Happy Halloween Mateys! Arrgh!

I am trying to get back into some traditional scrapbooking since becoming on the Artisan Design Team. Over the years, I have become a digital scrapbooker with My Digital Studio. But this was really fun to create!

It actually was a test that went wrong. My friend Monika and I were creating a traditional red and green banner for a retreat. We learned that if you use Real Red in a spritzer bottle on the banner, it bleeds when you use too much. Oops! So I had this laying around and thought.....pirate flag!

I took the remaining Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit that I had not used on another project and applied them here. I colored the rhinestones with a yellow sharpie. The background is the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set done with the Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stampin Pad. I used the Chalk Marker to write on black cardstock. I had to add that skull washi tape to this page!

I just love this picture of my BFF's little man as Captain Hook from our Disney trip! You will probably be seeing more traditional scrapbooking from me!  It was lots of fun!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

 Cindy 

Artisan Wedneday Wow - Pop & Place Special

Welcome back to an extra special Artisan Wednesday WOW! You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you go come check out how I made this card and a gift card holder with the Pop & Place Holiday Gift Tags and Stamps!

 I wanted to show you how you can take this kit to make other items with it. I started with a simple card. I love the traditional color combo of the tags...red and green specifically Real Red and Old Olive. The background embossing comes from the Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Folder.

For this cute gift card holder, I took one of the chevron Tag a Bag Gift bags, folded it and sewed a zip zag stitch right thru it to make pockets. Everything else you see is in the Pop & Place kit besides the ribbons. See the silver clip? I took an Old Olive Simply Styled Embellishments and took the bow off of it so hold the gift card in the pocket.  I love the top note piece to pull out and write a special note to my friend. 

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

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

MDS Monday Sketch #38 Challenge

This week Tara from the team has a simple card sketch. I just got a new download called Holly Jolly Greeting Simply Sent Ensemble #135260. Click HERE to see it. Sometimes these ensembles have little bits of genius in them but you have to look closely to discover them! I added the diagonal striped overlay from Hip & Handsome Overlays download #125753.

You can see the sketch and what the rest of the design team came up with if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! Also give the challenge a try and submit your own page. Follow the directions on the site to upload your page and link it from your blog or MDS.net. Winners and honorable mentions are announced every two weeks.

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to get into MDS Mondays and our challenges!

 Cindy 

(Sorry this is late posting, I have been in bed for the past 16 hours with a bug and did not notice that I had not published this post!) 

Pirate Treasure Mini Muslin Bags

I had something else to show you today but that project inspired me to create these little goodies bags! I will show you the Pirate page next week! I just love how they turned out! Here is how I made these treasures!

First I took the string out of the Mini Muslin bag.  I know! Right? Then you take a good length of 1/8" Taffeta Basic Black ribbon with a safety pin and string it back into the fabric loop. Next I stamped the skull from Toil & Trouble stamp set in Basic Black ink. Be sure to add a piece of heavy cardboard into the bag for a hard stamping surface. To make the tag, I cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler with the smallest Deco Label Collection Framelits. I used the stamp from Halloween Bash on Very Vanilla. Cut it out with the smallest Labels Collection framelit. I then sponged the Metallic Gold ink on the edges. Notice the washi tape ribbon? Just put two pieces of tape together! Love the Summer Starfruit Ribbon for a pop of gold color. I used the ribbon and button from the left over piece I had of the Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit. But look closely at the button.....I used that string from the bag to sew my complete tag to the bag. It comes with three piece on the string so you need just one of them.

Now to find some chocolate gold coins! Or some gold beaded necklaces. Maybe even make a treasure map note in MDS and add to the bag. Better get moving! Halloween is just around the corner!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

 Cindy 

MDS Blog Hop - Cropping a stamp to a shape

WELCOME TO THE MDS BLOG HOP!

A bunch of us have joined together to share our passion for digital designing with Stampin' UP's My Digital Studio.  These ladies are seriously 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. 

Today's project was something I was working on over the weekend. I love the new single stamp called Christmas Star. It inspired me to create something like it in MDS. I added a punch star, increased the size and then filled it with Bermuda Bay. Now select a stamp image that is a background or overlay in your global search. Once you have it selected the stamp, click on the Cropping Tool in the Design Center. The editor will come up and you want to select the Crop Shape. Select the star punch again. I re-sized my star to the area of the stamp that I wanted. Click on OK.

