Trying to figure something out?

 

If you have something you're trying to do, and need some help figuring it out, please send us an email! (request@HisandHersCreative.com)

 

Tell us:

- what is it that you're trying to do?

- what problem(s) are you running into?

- what have you tried so far?

- how soon do you need to figure this out?

 

I can't guarantee that we'll be able to help, but if we can, we'll post an answer to your problem, and email you to let you know when it's up. 

 

Thanks for visiting!  : )

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Record Any Audio on Your Computer, Including Streaming Audio from the Internet

2 | November 2nd, 2008 | Posted in Cool Tools

A blogger I follow was wondering how to capture streaming audio from the internet, and I told him I’d look into it for him.  (Hi Tim!)  I found many options for both Mac and Windows users, and thought I’d pass them along.

I also stumbled across some video-capture programs while I was searching, so I’ll probably be doing a post on those as well.

If you know of a good one that I’ve missed, please feel free to add it in the comments!

In no particular order, here’s what I found:

For both Mac and Windows:

Audacity (free!)

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

  • Record live audio.
  • Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
  • Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
  • Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
  • Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
  • And more! See the complete list of features.

RecordPad ($55; $38.20 through Nov. 15, 2008)

  • Record sound, voice, notes, music or any other audio.
  • Save recordings to your hard drive in wav, mp3 or aiff format. (*Pocket PC version does not support saving to mp3 file format)
  • Can be set to record only when you are speaking with voice activated recording.
  • Recordings can be burnt directly to CD using Express Burn software to create an audio CD.
  • System-wide hot keys allow keyboard control over recording while working in other programs.
  • Option to automatically send recordings via email or upload to an FTP server.
  • MPEG Layer-3 encoding offers content of variable bit rates from 8 to 320kbps with optional crc error checking and joint stereo modes.
  • Wave encoding at sample rates between 6000 and 196000Hz in PCM or many other codecs and bits.
  • Can be automated and integrated to run from other programs with powerful command line options.
  • Fully integrates with WavePad Professional Audio Editing Software to edit recordings and add effects.
  • Can be used in conjunction Express Scribe, Player for Typists to assist transcription of voice recordings.
  • Designed to be simple and robust for professional and corporate recording applications.

For Mac Users:

Audio Hijack Pro ($32; free trial)

Depending on how you configure Audio Hijack Pro, it can record from one application at a time (just the audio from Safari), multiple separate applications into separate file (Safari and DVD Player), or all audio at once.

When you record from one application, Audio Hijack Pro will grab audio from only that application. With Audio Hijack Pro you won’t wind up with system alerts, iChat beeps, or any other audio you don’t want.

You can also set Audio Hijack Pro to grab audio from multiple individual sources at the same time. If you want to record a stream from DVD Player, and another stream from Safari, you can do it. Set up multiple sessions, one for each source, then hit record and you’ll be all set. When the recordings are done, you’ll have one file for each recording - your VCR can’t even do that!

Finally, you can use the System Audio input source to record all audio being played on your machine. If you want to record everything coming out of your speakers, use the System Audio input device and Audio Hijack Pro will save this all to one file.

WireTap ($69; free trial)

Upgrade from:

WireTap Pro: $30
Audio Hijack Pro: $30
Fission: $30

Using WireTap Studio, you can record the discrete audio output of any application, as well as all system audio, or record audio input from any microphone, line-in, or audio input hardware.

If you can hear it, WireTap Studio can record it.

Once you have recorded your audio, you can easily organize your recordings in the convenient Recording Library, and edit them with WireTap Studio’s integrated lossless audio editor.

WireTap Studio also boasts full Audio Unit effects support, for adding professional quality effects to your audio.

Sound Studio ($79.99/Mac OS X)

Sound Studio is an audio recording and editing application for the Mac OS. It allows you to take full advantage of your Mac’s built-in sound recording and playback capabilities (It uses Core Audio under Mac OS X). With Sound Studio you can digitize your collection of vinyl and tapes, do live recording of audio, edit new and pre-existing digital audio and save your audio in several file formats to be used in other audio apps.

AudioX ($19.95/Mac OS X)

AudioX was written for people who want an easy way to record sound from any input source under Mac OS X. ie. built-in microphone, USB microphone or even a firewire video camera.
AudioX is great for recording interviews, voice memos, sound FX and even old vinyl records. You can then convert them into MP3 using Apples free iTunes or the software or your choice.

