8x8 Digi Page

Here is another page out of one of the 2 albums I have created so far using My Digital Studio.  I really do love this program.  It is SO easy to use!!!  Not complicated like I've found PhotoShop or other editing programs to be.  Of course, I can use PhotoShop, but I was very impressed with how everything is very self-explanatory and not hidden under some icon with sub-icons, or anything complicated or confusing. 

Well, do you remember that TODAY IS THE DAY!!  You can now to go my SU! store (click the "Order Stampin' Up! Online" button in my right-hand sidebar of my blog) and order your copy to be shipped straight to your home.  There's nothing like being able to shop in your jammies from your own home, is there?!?!  :)  Also, please e-mail me (mariemc01@gmail.com) if you have ANY questions about MDS.  I'll do my best to answer them for you, or get an answer from SU! for you.

Also, did you notice that the SU! projects of the month (also in my right-hand sidebar) have been updated?  Check them out when you can.

I hope you enjoy this fun little page!!!

Soccer Stars

This page does have an opposite page in the book that goes with it, but I know I love my kids more than anyone else does, so I just thought I'd share this one because it shows how I took a template in My Digital Studio (MDS - Stampin Up!'s new papercrafting software) and just by adding some embellishments/elements to it, I was able to personalize it a bit. 

I LOVE these pics of the girls.  Sarah is kicking the ball in that middle one, and her form just looks so awesome.  I'm not a soccer player myself, so I don't know if it's actually "good/proper" form, but it looks cool - she was only 4 during this soccer season.  The one on the right is Sarah doing what she liked to do a lot of the time at soccer.  She was picking flowers and grass while the others were down the field playing.  It was too cute and this picture - even though it's from behind - will always bring a smile to my face.  The picture of both of my girls also melts my heart.  I love this page!!!

What are you waiting for?!?!  Is MDS on your wish list?!?!  Contact me on October 1st to order your copy of the software and have it delivered to your door ASAP!

I {heart} My Digital Studio!!

The countdown has begun....On October 1st, you will be able to purchase this FANTASTIC papercrafting software - My Digital Studio - that I have fallen in love with.  I was never much of a scrapper.  I did it when a Design Team required it, or someone asked me to (for a class, for their personal use, etc.).  Now, I actually am doing it for MYSELF!!  I have created two albums so far, and this is another page out of the more "elegant" album.  The other one is my "fun" album.  In this album, I used the birthday template, and then changed all of the colors and most of the embellishments used, but kept the layouts very similar for the most part.

You may remember that there is currently a Hostess Special going on, and on October 1st, it will include MDS.  Here are the details incase you forgot:

Hostess Promotion

Dates: September 1-November 30, 2009

Promotion Details:

We're excited to bring you this sweet deal for hostesses September through November:

• Host a workshop totaling $250 or more and choose any one item* from the 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog for only $10!
  *Offer excludes hostess sets and My Digital Studio.

On October 1, when My Digital Studio is released to customers, this offer will become even sweeter:

• Host a workshop of at least $400 and get My Digital Studio for 50 percent off the retail price (retail price: $79.95; promotional price: $39.97)!

If I only had the patience to wait for the 50% off, I would have, but I am so glad to have gotten it already to be able to go ahead and start creating my albums and other fantastic digital projects!

Let me know if you want to order it on the 1st.  I'll be happy to do it for you, or you can click on my link to the right to place the order yourself.  Either way, it can be shipped right to your doorstep!!

You can see the rest of my MDS posts by clicking HERE.  You will want to click on the post title links to see any photos that are included in the posts.

Another Digi Page

Here is another 8x8 page that I made for one of the 2 albums I have completed using Stampin' Up!'s new papercrafting software called My Digital Studio.  I made one album with a fun and whimsical look/feel and then I made a more elegant album.  It was hard to find pictures that weren't goofy of my kids for the more "serious" album, but here are some from when the kids got to go sit in a HUGE C-17 Air Force jet.  It's the plane that their daddy flies.  Oh, and they call their grandfather "Baba" which is the Persian word for father.  We call him this because my dad is from Iran and the word for grandfather is harder.  I am sure by the time they're 10 or so they'll start calling him something different, although I still call my grandfather Poppie which sounds just about as juvenile.  :)  Enjoy!!!

