May 25, 2011 | Create with Connie & Mary, My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages |
In between getting ready for my Card Maker’s Class tonight and creating a project for the Create with Connie & Mary Summer Edition class I spent a little time making a My Digital Studio scrapbook page. I just love this picture that I took of Aspen. I find it hard to take pictures of the dogs – either they are moving too much or their eyes get weird – and the red eye fixer doesn’t work because the dogs eyes don’t get the red glow they get a blue/gray glow – and I haven’t figured out how to correct it. So when I got this picture and he was still and his eyes were black I was happy. I came across it yesterday and decided to make this page.
I started with a sketch idea from a scrapbook magazine. I added lots of stitching to this page – it comes from one of the new downloads from last week called – Simple Stitches & Corners. There are also two stitched rectangles – the one on the photo and the one on the label – those are actually from the Rock-a-Bye Designer Kit Elements – there are some stitched squares and I just stretched them to fit the shapes I needed. The stitching isn’t equal on all four sides because I did stretch it but I just wanted it to look like stitching and it worked. I really like the stitching added around the edge of the photo. The label that says “A loyal friend is PRICELESS” is a stamp that I enlarged – but I made sure to keep the proportions the same so it didn’t look awkward. I also played around with the EDIT OBJECT options for both my paper pieces and my stitching lines – you can adjust the size to be exactly what you want – the blue grid DSP in the center I wanted it to be a perfect square so I set the width and height to be 10.5 inches – remove the keep proportions option to do this and change the size (this is a square punch by the way) before filling it with paper. I did the same with the other two pieces of DSP making sure they were 12 inches long. I also edited the length of my stitching – I wanted the zigzag to be 10.5 inches like my paper so it wouldn’t hang over – so I used EDIT OBJECT to change it.
I’m really happy with how the whole page turned out. And have discovered that EDIT OBJECT is super helpful now that we can edit by inches instead of just pixels – if you don’t have the choice to look at your measurements by the inch that means you don’t have the most current updates – and you need to go get them – they have added and improved some of the wonderful features of My Digital Studio.
Have a great day!
May 24, 2011 | Big Shot, Birthday, Cards, Masculine, UDI Color Challenge |
Oh my goodness – I knew I was forgetting something yesterday but couldn’t figure out what it was. It just hit me! I needed to write my blog post for today for the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge. Oops! I’m here now. So on to today’s challenge……
This weeks color combo was a more neutral muted combination of colors. While our inspiration picture was a purse with flowers I decided to go a different route – and ended up with something probably more suited for a boy. Here is the inspiration picture:
Click on this link to go to the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge blog. There you can see the creations from the entire design team and add a link to your creation if you decide to play along.
And here is the card I created based on a sketch and card idea from a paper craft magazine.
It isn’t one of my favorites but it includes all the colors for this challenge. The base of the card is Soft Suede, then I have a layer of Basic Black. On each end of the black is a strip of Pear Pizzazz that was embossed with the Big Shot and the Square Lattice embossing folder – I also punched out a notch – I was sure I had them lined up because I punched them a the same time but it turns out I had one flipped the wrong way and I wasn’t quite in the center – although I did try to measure for the center. So I’m not really happy with it.
The Wish Big is from the Word Play stamp set that is on sale this month – so if you want this set make sure to buy it now. I stamped it on the black with Versa Mark ink and covered it with White Embossing Powder and heat set it. In the two notched out areas I added White Jumbo brads and then on the brad I stamped with Jet Black stazon the little star from Itty Bitty Bits (I think that is what it is called – I need to double check). Then I punched large stars from Basic Gray, Pear Pizzazz, and So Saffron – two of each and they are stacked with dimensionals in between – so there is dimension to this card that you can’t see in this photo. It makes a good boy card and isn’t everyone always looking for boy cards?
So there you have it – my color challenge card for the week. Take a minute to visit the UDI site and play along with us this week.
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Soft Suede, Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Whisper White
- Ink: VersaMark, Jet Black StazOn
- Stamp sets: Word Play, Itty Bitty Bits (I had it right)
- Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Jumbo Brads, Star Punch, 1/2″ circle punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals.
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
May 23, 2011 | Big Shot, Cards, Masculine, Summer Mini 2011 |
You Mean the World to Me. Yes you really do!
That’s the phrase that I used on this masculine card.
The idea for this card came from a magazine. I combined the new The Open Sea stamp set in the Stampin’ Up! Summer Mini Catalog with the Word Play stamp set that is on sale this month for 30% off. They worked well together.
The card base is Early Espresso and it is stamped with the globe and manifest images from The Open Sea stamp set. Then I added Not Quite Navy and and embossed/torn layer of Crumb Cake.
