MDS Blog Hop--New Families

It's time for MDS Blog Hop again and while I haven't been spending a whole bunch of time on MDS, but I do have a few things that I need to be finishing up in the near future.  I have a few weddings coming up and while I can't reveal what I'm working on for the next wedding, I would like to share some of the wedding "gifts" I've made previously.  I love making personalized framed art for the new family with their name and wedding date and add it to a nice frame. Here are a few of my favorites!

I try to use the colors that the couple has chosen for their new home (I love online wedding registries!!) along with a style that they seem to like.  Sometimes I even have to pick the brains of friends and parents to find out more info.  Each framed gift is made especially for them.  It's always nice to get a note from the couple saying that they have it hanging up in their new home/apartment!  It's a gift that is kinda "return proof", at least they can use the frame for something else later if they want ;).
Time to hop around to all the other bloggers, but you can start with the other Julie (glad she's back from vacation!!)

Just a few more days left for Sale-a-bration...don't miss out!

Julie

I Miss You Already

Well, after a lot of prayer, we have decided to leave Las Vegas after almost 20 years!  We will be moving back to Utah after our youngest graduates this summer.  It will be a new adventure for the whole family, but I still think I have a little bit of anxiety.  It's hard to leave the friends we've known and loved for 19+ years and the home we've raised our family in, but it is time for a change and the Lord keeps opening doors for us to go back--how can we say "no"?  As the boxes slowly get packed up and the last few projects are finished, the reality of the whole thing is starting to hit me...hard!!  We have loved living here (I know that is hard for some to believe but it's true!)  Las Vegas is really two different cities!  The tourist "Vegas" and the community "Las Vegas valley".  It's completely different from where we grew up, but we love it and will miss it here.  We have made some lifelong friends along the way who really have become family since our family has been so far away.  We left Utah for better employment way back in August of 1994 with one toddler and dreams of a wonderful life and now we leave to go back with two grown children and more wonderful memories than we could've imagined!  We're not sure how to thank all those who have touched our lives, but we know we have been blessed more than we deserve.  It will be wonderful to keep in touch with today's modern technology and social media, but it's not nearly the same as one on one, face to face.
When I first saw this stamp, I really didn't get it, but now that I am really leaving, it's making more and more sense to me.  The pain of separation is getting stronger each day and memories are filling my mind to the brim, but I have to keep packing and cleaning (ugh!) and planning and home-searching (thanks, Zillow!) and try not to "think" too much, or it will overwhelm me!  I certainly plan to thank my friends personally, but this sentiment just made it all very real to me.  I miss you already!!

Products used were: Decorative Dots embossing folder (SAB), Watercolor Wonder DSP, Oval Framelits, Stitched In-color satin ribbon, In-color Dahlias, Smoky Slate embossing powder, and Really Good Greetings stamp set.  

Sale-a-bration is coming to an end in just a little more than a week, make sure you get your order in before the end of the day on March 31!

Better get back to packing (again...UGH!!)!

Julie

MDS Blog Hop--Cut it Out!!

Ok, I have finally tried my hand at using MDS with an e-cutter (thanks to my bestie, Jeanna B) and I LOVE it!  I'm glad that we had 'using e-cutters' as a theme for our hop this time. I will  definitely be putting one my wish list this year!  I saw a card a few years ago that caught my eye and I pinned it thinking that I would somehow replicate it with MDS, but I never got to it. As I was thinking about what to create for this blog hop, that card popped back in my head, and luckily Stampin' Up! has a plethora of downloads to create it.

The numbers were from Days in December stamp brush set and a few different alphabet/number punches.  I laid them out all over the card front and then cut it out just smaller than the card base.  Because it was my first e-cutter project, I didn't think too much about the small cuts and the tiny corners that were cut off, I will keep that in mind next time.  I just love the way it came out.  I added the Bermuda Bay ribbon for some color, but it looks fine without it as well (more masculine).  My husband even said "Ooo, that's cool!!"  I hope these blog hop creations give you some inspiration to create your own e-cutter project (or even just a pattern to cut out by hand), it really is super easy.

