Apr 24, 2013 | Big Shot, Graduation, My Digital Studio |
I’m excited about Kyle’s upcoming Graduation from GA Tech! We haven’t had a party for Kyle in many years – it just wasn’t something he wanted but I told him this time I’m having a party so I’ve been planning and decided to use My Digital Studio to help me. So this week’s blog hop theme is “What you are working on” and this is what I am working on. Here is the whole ensemble that I’ve created so far –
The first thing I made was the invitation. I had to create it and get it sent to the Stampin’ Up! printer and back so I could mail them out. I used Embark Graduate Ensemble combined it with a few elements from Grad Party Ensemble. I started with the postcard template and made a few changes and I had to change the colors – I used Crushed Curry – which is actually a color that is returning to our regular color palette!
Front of the postcard invitation
back of postcard invitation
My friend Sue was able to get me these bags of graduation mints – which were the perfect colors – gold and black – so I wanted to use those to and made toppers for them.
The layer that looks like Designer Paper is from the Grad Party ensemble – one of the back ground papers. I layered it on Basic Black and Crushed Curry card stock (yes I had saved it for several years – just so I would have this color to use for any GA Tech scrapbooking I might do). I added some Summer Starfruit ribbon which blends well with the Crushed Curry. And printed a sheet full of the labels that say “the tassel is worth the hassle”. (yes – I just noticed the stamp brush image has an error in the spelling of hassle and while my sample is wrong it looks like it has been corrected on the SU site – so I need to update my digital stamp brush set).
The Embark Graduate Ensemble also include the template for the banner and the cupcake picks.
The cupcake picks fit perfectly in the 1-3/4″ circle punch. Then I used the Circle #2 die to cut the 2″ circles from Crushed Curry card stock. I added 4″ skewers and then tied a piece of Basic Black ribbon around the pick.
For the banner I punched holes in the corners and strung it on a piece of Baker’s Twine then attached the ends to a long skewer. I had some left over cupcakes to stick them in for the photo but this I would put on a cake.
Let me just say that the coloring tool in the new version of My Digital Studio is the best thing – being able to recolor different portions of the stamps is the “icing on the cake”! I used it a lot in this project to add the Crushed Curry color.
I’m very excited about Kyle graduating from GA Tech. He will be doing an internship this summer at Facebook in California (sad that he will be on the other side of the country but excited that he has this opportunity). Then he will come back in the fall to work on his Master’s degree. I’m so proud of who he has become – I guess he isn’t my little boy any more – but a successful young man.
Thanks to the MDS Blog Hop crew for letting me join you this month! It was fun! Be sure to click on all the links below to follow the rest of the hop and see all the awesome projects that everyone has made.
Apr 23, 2013 | Stamp, Scrap, & Create Retreat |
Everyone at the retreat had a spot in the basement that they set up to work on their crafting projects. Here are some pictures –
Here we are on Friday night – everyone has their spot set up to stay busy for the weekend. The Make&Takes were set up in a different space so that whatever project you were working on you could just leave it and come back to it. I think it worked out really well.
Cindy is enjoying one of the yummy cupcakes that we had Friday night.
Kim and Christine are working on scrapbooks.
Laree, Kathy and Debby working on their projects. Laree did some My Digital Studio and made teacher gifts. Kathy was working on a scrapbook and Debby spent some time getting ready for a party creating a Bingo game. I guess that means our Saturday night Bingo games were fun! I’ll share more about that later.
The tables are covered with projects – I even see a Paper Pumpkin box! My April kit came last week right before the retreat started – I think Kim brought hers too. Let’s see what else do I spy – well Stampin’ Up! box – and some of our Make&Take projects. I’m going to share those in another post later this week.
On Day 1 (Friday) everyone arrived late in the afternoon and set up their spots in the basement. We had dinner, one stamping session, then crafting time in the basement. Cupcakes for dessert and a late night popcorn snack. Those that spent the night go their beds set up, some were up stairs in the boys bedrooms (Kyle is away at college and Ryan went to stay at a friends house), and some stayed in the basement on the pull-out sofa. And some people went back home for the night.
Fun times.
Apr 22, 2013 | My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages, Stamp, Scrap, & Create Retreat |
This weekend I held my first Stamp, Scrap & Create Escape Retreat at my house. I enjoyed a wonderful weekend with friends and can’t wait to plan the next one! Today I’m going to share some pictures that I took before everyone arrived – all the “getting ready” and set up.
Greg went out of town on a golf weekend so we were able to set up in the basement everyone’s workstation. Everyone had a “spot” to work on the projects they brought for the weekend. Some brought scrapbooks, some cards, laptops to work on My Digital Studio, and various other things.
The big green table is actually the pool table and it is covered with a Ping Pong table top that is flipped upside down. Then we added two 6 foot tables at the far end and had a 4 foot table at the close end (not in the photo).
Each spot was set up with Grid paper – with a welcome message from Cindy& I, a goody bag, a pail, and some information about our weekend.
The goody bags had all the project materials for the Make&Take projects plus any optional projects that they signed up for. Cindy created tags in My Digital Studio using the Sent with Love digital kit and printed them out at home. Then added card stock and Designer Paper from the Sent with Love pack and some Island Indigo Baker’s Twine to tie them on the bags. They turned out super cute!
