{love} MDS style

The last few days I was working on a page for an upcoming MDS blog post and came across this photo of my oldest. While I didn't use it for the page I was working on, I knew I wanted to use it for something.

For this page I started with the photo blown up to cover the page, then set the opacity lower (35%). I loved the muted color of it, but felt her face didn't stand out as much as I wanted it to so I used a heart punch, filled it with the same photo and sized it as big as the page, making sure it layered over my background photo exactly. To complete the edge I added 105 gold sequins. Yep, thanks to the layers in MDS I could see that there were 105 of them.

All of the "Love"s in the background are stamps - I used the MDS search feature and did a search for love. You'd be surprised how many you will find if you search for them! A few of the I had to crop out the word, but you get the idea. I changed them to white then sent them to the back of my page UNDER my background photo at 35% opacity. That's why you can still see the original image through the stamped words. Sorry, no supply list today - with all of those stamps it would be endless!

DON'T FORGET - It's Tuesday, Stampin' Up! has new downloads for MDS today! Click here!

We've been snowed in but are hoping we may be able to get back to school tomorrow - keep your fingers crossed for us - this mom is starting to go crazy! I would never survive as a homeschooling mom, that's for sure. I told my oldest that and she said "I would NEVER want to be homeschooled - you crack the whip with this school work stuff!"

Doodling on Photos with the Stampin' Chalk Marker

Ooooh, do I LOVE to doodle in my scrapbooks! Stampin' Up!'s white signo pen works great on photos, but writes a pretty thin line. Great for detail, but not so great for a big statement. And sometimes I'm a big statement kind of girl.

When I first saw the new 2014 Occasions catalog (need one? Let me know!), I knew the new White Stampin' Chalk Marker had to be mine and today I had a chance to experiment! As you can tell by the photo -->
I had a little too much fun with it! If it writes this well on photos, I can't wait to see what else it looks great on! People around here better hide their stuff if they don't want it doodled on!

MDS Blog Hop - Happy Birthday To You

It's MDS Blog Hop time again!

If you've been hopping along, you've just come from Elizabeth's blog and her fun project!

This is the week where we share what we've been working on and for me that's birthday pages! My oldest turned 11 this week (how is that possible?)

Have you seen all of the Retro Fresh kit downloads they've been releasing in the weekly downloads lately? Well, it's safe to say I'm in love with them!

On this quick page I used the Retro Fresh Pocket Cards, Retro Fresh Embellishments, and the Retro Fresh Washi Tape.

Now you get to hop along to Jeanna's Stamp Time Somewhere blog where I'm sure she'll show you an amazing project - just click the "next" image below!

Today Remember This : MDS Page

We have the day off today (work & school) but I have 2,000 book words to write so I'm just posting a quick MDS page today.

If this looks familiar, it's because it was on the My Digital Studio blog about a month ago but I love this page so much I wanted to share it here, too.

Doesn't that little face make you smile? She got kicked in the face by a cleat-wearing Kindergartener at recess and ended up with some nasty scabs to prove it.

Have you tried the MDS class kits yet? If not, you should - they are fabulous! I use MDS almost every day and I learned SO MUCH from watching the class videos! Lots of great short-cuts and techniques. Plus you get a kit of goodies to use to try it out! This page used the "Love This" class kit (with the addition of a Downtown Grunge frame, of course).

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

There's You Card

It's been forever since I've made a card! With my foot surgeries and inability to walk this summer/fall it has been impossible to break out the crafty supplies and get to creating. As you can see on the blog, I did a LOT of My Digital Studio! Quite honestly, I wasn't even sure I still had my paper card-making mojo. So last night I got out all of my favorite supplies and went to work.

I started with the flowers because I knew I wanted to do some silver on silver embossing. To do that I used my favorite Brushed Silver Cardstock and some Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder. These flowers from the Morning Meadow hostess set came out beautifully! I knew I wanted them to pop off of the page, so I used my thumb to curl up the petals just a little and added a large Rhinestone Jewel Accent to the center of each one and a Stampin' Dimensional on the back of each.

Next, I started on the background. I used the Brushed Silver Cardstock as my base, then trimmed some Coastal Cabana cardstock to put on top. But first I embossed the bottom half with the Honeycomb embossing folder and flipped it over because I wanted to use the backside of the embossing, then sewed it on to the background with my sewing machine.

