2010 Recap on the last day of the year!

Last year I created this MDS page showcasing my year end recap pictures.  It was so easy to duplicate the page and then add pictures of 2010 fav creations.  I even went back and did a 2008 recap too. Both are displayed below. Above just shows you some of my favorite creations thru this year of 2010. So you can see that My Digital Studio was definitely more used this year! Thanks in part to Heather Summers' online MDS classes and the SU My Digital Studio Website!  I absolutely love MDS and all that it can do! I also increased my scrapbooking ability and MDS helped with that as well.  I got a Disney scrapbook album done within 2 months of the trip! A scrapbooking miracle thanks in part to MDS and SU!  I just put the MDS program on my new computer in my studio so that I have it available when I work in there and on my laptop for travel or creating in the living room.

It is fun to go back and look at the past two years of my creations. Some are my ideas, others are inspired or cased by those talented demos, hobbists, craft bloggers and friends.  They love to share what they do and so do I.

Thank you for stopping by my blog this year and hope to see you here again and again!

Happy New Year! Many blessings to all in 2011!

Have a magical and safe evening!

Cindy

Christmas Card 2010

Here is our Christmas Card for 2010.  Now I made this 4 x 9 postcard on My Digital Studio back in November.  You would think that I would have sent them to the SU printers and have them done. Can you believe that I delayed and delayed until the deadline for Christmas delivery was past.  So instead, I sent them via email and Facebook to friends and family.  Love modern technology for those who procrastinate!

Then I took the same photo and made a new framed greeting for my entrance display.  I printed this on my own printer.  Colors are baha breeze, very vanilla and chocolate chip.  I changed the picture to black and white and added the year and reindeer image.  I love how it turned out and how it adds to my entrance.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

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

Our Christmas Decor this Year!

I wanted to share how I decorated this holiday season.  I skipped the traditional red, white and green and went with brown and blues as well as cream and white with naturals like crumb cake.  I had everything on hand expect for the blue and brown ornaments for the tree and vases.   I also had to get some cream stockings at Walmart.  Total cost to update our Christmas decor = $45.00.

The letters and snowflakes were die cut in baha breeze and chocolate chip cardstock.  Added like a tag onto the stockings.  The card holder was on my studio door.

Everything I had was around the house and I simply moved them for my decor.  See the large pinecone, that was in our den. The vase had candles in them.  Love that flocked wreath!

I love this.  I put a little scene on my kitchen bar.  I added ornament snowflakes on silver thread and hung them from push pins into my ceiling near our lights. The feather tree was placed in a decor pot I had.  Added some white and silver ornaments in a blue glass bowl I had. 

Usually our Christmas tree is red and white but always snowmen and snowflakes.  I used the ornaments that had no red on them and my large white snowflakes. Notice the tree skirt - that is what started this whole color change. I got four panels of those blue curtains in a garage sale thinking I could do some thing with them.  One went on my main table as a runner, one went on my coffee table as a runner and this one became a tree skirt.  

I have more to show you later.  I did manage to do a few crafty decor projects too.  But right now, I have to run off to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Schusters.  Right after we get our broke down van towed from the mall. Long story...

Have a magical Christmas Eve with your family and friends! Peace and Joy!

Cindy

My Hybrid MDS Projects

I have been having a great time learning and using all that My Digital Studio has to offer.  Did you know that you can print SU images from MDS and then create a hybrid card with the printed pieces?  I created the card in a 8.5 x 11 landscape project then separated the pieces to create the card in real form.

Also I am proud to say that this project was featured on the MyDigitalStudio.net website.  Super cool! You can see it here:  http://mydigitalstudio.net/photo/photo/listFeatured

I printed on Stampin Up's Whisper White cardstock and used one piece of 8.5x11 Real Red cardstock to make both the card and tag.  At my Starz team meeting, I presented new information on MDS to our group and then they got to make the card above.  I got a lot of positive feedback from my fellow demos that they really enjoyed seeing all what MDS can do. 

