3D Secure Card Processing

Friday, June 22, 2007

From the 1st of July we will be operating 3D Secure processing for payment transactions made through the Protx gateway on our website. 3D Secure stands for 3 Domain Secure. There are 3 parties involved in the 3D Secure process which are:

• The Vendor
• The Acquiring Bank
• Visa or MasterCard

3D Secure is a culmination of "Verified by Visa (VbV)" and "MasterCard Secure Code (MSC)". 3D Secure is the latest fraud prevention initiative launched by the card schemes as a more secure method for authenticating the shopper at the time of the transaction. Once you have entered your card details on the Protx payment page you will be prompted on the confirmation page to register you card for 3D Secure (if you have yet to do so) or proceed with the transaction and enter your password. If you have yet to register, you will be invited to register and complete as a one off, three steps (the steps below are an example): If you have already registered your card, you will be redirected to the Verified by Visa/MasterCard Secure Code website to enter your password: Following this you will be directed back to our website as normal. Although this puts another short step into the payment process, we think that most of our customers will appreciate the extra security this scheme offers for online shoppers.

Labels: news, payments, security

posted by Liz-Craft on Friday, June 22, 2007 Permalink »

Paper and Envelope Sizes

Thursday, June 21, 2007

European paper sizes range from A0 to A10 and the principal is that the lower the number, the larger the size is. Also as you move from sizes to size, the area is doubled (or halved) for example, A5 = 2 x A6, A4 = 2 x A5 etc.

There is also a range of "C" sizes which follow the same pattern but which are slightly larger than their "A" counterparts and are commonly used for envelopes. So an A5 piece of paper would fit into a C5 envelope, the envelope needing to be slightly larger than the A5 piece of paper.

The following chart displays the various "A" and corresponding "C" size along with their metric and imperial dimensions.

Greeting card sizes are generally quoted as the size when folded, e.g. an A6 greeting card measures 105mm x 148mm when folded, but 148mm x 210mm when opened out.

For a more detailed review of paper and envelope sizes along with technical specifications and historical information, visit International Standard Paper Sizes

Labels: reference

posted by Liz-Craft on Thursday, June 21, 2007 Permalink »

How to Decoupage

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Introduction

Decoupage is a popular method used in crafting and card making as well as home decor. The actual definition of decoupage is: "the art of decorating surfaces by applying cut-outs of paper and coating with several layers of a clear finish such as varnish or lacquer."

The art of decoupage was developed many years ago and was very popular in Victorian times where people would use decoupage to decorate furniture and other household objects.

3D Decoupage is a particular type of Decoupage and could be described as multiple layering of printed images to create a 3 dimensional picture and it is this aspect of Decoupage we will deal with in this article. 3D Decoupage may also be referred to as Step by Step Decoupage which we will cover later on.

Decoupage Tools Required

• Decoupage Paper Sheets or prints
• A pair of good quality general purpose scissors.
• A pair of fine point decoupage or embroidery scissors either straight or curved blade (or both).
• A set of fine point tweezers.
• Double sided sticky tape.
• Double sided sticky foam spacer pads or tape.
• Silicone Glue or Glue Dots.
• General purpose PVA glue, glue stick or similar.
• Decoupage varnish.

3D Step by Step Decoupage.

Step by Step sheets are designed to make life easier for the Crafter by removing the decision making process of what to cut out. These are produced as a set of 3 - 5 images and are very often numbered e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 where 1 is the full image and then each successive image has had parts of the image removed, the last image being the smallest of the set.

Method

Using the example above:

1. Cut around each of the four images pictured above using either straight or curved blade decoupage scissors.
2. Apply PVA glue or glue stick to the back of image No. 1 and apply image to your card or project.
3. Take image No. 2 and using sticky foam spacer pads or silicone glue, stick it on top of image No. 1 taking care to align the elements of image No. 2 with Image No.1
4. Repeat the above procedure with images 3 and 4, building up a 3 dimensional picture.
5. Optionally add varnish and other decoration to all or part of the image to produce a more outstanding effect.

Decoupage Shopping Pages »

Labels: how-to-do

posted by Liz-Craft on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Permalink »