MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #63

Joan brought us another fabulous challenge sketch page this week! I have been using these scrapbook page sketches to get my recent Disney trip in MDS to print!  I used some of the rectangle parts as photo boxes to capture parts of our morning at the MK.  The others I filled with Big Top Birthday DSP. I left the background white to make the DSP and photos stand out on the page.

Did you hear that Stampin' Up is offering FREE SHIPPING this week April 21st - 25th and that it INCLUDES MDS Printing!!!! Be still my heart! I gotta get this photo album done fast and get some other projects printed as well!

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 

MDS Monday Sketch Challenge #61

I just got back from vacation and while gone I took some time to myself to get some digital scrapbooking done. It was heavenly! I had Tara's sketch to work from to complete one of the pages of our last Disney trip in September 2013. We love going to Epcot and seeing the countries. Mexico is one of our favorites for the food, drinks and shopping. 

I love the layered photos. I used the Purple Passion Kit download and recolored the pattern DSP to Calypso Coral. The brush images are from the Geometrical Stamp download. My favorite part is the multi-coloring of the New Mexico brush image from Nifty Fifty download! I cropped it to just Mexico and then colored it in free hand with the Coloring Tool. Give it a try on your next MDS project!

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 

MDS Blog Hop Friday - VACATION!

How funny that I picked this week's theme! Cause I am in way NEED of a vacation! I have been EXTREMELY busy with some very exciting MDS stuff. I have a MDS Club Class tomorrow and we are doing "SCRAPBOOKS"! Share more on that in the next weeks!

 Here is what I came up with. I am trying to get last year's trip to Vero Beach done before we head there in September and I want it to be done FAST! Like in one night FAST! Completed too!

So I tried this never before tried, hardly used MDS function called AutoFill. Brillant! I selected the Convention download 24-page template and my photo file from our trip. Followed steps in process and BOOM, it was done! No guessing where to put my pictures, they were already in order of days in my photo file so they were in order. I had more pictures selected than what is in template spread, so the program just adds more template pages to finish it. AMAZING! I did have to make very little changes to each page but overall a success!

Here are some of my favorite pages from the completed album.

Front Cover

 

 

I added little journaling beside the page titles to keep it simple. By the way, this template is perfect for a beach theme vacation! Not just for Stampin Up Convention 2011!

Thanks a bunch for stopping by!

I hope you try that AutoFill function and see what happens!

Cindy

 Check out what my fellow MDS Blog Designers created this week!

Bet you see some Disney in there too!

If someone is missing, just come back here and move to the next person.

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2.Rochelle Gould

3.  Mandy Grant

4. Julie Leblanc 

5. Amber Meadows

6. Terri Mongeon

7. Aly Schilling

8. Cindy Schuster

9. Erica Shaw

10. Heather Summers

11. Alesha Walls 

12. Holly VanDyne

Recap 2011 continues...JULY AUG SEPT

Moving on to the next three months...

This page has to be my favorite design and it was my favorite month of 2011!  I wanted the "vintage" colors of July 4th traditional red, white and blue.  The dsp is from many kits and papers. Love Letter, Not Quite Navy striped and patterns.  This month was so great...from fantastic fireworks to my niece coming into the world to a visit with some GREAT friends to my very first Stampin Up Convention!

August is our back to school month here in the South. I used the Noteworthy CD kit. I love the colors in this kit; Pool Party, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler and So Saffron. The apple has color filled punch behind it to "fill" the apple in.

Spice Cake HAD to be used for September's page. It went so well with our beach vacation pictures.  Love the tree so it had to be in this page too.

Hope you enjoyed these!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cindy

Monochromatic MDS Blog Hop Week 18

This week's challenge was brought to us by Jeanna. Monochromatic is definitely a hard one to start but I found a page from my latest Disney album that I had been working on and with a few clicks of color change...here are the results!

However the photos did not match this brown tone monochromatic theme I had going. The Sepia was too reddish brown and the black/white photo effect was ok but nada. What to do? what to do?

So I was playing with photo effects and opacity and tah dah!

I made a little cheap sheet for you to save and remember this technique.  Just click on page to enlarge and see how I did it. 

Let me know what you think.  Did you already know about it?

Thanks for stopping by!