PS - you should be able to click on the picture and see the page in a larger size.

My First Digital Scrapbook Pages

I am so excited to have received SU!'s new My Digital Studio software on Friday.  I didn't get to play with it until Friday evening and then I had to tear myself away to go to bed because I got to go to Washington DC on Saturday morning and needed to not want to sleep in and miss the trip.  ;) 

I am making a "Summer 2009" album for my family and I thought I would share with you 2 of the pages.  I pretty much stuck with one of the pre-built layouts that SU! provides (called Sunny Days and it uses the colors and items that you can find in the Sunny Days Simply Scrappin' kit on page 164 of the Idea Book & Catalog) and added a few embellishments, drop-shadows, text and stamps here or there to complete the look the way I wanted...to make it my own. 

The beginning of our summer was marked by my husband deploying to the desert, and that is what these two pages are of.  They will sit side-by-side in the book with the first one being on the left.  I am going to have this book printed by SU!'s print vendor and I will post a picture of it when I get it so you can see it "in real life" via a photo ;)

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them!!!

Oh, and don't forget to check out my Boot Loot (aka Blog Candy) contest at THIS post where you can win a stamp set, punch and some Sweet Treat cups to finish off the theme of the items!!!

 

Love Page

 

I created this page as a little project for the ladies that attended my Church's monthly "Sit and Chat, Finish That".  If you're in the Dover area and would like to come - with February being the exception - we have it every third Tuesday from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.  If you have children, they're welcome.  Basically, you bring whatever you're currently working on, craft-wise, and you get to sit and chat and work on it.  It's always more fun to talk while you stamp or craft, isn't it?!?!  You can check out more details and get the address on the events page on my SU! website.  That link is HERE.

Anyway, it was a fun page to make.  I used my Big Shot and Go Go Boots alphabet set dies to cut the L, V and E letters.  The heart for the "o" was stamped with the Love You Much stamp set and punched out with the Heart to Heart punch.  All of the stamped hearts come from the Love You Much Stamp set.  You won't want to miss the 20% off of the Love You Much bundle if you like this stamp set and punch.  Not only do you get those two items, but also the adorable Candy Lane DSP - all for 20% off!!!  You can check that out on my SU! website too. 

I like how it turned out.  For some reason in the pic to the right, the little heart appears flat on one side, but if you look at the main pic at the top, you'll see that it's not.  Weird....

The Chocolate Chip panel on the left side of the page is meant for 1-2 pictures to be placed there.  The white rectangle on the bottom right is where the journaling will go.  Now if I can just get some pics taken of my kids, I'll have a cute page on my hands!!! :)

Have a great day, and don't forget about my paper share, posted HERE, or my Stamps in the Mail program, posted HERE. 

 

 

Stamps:  Love You Much
Paper:  Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip Textured and Whisper White CS, Riding Hood Red Patterns DSP
Ink:  Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red classic ink
Accessories:  Big Shot, Go Go Boots alphabet dies, Heart to Heart and Scallop Edge punches (SU!), stampin' sponges, stampin' dimensionals

Last Month With Go. Be Creative.

December marks my last month on the GBC Design Team.  I have so enjoyed getting the lovely kits from Lainey each month, and getting to create so many different things with them.  Today's post is one of the 12 x 12 LO's I made with the December kit.  It is ready and waiting for our family picture in front of the Christmas tree this year.  The CS that was used was not in the kit, but it WAS something that I purchased back in July from the GBC store.  Check it out to see what Lainey has in there now.  Thanks for looking!!  Tomorrow I'll show you some really pretty word blocks that I made with the December GBC kit.

I'm a slacker....

So....I still haven't uploaded (or even gotten a picture of it for that matter!!!) my card for CBC03 - so, there's still time to join in the challenge.  I will promise to post it tomorrow morning.  I started going to the gym again, and doing so takes up my WHOLE morning and then I just have a few hours before my daughter comes home from school to get things done, so I haven't gotten to take any pictures.   So, for now, enjoy the 12" x 12" LO I made for this month's reveal over at Go. Be Creative. Hope you like it!!!

PS - it is not edited - I took/uploaded the picture before I got my laptop back.