In my mind I knew I wanted to use the Pistachio Pudding Ruffle Stretch Trim as the flower stems, but once I put it on the Coastal Cabana cardstock I didn't think it showed up enough. The colors were too close. So I broke out my Epic Day This & That Washi Tape (the striped one is my absolute FAVORITE!) and added the tape before I added my trim so it would help separate it from the background. I wasn't sure how it would look or if it would work, but once I sewed down the stems with a zig-zag stitch I LOVE how it turned out!

The last thing I needed was my sentiment, so I used my Chalk Talk stamp set and the Oval "There's You" stamp. I heat embossed it in white on Basic Gray Cardstock to match my washi tape, then punched it out with the Extra Large Oval Punch. I hand cut a quick banner out of Whisper White Cardstock, then added a small strip of the washi tape at the bottom of it.

Supply List:

• Morning Meadow Hostess Set
• Rhinestone Jewel Accent
• Stampin' Dimensionals
• Brushed Silver Cardstock
• Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
• 2013 - 2014 In Color Cardstock
• Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
• Pistachio Pudding Ruffle Stretch Trim
• Epic Day This & That Washi Tape
• Chalk Talk Stamp Set
• Basic Gray Cardstock
• Extra Large Oval Punch
• Whisper White Cardstock

Hello Glitter : SCIC #75 Sketch Challenge

I was so honored when I was asked to participate in the Stampin' Celebration monthly sketch challenge! The sketch was super-fun with lots of layers.

I started with a white background because for some reason I can't get enough of white backgrounds lately... maybe I like the simplicity? Don't know. But I love them!

I made my letters with MDS alphabet punches and filled them in with the gold glitter paper. The funny thing is, I used to HATE gold. But I have to admit, it's growing on me. Once I filled the letters in with the glitter paper I matted them with Soft Suede so they would stand out a little more and added a little shadow.

Here is the supply list of what I used for this page.

Staple & Stitching
Sara's Sequins
Chevron Ribbon
Love This Kit (hello stamp)
Torn Edges  
Timeless Type Junior Letter Punches
Gold & Silver Glimmer Paper
Whisper White & Soft Suede cardstock

Thanks SO much to the Stampin' Celebration design team for asking me to participate this week!

Free Markers? Yes, please!

Now through February 10th if you sign up for Stampin' Up!'s monthly kit club, Paper Pumpkin, you will receive a FREE set of 2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers ($14.95 value) just for signing up!

Click here to see what Paper Pumpkin is all about!

Everything.

It's been too long. I haven't sat down and just created to create in a long time. I've forgotten how good it feels.

Tonight it started with a zipper and its beautiful green shade that I had to pull out and use.

I had this photo from Christmas and although it's a little fuzzy and she has earmuffs on in the house, I still adore this photo. This is her as I see her everyday when she's busy doing all of her little 8-year-old busy things. Too many times I have her smile at the camera or pose for me before I hit that button to snap the photo, but these are the photos I really treasure. A photo of her just being her.

Lots of fun elements and kits used on this page, I'll list & link them all here for you.

Finest Simplicity - white & gray frame
Nobody's Business - gray & white striped tape
Staple & Stitching - white zigzag stitch
Chevron kit - chevron background stamps

Hello Perfection - doodled frame, large polka dots, and you are my happy stamp, today arrow

Love This - heart stamps

Torn Edges - torn edge on right side

Downtown Grunge - kraft background paper

MDS Blog Hop - A New Desktop for My Laptop

Hello and happy 2014!

I have a feeling that this is going to be a wonderful year -- and I hope that it is for you, too.

If you've been following the hop you've just come from Elizabeth's blog. Isn't she wonderful? It's hard to follow someone so talented!

Our first "assignment" for the MDS Blog Hop this year was to design either a computer desktop image or an iphone background. I got a new laptop a few months ago so this was the perfect project for me!

First, I figured out the pixel dimension of my screen then created a custom size image in MDS with the same dimensions. Then -- Ready, Set, Design! And this is what I came up with...

My computer's desktop is a hot mess, let me tell you. Most of what I do everyday is done on this computer and I keep everything important on my desktop. But there was no organization to it at all. Sure, I could just put them in those ugly files, but why would you do that when you can add a little kraft and bling to it with MDS? The background is from Downtown Grunge kit, the doodled frames are from the Hello Perfection digital class. I also used the Bright Blooms kit and the Basic Pearls and Rhinestones kit. I'm so happy with how it turned out! I just hoped my desktop icons would fit.

I changed my laptop's desktop image to my new image and arranged all of my icons to fit in my new frames. Everything fit and there is some room for growth!

That's my project for today - I hope you liked it! And now you get to follow the hop and see what the always fabulous Jeanna has waiting for you - just click on the "NEXT" image below!