Double the Hope

It's been a few days, huh?  I haven't been stamping because Jason's been working and Laila doesn't like to nap longer than thirty minutes.  sigh   I did finish up this one I'd started last week for Lori's HYCCT challenge to use leaves.   I wanted to still use pink somehow and thought it might work with some black and gray.   I STILL miss French Foliage, so I dusted it off.  It's probably my favorite SU set I've bought.

Stamps:  French Foliage, A Muse Stamp Out Breast Cancer
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Melon Mambo
Accessories:  Neutrals buttons (retired), White Baker's Twine

This second card is for Rebecca's HYCCT challenge to use metal.   Aluminum foil counted, so I embossed some with the Houndstooth embossing folder and paired it with a the Motorcycle stamp I printed from My Digital Studio.  

Stamps:  My Digital Studio, CTMH It's Your Day
Ink:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Aluminum foil
Accessories:  Basic Black chevron ribbon
Tools: Houndstooth EF, Color Spritzer (retired)

Laila had a play date at the park on Friday.   As you can see, she was more into the mulch and pine cones.

MDS Santa Page

I just had to scrapbook this awesome picture.  :)  I'm not even close to catching up on her book yet, but I skipped ahead to play along with a challenge on a new MDS Facebook group that I joined.  They taught us how to add a picture into multiple photo boxes and it was new to me and pretty fun!   I keep playing around with this page, but I might leave it like this.  Maybe...

MDS Monday!

It has been a while since I got to sit down and work on a digital scrapbook page, but the new challenge blog MDS Monday motivated me to change that!   I will probably regret not going to bed sooner, but hey, you gotta have fun sometimes!   :)    Remind me of that tomorrow when there's a ton to do get ready for Thanksgiving and I'm exhausted. lol   Anyway, here's my page:  

I love playing with the vintage overlays and I just got the chevron download so I had to use that one too!   :) Now I'm off to bed so that I'm not grumpy when my girl wakes up later tonight.  

Remember that My Digital Studio and the MDS Upgrade are both 50% off this week!   Get it while it's such a great deal.   I promise you'll love it!

Chicken Soup

Silly card, right?   Dealing with cancer is no laughing matter but as we all know, laughter IS the best medicine (at least sometimes).  The other old standard, chicken soup for under the weather folks, is also represented in the form of chickens.  :)  This card was made for another of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges.  This one came from Sabrina and here's her challenge:  My challenge to you is to use a chicken (hens and roosters are acceptable too ) on your card, and elements that spell the word S-O-U-P.

For my S-O-U-P, I used Scallops, Orange, Unique pink barn, and Pink.  I know that's stretching it a bit, but this one was tough!   The images are from My Digital Studio's Barnyard Buddies brush set.   

Don't forget the big sale today!    Stamps are 15% off today only, MDS kits are on 50% off until the 5th, and there will be a special kit project unveiled later on for sale today as well!   I'll be putting in a stamp order at noon my time today, so email me quickly if you need anything.  

 My little pumpkin in her candy corn onesie that her Aunt Crista made for her.  I have a bit of an obsession with candy corn, so I was so excited when she brought it by the other day. 

Digital Scrapbooking Day!

What do you get when you combine Digital Scrapbooking Day and My Digital Studio? A week of FREE downloads and 50 percent off ALL digital kits!

What: Three FREE downloads. 50% off ALL digital kits. Mega blogging on MyDigitalStudio.net all week!

When: October 29 - November 5, 2012.

Where:  My demonstrator online store.

Get a BONUS FREE Download:If we get 18,000 downloads of FREE items we'll give you another FREE download!

To view all the digital kits, click here!   

Be sure to check back next week for more details. 

Happy Brrrthday!

I am still trying to catch up with the Hope You Can Cling to challenges.  This is yesterday's challenge from Patricia and here's her description of her challenge: Let's make humorous cards using stitching (hand, machine, or faux) as an embellishment.  Any type of humor is fine - jokes, puns, silliness, whatever makes you giggle! Just be sure to embellish your card with some sort of stitching. 

This was a bit difficult for me as I didn't really have anything that I thought of as silly.  After looking online for some funny animals or owl puns, I finally saw this card on Zazzle and thought I could do something with that idea.  I found a free wintery font and opened up My Digital Studio and got to work!   I printed off a sheet with the sentiment and the stitching and then added a punched out penguin and balloon.  Hopefully it's silly enough for the challenge!  

Stamps:  NONE

Ink:  (printer only)

Paper:  Island Indigo, Whisper White, Basic Black

Tools/Accessories:   My Digital Studio, Owl Builder punch, 3/4 circle punch, Dazzling Details

I can tell her daddy dressed her on this day because of the bow.  He thinks she looks cute in them so he'll usually try to find one that matches.   So much for my no bow rule!

MDS Contest Entry!

