Finding Free Fonts

• DaFont
• Font Squirrel
• Font Garden

Linked at

Sometimes you want to bookmark multiple pages. One solution is stick-on page tabs, but that is another thing to carry around when you are reading. Having several bookmarks on one ring is a good solution. I used a keychain ring so it would show more predominantly in the picture, but for a thinner book a small ring would be a better choice.

The instructions for making the duct tape bookmarks can be found in this post.

Linked at

Finding Free Fonts

• DaFont
• Font Squirrel
• Font Garden

Linked at

A Good Refreshing Drink

With warmer weather thoughts start turning to cold drinks. Sparkling water is a nice refreshing healthy drink. This being said it does not have much taste. This is unlikely to be an issue if you drink lots of soda or fruit juice, but if you drink mostly water and sparkling water you may start wanting a way to flavor it that does not eliminate the health benefits.

Start with a glass of sparkling water and add:

Fruit and Vegetable ideas

• 1-2 slices of cucumber
  
• 1 small slice of lemon or a squirt of lemon juice
• 1 small slice of orange
• a few raspberries
• a few strawberry slices

Lemon or orange and cucumber make a nice combination.

Tea

I previously posted a recipe for Sparkling Tea.

Fruit Juice

Add a small amount of apple, pineapple, grape, or other clear juice to your sparkling water. This will increase the sugar and calories unlike the other options, but unless you use a ton it will still be low calorie and low sugar.

Herbs

Add mint for an extra refreshing drink.

Notes and Linked at

It should go without saying that if you are allergic or react to any of the suggestions do not add them to your sparkling water. The strawberry and orange photo uses material from Photo Vaco.

The podcast app Instacast has been updated with significant improvements. Updated features include episode archiving, sleep timer, chapter navigation, improved auto-download management, support for Atom Feeds, VoiceOver support, ability to pause and cancel downloads, and more. There is also an in-app purchase for additional features.

About the App

Instacast is a great way of keeping up with podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. The iPhone version costs 99 cents and can be downloaded from the App Store.

To see the full wallpapers click on the link below.

Notes and Linked at

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

I needed another craft box for some of the ‘parts’ for my projects. So I decided to repurpose a box. The duct tape also makes it sturdier and adds some water-resistance.

Materials Needed

• A box
• Duct Tape (I used Duck Brand tape)
• Washi Tape (I used an Up & Up brand “Printed Paper” tape)
• Scissors to cut the Duct Tape

Directions

I used a box with a white, purple, and black design. Thus, I chose a purple theme for the tape so that if any of the box shows through it could work with the design.

This box took 3 strips of duct tape. Each strip wrapped around the box once. If your box is a bit ‘shiny’ the duct tape can be lifted and fixed if it does not initially go down smooth and straight.

With a solid color of duct tape I might stop and call it done or add a creative design. However, the design on the duct tape makes the seams very visible. So, I used a solid purple washi tape and wrapped it over the seams.

The top can be wrapped in either duct tape or washi tape. I chose duct tape because it is stronger and because it is easier to replace duct tape around here than washi tape.

Cost

Many crafters will already have everything they need. Duck brand duct tape with patterns tends to be about $6. The washi tape is four rolls for $4. This is one of those projects where DIY washi tape should work just as well as the real washi tape.

Linked at

#Section p:first-letter{
float:left;
margin: 4px 1px 0px 4px;
color:#000;
font-size: 4.4em;
font-weight: 400;
font-family: Georgia, serif;
text-shadow: 2px 2px 1px #CDB7B5;
}

Example 2

#Section p:first-letter{
float:left;
margin:4px 2px 0px 4px;
color:#000;
font-size:4.4em;
font-family: 'Uncial Antiqua', Georgia, serif;
font-weight: 400;
text-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #828282;
}

Add the following code to your HTML page header < link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Uncial+Antiqua' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' >

Example 3

#Section p:first-letter{
float:left;
margin:5px 1px 0px 5px;
color:#000;
font-size:4.4em;
font-family: 'Fredericka the Great', Georgia, serif;
font-weight: 400;
text-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #3d3d3d;
}

Add the following code to your HTML page header < link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Fredericka+the+Great' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' >

Example 4

#Section p:first-letter{
float:left;
margin: 4px 1px 0px 4px;
color:#171717;
font-size:4.4em;
font-family: Georgia, serif;
font-weight: 400;
text-shadow: 1px -1px 1px #c0c0c0;
}

Example 5

#Section p:first-letter{
float:left;
margin: 3px 1px 0px 3px;
color:#000;
font-size:4.8em;
font-family: 'UnifrakturMaguntia', Georgia, serif;
font-weight: 400;
text-shadow: -1px 1px 1px #3d3d3d;
}

Add the following code to your HTML page header < link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=UnifrakturMaguntia' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' >

Notes

• “Section” is the name of the div where you want the drop-caps.
• Several of these examples use the Google Font Directory. For the HTML code for the fonts you can use the standard code shown above or you can go to the Google Font Directory and use the @import or javascript options.

]]> http://blog.literaryspring.com/2012/05/fun-with-drop-caps/feed/ 0 http://blog.literaryspring.com/2012/04/diy-printed-tape/ http://blog.literaryspring.com/2012/04/diy-printed-tape/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:45:01 +0000 Rebecca http://blog.literaryspring.com/?p=1750 Continue reading →]]>

Materials

• Clear tape. Mildly sticky tape works the best so you can easily peel the tape from the paper.
• Paper which has been printed with the text or pattern you want to transfer to the tape. The more recently you printed the page the more likely that the text (or pattern) will transfer cleanly onto your tape.
• Heavy paper, cardboard, or other material you want the “printed” tape on.

Directions

• Print or find a recent printout with the text (or shape or pattern or…) you want to use.
• Cut the tape so that it is the length of the text you want to be copied onto your tape.
• Press the tape to the paper and rub the tape with your fingers.
• After you have finished rubbing it carefully remove the tape from paper.
• Stick the tape on whatever you want to stick it on.

The example below shows the differences in how crisp and strong the text is depending on the date when the page was printed. The “smudges” above the red line are tape pieces that used papers that were printed prior to 2011. As you can see not much of the ink transferred to the tape.

Example Using a Pattern

Notes and Linked at

Please note that while this method can produce tape that looks like washi tape it will not have all the properties of washi tape. The adhesive qualities in particular will not be like genuine washi tape.

Water-resistant Bookmarks

If you are someone like me who loves to read chances are you have probably put your bookmark down on a wet spot. These are kitchen, bathroom, and rainy day friendly bookmarks that not only look good, but can easily be dried off if you lay your bookmark in the place where someone had just put their soaking wet umbrella.

Materials Needed:

• Thick paper that is the same width or slightly thinner than the width of the duct or shipping tape.
• Interesting Shipping Tape or Duct Tape (I used 3M Scotch Shipping Packaging Tape with a red Cheveron pattern and Duck brand Duct Tape)
• Scissors
• (Optional) buttons, etc if you want to add additional decorating

Directions

Cut your paper to be the height you want your bookmark. Make the width the same or slightly less than the width of your tape. Since the paper will be completely covered by duct or shipping tape this is a good time to use up scraps of paper you do not like as much.

Lay tape down along the edge of your paper. Go slowly to try to avoid wrinkles and make sure that it stays straight. Cut the tape at the bottom of the paper.

Turn it over and apply tape to the other side. Lay down another layer of tape slowly. Then cut the tape.

If your paper is extending beyond the tape trim it.

Use punches, fancy scissors, etc to continue decorating your bookmark.

Notes and Linked at