MDS Blog Hop - Swatch Books

Years ago (before I had discovered digital) I had made my Grandma a tag book which is actually pretty close to a swatch book. With 10 kids, my Grandma is amassing quite a collection of great-grandchildren. The tag book had a tag for each of her great-grandchildren. It worked great for about the first 3 or 4 kids, but I kept having to steal it back from her every time another "great" was born, and the embellishments that matched on it nine years ago when I started it, I no longer have. So while it was a great idea 9 years ago, it's just not really functional anymore. Now she's up to 7 great-grandchildren with another one on the way.

But then (thanks to today's challenge!) I've discovered the swatch books! And I know it will be perfect for what I had intended to make her years ago, only so much easier since it's digital. Now I just have to contact my cousins and get photos of their ultra-adorable kids.

To the right is the cover and the two pages that I COULD do because I had the pictures and information for them. I'll add more as I get more.

For this project I used the Spring Break II kit which I absolutely LOVE! Have I ever told you how much I love the fact that Stampin' Up! comes out with a batch of new digital downloads available EVERY WEEK? How fun is that?

Now don't forget to visit the other blog-hoppers today! I'm sure they did some fantastic swatch books and I can't wait to go drool over them. Since I'm at the end of the list, you get to start at the beginning!

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Rochelle Gould

3. Mandy Grant

4. Julie Leblanc

5. Amber Meadows

6. Terri Mongeon

7. Cindy Schuster

8. Erica Shaw

9. Heather Summers

10. Holly VanDyne (you are here!)

Thinking of You with Eleanor

When my fingers first flipped through the new 2012/2013 Stampin' Up! catalog for the first time, Everything Eleanor was the first of the new stamp sets that I knew I absolutely had to have.

When it arrived, I was SO not disappointed! I absolutely love, love, LOVE it! It's girly (love!). It's floral (love!). And it's got a BIG flourish (super-love!).

This card uses all of my favorite parts of Eleanor, with a little Curly Cute (thinking of you) and Papaya Collage (butterfly) thrown in.

Colors used are Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Baja Breeze (ink), Soft Suede (ink) and Pink Pirouette. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog! I'm taking some time off of events to enjoy summer a bit with the girls before I leave for convention (mid-July), but if you need anything you can always order from me online here! Have a FANTASTIC Wednesday!

A Little Pink-spiration!

I used to hate pink. But I have two little girls and over the years it's grown on me. Now I love it!

We were on vacation this past week and drove by this charming little store called "Charming Charlie". Oh my word. Let's just say it's a miracle I walked out of there with only this $17 watch (Oh, yes - it was only $17!!!) But hubs and the kids were with me, so I didn't feel that buying out the store was in my best interest at that point. :)


Now it's hard to tell in the picture because the sun was setting, but it's a light pink with a bronze. I LOVE pink and brown together! So much that I knew I had to make my first card for Card Day today with those colors.

...and this is it! I used Pink Pirouette with Soft Suede and Very Vanilla. And the new butterfly punch? LOVE it!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and I'll have another project to post tomorrow!

Thank You Club Card

This upcoming Tuesday is club night and this is one of the three cards we'll be making! (Sneak peek for those of you joining me on Tuesday!)

One of my favorite things Stampin' Up! sells is their Stampin' Around wheels. I love layering them with different patterns and colors so I love that there is a jumbo and a standard size!

For this card I first rolled the new "Daydream" jumbo wheel with Crumb Cake ink, then over that I rolled the new "Bella Boutique" standard wheel in Gumball Green ink. Then cut the edges, embossed, and layered everything on top of it. Add a little bit of Early Expresso ink to the embossed Crumb Cake cardstock, punch your ovals and you're finished!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies Used:

Daydream Jumbo Wheel

Bella Boutique Standard Wheel

Delicate Designs Embossing Folders

Pearls

Punch Pack

Sponge Daubers

InLinkz.com

My Digital Studio - Celebrate!

Happy Friday!

It IS a happy Friday for me for lots of reasons!

1- It's My Digital Studio blog hop day which means I get to play on MDS!

2 - We've been on vacation all week and had a wonderful, relaxing time with the girls. We're well rested and that makes me happy.

3 - Last night I got a phone call from Stampin' Up! letting me know that I was a finalist for their Artisan contest. I worked SO hard on my entry and was pretty sure I wasn't going to be called so I was shocked my my cell phone rang! I won't know until Convention if I've won, but I'm so excited just to be a finalist!

4 - I have a VERY large family and we're all getting together to have lunch today. I can't wait to see everyone!

So now, on to today's blog hop page! This week we were challenged to make a "celebration" page. I knew I wanted to use the new "Days to Remember" Hostess CD, and while Audrey's First Communion wasn't a typical celebration it worked great with this kit. I can tell this is a kit I'm going to be using often!

Want your own copy of the hostess CD? Just book a summer workshop with me (June, July or August) and I'll give you an extra $10 in hostess benefits!

Don't forget to visit the other blog hoppers today - I know I can't wait to see what they've come up with!

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. Holly VanDyne (you are here!)

MDS Blog Hop - Dad

My girls and I are so lucky. I may be biased, but they have the best Dad in the world (and I have the best husband)! I knew I had to make a page about him when Jeanna picked this week's blog hop theme of Dad's.

I wanted to keep this one simple. I love the smile on the girl's faces. It's the same smile they have when they hear him pull into the driveway at 4:15. And more than the picture, I wanted the words to stand out because I don't tell him as often as I should, and they don't tell him as they should.

We couldn't ask for better.

All elements on the page are from the Birds of a Feather Digital Content CD. Thanks for looking and don't forget to continue along with the hop!

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Rochelle Gould

3. Mandy Grant

4. Julie Leblanc

5. Cindy Schuster

6. Erica Shaw

7. Heather Summers

8. Holly VanDyne (you are here!)

The Ultimate Card Day - Summer 2012 Edition

WHEN: Sunday, June 24th from 11am-3pm

WHERE: K of C - Park Ave. West, Mansfield
COST: A $25 minimum Stampin' Up! order

Come and make ten different cards (pre-cut, just stamp and assemble!) from area Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

RSVP's MUST be received by Friday, June 22nd by emailing holly@hollystamps.com.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided. The new Stampin' Up! annual catalog is now out, if you don't have one we will have one available for you at the event.

Topsy-Turvy Celebration Card

I got my first order of products from the new catalog yesterday and I was in heaven! Now I've heard customers say that this is the best catalog they've ever seen from Stampin' Up! and I've heard from others who said they didn't like much. Well, I'm in the first category! There is SO much I fell in love with in this one, it was hard to decide what to put in that first order! And if you're one of the people who aren't a big fan of the new stuff, just keep watching my blog! I have posts already set up for at least a week in advance that I hope will help you change your mind.

This is one of my favorite new sets - Topsy-Turvy Celebration. We had a birthday party for my cousin yesterday and I knew exactly what I wanted to use for her card! I love black, white and pink together so that's what I used.

Supplies are listed below!

Topsy-Turvy Celebration	Delicate Designs Embossing Folders	Melon Mambo Cardstock	Whisper White Cardstock	Basic Black Cardstock	Melon Mambo Classic Ink	Basic Black Classic Ink
Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen	Stampin' Dimensionals

InLinkz.com

MDS Blog Hop - Hybrid Bookmarks

This week I challenged the blog hop girls to make something hybrid. I love digital, but sometimes I just need to add that little "extra" thing to it.

My project this week was bookmarks. My girls have been out of school for a week now, and while I want them to have fun all summer long I also don't want them to slack off in their reading. I created these bookmarks using the new Storytime MDS content disk (which I LOVE!) - it's on page 199 of the new catalog or at the link above.

I printed them out on Whisper White cardstock on my home printer, then cut them out and laminated them so they wouldn't fall apart to easily. I punched a hole in the top with my Crop-a-Dile, then added the ribbons to the top of each one.

Now here's where the hybrid part comes in. See that little yellow flower on each one? They're punched from Daffodil Delight cardstock and glue-dotted on. I will add a new punched flower for each book they read all summer long. I hope this will get them excited enough to keep reading, even throughout those hot, fun summer months.

It was a very busy week for many of us MDS Blog-hoppers so there are a few of us who couldn't get a project done. But have no fear, they promise to be back next week! :)

Continue along the hop by following these links!

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Terri Mongeon

3. Cindy Schuster

4. Erica Shaw

5. Heather Summers

6. Holly VanDyne (you are here!)

Layered Labels Card

I love labels. And I love layering. So how could I not fall in love with the new "Layered Labels" stamp set? With the last few weeks of school, I haven't had much play time with my new stamps but last night I had a workshop and spent the first official day of summer vacation playing with my new goodies!

This card was so fun to make. I absolutely love how all of the pieces and parts of it fit together, and how easy the framelits make it to cut them all out in a few minutes. I'm all about fast and easy. :) The colors used on this card are Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery (with Old Olive ink), and Perfect Plum cardstock (with Rich Razzleberry ink).

Now I'm off to do more pricing and house cleaning! Tomorrow night I'll be having a Retired Goodies Sale with all of my retired Stampin' Up! items at my home from 6-8pm. If you're local be sure to come by and check it out! All items are priced more than 50% off of retail price.

Supplies Used:

Layered Labels Clear Mount Set

Apothecary Accents Framelits

Floral District Designer Series Paper

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

Stampin' Dimensionals

Pearls

InLinkz.com

MDS - Fun, Fresh and NEW!

It's June 1st! Know what that means? NEW catalog! I'm so very excited - the new catalog has some AMAZING things in it and I can't wait to get my hands on them! But let's talk for a minute about My Digital Studio.

Did you know that every Tuesday Stampin' Up! releases new digital kits and items? Now I don't mind only getting a new big catalog every year, there is so much in it. But how cool is it that us digital users get access to new and exciting products EVERY WEEK? :) I love it!

Our challenge this week was to do something with all of the fun, fresh and new things that have come out. I did get a few of the new kits that have come out in the last few weeks and this was the perfect opportunity to use them!

The first kit I used is the Summer Happiness kit that was released this past Tuesday. I used this kit for the papers, and the leaf embellishment on the photo. Then I fell in love with the new Soft Blooms embellishment kit. That's where that AMAZING flower came from. I can tell I'm going to be using this flower kit a bunch!

Hope you have a wonderful Friday - it is my last day of work, then I will have THREE MONTHS off which hopefully means this blog will pick up some steam! :)

Be sure to visit the other blog-hoppers and see what beautiful, fun, fresh and new things they have come up with for you! Since I'm last on the list that means you get to start at the beginning and work your way back down to my name.

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Rochelle Gould

3. Mandy Grant

4. Julie Leblanc

5. Terri Mongeon

6. Cindy Schuster

7. Erica Shaw

8. Heather Summers

9. Holly VanDyne (you are here!)