Scrap Map 3 and Finding Valor

photo by Kate Lema Photography

 

Another challenge sketch.  This is for the MyDigitalStudio.net scrap map 3 challenge.  Finding Valor is the name of my nephew Jake's band.  They took some new promotional photos and I think they look great.  The papers are from the Grad party download.  The splatter stars are from the Oh Splat download.  Frame and stitching are from Downtown Grunge.   I really like the text on a path feature of MDS2, that's how I made the Title go in a half circle.  There is a how to video on how to do the text on a path feature that is better than any explanation I could give.  You can find it here.
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A Free Download From Stampin' Up!

Stampin' Up! has released another Free download!  This is a cute tag.  I would go nicely with the Grinch candy bars I made on my paper blog monday!  The item number is 132810 it comes up free in your shopping cart.  Go to my Stampin' Up! website, click shop now, and add this number to your shopping cart.  There are some other really cute matching tags and a new kit called  Jingle and Joy that is really cute, lots of cute papers and some really cute stamps and embellishments.  I realize I'm using the work cute a little much, sorry :)   One of the downloads is just so crazy that it too might just be cute. Can't decide.  I may just have to get it and see if my husband notices it hanging on the wall.  Its a template for a 3D reindeer head.  So crazy its cool?  or just crazy?  you decide! Here are pictures of the other new downloads from today, not free :)

 

 

MDS Monday!

I found a new blog this week!  I love sketches to help me start a scrapbook page, so this website is great for me.  It is called MDS Monday!  Here is the link.  They will post a sketch every other Monday I believe.  You can see the team's take on the sketch, and try one of your own.  If you like, you can even add your page to the blog.  This is the first sketch, the blog just started.  Here is my take on it.  This is my son Zachary on Bob's tractor in Iowa.  We went to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year and my mother in law lives on a farm of sorts.  Zachary loves to explore all the farm implements and look for kittens in the barn.   This year the tractor was out and he loved it, I had to pry him off.    I used papers from the Grad Party kit for my page, the frame is from Downtown Grunge, and the cute tractor stamp is from the On the Go stamp set. I also added some splatters to my page,  Zachary did get awfully dirty on the farm :)

This is the original sketch.   Check out the MDS Monday website!  I added it to my Favorites and will be checking back each week to play along!

Kindergarten Feast

I had a great time at the kindergarten feast on Friday!  There were 20 kids, 15 boys, all happily enjoying a party at school.  I was a helper at one of the craft project tables.  It was a crazy two hours but so much fun.  And Zachary was so happy to have me in the classroom.   The page layout was from the online class I'm taking with Heather Summers and Martha Inchley.  I switched out snowflakes for leaves.  The papers are all from the "Wonderfall" download, which also includes the fun leaf punches.  The tag is from "Family Fun".

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Online Extravaganza

MyDigitalStudio2 is on sale this week!!  50% off!  If you have version one, get the upgrade half off too!   This would be a great Christmas gift for yourself  so you can make saving memories your new years resolution.  contact me if you have any questions! 

PLACEMATS!!

One of the new features of MDS2 is that we can make projects in custom sizes.  I wasn't sure exactly what I would use this feature for until I started taking another online class.  I love these classes because even though I feel pretty comfortable with My Digital Studio, I am constantly learning little tips and tricks I never knew.  Here is a link to the class I am taking in case you would like to join in.  It already started but you can join anytime.   Anyway, in this class we were shown how to make these really cute place mats!!  They

are 11 by 17 inches, "Ledger" size.  I made them very quickly and then ran straight to Office Depot to print them out and have them laminated.  You can also send them online to be printed, but there is an Office Depot right down the street about a mile away, so I just went in, and I had a coupon :)

Aren't they cute?  I had two thicknesses of laminate to choose from and I choose the 10 mil thickness.  Very strong but more expensive.  They were $1.18 to print in that size, and the laminate was another $4, so just over $5 each.  If you go with the thinner laminate, it saves you $2.00. 

Fun.  I am so happy with the finished product that I am going to make a few non Holiday ones as well, and one for my baby niece. 

To make a custom size choose "custom" in your start up menu.

Next enter in the size you want to make your project, then click "create project" and the custom sized canvas will appear.

When I was finished I exported the pages to a thumb drive and drove over to Office Depot.  You can go to Staples or Office Max too.  I here Staples is less expensive, but as I mentioned, Office Depot is just down the street so that's where I go.

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

 

Snowday layout

I am just relaxing this week as my daughter and I are recovering from nasty colds.  So, a great way to spend the time is to play with My Digital Studio!  I have a nice hot cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and my laptop!! Here is a page I made today!  This page uses the papers from Frosty Day II.  I love the bright colors and they happen to go perfectly with the jackets on the kids!!

recoloring embellishments

Hi everyone!   I was thinking about Santa being back at the mall already and looked up older pictures of the kids with Santa.  Here are Jillian and Zachary last year.   When I finished the page I liked how it turned out, but wished that the trees matched the green background of the photo.  The trees are embellishments, not stamps.  Then, I remembered that we could recolor embellishments now with My Digital Studio 2!  YEA!  So, I used the recolor button, but it just gave me the standard Stampin' Up colors.  I noticed a "more" button at the left, so I clicked that, and happily it gave me a "Picker" option.  I picked some different shades for the photo to recolor the trees and now I as super happy with the end result! 


Here is how it looked before recoloring.  Also cute, but hey, if I can add more steps I'll do it :)    At least that's what the ladies at class say!

New Blog Headers!

I made some fun new blog headers last night!  I used the digital owl punch, so cute.  For the first on I used him as is.  I added a cute Santa hat for the season and a candy cane striped shirt.  The little snowflakes complete the scene.




On my paper crafts blog I changed the header too, but I made the owl into a turkey for Thanksgiving.  He took a few more steps. 
First choose the owl punch and apply him to your page. Next, choose the crop tool.  It is on the side bar to the right. 

Next, click on "Crop shape".  This will then bring up your punch shape choices.  I choose the circle punch.

The circle then appears over your owl.  Move the circle around so that it cuts off the ears and expand it all the way to the bottom of the owl.  His feel get a tiny bit cropped but that's OK.  click the OK button and color him a shade of brown.  I choose Chocolate Chip.  Next you need that little thing that hangs off the turkey's beak.  The name is escaping me now, I want to call it a gobbler but I know that's not right.  Waddle maybe?  Anyway, add another owl to your page and select the crop feature.  This time you don't need a shape, just move the crop line to the feet area and highlight one of the feet.  Click OK.  Then color your gobbler (?) and move it over to the correct area on your turkeys face. 

 Rotate the gobbler till you like how it looks, then add your heart shape beak and eyes.  

You should now group all your elements so that you can move them all around as one piece.

Now add your turkey feathers.  In my header I used the Rosette Embellishments, so I thought I would show the blooms this time.  Add your blooms to the page, then crop in half. Do this with as many colors as you like.  You can use the recolor tool to change the colors if you need to. 

 

Resize some of your blooms so that they layer nicely.  Group them together and add them to your turkey body. 

Wouldn't these make cute table place cards? 

Rosette download item # 131525 $3.95

Bright Blooms download item #130876 $4.95

 

 Thanks for stopping by!!  One of these days I'll learn to make screen capture videos and you can see the step by step better but I hope this all made sense.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Added some pictures

I have added some pictures to my Halloween page, so I thought I would post it again now that it's all done.

Carving Pumpkins and more free fonts!

It was so much fun to carve pumpkins with the kids.  This was Jillian's first time.  She did a great job and was not squeamish about the pumpkin guts.  She said they were slimy but fun.  Zachary did the whole thing by himself with child safe pumpkin carving knives.  David made a double sided pumpkin with a scary side and a traditional side. They all made a huge mess but it was a lot of fun.   I used the toxic frameable stamps for this page, they are just so fun for Halloween.  I also used Howlstooth ans Scaringbone paper.  The cute frames around the papers were from the free downloads we were given for world scrapbooking day! Love them. And, isn't that font cute?  I found it on Pinterest.  Here is a link.  It was free! 

 

Thanks for stoping by!!

 

Maggie page

I signed up for another one of Heather Summer's classes on My Digital Studio.  I always enjoy them and find that they are worth every penny.  This time she has teamed up with another My Digital Studio master, Martha Inchley, who's projects I have noticed online and always found amazing.  The class just started on November 1st, but you can sign up any time and jump right in.  Class goes for 30 days, but the website is open for much longer, I think about 3 months if I remember correctly, so you have plenty of time to do the projects at your own pace. 
Check Heather's blog here or Martha's blog here for details.



This page was a sketch challenge from them today.  The original page sketch was for Christmas, but I changed it up a bit for an any day theme.  This is my niece Maggie, I really liked this picture, it was taken by her friend Natalie Caswell, only 15 and a very talented photographer. I had to make a page for it.   Hope you like it.
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Last Day to get your free downloads!!

Today is the last day to get your THREE Free Downloads and 50% off digital Kits! 
And, if the goal of 18,000 downloads is reached, we will all get a forth download free as well!!  The free downloads are really cute and can be used as clip art in other programs even if you don't have My Digital Studio. 
And, you can try My Digital Studio Free for 30 days!! 
Visit MyDigitalStudio.net for more details.

Paper Bows

I was intrigued by the "That's a Wrap" digital kit that is on sale this week and decided to go ahead and get it.  The kit comes with some templates for bows and while I didn't want to use the colors in the template, I printed them out onto some cheap printer paper in grey scale, and then traced the pattern out onto paper that I did want to use.  They were very big!  So, I went back in and group the elements and re sized them.  That worked perfectly.  I cut out my new pattern and made my bow.  Cute!  I put a wooden button in the center and attached it to my box.  The template comes with two bow styles.

The kit comes with the bow parts as punches as well, so you could paper fill with any patterns you want and print and cut them out all in one step.  The kit at regular price may be a bit high priced for what you get, but at half off it was worth while to me, and I'm sure I'll make more of these cute bows!