A close-up of the elements surrounding the circle:

Hybrid Page

 

For those of you that check in here regularly, you know that I'm on the Go. Be Creative (GBC) Creative Team.  Well, this 12 x 12 page is one I made using the Cosmo Cricket "Haunted" papers and other items that are in the October kit over at GBC.  I was so happy with how this page turned out - I managed to use papers that even had Halloween images on them originally, and the parts I used don't show them at all.  The colors did lend to a great Fall-themed page.  The LO is totally inspired by a sketch over at "got sketch?" from back in July.  I LOVE that site, go check it out!!  As for why this is "hybrid", well, I still haven't picked up my pictures from the photo center so in order to give the gals over at GBC a better idea of what had inspired the LO I digitally added my photo that I would be using.  I personally don't mind picture-less LO's when I want ideas, but since pages are usually built around specific pictures I didn't want to leave it out this time - last month I had a few pages without pictures.  I'm just glad I have PhotoShop and thought to do it this way.  Anyway, would love to know what you think!!

Stamps:  Frames with a Flourish
Paper: "Haunted" by Cosmo Cricket (GBC October Scrapbook kit)
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant classic ink (stamped image and chipboard letters), Really Rust classic ink (edges of chipboard letters), Elegant Eggplant marker
Accessories:  All from the GBC October Scrapbook kit - Artsy-licious Splendid Treasures in Kohl (buttons, bling and felt flowers), Maya Road "Noah" chipboard letters and "Scrolls" sheer sheet (black scrolling over-lay) 

Country Apple Reveal

Over at Go. Be Creative. today (the 1st) is always the big reveal of the DT work with that months kit.  Today is no exception, except I scheduled this post so that I can be with my daughter and celebrate her birthday but you don't have to miss the projects.  Go to GBC to see all the other DT work with this kit, and in the Message Board you will be greeted by a ton of fun new friends, or just go there to check out (and purchase) the Country Apple kit.

Here is a (sagging - sorry) 12 x 12 I made to put a photo of my fun friends I saw/met at the SU! Convention this year.  A close-up follows to show you those gorgeous brads.  I didn't take the backing off of the 3 tags on the right half of them so that I can slip a picture under them and then remove the backing and permanently adhere them (they're self-adhering chipboard tags) on top of the picture.

Next is a fun little (quick and easy) refrigerator frame that I made to put a picture of my DD doing gymnastics in.  I wanted a picture of her being a cute little gymnast on the fridge and figured this would be a nice way to showcase her.

Here's a fun little 6x6 that I made to send to Emma's teacher last year.  We miss Miss Peggy SO MUCH.  Emma just blossomed and thrived in her classroom and so far this year has been disappointing at our new school.  Hopefully time will tell and it will improve.  The ruler twill was just perfect I thought for a LO for a teacher.  I did some sewing on this page and there is a close-up of that after the main picture.

Here is a fun sketch book that I altered.  I've been wanting a book to carry around and draw my sketches in as I come up with them, and to jot down inspiring color combos.  So, here it is. I made a bookmark for it out of some Taffeta ribbon, one of the gorgeous flowers in the kit and one of the giant brads.  As for the letters on the book, if you'll notice on the page above I had already used one "o" and the packages of letters only come with one of each letter and 2 of each vowel.  So, I traced my remaining "o" 3 times on to some Cs and cut them out, layered them, and colored them with my Chocolate Chip marker just like I did the actual chipboard letters and I think it's pretty darn close!!!  I'm sure if you look really hard you can tell which one I made, but hopefully not if you don't.  A close-up of the bookmark is after the picture of the whole sketch book.  Oh, and the lines inside the sketch book are the same exact color green as is on the paper.  It's PERFECT!! :)

This next photo is of an 8x8 page I made for...MYSELF!! I've not done this yet, and since I don't have a picture of myself that I like enough to put on there, it's blank for now.  I took some 3/8" strips of paper from the kit and ran them through my label maker and then sponged a little white ink on there to make the letters really pop off of the paper.  It's a fun way to use a label maker and make sure that it matches your project perfectly.  Again, an up-close follows the main picture.

