On the Injured List

Another MDS project for you this special Easter Day.  This is a page I did almost a year ago detailing the events of Gabbi breaking her leg... bless her heart.

Loving My Digital Studio even more these days since the price has been reduced by about 75% to only $19.95-- and contains the software and over $500 worth of content!  You can't go wrong.

The main element of this page is the angled vertical piece of "paper."   Once you add the strip of designer paper vertically on the left, just grab one of the corners and rotate to the left about 8 degrees.  The white border on the left of the strip is made with a punch, four of them, layered underneath the paper strip... with a blue brad centered on each.

Journaling is my least favorite part of scrapbooking, even though it's really important.  Many times I don't even add it, but sometimes there's just such a story to tell that I can't skip the journaling.  This was one of those times.  

Here's to a great week ahead!

Happy Easter-- with MDS

Since Easter is just around the corner, I thought I'd share a cute scrapbook page with you from last Easter.  This page was created using  My Digital Studio-  which by the way is now only $19.95!  I happen to LOVE this product so think this is the best Stampin' Up! buy there is!

This page uses MDS elements such as punches (the letters), tags, text , designer paper and embellishments (brads, buttons and ribbon).  It was a relatively easy page to put together and, as always, I really used the photos to determine my color palette and layout.  

I hope you have a great Easter holiday planned.  I have some fun events planned for Gabbi along with church and family time... and of course I've gotten carried away with things for her Easter Basket.  I've been waiting a long time to have this much fun with a kid.  You better believe I will overdo it.

Praise the Lord, Christ has risen!

Happy Easter to you and yours!

Sweet and Shabby

Those of you who know me well, know that "shabby chic" is not my  usual style, but  I saw a card with a similar background on the Nicole Heady's Papertrey Ink blog and loved it.  So when SU came out with the Honeycomb Embossing Folder in the Spring Catalog, I had to try it.  It s a little tedious to make this card, I will admit, and would be much easier if there was a hexagon punch, but it's not really that bad.  

I took two styles of DSP from the Sunshine and Sprinkles set that complemented each other and ran a small 5.5 x 2 inch piece of each through the BigShot in the Honeycomb Embossing Folder.  This makes a very deep impression in the thinner designer paper, making it pretty easy to cut the hexagons out.  I needed 8 of each design.  Then I ran the Very Vanilla cardstock through the BigShot in the same embossing folder-- but only embossed about 2/3 of the paper, leaving one edge un-embossed.  Then I taped the little hexagons in a pattern on the Vanilla piece.

Next I used the That's the Ticket set from the Spring Catalog and made two tickets on Very Vanilla cardstock- stamping the plain ticket in Marina Mist and second-stamping Lucky Limeade on the other and punched both out with the ticket punch.  I stamped a greeting from the Tiny Tag set in Basic Black and tied both together with some bakers twine.  

Vanilla Flower Trim

Next I added a strip of Daffodil Delight seam binding (which looks EXTREMELY bright in this photo- but really isn't in real life) and when I tied the knot I included the bakers twine from the tags, allowing them to dangle.  Finally, I took one of the really gorgeous flowers from the Vanilla Flower Trim (also in the Spring Catalog) and sponged it with Daffodil ink, added a pearl in the middle and put it where the tag and knot of the ribbon come together using a dimensional.  When you use one of these little flowers on a card, they really last forever.  Great deal!


Finally, I took the Vanilla piece, all dolled up, and layered it on Marina Mist and then on a Lucky Limeade.  So sweet and soft.  I think this would make a nice invitation or sweet "friend" card. 

That's the Ticket Set

Whole LATTE Love

I recently did a Sale-a-bration workshop and will be showing you the projects over the next couple of posts.  One of the Sale-a-bration sets- Patterned Occasions- has this perfect little coffee cup for a coffee cup card.  I had seen a couple of samples around and a friend of mine did one for her class and sent me a sample (thanks Sherri.)  Hers was a gift idea, a tall cup with a packet of a coffee drink in the top.  I wanted mine to be a card that could be sent through the mail, so I took her sample and adjusted and was really happy with what I came up with.