Cindy

Jeanna

Rochelle

Mandy

Julie

Amber

Terri

Aly

ME - YOU ARE HERE! : )

Erica

Heather

Alesha

Holly

A Merry December!

My month of December has been SO EXTREMELY BUSY!  Here are some of the main reasons why you have not seen any posts or new creations lately.

Youth Christmas Party for 40 people! Joyous times!

Youth Advent Dinner and Service (which got canceled because of icy conditions in Atlanta but those that were there, we still did the skit for.) 

Headed to Disneyworld with my daughters, my mom and my mother-in-law. Here we are at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. 

And here is the magical Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom!  It was just AMAZING!

Wishing you and your family a VERY BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Make it a magical one!

Cindy

Wacky Wednesday on MDS

I wanted to show my first complete project from Simply My Digital Studio class. I am learning so much about the program thru this class by Heather.  It really is so easy to use!  Know what else is easy? Downloading MDS projects to my blog are very easy to do so plan to see lots of them!

This page is when we went to Disney in Sept 09 and Alexa, my BFF's daughter, went on the zipline by HERSELF at the age of 3!  You can click on the picture to read the details of the ride.  What a great memory!

In this lesson, Heather showed us how to add pictures and then change the opacity to get a faded look.  I also made the background paper of Summer Sun and toned it down 10%.  That gave me another shade of yellow. In another video she did, she taught how to add designer paper and embellishments to size them for the page. 

Have a magical day!

Cindy

MDS make Disney look good!

Here is the second My Digital Studio page I made.  I had these Disney pictures on my laptop and used them to make this page.  I used background designer paper in Kiwi Kiss and then matted the photos in Bermuda Bay and Pumpkin Pie.  I used the circle punches option to create the Mickey ears.  This was my learning part in this page.  How to use the punches to make character or shapes and then fill in the colors. I then added the buttons in Bermuda Bay.  I am really enjoying the MDS program!  I started the Simply MDS online class yesterday with Heather Summers.  She is showing us how to use the program and viedo tips for the next 20 days for $20.00.  So you will be seeing some more MDS pages and items.  I love the challenges she gives too!

Have a magical day!
Cindy

I made some changes to this page after learning more about MDS tricks and tips. And I love it even more!

Disney Trip Recap

Well, all is back to normal around here. I got my desk cleared off, house cleaned, bushes trimmed, laundry done and even some stamping done!

We had a WONDERFUL trip to DisneyWorld! Beautiful weather all week, fun times with the cutest kids (all four) and hanging out with my BFF and her hubby. Lots happened on the home front with the flooding in GA, college kid's drama and my father's motorcycle accident. But we had little damage in our garage due to flooding, kid survived her trouble, and my Dad broke only his ankle. Need a drink after Wednesday's call about my Dad. I WAS on vacation!

Here was one of the most fun nights we had at WDW. We decided to be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But because of the heat, we went with the t-shirt costume idea. We got several compliments on them.

Marisa - Sleepy

Megan - Sneezy

Jason - Doc

Howard - Grumpy

Cindy - Happy

Alexa - Bashful

Jory - Dopey

Allison - Snow White

So I will go over some trip details in the next few days with pictures too!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Disney Tip Thursday

Well, we are heading out for our Disney trip this weekend! I already started the packing process - Schuster style on this past Sunday. Done: *Luggage out and airing after Febreeze sprayed. :o) A must! *Swim bag and towels packed. Bringing 8 beach towels. *Laundry basket filled with kitchen supplies needed to cook meals in the room. Such as griddle, *mickey shape for pancakes, large pot for spaghetti, extra cooking utensils, salt/pepper/powdered sugar/regular sugar, Clorox wipes, coffee filters, etc. Then I can use the basket for dirty laundry while we are there. *Schedule updated with dining reservation numbers and temporary itinerary. I created a Word file that I use for each trip and then just update dates and activities. *Laundry mostly done and clothes picked (Howard and Megan still have to finish their pile). *Booster seats for Alexa and Allison. Still to do: *Picking out DVDs to watch on the road and in the room. I try to make them take Disney classics but that never works. *Select things to do for the road trip. Each girl filled a small backpack or bag of their stuff like IPOD or MP3, DVDs (they have a CD case that holds only 12 DVDs and that is all they get to take- no arguing), coloring books and markers, book to read, and a journal notebook. *Pack camera and re-charge batteries. Bring extra batteries. *Final load of laundry - unless I decide to pack and wash there. Therefore bring small bottle of Tide. *Print Molly's schedule for those who will be watching her and feeding her. *Pack the Disney stuffed animals, glow sticks, character books, ponchos, coin album and anything else that we buy each year from Disney. That way the girls will not want to buy those things again. *Buy and wash T-shirts for costumes at Halloween party. (Wait til you see what we are doing! :oP) I found a packing list on All Ears and wrote down the things that applied to our family. (I think I did a list on this blog way last year too.) So then I have a final check list that Allison will get to check off as we pack on Friday. Have a magical day!

Cindy

Disney Trip (day 5 part 2) Thursday

I forgot to post about the remainder of our Disney trip. So we left Animal Kingdom and headed over to Epcot. We parked at the Boardwalk Resort and then walked into the back gate by the countries. We went to dinner at the restaurant in Mexico which will be the last time we eat there. They were overbooked, terrible food and slower than a turtle service. I just want to get out of there fast! We did many rides that night. We did get to do everything in the Living Seas this time. The girls loved the new Nemo Ride in the shells. We skipped seeing Illuminations and went and got in 25 min line for Soarin because the Fast Passes were out earlier. Great tip from a cast member! Ride the rides during the fireworks and no lines! Allison LOVED that ride!

Our silly family photo where we turn the camera around and squeeze together and see what we get. Megan's eyes are so funny! You can see the Epcot ball in the background.

The girls got to do a mask and have it signed at some of the countries. We ran out of time. They only have like 10 masks each at home!

Last picture is an idea I saw in the window scenes at Downtown Disney. I even bought some of those mickey lights to display on our Japanese Maple in the front. That did not work out this year. But I will try next year. Or I could take a tree branch and paint it black and put inside.

Overall it was another GREAT trip to Disney! How could you not have some fun at DisneyWorld?

Thanks for checking in!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Disney Trip Thursday (day 5 part 1)

This was a marathon day for the Schusters' in Disneyworld! Two parks, character meal, tons of rides, and good memories to remember forever. Now you know why this will take two posts to cover.

We started the day at the Animal Kingdom with Donald's Safari Breakfast. Donald was a little grumpy that morning and did not stay around long. But Daisy and Mickey made up for it. Our only other problem was the food, ok but not great. We like Chef Mickey's breakfast buffet. Plus we all were not that hungry. We all got our pictures with the favorite characters as you can see!

Next we went on the Safari ride. It was amazing! We saw so many animals in the savannah area. The driver even stopped twice for an emergency problem and we just sat in the middle of the area with animals all around us. Usually they just keep moving right along and you miss something. The giraffe is a new baby born in May 2008 and the elephant baby was born just last month. See it under his mother's legs. Love to see the babies! Last time was a baby rhino.

We got to see one of the last "Pocohontas and Her Forest Friends" show. A first time event for us and we loved it! Megan had the camera and snapped like 50 pictures during the show. The girl had a great singing voice!

Another first was taking the train to Rafiki's Animal Watch. A must see! Great learning area about the animals and seeing characters like Pocohontas, Rafiki and Jimmy Cricket!

Finally around 4pm and right before the parade, we left Animal Kingdom. Here is our last picture in the park in front of Expedition Everest. We rode that several times of course.

Off to Epcot at night! But have to save that for Tuesday!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Disney Trip Tuesday (day4)

Back to our trip, day 4 was our lazy day and a special deluxe dinner for us.

We were suppose to go to Blizzard Beach but we all decided to sleep in and then just go to our pool at the resort. Allison really amazed us with her swimming that day. She would go down the small kiddie slide and then swim all by herself. So we talked her into going on the big slide. I went first, then Megan and then Allison followed by Howard. I caught her at the end and her first words were " I want to do it again!" And again and again we did. I was so proud of her!

Then that night, we went to our favorite Restaurant, Narcoosee's at the Grand Floridian Resort. Our waiter was Harvey who was served us before and top notch! We had the crab cakes for an appetizer, a must! Then we had our desserts, smores and Howard's Nutty Dutchman coffee after we watched the Wishes fireworks. Perfection! It is a pricy dinner when your hubby gets steak and lobster, two glasses of expensive wine, but it was his wish come true on this vacation. Priceless as they say.

Have a magical day!

Cindy