For Windows Users:

Pistonsoft mp3 audio recorder (free)  (The download link is inside the blue box, at the bottom; I’m telling you because it took me half a minute to locate it. . . .)

Free download from Shareware Connection - Captures audio from any source, including line-in, microphone, or sounds that are played back on your computer by other applications, and save the recording into any sound format such as MP3 or OGG without the need to compress and re-compress

Alive WMA MP3 Recorder ($29.95; free trial)

Alive WMA MP3 Recorder records any audio source from your computer into MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, and VOX files. With Alive WMA MP3 Recorder you can record sound from microphone, line-in, streaming audio from the Internet, or music played by WinAMP, Windows Media Player, Quick Time, RealPlayer, Power DVD, VCD, Flash, Games, etc..

Alive WMA MP3 Recorder allows you to record sound without running out of memory as long as there’s enough disk space. Alive WMA MP3 Recorder have simple and intuitive interface. Sound quality of the recordings remains excellent. Alive WMA MP3 Recorder integrates the complete set of record volume control for your convenience.

In addition, Alive WMA MP3 Recorder includes an AudioPlayer, and enables you to play MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, VOX, MPC, AVI, MP1, MP2, MPA, g721, g726, g723 or RAW files.

Free Sound Recorder (free)

Free Sound Recorder is a perfect audio recorder to record your own voice, music or any other sound by working directly with your sound card. It supports the record input/source from a microphone, streaming audio from the Internet, external input devices (e.g. CDs, LP, music cassettes, phone line etc.) as well as other applications like Winamp, Media Player, etc.

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How to Send a Text or Picture Message from Your Computer to a Cell Phone

1 | October 19th, 2008 | Posted in Cool Tools

I’m not really a big text messager, but occasionally it seems to be the easiest way to get a message to somebody.  I’m pretty fast with the keypad on my phone, even though I don’t do it all that often, but Clint is pretty much agonizingly slow with his.  In any event, whether you’re fast or slow, it seems silly to use that tiny keypad if you have a perfectly good keyboard available, and can use it instead.

Yesterday a friend called to ask me to look something up online for her.  It was a potential birthday present that her Mom wanted her to look at, and she didn’t want to wait until she got home, because she still had several hours worth of errands to run.  I looked it up but I really wasn’t sure what she’d think of it.  I tried to take a picture with my cell phone, so I could message it to her, but the picture just wasn’t coming out well enough to be of any help.

I finally remembered that, at some point in the past year, I’d seen a website that lets you send a free text message from your computer to someone’s phone.  I wondered if there was a similar service for sending pics to phones, and wouldn’t you know it, after just a few minutes of googling, I had several options to try!  I figured I can’t be the only person who might find something like this useful, so I thought I’d test a few out and let you know how well they work.

1)  The first page I found is called PixDrop. It only works for sending pics to Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint users, but that worked out for me yesterday, since my friend is on Verizon.

PixDrop screenshot

It was simple to use: select the carrier, type in the cell number you want to send to, and upload your picture. (If you’re wanting to send a pic of something online, you’ll need to download the image [right-click~save image as] or get a screenshot first.)  The message arrived in less than a minute.


2) While I was searching, I decided to look for the text-messaging site I’d seen before.  Turns out, it’s by the same people who did PixDrop!

It’s called TxtDrop.com and it’s also very easy to use: you enter your email address, your friend’s cell phone number, and the message you want to send.  That’s it.  (They also have a Widget for Mac OS X, and a Gadget for Windows Vista, so you don’t have to go to the website every time you want to send a message.)


3)  I checked out one more site for sending text messages from computer to phone, just so I’d have an alternative if the other ever gives me trouble.

Text4Free screenshot

It’s called Text4Free, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that (if you’re in the US, and use Verizon, T-Mobile, Cingular, Cricket, US Cellular, or Cincinnati Bell) you can also attach a picture, graphic, or audio file!



4)  I also I tried 811.com.

811.com screenshot

It looked promising, because it has options for sending audio, video, text, and picture messages, but I ended up being disappointed by it.  I uploaded my picture, and entered the to and from cell numbers, and entered the security code, then waited for my message to arrive.  It didn’t take long but, to my surprise, there was no picture visible!  I had to click a link—which looked to me to be a web link—to view it, and when it did appear, it was very tiny.  Now I’m worried that I will have data transfer charges on my next bill, even though it didn’t warn me first of possible charges. . . .      : (

Last option for today, I promise. . . .

