Giant Snowman

  Last week I stumbled upon a new challenge blog dedicated to digital scrapbooking with My Digital Studio.  It's called MDS Monday and this week they are starting us off with a sketch challenge.  As I've been creating pages for my 2012 photo book I've found I need some inspiration to get started just like I do with cards sometimes.  I'm glad I found this challenge and will be looking forward to the next one!

 
  I thought this was a cute picture of Alex and I to use for this sketch.  It was fun playing with some new downloads that I got a few weeks ago.

  Remember that the Online Extravaganza ends this Wednesday!  And if you're interested in My Digital Studio to start creating your own projects it is on sale for 50% off but only until Wednesday.  Check out my online store to get begin shopping or to download a trial version of My Digital Studio.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Embellishments
    Candid Frames
    Round Buttons - Not Quite Navy
    Baker's Twine - Cherry Cobbler knot

Stamps
    Decorative Overlays
    Old Saint Nick
    Season of Cheer

Punches
   Flag Punch
   Snowflake Punch

Paper
 Designer Series Paper - Number One
 Designer Series Paper - Wonderfall
 Designer Series Paper - Christmas Jingle
 Textured Card Stock - Whisper White  
 Textured Card Stock - Bashful Blue

I'm So Far Behind! My Digital Studio Photo Book

  At some point over the last year I began to think how fun it would be to have a photo book of our 2012 memories.  Trips we'd been on, places we'd visited, goofy every day stuff that happens at our house, you know that kind of photo book.  We tend to take a lot of photos and they sit on our computer  and our screen saver scrolls through them but we really don't do anything else with them.  Sometimes Alex will sit at the computer for 15 or 20 minutes watching the random selections appear.  He thinks it's funny to try to guess if the baby is Ryan or himself.  Wouldn't it be nice to sit down and flip through a book of your whole year?  Exactly!

  I've had My Digital Studio (MDS) for a while now but just never sat down to start making anything.  Then Stampin' Up! came out with My Digital Studio 2....well that just might have been the incentive that I needed to get in gear.  I upgraded, downloaded a bunch of new papers, embellishments and kits and decided that I was going to start with January of 2012 and pick some photos and get them on a page.  I know I've got a long way to go but I think if I keep working through this year and try to do 2013 one month at a time I'll eventually get there!

  This is my first page.  It took a while; I'm not a natural scrapbooker by any means so I needed to fiddle a bit and refresh my memory about MDS and learn the new features.  I think it came out OK and hope that I become more proficient with practice.  Mydigitalstudio.net is a great resource and I know I will be spending a lot more time there as I work my way through 2012.

  You can download a trial version of My Digital Studio if you're interested in seeing how it all works.  Head to my Stampin' Up! site to learn how you can get started on your own 2012 Photo Book (or cards, or single pages or whatever you can dream up!).

   ***Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza sale starts on Monday!  My Digital Studio will be 50% off starting on Monday!!  Don't miss out!***

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Supplies used in MDS:

Background
     Designer Kit -Number One

Embellishments
    Designer Kits - Number One
    Baker's Twine - Early Espresso knot (re-colored)

Stamps
    Designer Kits - Fifty Nifty - Virginia outline
    Designer Kits - A Split Second - frame 4
    Sporting - star

Punches
    Star Punch,  Filled with: Textured Card Stock - Real Red
       
 

It Finally Happened! A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

  After about a month of wiggling, Ryan lost his first tooth!  This past week he had been wiggling it more and more and had asked Matt and I to try to pull it out.  The tooth was so little and slippery that we couldn't get a good grip on it.  We even had a pair of pliers at the ready but the tooth held on!  We were ready to try the string tied to the tooth tied to the door trick on Sunday until Matt ruined the moment by Googling if it was a good idea or not.  Darned internet!  Anyway after eating an apple at lunch yesterday the poor tooth was just barely hanging on and after dinner Ryan let Matt give it a quick pull!  Out it came!

 

 

 

Get out your magnifying glass...the smallest tooth ever!

New Smile! The adult tooth is already starting to peek out!

   I'm already paranoid that the new tooth is terribly crooked!  That's a mom for you right?  I better sell some more stamps so I will be able to pay the orthodontist!  =)

  Of course we had to put the tooth in a very special place so the tooth fairy could find it while Ryan was asleep.  Knowing that this day would eventually come I was actually prepared with a special tooth holder (is that what you even call these things?? We're entering new territory here!) that I made a few weeks ago. 