I found these cute little pails a few days before the retreat and decided they would be perfect to put on everyone’s “spot”. I had Chalkboard Vinyl left from when Stampin’ Up! used to sell it and cut it with the Oval Framelits die to put on the front of the pail. I added a flag banner using the Pennant Punch and the Sent with Love Designer Paper. The flags are strung together with Baker’s Twine and tied to the pail (I punched holes with the Crop-a-dile). You can’t see it in this picture but each bucket had a piece of chalk tied to it – I wrapped the end with a strip of the designer paper and tied the baker’s twine around it. Then everyone can write a message on the front of their pail. Inside everyone had Stampin’ Dimensionals, a bottle of the all-purpose glue, a Stampin’ Sponge, and a threader. As it turned out it made a good spot for everyone to keep the tools they needed to carry around to their make&takes and a place to keep the tickets that they earned throughout the weekend (I’ll tell you more about those later).
We gave everyone a “ticket” itinerary created in My Digital Studio – that had our schedule for the weekend. A blank Bingo card – printed with My Digital Studio and a piece of card stock. These are were all clipped together with a clothes pin that was covered in the Sent With Love Designer Paper. I’ll share more about bingo in another post.
We set up tables in my sun room to create a “cafe” where we could eat our meals. It was nice to have the view of the backyard with the birds and the animals. The weather turned out being ok even though it rained Friday and got really cold. A cool night Saturday worked out well for our campfire.
And finally we had a candy/snack table set up –
Originally I had it all set up on the server upstairs which is where this picture was taken but then I moved it down to the little bar in the basement.
Well that was a lot to share and that’s before any one even got here! I have more pictures, projects and “pillow” gifts to share another day! So be sure to come back.
Apr 17, 2013 | Designer Series Paper, This & That |
I love this project – it is a memory jar. Throughout the year you right down all the things big and small and put them in the jar. Then at the end of the year you can pull them all out and see all that happened in one year. You could add tickets stubs from events that you attend throughout the year. Or other little pieces of memorabilia.
I think this project would be easy to adapt to a variety of things – how about wishes for a couple getting married or advice for a new mother, or baby’s memories from their first year. I used several pieces from the new This & That product line. Here are some more details and photos –
- Cut a strip of the Epic Day This & That Designer Series paper to wrap around the jar and use the Washi Tape to secure it in the back.
- Punch a circle of the Designer paper to cover the lid – for my jar the 2-1/2 circle was the right size. For a wide mouth jar I think the 3″ circle Bigz Die is the right size.
- Tie a piece of Whisper White Baker’s Twine around the jar – folding a paper doily in half and over one pass of the twine and let the rest of the twine go over the top of it holding it against the jar. Tie a bow.
- Punch a Blossom Punch from Calypso Coral card stock. Using the matching piercing template, pad, and piercing tool to pierce around the flower.
- Punch a piece of Pool Party card stock with the 1-1/4″ Scalloped Circle punch.
- Punch a piece of Calypso Coral card stock with the 1″ Circle punch.
- Stamp an image from the A Round Array stamp set with Calypso Coral ink on Whisper White card stock and punch out with the 7/8″ Scallop circle punch.
- Color a Jumbo Rhinestone with a turquoise colored permanent marker to make it a light blue color.
- Layer all those piece to create the flower focal point for the front of the jar. Add to the front of the jar with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
- Use the Epic Day Rotary Stamp to stamp the word Remember – punch out with the Word Window punch and add to the front of the jar.
- Add a silver button with a glue dot.
- Tie some Baker’s Twine through the large Faceted Button and add to the front of the jar with glue dots.
- I printed out the poem and cut it down and then layered it on a piece of Basic Gray card stock. I attached this to the back of the jar with some of the Washi tape.
- Inside the jar – I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock into 16 pieces (just 1/2 it, then 1/2 each of those, and 1/2 each of those, etc.) – I used one for the stamping on the front of the jar and the rest go inside the jar. Cut more card stock when you fill those up.
- I decorated a clothes pin with the Washi tape and clipped the blank cards to it.
- As you fill out one of the cards you can use the rotary stamp to add a date and/or message to each card. Read on for some tips with the rotary stamp.
I did some practicing with the rotary stamp and have a few tips that you might want to try.
- I used a marker to color the stamp or parts of the stamp that I wanted to use.
- Use a tissue or piece of paper towel sprayed with some stamp cleaner to clean the part that you used. I think this works better than trying to clean it on our big stamp cleaner. I just wiped it off when I was done. You don’t want to turn the dial and forget to clean it so just do it right away after you stamp.
- Since each dial rotates individually I found that there was some unevenness across the stamp if you were using the whole thing – a saying and the full date – sometimes one section wouldn’t stamp – if you use the Stampin’ Pierce mat under your paper it worked better.
- practice some on scrap paper so you get the feel for stamping it straight and not leaning one way or the other.
- these are some of the things that helped me – hope they work for you.
The idea for this project came from one of the Stampin’ Up! designers. I hope you love it! I sure do!
Thanks for visiting today.
Apr 16, 2013 | Wildlife |
The baby bluebirds are growing so fast! Before I went on my trip to the Stampin’ Up! Baltimore Regional I took a picture of the babies –
Baby Bluebirds – one got food and the others are saying “me, me, me, me!”
That was on April 10th. Then I went away for a long weekend and checked on them again when I got back. This is what they look like on April 15th!
baby bluebirds on April 15th – look how big they are compared to 5 days ago.
They are growing into those beaks! So let me count the days now – this is now Day 10 – and it will be 15-18 days before they leave the nest. Mom and Dad are busy keeping all 5 of those babies fed.
I’m glad there is new life and positive things that can brighten our day. Such senseless things going on that I just don’t understand how or why…… so awful for everyone affected by what happened in Boston yesterday. Not sure what else to say….
The cupcake picks fit perfectly in the 1-3/4″ circle punch. Then I used the Circle #2 die to cut the 2″ circles from Crushed Curry card stock. I added 4″ skewers and then tied a piece of Basic Black ribbon around the pick.
