MDS Blog Hop--Something for Baby

Did you see the great MDS downloads for this month?  All of them are fantastic! 

Love Story Digital Project Life

Age Awareness Stamp set

Lullaby DSP

Something for Baby Stamp Set

Something for Baby is so adorable!  I just had to make a little onesie.  I used iron-on transfer in my printer and I re-colored the little stacking toy.  Make sure when you use text or word stamps to mirror the image or text for the iron-on.  It's a really quick and easy gift, something you could make ahead of time and have a few of them ready to go at a minute's notice.

 

One suggestion...make sure you follow the directions on the transfer paper, just sayin'! Also, my printer does not have the best color match for my Stampin' Up! colors, I would suggest that you take your transfer paper to a professional copy shop with your image on a flash drive.  I get much better images that way.  

I can't wait to see what all the girls have created this week, I always seem to have to buy a few more downloads, how about you?  It's always great to read the comments so go ahead and leave 'em some love!

My girlie is getting ready to head down to college next week!  I'm getting so excited for her, but we are surely going to miss having her around!  On to bigger and better things, yay!

Julie

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?

Busy, busy, busy around here!  We closed on our home here in Vegas last week and the next day put an offer on a home in Utah...yep, we are under contract!  We've experienced miracle after miracle in this process of moving our family back to where we started, we know that we have been guided through this whole journey. We know it is time for us to return, but that doesn't really make it easier to leave.  If I pretend I'm not leaving for a little while longer, maybe I'll be able to focus on the job at hand, the job I hate--packing!!  I can see why people just hire movers to do it all, I'm getting to that point.  Sometimes, I've got to ignore all the boxes and take an MDS break!
Several years ago, I made this fun card with my Stampin' Up! punches and an idea from all over the web, a cute baby card with the guys from the "Street", you know the ones; Oscar, Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie!

Anyway, as I often do, I looked at that card and said to myself, "Hey, I can create that in MDS!" So that's what I did.

It's pretty simple with different punches and a couple of stamps and embellishments. I cropped a few of the punches as well.  If you would like to see how this is done, check out this video (it's a different project, but same steps):

This card could be perfect for babies through elementary school (ok, maybe the older kids wouldn't admit to watching Sesame Street, but I know they do!!) If you have questions regarding any of the punch shapes, leave a comment and I will let you know which ones they are.
Time to move along to the next blogger, Julie L., she's always got something fun to share!

I hope you will stick with me through this move.  I may not be posting very much for the next 3 to 4 weeks, but once I get settled in, I will get right back to creating!!

Julie

MDS Blog Hop--Hooray for Mom!

It's hard to believe this will be my 22nd Mother's Day! My children are my greatest creation and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for them!  It's also my mom's 45th Mother's Day and I am also truly grateful for her love and encouragement!  I decided to make her a fun tote bag for all stuff she has to carry to her many women's Relief Society meetings. Did you know that the Relief Society (organized in 1842) is one of the largest and oldest women's organizations in the United States as well as the world? As the President over all the women in her stake (similar to a diocese) she gets to visit many different congregations and gets to know so many wonderful, loving Relief Society sisters and often she gets to speak to them and give them an inspired gospel message.  I just felt that this saying was perfect for her as she spends so much time caring and praying for all of the women that she has stewardship over.

And for one more project that always has to do with moms...babies!!  My best friend's two daughters both gave birth to their 3rd sons 2 days apart.  I decided to make some onesies for them!  I also am in charge of preparing a small gift for the ladies of our congregation who have babies, so I started by making a cute baby girl onesie.

Iron-on paper is easy to use (make sure to follow the directions on the package).  As you create in MDS, just remember that when you are printing on iron-on transfer paper, your image needs to be mirrored.  For most stamps, that's not an issue, but if you are using words or text just make sure you select "mirror" option and it will flip backwards.

I know the other moms on our blog hop will have wonderful projects for you to re-create or even just spark your imagination for you to come up with your own creations!  If you create something with MDS or any other Stampin' Up! products for Mother's Day, use the hashtag MadeForMom and post them all over social media...let get it trending!

I received my daughter's graduation announcements yesterday, I'll post photos of the winner...and the runner(s)-up tomorrow!

Julie

My Convention 2013 Swaps

I have returned from another Stampin' Up! convention completely rejuvenated and exhausted!  Three days of adrenalin rush is not good for this old body, but somehow, I survived to tell the tale!  There were 5800 demonstrators from all over the US and Canada (along with a few from the South Pacific and Europe) and most of them brought cards to swap!  You can't believe the craziness that goes on when Stampin' Up! demonstrators get together to swap cards!  It's more like a swarm than a swap!  Cray. Zay.  I did two swaps this year, but I didn't make a bunch because I figure if I swap it I have to bring it home and store it somewhere--so I keep it to 40-50 cards.  I did a remake of my baby stacking toy card (don't you just love MDS!!!) printed four to a page and mounted them on coordinating colored card stock.  I had none left and I didn't take a pic before I left so I will show you the digital rendition:

I love how you can change a project in MDS to fit your needs, maybe next time I'll do it in pastels!
The second swap card was actually done for a organized swap, or a swap that has a theme and usually a set amount of people, in this case 10.  The theme was coordinating DSP and stamps which we have so many of!  I love that Stampin' Up! has "suites" of paper, stamps, and embellishments that coordinate with each other so you don't have to think, "Does this go together?" All you have to do is let your creativity run! (unless you're like me and you hit "the DEAD zone"! You know the one! Nothing, nada, zilch, zero!) Yeah, I started working on this weeks ago and all I had was the Chalk Talk tag punched out--that's it!  It just wasn't working!  I wandered around Pinterest and I saw a few ideas that caught my eye and then two days before I had to leave it all came together! (Sadly, that is my MO, hurry up and wait till the last minute! I finished my cards in the truck on the way to SLC!)  Luckily for me I only had to do 11 of them!  I used Soho Subway DSP and Hello, Lovely stamp set along with a little bit of Gorgeous Grunge on the Alphabet Press embossed background.

Besides the tag, the accessories I used were: Scallop edge punch; 1 1/4" circle punch; and a bit of 7/8" Cotton Ribbon which is easy to stamp on!

I don't know if you see a pattern here, but I REALLY like Summer Starfruit and Pool Party!!
Tomorrow I will post some of the swap cards I received! Stay tuned!

Julie

MDS Blog Hop--Baby Ark

I'm still not quite recovered from my trip to Salt Lake City for Stampin' Up!'s annual convention, which was completely awesome by the way, but I told my MDS blog hop friends I would have this post done...tick, tock, tick, tock!  So, after I dropped my daughter off at the airport at 5:30 this morning (I got home at 5pm yesterday!) I came home and tried to decide which "project I am working on" would be a fun post for today!  This is the one I came up with.  I had downloaded Two by Two because I love to use the MDS freeform brush tool almost as much as I love to watercolor with my stamps!  I tried to give it some dimension with darker colors for the shadowed parts of the image and then I copied the stamp brush and added the drop shadow and added that to the bottom layer to create the shadow (the shadow sometimes doesn't show as well with the coloring tool).  The clouds were created by using the top of the cupcake punch, filling it with any DSP, double click for the punch editor,  slide your DSP completely out of the punch "window", then change your drop shadow color to Whisper White and change the blur and opaqueness to your choosing.  You are left with the "shadow" part of the punch!!  Cool, eh?  I finished the card off with some In-color ruffled ribbon (recolored) and Summer Possiblities DSP I hope you enjoy this fun baby card and if you would like more info on using the MDS freeform brush tool, you can watch my video, here.

Go check out what all the other MDS blog hoppers are working on--they are always inspiring to me!

1. Jeanna Bohanon 2. Rochelle Gould 3. Amber Meadows 4. Aly Schilling 5. Cindy Schuster 6. Holly VanDyne 7. Erica Shaw 8. Julie Davidse - guest blogger!

InLinkz.com

I've got some fun stuff to share from convention, so check back soon!

Julie

Chalk It Up!

"Chalkboard" is all the rage right now!  I see it all over Pinterest, in the mall, in restaurants, on TV, wherever you look you will probably find a chalkboard!  I love some of our new digital downloads for that reason!  Stampin' Up! really is good at keeping up with what's on trend at the moment as well as the classics so that we can have fun creating funky, trendy projects right now, not next season when we've moved on to the "next big thing".  I thought I would create a baby card, but you could really change this up for graduations, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, or any occasion.

Front

Inside

I used a fun free font called Return to Sender along with items from Hello World ensemble and DSP from On The Go digital kit to make this a fun chalkboard card.  If you would like more information on MDS, I can set up a class for you and your friends to learn how to make this and many other fun digital projects or you can check out my MDS videos on my YouTube channel.

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend!

Julie

Mydigitalstudio.net challenge

Here is my Mydigitalstudio.net challenge entry for this week using any October 2012 downloads.  It's a 3 1/4" square tag.

I used Here & There Designer Series Paper, Nursery Necessities sailboat, round scallop punch, circle punch, freeform line (welcome baby, dots).

Julie

A happy birthday and a baby card!

First, I need to wish my little brother Jeff a happy 40th birthday!  I remember coming home from the hospital, my brother in my mom's arms and me peering at him from behind leaning over the front seat! Can you believed we all survived childhood without child seats?  I thought he was going to be my new baby doll!  He was so cute...then he grew up! ;)  Although there were some crazy times, I still love him--even more today than when my parents brought him home (and he's much more interesting)!  I can't ever be around Jeff and not completely laugh out loud!  He's funny and smart (almost as smart as me!) and he's even running for public office ( I could never do that!!) And even though he's bigger than me now, he'll always be my "little brother"!  Happy birthday, Jeff!

My friend Anjuli had a new baby boy on Wednesday!  He is so precious!  I'm sure he and his big brother Porter are going to be best friends!  To welcome baby Foster, I'll share the card I gave his mom at her baby shower!  This is the darling card that I CASEd (copy and share everything) from Pinterest!  It was done by Lisa Lara and I thought I could recreate it using My Digital Studio!  I think it turned out cute!

I'm outta here for a few days, I'll post the fun happenings of my quick weekend getaway on Monday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Julie