, but we used them for banners too! We were inspired by this lovely photo from Shell, who used ribbon for her birthday banners, and this cool shot from Charlie too - who used clips for his. If you find another inventive way to make a banner, let us know.

We put all the ideas we had on a special Halloween ideas page, so you might like to check that out too. You can never be too prepared where ghosts and ghouls are concerned...

Now, where's that bowl of sweets?

Email isn't as nice as post, is it? Well, sometimes it is - you know, when it's something cool like an amazing job offer, but really, post is king. Finding a nice handwritten envelope in amongst the bills and junkmail is a real treat. Like kicking leaves in Autumn and finding a shiny new penny hiding underneath.

I've mentioned the MOOSwapping community before I think, people on Flickr and LiveJournal trading MiniCards. Very often people get creative with the way they send things, and these, sent out by the crocheted cat really tickled our fancy:

Photo taken by  *~Laura~*

Photo taken by Dogtired

Photo taken by magdela

Photo taken by dyetochange

Photo taken by Malinki

Aside from these cards being really cute, I think this style could be used for a lot of things. I'm the kind of person that gets a note saying 'We've moved house' and ends up ripping out the bit with the address and shoving it in my address book. How much nicer would it be to slip the MiniCard out and keep that instead?

Or for a save-the-date card, having a lovely card from the couple in question to slide out of it's cute illustration and into a diary.

Or even for an invitation with the address on the back - keep it in your purse or wallet, rather than carry around something bigger that just gets squashed in your pocket.

In fact, I like these so much, I'm going to make some. Now... what shall I draw?