Make Your Own Photo Booth with MDS!

Last night the school I teach at held a Valentine's dance fundraiser and I was asked to take photos. In the past I've seen some really cute photo booths with super-cute props, so I opened up My Digital Studio and went to work.

The best thing is that I hardly had to recreate anything. Most of the shapes and sentiments I used on my props were already stamps! I just had to put them together.

I put everything on a 8x10 sheet and sent it to my photo printer to be printed at a 12" x 16" size. It was perfect. Here is how the sheet of props looked when I had finished.

I wanted them to really stand out so I used white images on a black background. Once I picked them up from the 1-hour print place (got these done at Sams!) I mounted them onto cardstock and trimmed around them so they wouldn't be so flimsy. If I would've done them more in advance I would have just had them printed through the MDS Print Service on their heavy cardstock. The ones I printed at Sams curled a little as the night went on so next time I do this I will order them to be printed on the heavy cardstock for sure.

Each thing on this sheet is already a stamp I had in MDS, the only fonts I used were the the "I {heart}" arrows. For the "We Seriously Rock" stamp I knew I wanted to do a double speech bubble which I couldn't find in my MDS downloads so I just printed it out without it and cut the shape I wanted around it. Worked great.

I found some dowel rods at the craft store, painted them gray so they wouldn't stand out too much when people held them, then mounted my cut out shapes to them.

And...
thanks to my friend Christa for helping me show how great they looked in the photos!

2012 Artisan Finalists Blog Hop - Day 2

It's Day 2 with our Artisan contest entries! Maybe you just came over from Connie Collin's blog - let me tell you a quick little story about Connie. This past convention was my very first. I had two of my downline with me, but other than that I had never met anyone else in person (knew a few other demos from online). Connie was such a sweetheart and so friendly! No matter what class I was leaving, I always saw her friendly smiling face in the hallway - it was so comforting. So if you're reading this, THANK YOU, Connie!

So let's get on with my project for today. It may not be a big secret to some of you that I LOVE CLEAR! I LOVE Stampin' Up!'s window sheets! AND I love the new Sizzix purse die! Add these together and what do you get? This super-cute little clear purse!

Now here's the funny story to go with it. How you see it in this picture is how it was, packed and ready to go to Stampin' Up! with my contest entry. I had found the CUTEST little chocolate pearl-looking balls at our local chocolate store and they matched my purse so perfectly! But then on my way to the UPS store to mail it, I thought - "OH MY GOSH! What if the chocolate melts in my purse?" Melted chocolate would ruin it for sure! So I asked the UPS guy. "Will it melt?" and his response? "Probably." Well, crap. So I asked him for a bag, unpacked everything, took the super-cute chocolates out of the purse then packed everything back up again. Bummer. It was still cute without the chocolates, but it looked so much cuter with them (and much yummier!) And I'd be totally lying if I told you it never crossed my mind to sneak some of those chocolate balls to convention and put them into the purse on the display board! HA HA.

If you're wondering about the handle - I used the clear handle that got cut out with the purse, but adhered some bunched up ribbon to it and then sewed it onto the plastic (yes, you can use your sewing machine with window sheets!) :)

Thanks for stopping by - now head on over to the talented Melissa Stout's blog and see what Artisan goodness she has to show you today!

1. Connie Collins
2. Holly VanDyne (you are here!)
3. Melissa Stout
4. Amy O'Neill
5. Sandie Connor
6. Amy Rogers
7. Mercedes Weber
8. Tara (Murphy) Bourgoin
9. Mindy Bingamon

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for our next Artisan Finalist project! :)

Princess Party Favors

What a fun day, today!
My cousin came home from out of state to have a princess-themed birthday party for her 1-year-old daughter. The colors were pink and purple, and Lorrie came over this week to pick out what she wanted the favors to look like. It was so much fun to go through my craft room, picking out things with "Ooooh, this will be PERFECT!" or "This is so cute!" We went to the local chocolate shop and found these fun little chocolate balls that looked like pearls - they fit perfectly in the cellophane bags we were using! We both absolutely loved how they turned out.

The "Every Little Bit" stamp set is on the fast track for becoming one of my favorite stamp sets. There are so many fun little stamps in it that you can do so many cute little things with. LOVE the little coffee cup, the penguin is super-adorable, and don't even get me started on that heart. If you're looking for a cute set that you can do lots with, this is a fantastic one to have!

I forgot to list them in the supplies below, but the bow tied around the lip of the jar is the Whisper White and Pretty In Pink 5/8" satin ribbon and the hearts are popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Supplies Used:

Every Little Bit Stamp Set	1"x8" Cellophane Bags	Pink Pirouette 8-1/2X11 Card Stock	Rose Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock	Silver Glimmer Paper	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Sponge Daubers
Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen	Full Heart Punch	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	2-3/8 Inch Scallop Circle Punch

InLinkz.com

July 2 - Baby Shower Cakes

As mentioned in the previous post, I had fun getting crafty for a baby shower I threw for my cousin and her sweet baby girl.

Now, my girls and I watch cake shows on the Food Network more than any other shows on TV. So when it came time for the shower, I knew I wanted to try making a cake. To make it a little easier, I went to JoAnn's and got pre-made fondant that I split in half, leaving one half of it white and used red food coloring to make the other half of it pink. I had made two cakes just in case I messed one up (this was my first time trying fondant!) and when I rolled out the fondant and added it to one cake, I found out that I had more than enough fondant to cover both cakes. So I made two cakes, the opposite of one another. A pink cake with white frosting and a white cake with pink frosting. I loved how they turned out!

But I knew they needed something extra, so I got out my bag of sucker sticks (you can find these at any craft store in the candy making section). I stamped the letters and punched them out with the smaller scalloped circle. Then punched TWO of the large scalloped circle shapes in white. I put dimensionals and sandwiched the two larger white circles together around the sucker stick. Then stuck them into the cakes. The shower was a great time and I got so many compliments on the cakes!

Cake Decorations:

• Broadsheet Alphabet
• Black Classic Ink Pad
• 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch
• 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch
• Stampin' Dimensionals