Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Crazy?


Is it too Crazy?  I'm asking about my page, not my daughter, although both may be in question.  I used brighter colors than I usually do, and I'm not sure yet what I think.  I like it because it makes me smile.  Jillian is fun and unique and bright colors just seem to go with her.  But, bright colors are not usually my thing.  I love that font though!  It was a free download called "Fish Fingers".   Fonts can have the strangest names sometimes! 

The papers and elements on this page are from the Nobody's Business kit.   This kit is fun, it has lots of bright yet grungy papers and embellishments.  I used it here on my Willis Tower page.




Here is the Nobody's Business photobook kit  item #132812 $19.95.   Remember, a photobook kit comes with all the premade template pages, but also individual elements that were used to make the pages.  This kit comes with 24 page templates, 27 piece stamp brush set, 12 papers, 49 embellishments, and 3 punches.  You can start with a pre-made template and change it up, as I did on page two of my Willis Tower spread, or leave it as it is and just plop in your photos.  Or, make a page from scratch, as I did here today.







Thanks for stopping by today!!
 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Fun Stamp Find!

I recently bought the Take a Spin digital stamp set because I noticed the spinner hands were now just $0.79 on the Clearance rack and I had always thought they were fun.  Well, when I downloaded the set, it actually comes with over 40 stamps, not  the 4 that the real stamp set came with.  The digital set comes with the original pre-made spinner game card stamps, but then it also has all the elements used to make up those spinner cards.
Here is a picture to show what I mean.

here are just some of the included stamps!  Lots of good stamps for many occasions!  Graduation, Father's Day, and more!
I added the spinner game stamp to my blank page and used the coloring tool to add multiple colors to my stamp.  Then I copied and pasted them a few times.  I resized the images to fit the punch I wanted to use, then printed them out. 
Fun cards to have on hand!  I made 6 in just a short time!  I bought 3 packs of spinner hands, to be sure to have them for a long time! 
Thanks for stopping by today!!
 

Monday, April 22, 2013

MDS Monday # 12

Wow!  It's  hard to believe that another two weeks have gone by!  Today is MDS Monday day again.  This time Holly is our hostess and she has created a very cute sketch, as well as a challenge for us today.  I really like the sketch, the circle highlighting the photo is great.  The added challenge for us is to use the Brush feature.  Here is where i made my mistake :)  I wasn't remembering what the various features were called, so when I read "use the brush feature" I thought "stamp brush" which is what digital stamps are called, and the coloring tool.  So I colored my stamp and thought I meat the challenge.  Then, days later as I am uploading to the blog, I realized my error :(  So Sorry Holly!  I will pay better attention next time!  
Here is the Sketch...

For my page, I used the Razzleberry Splash digital Kit.  This kit comes with lots of pieces.  10 stamps, 4 papers and 86 embellishments!  There is also a pre-made template. #130983 $7.95.
To color my stamp, the swirly circle is from the "No body's Business" kit, I clicked on it, and then clicked on the coloring tool box.  A new window will appear with your stamp in it.  If you need to, you can enlarge your stamp in this box, this is great if your stamp has lots of fine details. 


I colored the outside of the stamp in Night of Navy and the inside Rich Razzleberry.  One last thing I would like to say about this page has to do with the colors I went with.  I was spending a lot of time going through my digi papers looking for group that matched Jillian's Tinker Bell costume.  I couldn't find just the right green.  Finally it hit me, don't use any green, silly!  I went with a fun color that goes nicely with her green costume instead and I am super happy with the results.  So, if your pictures have an odd color, remember that you can do a few things.  You can change your pictures to sepia or black and white.  You can use the recolor tool to change the color of an embellishment and sometimes paper, and use the color matching tool to get the right shade.  Or, you can go with contrasting colors.  I'm sure there are other good choices too, but this is what I came up with.
Ok, now head on over to the MDS Monday blog and see what the other Design Team members came up with!

Friday, April 19, 2013

FREE Download

Stampin' Up! is celebrating 20,000 facebook fans on their My Digital Studio Page!!  They are offering a free download called the Playful Polka Dots Kit.   This is a really cute kit with loads of embellishments! 
The Free Download is only available until April 23rd so grab it today!! 
Go to my online store and add item number 126027 to your basket.  there is no tax or shipping!!  its FREE FREE FREE!  4 papers and 55 embellishments (super cute ric-rac trim) and 1 11 by 8 1/2  template.   Bummer for me, I actually already have this kit.  I've used it several times already and I really like it.  Here is a page I made with this kit last year...
 
 and a hybrid card I made at that time, too.
 
it's all digital except the button.  Super cute kit, grab yours today!  Free Deal ends Tuesday April 23rd.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Waiting for Santa

So many times I wish I had my camera, but didn't bring it.  Luckily, new phones take pretty good photos these days.  We waited a really long time waiting for Santa, the kids were being goofy and making crazy faces and I snapped lots of pictures with my phone.  Many were blurry and I didn't think of ever using them in a scrapbook page but then someone, I think Kimberly at Simply My Digital Studio on Facebook, mentioned that blurry is OK, its the moment you are remembering, so it doesn't matter.  That made me re-think my pictures.  It was a crazy wait, the kids were crazy, and the pictures make me smile, so why not use them?  So it did.  Here is our crazy wait for Santa.



 

Page one shows the wait. 























