Finally Organized!!

I have been getting my craft room organized for what seems like years, but it's only been 3 weeks.  Finally I think I am done.

Here are some pics.

My Desk

Tool/Paper Central

Idea Board

Finished Product Shelf

Thanks for looking.

MDS Thursday: Stamp Search

Today's tip is a quick, but one that I can't live without. 

When I use MDS I usually have a very specific idea in mind.  For example, if I am doing a winter page, I want to use snowflakes, snowmen, swirls, etc. . .

You can go through every stamp set in the MDS library and look to see what may fit.  This can be time consuming and let's face it who has time anymore.  So, I do a word search of the stamps instead.  This searches all the stamps sets (that I have in MDS) for me.

The trick is to choose the stamp icon (see red circle) from the menu bar not the resource pallet.  When this stamp window opens, it gives you the option to search ALL the stamps (see red circle). 

Here I did a search for snow.  And ta da!!!  Now I have all the stamps that have the word snow in there title and what stamp set they are in.  (I like to keep track of which stamps sets I use in a project, so this comes in very handy.)

This is one feature that I love and use all the time.  It's a short method that goes a long way.

Give it a try.  Thanks for looking.

Holy Scraps! pt1

Remember my scraps from the other day.  Here is my first creation.

I made a bunch of different types of flower using the scraps from the lattice punch.

Give it a try!  Thanks for looking.

Shoebox Swap

I had a great weekend.  I spent Saturday at a shoebox swap and boy did they have some great cards to share; I am looking forward to recreating some of the cards.

Thank you Rose for hosting and Cindy for inviting me.

Here is the card I made for the swap.

We had to make enough cards for 15 people.  Well, I cut 15 lattices and 

holy scraps!!!  I have never seen so many bits and pieces.

My mission this week is to figure out what to do with all these tiny pieces.  I have a couple of ideas already, I think I can make some pretty cool flowers.  Stay tuned.


But back to the card.

The card is pretty straight forward.  The only thing that may need explaining is the lattice.  I cut the lattice on the diagonal to create the wider shape. Then I adhered it to the strips of paper.

What I used:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Pacufic Blue, Blueberry Crisp DSP
Big Shot:  Lattcie Die, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die, Lots Of Tags Stampin' Up!
Punches: Word Window
Stamp: Sweet Birthday
Embellishments: Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

 Give it a try.  Thanks for looking.

MDS Thursday: How to Make a Snowman

As promised here is the snowman from last week :)

Here is the 8 1/2 x 11 page I made.

It seems like a lot of steps but it's really easy, I promise.

Start by creating and resizing three white circles.

Using the drop shadow function (see red circles) create a black shadow to give the circle dimension.

Stack the circles together.

Using the stamp tool from the menu bar, search for arm  (see red circle) or use the All in the Family SS.

Resize the arms and send them backyard one layer.

It helps, at this point, to group the objects together.  It makes the snowman easier to move.

Creating the face was the most time consuming part.  I made the circles for the eyes and mouth directly on the face.  It was hard to resize them and then move them.

I needed a triangle for a nose.  First I looked for a carrot stamp, turns out we don't have one.  Then I looked for a nose, big fat negative on that too.  Finally I found a beak in the Good Friends SS.  Figured it was time to get creative, after all it's a snowman not a snowbird.

First make sure to bring the eyes to the front layer, then place the beak where the nose should be, and send it back one layer. Then to hide the upper part of the beak, I placed a small white oval over the excess part, and sent it bakward one layer.  Ta Da!! a  "carrot" nose!!

 

At this point I grouped everything together again, again it makes it easier to move.

Ta da!!!  You made a snowman!!!!!

You can leave him as is or add a little something extra.  I added a little hat on the final product.

Give it a try!  Thanks for looking!

How to Group items (see also How to build a Flower)

To group the stamped images:

1. make sure the three stamped images are highlighted
2. go to the Arrange tab in the menu bar
3. press Group (see red circle)

January Scrapbook Class

Our club met tonight for some scrapping and great conversation.

Our layout was a winter theme. It's been snowing enough to get us in the winter mood.

Part of my goodies this month was the Snowflakes Set #2 Sizzlits Die 4-Pack, perfect for this layout.

I used a sketch I saw in a magazine as inspiration.

  

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Pacific Blue, Whisper White, Celebrations DSP
Big Shot:Snowflakes Set #2 Sizzlits Die 4-Pack, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die
Punches: 1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch
Jumbo Wheel :Sparkling

Titles were created using My Digital Studio

Give it a try.  Thanks for looking.

