Digital Greeting Card

Wow, I've been absent for a very long time..... I wish I could say it's because I've been Christmas Shopping and getting ready for the holidays; however, that wouldn't be correct... I still have most of it to do yet.... Procrastination seems to be my middle name lately. I spent my day deciding what I wanted to pre-order from the new Occasions Mini Catalog and Celebration Catalog as well as the new 12 Days of Christmas Promotion. I couldn't pass up the savings on the new promotion to purchase more dies for my Big Shot. I can't believe how much I actually ordered today from all of the above and now I'm so excited to get all my new goodies and play with them. You will all be able to order from the catalogs on January 5th..... I'm thinking you will be as excited as I am when you see all the really fun new stamp sets and especially the accessories and products.
After I was through breaking the bank, I decided to play with My Digital Studio for a while as I never seem to have enough time to do what I really want with it. I haven't made a project that I've sent to be professionally printed yet, so I'm trying it with the card I have to show you today. I'm only ordering one until I see how it looks when it comes back. This is such a great idea for mass production cards... maybe a future Christmas card project. I still want to make a small scrapbook for my daughters showing their boys playing baseball this summer. I need to have some time to sit down and put them together. I think it will be a really great keepsake, not only for them but for the boys as well. When I get to it, I will show you some of the pages from those projects.
Now on to my card today, I used some of the Night and Day Designer Series Paper, and the bird from Always. I used lots of different stamp sets; it's so much fun with all the stamps, accessories, designer series papers, punches etc. that's included in My Digital Studio. Since the software was available for purchase I think there have been 3 new downloads of more stamps and papers than what came with the program. You really have to have this Software, not only for your scrapbooking, but for cards as well. One of these days, I'm also going to try to make my own Blog Banner with the program.....

So, what do you think? Didn't this turn out great?
I'm excited to get the printed card back in the mail to see how it looks in real life!!!

Brick Wall

Today, Splitcoast Stampers had a new technique I hadn't seen before.... so I watched Beate's video and loved it, so I decided to make my own. I really love how this turned out; I'm still trying to decide if this is too time consuming for a class; I know my girls would LOVE doing this.
I used the Kind & Caring thoughts stamp set, stamped it once in Basic Black Classic Ink on some retired designer series paper, then using my Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped it again "just" beside the original stamp in Versamark and embossed it with black embossing powder. that turned out well..... so I continued ha. As Beate instructed, I used my cutter and cut horizontally every one-half inch... then I took each strip and on the first, I cut 1" until the end which was 1/2". Then on the alternate strip (second) I started with 1/2" and the rest were 1" , so when I attached to my cardstock base, I was able to attach as if they were bricks. Before I actually attached, I sponged all the edges of "each" piece to make them look older and distressed. I started attaching all the "bricks" in the order they were stamped, leaving out a few of the "unstamped" bricks along the way. Then I layered each brick leaving a "very" small space between each side and top and bottom, but giving a feel and look of texture. I then layered that onto other cardstock layers and attached to my basic card base. I tied a piece of black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon just above my greeting for a little added bling.
In real life, the stamped image is gorgeous. I hope you like this!!!! It was so fun and satisfying to make. If you try this, leave me a link so I can see what you came up with!!
Thanks for looking and have a Wonderful Thursday.

Sympathy

One of my friends and fellow stampers lost their mother last week. I came across this really cute Sympathy Card today.... I changed some of the paper... I actually used some of the "flocked" paper from the Christmas Cocoa paper and sponged on some Bashful Blue chalk onto the "flocking". I liked how it turned out as it accepted the chalk so well. One of my favorite stamp sets is the Pocket Silhouettes, but I haven't used it much. I used it here, along with the Sympathy greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. Another thing I haven't done before is tie a bow with the ribbon and then tie more ribbon around the first bow and tie another bow around that. I think that really turned out cute. It's always so hard to make Sympathy cards that are nice, uplifting and certainly not depressing. I still haven't purchased Sympathy Stamp sets yet, even though I keep meaning to.... so when the time comes up I'm really at a loss as to what to make. I hope she enjoys this card.

Another Birthday

I needed to have a masculine Birthday card.... I know, I know, this isn't the REALLY Masculine card we all look for, but eventhough it has a flower, it's still masculine; don't you think? I copied this from somewhere on Splitcoast Stampers, but I can't remember where; I just liked the card, so I made it and whoops.... where did it come from???? Who ever claims this; I love it. This was for my grandson who just turned "20"... I can't even believe it; I helped him learn to "turn over" that keep coming in to my mind more and more the older he gets.... he's turned into such a fine "man" when he was only JUST A BABY just a few years ago. My life passes before my eyes, I think. One day you're young and the next minute you're old. I still work full time outside the house and when everyone else is thinking, Boy, only two more days until the weekend, I'm thinking "my life is passing before my eyes" (even though I look forward to weekends too) but shoosh, I don't tell anyone else. ha.