 

  I just made this little tooth fairy box out of an empty Stampin' Up! embellishment container (because I just can't bring myself to recycle them!).  A few die cut circles, a hand drawn tooth, a bit of Dazzling Details and a reminder to smile and we've got a tooth holder.  This was a really simple, fast project except for drawing the tooth.  I am not an artist, not even a doodler...that's why I stamp.  I don't have to draw since Stampin' Up! has such great images but since Stampin' Up! is lacking in the "giant tooth" stamp department I had to go out on my own.  I probably drew about 9 or 10 to get the right look and size to fit on top of the container.  When I finally got one I liked I glued it down on the Midnight Muse circle so fast I forgot to emboss the top like I was intending!  Oh well....Ryan is 6 and I'm sure he doesn't really care about the design!

  I outlined the tooth with Dazzling Details and added a face.  I wrapped some retired Real Red grosgrain around the outside of the container.  I inked up the "smile" portion of a sentiment from Petite Pairs with my Midnight Muse marker and stamped it on Whisper White and punched it out with the jewelry tag punch.  I adhered it to the top of the box with a red brad.  The paper piercing tool goes right through the plastic lid by the way.

  Using My Digital Studio I created a circle template the same size as the inside of the lid.  I made a blank list so that we can write in the date of when each tooth comes out.  I thought it would be fun to see the progression from first lost tooth to the last one.  Of course I matched the color of the printing to the rest of the project...a great perk with MDS, you can keep everything matching in Stampin' Up! colors!

  I'm happy to report that the Tooth Fairy made a stop at our house last night and found the tooth holder just fine.  She left Ryan a fancy gold $1 coin!  Which Alex swiped when Ryan showed it to him, ran upstairs and shoved the coin in his own piggy bank!  Bratty little brother!  =)

  Check out some of my other projects using empty embellishment containers: Mini Album, Baker's Twine Holders, Personalized Gifts.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Ink: markers: Midnight Muse, Black

Paper: Whisper White, Midnight Muse

Accessories: Circles #2 die, jewelry tag punch, brad, Dazzling Details, grosgrain ribbon, My Digital Studio, empty SU embellishment container

Daffodil Fields

  I am woefully behind on posting projects lately!  This is a My Digital Studio (MDS) layout that I did with photos from last spring when we went to Connecticut for Easter. 

  My mother-in-law wanted to take us to go visit this place where there are daffodils planted all over a wooded hillside with a pond and rock walls. It was just gorgeous! The boys has a great time running around exploring.

I used various punches, papers and stamps to create the page.  My main colors were So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight (of course!), and Baja Breeze. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp (or digital papercraft!) today?

Supplies: My Digital Studio (MDS)

Happy Valentine's Day!

  Just a quick post this morning to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you have lots of people to smooch on and receive smooches from today!

  I sent out Valentine cards to the grandparents, great grandparent and other family members and of course I had to include some photos of the boys....I know no one would care a lick about the card if it didn't have a photo of the boys in it.  I talked Ryan and Alex into sitting still for a few minutes to cut out a construction paper heart and then pose for a few photos.  As you can tell we have a few goofballs in our family.  I was looking just to get one decent photo but it ended up that there were a few cute ones so I decided to make a little photo strip with 3 photos.

  I designed a quick layout in My Digital Studio.  It's just Real Red for the back ground and photos with a white matte.  The photos were easy to get the same size since I just made one photo box and then copy and pasted the others so they were all identical.  I put 2 layouts to a sheet and printed them out on photo paper so they are nice and glossy. I cut them apart and stuffed them into the Valentine's day cards.  It took longer to get my printer to cooperate than it did to design the layout.  It's nothing fancy but I think it's cute!

  If you'd like to play around with My Digital Studio and get a taste for digital papercrafting then check out my post here to learn all about the FREE trial of My Digital Studio.  No obligations to purchase at all.  Can't beat free!

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Supplies: My Digital Studio, photopaper

My Sweet Boys Scrapbook Page

  One of the Creative Crew challenges for February was to make a scrapbook page about someone or something you love. To see all the projects for this challenge search keyword: CCREW0212SF at Splitcoaststampers.

  Let me start by saying I am not a scrapbooker.  The thought of creating a whole book using large sheets of cardstock kind of overwhelms me.  I like cards...you make them, send them out and never think about them again.  Really no commitment!  Scrapbooks are a real commitment...and pages can be a lot of area to design.  I'm worried that if I start scrapbooking I'll always feel that I'm behind and having them right here in the house I think I would be tempted to keep changing the layouts and adding stuff....like a page would never be truly complete!  So my solution to this dilemma is My Digital Studio!  I love being able to sit down and just play with the different elements and try different layouts without having to commit to cutting into paper.