If you do not have this program and you love to scrapbook or love Stampin Up images and colors, then you HAVE to get MDS!  You will LOVE it!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

December 1st already?!

Life has been is super fast speed these past few days or even better...weeks.  I had a scrap weekend at my house for my friend Christine's birthday, then a birthday party for my turning 13 year old the next weekend, then Thanksgiving with my Youth Group, then Thanksgiving with family and friends, a teenager's toe surgery and dentists appointments......all this has kept me pretty much away from stamping or creating like I would love to be doing.  I did manage to make some things in the past weekend while I was decorating my home for the holidays and so I will be sharing that in the days to come.

For our swap at our Starz Team Meeting held by Monika Davis, we made a package to hold cookies.  I made white chocolate covered pretzels and put them in this cute vintage Santa's hat for my swap.  I got the idea from Kimberly Van Diepen's blog.  She was Stampin Up's #1 demo of the year for 2010!  I used the vintage wallpaper embossing folder on the Cherry Cobbler that was cut to shape a triangle.  The scallop edge border punch created his hat trim. The decorative label punch and large oval punch on the Tags for Christmas stamp finished it off.  I closed the box with retired twine cording that I frayed apart.  I had to make 16 total swaps!  WOW!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Thankful for pumpkins

One day recently, my friend Christine came over to create together.  She was looking thru a homemade crafts book that I had bought at 50% off.  She saw these pumpkins and said "Ooh, I want to make those".  I responsed, "How about right now?"  Yep, we did!

These pumpkins are made from strips of designer paper (retired).  The larger pumpkin is twelve 1.5" x 12" strips and the small pumpkins are nine 1" x 6" strips.  We added a ribbon topper and some big shot leaves at the top of the large pumpkin. 

To make these pumpkin if you have not seen them before.

1. Cut strips of paper (any type of paper will work)

2. Stack them print side up and punch two holes in each end. You will need a Crop-A-Dile type tool to get through the layers.

3. Adhere a 5/8" Jumbo Brad to one end - this will be the bottom. Fan out all the strips in an even circle.
4. Pull the strips up alternating opposite sides and adhere at the top with a 5/16" Brad. This will be the top.

5. Now embellish your pumpkin as you like.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

A scrapbooking miracle!

My Disney Vero Beach Trip 2010 Scrapbook is done!  I have it finished and in the book within 2 months of the trip!  That is a miracle, my friends!  And it is all thanks to My Digital Studio by Stampin Up!

I have been working on it thru Heather Summers MDS2 online class and just a few other nights while watching TV with my husband.  Then I finally took the plunge and got them printed thru Stampin Up.  I can not tell you how excited I was when I saw that flat package of 20 pages at my front door!  As I opened the package and began to look thru them page by page, my heart was filled with joy! Til I hit page 15, what the $^&!%#*&#@!  I could not see the journaling and the dsp printed was wrong.  Then page 18 was shrunk even more then the bleed areas said it would.  So I called SU to tell them of my dilemna.  The customer service guy was very nice but totally did not understand my problem.  So I solved it myself and I will show you that next week.

So here is my opening page of the trip.  It is traditional of me to start any Disney trip scrapbook with a schedule of our days.  Then I remember all what we did each day and it also provides me with a layout for the scrapbook pages.

You can go to http://mydigitalstudio.net/profile/CindySchuster and see all the other pages and more of my MDS projects at the SU MDS website.  It is open to all customers and demos. 

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Gift set for a "crazy about purple" lady!

I made this for especially for Nicole.  It was her birthday last week.  She LOVES purple! The tote idea came from Jill Hillard.  It is just one sheet of card stock!  I made six matching cards and envelopes for this set.  Colors are Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum and Very Vanilla. Lots of big shot cutting and lots of sponging on this project.  I also added the new pearls to the butterflies which makes them really stand out.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

It is a MDS Halloween!

Hope you had a Spooktacular Halloween!

Here are three My Digital Studio pages that I created using the same layout from Alesha's Saturday Sketch Challenge over at the Stampin Up MDS website.  By using the same layout, it made it easier to come up with these pages in a flash!  I changed the background paper and the inside paper of the curly label enlarged in each of them with the Nite Owl pack.  I used the bat punches and tag punch in each page too. 

