Constantly Stamping

MDS Sunset Serenade Card

I thought I would take a little break from leadership samples to share with you a little project that I did a while back. This is just a simple notecard that I created in MDS using the Sunset Serenade download. Not much to tell about it really...it's just a fun, simple little note that I put together just in case I need it.

I have been playing around with the new Simply Scored insert that I was lucky enough to win at Leadership. I created a fun envelope to go along with the card using some coordinating DSP. I will be back soon with some helpful hints on making envelopes with the insert along with measurements for some different size envelopes.

Another Digital Bible Verse Freebie!

I don't know how life is at your house, but at our house we sometimes need a little reminder about our "attitude". Today I have another free digital Bible verse for you. Just scroll down to the bottom of this post for the link. I have had this verse ready to go, but I wanted to make an inspirational piece to use it on. So yesterday I sat down with My Digital Studio and created this framed art to put on my desk at home.

I design my .png digital images so that you can use them large (like you see here) or small for a scrapbook page or even a card without image distortion. To use the files all you need to do is create a new folder in the stamp folder of your MDS software. Then you can use them just like any other digital stamp brush set. I named my folder "Bible Verses" so that I know where to find them.

For this project I purchased an inexpensive 8"x10" frame. I removed the glass so that I could add embellishments to the finished piece. Be careful not to cut yourself when removing the glass. Here is how I created the artwork in My Digital Studio.

In My Digital Studio I created a 8.5"x11" (landscape) scrapbook page and added the Tickets & Tags DSP #2 for the background. (Tickets & Tags Kit #127431). I added a square punch, enlongated it, and filled it with Tickets & Tags DSP #1. Then I added a drop shadow. Next I added the Decorative Label Punch, enlarged it and filled it with Whisper White. I added a Baja Breeze outline to the punch (size 6) and also added a drop shadow. For just a subtle hint of color I added the flourish from the Bliss Stamp Brush Set in Baja Breeze and changed the opacity to 20%. Then I pulled in the Bible verse artwork and left it Basic Black. For just a little bit of interest I added a little bird from the Bliss set. Now it is ready to print. I printed my digital masterpiece on HP Premium Presentation Paper on my HP Photosmart C5180 color printer and trimmed it down to fit inside the frame. I added a few flowers that I created by hand and some pearls for a finishing touch.

If you don't have My Digital Studio, you now can get a free 30-day trial version of My Digital Studio Express. Just click on the shop 24/7 button in the upper right corner of my blog and select "Digital Designing" from the menu. At the very top you of the list  you will find more information on how to download your free trial software. 

Here is the link to today's free digital Bible Verse download. Enjoy.

Another Freebie - Song of Solomon 2:12

You may recognize this next verse from my Artisan Award SB pages. When I entered the competition I actually created the layout in MDS, but I have gone back and re-created as a .png file it so that all you need to do is add it to your layouts as a digital stamp. See my earlier post here for more info on how to do that.

 

A Sweet MDS Tutorial

I received a nice comment from Tammy asking how I created the label for the Valentine Treat bag. So Tammy, this is for you (and anyone else who may be wondering). I tried to keep the pictures small, but you can click on them and they will enlarge if you need a closer look.

 

Of course you need to purchase and download The Sweetest Ever Valentine template. Open MDS and create a new project. Choose Multiple Output Option. Select 8-1/2x11 Portrait setting. Choose Designer Template. Select Sweetest Ever Valentine Template. This is what Page One will look like.

Step One: Delete everything off the page except the part that we will be working with.

 

 

 

 

Step Two: Move the words and frame away from the background. Group them together to make it easier to keep together. Also group together the background paper but leave it where it is.

Step Three: Duplicate the background and move it below the first box.

Step Four: Return the words and frame to the original position.

Step Five: Use the square label punch to cover the portion that you don't want to print.

Step Six: Fill the punches with the same color as the background paper (in this case, Whisper White). This helps conserve printer ink.

Step Seven: Use the square punch again to add a little extra pink CS to the sides. I used the color picker to get an exact match.

Step Eight: Change the color of the side punches to pink. I used the color picker to get an exact match. Now select everything and group it so that nothing gets messed up. You may want to fill the other portion of the page with other elements so that you don't waste your expensive matte photo paper.

That's it. How this helps!

The Bible Verse Project

I have to tell you a little story about this next project before it will make sense, so beware, this may end up being a longer post than usual!

Last spring I was involved in a ladies Bible study at the home of a good friend. One of the things she recommended was to memorize a verse each week by putting it on a sticky note and putting it somewhere where you would see it often. I got the idea to design a post-it every week for the remainder of the study. I designed the verses with my Creative Suite software and saved them as PNG files so that I could add them as digital stamps to my MDS software. Since I created the files without artwork, I don't need to worry about copyright infringement. I checked with SU and they said that I can give away the files as long as I don't charge for them. You will occassionaly see MDS artwork in some of my samples, but the art was added after the fact and aren't included with the PNG files. Now here is the tricky part. I am not exactly sure how to add the .png files to my post in a way that can easily be downloaded, so I am gonna try to attach it at the end of the post and we will see what happens. If it doesn't work, please feel free to contact me and I will send you an email of the file. I am also open to suggestions for a better way to do this. To use the Bible verses with MDS, I went into my MDS software/components/stamps and created a folder called "Bible Verses" and placed the files there. They should then just show up just like any digital stamps you have in your MDS software. Of course, you can use the files with any software that allows you to import .png files.

Here is the first verse that I designed. I can't believe that I have never gotten around to sharing this scrapbook page of my husband and son. I made this page in MDS several months ago but I forgot to post it. This photo was taken about five years ago just before my husband deployed for Iraq. I think it is my all-time favorite of all photos of my guys. The verse is Nehemiah 8:10. As I look back on that difficult period of our lives I know that it was only through our faith in Christ that were able to make it.

Here is the free download.

 

Sweet MDS Hybrid Valentine Treat Bag

OK...yes I know it is New Year's Eve, but honestly, it isn't too early to think about Valentine's Day. I have had a wonderful holiday season, but it is just time to move ahead. Yesterday I decided that I wanted to do make something...anything...but what? So I decided to check out the MDS website. I haven't been there in a while and I was curious to see what new downloads are available. That is when I stumbled onto this gem. It's the Sweetest Ever Valentine Designer Template (#129009). For only $9.95 (US) this download includes pre-designed lollipop cover, mini chocolate wraps, medium cello bag treat toppers, a candybar wrapper and some cuter than cute lables and tags. They are already designed, so all you have to do is print, cut, and assemble. Those applications are so obvious, so I thought why not see what else I could come up with using this fun download.

This is what I came up with. I started with a 5"x12" piece of DSP from the new mini catalog, folded it in half and used a new die from the Occassions Mini Catalog (available January 4th, 2012) along with a bunch of other goodies from the new mini. Did I mention that you are going to flip when you see the new mini catalog? OMG! There are so many fabulous new products. I hope you saved some of your Christmas cash, because you are gonna have to have just about all of it!

Well, that is about it for now. Have a wonderful and safe New Year's celebration and I will see you next year!

2011 Artisan Award Halloween Project Gallery

I promised to let you know when the projects were posted on Stampin' Up!'s Facebook page. They went "live" this afternoon. All I can say is that they are amazing. This is the project I submitted for the gallery. I told you earlier that I like to keep my projects for Halloween fun and upbeat, so that is why I chose to create cupcake toppers with My Digital Studio and a few traditional supplies that I already had.

Here is a close up of the individual cupcakes. I think I gained five pounds just looking at them. I wish I could say that I made the cupcakes themselves, but I am not that talented. I purchased them from the bakery department of a major chain and added the toppers. After I finished photographing them, I carried them to our downline meeting and we all got a tasty treat. I managed to sneak out before anyone noticed that I had left a few behind...better to apply the excess to somebody else's hips than mine!

These were really simple to make. I downloaded the Spooky Treats Designer Template for MDS. To access the treat designs, open an 8.5"x11" Designer Template. These are on page one. They were origially designed to be added to a sucker or candy straws, but I just cut them out by hand. I printed some 2"x2" squares of the coordinating digital DSP and used my 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch to punch out the background pieces. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I used a hot glue gun to attach them to the toothpicks and then covered the back with another circle of card stock to hide the glue and give them a professional finish.

 

I couldn't resist adding some bling, so I punched 1 1/4" circles from Basic Black CS and backed them with some 1 3/8" circles punched from the Silver Glimmer Paper (#124005) from the Holiday Mini Catalog. All the pieces of the set work so well together that you can mix and match everything for a fun and fast treat.

I hope you had the chance to visit the Facebook Gallery page. Stampin' Up! has asked the 2011 Artisan Award Winners to submit a project each month, so be sure to check back.

2011 Artisan Award-Winning Blog Hop - Day 5

It's day five of our blog hop. With today's project we have basically made it half way through. If you are following the loop, then you should have just arrived from Heather Summers' blog. Yesterday, Heather eluded to the fact that I am very organized. Funny thing is, I don't necessarily see that as one of my strongest personality traites. In reality, she is probably much more organized than me, but that girl is so crazy busy with her family and SU business, that I just couldn't ask her to do one more thing. With her leadership ability, she would have been the natural person to step up and take the lead with our blog hop, but since I have a few more hours to spare, I am a "few years" her senior, and I have some experience with blog hops, I volunteered to keep these ten talented women organized...at least for ten days. I make no promises after that!

Since today is Sunday, I thought I would show you a page that has a deeper spiritual meaning than meets the eye. If you have followed my blog for a while, you probably already know that I am a Christian. I try not to be in your face with it all the time, but I hope that it shows in the things I say and do. I know that I am not perfect (I am far from it), but I know that my sins are forgiven through my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As I was working on my entries for the Artisan Award, I took the time to pray over each project and ask the Lord to guide me so that He would be glorified. During this time period, I was also attending a ladies Bible study. One of the things they suggested was that we print a Bible verse on a post-it, stick it places where we would see it, and be encouraged and to hopefully memorize the verse. Honestly, memorization isn't exactly the easiest thing for me, but I found this to be very helpful. So, since I design on the computer almost every day, I decided to choose a verse each week and print it on post-it notes not only for myself, but for everyone in the group. I'll show you how to do that later on (after the blog hop), but it is very easy to do. When I was working on this page of my beautiful great niece, I kept feeling compelled to add a Bible verse to the page. Since there wasn't a stamp that said what I wanted to say, I decided to create my own in My Digital Studio. I have to admit that I was a little scared about how it would be received, but I prayed that God would give me the boldness to take the risk and do something that I have never seen done in the Artisan Awards before. I had to totally step out in faith that it was the right thing to do.

 
I know that I haven't really told you much about how I created the page itself, but basically it made it in My Digital Studio, printed it, and added some traditional elements like resin flowers and ribbon to complete the look. Sometimes I like to trim my digital pages down a little and mount them on card stock. I think it gives them a more traditional feel and a little more stability when adding things like ribbon and other embellishments. 

That's all for today. Don't forget, we have five more days of award-winning projects to share, so be sure to check back every day this week. Now it's time to see what Sandra Farrell has to share with you today. As always, here's a little guide to help you along the way.

1. Connie Collins (that's me)  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Oops, I almost forgot the recipe for this project. Digital Elements: My Digital Studio; Springtime Vintage DSP, Easter Blossoms-Branch SBS; First Edition-Butterfly SBS; Fonts: Zapf Calligraphic BT, Bickman Script Pro Regular, CK Ali’s Hand. Traditional Elements: Not Quite Navy 12”x12” Cardstock; Patterns DSP Stack-Brights-Old Olive; Big Shot Machine; Little Leaves Sizzlits Die; 1/2” Seam Binding Ribbon-Baja Breeze; Heat Gun; Vintage Flower Adornments.

MDS Hybrid Fairy Tales Gift Bag

Today's project is one that I have actually had lying around on my stamp table for a while. I had the medallion finished, but I needed to find a gift bag to attach it to. I finally found the perfect plain white gift bag and added some DSP from the Neutrals collection to dress it up. I don't have a wedding to go to right now, so I left the bag empty and I will put it away and wait for the perfect occassion. I don't know if you can tell it from the photograph, but this medallion is really big. It's a full seven inches across. These big medallions are really popular at the craft store right now, but with a cost of almost $10 each, I decided I could make one just as gorgeous for a fraction of the cost.

I used the same process as the mediallion I made a few weeks ago, here. I used My Digital Studio to create the sentiment, cut it out with the clear circle die, and layered it onto a large scallop circle made with Basic Black CS. I finished it off by pleating some Basic Black DSP. The added pearls give it the elegant touch that makes it perfect for a wedding or bridal shower gift. I almost can't wait for someone to get married so that I can give this to the happy couple.

Here's one more look, up close, so you can see the details. Thanks for looking. Have a great weekend.

Bella Rose Finally Available in MDS

Ever since Stampin' Up! released MDS, I have been hoping they would eventually release Bella Rose as a digital designer series paper. Well, that day has finally arrived. WooHoo! I know it may sound a little silly, but I loved this DSP and was so sad to see it retired. Now I have access to for all my digital and digital hybrid projects.

Visit my on-line store to see all of today's new digital releases...including Bella Rose DSP!