Of course, if you know somebody’s service provider, you can just write an email from your mail program, and send it directly to their phone, provided you stick to short messages. (Long ones may bounce back, or may be truncated or split into separate messages; each provider has a different character limit, and each handles too-long messages differently.)

Because I’d like to keep this post from becoming any longer than it already is, I’m just going to give you links to a couple of pages that have lists of email addresses used by different providers:

1) Link one has a long list of both US and Canadian service providers. (For some reason Verizon is missing from this list, but it’s on the others.)

2) Link two has a chart that also gives info on character limits, plus links to more info, and links to some carrier sites that let you text directly from the site.

3) Link three is a short list of popular US providers, but it has links to much more detailed information about how each handles text messages, and what the cost is to the recipient.

One last option I read about, if you don’t know somebody’s carrier: you can email a message to theirphonenumber@teleflip.com.  You have 160 characters to use, including the subject line, and:

TeleFlip is free to use, without registration, for up to 100 messages per month. If you want to send more than that, you’ll have to sign up for one of their subscription services, which start at $5 per month. It should work with any SMS-enabled phones in the U.S. and Canada.

I’m sure none of this will turn me into a texting fiend, but it may come in handy for sharing photos with certain friends and family members who never remember to check in on our family blog, or our DropShots page.  ahem.

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5 Free Alternatives to Filezilla

0 | October 17th, 2008 | Posted in Cool Tools

We had an FTP freak-out here tonight.  If Clint had been working on something besides his Dad’s blog, it could have been a pain in the neck because we’d have had to either transfer everything to my laptop, or upload over the network—which just seems like a really bad idea, not to mention slow.

Our versions of Filezilla have been misbehaving for quite some time, only allowing us to stay connected for a couple of minutes at a time, dropping the connection even while we’re in the middle of dragging and dropping files.  I decided that I was tired of dealing with this, so I downloaded the new version to my laptop today.  It stayed connected alright, but then it decided that it didn’t want to let me move things from one folder to another, so I deleted it and went back to the old version.

When Clint had issues staying connected tonight, I told him to give the new version a shot, thinking it might behave better for him.   He downloaded it, but couldn’t get it to open, so I copied my version to his desktop; that one wouldn’t open either. He finally went to Mozilla’s website, where he discovered that the new version is for Mac Os X  v10.5 (Leopard) only, and that they no longer support 10.4 (Tiger) or older.  They don’t even have the older versions available for download!  This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except when Clint got rid of the new non-working copies of Filezilla, something happened to his old version, and it wouldn’t open!  After some quick searching, we found a few websites that still had an older version of Filezilla available but Clint couldn’t get any of THOSE to work either, so I set out to find him an alternative.

It took me awhile, but I found several promising free FTP clients, and I thought I’d share them with you!  (Don’t you feel special now?)  The first three are Mac only (all compatible with Tiger, of course), and the last two are for Mac AND Windows.

1)  RBrowser

  • RBrowser is a full featured free graphic FTP-SFTP client. RBrowser allows the user to manage/browse files on the remote host with an easy-to-use graphic interface. File management includes move, copy, duplicate, compress, delete,set permissions, make links, etc…
  • Remote Editing, Folder Synchronization.
  • Entire file trees can be moved between local and remote host, or between remote hosts by simple drag & drop.
  • Remote-to-Remote File Transfers between any hosts, regardless of protocol
  • Run Any number of operations simultaneously.
RBrowser screenshot

RBrowser screenshot

2)  Fugu

  • Drag and drop upload and download of files.
  • External editor support.
  • Image previews.
  • Directory upload (not natively supported in SFTP).
  • Permissions, owner and group modification.
  • Directory histories.
  • Support for international characters, including Chinese and Japanese glyphs.
  • A Console, which may be used like a command line SFTP session.
  • Support for Public Key Authentication.
  • Support for connections to alternate ports.
  • Full Aqua interface.
  • SCP support.
  • Ability to create SSH Tunnels.
  • Keychain support.
Fugu screenshot

Fugu screenshot

3)  Cyberduck

Cyberduck is an FTP program of the old school. Much like the venerable Fetch, it gives you one window into your web server in list/outline view. From that window you can move files and folders back and forth between you Mac and your web server. It’s easy and simple. The tutorial takes about three minutes to read. If you have any experience with FTP clients, you’ll be up and running immediatly.

Cyberduck has the basic features you would expect from a modern FTP client. With it you can upload and download files and folders, create new files and folders on your web server, change permissions, rename and move both files and folders and resume transfers. It also works hand-in-hand with most popular html editors to allow you to edit text based files directly on your web server.