Last, but not least, is a fun little bookmark that I made.  The two pictures are of each side, they're not two different bookmarks.  Did I say how much I LOVE the gorgeous brads in the kit?!?!  That ribbon is not in the kit, it's SU! Chocolate Chip 1" double-stitched grosgrain ribbon.  Isn't it too cute?!?!

Hope you liked the projects!! I still have some cards up my sleeve with this kit.  The papers in it are so gorgeous I can't let any of them sit unused!!!  Have a great day and enjoy the holiday!!!

Convention Make & Takes Part I

Well, today's my birthday so I scheduled this post and didn't actually type it up this morning.  I am 29 years old today, and I can't believe that of all the ladies I was with at Convention in the two groups I am part of, I am the baby!!!!  I certainly don't feel like I'm old, but I also don't feel like a "baby" either.  Oh well, next year is the big 3-0 so we'll see how I feel then ;)  I would also like to say happy birthday to Nancy Morgan too!  Hope your day is a special one, Nancy!!

Here are the M&T's that I made at Convention on the first of two M&T days.  I promised my customers I would post them here so this made a good post that didn't require me to stamp in my non-existent spare time in order to have something to post.  I know these projects are all over blog-land, but some of my customers aren't huge blog browsers but if you are, then bear with seeing them again.  BUT - I did change a couple of mine up in tiny ways, so maybe that will be some inspiration for you on how you can do little things to make a sketch/LO your own.  I didn't change all of them though.  I will try to highlight the NEW items used and will not give exact recipes.

This page features a new stamp set called Flight of the Butterfly.  The chipboard letters are the On Board Timeless Type which are new and are covered in Whisper White craft ink.  The Scallop Edge punch was used along the left edge of the card, and some of the new Flower Fusion Too felt flowers were used with one of the Designer Buttons from the Button Bouquet assortment.  That IS textured Baja Breeze CS in the middle.  This is a sweet, simple LO that would be so easy to replicate and make again for a different theme.  To the left is a close-up of the cute little felt/button flower.  Don't you just love the felt flowers?!?!?  I sure do!

In addition to this great scrapbook page on the first day of M&T's we got to make 2 cards and a gift bag.  I liked the bag so much that I went to Michael's yesterday and bought some more in a slightly smaller size in both white and kraft colors to alter in the future. I think they will make really great "packaging" for hostess gifts and for gifts for friends for other reasons.  Just change up the DSP you use, along with the stamps, and you can make the perfect gift bag for ANY occasion!!

Here is the gift bag.  It uses the DSP Haiku and some of the So Saffron Poly-Twill Ribbon.  The stamp set used was the gorgeous new silhouette stamp set Inspired by Nature.  I LOVE this stamp set!!!

I should explain, that the bag was a little tall to photograph standing with my SU! grid paper behind it for a clean background.  So, as you can probably tell, I laid it on it's side and took the picture and then rotated the view in Photoshop.  Hope it doesn't bug ya too much!! 

I also should add that at Convention we have a limited amount of time to get all of the M&T's done, and let me tell you I totally feel a greater appreciation for my customers at my SU! events.  It's so hard to be on a time schedule and have to replicate something using someone else's directions.  I definitely don't do my best stamping under these kinds of constraints.  Oh well, everything turned out pretty good, with some minor flaws that hopefully aren't too noticeable. :)

The next two photos are the 2 cards we made that first day. 

I must say that the first is in a color combo I never would have come up with myself, but it's so cute!  It features the stamp set Flight of the Butterfly and the On Board Timeless Type chipboard once again.  That Chocolate Chip 1" Double-Stitched grosgrain is so gorgeous and the best part is that I WON some at Convention in one of the give-aways they do several of each day.  I also am loving that Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge  - see the brad?

This next card is very simple but stunning.  It uses one of the new clips from the Clips Assortment available in the new catty.  It also uses the Inspired by Nature stamp set and the fun new Wide Oval punch.  We stamped on the accompanying envie too - what a cute card and envelope, huh?!?!

I am totally loving this stamp set and can't wait to really get to sit down (hopefully now that school has started and I've only got 2 kiddos at home it can happen!) and USE it.  It has been calling to me and feels neglected because it hasn't seen ink since Convention.  Poor little stamps!!  He he he.