This "coffee cup" card is done in Crumb Cake with a Whisper White "lid" that I ran through the BigShot in the Fancy Fan folder.  The band across the middle of the cup comes from the really lovely Sale-a-bration DSP- Sycamore Street. I really love the colors in this set of paper-- which once again helped to inform the colors I selected for the card.  The next step was to use the --- Edgelits to make the narrow Razzleberry frame in the background and a small Whisper White frame that I stamped the cute "Whole Latte Love" stamp in.  I stamped the words in Basic Black and the steam in Baja Breeze and stamped a second cup in Razzleberry and cut it out and put over top of the original with a dimensional.  If you don't know about coloring rhinestones and pearls, then let me be the first to tell you that you can use a Sharpie or Copic marker to color these little guys-- which give so much versatility.  I used a Copic marker to color my little rhinestone and put it on my cup for a little texture.  Lastly I added some Baja Breeze narrow taffeta ribbon and tied it in a bow.

A good friend of mine who owns a lovely little coffee shop-- Koinonia in Durham-- really liked the card and took the template so she could make them for folks who help out at the shop.  What a great idea!

Field Flowers

This is an older card, but one that I had never showed here and one that I love and wanted to share with you today, a special day.  One year ago today was when I had brain surgery to remove a benign tumor deep in my left inner ear.  The surgery left me deaf in that ear, but it could have been so much worse.  I'm so thankful that that was the only negative outcome and that I'm a year out and all is well.

This is the card that I created to send to all of my friends, family, coworkers, physicians, etc. that were instrumental in my recovery.  I have never been so in awe of all of the love and support that surrounds me.  What an extended "family" I have.

This card uses the Field Flowers set, which is a 2-step set, allowing you to show dimension and shadow.  This card uses a retired color from last year's in-colors- Concord- and two of this year's in-colors- Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade.  The card itself is Crumb Cake, on a Concord backing.  Then the focal point is stamped in Concord, Wisteria and Limeade on Very Vanilla.  The greeting is from a very very old set and is stamped in Basic Black.  For the added touches, I used the Spritzer tool with markers in- Concord, Wisteria and Limeade- to add some texture to the background of the flowers.  Then I added a piece of the Victoria Lace and gathered a small little piece of seam binding and put it on top with one of the in-color Limeade brads.  Lastly I rounded the right corner on all layers.

Have a wonderful weekend... 

MDS News for YOU

Big changes to My Digital Studio... the digital scrapbooking (and everything else) software from Stampin' Up!  They are making this versatile FUN software available to everyone but reducing the cost about 75% to only $19.95 for the software and content.  If you've been waiting and wanting this product, go for it.

I personally LOVE this software.  It's easy to use, very intuitive and the possibilities are endless.  Not only do I use this to scrapbook, but I've created logos, invitations, fliers, tags, cards and so much more.  It's very similar to a creative product like Adobe... but now so much less expensive.

Click here for more information about the changes to MDS and how to order it.

Simple Easter Wishes

Looking for a very simple Easter card?  Well, here you go.  This card features a technique that was highlighted in the last Stampin' Success magazine-- a quarterly magazine that SU demonstrators get.

This card features the Natural Composition Designer Paper.  It is a heavy craft paper that has different designs clear embossed on them.  In order to make the design pop, I sponged over the entire piece with Whisper White craft ink.  This subtly colored the background part, making the embossed portion POP. 

This particular piece of designer paper has a dogwood design, which I thought was perfect for Easter.  I simply mounted the piece of Natural Composition paper on some Chocolate Chip cardstock and then on a Baja Breeze card.  I created a tag with the decorative label punch and stamped "Happy Easter" from the Well Scripted set in Chocolate Chip.  It's hard to see but I added some vines from the set Tiny Tags in Lucky Limeade.  Since SU doesn't have a punch to layer with the decorative label punch, I often punch out a complementary color and layer it under the white with part of the color hiding out. 