In addition it has a nice bookmarks setup and offers synchronization of local and remote folders and supports the whole gamut of secure transfer protocols.

Cyberduck screenshot

Cyberduck screenshot

4)  FireFTP

  • It’s free!
  • Cross-platform: Works on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
  • Secure: SSL/TLS/SFTP support, same encryption used with online banking and shopping
  • Synchronization: Keep directories in sync while navigating
  • Directory Comparison: Compare directory content (compares subdirectories too!)
  • International: Available in over 20 languages
  • Character Set Support: UTF8 and just about any other character encoding supported
  • Automatic reconnect and resuming of tranfers
  • Search/Filtering
  • Integrity Checks of transfers (XMD5, XSHA1)
  • Export/Import accounts
  • Remote Editing
  • File Hashing: Generate hashes of files (MD5, various SHA’s)
  • Drag & Drop
  • File Compression: Using MODE Z
  • Timestamp Synchronization
  • Proxy support
  • FXP support
  • Advanced properties (CHMOD, recursive CHMOD, thumbnails)
  • Tutorials and help files available for support
  • IPv6 support
  • Open Source!
  • Seamless integration with Mozilla Firefox
  • …did we mention it’s free? :-)
FireFTP screenshot

FireFTP screenshot

5) Classic FTP

Runs on Windows 98/2000/Xp/Vista
Runs on Mac OS X
Upload to a website using file transfer protocol (FTP)
Work like a conventional ftp client
Visually compare your local drive and what’s online
Manually download selected files
Manually connect and disconnect to site
Completely Free

Classic FTP for Mac screenshot

Classic FTP for Mac screenshot

Classic FTP for Windows screenshot

Classic FTP for Windows screenshot

And a bonus, that’s a bit different from the others:

MacFusion

From the website:

MacFusion brings all sorts of information to your Mac in the form of files and folders displayed as just another “Volume” on your Mac desktop. Right now you can use this software to show a Secure Shell or Secure FTP share from another computer on your macs desktop, letting you manipulate the files on it as if they were on your own computer. MacFusion can also do the same for any File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, giving read/write FTP in the finder for the first time! MacFusion works using open source technology called FUSE ported by Google to the Mac platform (MacFuse). MacFusion is based on plugins, so you can expect exciting new file systems coming to your desktop in the future! This includes the files from your gmail account, pictures from Flickr, encrypted volumes using encfs, source code repositories using subversion, and more!

I really like the idea of being able to have my server on my desktop, of being able to access it as if it were right here in my house, from within my Finder.  I think I’ll be giving this one a try.  If you’d like to know how it works out, please leave me a comment here, and I’ll respond either in the comments, or by email.  (If there’s enough interest, I’ll do another post about it.)

MacFusion screenshot

MacFusion screenshot

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Before you send that email. . . .

0 | October 15th, 2008 | Posted in Cool Tools

Ever send an email that you wish you hadn’t?  I know I have. . . .

When it’s late, and I’m tired, it’s just SO much easier to hit “send” than it is to re-read the email again, and while I could wait until morning, when I’m more clear-headed, anybody who knows me will tell you that isn’t going to happen.

Enter Google.

Clint got this email from a friend tonight:

Did you hear about the new widget Google came up with to protect people from sending e-mails they might regret while intoxicated?  It’s pretty funny.  When enabled, it requires the user to solve a short series of math problems in a certain amount of time before the e-mail can be sent if they’re sending e-mails late at night on weekends.  There’s probably more to it, but that’s the widget in a nutshell.  Absolutely fabulous, I think.

Here’s a link, if you’re interested.

Now, if only they would share that with Wordpress. . . .

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Correcting a blown-out, hazy photo

3 | October 8th, 2008 | Posted in How To

A mom on our local moms board posted a photo tonight, asking if it could be salvaged.  I had a bit of time, so I decided to play with it and see if I could help.  Here’s the before and after, and how I got from one to the other.

Before

Before

After

After

To the best of my recollection, this is what I did:

- I used the clone stamp to cover the ugly cement thing in the background. (It was distracting me!)

- I applied the Unsharp Mask a couple of times.  (I always keep applying it until I’ve obviously over-done it, and then undo the last one or two until I like the look of it.  It’s not an exact science for me. . . .)

- I went into curves adjustment and played around for awhile, then ended up just using “Auto.”

- I upped the saturation a bit, and I’m pretty sure I lowered the brightness.

