December 29 - Wall Art

I was lucky enough to find this frame at our church rummage sale for $5. When I found it there was a mirror in the middle and the frame was brushed gold. I hate gold, really I do. But I bought it anyway and brought it home to my husband. He was able to take out the mirror leaving only the frame and he also painted the frame black for me. Now it was perfect! So I hung it in my dining room and did nothing with it for almost a year. UGH.

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year for our families and while we were cleaning the house, the one thing Chad requested was that I "put something in that frame!" I guess it was bugging him more than it was bugging me. :)

I had an 8"x10" photo of the girls already printed, so using normal scrapbooking adhesive, I stuck it to the wall in the middle of the frame. Now I was also lucky enough to snag a few of the black rhinestone swirls that Stampin' Up! had on the Clearance Rack a few months ago, so I added the swirls overlapping the photo and the straight strings of rhinestones on the edges of the photo (so it wouldn't look so much like I just stuck a photo straight to the wall). But when I stood back, I could tell it needed something else. The photos and the rhinestones didn't fill up enough of the space inside of the frame.

PUNCHES! Use your punches, silly! Some Basic Black and Crumb Cake cardstock did the trick - I punched the Fancy Flower punch with Basic Black, and the inside flower of the Blossom Bouquet punch. Then did the outside flower of the Blossom Bouquet punch with Crumb Cake cardstock. Once I had the flowers built, I just added a rhinestone to the center and stuck them inside of the frame. Done!

Now my wall is finished and my husband can no longer complain that we have an empty frame hanging in the dining room!

Supplies I used:

Crumb Cake Cardstock

Basic Black Cardstock

Basic Black Classic Ink

Fancy Flower Punch

Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch

Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

InLinkz.com

December 28 - Hello Card

Time for another Occasions Mini sneak peek! I absolutely LOVED the sample in the mini where they used the stamped and punched flower and cut off two petals to create a butterfly. I knew I had to try it!

First I stamped the flower on the new Twitterpated Designer Series paper and embossed it in white. Then punched out the flower. Cut off the top and bottom petals, then add your rhinestones to the middle.

I absolutely love the metal label holders, and was so sad when they were discontinued. But now they're on the Clearance Rack (oh happy day!) With the hardware kit you get a TON of these things!

We're still on Christmas vacation from school and its nice to have so much free time with my girls.

December 27 - Get Better Sooner Card

It's about time I start posting more ideas on this blog, don't you think? Well, let me tell you - Mr. Big Brown Truck dropped off the most delightful box of new Occasions Mini items to me today and I've had so much fun playing with them!

Here's a little sneak peek for you - I'll update this post next week with links to the items when the mini catalog goes live, but the colors I used are Island Indigo and Lucky Limeade.

If you need one of the new Occasions Mini Catalog please just let me know!

MDS Blog Hop - Family Tree Gift

Today for the MDS Blog Hop we were to do something Christmas. Now this isn't "technically" Christmas, but I made these to give as Christmas gifts this year so I think it counts! :)

When I saw Stampin' Up!'s new Family Tree digital download, I fell in love! And because it's digital you can add as many labels as you need (and in this case, I added photos of each family member too!) This was such a fun project to create, and I hope everyone that receives one will love it. I will be printing these tonight as an 8"x10" print and putting them in a frame to wrap up. Even if not for Christmas, this is a fun personalized gift that will be treasured for years.

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Now don't forget to follow along the "hop" and see what everyone else did with My Digital Studio this week! We will be taking next week off to regroup and get ready for more MDS blog hop projects for 2012 - I can't wait!

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 (you are here!)

MDS Blog Hop - It's Coming...

It's coming, it's coming - I promise!
I'll be making my post later this evening so if you get a chance, please check back! Until then be sure to check with the other blogs on the hop!

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 (you are here!)

MDS Blog Hop - Spice Labels

I owe you an apology. I missed last week of the blog hop, and am a day late posting this one. It's been that kind of month already. For me, Christmas is like childbirth. By the time it comes around again, I forget how hard it was the last time. I don't have the best memory. So when our local theater had auditions for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!", I asked my 6-year-old if she would want to try out. Well, she tried out, got a part as a baby angel, and we have basically been living at the theater for the past month. This weekend is the last weekend of the show and while the experience has been wonderful, it has sucked the life out of me. Not what I need this time of year when I can use all of the extra energy I can save up.

I wear leg braces. They are wonderful and help me out a ton, but they don't allow my feet to move. And that's pretty uncomfortable and constricting sometimes. So everyday I take a few minutes here and there to take them off, let my feet move around and just *breathe*. Yesterday was so non-stop insane, I didn't get ONE opportunity to do that. I wore the braces for 16-hours straight. Lesson learned - I won't do that again. But I'm off track! Let's get back to my MDS project!

Here's my secret - I'm a HORRIBLE cook! Thank goodness my husband is a wonderful one. When he repainted the spice rack in our kitchen, he came up with a brilliant idea - why don't we actually DISPLAY SPICES IN IT! (Have I told you how smart he is?) So I found some different sized jars in my craft room and we added the spices. The only thing we were missing - labels! My Digital Studio to the rescue!!! Using designer series paper that matches my blue kitchen walls, I put some labels together for the spices I needed then printed them out on my printer. (Just go to SHARE, then EXPORT TO JPG). After I printed them I punched them out with my Designer Label punch and adhered them with some Super-Tape. I love how they turned out and my hubby was impressed too. At least now I feel like I did something in the kitchen... :)

Don't forget to visit my other MDS Blog Hop friends this week - here are the links!

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 (you are here!)

November 25 - Tri-fold Card {MDS Blog Hop}

Today I challenged the MDS blog hop girls to use the new tri-fold card Stampin' Up! offers with MDS.

About a month ago I had one of these printed with the intention of sending it to my mom. But when I got the printed card I knew there was no way it was leaving this house. The first reason was when I designed it in My Digital Studio I didn't pay attention to the sizing, I just assumed it would be the same size as a normal A2 card. I was so shocked to find out that it was such a large size! I had created my project using the 5"x7" tri-fold card and I guess I didn't realize that EACH fold would be 5"x7".

The other thing that amazed me was the quality. There was nothing flimsy about this thing, it's printed on very thick cardstock - which made me think that this thing was just too nice to send to someone like a normal card. (Yes, I still love you Mom - I'll send you another card!) I wanted to PLAY with this thing! Dress it up and make it a home decor project. Which is just what I did.

I love the silver glitter paper from Stampin' Up! so I used that to create two little scalloped circle frames. Then I used the clear window sheets (also punched with the large scalloped circle) to place in the 3-D frames with a stamped flower and punched black heart. But when I put my little 3-D frames on the project they didn't show up as much as I wanted so I made another one in black and placed it directly on the tri-fold so it would look like a shadow of the glitter frame. That helped it show up so much better.

And don't forget that the tri-fold has a back that you can design as well! I designed it when I had it printed, but didn't play with that side yet - I figure I can play with that one later so that way when I get tired of looking at the front side of the project I can just flip it over and BAM! New project! Here's a picture of the back -

And don't forget - from now until November 30th, if you purchase My Digital Studio Express for $39.95 you can pick from one of three digital download bundles ($40 value) for FREE!

My Digital Studio Express	Silver Glimmer Paper	Window Sheets	Basic Black Cardstock	Marina Mist Cardstock	Basic Black Classic Ink
Marina Mist Classic Ink	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	2-3/8 Inch Scallop Circle Punch	5 Petal Flower Punch	Small Heart Punch	Scallop Trim Border Punch
Flower Fest	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents	Stampin' Dimensionals

InLinkz.com

Now go visit my other My Digital Studio blog hoppers! I can't wait to see what everyone else did with their tri-fold cards, and I can't wait to see what you do with yours!

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 (you are here!)

November 18 - Blog Hop

Happy Friday to you! Unfortunately I have to pass on the hop this week due to sick kids and a sick self, but I'm really bummed about it because I was dying to do this one. I hope to still do Alecia's Home theme, if I can get something done tomorrow I'll post it!

Be sure to check out all of the other ideas from my fellow blog hoppers!

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 (you are here!)

November 11 - Remembrance Blog Hop

This week Heather challenged us to make something that deals with remembrance. I realize I went back a little too far, since I technically don't remember any of these people (my great-grandfather died twenty years before I was born), but I've always loved this photo and don't do nearly enough heritage pages as I need should.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity!

I kept the page simple, didn't want too much stuff to overshadow the photo and my favorite Downtown Grunge kit was perfect for the heritage look. I added just a few little splashes of color with the Pool Party ribbon, green bracket and notes tag.

Supplies used:

Downtown Grunge Photobook Template

Vintage Overlay Stamp Brush Set

First Edition Designer Series Paper - Digital Download

Distressed Dots Stamp Brush

Schoolbook Serif Alphabet

InLinkz.com

Be sure to check out all of the other ideas from my fellow blog hoppers!

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 (you are here!)

November 6 - Natalie Digital Page (using FREEBIES!)

I promised to post another layout using the new My Digital Studio freebies from Stampin' Up!, so here it is. (better late than never!)

The "So Typeful" digital stamp set is one of the free downloads and when I saw it, I knew I had to use it on a scrapbook page. And not just one of them - ALL of them! Many times!

I loved the background of this photo, but wanted to add a little more too it. Not cover it up completely, just enhance it. So I started adding the stamps digitally. Once I added one to the page I did the following steps with each stamp/sentiment.

1. Change the color to white
2. Tilt it to -8 to match my bottom frame strip
3. Lower the opacity to 60%
4. Move the stamp so it fit around Natalie's body.

As you can imagine it might, it took a little time but I love it and feel that the outcome it was well worth the time it took.

Hope you had a fabulous Digital Scrapbooking weekend and got a lot of digital scrapbooking done! I know I did, and I feel SO good about it!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day - FREE downloads!

Yay! It's Digital Scrapbooking Day! :) And what a better way to celebrate than getting FREE digital downloads from Stampin' Up!

Been thinking about investing in My Digital Studio? Be sure to download the free content from today so if you take the plunge in the future you'll have instant free goodies to play with - these downloads are only available until Monday!

Here's a preview of the freebies:

The Home for the Holidays ensemble would be wonderful for any Christmas or holiday goodies you may be making this season - the little houses with this one are SO cute!

I *love* My Digital Studio's template pages too - and the Delight in the Day template pages are so fun. Template pages are already designed - you just pop in your pictures and save! Doesn't get any easier than that, does it?

The So Typefelt set is so fun, I'm a type junkie and addicted to different fonts so I can't wait to start playing with this one on both cards AND scrapbook pages.

And finally I have a digital page I made that uses the Neutral Delightful Digital Tape download that you can get today for FREE! (Yay!)

Now I cheated just a little bit, as the Downtown Grunge kit that I used on this page actually had the tape already included, but I'm so happy to have it as its own set of digital elements so I can use it on EVERYTHING, even if I'm not using a page from the Downtown Grunge set.

If you have any questions about anything related to My Digital Studio please just let me know, and Stampin' Up! has a wonderful MDS website devoted to My Digital Studio - it has forums, samples, how-to videos and more! Be sure to check it out if you've been thinking about trying out digital.

Have a WONDERFUL weekend and enjoy Digital Scrapbooking Day! I'll post another sample tomorrow using more of the freebies, so be sure to check back!

Want to pick up any of the other digital elements I used on the page above? Just use the links below!

Downtown Grunge Photobook Template

Simple Stitches and Corners

Medallion Stamp Brush Set

1/4" Ribbon In All Core Colors - Digital

Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper

Torn Edges Stamp Brush Set

InLinkz.com