Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Week in my Life Project


Several bloggers followed Ali Edwards as she did a project challenge on her blog several weeks ago. I have seen the idea years ago on her blog and thought, I would love to attempt that! My first week of August was to be a "back to school" mode and part of our lives that I would like to document anyways. So let us give it a good ole try, eh?
I kept my camera around me all the time at the beginning of the week and slowly I forgot it a couple of times. I tried to take several pictures of events of the day and then just selected the photos that I wanted to showcase on the pages in the end. I kept the layout simple and themed with my fav Sweet Details Designer Series Paper colors of Crumb Cake, Daffofil Delight, Pear Pizzaz, Baha Breeze, and Very Vanilla. The page on the left in filled with the paper while the right side has all the juicy stuff. You can click on the images to enlarge.

 




 



 I got to play around and learn more about how to use my camera. I learned how to journal better.  I got to see from all angles how to see my life in details. Overall, this was really a fun project to do and I highly recommend that you give it a try!

Now, what do I do with this? I would love to have a little paperback scrapbook of this but I can not print it in a photobook thru SU cause it is only 15 pages. So I could print in 8.5x11 individual pages and bind somehow together myself?  Help! What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Friday, August 26, 2011

MDS Blog Hop Week 4

This week's theme is Boy/Manly from my friend Jeanna who herself has three ADORABLE boys! I have two girls, what was I to do?  I recently got to spend some time with my best friend and her family in Chattanooga. Jory is her spunky 3 year old who I adore and love to pieces!  I knew I had plenty of pictures of his silly monsterous faces for this boy theme page. I knew I wanted to say something like "100% all boy" for this boy theme page. So this is how this page begun. I never have used the Rock-a-bye layouts that are on the My Digital Studio DVD basic program.  I thought the colors of Old Olive, So Saffron and Chocolate Chip fit what I wanted to do. I selected one of the pages and altered it to fit my pictures. Pretty simple I thought. But what is so great about these weekly challenges is that it is literally making me get projects done! I got this done in one night! I am multi-tasking the MDS way! LOVE IT!
I decided to add more of the Rock-a-bye boy layouts, alter them and then make it my 8.5x11 photo album of our trip to Chattanooga.  I want to get this printed and give to my mom as a thank you for a wonderful time away.
Here is the video of the album:
Love to hear what you think of it!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy
You can check out more boy/manly creations from my MDS friends here:
6. ME

Monday, August 22, 2011

Covering the Magazine Holder Tutorial

Printed on Whisper White cardstock 8.5x11 with the Pocketful of Posies paper in My Digital Studio. You can use the real paper too! Cut your paper into strips. Mine are 2.5" x 11"  as I centered them with white edges showing on the front of the magazine holders.
Place one strip on the first holder and use small amount of  dotto snail to hold paper temporarily in place. 
Now you will see the hole from the inside of the holder. Take a pencil and trace the circle on the paper. 
Take paper off holder carefully.
Line up your 1" circle and punch out. 

Now add Tomboy glue or whatever permanent adhesive you use to secure paper in place on the holder.  Be sure to line up your bottom first with the hole in place. 
I just love how they turned out! I love organization and making all things look...well...organized and clean and matching and like in a magazine photo shoot! HA! Keeping it organized IS the challenging part!
Let me know if you use this for your magazine holders!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Friday, August 19, 2011

MDS Blog Hop Week 3

  I whipped up a little creation for our third week's challenge of CUPCAKES!  At first, I have to admit I was stumped when I got the challenge email. But then once I got the card done, the mojo was flowin!
My nephews birthday party is Saturday and it was the perfect solution for the challenge. I started with a simple card that I would print out and add to a base Crumb Cake card.  I could have added the real Baker's Twine now that I look at it.  Love the 8 mini cupcakes in a row! Colors are Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.
 Then I took the theme of cupcakes and the colors to the next level by making a special banner just for my nephew. He can hang it in his room after the party for one whole year!  I created this in a 4.25x5.5 postcard layout. I created the first one and then copied and paste in place to create the other 7 of them. Just change the colors and dsp in the punches.  After printing and trimming, I punched 1/16" holes in the corners and threaded the Baker's Twine in Cherry Cobbler thru them. I added some retired Riding Hood Red ribbon to finish it off.
Thanks for stopping by on our MDS Blog Hop!
Cindy
On to the rest of the MD Blog Hop Designers for their creative weekly posts!
7. ME

