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!

MDS Blog Hop - The VanDyne Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!

Today we're sharing what we've been working on, and for the past few weeks I've been trying to get my Christmas cards finished up, addressed and out the door by TODAY! I'm having surgery to remove the pins from my foot bright and early today so I've been working overtime trying to get everything Christmas finished up -- especially my cards!

I still have a few more to mail (that may not arrive until after Christmas!) but I like to think I have a somewhat decent excuse. ha ha.

If you click on the image above you'll see a slightly larger version of it.

This is the first year I've used a tri-fold card and I have to admit, I'm SO in love with them. With the template (Bright Reviews tri-fold card) I used they were so super-quick to put together. I used the back of the template too, but changed the year from 2012 to 2013.

And that's my project for today! Now I'll send you over to Jeanna's blog where I'm positive she has something amazing to show you (doesn't she always?) :) I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

MDS Blog Hop - Calendars

I love Stampin' Up!'s calendars, so when I saw this week's MDS Blog Hop theme was calendars -- well, WHOO HOOO! :) I had the perfect one to share with you. I created it last year for my desk at school and even though the calendar is now outdated, I still have it on my desk front and center, because I'm so in love with how it turned out and I love the pictures.

I made this using the 10" x 5" heavy easel calendar (printed through MDS's print service) and the Sun Garden designer series paper kit. (Frames are from Downtown Grunge)

The first photo above is the front page of the easel. The second photo is the front flap which has each month on it. MDS makes it so easy to create your own calendar -- just drag the calendar of your choice over from the right-side menu in MDS and it does all of the dates, etc. for you! It doesn't get any easier than that!

The last photo is the back side. For each month I used a close-up photo that matched the photos on the front of that month. The best part about doing that is that now that it's 2013 and the calendar is "outdated", I can still use it by just showing the backsides of the calendar! With just a flip it became a fun photo easel. These calendars make fantastic gifts that anyone would love.

I hope you loved today's project and are enjoying the hop! Now hop on over to Jeanna's blog post and calendar project by clicking the 'Next' image below!

Daily December - Cover Page

This year Stampin' Up! came out with a Daily December kit for My Digital Studio. If you're not familiar with Daily December, it's a concept introduced by Ali Edwards in which she documents the entire month of December and her family's holiday traditions day by day for that month.

Our family has a ton of Christmas traditions, but I've never documented them in one place so I thought this year would be the perfect year to do it.

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is my cover page. I used an 8x8 ring binder by Stampin' Up! and their 8x8 divided page protectors that are in the Holiday mini catalog. For my title panel I used Stampin' Up!'s vellum and printed directly on it after I designed it in MDS. To keep it consistent I plan to use a little bit of vellum on each page. I printed out some of the patterned papers from the Daily December digital kit to use and put them in the smaller pockets, with some Whisper White for my journaling. Then I stitched some red ribbon to the side of it to give the page a little texture.

Are you doing a Daily December album this year? If so, post a link to it in the comments -- I'd love to check it out! I'll be posting more pages this month as I get them completed.