I just loved Allison's orange and black witch costume!  We found it on Saturday at Cracker Barrel while we were at lunch.  The dress and hat were 50% off!  It cost $15.00 total. 

Click on any of the pages to enlarge to see that details.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Halloween on Target!

I can never go to Target and NOT look at the dollar section!  I was there the other day and found these cute Halloween frames for only $1.25 each!  They were 50% off!!!!!  Then I saw these Halloween rub-ons for $1.00 also in the bin and it hit me....make my own designed frames!  Now these rub-ons are not high quality but they got the job done.  I had just enough words in one package to cover all three frames. 

They look very "Target Style" huh?  But cheap cheap cheap!

 We are going to go enjoy this beautiful fall weather, get a pumpkin and have some of Howard's chili tonight. 

Have a magical spooky day!

Cindy

Happy Halloween Weekend has begun!

This week has been VERY busy!  But it has been productive! So I am going to post over the holiday weekend to make up for it and show all the things that I have been making for Halloween.

I made these mini luminaries for my co-workers.  I followed the tutorial over at Splitcoaststampers here:  luminary TUTORIAL  It was easy to follow and after the first trial luminary, it was smooth sailing to make 6 more.  I did some with the stamped Staz On in Black of the tree all all four sides.  Others were done with the owl punch and bird punch.  I got the fake t-lites to put in them.  The ladies really liked them! 

Today, I went to Allison's Halloween Party at school.  They made a spider with snacks and candy.  Ate popcorn and chips and then they played a fun "wrap the mummy" game.  Allison and her 2 classmates did a great job!  It was so fun to watch them.

Have a magical spooky day!

Cindy

MDS vs. Real Stamping

 
This is the MDS version of the last page in the wedding album that I created for a customer.  I used My Digital Studio program to make each page and layout of the book.  Using MDS to do this made it easier for my customer to view and me to edit with her and then finally for me to create using real products.  I can not believe how easy it was to use the MDS program for this.

Here is the REAL stamped page of the wedding album.  We did change a few things like the border on the picture from eyelet border to scalloped border and added the silver border around the title.  I had to use guidelines to get those stamped images in a straight row.   I am planning on using this finish complete layout of the MDS wedding memory book to create my wedding album 17 years later.  Better late than never. I will show here when I get it all done.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Another MDS Birthday but in a page!

I made this page for my BFF Marisa.  We recently went to Disney together and had such a great time!  We have been friends since freshman year of High School. 

Today is her birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOE!  LOVE YA!

I can not wait to get this page printed up with the other Disney pages that I have been doing on MDS.  You have seen some so far in earlier posts.  I can not tell you how easy it is to use the MDS program!  I might never go back to regular scrapbooking...maybe a little.  I will get individual pages printed for the Disney album that I bought on our trip.  The cost is $2.50 each for the 12 x 12 size.  I am finishing up the book and layout.  I do save tickets and other momentos so I will have to regular scrapbook those in this album.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Hold on to your hat! A MDS birthday!

Stampin Up just announced an FREE upgrade to their My Digital Studio program today!  It includes all kinds of seven new professional print output products including a trifold card, a journal, a 5.5" x 6.5" calendar with easel, and four postcards!  Lately I have been MDS addicted so I am totally excited about new upgrades! Also they just added a MDS website for demos and customers to get ideas and learn about MDS.  You can find it here: http://mydigitalstudio.net/  If you do not have MDS, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!  Scrapbooking is soooo easy and now with reduced printing prices, even more reason to get the program! The quality is far better then Shutterfly too!

So after I downloaded the update, I went playing!  I made this super easy card using a trifold card template offered in the program.  Today is also one of my dear friend's birthday!  I made this card especially for Maureen (also a SU/stamped pal). 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAUREEN!

I sent her a pdf of it in an email but I will try to print and send to her asap!  I asked her to try and save and print herself and see how it comes out.  Curious to see if it works.