Thursday, August 18, 2011

New Classroom Decor

 I have been cleaning, organizing, and creating a new space for my new adventure! My downline and partner Christine and I are starting to have CLASSES! We are so excited! We will be called CREATIVE STAMPIN CHICKS. Working on a MDS logo for it too! The room I have needs to be multi-purpose for my family to use AND a classroom. Here are some of the things I have done to bring in some Stampin Up creativity into the room.  I used my new fav designer series paper called Pocketful of Posies. It has 10 colors in the designs and I think they work well in my room.
I made this welcome banner in My Digital Studio. I created it in a 8.5x11 layout and printed them as 3.5x5 allowing me to print 4 on one piece of paper. I added hybrid elements such as punch flowers, rhinestones, brads, and ribbon.  Lovin banners right now! 

Then I bought some new magazine holders from Ikea (5 plain white for $1.99). They of course needed some color! I printed the Pocketful of Posies in 8.5x11 in MDS.  I cut them in 2.5" strips. Temporary attached to front and traced the hole with a pencil from the inside. Then took my 1" circle punch for the holes. Glue or snail on permanently. Took me like 25 minutes to do!
I bought this frame at Walmart for $3.00.  I added a 5x7 piece of Early Espresso cardstock and removed the glass.  Then I added the Top Note piece with velcro. I can switch it up for the holidays or seasons.  I started with this simple "matching my room" piece.  I used the Pennant Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Baker's Twine, Fabulous Phrases Stamp set and MDS created Pocketful of Posies DSP.
Remember the special this month? Buy 3 get one FREE of the designer series paper just until Aug 31st!  I just loved the cards from that promo and in the SU catalog on page 184! I wanted to challenge myself to make them in MDS and guess what?  I DID!  I found this topiary in my storage room and thought what a cute card display it would make! I attached the cards with mini clothespins.
Check back tomorrow for MDS BLOG HOP FRIDAY!
Remember to create something today!
Cindy

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Hybrid Birthday Page #3

This layout was originally intended for Megan's 10th.  It said "Happy Birthday 10th" and it was using the Sweet Details papers and colors.  When I added Allison's pictures to it I could see all the PINK and soft pastels in them. So where you see Blushing Bride (pink) was really Crumb Cake (kraft) in the first layout. I also added some of the stitching download.
Now that dotted paper in Sweet Details is beyond cute! But how can I change those Crumb Cake dots into Blushing Bride?  Solution was to create my own paper! I took a landscape page and added the dsp in the background.  I took a circle punch and made small like the dot, filled with Blushing Bride color and copied/pasted on just the section I would need for my page. Then I saved as jpeg. One in jpeg format, I moved it to my dsp file in MDS program. I named it Photos.  Then when I went back to my page, I filled that punch square with my created dsp and centered on just the part I wanted. Too complex? Let me see if I can do a video of it soon.
Here is the hybrid page. I printed this 12x12 on my printer which come out 8.5x8.5 and printed on Premium Photo paper.  I just added it to a layer of So Saffron and put on a pink flower button with a glue dot. I almost went and took off the digital stitching and do the real stitching instead, but saved that thought for another day.
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Monday, August 15, 2011

Hybrid Birthday Page #2

I made this page awhile back in MDS form. I made the background with the clouds from Sunny Days elements on MDS basic program. I added photo boxes and made them rectangles and then changed the shape to circle which became ovals.  I matted them in different colors. The balloon string are the strings from the stamp set Tree Trimmings just flipped. This was created in a 12x12 format but when I save as jpeg and bring it up in my Windows 7 print queue then it turns into a 8.5x8.5 page. I select the "fit picture to frame" box and making sure it is borderless printing in the advanced settings. It was printed on Premium Photo Paper.
Now this is one of my favorite hybrid birthday pages! First I trimmed the printed page and layered on a piece of Melon Mambo. I punched Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point and Lucky Limeade in the Pennant Punch. Punched 1/16" holes in the corners and strung the Baker's white twine thru. I popped them with dimensionals and added twine bows. Just want it needed!
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Friday, August 12, 2011