So - I hope you have enjoyed these samples. I think that I will post the rest tomorrow.  Tomorrow's samples are the ones that I changed up more than just how I tied the thread (on the button on the scrapbook page - it was supposed to be tied on the top of the button and show the knot).  So, stay tuned.

Have a great day!

Little Diva 12 x 12 LO

Here's one of the LO's I made for my DT work for Go. Be Creative. using this month's Coconut Mango kit.  I did something fun though, that I don't think anyone else thought of.  At the bottom of one the GORGEOUS artsy.licious chocolate chipboard sticker letters in the package (there are 2, one is uppercase letters and the other is lowercase) there is this black and white scalloped border with scrolling designs on it.  Well, I cut them off cause who would want to waste the perfect border sticker?!?!  So, on the edge of each of the pictures is a piece of this scalloped edge.  I had three because as I mentioned in a previous post, I bought THREE sets of these chipboard letters 'cause they are so yummy!  Anyway, I used my new Janome Sew Mini to do some  zig-zag stitching around the pictures and I also used some of the soft, velvety flowers included in the kit.  I have a simple style and so I feel like I went a little overboard with the stitching, but I was having so much fun! :)  What do you think?

I hope you have a great rest of your weekend.  We'll see you back here on Monday!

PS - Yet again - more of my awful handwriting is featured.  Next time (with next month's kit and my DT work) I will be whipping out my stamps.  I guess we're allowed to use little extras like that. I was trying to NOT use anything that wasn't in the kit.  My artwork suffered for it - because of my hand-writing, that is!

Last Sneak Peek for GBC July Kit

I had this post scheduled so that I didn't have to actually sit down and spend time away from my family on Sunday, and hopefully it intrigues you.  :)

I went a little circle crazy on this, my last Sneak Peek before the big reveal of all of my projects (that I can show you on the 1st) using the July "Coconut Mango" Scrapbook Kit featuring Fancy Pants papers available at Go. Be Creative.  Don't forget to play in my scavenger hunt to win an entire kit for free (have to post before I draw the winner on July 1st - see the sticky for more details)!!!  It's valued at $30+ and is a really nice kit.  I LOVE the artsy.licious letters and used them on both scrapbook pages and cards.  They are too cute!!!  Anyway.  Hope you like the peek and stay tuned for the reveal and the drawing of the winner of the kit on July 1st!

Paper:  Core'dinations CS in Orange and Blue Lightning, Fancy Pants "About a Boy" paper in "chillin'"
Accessories visible in this "peek":  Paper piercing tool

I finally got one....

A Janome Sew Mini, that is. Hancock Fabrics had them on sale for $49.99 and I thought that that was a decent deal and I think I got free shipping because it was my first purchase from them, so I was happy. I FINALLY used it - but it's on one of the projects I can't show you in its entirety. I can, however, show you a little peek. If you check out the July Kit at Go. Be Creative. you'll see what I used to make this layout. I even used something from the kit that wasn't intended for use, but I love to get creative with things. In July I'll be able to explain ;) Enjoy this peek! I'm hoping to actually get to stamp a card (and maybe even sew on it!) VERY soon!!

Welcome Baby Mini Album

I purchased a class planner from Andrea Walford on making a Family Treasures Mini Album and I modified it to fit my own needs in making this baby album for a friend who recently had a little boy - he is her 2nd child. I hope that she likes it. I included a close-up of all the textures that are on the cover. On the card stock stickers that extend into the space where a photo goes (you'll see what I'm talking about in the photos below), I left half of the backing on the sticker. This way the sticker is in place where I want it but my friend can put her picture on the matte and then remove the backing and stick the sticker down the rest of the way.

For info on purchasing the album class planner from Andrea, click on her name above. She has some OUTSTANDING classes by e-mail and demonstrator class planners.

I plan on offering this mini album as a class to my customers once I live in my own house again, and I will let them pick whichever Simply Scrappin' Kit they would like to make their album to showcase the event/people/occasion that they want.

If you are my customer and want to go ahead and get this album and tutorial and make it on your own, e-mail me and I will take your order so you can get the items ASAP.

PS - I will be changing the white o-wire binding to larger ones, but for photographic purposes I used the only ones I had which are MUCH too small.