- I added a vignette. (Filter~Distort~Lens Correction) I backed the amount down almost halfway, and the midpoint up a third or so.

- Next I added a spotlight on her face (Filter~Render~Lighting Effect~Spotlight) and upped the brightness a tiny bit.  (I’m pretty sure this covered up the vignette, but I didn’t try to recreate it without it, so I’m not sure. . . .)

And I’m pretty sure that’s it.

I like playing around, just to see what I can do—especially when it turns out as well as this one did!  : )

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Seth Godin’s Blog

0 | October 7th, 2008 | Posted in Voices of Wisdom

I just added a new link in my blogroll, for Seth Godin’s blog.  I don’t really even know who he is, or what he does, but I know a lot of people already know about him, since I’ve seen his name mentioned any number of times on some rather popular blogs that I read.  He seems almost to have achieved some sort of “legend in his own time” status.  In any event, people seem to really like him, so a few weeks ago, I decided to go see what all the fuss is about.

I DO plan to dig a bit deeper into his site, to see if I can figure out exactly what it is that he does—besides write books, of which he has many!—but honestly, if I never figure it out it won’t matter to me: every time I decide to check out his latest posts, I leave with my head all a’twirl with things I want to think more about.

Most of his posts are really short, but he always manages to get something in there to make me re-think something that I thought I’d understood.

That’s more than enough reason for me to want to go back, again and again, and to want to share his blog with you.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  : )

Edited to add:  I just found this:

Seth Godin is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. Godin is author of multiple books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change and work. His newest book, Tribes, is due out in October, 2008. Seth is a renowned speaker as well. He was recently chosen as one of 21 Speakers for the Next Century by Successful Meetings and is consistently rated among the very best speakers by the audiences he addresses. He holds an MBA from Stanford and was called “The Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by BusinessWeek.

So, that’s who he is. . . .   : )

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Thumbalizr (get a thumbnail image of a website)

4 | October 6th, 2008 | Posted in Cool Tools

I just found Thumbalizr.com tonight, and I’m really glad I did.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be surprised at just how often you can make use of a thumbnail image of a website.  I find myself using them all the time, and Thumbalizr makes it even easier for me.

Basically, you go to the website and enter the URL of the page you want a thumbnail image of.  You click a button, wait a few seconds, and you have an image you can use.  I HAD been using Websnapr for this, or taking a screenshot myself, but here’s why I like Thumbalizr better:

1) Websnapr is pretty popular, which = really busy, which = occasionally really slow. (Sometimes so slow that it’s actually faster for me to take a screenshot, save it to my hard drive, and then trim it to the size I want.)

websnapr.com

websnapr.com

2) Thumbalizr lets you choose whether you want a shot of just the part that’s visible on your screen, OR a shot of the entire page.  This is a big deal to me: this is the ONLY way I’ve found so far to be able to get a pic of the whole page; everything else I know how to do resricts me to only what’s visible on my screen.  I’m very excited about this!

thumbalizr.com

thumbalizr.com

Maybe I’m the only one who gets so excited over stuff like this, but that’s okay because I’m excited enough for all of us!   : )

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Print only what you need/want from a website, easily

0 | October 5th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized

Just found out about this from Cali Lewis over at GeekBrief.tv (which I love, love, LOVE!), and I’m very excited about it—at least, I’m excited about the amount of paper I’ll no longer be wasting:

PrintWhatYouLike is a free webpage editor that gives you control of how webpages look when printed.  You simply enter the URL for the page you want to print, then delete anything you don’t want to print.  Or, to make it even simpler, you can download a “bookmarklet” that, when clicked, opens your current web page in their editor.

From their website:

Make Any Page Printer-Friendly

  • Edit any public page in your browser - no installation required!
  • Change page font size and type, remove the background, and remove images
  • Edit any part of the page by clicking a page element or selecting text
  • Any selection can be removed, isolated or widened
  • All changes are undoable
  • Combine multiple webpages together - edit and print them as one document!
  • Save your changes - if you have to print the same document again, just reapply your changes instead of starting over
  • Reuse other people’s changes - if someone else has already edited your page, just apply their changes

No more printing ads and comments! (I once printed five pages of comments after a one-paragraph recipe, because I didn’t notice them in time to tell the printer to only print page 1.)