I added the greeting to the card with dimmensionals and some Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon.

March showers and showers and showers

Not sure about your specific part of the country, but NC has been wet.  I mean really wet.  And, I for one, am really tired of it.  The soggy weather inspired my card today.  It's an ode to raindrops featuring the tools of the times-- an umbrella and rain boots. 

This is a thick card, one that would be best hand-delivered.  It features a fan, made with the Simply Scored tool and several products from the spring catalog. 

 

Two sets from the Spring Catalog were used on this card  The rain boots are from the Spring Sampler set and the umbrella and greeting are from Rain or Shine.  The designer paper is from Sunshine and Sprinkles.  I textured the white card with the polka dot embossing folder.  The Daffodil Delight scallop is done using the Large Scallop Edgelit Die.

Rainy or not, I hope you enjoy this card... and your day!

Ears to You!

Today's card is really cute and was extremely simple to make... one of those ones that you could mass produce for all of the family and friends for Easter.

These bunnies are one of the stamps from Stampin' Up!s single stamp line.  If you weren't aware, SU has been testing out the market for single image stamps and the currently have 10 for sale in the SU shop.  This one is called "Ears for You".   
 
I love the bunnies, but wasn't so interested in the words, so I cut the words off after it was mounted.  This way it will be easier to ink up one, two or three bunnies at a time-- without the words.

For this card, I used markers to ink up the bunnies in Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo and Marina mist and stamped them on Whisper White cardstock.  The card is Daffodil Delight with a layer of Lucky Limeade in between.  The Sunshine & Sprinkles designer paper in the top left corner is where I got my color palette.  In fact, designer paper is almost always where I get my color palette from.  I used the banner die from the Hearts a Flutter Framelit set to make the three banner strips and then added a Silver Basic Designer Button with a little bit of Bakers Twine.  

Lastly the greeting comes from the Delightful Dozen set and is the perfect simple sentiment for these festive bunnies.

My Paper Pumpkin

I'm Paper Pumpkin . . .

I come to your door each month. I'll help you to escape your life with some paper fun.

I come in a sweet box, but you'll really love what you find on the inside: All the stamps, ink, paper, and accessories to create fun projects. Create stuff like cards, journals, décor, and more!  Paper Pumpkin by Stampin' Up! is a new monthly kit program that anyone (even you) can enjoy!

Get Started

It's so easy to get started. Simply sign up for the program by visiting www.mypaperpumpkin.com and click "Get it." Every month a new, surprise project kit arrives at your doorstep. Just think of the anticipation of creating a fun project to showoff and share with your friends and family-every month! 

Sign up for a monthly subscription today.  Your first project will ship March 10.  You can cancel any time or skip a month if you like... and get a free gift (an acrylic block that can be used with each and every kit) with your first kit as your welcome gift! 

Give Paper Pumpkin a try today.

 

Watch Out... I'm back.

It's been a while, but I think it's time to come back to the blog.  So much has changed about my life in the last few years... including my paper crafting hobby and my Stampin' Up! business.  I'm thinking this will be the best way for me to keep in touch with my customers and share all that Stampin' Up! has going on. 

I've really gotten into digital scrapbooking, using My Digital Studio, over the last couple of years. It's been a blast documenting my little Gabbi goose over the last two years so I will be sharing some of that with you.  I'll also be sharing cards and gift samples, and so many new Stampin' Up! products and specials.

I have a Sale-a-bration class coming up on Monday night, so I will have some fun samples from the Spring and Sale-a-Bration catalogs to share this week.

For now, here's a quick MDS projects that I made for Gabbi's 2nd birthday.  It's an alphabet book that I printed out and put into a 6x6 scrapbook to help her learn her ABC's.  Honestly, it's her favorite book.  She looks at it continuously.

I hope you enjoy it.