Beautiful Candids

Don't you just LOVE it when candid pictures come out great... almost as good as if you'd paid someone to take them?  I got a new camera and had a blast taking pictures outside with Gabbi playing with her new bubble wand. I took one of those pictures and created this digital scrapbook page using MDS.

I took the picture, made it sepia (using "photo effect" option), and expanded the size to 12x12 to make it the background of the page.  Next I layered the color version of the pictures in the bottom left hand corner and added a vanilla border and drop shadow.  Just above the photo I added the #6 punch from the Packed for You designer kit and filled it with Everybody's Business DSP and added the date on top in the font "tangerine."  I then added some #1 designer butterfly punches, in the bottom right and top left.  These were also filled in with Everybody's Business DSP and drop shadows were added.  I also added an antique designer brad in the middle of each.  Lastly I added Pear Pizzazz seam binding ribbon along the bottom of the page, just under Gabbi's chin.  I added a bow in the same color just where the ribbon and color picture come together and added the same antique designer brad that I used on the butterflies along the length of the ribbon.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it!
Thanks for looking!
Amy

Keri

Sorry I've been a way for a while. 

Today I have a new MDS page featuring one of Gabbi's best pals, her sitter last fall Keri, and her pup Jasmine (or Tas according to Gab.)

The colors on this page- Basic Black and Wisteria Wonder- were inspired by Gabbi's outfit.  The bottom layer is Wisteria cardstock, with a layer of Black on top.  The ribbon of paper on the right side is from the Simple Snapshots DSP.  Once I decided to make the picture a circle with a thick black border, I decided to add the circle punch in a variety of colors (from the DSP) and variety of sizes.  As always I added a drop shadow to all of the circles.  Lastly I added the wording in white using the font Simply Glamorous.

Ladybug, Ladybug...

Another cute little project, similar to the M&M bumblebees (or as Gabbi says- bundlebees!) that we made for Gabbi's classmates.  These are cute little ladybugs that we made in one of my clubs.

This is a really easy little project, fun for kids- made using the Sweet Treat Cups and punches.  I punched out two 2 1/2 inch Real Red circles.  For one of those circles I punched a 1 3/4 inch circle out of the middle and put the treat cup through the hole popping out the front.  The second circle is on the back of the treat cup to hold it together... be sure to add the M&M's or Skittles first.  

The head was made with a 1 3/4 inch Basic Black punch.  The dots on the treat cup are just basic black hand-held punch.  I used an old scroll sizzlet and Bigshot and cut the ends off the scroll and taped them on the head to make antenna.  I taped googlies eyes (my favorite) on the head for eyes.

Hope you like these and enjoy making them.

New Catalog Available... order now!

It's that time of year again.  The time when we Stampin' Up! adicts look forward to the new catalog.  

This year's catalog is available and we can now order product from it.  If you'd like a catalog, please let me know.  Or you can view the PDF here and can order here.

So many cute things to choose from.... enjoy!

Teacher Gifts

This is my first year to do teacher gifts... and I gotta say, it's a field day for a crafty girl.  This year I went simple and made three set of monogrammed notecards.  They were a big hit!

This is a picture of the three sets that I put into plastic cases.  I dressed them up with a ribbon and a thank you card from my daughter.  Cards were made out of Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock.  I made the monograms on MDS and used the 1 3/4" punch to determine the size.  So, I laid the circle on the page, added my border and monogram in the middle of the circle and locked them into place and then removed the circle. You can also just turn the circle white so that it essentially disappeared on the white paper.  This is the way I do almost anything circular on MDS... use a punch to frame the layout.

For the main teacher, I used this year's Sale-a-bration DSP Sycamore Street for the bottom half of the card and then added Island Indigo borders. This paper really captured Ms. Brittany's style I think.  I created the monogram to go with the paper in terms of style and color and punched it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch.  I layered each on an Island Indigo medallion from the Pennant Die (love this die!)  I added this with dimensionals after I added a thin layer of ribbon using the Baja Breeze narrow taffeta ribbon.  I know it's not the exact color in the paper (it's Pool Party), but it's pretty close and looked really nice.

For the assistant teacher, who has a colorful personality, I used some more colorful DS papers, some retired and the others from the Floral District DSP.  Again I added a border in a color that went with the DSP and created the monogram in the same color.  On these I used one of the two medallions from the Pennant die and added to the card with dimmensionals after adding either Pear Pizzaz or Baja Breeze Seem Binding where the DPS and border come together.

Lastly, for the floater teacher, who Gabbi just adores, I used one of my all-time favorite DSP sets from last year's fall catalog- Spice Cake (?).  The colors in this paper fit Ms. Emily.  These cards are Very Vanilla and I pulled out the Baja Breeze from the DPS and used that for the border and the medallion (again from the Pennant die) behind the monogram.  For the middle card I added the Natural Trim (from the Spring catalog) and for the other two added Chocolate Chip Taffeta along the middle.

These sets always make nice gifts and are always something people can use.