How cool is it that Stampin' Up! is having My Digital Studio contests now?   Have you seen them?  If not, be sure to go over to mydigitalstudio.net to check them out!  I don't stand a chance as I'm pretty new to creating with the program (yeah, we won't discuss how long I've owned it, okay?), but it is fun to play along anyway.    I made this page to show off Laila and her gorgeous quilt.   I LOVE the You Are My Sunshine download.  It matches her nursery colors so perfectly!  

Texas has finally cooled down with the "cold front" that came through, so we are only getting to the high 80s today!   Woo hoo!  What a great way to welcome in the start of football season.   Go Texans!  

Another MDS page!

Yeah, still playing along with digital scrapbooking!  I finished another page and changed up the previous ones a bit too.  I like to go back and add stuff as I learn new things.  :)  First the new page:  

I'm still not sure on the picture alignment of this one but I got tired of messing with them for now.   I need to go back and fuss with those and the layers a bit more but I like where it is going at least.  It was based off a sketch I found on Pinterest.  Gotta love that website! 

I discovered the cool feature that lets you make a mirror copy of your pages so that you can do two page layouts like this.  That was so easy!  Design once and have 2 completed pages!  

Finally, a bit of stitching, an overlay, and a banner/flag added to this page.   

I hope some of you guys will get inspired to try your own digital pages soon!  Remember you can download the free trial and try it out for 30 days!  

I'm on a roll!

I finished up my third digital page this morning!  It's really becoming super fun for me.   I pinned a bunch of scrapbook sketches yesterday and am finding them fun to do.  It's a bit like all the challenges that I'm addicted to.  This page is loosely based on this layout.  I am still using the free trial of the program, but I'm totally putting the upgrade to MDS2 on my next order.  It is AWESOME!  I love recoloring the stamps!  I need to visit the SU YouTube page and watch the videos so that I can learn more tips and tricks.   I am more of a click and see what it does kinda girl, but I need to expand my horizons and learn from others.  :)   

I'll try to make a card this weekend so that you aren't missing that part of my sharing too much. Ha!  I've been working on some cards for my design teams since I hope to go back to them soon.   I almost have all the cards made for September for Friday Mashup and will be starting some for Freshly Made Sketches soon.  Busy, busy, busy!   

Laila's 2nd MDS Page

Okay...being honest here, I suck at scrapbooking.  I actually started paper crafting by scapping my wedding photos, but once I discovered card making I totally quit trying to do scrapbook pages.  I had good intentions of doing a book for Eli but with him being sick it just didn't happen.  I want to do better for Laila, but I know myself and I know I'm not going to do a paper version.   That leaves digital and well, I haven't used MDS as much as I should have to know all the features and tricks.  I can get by, but I'm a novice for sure!   To remedy that, I decided I'd try.   I'm totally intimated with scrapbooking and never know where to start.  My friend Mindy has a Pinterest board with lots of page maps, so I went there today and found this one from  Sketchy Thursdays.  I still wasn't sure about it, but I figured I'd give it a go...

It's not perfect, but I made it all by myself!   I'm a bit proud of it because I normally won't attempt things that I think I'm bad at.  :)   I stuck with the colors and size from yesterday's page in hopes that I might end up with enough pages to make a book!   I'd love to have something to print for both us and my parents for Christmas.   

So anyway, yay me.   I swear if I can do it, you can do it!   Go download that free trial and give it a shot!

Laila MDS style!

I just downloaded the trial version of MDS2 and have been playing around with it. I found this really cute template and I love how easy it was to just drag and drop my picture and add text.   I can totally scrapbook when it's THAT easy.  :)  If you think you'd like to know more about it, you can try it out free for 30 days to see if it would work for you!   Just go to my website, click on shop, look for MDS2 free trial, and download it to your computer.  Stampin' Up! even has a ton of new training videos to help us learn how to use it too!  

Happy August!

The Holiday Catalog is LIVE!   This catalog is amazing to say the least!   You can check out the .pdf version here.    I can't stop making wishlists and wanting so many of the products in it!    We'll be using some of the new products in my upcoming Christmas card class later this month and I know they are going to be a hit with the stampers!  

Another great thing about today is the release of My Digital Studio 2!   If you already have MDS, you can upgrade for only $19.95.  For those of you who don't have the awesomeness already, you can purchase the program for $39.95 or $79.95 (this one includes over $500 in digital content).   You can also download a free trial if you'd like to try it before you buy it!  :)    More details on the different options can be found here.  

There's also a great sale 31% off on select MDS downloads and print products!  To see the downloads, visit my online store.  All cards, photobooks, individual pages, and tags are on sale for the entire month when you get them printed through Stampin' Up!   It's a great time to get an early start on Christmas gifts!  :) 

And last, but most certainly NOT least, if you sign up as a demonstrator during the month of August, you get this super cool project, plus $125 worth of products of your choice, and all the business supplies you need to get started all for $99!   What a deal!  Can I sign up again?!  Contact me today or head on over to my online store to sign up!  

