cards Archives - MomStart

Augmented Reality Craft: Create DIY Valentine’s Day Cards That Come to Life!

February 4, 2020 by Beeb 1 Comment

DIY Augmented Reality Valentine's Day Cards

Thank you to Lifeprint for partnering with us on this special craft tutorial!

Our featured pick for this year’s Valen-Tech Gift Guide would not only make a fantastic present, but is also the perfect item to help you knock out all those Valentine’s Day cards: The Lifeprint Ultra Slim Photo and Video Printer. This lightweight, handheld photo printer connects to your mobile device over Bluetooth and not only prints your memories, but quite literally makes them come to life! Lifeprint uses augmented reality to create a “Hyperphoto” using ZINK zero ink printing paper. After printing your Hyperphoto, you can actually hold your phone over the photo and watch it come to life as a video!

How to Make a DIY Augmented Reality Valentine’s Day Card

For this craft, you’ll need a Lifeprint Ultra Slim Photo and Video Printer, ZINK Photo Paper, a compatible smartphone, and the Lifeprint App, which is available on both Google Play and iTunes.

Using the Lifeprint Photos app, you can create your Hyperphoto in three different ways:

Create a new video: Select the camera icon in the “My Media” screen and take a video using the app. It will automatically select the first frame as the still image that will print on the paper, or you can select a new frame to print.
Select an existing video: Choose an existing video from the camera roll within the app to turn into a Hyperphoto.
Turn an image into a video: Select your favorite still image, then tap the “…” icon on the Print Preview screen to view more options. This will allow you to choose an existing video to bundle with the image.

Once you’ve printed your Hyperphoto, select the Hyperphoto scanner within the Lifeprint App, hold it over your photo print, and watch it come alive:

How incredible is that?! Now anyone with the Lifeprint App can use the Hyperphoto scanner to watch your Valentine’s Day greeting come to life! Lifeprint is also a worldwide social printer network, meaning that you can follow each other in the Lifeprint App and actually share photos directly to any other Lifeprint printer anywhere in the world – think how much Grandma would love to get new photos of the family delivered straight to her printer anytime you snap them! And because Lifeprint is all about getting social, you can easily pull in media from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat to compile and share all in one spot.

So now that you know the basics of creating a Hyperphoto, it’s time to get crafty for Valentine’s Day! The Lifeprint App also contains a full photo editing suite, so you can dress up your photo with frames, fonts, emojis, filters and more to create a beautiful Valentine’s Day greeting. This is such an easy and fun way to create a custom card with no special Pinterest skills required! Plus, this portable printer can be taken anywhere, so you can work on your craft whenever and wherever you have time.

Lifeprint’s ZINK Photo Paper is available in two sizes, 2×3 and 3×4.5. This means that your photos will print out to be around the same size as the cards you get in those classic boxes of kid’s Valentines for the classroom. Even better, ZINK paper has a sticky back, so these amazing Hyperphotos are also awesome stickers. And thanks to ZINK’s zero ink printing technology, you don’t have to worry about the kids somehow making a mess with ink cartridges!

I can personally attest to the fact that kids have so much fun making these prints – they can select special photos and videos for each of their friends, record a special Valentine’s Day message, use the app to draw and add stickers, and then head to school with the coolest Valentine’s Day cards ever! Kids go crazy for stickers, so just imagine the reaction you’ll get when they see magical stickers that actually come to life. Keep them, trade them, stick them on a greeting card envelope, make them into a photo garland – with Lifeprint’s Hyperphotos, the options are endless.

The Lifeprint Ultra Slim Photo and Video Printer retails for $99.99 and is available at LifeprintPhotos.com and in Apple Stores worldwide. ZINK Photo Paper refills start at $29.95, so stock up and get working on a Valentine’s Day greeting they’ll never forget!

Never Run Out of Greeting Cards Again With CardNest!

December 21, 2014 by Beeb Leave a Comment

Samples provided.

Although I’m deep in the digital world, I still love sending “Snail mail”. Sending a “Real” greeting card carries its own special message and experience, so I keep a little box filled with blank cards for a variety of situations. It is so useful to have some on hand, and even at that, I often find myself looking through the aisles at the store, searching for a specific kind of card. My Grandma and I both agree that card quality is declining and we both have a harder time finding the right card these days – I used to think that perhaps Grandma and I were the only ones left still looking for cards. 😉

However, that’s not true, and there are services like CardNest out there to prove it. CardNest is a UK-based subscription service for greeting cards, which delivers 3 cards to your door every month. The cards you will receive are a mystery, and could be for any variety of occasions. This is perfect for me, because I purposely try to keep a selection of cards around so I can be prepared for various occasions!

When I received my first shipment, I crossed my fingers that there would be a “Thank you” card included. I had been looking all over my local stores for the “Right” kind of thank you card and hadn’t found any I liked. Sure enough, my packet included this “I’m so grateful” card. Yes! This was just what I had been looking for – fun and cute, without being too over the top or too stupid. Spot on! The other two cards included a cute “Thinking of you” card – always good to have in the card stash – and an adorable birthday card featuring a menagerie of cartoon animals eating cake.

The second shipment I received contained 2 birthday cards and a blank “Cheers” card, which would be an appropriate congratulatory card for weddings, promotions, etc. – I love blank cards that I can apply to different situations as they arise!

I received my final shipment this month, which contained 2 Christmas cards and 1 birthday card.

I’ve already used one of the Christmas cards, which I attached to a gift I was wrapping!

I really love the quality and artist designs on these cards – they are fun, adorable and whimsical, without being cloying. They fit my taste perfectly and I will use every single one of them!

CardNest subscriptions start at £7.50 per month for UK residents and £10 per month for anyone outside of the UK. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more information!

5 Last-Minute Father’s Day Ideas From The Boxtrolls!

June 15, 2014 by Beeb Leave a Comment

Happy Father’s Day! Are you looking for some fun ideas for things your kids can do with their daddy today? Here are 5 sweet ideas from our friends The Boxtrolls:

In addition, we have an awesome printable bundle to share with a Boxtrolls-themed card that lets kids tell dad just what he means, along with a cute craft how-to:

Click Communications: BLOGGER BUTTONS &emdash;

So what are your Father’s Day plans?

Simple Salutations

October 19, 2008 by Momstart Leave a Comment

Simple Salutations is a business run by two mothers. One of them used to work for Disney Animation and the other worked for the American Red Cross.

They are both now running this business and taking care of kids. I just love how moms have the ability to do so much. I have enough trouble finding my kids socks. Where do they go? I think because they are so small the washing machine eats them.

Kris and Shea have offered us a 10% discount using the code ‘Momstart’. How wonderful and generous of them. I have looked at their cards and they are really nice. The best part of the process is that everything is fully customizable…

FOR FREE!!!!!!!

I didn’t really understand what this meant so I had to ask for further explanation. This is what Kris told me:

“We customize each product. I personally designed each card so I can change whatever on each item. That is one thing that we like to offer at no additional cost is the ability to completely customize the card, from changing a color to adding more or less pictures. So once someone places and order then we discuss with the customer how to customize their product to fit their needs. We have changed bridesmaid dress colors and added more pictures and so on.”

So, you pick the card.

You pick how many you want, and then what do you want the card to say? What pictures do you want on the card? what color do you want the card. What color do you want the text to be? So many options.