My Canon Selphy CP900 Experience

I love getting a new toy to play with in the studio.  Don't you?  Reviews are not really my thing, but I wanted to share a bit about my latest purchase and my experience with it.

I wanted a small, portable printer that would allow me to print small photos directly from my iPhone to use in my planner and art journaling; particularly my IG photos and preferably with a sticker option.

The search began.

The first printer I discovered wasn't compatible. iPhone won't push photos via Bluetooth. The second had a dock for the iPhone, but it only printed 4x6" photos and I wanted something to print small 2x3" photos with a sticky back.  

Enter the Canon Selphy CP900.

I LOVE this little printer! The print quality is clear and crisp, it is wi-fi enabled and has a USB port as well as a card reader.  It's very versatile.  It comes with the supplies to print a few sample 4x6" photos, but offers the ability to purchase a smaller paper cartridge for printing 2x3" photos, 2x3" photo stickers, and the big selling point for me....square photo stickers. Perfect for those square IG photos!

My initial investment was about $80 at Best Buy. I ordered the smaller photo papers and cartridge directly from Canon. (It appears that local sellers only carry the 4x6" ink/paper packages). The paper cartridge needed for the smaller prints was $12.99 and the paper/ink refills were about $14.99 each. The sticker papers come in 18 counts and the 2x3" paper was available in a 36 count. Not counting sales tax and shipping, stickers cost about .84 cents each, photos (no sticky back) average .43 cents each. I have used an entire package of the square sticker paper and ink....the last sticker printed as well as the first.

The Selphy comes with software for your Mac or PC.  I installed it just for giggles.  I find that it prints better from my iPhone/iPad using the free Canon iEPP App than it does from my laptop.  I have also learned a few things during my printing experiments.

•   To avoid cropping of my square IG photos “bordered” must be selected.
•   Prints of square IG photos directly from iPhone's Canon App are nicely centered, however, they were not nicely centered when printing from my laptop.
•   When printing a 2x3 photo, it is best to crop the desired photo to 2x3” using iPhone's edit/crop option if there are any elements around the edges you absolutely want printed or a portion of image you want centered.  Otherwise, photos are cropped without a preview of what will actually print (at least I haven't discovered a way to do this).  You don't want any heads to get chopped off, do you?  :)

Here are a couple of examples:

Notice the tree and Target icon are slightly different in each photo.  The entire image in its original format appears in the middle, “bordered” photo, but I don’t like uneven borders.  I’m a little anal like that. :)  However, this is nothing I can’t work with.  I will, for the most part, be printing square or borderless 2x3" photos.

This is how the above photo printed (notice the cropped edges):

I would most definitely recommend this printer to my creative friends and to those wanting to have a little fun making photo stickers, etc.  I admit it is inconvenient to have to order the smaller photo paper and sticker paper online rather than being able to pop into a local business to purchase.  In the end the smaller format photos and stickers also cost a bit to make, but it's not in daily use so I am happy to absorb the cost of having the ability to use my IG and other photos in my planner or art journaling.

Is there something I missed?  Have you been considering purchasing a Canon Selphy?  Do you have a burning question you must have answered before you decide?  Please post any questions in the comments below, or send me an email.

Happy Saturday!

"Inhale Bliss" created using Procreate for iPad

-- Follow link above to view the PDF file

-- Print, trim, frame, hang, glue, mail...

Every day is a day to celebrate and today I'm celebrating!  Celebrating what, you might ask? Well, no one thing in particular.  It's a cold, January day here in Northern California, the sun is shining bright through my studio window and I just got the urge to share a free printable with YOU!

I don't do much in the way of digital art.  I do like to add digital elements to my art, edit and play around in the digital world, but I much prefer to have a brush or pen in my hand, a mess on my desk and ooey, gooey fingers.

I recently purchased Procreate for iPad and last night I was playing around with it.  I really do love it and would recommend it if you're a creative with an iPad.  :)

This print I share with you today began with a photo of an art journal page I'd scraped out with acrylics and a credit card earlier in the day.  I decided to try doodling a girlie-girl. With the help of the app tools, I managed to create a full head of wispy hair and bubbles of light.  (Note: both the hair and bubble tools were additional in-app purchases).  When I decided that I was done, I sat with her a bit and she whispered, "Inhale bliss."

Today I am sharing breaths of bliss with you.  Perhaps you'd like a reminder to take a moment to inhale and experience bliss.   Perhaps you just want a reminder to stop for three seconds to close your eyes and take a deep breath (sometimes that means you're in the bathroom, with the door locked while the kids are screaming outside).  Take a moment.  Take a deep breath. Inhale your bliss.

Follow the link above to access the PDF file and print your free 8x8" copy.  Hang it on your wall or paste it in your art journal.   Feel free to share the bliss on your blog/website too!  I only ask that you link back to THIS blog post.  I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Please enjoy and have a bliss-filled weekend!!!  

Friday Tickle :: Evo of a Christmas Card

I hope you have been enjoying the winter holidays and time spent with family and friends! We celebrate Christmas and as you can imagine this time of year has been very busy!  I did want to stop by for a moment and share a quick, little, creative adventure with you:  the Evo lution of a Christmas Card.

For many years I've made our family Christmas Cards. Rather than pull out the rubber stamps, this year I decided to try something a little different using a canvas board, collage, acrylic paint and ink.  To be quite honest, it didn't come together the way I had hoped it would and by the time I was done printing the 5x7" flat cards...I almost hated them and hesitated dropping the kraft paper envelopes in the mail or sharing them here.  But, Kreative Notions is all about mistaeks so I must share those too!

I adored this card stock I found at Michaels with a little snowman and the words "Memories never melt."  A few dabs of paint and Gesso spread with a brayer and I had the beginnings of a background.  So far, so good.  :)

I press a paper towel on the acrylic paint and Gesso to create a little bit o' texture (plus it soaks up any spots with excess paint).  I use wet wipes to remove wet paint from elements or words I want to highlight and a piece of cardboard morphs into a tree template.

If mistaeks weren't mandatory, I'd be extremely upset with myself right about.....now.  :)

I still grapple with patience.  Okay, who am I kidding?  I have none.  :)  Especially when I've waited far too long to start a project. Does that happen to you as well?  Things weren't sitting right with me.  I didn't know if it was the tree or the background or the tree?  I kept playing with it and playing with it and playing with it; rushing, and cursing and bouncing off the wall of frustration until I had reached the point of no return and started over from scratch....

...and sent this out.

Sprinkle Joy.  Embrace Mistaeks.  Have a Hap-Hap-Happy New Year!