Stampin' with Audrey & Natalie - Coloring Jewels!

I believe I promised you another video today!

In this one Audrey and Natalie show you a quick little card and how to color Jewels. Now I've heard you could do this, but never tried it. Then I got a few swap cards at convention that had the colored jewels on them and KNEW I had to come home and play. Little did I know I'd have two helpers. Of course, I should have figured since it had to do with cardmaking and coloring. Right? :) At this minute they are busy writing their own language. At least they didn't try to use it in the video!

Artisan Finalist WOW Swap Card

When Stampin' Up! notified the 20 Artisan contest finalists the group of us decided to do a WOW swap at convention this year. Full cards, and one that should knock your socks off (and one was going to be given to Shelli and the concept artists). No pressure there, right? UGH!

This is the card I ended up making for it. I used a lot of my favorite products and techniques. I'll give you some details on each one...

Embossing Folders
Stampin' Up!'s embossing folders emboss beautifully and deeply. That's what I love about them. But then when I ran it back through to cut out the label with the framelit, it flattened the embossing enough that you could still see it but it wasn't so pronounced. Total mistake on my part, but I LOVED how it looked!

Doodling with my White Signo Pen
If you know me at all, you know how much I love doodling with my white pen. When I cut the window from the label framelit it left a little bit of an "edge" on the outside. Now it just screamed "DOODLE ON ME!". Not kidding. I really did hear it. :) So that's what I did! And I added some dots with the swirls above to tie in the rest of the card.

Window Sheets
Window cards with just a hole and not a complete window just don't feel complete to me. I LOVE Stampin' Up!'s window sheets! And did you know you can emboss them too? FUN! I put the "window" of this card through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, cut it a little larger than the window shape and adhered it to the inside of the front of the card.

Sewing!
One of my absolute favorite things to do is to sew on my cards. I just don't get to do it very often because I can't use my sewing machine with cards I make for classes, etc. This was my perfect opportunity to do it! My zig-zag stitch isn't perfect, but I kind of like it like that. Where's the charm if it's perfect, right? (OK, I know that's just me trying to convince myself!)

So that's my WOW swap card from convention! And let me tell you - the cards I got in return are AMAZING! I can't wait to show them to everyone who steps foot in my door!

The girls and I are working on a new how-to video that I hope to get edited and posted for tomorrow so if you get a chance, stop back by then! I promise it's a quick and easy technique that you'll want to do again and again!

Supplies used (click to order!)

Apothecary Accents Framelits Big Shot Die-Cut Machine Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder Sassy Salutations Stamp Set Everything Eleanor Stamp Set Pearls Window Sheets Very Vanilla Cardstock Sahara Sand Cardstock Pink Pirouette 8-1/2X11 Card Stock Pool Party Cardstock Punch Pack Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen

InLinkz.com

MDS Blog Hop - Punches!

This week, Aly had us using lots and lots of punches on any type of project we would like. I did a 12" x 12" page with lots of punches filled with patterned paper.

The grass is made from the side of the Top Note punch and filled with Polka Dot Parade designer series paper, the trunk of the tree is the Modern Label punch filled with Downtown Grunge Designer Series Paper (with some fun little stamps on it). and the tree is made up of a bunch of circle punches filled with Floral District paper. And don't forget that cute little cloud, with a little bit of Bella Bleu inside!

The stamped sentiment is from the Seriously Awesome set. It's one of my favorite digital stamp sets!

Guess what! Less than a week until MDS2 is released!!!! Think I'm excited? I am SUPER excited! I got to play with it during a MDS class at convention taught by the uber-talented Holly Linford (love her name!) ;) and am so excited to start showing you all of the fun things it can do!

Don't forget, it's the blog hop! So hop around to all of the other blog hoppers and see what punch art creations they've come up with for today and thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

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!)

Storytime Digital Scrapbook Page

A few months ago I was asked by Stampin' Up! to create some samples for convention using the new My Digital Studio content disc's. I think it took me about two seconds to email them back saying "YES!!!!!" :) Those of us who created the samples had to make quite a few, too many for them to display on the boards so some of the ones we created did not end up being displayed. But hey! That means I have fun stuff to show you on my blog now, right?

We had to create five scrapbook pages, and this one is my favorite. (It might be due to my love of books!) The content CD I used to create this page is the "Storytime" CD (click the link to order!) which is one of my favorites. It's perfect if you have little kids!

Audrey is my super-reader and I wanted to have some type of record of what she read (or liked to read) in the third grade. I loved to read when I was her age too and now, looking back, I would have loved to have a page like this of the books I read way back then! With my horrible memory, I don't remember much of what I read at all. And the best part is, she had lots of fun helping me create this page by thinking back to what books she read. Then see her name on the "This book belongs to:" tab? She signed it with her own handwriting!

"How?" You ask? Well, since I was using regular MDS we had to do it using my drawing pad (I use that instead of a mouse) in Photoshop, take out the background, save it as a .png file and import it like a photo, but GUESS WHAT? When MDS2 is released we'll be able to hand-write things in the program. I don't think it is one of their advertised features, but from playing with a trial of MDS2 I know it will be possible using a few little tricks. As soon as MDS2 is released I will make a tutorial video so you can hand-write on your digital pages too! If you've been wondering, it's also how I did my signature at the end of all of my blog posts too.

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and hope to see you back here tomorrow!

Stamping with Audrey & Natalie - TAKE ONE!

Let me tell you a little about my girls. If it's possible, they love Stampin' Up! and making cards more than I do. I have no doubt they'd be my best customers if they had money other than my money. And their cards are SO CUTE! A few years ago I was making cards to sell at a craft show and Audrey decided she wanted to do the same thing and make some money. She made one card with a stamped baby on the front that said "Congratulations", then on the inside when you open it up it says (handwritten) "I will like your baby." HA HA HA - and it SOLD! (Can you guess who bought it? *raising my hand*)

Yesterday I was really looking forward to sleeping in after traveling the entire day before. Never fail, Audrey (9 yrs) woke me up at 7AM to ask me why I chewed all of the gum in my purse (really?). So when Natalie (7 yrs) heard that she made me a card that had the 3 of us drawn on it. Hand-drawn Natalie had a speech bubble coming out of her mouth that said, "Mommy, I'm sorry that Audrey wacked you up!" I didn't type it wrong - it really did say "wacked"! Hilarious!

I've done a few "how-to" videos before, and while I love doing them there was really nothing exciting about them. I wanted to do something fun with them. Being an elementary school art teacher, I figured - what's more fun than kids doing art? So I'm starting a new video feature called "Stamping with Audrey & Natalie" where the two funniest girls in my life are going to show you how to do different cards and techniques. This first video was kind of our "test-run" and I learned that we're not allowed to play a Selena Gomez song in the background so when they say "We're listening to Selena Gomez", they really are - but you're not allowed. :) So here's some basic embossing with the Big Shot and some Stampin' Up! embossing folders by my two favorite girls.

My Coming Home Surprise!

The running joke around our house is that the minute I leave for more than a day, my husband Chad starts to MOVE THINGS. To be fair, he always moves things around when I'm here too, but it almost always happens when I'm not here. And it's usually a shock to me when I come home. The last time I went away for a few days he moved the entire living room and built an entertainment system into our fireplace. So I wouldn't be shocked when I came home, I called throughout the week and was told he changed around our bedroom and the girl's bedroom. My reply? "Sure, knock yourself out, honey!" :)

To say I was surprised when I walked through the door and found this (below) is an understatement! We have a small house. The girls had a small room (a little bigger than a closet) beside their bedroom that I had used for my craft room for the past five or so years. But it was a pain. I would have classes and clubs in my dining room, but I'd have to drag all of my supplies downstairs for it, then drag them all back up. Not to mention if I forgot something during the class - Connie would count how many times I had to go back up! See how clean the room is? Tornado gone! I asked him why he did it and he said "I felt bad that your sewing machine had to be on the floor. Now you have a place for it." :)

So like I said, I walked in the house yesterday to see this (above). Now he had suggested before I left that I take over the dining room for my craft room (where we can still eat at the table) but I had only moved down my punch racks, the paper racks and the 12-drawer chest. And you should have seen the table when I left! It looked like a tornado had blown through. I was still working on swap cards the day before I left and had no time to clean up when I was done. So let me give you a tour of the new room and show you what he did while I was gone!

One of my favorite things to do is to organize my stuff, and this basket holds my Sizzix dies, Sizzlits, Framelits, and folders.

My 12-drawer chest has a drawer for lots of different fun stuff! This is my glittery-gloss drawer with glitter, embossing powders, Dazzling Details, etc. If you've taken one of my classes, you know this is one of my favorite drawers!

Here's my "business stuff" drawer with workshop invites, pens, hostess gifty things and more!

Adhesive drawer! Who doesn't just LOVE adhesive? You'd better not have your hand up!

I use curtain rods to hold my punches, but guess what? I HAVE TOO MANY PUNCHES! ha ha - what a problem to have, right? So I have a few drawers in the chest for extra ones.

In the new desk he added to the room, the shelves below are bigger than 12x12" which is the perfect size to hold my 12"x12" Designer Series Paper. I haven't had a chance to actually organize it yet, but I'm excited to have it so close to where I work. I used to keep it in the closet.

This is a new addition since I came home - I had to add my sweet little Stampin' Up! fabric owl I received from Connie! If you were at convention do you recognize his nose? :)

And in true Chad fashion, he added a TV to the corner hutch (see it on the 3rd shelf down?) Once my card swaps come back from convention (I shipped them!) the hutch will also be loaded with beautiful card samples.

Did I mention that I love baskets of things? And wheels? Wrap them both together and here is my basket of wheels! I love, love, LOVE digging into this basket.

So yes, I know what you're asking. "But where on earth are the STAMPS, girl?" See that closet in the room in one of the photos above? Yay for stamp storage! The inside has a few paint nightmares, but no one goes in there except for me. I'll paint it sometime. Until then, this is what it looks like. I can hang my apron inside, store my bags and totes, staplers, extra cutter, pens, etc.

So that's it! Thanks for sticking around to "tour" my new room surprise. I think he probably watched a bunch of HGTV when I was gone, but that works for me. ha ha! I was shocked and I love it so very much. I'm off to organize more (whoooooooo hooooooo!) but hopefully I'll see you back here tomorrow!

Another Swap Card

I'm in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for the plane, so I thought I'd share another of my swaps. I just got the fan embossing folder the week before we left and I wanted to try it out so I left. What better way to do that than about 20 swaps the day before I leave? :)


First I used the Betsy's Blossoms wheel that I LOVE. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Stampin' Up!'s wheels? They can add so much to a project. Oh, I get sidetracked so easy! UGH! I rolled the wheel on a 1" strip of Island Indigo with Island Indigo ink then scallop punched the edge. Then on Whisper White I stamped the large flourish from Flowering Flourishes with Pink Pirouette, then stamped the smaller flourish on top with Island Indigo. Stamped the "Thank You" from Sassy Salutations ink Basic Black ink at the bottom.


For the base of the card I cut a 2-3/4" x 4-1/4" strip of Crumb Cake and adhered it to the Pink Pirouette cardstock. Then once it's adhered I ran it through the Fancy Fan embossing folder with my Sizzix Big Shot. I've noticed the Fancy Fan embossing folder kind of makes your base a little flimsy, so adding that extra Crumb Cake cardstock helped stiffen the card.


I just adhered the pieces, then sewed the two pieces on top together with my machine and a zig-zag stitch. For the final step I just punched a little Crumb Cake bitty blossom flower and a pearl on top and added it to one of the little flourishes. It sounds like a lot to do, but it was really a pretty easy card to make!


Have a wonderful Sunday and hopefully I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Convention Sample Boards

I've been busy tonight uploading TONS of convention sample pictures to my convention gallery here! I think I got a photo of almost every board.

Learned a few more exciting things today at the 2012 Stampin' Up! Convention. My favorite thing is that the "Carry On" stamp set it going to be available again next week!

Had some great classes today - "I Am Having Fun" with Shannon West was a BLAST! She is such a cutie and everything about her makes you want to smile. She was the perfect person to teach that class.

My other class was "I Am Earning the Inventive Trip", taught by Karen Hauley where 4 demonstrators told us ideas and techniques they use to earn the annual trip. Not sure if I'll ever be able to achieve it, but it was a lot of great information and I love hearing ideas that work for other demonstrators. Last day of convention is tomorrow! Hope you have a wonderful day!

MDS Blog Hop - Sketch!

We have another sketch challenge to share with you on the MDS Blog Hop today! The link to the original sketch is here. I switched mine up a bit by moving the row of circles to the right side and changed the photo sizes a bit, but that's the great thing about a sketch, right? You just switch things around until it works for YOU and go with it! :)

For this page I used the "Day in the Life" kit, with a little "Back to School" paper thrown in the back for some journaling.

I've been at convention all week and have had the chance to play with MDS2 - WOW! Let me tell you, it's AMAZING! And we found out that the trial and downloadable software will be available on August 1st! Yippee!

I added a few more photos from convention to my SmugMug photo album here and will be adding more later today after classes! Have a great weekend - I'll have LOTS of products to share when I get home on Sunday (they're just not on the netbook that I brought with me!)

Now, you know the drill! Follow the links below to check out the different, unique and fun things my fellow blog hop ladies did with the sketch - I'm sure you won't be disappointed! :)

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!)

Quick Artisan Update

Unfortunately I found out yesterday that I was not one of the Top 10 Artisan's chosen for the design team this year. But that's OK! I have two good friends (Jeanna Bohanen and Heather Summers) who DID get chosen and I'm very proud of and happy for them! And I'm going to have LOTS of goodies to show you on my blog when I get back. :)

We're doing our Artisan WOW card swap today at lunch, I'm VERY excited to see what amazing cards these ladies came up with! SO EXCITED!

--> That's me over there next to my Artisan finalist display board. It was so good to see my projects again, after not seeing them for a while you kind of forget what you've entered! ha ha

I've uploaded 128 photos from yesterday on my SmugMug page here, so if you haven't gone through them and would like to, the link is there. LOTS of beautiful samples! I'll be uploading more this afternoon so check back to see more.

All Kinds of Convention Goodness!!!!

I have TONS of photos of samples, sample boards, Momento Mall, etc. WAY too many to put on this blog, so I'm adding them to a SmugMug album here. I've not altered any of the photos, so I'm sorry if they are too dark/light, etc. but I only have an hour to upload before I go to my first class. :)

I'll be adding more photos as I take them to this album, so keep checking it throughout the rest of the week!

Salt Lake City!

The drive to Salt Lake City yesterday was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever experienced. SO glad we took Jeanna up on the opportunity to drive here with her. She's used to it, but like true tourists we made her pull over in the middle of driving through a mountain to take some pictures. (here is L to R, Connie, Rita, Me, and Jeanna)

Along the way we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called "Kneaders" (think Panera, but better). I don't know if I've ever had a better sandwhich! I had what they call a clam roll sandwhich. WOW. Let's just say I'm SO glad we have one down the street from our hotel. I may be there daily!

Once we got to Salt Lake City and got checked into our hotel we had dinner with the fabulous Alana Jean-Louis and Julie Warnick, our MyDigitalStudio.net friends. Loved them both and Alana makes me laugh every single time she opens her mouth. We were supposed to have adjoining rooms in the hotel, but they don't actually adjoin so she's our non-adjoining adjoining roomie. She came over last night with FUN goodie envelopes for us all (complete with clown nose!) so of course, we had to take a picture.

Convention activities don't officially start until tomorrow morning so we have a day to sight see and our hotel is crawling with Stampin' Up! demos that I can't wait to meet! So because this is a sample blog, not a "read all about Holly" blog, I'm going to post one of my swap cards that I'll be swapping with other demos this week.

For my swap cards this year I wanted to use some of the same elements and techniques I used for the cards in my Artisan entry. For this one, I wanted to use LOTS of silver. Started with the silver cardstock, cut into a 1" strip. Then I heat embossed on top of it with silver embossing powder. Then added a 1/4" strip of silver shimmer paper to the right of it.

Now for the white I cut the shape from the Labels embosslit collection and chopped the right side off of it so it would fit nicely next to my silver strip. Then I took one of the smaller label embosslits and used it to trace a small black border around my white label. Added my Sassy Salutation and some silver flowers with rhinestones and DONE! They're all labeled, bagged up and ready to swap! So if you see me at convention and you'd like one just ask, I may have some left. And if you'd like to see any of the photos above enlarged, just click on it and you can see more detail.

I'll be posting more soon, especially once convention gets started! :)