Have I mentioned that I’m excited about this?  : )

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Photo free-for-all (well, almost)

0 | September 12th, 2008 | Posted in Cool Tools, How To

Anyone who’s looked into royalty-free or royalty-managed photos on the cheap knows that it’s anything but.  Certainly not if you’re looking for photos regarding current affairs.  Corbis, Getty Images, the Associated Press, et al, have the good stuff, and they know it; you’ll pay handsomely—easily into the thousands—for even a handful of newsworthy photos.

There are some worthy solutions, though.  First and foremost, there’s Flickr.  Specifically, Flickr’s Creative Commons section.  It varies, depending on your need, but if all you need is a free photo that you don’t mind attributing some how, you have 11.5 million photos to choose from.  I found more current-events-related photos there than anywhere else—some great shots of the presidential candidates, for instance—and the quality is often good to very good.

If that doesn’t work, do a Google image search on government or educational sites.  Anything on a government site, state or federal, is automatically public domain, i.e., you’ve already paid for it as a taxpayer, so it’s yours to use as you wish.  Educational sites are a bit trickier in that they need to be state institutions, not private.  University of Texas?  Sure.  Harvard?  Sorry.  How do you do it?  Easy.  Type your search terms in like usual, but after them, type a space and then “site:.gov” or “site:.edu.”  (No period after “edu”, just to clarify; I had a sentence to end.)  For example: “George Bush site:.gov”  Or, say, “F-15 site:.mil”—for photos of F-15 fighters.  You have to remember, of course, to make it an image search.

Finally, while it’s not free, PhotostoGo.com is an option.  For just $25/mo., you have access to over 250,000 photos and can download up to 30/day.  I haven’t found the quality of photos there as good as Flickr’s, but it does beat most of what you can find on government sites.

Happy hunting.

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1 Thing You Really Should to Do Before Ordering Business Cards Online

0 | September 10th, 2008 | Posted in Things to Remember

Make sure you REQUEST SAMPLES!!!

I know you’re in a hurry, and don’t want to take the time to do it, but you may be really glad you did.  I sure wish I would have. . . .

I love a bargain as much as the next person, but I really hate it when something I thought was a bargain turns out to be a waste of my money.

I was browsing online one day and I saw that a website had FREE business cards — all we had to pay was shipping!  I really, really wanted us to have business cards, so we spent a couple of days working on a design, uploaded it, and ordered the cards.  I even paid a couple of dollars to upgrade to the Premium cards, because I wanted them to be nice ones.  I was so excited I could barely stand it!  

Finally they came.  I still remember how happy I was to see that box in the mailbox.  And I still remember the sick feeling in my stomach after I opened the box.

The cards were nothing like I’d envisioned them: the picture was blurry and discolored, the paper felt cheap, and worst of all, the cards were NOT full-sized business cards!  (And these were “PREMIUM”!!)

Turns out that the business cards are 3.43″ x 1.93″  – which may not sound a whole lot smaller than the standard size of 3.5 inches x 2 inches , but believe me: it makes a big difference.  (I know Moo makes some really cute mini-cards, but these were NOT like that: they were close enough to full-sized that they felt like they ought to be, but weren’t, if you know what I mean. . . .)

I’ve purchased other items from the same company and been pleased — but I will never order business cards from them again.  To their credit, when I called and let them know how dissatisfied I was, they refunded the couple of dollars I’d paid for the “premium” upgrade, but I was still out the $12 I’d paid for shipping.

My stomach did another flip-flop as I dumped the box of cards into the trash.  I HATE throwing things away, especially if they could potentially be useful: I could have used the backs of the cards as scrap paper, but I resisted the urge because I couldn’t take the chance that somebody would see one of these cards and judge us by it.

I ordered cards from another website and have been very pleased with them.  This time, I requested samples first, which I received in about three days.  We looked through the samples, found one we both like the look and feel of, and were able to tell the company exactly what kind of paper and coating we wanted.  (14 pt. w/ aqueous coating, if you want to know.)  I uploaded the same photo I’d used for the other card, and then waited for the cards to arrive.  

This time there were no unpleasant surprises: the photo was sharp and clear, and the paper has a nice weight and gloss to it.  We are VERY happy with these cards, and will order more of the same when we run out.

So, again, the lesson I learned was:

1) Request samples!!!

If I’d done this, I never would have ordered the first cards.

and

2) If you can’t get samples, pay close attention to details: size of finished card, weight of paper, and is it coated (and if so, what kind of coating)?  

If I’d asked these questions, I wouldn’t have ordered.  (Okay, so maybe I would have, because I didn’t realize what a big difference those details can make, but I sure know better now, and will always make sure I know the details before placing an order in future.)

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