Birthdays.......

I don't think I ever shared the cake for my husband on his birthday in September..... well, I guess by looking at the cake, you will guess his BD was "63"...... well, the store didn't have a "3" candle, so I thought it would be fun to do a "6" and another "6" cut in half (meaning it was 3). I was dissapointed to learn that a number of people didn't know what I was trying to portray (including my husband). I actually thought it was brilliant ha ha ha

No Reason for This Post

I just wanted to share my family with you......... My Daughter and her kids.... aren't they adorable?????
What a talented bunch of kids. Austin (the one with the blue shirt) was a Meridian High School running back football player, Jordan, the one on top is now a Junior at Rocky Mountain High School..... also a running back, obviously not as BIG as Austin, but reallllllly fast. If he gets the ball on the outside; he's gone and no one can catch him....
Alyssa is a Freshman Cheerleader, recently this week has pushed forward to Junior Varsity along with a bunch of her co-cheerleaders because they are so GOOD and advanced..... Alyssa is one of the "flyers", pretty scary for a grandma!!!!!
Had to share........

Photo Album Class

I held a class making the Photo Album Scrapbook. One of the girls brought her 6 year old daughter to the class and she made her own album all by herself.... i think I have a future demonstrator, what do you think???????

















I couldn't believe how well she did on her own, following instructions, centering items, etc.. When I explained what needed to be done, she listened really well and actually understood what I was talking about. I think her mother has been an excellent instructor...
Maybe this is the time to have classes for 6 year olds and mold them into my little world of stamping......

Kissing

My Stepson is dating a girl with the most adorable little boy ever....... when you ask for a kiss, this is what you get!!!!! Isn't that the most darling face ever????

There's a Stamping Kissing technique too. You stamp you ink onto a solid stamp, then use a patterned stamp and stamp that onto the solid stamp, then you stamp onto your cardstock. I have put together a basic idea of what I'm talking about and also added a Jumbo Grommet and a Small Grommet as well as a Rhinestone (large) brad for the center. This makes a cute 3X3 notecard for a gift.

The card can't even complete with that cute little face though!!!!

On this notecard, I used Petals Pizzazz and Pockets Silhouettes the Grommets I mentioned above. I used Pretty in pink for the flower and Melon Mambo for the "kissing", then I sponged some Pale Plum and Perfect Plum around the flower. I adhered the card onto a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock.

Halloween

We had such cute trick-or-treaters this year, the cutest little girls and boys I have seen in a while. It made me think back to when I was young, I don't remember that we bought costumes... I know we didn't look terribly exciting, compared to how kids look today. Even when my kids were young, they were dracula, witches and goblin type things that we put together ourselves. Maybe I just didn't want to spend the money ha ha; but I really don't really remember them much. Anyway, my grandson who I think is really attactive.... (until what you see shortly) ;
Actually both of them are REALLY cute; the one I'm talking about is the one on the left.

Austin went to a Halloween Party and like when I was a kid, he used what he had to make himself look different. I'm not sure what he really is, but first he said he was an overweight business person, then he was a principle.... who knows; anyway, check out these pictures; they are so funny. Guess what his beard is??????? He used my Chocolate Chip Watercolor Crayon. I talked him out of using a magic marker that he originally asked for; especially since he has a job at a restaurant.... might look very weird to the patrons.
Anyway, the outcome of his attempts, I think are pretty funny. He used the Watercolor crayons on his face, used my husband's over the counter type reading glasses, stuffed a pillow in his shirt, snapped on a cell phone holder.... he wanted my bluetooth earbud, but that was nixed!!!!

Watering Can

Did any of you see the really cute little Watering Can that was on Splitcoast Stampers today? It was the tutorial for this week and I HAD to make a couple. I have a very special friend that I made this first one for... I was ready to fill the cellophane bag with chocolates to put inside; then I remembered she is allergic to dairy products..... so I searched around and found some really fun fruit flavored suckers, so I put several of those in the bag..... not as much fun, but better for her. I used my Daisy Die and my Big Shot and punched out lots of flowers, then attached them all together alternately layering the petals and then used a Build-a-Brad in the center with a flower punched out of the Designer Series Paper for the center. I attached that with a Pop-Up glue dot; tied a satin white ribbon on the opposite side of the handle and wah-la. I think it's absolutely darling.

This is actually the first one I made just to try out the project. It's cute as well, but not the look I wanted for my gift. The only embellishment I put on this was the White Satin Bow..... it's cute even without a lot of bling.

This is a big enough pocket to hold any number of small gifts and what cute packaging for that gift.

If you want to try this for yourself, go the Splitcoast Stampers and click on the tutorial for this week. The template for the can and all the pieces are there for you to print onto your paper of choice. Take a look at the gallery of other watering cans; they are all fabulous.

Happy Stamping!!!!!

Digital Card

I needed a sympathy card and I don't have this stamp set or any other sympathy stamp set, so I thought, WOW, I have My Digital Studio and this stamp set is in the program as one of the stamp sets.

I wanted to print this all onto another piece of soft Suede cardstock, I don't know about you, but my printer DOES NOT like cardstock; I have to fight and fight it to go through. Well, I finally gave up and printed this out on Whisper White cardstock (without the ribbon and brads) and now I think I'm going to cut out the soft suede portion with the stamped image and layer it onto cardstock, put my "own" ribbon and brads on and it should look just like any other card we are used to making. This is really nice because now I can go back in and print one of the saying for the inside of the card and adhere the cardstock to the inside as usual!!!! I don't think the normal person is going to examine this to see if it is actually "stamped" do you?

By the way, did any of you see that there are new digital downloads ready to purchase and install into your My Digital Studio program? Stampin' Up added some Halloween papers as wellas 4 new stamp sets; the purchase prices are surprisingly low especially if you think about how many times you can use some of the items like the Designer Series Papers without running out like we do with the "real stuff". It might even work in a pinch if we run out of papers preparing for a class.... just print out some more and cut it to size along with the rest of the paper. I'm going to have to try it and see how it compares to the "real" thing. Have any of you actually tried this yet? I think I'll have to try this out and make duplicate projects and see if any of you can tell the difference........ ;)

HAPPY STAMPING!!

PS.....I had to edit this post to show you the final card I put together after printing out the images and attaching them to cardstock using my own ribbon and brads. The Soft Suede color is not "true", but it still looks good. Let me know what you think!!!

Wow, I was finally able to move this to share

I have lots of attempts at using My Digital Studio; however, I haven't ever figured out how to post any of the items...... I FINALLY DID IT. Even though this isn't really finished in my minds eye, at least it is a start. I will attempt more this week.

This really is a fun software; You just need to play and play with it to see what you can do. the program is amazing.

Now that I've been playing with it, I know of several items I would like to see in here that isn't yet, but I'm anxious to see what they have in some of their future updates.

I can't believe how many stamp sets, embellishments, editing, etc. that are available.

If you hold a $400.00 + workshop, you can purchase this product for 50% off or for $40.00 instead of the $80.00 it retails for. Give me a call to order so you can have as much fun as I'm having!!!

Wild West Train Robbery

I don't know about you guys, but I have the hardest time thinking of something for my husband for gifts..... he does like to watch old westerns and stuff so I found that we had a local train ride from Horseshoe Bend to Smith's Ferry. There are lots of different "types" of trips; but I found the "Wild West Train Robbery". I told my husband that we were going somewhere on the 26th, but I wouldn't tell him where... he doesn't like NOT KNOWING where he is going and he was a little grumpy about the whole thing. Anyway, I drove, which he also doesn't like and I took him to Horseshoe Bend, which is about 30 miles away from home. I turned off the main road, and he could see the trains ahead...... I think at that moment he was getting sort of excited.

When we getting ready to board the train, there was someone sitting on benches outside the train playing an instrument

Then once we got inside there was an open car with benches where we sat for the first half of the trip. There are several other cars that are all different from the others... One car has seats like on a regular train, then there is one that is like a dining car with tables and chairs, the one we first walked through which is off to the side sold trinkets, engineer hats, popcorn, etc.

Then once we started moving they acted out the Hatfields and McCoys; however, they called them the Hatcoys and McFields ha ha ha

Can you believe they came through the train and robbed us!!!!!!????

When we stopped at the half way point, they had it out between the families but then the son and daughter from each family decided they wanted to be married and the son proposed. So the fight was over and on the way back the couple were married........... Instead of saying "til death do us part" they said "and I will never tell anyone about your pappy's still".
We had such a really fun time; the weather was great, the actors were good and this was something really different from what we usually do.
My grumpy husband, not liking to be surprised, now has plans to take friends and "surprise" them ha ha ha...... as the world turns!!!

Have a nice day.

Build a Bear.....

I received my Beary Best Friends and Beary Nice Wishes the other day so I had time to play today. These stamps are so Darling... I'm going to have fun with them.

The first card with the little Girl Bear, I used Chocolate Chip cardstock and mounted Regal Rose cardstock ontop with some Tall Tales Designer Series Paper at the bottom. I took a 1" strip of Close to Cocoa cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot using the Finial Press Textured Impressions and and tied some Close to Cocoa ribbon around it and attached it to the card base at the top of the DSP; then I took a smaller piece of ribbon and tied around the existing ribbon and tied it into a knot. I stamped my missy bear image on a piece of watercolor paper and colored her in using Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose and Rose Red Classic Inks using my Aqua Painter. Using some Bordering Blue classic ink, I also colored around her giving her some dimension. I stamped the string from the balloon onto her hand. Then on another piece of watercolor paper, I stamped the balloon and cut it out attaching it to the top of the string using dimensionals. The greeting is from the Beary Nice Wishes set, which I stamped on Whisper White cardstock and punched out using the Modern Label Punch. I also punched another piece using the Modern Label Punch and Close to Cocoa cardstock, which I cut in half and adhered to the back of each end.

The second card, I used To The Nines Designer Series Paper as the card base. I also used the backside of this same paper and cut a 2" strip and another strip of Ruby Red cardstock, punching one side out using the Scallop Edge Punch. I tied some red taffeta ribbon around it before adhering it to the card base. I stamped the Mr. Bear on some watercolor paper using StazOn and watercolored using Close to Cocoa, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy and Ruby Red classic inks. I stamped the bear on some designer series paper from the Christmas Cocoa package and cut out the shirt portion and glued it onto the bear. Again, using Bordering Blue, I colored around the bear giving it some dimension. I then stamped the birthday hat and the gift sack on some watercolor paper, coloring them in using classic inks and my Aqua Painter. The hat was cut out and attached to the bear with dimensionals. I cut around the bear's paw and cut out the inside of the handle from the gift sack; then I slipped the sack over the bear's paw. I adhered the watercolor paper to a piece of Ruby Red cardstock then attached to the card base using dimensionals. The greeting "Happy Bearthday" is from the Beary Nice Wishes. Instead of stamping in a line like the stamp is, I used my Basic Black marker and colored each word separately, cleaning between stamps so I could stamp on a smaller area. I punched out the words using the large Oval Punch, then I punched out a Scalloped Oval from the Ruby Red Cardstock, cut it in half and adhered the greeting over the scalloped oval piece, attaching it to the card base.

Yesterday I treated my husband (surprised him) with a train ride that had a western theme. Tomorrow I will show you some photos of that really fun trip.

Phones for You!!

I'm a little delinquent posting card swaps I received at Convention. This is one of the cutest things I've seen in a long time; how creative some people are. This particular card was made with the "demonstrator" in mind, as the outside says "Phone Me to Place an Order", then the inside had the demonstrators business card attached. This layout can be used for lots off reasons to get in touch with friends and family.

The phone base is a half circle cut with the Circle Scissors Plus, then the dial is made with various circle punches and stamps all layered. You can see the number holes have been punched using the Crop-a-dile and the finger stop is using one of the new accessories from the Clips Assortment. The receiver piece is made from Big Shot Top Note Die, folded in half and the handle portion cut out with the Wide Oval Punch. How cute is the cord? She used the Crushed Curry Polka-Dot grosgrain ribbon and twisted it before attaching under the two card pieces. The phone base is using the new Melon Mambo cardstock and the receiver is using the new Raspberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper. These are all new in-colors..... don't they all work together well?

Things I LOVE

We made this cute little bag at Convention using the Things I Love stamp set. These are 4"X4" note cards in a cellophane bag with a topper. Each of the note cards has a different image (a shoe, a shopping bag and a piece of chocolate.
When my Club group started their new session this month, I asked them to all bring me a card and I would give them a special treat. Well, these are what I made for them. Don't you love the new in-colors? These are made using the Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay card stocks, inks and ribbons. Have I mentioned that this year for the first time Stampin' Up! came out with Stampin' Write Markers for the in-colors??? This is such an awesome product. We've been asking for them for years. It makes coloring the images so much easier and bright than using the blender pens for coloring. The girls that received these loved them.

Halloween Treat Box

I saw several blogs today making these really cute Treat Boxes. They are so fun and simple to make. One really cute box made as a witches hat was made by Carrie Rhoades http://www.carriestamps.com/ Check out her site as she has a tutorial showing how it's put together. My box is a different size than hers, which for me was easier as I decided to make these special treats for my Stamping Class tomorrow night. My measurements are 4" X 8" and then the rest was the same as Carrie's instructions. By using the size I chose, you can get 4 boxes from one sheet of 12" X 12" cardstock or designer series paper. I think they turned out cute; I hope my girls like them tomorrow!!!!

Now I'm thinking about making some of these for the people in my office; they should get a kick out of them.

I decorated mine with the Frog Stamp from "Halloween Hoot" (111582). I colored in the frog with an Old Olive Marker and colored in the star on his hit with a Summer Sun marker. I stamped the "Free Kisses" next to the Frog which is also from the Halloween Hoot Stamp Set. I punched out the frog using my 1 1/4" Circle Punch, then I layered it on an Old Olive Scallop Circle. When I tied the ribbon at the top of the box, I stamped out the words "Trick or Treat, Scary & Sweet" and punched it out using the Scallop Square Punch. The Stamp is from the new Grateful Greeting stamp set (116511) in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I love this set; it's so versatile for all the holidays as there are greetings for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines Day. I know this set is going to get a lot of use from me.

Halloween Hoot

I really loved this layout..... I copied it from somewhere where the card was pretty elegent; but I put my witch on instead. I used the "Cast A Spell" Designer Series Paper and a couple of the new sets from the Mini Catalog "Halloween Hoot and Grateful Greetings " to complete this card. Even though it's a Christmas "designed" ribbon, I used the Mistletoe satin ribbon on this card. The Witch was stamped in Basic Black and her face was colored in with Old Olive using a blender pen. I also used the Crushed Curry Stampin' Write marker to color in the broom.

The square scalloped punch was used to cut out the saying from the Grateful Greeting stamp set.

We made this card in my Stamp Club and they loved it!!

Sweet Centers Cards

I absolutely LOVE the Sweet Centers stamp set and the little Sweet Treat Cups used with it. One of the cards I'm going to show you I found on another blog; I wish I had paid attention so I could link it back to her.

I would NEVER thought of using water in these cups, and when I tried it I had some issues getting it full enough. What you do is put some Dazzling Diamonds in the cup and fill it with water; then take off the adhesive back from the cup and attach it to a Window sheet. When you "think" it's full, it isn't. I had to do this several times, but the last time I decided to poke a little hole in the window sheet (after it was attached to the cup with water in it) and held it under the faucet to fill it. I didn't want to put two holes in it which would probably have filled faster so it actuqlly took a while to fill totally. Then I used a piece of sticky strip to put over the hole I had punched to seal it. The picture you are looking at is using the ornament piece from the Sweet Centers Stamp Set, which I versamarked, embossed with Gold Embossing Powder, cut out and attached to the top of the cup after I adhered it to the card. I also punched a hole at the top where the hook would go and attached some gold cord and hid the edges behind the cardstock. This picture is after I shook up the card... like a show globe. The second photo is shown after the Dazzling Diamonds settled down at the bottom. Isn't this the coolist thing ever??????

We made this second card at our club night last night and we put Jelly Bellys in the cup. I wish I had thought in time to get only black and orange ones, but I didn't......... The circle attached with the hemp is the piece we cut out of the center using the 1 3/4" Circle punch. We just punched a hole at the top of the circle and attached to the Old Olive grosgrain ribbon with a piece of hemp tied into a bow.

This third card is the Hot Air Balloon stamp and for fun I put Fruit Loops in the cup. Didn't it turn out cute? I made a card like this for my grandson and used the Fish Crackers in the cup. He thought that was really fun.

Have you ever thought of all the things you can put in the cups???? At our club night someone mentioned they thought a silver dollar would fit and don't you know one of the girls had one and lo and behold, it did fit. I think it would probably hold 3 silver dollars comfortably.... a little heavy maybe, but the recipient wouldn't care :) You can use any kind of small candy. I thought for Valentines day you can put in the Conversation Hearts or Red Hots. Someone at work said you could put in a flower from a wedding using the colors of the wedding as a keepsake, you can put in "confetti" type items... and a small Peppermint Patty fits perfectly. There is just no end.... AND you don't HAVE to use the cups. You can leave the centers in or even add some other stamp or accessory to decorate where the cups would go. I REALLY hope this is one of the stamp sets that come out in the next Annual Catalog; it's just too cute to let go.