Hop on over to Rochelle (Julie L. is on vacation this week) I'm sure she will have something completely darling to share, like always!! Leave some comments for the girls too!

Julie

We Create Blog Hop--Retro Fresh Dots

Promotion Playtime is our theme this month and there are so many promotions at Stampin' Up! right now that it's hard to keep track. Occasions catalog, Sale-a-bration, Photopolymer Stamps, Hip Hip Hooray card kit, Undefined stamp carving kit, Everyday Occasions cardmaking kit, Envelope Punch Board...I'm sure I'm missing one!  I used the Retro Fresh DSP and the Just Sayin' bundle from the Occasions catalog and the Decorative Dots from our Sale-a-bration catalog.  I love the Retro Fresh DSP patterns and colors, but just so you know, I used two different colors that aren't listed on the DSP package, but I love that they still coordinate well.  

I'm so excited to introduce my friend Jeanna Bohanon as a new We Create Blop Hopper!  She is my BSFF (Best Stamping Friend Forever!) and a very sweet person, not to mention that she's a super talented stamper and a Stampin' Up! Artisan...cool, eh?  Make sure you stop by and welcome her to our hop (tell her I said "Hi"). Now head on over to Michelle for her pretty promotion playtime project (don't you love alliteration?).

It's been raining the last few days but I was still able to have a fun birthday yesterday!  Thanks to all who made it fantastic!

Julie

MDS Blog Hop--Color Match

Sorry for the lack of posts but I have been a bit busy and have been out of town.  Now that I'm back, I'm ready to get back to creating!  When I was thinking about this project, I remembered a few pins from Pinterest that I was thinking about CASE'ing in MDS.  The one I chose was this fun, colorful card by Michelle.  I loved the vivid color of the stripes along with the contrast of the black and white.  I wanted to use a little different color combination so I went to my trusty Pinterest Color Combos board and found a light, springy color combo that I felt would go well with my project.  The only issue was that the color palette only had 6 colors and I had 8 strips.  Match Color tool to the rescue!!  

I added the flower photo with the color swatches just for the color match (it needs to be somewhere on your project), and was deleted when I was done. I hope the instructions were helpful.  Now for the finished project...

I added the sentiment along with the faux embossed background.  I think when this comes back from the printer, I will add some rhinestones to make it extra pretty.

Now it's time to hop to the rest of my friends--leave a comment, they love them!

I love to read your comments and questions, so feel free!

Julie

Polka Dot Happiness!

I love my Pinterest boards!  I really get all kinds of inspiration from so many different pins, not necessarily for the reasons they were pinned!  Take this one for example:

I think this polka dot purse is completely adorable so I pinned it in my "What to wear" board, and of course it is now sold out,  but I knew I could take the pattern and make a fun card out of it. You can never have too much happy!

Where do you find your inspiration? Pinterest? Magazines? Your closet?  Inspiration is everywhere, you just need to look for it!

Create something fun today!

Julie

MDS Blog Hop--What do you LOVE about MDS?

I LOVE MDS! I know that's quite a shock to many of you! {wink} You may not know that the reason I purchased MDS was so that I could make home decor items, not really to scrapbook.  Even though I have broadened my horizons and use MDS for more than what I bought it for, home decor is still my favorite thing to use it for.
Now, if you promise not to tell my husband, I'll share my Valentine's Day gift for him!

I took one of our wedding photos and added one of my favorite sayings.  I love that I can change the photo to black and white or sepia with just a click.  I only added a frame from Downtown Grunge and background from Natural Composition Overlay.  It was very simple, but the sentiment is so sweet and tender.  David is my best friend and I am blessed to be his wife.  We have been together for almost 25 years and recently celebrated our 23rd anniversary. We are moving in to a new phase of life soon and I'm looking forward to whatever the future may bring.

Make sure you hop through all of my friend's blogs--they have some great projects to share.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Julie