Page two shows the result.  The Santa picture was taken by Santa's helpers at the mall.  Its so nice they offer a disk instead of a printout now!!   So, I hope you snap those crazy moments, even if you forgot your camera.  And I hope you use the photos that make you smile, blurry or not.    Join the Simply My Digital Studio Facebook group, where you will always find something inspiring. 
Thanks for stopping by !!










Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Pie Graph

My little cutie Jillian is just about always dressed up in a princess costume, or sometimes just a crown or some jewels.  She makes me laugh at how attracted to all things glittery she is.  I thought for sure she would be a tomboy, she has two older brothers and I am not one for pinks or jewelry.  Anyway, I saw some Pie Graph style pages at Simply My Digital Studio, a facebook group I go to, and I decided to give it a try.  It was really fun, and I learned a few things too! 
There are a few ways to do the pie graph.  In one version, you make individual wedges with a triangle punch that you can elongate or stretch to the desired shape.  The other way, and the way I choose to do it, is to add a circle punch to your page, then add strips of rectangle punches crisscrossing your circle.  






Hope this helps make sense of it all.  Heather and Kimberly, the hostesses of the Facebook group have videos up too.  I rotated the rectangles using the rotate 90 degrees buttons and the rotate bar.
the rotate bar is great, sometimes its hard to grab and drag the smaller objects on your page, this tool is simple.
  here is the 90 degree rotate button, love that for the pie graph, easy.
 
 Thanks for stopping by today!!
 

Monday, April 8, 2013

MDS Monday Challenge 11

Hi all!  Happy Monday!  Today there is a new challenge at MDS Monday! Tara is the hostess and she has designed a two part challenge!  First, there is a sketch, always a nice place to start.  The second part to the challenge is to stay in one kit.  This was easy for me, because I usually do stay in one kit.  Stampin' Up! has so many great kits, and they usually have papers, embellishments, and stamps that all work together beautifully.   Why mess with a good thing?  My page used the Hello There kit #133374 for $9.95.  This kit has 13 papers, 26 embellishments and 17 stamps, and its super cute. 
 
Here is the sketch. 
I hope you will play along!  And visit the MDS Monday page to see what the other design team members came up with!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Honorable mention :)

Yea!! I got an Honorable Mention on my entry for the "Scrap Map 4" challenge at MyDigitalStudio.net !
It is so fun for me to enter these challenges as they really help me get inspired to make a page, and they have great ideas for colors or layouts.  I really think if you are learning to use MDS, you should check out the challenges and give them a try.  And, you can easily load a page into the MDS gallery there.  All you need to do is click the "Project" button on your top tool bar in MDS, then choose "share" from the drop down menu.  Export your pages into a folder.  I have a folder set aside for all my MDS projects.  Then, when you are at the MyDigitalStudio.net site, chose the inspiration gallery and you will see a "ADD" button.  You will need to be logged in, but I recommend you join the site.  It is full of useful videos and samples and a forum for questions.  You don't need to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and its FREE. 
 Here is what the Share button looks like.












Here is what the Add button looks like.
Just do it!! You can upload a page and ask for feed back on how to give it  more pizzaz, or show off a new technique you learned.  The more samples added to the gallery, the more our digital community can be inspired.   I am going to be looking for samples from some of my MDS customers, and if I spot you, you may get a nice surprise in your mail box.  (lets see who's listening)
Even better...
Take part in the MDS Monday challenges!  Once you add a sample in the MyDigitalStudio.net gallery, you can link it at the MDS Monday site.  At the end of each MDS Monday challenge, there is a button to add your link to the challenge.  copy and paste the link into the box, this will let you picture be seen at the MDS Monday site too!  Let me know if you have any questions.   A new MDS Monday challenge will be posted in 2 days!  and you have 2 weeks to complete the challenge.  Give it a try! 








Thursday, April 4, 2013

Stampin' Up! Specials!





































Look, I made a flyer in My Digital Studio!!  There seriously are a lot of great specials going on, including FREE SHIPPING April 6, 7, and 8!!  There are some nice bundle deals going on now too, with April only discounts!  Go to my Stampin' Store to see all the details (Click Shop Now in the upper left corner)!  And feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Still time to play along

Join us at MDS Monday and play along with Challenge number 10!  There is still time to play along.  Someone will win a free digital download too!   Check out the MDS Monday website.   Look at past challenges to gain even more MDS inspiration!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Progressive Challenge #11

What is a progressive challenge?  A progressive challenge is one that adds a bit at a time, over the course of days or weeks, until the page is finished.  There is a monthly progressive challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.com and I try to participate whenever I can.  One of the fun things about the progressive challenge is that you are not sure were it is heading, so you just go with it.  And, because you are creating digitally, if you don't like it, just hit delete!  The challenges at Splitcoaststampers.com starts each month, and new additions are made on Tuesdays.  Today is day one, but you can join in whenever, or go back and do past months challenges.  For the start of this months progressive challenge, we were to add a background paper, several strips of paper down the right side, and a framed photo.  That's it, easy peasy.  Next Tuesday we will get are next installment.   I used papers from the Celebrate Easter kit download, and the frame is from the Hello there kit.  The fun background papers is perfect with my sons shirt and cotton candy!  Why not join in the challenge?  They are a great way to get started! Follow this link to digi challenges at Splitcoaststampers!