MDS Monday

As I was sitting and catching up on the news this morning, I decided to pull up My Digital Studio and start a swatch book for my little girl.  I love these cute little books and think they will make nice gifts for family members this year.   :)  It only took a few minutes to put together and I love that I can go back and change up the colors or elements without tearing the page apart!

If you think you'd like to try My Digital Studio, you can...for FREE!   Stampin' Up! is giving everyone a free 30 trial of My Digital Studio Express!   All you need to do is visit my website and download it today.

With the FREE trial, you’ll get:

• Full access to the software at NO COST for 30 days.
• Full design functionality.
• Exclusive artwork that comes with My Digital Studio Express. See included content here.
• Opportunity to purchase additional downloads from designer templates to stamp brush sets--and everything in between.
• Access to our professional print services.

Once your trial period expires, simply contact me to purchase the downloadable or disc version of the software to continue enjoying My Digital Studio.

If you'd like to see tons of examples, watch some how-to videos, or connect with other MDS users, you can visit MyDigitalStudio.net for all that and more!  

Digital Scrapbooking Celebration!

Dates: November 4-7, 2011

Celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day with Stampin' Up! for a four-day online event designed to introduce more of you to our digital content.  Digital Scrapbooking Day is November 5, but we'll keep the celebration going from November 4-7! The event will include free downloads, blog posts with exciting project ideas all weekend long, and the announcement of the 2011 My Digital Studio Contest winners.

Visit MyDigitalStudio.net to get these free, fun new downloads and find out more about the My Digital Studio program!

Brand-new, never seen before FREE downloads include:

I have found many uses for My Digital Studio and find myself opening it up for so many things!   It will help you design wonderful gifts, make flyers or signs, scrapbook your memories, and let you print out images that you can use on traditional paper crafting projects!     If you'd like to learn more about it, please contact me today to arrange a time to come over and play!  

MDS Monday

If you visited yesterday, this card probably looks pretty familiar to you.  I wanted to recreate one of my cards in My Digital Studio to show you how nice it would look.    Pretty close, huh?   Stampin' Up! has done a wonderful job adding some of our favorite supplies to the digital side of things.  Even better, the printing is guaranteed to match the SU colors we know and love.

The advantage to making this card in MDS?   I can print as many of this card as I need without doing any further work.  It's a great way to design your invitations or Christmas cards because you can do it once and have as many printed as you need.   If you wanted to add some ribbon or brads, you can always go the hybrid route and do a lot of the work on MDS and then add a few embellishments once you get the cards from the printer.  

If you like to purchase MDS, you can get it here on my online store.   I'd love to answer and questions you have about it or give you a demonstration of how it works.  

My Digital Studio Christmas Tag

Isn't this cute?   I was playing around in My Digital Studio tonight and thought I'd make up a few Christmas tags.   I fell in love with the Holly & Jolly Rub-ons last year and was so happy when they were offered on MDS.   Those trees are just too darn cute!    Having access to retired products is one of the reasons why I love this program so much.   There have been times when I loved a stamp, but it just wasn't in my budget at the time or else I forgot to order it and it retired.   My Digital Studio allows me to get some of those and usually a bit cheaper too!  I was able to go back and buy the Motorcycle stamp that I missed out on a few summers ago and I can print it on some Whisper White and color it in just like a stamped image.

With Christmas coming up, of course we are all starting to think about gifts.  These images are part of a calendar that I made for my brother last year.   He LOVED it and couldn't believe that I made it all by myself.  I bought MDS and  in just 3 days, I taught myself how to use it and made the calendar!   I was able to share all the pictures I'd taken of his dogs in a way that he could enjoy throughout the year.   I was quite proud of my first effort.  :)    I hope to do one for my whole family using pictures from our childhood.   The good thing is that I can make it once, but get it printed as many times as I need!

If you'd like to know more about the program or would like to see it in action, let me know and we'll get together for a little digital stamping.  :)  It is a great program that does so many things including photo books, calendar, greeting cards, blog headers, tags, etc.   My goal is to start using mine more, so be on the lookout for more projects here on my blog.

Manly MDS Monday

Today I combined two of my ideas for challenges into one card. :) I used My Digital Studio to print the motorcycle stamp and of course it is totally a manly card. 

Stamps: Motorcycle (digital)
Ink: real red marker
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, aluminum foil
Tools: Big Shot, Texturz Plates (backgrounds #1)

Today's Challenge: My Digital Studio

For today's challenge, I used the Sale-a-Bration My Digital Studio CD to make a digital page of my kitties! I started with a completely blank page and added in elements from the CD until I was happy with the results. 

MDS is such a fun program to use. I love playing around with my digital pictures and seeing them come to life on the pages.

Guess who got a new toy?

I was going to buy myself My Digital Studio for my birthday, but thankfully Stampin' Up! had a Thanksgiving sale and I snagged it for 50% off then!   I was so excited when it got here this week and spent the whole day making a calendar for my brother.   I took so many pictures of his dogs while we were together in October and it was great to turn them into a gift for him.    Do you think he'll like it?   I know I do and they aren't even my pets!