On top of that is a Whisper White piece stamped with “You Mean the World to me” and sponged to give it an old look. I wrapped around a piece of the new Baker’s Twine (this one is the Early Espresso) and tied a button through it.
To pop out the “world” – I stamped it on scratch paper in Not Quite Navy and punched it out with the circle punch and popped it up with a Stampin’ Dimensional.
My envelope was stamped to match. And on the inside is a panel of Whisper White and the corner of it was also stamped to match.
A very nice masculine card. I hope you like it!
May 22, 2011 | My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages |
Tonight I decided to play around and make one more page in My Digital Studio. Remember the one I showed earlier in the week – it had one picture with my three boys and one of our dogs. Well this page shows all the pictures I had to take to get to that one.
I took 5 pictures before getting one that was OK and before they were all ready to leave again. Mostly it was Ryan that wasn’t cooperating – he had his eyes closed every time and the last picture they are just barely open – but that’s as good as it gets.
To make this page I wanted it to be quick and I knew I wanted to include all of these photos – I decided to browse through all the 12×12 designer templates that I had on My Digital Studio. I found this one in the Rock-a-bye Boy album. I made a few changes to it – switching around the picture and the punch on the bottom row. Adding the text along the outside and the arrows. Replacing the boat with a heart. And adding my title and journaling. But starting with a template makes things go very quickly so this didn’t take long to create.
Today is Sunday and I’m having a My Digital Studio class at my house. I will be showing the ladies about Hybrid projects and some things they can do with punches. I’m also trying out using my son’s TV as the screen to show what I am doing on my laptop – we’ll see how that works. We tried it at my downline meeting last weekend and it seems to work great – but we had everyone standing up near the TV on my kitchen counter. This time I’m planning to still have it on the kitchen counter but on the other side so the ladies can sit at the table with their laptops and copy what I’m doing. I hope it goes well. These classes have been good so far and always full – I think I’m going to have to add another session maybe during the day.
Enjoy the day!
May 20, 2011 | Big Shot, Chipboard, Designer Series Paper, Masculine, Summer Mini 2011 |
This desk organizer featuring the Nautical Expedition Designer Series paper and The Open Sea stamp set was one of the projects we made at my hands-on class last week.
The organizer is made using square coasters. I covered the outsides and insides of the coasters with the Designer Series Paper. Then use a Crop-A-Dile to punch holes – I hold two coasters together where the sides will match and then punch the holes through at the same time so they line up. I usually mark each corner A, B, C, D so I know which two match up when I’m trying to put it all together.
To put it together I used Jute – which is thicker than hemp that Stampin’ Up! sells but you could also use that for this project. I liked the look of the Jute and had some in my stash so that was what I went with.
Here is a view of what the inside looks like.
For the front decoration I actually cut another coaster with my Big Shot and the Circles #2 die – I used the largest circle on the die which happens to be the same size as our largest circle punch. On a piece of card stock I stamped the various images from The Open Sea stamp set – in sort of a collage. I punched it out and sponged the edges and glued it to my coaster circle – I suppose I could have stamped directly on the coaster since it was plain white but I didn’t. I added the star punched from Crumb Cake card stock, stamped with the manifest image, and put in a Cherry Cobbler brad. I tied a couple of pieces of the Jute into a square knot and added it to the front.
This could sit on a dresser and be a drop off spot for a cell phone, car keys, wallet. Or on the end table and hold all the tv remotes. Or on a desk and hold pencils, scissors and stuff. I have one in my craft room – its got my pens, pencils, my different scissors, my bone folder, paper piercer, and more. Decorate with flowers and such if you want it to be feminine or like this one to make it masculine.
I started with a sketch idea from a scrapbook magazine. I added lots of stitching to this page – it comes from one of the new downloads from last week called – Simple Stitches & Corners. There are also two stitched rectangles – the one on the photo and the one on the label – those are actually from the Rock-a-Bye Designer Kit Elements – there are some stitched squares and I just stretched them to fit the shapes I needed. The stitching isn’t equal on all four sides because I did stretch it but I just wanted it to look like stitching and it worked. I really like the stitching added around the edge of the photo. The label that says “A loyal friend is PRICELESS” is a stamp that I enlarged – but I made sure to keep the proportions the same so it didn’t look awkward. I also played around with the EDIT OBJECT options for both my paper pieces and my stitching lines – you can adjust the size to be exactly what you want – the blue grid DSP in the center I wanted it to be a perfect square so I set the width and height to be 10.5 inches – remove the keep proportions option to do this and change the size (this is a square punch by the way) before filling it with paper. I did the same with the other two pieces of DSP making sure they were 12 inches long. I also edited the length of my stitching – I wanted the zigzag to be 10.5 inches like my paper so it wouldn’t hang over – so I used EDIT OBJECT to change it.