The pictures are in order from the cover through to the end of the book. Enjoy!











ETA - Well, I got to looking at the last two pages, and just couldn't leave them be. I had to add one more thing to each of them. So, these two photos are what the last two pages look like now, and the book has been taken apart to await the arrival of some 1" o-wire binding (still white).


Stamps: NONE!!!
Paper: Special Delivery Boy Simply Scrappin' Kit
Ink: NONE!!!
Accessories: On Board Chipboard Book Basics (small) for font and back cover, Stylized Silver Hodge Podge Hardware (2008 Occasions Mini Catalog - available through 30 June '08), Wild Wasabi Double-Stitched ribbon, River Rock Double-Stitched ribbon, dimensionals, mini glue dots, bind-it-all, white 3/8" o-wire (will be using 1" to replace 3/8")

Scrapbook Page for Sarah

So, I promised myself I would scrap a couple of days ago and then we had all of that bad weather. I have a HUGE headache right now, but I got the page scrapped and thought that I would go ahead and post it. I cheated since most of my papers and other scrappin' necessities are in storage and used a kit I have on hand. I'm going to use the kit to make a chipboard book with, but I figured I should have some left-overs so I grabbed some of the card stock stickers out of it and some of the patterned paper and one piece of the River Rock textured card stock, and this is what I came up with!! Not to mention, there's TONS of stuff left in the kit - more than enough for my board book.

All of these items come from the SU! Special Delivery Girl Simply Scrappin' Kit and I MADE the buttons with some Crystal Effects, patterned paper, and clear buttons. The little flower on the top right of the page is 2 stickers from the kit layered on each other and then on top of that one of the clear sticker "bubbles" from SU!'s build-a-brad kit.

This picture is of Sarah and as the journaling that you probably can't see says, she is 6 months old and it was in 2005. I LOVE this picture of her and I had it developed in sepia and happened to have it here with me in Oklahoma so I knew it was the one I wanted to scrap. I liked that I could add color to the page with little torn strips of paper, and cut paper and ribbon, and then it kind of frames the picture really making her cuteness pop. What I was disappointed in was the glue that I used was a special ribbon glue that "won't seep through your ribbon" but it most definitely did seep through the ribbon I sponged with Apricot Appeal, so those darker spots you see, just ignore - I'm crossing my fingers that they'll magically disappear because they're not part of the polka-dot pattern.

I would love to hear what you think!! In the next couple of days you will see this page again, but "edited" to have some paper piercing that I want to do on it after seeing it in this photo.

Paper: Special Delivery Girl Simply Scrappin' Kit
Ink: Apricot Appeal
Accessories: Clear Buttons, Soft Subtle Buttons, Crystal Effects, white polka-dot ribbon sponged Apricot, Groovy Guava double-stitched ribbon, stapler, sponge

Stamp Camp Projects

First, if you're interested in blank coasters that you can alter and create gift boxes, mini albums, calendars, picture frames and many more projects out of - see my post called "As Promised!" for more details. I am taking requests for the coasters only until the end of the day Saturday, and then the "Coaster Share" will be closed at midnight. No more requests on Sunday.

Below you will see what my Stamp Campers will get to make on the 25th. I'm charging them $15 because there are many more projects than usual. I will have them make 2 cards, a 6 x 6 scrap book page, 6 Pocket Notes (with 6 envelopes), and a cute little Pocket Notes Purse to hold the notes. I will be making instructions and handing them out at the Camp. I got the idea from SCS'er JanTInk. She made up a template that she came up with after adapting a design by S. Dailey. My template will be VERY similar and I almost totally CASE'd her paper choice (patterned paper found in the Winter Mini Catalog), but I will be making some modifications to it that I found helpful to me and hopefully my stampers. Plus, I don't want to use her exact template and instructions, I would feel bad. She is super creative, and has a blog that you can visit here. I visit her blog daily and as soon as I'm not too lazy to do it, I'm adding it to my "Blogs I Visit." Anyway, hopefully you can get a good idea of what all of the projects are. It was a little difficult to get them all in one picture and to show well. I wish I could have put the Pocket Notes near the Pocket Purse, but they just wouldn't stand up well anywhere else. Without further ado...here is the picture: