MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #60

Beth with the MDS Monday Design Team came up with this simple sketch and added that we were to add some re-coloring embellishments with it. One of my favorite things in MDS to do! I choose to use my newly purchased download called Purple Passion Kit #137901. I know a few people that LOVE purple and I really loved the ombre look in the embellishments and Designer Series Papers plus the stamp brush images were super fun! I even thought that you could easily recolor all the them as well! Even those odd shaped flags are in the download which I color matched to the colors in the ombre ampersand. I recolored Wisteria Wonder Chevron Flags to Smoky Slate and added several times. I also recolored the Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon to Basic Gray which looks Smoky Slate in my card front.

You can give the challenge a try and submit your own page if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! 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 

Leadership Geometric Treat Box

The Geometric Stamp Set was offered to demos at Leadership for a Make-n-Take. We were to showcase samples of other ideas to use with the stamp set. Here is my 3D sample. It is a mini treat box/bag using Bermuda Bay dotted DSP. Very easy to make.
Some of my favorite things on this:
 I love the chevron stamp in Summer Starfruit on the background of the tag.
The Gold Foil Sheet that was punched with the star.
The arrow in the stamp that I hand cut out.
The Basic Black Chevron Ribbon with the Summer Starfruit twine ( I wish we had more colored twine!)
I love the knotted ends on the twine too!

I hope that you like my Treat Box and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Just a couple more to share!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes

Blossoms Abound - MDS Blog Hop

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. So here is what I am doing.........

Last week, my friend Monika and I held a Virtual Digi Crop on Facebook!!! We have started a group on Facebook called MDS Virtual Digi Crop. It is open to the public so just ask to join our group! We select a date once a month to hold our Virtual Digi Crop Event. March 18th was our official first event! Monika does one challenge and I do the other challenge. It was so fun!

My challenge was to use the Freeform Tools! We created digital stitching with the Line Tool and then added a Brush Layer coloring in a stamp image. 

See these AWESOME videos to learn how:

www.mydigitalstudio.net/video/brush-and-eraser-tools

www.mydigitalstudio.net/video/digital-stitching

For my sample, I used the beautiful spring download called Blossoms Abound. I used the stamp image of the flowers and added a colored in brush layer.  I also added a dotted brush layer on the frame to highlight the details in the frame. You can see I added a Freeform line connected square and turned it into Zig-Zag 1.

I hope that you can join us LIVE for the next Virtual Digi Crop

 on April 15th 7:00 or 7:30pm Eastern!  It is a chance to get on your computer, bring up the MDS program and try or learn something new while making new friends that share in your love for digital creating! See you there!

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

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

 Cindy 

Spring Inspiration - Artisan WOW

 Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! We are on our very last project of our March box of Stampin' UP products from the 2014 Occasions Catalog! We hope you stay with our Artisan Design Team Blog Hop over the next few months to inspire your creative juices!
You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out my Home Decor flower piece (You might think that I was inspired by our blog button on this project! But really I had this done before hand. Great minds think alike, right Jeanna?) 
and a BONUS project card.

I had four of these 6 x 6 canvas pieces and wanted to make a spring home decor piece. I was ready for spring to come after this crazy winter season! I started with Smoky Slate 6x6 base and added the Watercolor Wonder DSP to it. I used my friend and fellow Artisan Jane's method of using cardboard to add dimension to the layer. It also made room for the mini clothespins to clip on.

Some of my favorite things on this project:

The Spiral Flower Originals die - I added a half of one to the whole one to make a bigger flower.
The Fringe Scissors cutting on the Daffodil Delight for the flower center.
The Watercolor Wonder Designer Notecards to cut the leaves out with the Secret Garden Framelits Dies.
The Pennant Punch (remember that one?) for my mini banner LIFE.
The Petite Petals Punch to make the Island Indigo and Daffodil Delight flowers.
The Simply Celebrate Stamp Set stamped the ENJOY in Smoky Slate and cut out.
The Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack flower for the single blue flowers and the centers of the Petite Petals flowers.

So I had some of the Daffodil Delight Petite Petals Punch flowers left over on my table and it inspired me to create this card. I was also inspired by the Hardwood Stamp Set. 

Some of my favorite things on this card:

The Hardwood Stamp Set in Early Espresso on the Vellum for a soft look. 

 The piece of watercolor paper cut the same size and added ink of Coastal Cabana and Daffodil Delight with my Aqua Painter. I did mark with pencil where the wood grain edges are so I would color them within them.

The Petite Petals Stamp Set stamped several of the flowers in both colors and punched out.

The ribbon! Both the Natural 5/8" Chevron Ribbon and the 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in Daffodil Delight. Do not forget the Linen Thread! Swoon!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

Cindy

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

Leadership Geometric Pattern Card

The Geometric Stamp Set was offered to demos at Leadership for a Make-n-Take. We were to showcase samples of other ideas to use with the stamp set.
Some of my favorite things on this card:
The Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum paper to use as a pattern.
Stamping directly on the vellum with Staz On Black Ink.
The Wonderful Wonder Designer Washi Tape to hold it all down.
The Bermuda Bay Taffeta Ribbon for a little balance.
Some of the triangles are popped off with dimensionals.
I hope that you like my card and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Just a few more to share!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes

MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #59

Catching up on some events from the Christmas season last year....it is SPRING right? The weather might not be quite spring yet when I made this and I was in a sentimental mood to finish this page for Heidi's challenge. This is a terrific group of teens and it has been one of the biggest blessings in my life to lead this youth group these past 5 years. 

The background is the reddish tone chalkboard DSP from Convention 2012 download. Heidi's challenge included showing trim as layering. So I added the Cherry Cobbler Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon as layers. I copied and selected paste in place. Then clicked on the mirror button to change the direction of the ribbon and sent backwards once. I also did not have a third photo so I added a piece of DSP from the Christmas Cocoa II.  I have been wanting to use that download forever! I used the Mailbox Love Notes download with the scallop letter for the frames on photo boxes and colored Chocolate Chip.

You can give the challenge a try and submit your own page if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! 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 

Leadership Banner Blast Thank You Card

So on this card I wanted to show the not so used Sahara Sand which is one of the colors in the Sale-A-Bration Sweet Sorbet DSP. I used the flag punch with the Banner Blast Stamp Set and Silver Glimmer Paper. I also punched Crisp Cantaloupe with the Pennant Punch for a background banner layer. Looking at this now...wish I had just used the flag punch on that color instead. I love the dotted pattern of the DSP too! SO FUN! This is an easy layout for a card and you could use all types of color combos to make a great card.

I hope that you like my card and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Just a few more to share now!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes

Celebration Add On Scrapbook Page Artisan Wow

 
Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! We continue with our March box of Stampin' UP products from the 2014 Occasions Catalog! This box was full of the Watercolor Wonder Product Suite and more! We hope you stay with our Artisan Design Team Blog Hop over the next few months to inspire your creative juices!
You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out my inspired to celebrate scrapbook page.

I love digital scrapbooking usually but once in awhile I am inspired to create a traditional scrapbook page! The Celebration Basics Add-On Kit is a little secret gem as are many of the kits in this Occasions Catalog. This one is packed full of items that could easily be for a scrapbook page OR cards!

 I filled the Stampin’ Spritzer that comes with the kit with rubbing alcohol and 20 drops of the Calypso Coral Ink Refill. I cut the tissue sheets to 2” strips, colored with the spritzer and then once dry, cut with the fringe scissors. 

Some of my favorite things on this page:
The dot garland...already stitched too!
The 6"x 6" Designer Series Paper from the Celebration Add On Kit makes a quick and easy background.
The Gold Foil Sheet with the Typeset Alphabet Die.
The Gold Baker's Twine bows!

I had some strips and ink mixture left so I made some really quick and easy thank you cards just for more fun! I love how they look like I really sewed them!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

Cindy

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

Leadership Hearts Banner Blast Card

Today's card was alot of fun to create! I used the Hearts Collection Framelits to cut the large heart negative. I backed it with a piece of Sweet Sorbet DSP. I used the heart stamp with Crisp Cantaloupe ink and did several hearts stamped in multi tones. I used another piece of the DSP and cut the Amperstand from the Typeset Alphabet die. I used the Banner Blast Stamp Set for the flags. I stamped the "you" and "forever" with the Fabulous Phrases Stamp Set. I stitched my flags in place.

Do not forget! Sale-A-Bration ends March 31st! So if you want these stamps, DSP or embellishment to create these cards for yourself, get them now!

I hope that you like my card and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Much more to share!

Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes

MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #58

Holly brings our card sketch challenge this week and with it the technique of changing the color of the DSP from it's original colors.  Have you played with the re-coloring tool? It is so fun but a little tricky to get the right color. It really depends on the original dark or light hue of the color on the DSP or embellishment.  It is a good thing that we now have a preview window to see in advance just how it will look before selecting the color to add.

I played with the One Big Sale-a-Bration Digital Ensemble that I earned for FREE when I purchased $50 of product. Hurray, it end on March 31st!

I am loving the sweet springy color of Crisp Cantaloupe on all my projects lately so I changed the DSP to that color. The other layer of dotted DSP was changed to Basic Black. Added some embellishments like doilies, chevron ribbon and cork pieces. I colored the stamp image on a punch tag filled with chalk paper and done!

You can give the challenge a try and submit your own page if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! 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.

And a little Irish CHEER on behalf of today!  Happy St. Patricks Day!

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

Cindy 

Leadership Banner Blast Chalk Name Easel

I found these little wood easels at a local craft store and was planning to use them for an event. So when I started working on the Leadership samples, they were nearby and I thought I could alter it to be WAY cuter! I cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock to fit the frame. I used regular chalk to make it look more like chalkboard. Then it was just stamping the Banner Blast flag several times in Coastal Cabana, Summer Starfruit and Crisp Cantaloupe. The stitching was a little more tasking. I had to add the flags in a line on the end of the piece of scrap cardstock with adhesive. Then run the ends of them in my sewing machine. I added the name using the Chalk Marker but you could always add a stamped saying to it as well.

I hope that you like my place setting chalk easel and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Much more to share!
THANK YOU ALL FOR THE WONDERFUL COMMENTS LATELY! 
LIFTS MY SPIRITS WITH EACH ONE!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes

MDS Blog Hop - E-Cutter & MDS Hello Card

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. 

This time we are sharing the versatile side of this digital program! Go hybrid or Go e-cutter! I choose to go with my e-cutter and do a project that had been in my thoughts thanks to an inspirational pin by Stampin Up on their main website page. I shared last week HERE on videos that I watched to learn how to use the e-cutter that I have.  I plan on teaching some e-cutter basics at my My Digital Studio Advance Class this Saturday locally. 

I first cut the black bubble hello. I added the Happy Things Pocket Cards - talk bubble and the hello from The Best Year - hello, hello from MDS to my Library on the e-cutter.  Once there I just layed them together once I sized them for my card.

Then I had that positive piece left so I HAD to make another matching card! I just cut the talk bubble in Whisper White alone. The rest of the cards are Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack; small heart, owl and bitty punches for the hearts; Bitty Banner Framelits Dies bent on one end; and Six-Sided Sampler Stamp Set for the sentiment.

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

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this inspires you!

 Cindy 

Trendy Hello Card Artisan Wow

 Welcome back to Artisan Wednesday WOW! We are moving on to our March box of Stampin' UP products from the 2014 Occasions Catalog! This box was full of the Watercolor Wonder Product Suite and more! We hope you stay with our Artisan Design Team Blog Hop over the next few months to inspire your creative juices!
You just came from Cathy Caines and next is Connie Collins, but before you come check out my very trendy card.

If you look at cards today say on Pinterest or other websites, you will see some trends starting to take place. My card today has a few of those trends in them. The angled layer of DSP. The flag with title or sentiment. The use of gold elements. The 3 dimensional flower.  All of these put together makes one great looking card.  ;)

Some of my favorite things on this card: 
The use of the Fresh Print Designer Series Paper. I used three patterns here.
The Gold Foil Sheet with the Secret Garden Framelits Dies leaf stem.
The Spiral Flower Originals Die in Strawberry Slush and adding a Fringe Scissor center in Daffodil Delight.
The Simply Celebrate stamp set that I used just the HELLO.
That yummy Gold Baker's Twine - Get some! Love it!
The staple. YES the staple. It is embossed in Gold Embossing Powder!!!!!

To do it, you add the staple to a scrap piece of paper. Then with the Gold Metallic Ink pad or Versamark pad ink up the staple. Add Gold Embossing Powder and heat set with Heat Tool. Now open the staple ends and remove from piece of scrap. I pre-stapled one to my flag piece and removed it. Now replace it with the Gold Embossed staple bending the ends back. Neato!

If you love this Fresh Print Designer Series Paper stack, check back on this Thursday!
I have a FANTASTIC post for the MDS Blog HOP to share!
Think e-cutter! ;)

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

Move on to Connie by clicking on the next button!

Leadership Hello Banner Blast Card

This little cutie was one of my favorites that I created for the Leadership Display Sample Boards. I have even found it cased by my fellow demonstrators on here: http://www.jillsink.typepad.com/jills-ink/2014/02/banner-blast-birthday-card.html

 by Jill Franchett and here: http://www.stampyourartout.com/stampyourartout/2014/02/200-card.html by Rachel Tessman. I love how she called it the $200 card due to several free Sale-a-Bration items you would need to earn for free to make this card. Thank you both!  I find it a complete honor to be cased and I greatly appreciate that you like my card enough to case it for your customers. I hope they like it too! Given that I am just showing my card now and no one knowing who's card was what on the boards, giving only the Artisan Design Teams list of names, then I understand why proper credit is not always given in these situations. Hope they will now. ;)

The card was super easy to make given that the Banner Blast stamp set matches the flag punch in the Sale-A-Bration catalog. I used Summer Starfuit, Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana inks. The twine is from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Kit. I used the Decorative Dot Embossing Folder. Lot of dimensionals where involved as well! I made it in mind for our demos out there as they saw the boards at Leadership to give them ideas for card buffets and such. I think it worked! 

I hope that you like my sweet caseable card and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Much more to share!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes

MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #57

I am in love with this week's sketch over on MDS Monday! Very trend on with the film strips! I turned my page on its side to fit the fun photos that I had in mind. I used the Hooray for Parties download that I earned for FREE! I got it with my recent $50 order. It is part of the special ending this month called Sale-a-bration! I was able to download this goody and starting creating with it right away.  I also used a download that I bought on my order: Starburst Punches

My daughter took most of these pictures and I love how it captures our fun crazy time at our favorite place in the world! I will be back there in less than 30 days so I need to work on the last trip's pages now!

You can give the challenge a try and submit your own page if you click on the MDS Monday button on the right side! 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 

Leadership Petal Parade AWESOME Card

This card was instant inspiration when I saw that arrow image in the Petal Parade stamp set. The first thing I did was to draw diagonal light pencil lines onto the Whisper White cardstock. Then I stamped the arrows in four ink colors: Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistacho Pudding and Summer Starfruit. Then I ran the card piece thru my sewing machine using black thread and zip zag stitch on 2. I just followed the lines and erased them when done. To finish, I added the cork diamonds from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Kit.

I think it was one of my top 5 favorite cards that I made for the Leadership Display.

I hope that you like my arrow card and can use it to inspire you! Check back soon for more Leadership display samples! Much more to share!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy

Here is a list of the other Artisan Design Team blogs! 

Come see who made what!

Alanna Wharf - Sleepless Stamper
Becky Cowley - Scrap Junkie
Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave
Cindy Schuster - THAT's ME right here!
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping
Erica Cerwin - Pink Buckaroos
Jane Lee - Jane Lee's Cards
Jeanna Bohanon - Stamp Time Somewhere
Jennifer Timko - Stampin' on the Fly
Mercedes Weber - Paper Creations by Mercedes