Button Buddies

Another of my two favorite retiring sets... Button Buddies and Friendly Phrases.  Button Buddies is such a cute set... it has a snowman, cherries, pumpkin, snail, rattle and flowers.  Each one has a round center that you can add a button in.  For this card I used the single flower stamp and stamped it in Pool Party and Island Indigo on Whisper White cardstock, masking as I moved from left to right across the page.  Then I stamped three additional flowers in Island Indigo and cut them out.  I layered them with dimensionals on top of the second flower in the row and added a Pool Party designer brad in the middle- topped it with a mini rhinestone.  Then I added Indigo designer brads on the other three flowers also topped with a mini rhinestone each.  Lastly I added the greeting from the Friendly Phrases set in Basic Black.  I layered the Whisper White layer on Island Indigo and then on a Pool Party card.

 

 

Remember this is the last week you can get these sets.  The new catalog goes into affect June 3.  If you are interested in these sets or others that are retiring, just visit my online store at http://amysaddiction.stampinup.net or click on the icon on the side bar.

Button Buddies

Friendly Phrases

Buzzzzzz

It's that time of year... graduations.  My daughter is 2 and in pre-school and their graduation is next week.  She is the youngest one in her class so she is not graduating but everyone else is... boohoo!  So, we made these cute little gifts for everyone.

These are made using the Sweet Treat Cups and punches.  I punched out two 2 1/2 inch Daffodil Delight circles.  For one of those circles I punched a 1 3/4 inch circle out of the middle and put the treat cup through the hole popping out the front.  The second circle is on the back of the treat cup to hold it together... be sure to add the M&M's or Skittles first.  

For the head I punched a 1 3/8 inch circle in Basic Black.  The white part of the eye is made with the 1/2 inch circle punch and for the center of the eye I punched out Basic Black with an old school hand held punch.  I taped the head in between the two layers of the Daffodil so it's secure.  For the two wings, I punched vellum cardstock with the large oval punch and again adhered it between the two Daffodil layers.  Lastly,  I punched a 1 3/4 inch Basic Black circle and cut layers for the stripes and adhered them to the top of the treat cup.

I hope the kids enjoy these.  We enjoyed making them.

Best of Everything

I'm going to show a few cards that feature some he sets that are retiring from the current catalog.  This card features the Best of Everything set.

The card is Whisper White with a layer of Basic Black and then a layer of Old Olive DSP on top.  The focal point has three pieces of Basic Black cardstock- the two bottom layers have a layer of Flirtatious DSP (retired last year) and the top layer uses the floral stamp from this set stamped in Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive.  I paper pierced around the edge of the square and added a vellum butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies Embosslit with a rhinestone in the middle.  I layered the three pieces with dimensionals and put them in the center of the card on top of a black scalloped border and Whisper White taffeta ribbon.  Lastly the greeting is stamped in Basic Black on  a tag from the Lots of Tags Sizzlet and added a rhinestone on either end and added it to the card with dimensionals.

Best of Everything-- only available until June 3

Lil' Punkin

This page is a favorite of mine so far.  It features our trip to the punkin patch last fall.  

The background paper comes from the Notebook II DSP kit.  I generally like to use a very simple neutral color background and add color with embellishments and  paper layers... like the two layers that I laid horizontally about a third of the way up.  These two paper layers come from the Wonderfall DSP kit.

I added the six pictures and changed the shape of them to circles.  I added a very thin Soft Suede border and a drop shadow to each.  In the bottom left corner of the photos, I added a circle punch and stretched it to fit in the area available and filled it with paper form Back to School DSP.  Then I added two circle punches layered beneath and filled one with Peach Parfait cardstock and the second with Lucky Limeade cardstock.  All three of these have a very thin Soft Suede border and drop shadow.  

Lastly I added Early Espresso brads where the circle punches come together and then put a number of them in a right angle in the top right corner.  Then I added a little bit of text in Roscrift Clean font.

I'm going to be bringing back a few favorites from some retiring sets in the next few posts.

Happy Gabbi

A new MDS page featuring my little goose.  Still trying to catch up with last year's pages.  This is one of my favorite pictures from last year.  Gabbi was so happy reading in her Mickey Mouse bean bag chair.  

This background paper for this page as well as the strip across the middle uses designer papers from the Back to School designer kit.  The main colors on this page come from the picture and are highlighted in the hexagon punches running from top to bottom.  They are filled with papers from Simple Snapshots, Celebrations and Sweet Pea designer kits.  I lined them up tip to tip, added a very thin Soft Suede border and drop shadow on each.

For the focal point, I took the picture and added a really large ivory border and a drop shadow and then stacked three on top of each other, angled slightly on top of each other.

A last few details:  

• I added the black zig zag stitch from Staples and Stitches the length of the two rows of hexagons. 
• I added paper buttons to a couple of the hexagons and added a baker's twine bow on each.
• I added the Scallop Border Punch filled with DSP from Enjoying Everything designer kit and layered it under the strip of Back to School DSP around the middle.
• I added three paper buttons with a black brad on top along the left side of the pictures.
• Lastly I added my journaling (not my strength) along the right side in font Simply Glamorous.