Back to playing and see what else is new!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Halloween Invite x 2

I helped my co-worker Nicole make these Halloween invitations. Her birthday is on Halloween and she throws a party with her family to celebrate. I got the idea from my friend Christine who did a similar invitation layout. This is a card front invitation. I did the text and black stamp inages on the My Digital Studio on White cardstock. To print, I did 4 of them together on a piece of 8.5x11 cardstock. Then we put them on a piece of 4.25x5.5 black cardstock. Next we stamped the spooky house image in Elegant Eggplant (purple is her fav color) but we stamped off the first inking on stratch paper and then on the cardstock so that the image is a lighter version. We punched the holes with the Crop-a-dile at the 1" and 3". Add the ribbon thru them and knotted a dotted piece in the middle. She found some black envelopes and lite purple gel pen to writing the addresses. (the background is a folder in my office)

Then I took the layout and made it a invitation in My Digital Studio form.  I added the baroque swirls and the purple pumpkin face and ribbon in Rich Razzleberry. 

Have a magical day!

Cindy

MDS Disney Trip page 2

As soon as I saw Heather's day 8 post on her class, I knew what group of pictures to use for it!  The last night of our trip at Vero Beach, Marisa my BFF and I wanted some nice family beach photos.  Some memories:  Very windy, Jory was everywhere, I stepped on a snake, silliness to the extreme, and then pouring rain!  But we got some great pictures!

Colors are Baha Breeze, Soft Suede, and Kraft.  Punches are circle and scallop border. Buttons for embellishment.  Stamp image is from Enjoy the Moment.  Fonts are CK Ali and Serif.  All pictures are 2" x 2".  Another great page to do in real but MDS makes it so easy to fill those little 2" squares with photos and center and zoom what you want of the photo. 

Have a magical day!

Cindy

MDS Disney Trip page 1

I have been working on My Digital Studio lately and getting our latest Disney trip scrapped.  Stampin Up is offering discounts on their printing individual pages starting Oct 19th, so I want to get these pages done to get them printed asap!

The layout is courteous of Heather's last MDS online class.  Great for a real scrapbook page as well! The rectangles measure 2 3/4" x 3 1/2".  Colors are Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Pacific Point and Wild Wasibi with Basic Black. Fonts are CK Ali and A Red Bucket. Punches used are Star, Scallop border and corners.  I was so excited to find a fireworks stamp on the program!  This page was done in 20 minutes and is why I love MDS so much!

Jory's faces just make me giggle with delight!  He will be two years old soon and he is such a ham!  His mama is my best friend.  (miss you all)

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Gift Bag Tag

I was getting some gifts pre-done and came across Jill Hillard's post here: http://jill031070.blogspot.com/  I love how she used the Tags Die Cut for the Big Shot and for a gift bag rather than a card. That "flag" part was created by stamping the Mediallion stamp set in Basic Black and then cut out of it.  Looks like designer series paper huh?  The flower is one that I had in felt hanging around.  Punches used are Scallop Oval and Large Oval for the sentiment.

I put a white poodle Webkin in the bag with some pink lip gloss and poodle stickers.  So now we have a gift ready for the next girl birthday party!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Happy Anniversary Pair of Owls

My friend Christine "babysat" some of my new SU items while I was on my Disney vacation recently.  She had lots of fun and showed me a card that she cased from the SU catalog.  I just loved it!  My parents' 43rd anniversary was coming up so I also had to case the card for these two important people in my life in honor of their love for each other.  The card just suits them too. 

Colors are Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla.  I used the border punch, the owl punch, trio flower punch and the bird punch.  I used a retired stamp set for the sentiment and another floral stamp on the lady owl.  The Very Vanilla measures 3 1/4"x 3 1/4" and popped up on dimensionals.  I do miss the chocolate chip striped ribbon and I am so glad I have a roll of it left.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Friend to Friend Birthday

When I saw that you could make penguins out of the new Owl Punch, I knew I had found that right card for my friend Kim's birthday. She LOVES penguins! I also remembered that her kitchen was red and she was loving the new color in her new kitchen.  Kim was turning that magical number like I did earlier this year and she so deserved something extra special.

I started this card by cutting the Top note die cut with Real Red cardstock. Then I ran it again in the Big Shot with the swirl embossing folder. The only thing you have to do to make the owl body a penguin is cut off his ears (ouch!), add a Pumpkin Pie small triangle and punch the body the colors of the penguin. I added the heart in Real Red from the owl punch to the word window punched sentiment from Teeny Tiny Words stamp set.

I know that Kim had a great birthday and she really loved her card!

(love ya girlfriend)

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Halloween 6x6 page

As a Stampin Up demonstrator, we get a monthly magazine full of business articles, news, and LOTS OF IDEAS!  I cased this 6" x 6" scrapbook page from the August issue.  I just love how it turned out!

The colors are Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry and Basic Black.  I did change it a bit and used a different Halloween stamp set.  I also ran the Baroque Wheel in Black on the background.

Then I decided to try and make the scrapbook into a card.  I added the vintage embossing folder to the base cardstock in Basic Black.  Then I took it a step further and added a 3 x 3 picture of my daughter Allison to the card front and put magnets on the back of the card.  It is on my frig for Halloween. 

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Halloween Treat

Here is my version of the candy wrapper die cut.  Many are making this cute thing in different ways.  Last year, I made this manually with scoring and cutting.  Finally, SU got it together and saw how popular this little treat box was!  This die cut is smaller than the ones hand made but still the ease of it tops it all.

I used Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Basic Black for the colors.  I cut one endof the candy wrapper to close the bottom of it.  Just cut the score line and fold like you would a box. I embossed the Rich Razzleberry with the Vintage folder. Then I sponged the edges with the same color.  The ghost was made from the Owl punch.  I took the main body of the owl and cut off the feet! Clever huh?  I love the google eyes on him!  I used our new 1/8" ribbon in Black.  Last was the little jewelry tag and the Teeny Tiny Words that was markered and huffed on the Old Olive and punched out.

This little treat holds two Nerds boxes or a mini Snicker candy bar!  Halloween is around the corner so I better start making these treats for classmates and co-workers.

Have a magical day!

Cindy

A spoiled Thank you!

This is the Make and Take card that Christine's guests made at the workshop on Sunday.  I used Daffodil Delight cardstock and ran it thru the Vintage Embossing folder in the Big Shot.  Next we added the Poly Stitched Ribbon in Pear Pizzazz with a simple knot.  We stamped in Early Expresso the Thanks sentiment from the Level 1 hostess set on a piece of Very Vanilla and punched out with the new Decorative Label from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  The border was done with the Decorative Label cut into two pieces and glued to the back of the Very Vanilla stamped piece.  We punched out the flower of the Boho Flower Punch in Pear Pizzazz.  We added a new pearl to the center of the flower.  The whole piece is then popped with dimensionals on top of the ribbon.

Simple card but a Wow Card at the same time. Many were first time stampers so it was an easy ice breaker.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Hump Day Wednesday

Wednesday are no longer good days for me.  I added a day of working in the Atlanta office, Allison now has tutoring after school so I have to pick her up and then it is the rush to get to Confirmation class for Megan and then drive as fast and safely as I can across town to get Allison to dance class in time.  Just call me the new employee of the Mom Taxi Co!

I am also prepping for two events this weekend.  I have been hired to do a wedding scrapbook memory album.  I designed the pages on MDS and then had a first meeting with my customer to show her.  It was so great to use MDS to show her the pattern, colors and layout on the computer!  It really sold her on me doing the album for her.  So I got my supplies and now I will be creating the complete 24 page book. Here is the first page of the memory book to share with you.

Next up on my list is MY FIRST STAMPIN UP WORKSHOP with my dear friend Christine!!!!!  I have the projects ready to go and the make and takes ready to go too!  I just need to work on a scavenger hunt of the catalog and prizes.  I plan to pull some older crafts from my craft shows for the prizes so that makes it easy.  

Have a magical HUMP day!

Cindy