You may need to enlarge the star to fit over the punch star. Change the color too.  I showed this at the Digi Crop on Tuesday night and go to this link and see what my friend Christine did with it.
http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/photo/mds-challange-001?context=latest

Just click on the NEXT button and it will take you to the next person on the hop. We hope this inspires you to get into My Digital Studio and start creating! 

Click on the button to move on to see what Cori made!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you to try this technique and if you do, let me know!

 Cindy 

Artisan Wednesday Wow - Big Shot Fall Card and Gift Box

Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out how I made this card and matching gift box!

The Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine and a few fantastic dies are all you need to make this card! This set would be perfect for a Big Shot Club night! I used the Sweater Weather DSP to cut tons of leaves with the Autumn Accents Die Cut.  You could use any combinations of the patterns on this card too.  The neutral card base with neutral washi tape and Natural Trim ribbon with the Antique brad allows you to do that. 

 I love our kraft gift boxes! Each and every size of them are perfect. I especially love this one with the printed circle window. They are also food approved! 

As a bonus, here is the recipe for the Pumpkin Penuche Cookies!

Penuche Frosted Pumpkin Cookies 

1 cup butter or margarine 

1/2 cup light brown sugar - firmly packed 

1/2 cup gran. sugar 

1 cup canned pumpkin 

1 egg 

1 teas. vanilla 

2 cups flour 

1 teas baking soda 

1 teas baking powder 

1 teas cinnamon 

1/2 teas salt 

1 cup chopped nuts 

Combine butter, sugars, pumpkin, egg and vanilla into large bowl. Mix well with blender. Combine remaining dry ingredients together in small bowl. Add sifted dry ingredients little by little. Blend well and then fold nuts into dough. Drop in teaspoons on ungreased sheet. Bake 10-12 min at 350 degrees. Let them totally cool before frosting. 

Frosting: Combine 3 TBS butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute until slightly thickened. Cool 15 minutes before adding 1/4 cup milk and beat smooth. Add 2 cups powdered sugar and stir til icing-like thickness. Drizzle on top of cookie and let dry. Make 6 dozen 1 1/2 in. cookies.

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

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

MDS Monday - Look at me go!

I was thrilled to be asked to participate in the MDS Monday Design Team!  I thought it would be a perfect fit into my crazy schedule these days. I am always designing in MDS and I love challenges! Especially a sketch challenge! They are great way to jump start the creative juices to get really awesome projects.

This week Joan from the team has a simple page sketch which focuses on the title at the side. I love that it had many photos on the page. The pictures were really the inspiration for the color combo and the dots. The title is so very my youngest daughter. She is a hoot! 

You can see the sketch and what the rest of the design team came up with if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! Also give the challenge a try and submit your own page. Follow the directions on the site to upload your page and link it from your blog or MDS.net. Winners and honorable mentions are announced every two weeks.

So you will be seeing me on MDS Mondays there and here!

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you today to get into MDS Mondays and our challenges!

 Cindy 

Artisan Wednesday WOW - Layered Fall Card

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

I love the pieces that come in the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created Kit. The birch paper is by far my favorite thing! And you get plenty of it in the kit to do the tablescape settings, cards and even scrapbook pages. Here is a card I made using the birch paper, maple leaf, and linen thread from it.

I used Chocolate Chip cardstock with Woodgrain Embossing Folder and Whisper White Craft Ink sponged on it. I added the Chalk Talk Framelits to make the tag hole.

      I took the blue Designer Series Paper with the Autumn Accents Bigz Die Cut. I also took the Silver Glimmer Paper and cut a leaf. Then I sponged it with the Gold Metallic Encore Ink Pad for a new shade of gold glimmer paper. See that little thanks? That is from the Photopolymer Stamp Set called Another Thank You.  Perfectly cut and placed with a dimensional! I really like all the layers placed on a clean white base.

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

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

MDS Blog hop - Are you ready for the Holidays?

WELCOME TO THE "fresh and new" 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. We have new designers that have joined us - WELCOME CORI, JULIE B. and our fresh newie ELIZABETH RUSH!  There are now 10 of us on the team!  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. Also new, is the hopping method. Just click on the NEXT button and it will take you to the next person on the hop. We hope this inspires you to get into My Digital Studio and start creating! Would love to hear what you think of our "fresh and new" hop and projects, so please take a moment to let us know in comments.

This week, we bring you a variety of holiday projects! Some of us are doing Halloween, some are doing Thanksgiving and some are doing Christmas! I decided to do Christmas and get a head start in designing my Christmas card for 2013.  Not sure if this will be the ONE but you let me know what you think.

Here is the front of the card.

 Here is the inside of the card.

Here is the back of the card.


I used the Jingle And Joy Kit - Digital Download #132793 for the background DSP and color combo of Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Gumball Green and Basic Gray.
The snowflakes are from Winter Wonders Kit - Digital Download #132567.
The rest of it is a mixture of stamps for the wording. Love that you can FLIP an image to get that reflection look!  If selected, I would add a traditional Whisper White Baker's Twine bow to the front of the card where the button is.

Have you started thinking about your holiday cards yet? Will you go traditional or digital this year? It is October 10 so better get moving! Christmas will be here before you know it!

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

 Cindy 

Click on the button to move on to see what Cori made!

Artisan Wednesday WOW - MDS Thankful for Family

Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out my ALL My Digital Studio created scrapbook page! 

I was so excited to see some fantastic My Digital Studio downloads with our box this month! Right away, I was inspired to make this page with them. I am in love with the Sweater Weather DSP in digital and traditional form! It is perfect for this quilt or patch-like hexagon look I was going for.

 I used the Truly Grateful Stamp Brush Set Digital Download #134928 and the Feathered Woodcuts Kit Digital Download #134849.  Did a little recoloring on the Seam Binding Ribbon you see to get the Soft Sky color. See that stitching across the ribbon and title?  Totally not a download, but a feature called Freeform included in the program! Oh yeah, custom stitching! The awesome textured background comes from Thanksgiving Tablescape Simply Created Kit Digital Download #135248.  This page is all about what makes me feel so blessed and thankful each day.

If you have not tried My Digital Studio yet, give it a try! It is a FREE 30 day trial or just $19.95 for the program plus $500 worth of content with it!  It is user-friendly, not messy, no craft area needed, flexible, and super fast way to scrapbook your daily life and events. Let me know, I can help you get started!

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

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

Check back Thursday HERE for some more MDS inspiration! It is the "FRESH & NEW" MDS Blog Hop! Sharing many different projects to get you ready for the holiday season in My Digital Studio!

Shaped UP My Digital Studio Postcards?!?!

My Digital Studio just raised the bar in their printing program! They have added the option to make your 5x7 or 7x5 postcards with style via shape!  You can read all about it HERE:

First you need to update your software so go into MDS and go to Check Updates. 

After you update the software, you can open up a 5" x 7" or 7" x 5" postcard, then go to View > Bleed Areas and choose either of the new options: Artisan Shaped Postcard or Scallop Shaped Postcard.  I used the Artisan Shaped in my project!  You can see below how to locate it.  Remember that you will ONLY be able to add these shapes in a 5x7 or 7x5 POSTCARD project!

Once you are ready to order your shaped postcard, just go to Project> Order >Card. 

The postcards are double-sided, so do not forget to add something to the back! 

Cards start at $2.25 US/$2.75 CAN and regular bulk discounts apply. I will be getting a quite a few of my postcard above to send out to family and friends!

I will be ordering these asap! As soon as I get them, I will post a picture of the final printed postcard. Just in time for you to think about designing some Christmas cards at the end of October in one or both of these awesome shaped cards!

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

Cindy

Artisan Wednesday WOW - Another Thank YOU

Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! We are moving on to our October box of 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 card and matching envelope! 

(Jennifer Timko made our October edition of Blog Hop Buttons!)

 

 The products in this next box reflect Thanksgiving, being Thankful, and Fall! I would like to start with a card that was inspired by the Envelope Punch Board! I used one sheet of the Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper to make the envelope first. The lighter side is just perfect to write an address on while giving a darker color contrasting inside of the envelope. (There is more than one pattern of this particular DSP like that) Then I took the remaining strip of DSP to make a card. I used the Pretty Print Textured Impressions Embossing Folder on Soft Sky cardstock. Added a paper doily, a strip of the same darker DSP and the Linen Ribbon. I stamped in Chocolate Chip ink with the Another Thank You Photopolymer Stamp Set.

I LOVE THAT STAMP SET!  MUST...GET.... IT.....NOW!

I then finished in off with a Very Vintage Designer Button and Linen Thread. I love the softness of the colors for a everyday thank you for someone special.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this very simple card inspires you today!

 Cindy 

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

 

Also I am a Guest Blogger on MyDigitalStudio.net today!!!! Come see my Thankful Wood Blocks:

http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/profiles/blogs/thankful-wood-blocks

They are super easy to make and add to your Thanksgiving décor!