  I made this page while my husband and I were watching a hockey game on TV.  I kept changing my mind and adding and deleting things...no commitment!   I used a page layout that I saw on some scrap book website but I forgot to save the link.  If you know where the layout came from please let me know and I'll update my post.

 

 The digital Designer Series Paper on this page actually came from a free download that Stampin' Up! gave away a few weeks ago to their Facebook fans.  The Day in the Life download came with a bunch of DSP, some embellishments, some designer layouts and more. 

  Since the challenge was to focus on someone/something you love I, of course, chose the boys as my subject.  Though I think my title "My Sweet Boys" might be a stretch some days I think the page came out pretty well.  I used a lot of the heart punches and then filled them in with various papers to coordinate with the the rest of the page.  It's great because you can rotate, resize and layer and just play around until you get the look you want.

  Stampin' Up! is offering a FREE 30 day trial of My Digital Studio Express so you can see how easy it is to create scrapbook pages, cards, albums and books using digital versions of Stampin' Up! supplies!  The trial version is a pared down version of the actual program so just imagine that there is tons more on the full program with new digital items being released every week that you can download.

  Check out my online store HERE to download the FREE software.  Just add the trial to your shopping cart and check out...no need to order any other items!  

 Click HERE for Frequently Asked Questions about the My Digital Studio Trial offer.  And of course I'm here to help with questions too!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Supplies: My Digital Studio (MDS)

Fun Week with the Cousins

  Just a quick post today to show a page I designed last night using My Digital Studio.  I am far from a scrapbooker but using My Digital Studio at least gets me going in the right direction.  I hope to have more time in the future to sit down and play with it.  It's fun to be able to share photos with family members that are a little more interesting than just a photo.  To see the latest My Digital Studio downloads Click Here

  In my post yesterday I mentioned that my cousin and her kids visited this week.  We were very busy doing all sorts of fun things around Richmond.  One of our stops was down in Carytown at the Sweet Frog yogurt place.  Apparently these places are very popular but I hadn't heard of them before this summer....I must live under a rock or something!  Anyway we took the kids down there and they enjoyed choosing their own flavor and adding yummy toppings. Definitely a big hit with the small fry!

  I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Thanks for looking.  Did you stamp today?

Halloween - What you can do with some Stampin' Up boxes!

  Sorry I haven't been posting a lot since last week.  It seems that this week is totally crazy with commitments, errands, cleaning for company this weekend (blech- I know you'd rather stamp too!) and just general stuff so I haven't been in my stamp room much to make any new projects.   But I thought you all might enjoy seeing what my husband and I made for our boys Halloween costumes.  This is what you get when you have a 4 year old say he wants to be a train for Halloween....and then the mommy says, "Like a train engineer?" and the 4 year old says, "No Mommy, a train." And then the Mommy tries to clarify by asking, "Like Thomas the Tank train honey?" (kind of hoping he says yes so I can buy one of those cheap plastic Thomas costumes) And the 4 year old replies very emphatically, "No, a REAL train."  And of course the 2 year old just gets swept up in big brothers costume plans because we all know if he doesn't get a REAL train costume there will be sad little tears.

  So without further ado, here is what the boys were for Halloween....

  Ryan was the "Engine" and Alex was the "Coal Car".  Alex originally was going to be a caboose but we just couldn't get a caboose we liked.  The Coal Car worked out perfectly though and they both looked super cute if I do say so myself.  The only thing I bought to make these was some black craft foam to make the wheels and the little windows on the engine.  Everything else was stuff we had laying around.  Leftover spray paint, cottons balls for the coal, solo cup for the headlight, bread crumb canister for the smoke stack and some landscaping ties for the straps to hold them on the boys shoulders.  Both boxes were from my Stampin' Up orders.  Other Stampin' Up supplies that were used were my circle punches to make the hubcaps, More Mustard cardstock for the hubcaps, paper snips to cut out the patterns for the numbers & letters printed on Whisper White cardstock.  So it's kind of a Stampin' Up project!  =)

  After we got home from trick-or-treating I made up a quick My Digital Studio project to send out to the family so they could see the boys all dressed up.

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  Hope you all had a nice Halloween!  I hope to get some new projects made in the next few days. 

Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping!