Editing a pre-made template

Hi Everyone!  Today on Beth's Paper Cuts, the MDS Blog Hop is highlighting the Playful Polka Dots Download.  As I was working with this download I noticed that it came with a pre-made template.  I love to use the pre-made templates when I can because they are so nicely designed and it seems a shame to waste them.  I know, they're digital and so there really is no waste but I want to get the most bang for my buck so I want to use everything that comes with the kits.  The template that comes with the Playful Polka Dots kit is in the 11 by 8 1/2 format and I use 12 x 12 in my albums, bummer right?  No, this is easy to fix.  I've changed template sizes several times and thought I would share how in case this in something you missed. Above is the template as is.  To make it into a 12 x 12 template you just need to click at the top tab that says "Edit".  You will then get a drop down menu, go to "Change project size/ type".  You will then get the page  choices and you can chose your /new size, in my case 12 x 12.  Now as the included template is 11  by 8 1/2  and I want 12 x 12 I am going from a rectangle to a square, so some adjustments may need to happen.  When going from 8 x8 to 12 x 12, you may need no changes because they are both square.  Sometimes the only thing you may need to do is adjust spacing or enlarge a background.  Here is what I got when I changed the template to 12 x 12...

See how it is now square?  but the background paper on the right did not go all the way to the bottom of the page.  I just resized that paper to fill the empty space.  I also enlarged the flowers and title so better fill the page. 

Here is  my finished page after I made a few changes. So I hope that you will look through your templates and find some that you can use to fit your needs.  They are a great way to make a fun page fast. 


This template is included in the Playful Polka Dots download which is included in this weeks "Weekly Deals" for only $5.97!  Sale ends Monday Sept 1st. 

Playful Polka Dots #126027

MDS Monday # 79

Hi everyone!  Its time for a new sketch at MDS Monday!  Holly has a fun sketch for us and I just had to use it for my daughter Jillian's first day of school. She was so excited to go to school.  Holly also asked that we use one overlay stamp on our page.  An overlay stamp is one that is meant to add some texture to your background or added detail or border to your page or photos.  I used an overlay called "Vintage overlay 9".  I liked it because it has a fun ruler down the side and a sort of distressed edge.  I placed a white square behind it so that it wouldn't get lost on my grid paper background.   I used frames from "Finest Simplicity" around my photos, I thought they were cute with a sort of doodle look.

Here is Holly's sketch.  Head on over to the MDS Monday blog to see what the rest of the design team has come up with.  We hope that you will give the sketch a try on your own, we would love to see what you come up with!

Travel Journal Cards

Hi everyone!  As I posted the projects yesterday using the Travel Journal Digital kit that is on sale right now, I kept thinking about ties!  I think it was the striped papers.  So then I thought about Father's day and that these papers would be good for that.  Rather than wait almost another year for Father's day I decided to just dive right in and give it a try.  That is one of the great things about digital, you can try things out and if you end up loving them, print them out.  If you don't, you can just save the file digitally to use at a future date, or just hit delete and start over.  No wasted papers.



These words all describe both my father and my husband.  Lucky me. Love them both.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Travel Journal

Hi everyone!  This weeks Digital Download that is on sale is the "Travel Journal" digital kit.   I have this one and I thought I would share something that I made with it a couple years back. It is a journal that I made for my son Zachary, not really for him, more for me to write about him so that he can have it later.  The little cloud reads "enjoy the journey", from the "travel log" download that was on sale two weeks ago.  My Favorite thing about this download is the papers. The color combinations and images are really different than a lot of the papers  Stampin' Up! releases.  They are great for masculine projects, vacation projects, and more.  And recently I saw a project by a fellow MDS Lover and one of the ladies I work with on the MDS Blog hop, Jeanna Bohanon. She made a Sweet Sixteen new driver card!  It was really great as I have a niece who is about to get her driver's license.

This download is on sale through Monday Aug. 25th!  It is only $5.97 for 12 Designer Papers and 7 stamps.  Here is a better look at those papers.

Thanks for stopping by!! 

MDS Monday # 78

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday!  This week Tami has a sketch for us at MDS Monday!  This is a great sketch for those times when you have a lot of photos that you want to use. I used the "World Traveler" download for this one.  I really like the papers in this download and I was so happy to see that Wisconsin was featured in one of the map pages!!

Here is the sketch!  Head on over to the MDS Monday blog and see what the rest of the design team has come up with.  We hope that you will play along and make a page of your own!  We would love to see what you come up with!

Tea Time II

Hi everyone!  Did you see that the Tea Time II download is one sale this week? We featured it on the MDS Blog Hop at my "Beth's Paper cuts" blog yesterday and I thought I would make a couple cards using the pretty background papers.  The papers are so pretty as they are, the card on the left is all just a background paper, the doily and the other elements are already on the page, I just added the sentiment. 

For this card I just added the tag and the sentiments. 



















If you missed the Blog hop yesterday, go check it out!  And check out this weeks weekly deals while you are at it! 

                                                                  Tea Time II

2nd Grade Writing Journal

Hi everyone!  I used the sketch from yesterday's MDS Monday post to create this journal cover.  The kids in my son's class are encouraged to write in a journal and they can bring one to school.  I thought this would be fun, and much cuter than a plain black and white composition notebook.
The papers used here are from the See Ya Next Year download, a fun one for school days.

MDS Monday #77

Hi everyone!  Happy Monday to you!  This week Joan has a new sketch for us at MDS Monday! I've got back to school on my brain so I decided to use some school photos from a few years back. 

I used a download called "See ya next year", perfect for school days! 

Here is the sketch...


Head on over to the MDS Monday site and see what the rest of the design team came up with!  We hope that you will play along and give the sketch a try of your own!
We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Digital Weekly Deals

Did you know that Stampin' Up! releases special weekly deals every Tuesday?  I bet you did.  But, did you know that there is always at least one digital item in the weekly deals too?  This week there are actually two digital items in sale! Yippie! 

The first digital kit on sale is the Oh Baby Photobook template (regularly $17.95 now just $10.77).  This is a 24 page fully designed book, but you also get all the elements used to make the book, such as 9 designer papers, 28 stamps and 14 embellishments.    Great for baby showers and announcements.  You could even make party favors or cupcake toppers. Even thank you cards!

The second kit that is on sale this week is the Travel Log Kit.  This is the perfect kit for right now because a lot of us have travel photos from our summer vacations. 

This kit comes with 12 designer papers, 12 embellishments and 13 stamps.  It also comes with a pre-designed page template to get you started.

I thought it would be a fun kit to use for a travel journal.  Stampin' Up! print services offer a spiral bound journal or a bound journal with a spine for only $10.36.  You custom design the front and back of the journal and then there are 80 double sided lines pages for you to journal on.

 Here is a page I made with the pre-designed template.  These are my nieces and we were on a road trip a few summers back.  They were so silly in the back of the car. I heard constant giggling and I think about a million an one selfies were taken.













I hope that you will remember to check the Tuesday weekly deals. They are a great way to add to your digital collection.
Thanks for stopping by!  

MDS Monday #76

Hi Everyone!  It's monday!! MDS Monday #75 to be specific.  This week CindyI really loved the simplicity of this look and I was excited to give it a go.  I had one problem though...
I couldn't find just the right photos!
This page calls for two photos that work well together, and are both horizontal.  When looking through my photos I found that most of them are vertical.  There is a simple reason for this, I use my phone.  Phones these days take really great photos and I often find that I don't even reach for my camera anymore.  One of the presenters at the Stampin' Up! convention last month was mentioning this very thing!  She said that all of us memory keepers need to keep that in mind and remember to turn our phones sideways every so often so that we have a variety of both vertical and horizontal photographs.  I went through a lot of my files and found these sweet pictures of my daughter playing outside with her dolls.  I am really happy with how my page turned out.  I hope that you will give the sketch a try too!

Here is the sketch...
Click here to go to the MDS Monday blog and see what the rest of the design team has come up with!  Then give the sketch a try for yourself!!  We can't wait to see what you come up with!