MDS Blog Hop Week 2

Sorry I have been MIA but that means I have lots to share as I have been tackling some BIG projects!
This beautiful Timeless Portrait Designer template pages (@ $1.95 can be purchased as a download HERE) really caught my eye when it came out. I recently got to purchase it and was super excited to do a Christmas layout with it. Nope, I was too excited to wait. Instead, our theme for this week's challenge selected by Heather was BIRTHDAY. This was the perfect opportunity for me to finish my daughters' birthday book that I had been working on.  You can see more HERE . They are hybrid pages that I have printed and added buttons, ribbon, etc to make it real.
My favorite thing to do (especially when you have a creative block) is to start with a designer template on MDS and with just a few clicks you have a different page! I found this layout perfect for the pictures I wanted to use. My daughter was wearing a "Wisteria Wonder" colored shirt and some Christmas "Real Red" was in the photos and "Early Espresso" was in the cookie cake.  You can see that I just stayed with the layout and changed some of the colors. Then I took away a few numbers and added a title (Cast Iron Font) with one line journaling (DialogInput Font). Then I added the My Friend florals in Wisteria Wonder in different opacity in the background.  I really like how it turned out.
I printed this 8.5x11 on Premium Photo Paper, trimmed it down to fit my book. I printed one page with just the same flowers and brads, cut them out, and popped them off the page with dimensionals. I added mini pearls to finish off the "hybrid" part of the page. I punched the decorative label in Very Vanilla for the date. I also have two more hybrid birthday pages done and you can stop by Monday and Tuesday to see them!

Thanks for hopping along on our MDS blog hop and continue on to #9 Erica Shaw's blog. You can also check out anyone else on the list!
Have a great day!
Cindy
8. ME

Friday, August 5, 2011

MDS Blog Hop Week 1

I was asked to join a My Digital Studio Blog Hop with some of the most fantastic MDS demo designers out there on My Digital Studio.net .  I was shocked , numb and then so excited to participate! You all know how much I am obsessed  in love with MDS!  So each week, we will be posting our finished challenge projects on Fridays.  This week's challenge was "BACK TO SCHOOL" which worked perfectly with my week. We started school here on Monday August 1st! Can you believe it? I bought the new downloads that came out on Tuesday called For Teacher and School Lines. You can purchase them from me here: SHOP NEWEST DOWNLOADS


My girls are getting older and I thought the first day of school page required something little more grown up for them this year. I still managed to add some of those traditional school elements into the mix. I also decided to divide the two of them between two pages because I loved all the pictures I took! (I am working on a week in a life project- check out next week!)
Here is what I used on this page:
dsp - pocketful of posies and first edition
stamps - for the teacher, school lines, schoolbook serif letters/numbers
fonts - ck jot, scriptina
embellishments - large buttons, antique brads
(click on each page to enlarge and see the details up close)

Here are the other MDS demo designers participating on our MDS Blog Hop this week. You can go next to #8 the uber-talented Erica Shaw and see her creation this week or if you missed someone just click their name to go directly to them.

1. Jeanna Bohanon
2. Rochelle Gould
3. Mandy Grant
4. Julie Leblanc
5. Amber Meadows
6. Terry Mongeon
7. ME
8. Erica Shaw
9. Heather Summers
10. Alesha Walls
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy digital creating!
Cindy

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Sneak peak into something NEW!

I have many changes taking place with my Stampin Up biz and here on my blog. I am in the stages of planning many wonderful things to take place over the next few months. I am SUPER EXCITED about this first adventure! It starts tomorrow so you want to come back for sure!!!!!  In the mean time, here is a sneak peak to tease you. heeheehee.
And here is my MDS page for the day!  I saw this layout in the Stampin Success magazine a few months ago. I love all the papers in this pack called Sunny Garden and this page shows them all off very well. Used the partial rbbon technique on the Daffodil Delight Striped ribbon.  The butterfly looks like a layer of vellum just by changing the opacity. My favorite part is the placement of the title. Right over the picture. I made all the other photos in black and white and left the center photo in color. Those girls are always sneaking my camera to take pictures of themselves together.
OK, SO COME BACK TOMORROW! especially if you LOVE My Digital Studio!
Cindy