Trying something new....

So not my normal card with mixing patterns but I was feeling risky ;)

My favorite part is the letter stamped in gold Metallic Encore Ink Pad #132141 on Basic Black and then cut out. The corners on the two layers was made with the Bitty Pack Circle Punch. 

Colors are Island Indigo, Strawberry Slush, Metallic Gold, Basic Black and Very Vanilla.

Funky huh?

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to try something risky and new to you!

 Cindy 

MDS Blog Hop - Undefined MDS?

 WELCOME TO THE MDS BLOG HOP!

A bunch of us have joined together over the past two years to share our passion for digital designing with Stampin' UP's My Digital Studio. These ladies are ridiculously talented in MDS and I am thrilled to be on this Blog Hop with them! You will find us blog hopping on the 2nd and 4th THURSDAYS of each month! We will have a theme selected on the first hop and then a "What we are doing in MDS" on the second hop. We have lots of fun MDS themes coming up as the holidays are soon here!

Ok, back to our theme this hop....What are you doing in MDS?
I just got back from my wonderful DisneyWorld trip and because of work and priorities I have not been able to get started on it. But I did have 20 minutes to make a quick simple card using a new technique I had been thinking about for awhile now.

Have you seen the Stampin' UP Undefined Kit? You carve your own stamp!It is pretty cool! Well I wanted to see how I could "carve" my own stamp in MDS. I found it! It is the new un-used feature called FREEFORM! It takes a steady hand but it can be done plus you get that same rough edge feel like you do with the real carving stamp! AH-HA! But better yet, it has an eraser that you can correct your mistakes unlike the real carving stamp! HEEHEE!
The rest of the card was simple wood feather embellishments, re-colored rhinestones and Baker's Twine in Coastal Cabana, and friend in Baked Brown Sugar.
Give it a try and see what you think!

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Continue hopping on and be sure to leave some love notes (comments) 

for each of these super talented ladies! 

1. Cori Kozak 2. Cindy Schuster 3. Aly Schilling 4. Julie Leblanc 5. Julie Davidse 6. Jeanna Bohanon 7. Erica Shaw

InLinkz.com

Artisan Wednesday Wow - Boo Banner

 Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out my boo banner and how I made it!

 

When we got our September box of Stampin' UP products from the 2013 Holiday Catalog, I was thrilled to see the Build a Banner Simply Created Kit # 133507 in there! If you must know one thing about me, I LOVE BANNERS!  Every holiday and every occasion, I have a banner for! Those stencils are so stinkin cute too! I used Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black ink on sponge daubers with the dot and chevron stencil from the kit. Then I used the circle stencil to make a moon with Crushed Curry and alcohol in the spritzer. I also sponged with Summer Starfruit to add a shades to my moon. I added a punched art pumpkin to it for the middle "O"....reminds me of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". To finish off the banner, I added some of the Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit #132698 pieces. I trimmed the bat down to just show the black part.

I think my favorite part of this banner is maybe how it looks on that frame! I had this beautiful framed picture that the glass broke out of, so I just used the awesome frame to hang my banner on. Added some of my fake pumpkins and colored glass collection to complete my mantle for October.

Bring on the candy! Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

Oh What Fun! A BABY!

 I thoroughly enjoying playing with reinkers and alcohol in my aqua painters.  Here is another card using that technique for a background color on Whisper White cardstock.  My favorite part about this card it the wording. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig #101049 to line up the Oh What Fun (Christmas Messages #131793 Clear) with its a boy (A Dozen Thoughts #131059 Clear) The fonts were very similar AND I needed a fun unique baby boy card!

Here are the rest of the supplies used:

Chevron Embossing Folder, Tape it Stamp set, Gorgeous Grunge Stamp set, 1/4" Stitched Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Brights Designer Buttons, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Colors:

Basic Black, Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, Real Red and Crushed Curry

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Artisan Wednesday Wow - Halloween Frame and Treats

  

Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you go come check out my Halloween frame that was posted on the Stampin' UP Facebook page last Friday!  I even have an additional SURPRISE to show you!

To create the images, I used My Digital Studio and the Halloween Happiness download.  In MDS, I enlarged the stamp image just a little and thankfully you can do that because it is a SVG file which does not cause distorted pixelation of the image.  Then I used Coloring Tool to color my pumpkins and stems in. I took the Pumpkin Pie Goodie Gear Simply Created Kit and pulled out the cute Crumb Cake tags from it.  Added strips of coordinating cardstock and used dimensionals to pop the cut pumpkins up. The color combo is Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, and Whisper White. The background paper is from Color Collection DSP stacks in Brights which you can see Tangerine Tango here. The Pumpkin Pie 3/4" Chevron ribbon and the 1 1/4" Burlap ribbon complete the frame. I just used Sticky Strip to attach it to the back of the frame.

I still had the clear baggies, Pumpkin Pie stickers and Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine left from the kit, so I took them with the Halloween Happiness Stamp #131859, the Tag a Bag Gift Bags #131370 and Deco Label Collection Framelits #130102 to make additional treats bags for friends and co-workers. Nothing goes to waste around here!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

MDS Blog Hop - Let us make some home decor!

 WELCOME TO THE MDS BLOG HOP!

A bunch of us have joined together over the past two years to share our passion for digital designing with Stampin' UP's My Digital Studio. These ladies are ridiculously talented in MDS and I am thrilled to be on this Blog Hop with them! You will find us blog hopping on the 2nd and 4th THURSDAYS of each month! We will have a theme selected on the first hop and then a "What we are doing in MDS" on the second hop. We have lots of fun MDS themes coming up as the holidays are soon here!

Ok, back to our theme this hop....Home Decor - such as a frameable for holiday or everyday with a template or design your own like a favorite quote or saying. Make it even hybrid! There is a lot that you can do with that, right?  Even the Stampin' UP MDS team has made some great downloads lately with frameables in the home décor occasions section! Check it out HERE!

 I spend hours and hours each week at my office desk, so why not spread that home décor into the office?  My boss is totally ok with it as well.  I used the template pages from the Happy Things Pocket Cards download which is a bargain at $5.95. I had to add just a very few things cause I thought the all the images and quotes were perfect for my work productivity. I printed them at home on Whisper White cardstock.  Now this is my view each day. I may add a few more photos to the mix but overall I love it! It makes me HAPPY!

 

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Continue hopping to Cori #3 and be sure to leave some love notes (comments) 

for each of these super talented ladies! 

1. Julie Leblanc 2. Cindy Schuster 3. Cori Kozak 4. Amber Meadows 5. Rochelle Gould 6. Julie Davidse 7. Jeanna Bohanon 8. Erica Shaw

InLinkz.com

Artisan Wednesday Wow - ALOT of Halloween Inspiration

  

Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! When I open our September box of Stampin' UP products from the 2013 Holiday Catalog, it was filled with Halloween themed products! SPOOKY HAPPY! You just came from the amazing Cathy Caines and next is awesome Connie Collins, but before go check out ALL the fun Halloween projects I made! I COULD NOT STOP!

This first card was so fun to make! I made my own glitter paper with the new Black and Orange glitter! I used Heat and Stick Embossing powder to get the coordinating cardstock sticky. I applied the glitter and then reheated with my Heat Tool. That is the Deco Label Collection Framelits Dies but I cut off the sides for a different look. You can see the Witches Brew Washi Tape and the Witches Brew Designer Series Paper was used as well.

I have been having fun with our ink refills and rubbing alcohol in the aqua painters lately. The watercolor look is very on-trend. This next card is created with the Build a Banner Simply Created Kit stencils and that look. I just used Basic Black ink and a sponge dauber to get my fading dots. I used the same washi tape, paper and stamp image in the card above here on this card.  That wonderful 3/4" chevron Ribbon in Pumpkin Pie was cut in half for a rough edge look. 

Ok, just one more! I have many Halloween picture frames of my girls in their costumes each year. I took a Tag Bag Gift Bag and made it the background for my frame. I used the clear bag, the orange strip and white flag embellishment from the Pumpkin Pie Simply Created Goodie Gear Kit .
Again, the Witches Brew washi tape is a great way to add pattern quickly to anything. I used the stamp set called Halloween Hello on this one. Love that spooky witch!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to get into Halloween!!!

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking the next button!

 

Check back Thursday! It is the MDS Blog Hop! Many inspirational projects to get you creating in My Digital Studio!

Butterfly Bundle Special

 Have you ever made a shaker card? I was inspired by my friend and fellow Artisan Design Team Member Jeanna Bohanon to give it a go! I was also inspired by the new Butterfly Bundle Special that is going on right now. Check it out below or see the link HERE. Those butterflies make me happy!

 

So make sure to get in on our current offer: bundle and save 15 percent on this butterfly stamp set and punch between August 29-September 30, 2013!

Bundle Item	Description	Retail Price	15% Savings Price	Amount Saved!
135311	Butterfly Bundle (Clear-Mount)Papillion Potpourri Clear Mount Stamp Set Bitty Butterfly Punch	$30.90 US $39.90 CA	$26.27 US $33.92 CA	$4.63 US $5.99 CA
135312	Butterfly Bundle (Wood-Mount)Papillion Potpourri Wood-Mount Stamp Set Bitty Butterfly Punch	$34.90 US $44.90 CA	$29.67 US $38.17 CA	$5.23 US $6.74 CA

Do you not love that Dot paper? You can find it in the Holiday Catalog in a paper stack! Click HERE to see it!  The color combo is Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay. The tag and Baker's Twine comes from the Tag a Bag Accessory Kit.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Artisan Wednesday Wow - Live Life to the Fallest

 Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! We are moving on to our September box of wonderfall Stampin' UP products from the 2013 Holiday Catalog! You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out my fancifall card and how I made it! 

 

 

(Jane Lee made our September edition of Blog Hop Buttons!) 

 I am really in love with white base cards. The Tag a Bag Gift Bags are so versatile! I cut mine to make a layer of paper on my card.  I stamped the Magnificent Maple Stamp in Early Espresso on Whisper White cardstock. I then sponged with daubers inTangerine Tango and Crushed Curry on the cut out leaf.  I actually sewed the Naturals Designer Button onto the 1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon with the Linen Thread.  The "hello" from Four You Stamp Set is stamped in Early Espresso. Did you notice the background stamp? It is the new Dictionary Stamp and stamped in Crumb Cake ink.  A beautifall card for the first week of September to get us ready for the season!

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to make everyday delightfall!

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!