A Boy's Best Friend

I did a page for my daughter and her stuffed buddy, so of course I had to do the second page of the layout about my son and his stuffed buddy.

It's hard to pick colors for boy/male layouts.  Black, red and white seem "manly", lol.

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White
Big Shot: Tags Die and Dot Embossing Folder
Brads: Circle


The Stampin' Up! site is having maintenance done, I will post product links tomorrow.

Baja Breeze

My order came last week but I have been having a hard time trying to figure out where to start.  So, I closed my eyes, put my hand in the box and picked the first thing I grabbed.  The winner was Baja Breeze Glass Glitter.

It is chunkier than I thought it was going to be.  It turns out, glass glitter is the good old fashion glitter we had growing up.  Made me feel like a kid again.

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla
Ribbon: 5/8 Grosgrain Chocolate Chip
Stamp Set: Sweet Birthday
Big Shot: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die
Punches: Word Window Punch


Give it a try.  Thanks for looking.

MDS Thursday: Changing Project Size

My intial post was going to be on how to make the snowman on this page.  However, when I realized I just made a card and not a scrapbook page, there was a change in plan.

PS- I'll post how to make the snowman next week.

It's been snowing quite a bit around here, so we have been stuck inside.  Except for when the kids and hubby are shoveling and sledding :)

What a perfect time to scrapbook!

I didn't want to start a new project so I click on one that was already created, not realizing it was a card.

Here is how to change your project size:

First Click on Edit in the Menu Bar, and choose Change Project Size.

Click on the scrapbook option, or which ever you want to change to.

A box with possible option will appear.  I clicked on the scrapbook .   Unfortunately it did not give me a 12x 12 option, so I choose 8 1/2 x 11.  I'll print it and mount it on a 12x 12 sheet background.

It will ask you to replace your current project or save as new.  I saved as new just in case the change was to weird.  I'll delete the card project later, or print it as cards for grandma brag books.

It will ask you to rename the project, click yes.

Done, click OK

Here is the new, bigger, project.  The words are now to small for the space so I changed the text size.

All done!!

 

No mistakes, just opportunities for creativity and learning.

Ta Da!!

Thanks for looking.

My Goodies Are Here!!

My order came today!  In a snow storm!! I love UPS!!!

Can't wait to make something!!!

Thank You Card

Tonight's card.  More detail to come.

Tooth Fairy Box

Over the weekend my daughter lost her tooth.  It wasn't her first one, but it was the first time she wanted to put it somewhere special for the Tooth Fairy.

Here is what we came up with.

Take tooth, leave $5

I saw the little box on the SU site. I was going to use it to make tiny Valentines for my children's classmates, ( and I still will) but Alex saw the prototype and wanted it for the Tooth Fairy.  I couldn't say no to her toothless smile :)



Here is how I made the little box.

Punch four petals

Snip off one end.

Glue together end to end

Glue last petal and bottom

And!! Ta Da!!! 

A tiny box.

I used the Tooth Fairy Stamp and I made the tiny box using the Petal Card Double Punch.

Give it a try.  Thanks for looking!!

New Look

I am in the process of revamaping my craftroom, so why not revamp my blog.  I spent my time changing the look of my blog ( instead of organizing my craftroom :) )  I used MDS to create everything.


Thanks for looking.

The Verdict Is In . . .

and I love it.

For Christmas my wonderful husband gave me a wide format printer.  (I know every girl's dream, lol)

I finally, made space in my craftroom for it, it is big!!  We installed the software and gave it a whirl. 

Here are the results.

Printed from MDS using a wide format printer.

It was amazing to see a 12x12 print. 

First try

This was the first layout I printed.  It cut off the right side off the page.  But the quality is great.  The colors are bright and lines are sharp.

2nd try.

If at first you don't succeed ...  I adjusted some of the margins and this time it cut off the bottom.  Which really only I, and now you, know.  It really looks like I made it that way. 

3rd try

Well third times the charm. This time I adjusted ALL the margins . . .

AND !!!!  TA DA!!!!  A full layout!!!

Now I only hope the ink cartridges are cheap, because I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of printing :)

Thanks for looking.

MDS Thursday: How to Make a Flower

I love when something looks complicated but is actually very easy. 

The "hard" part of this card is the flowers.  The truth is they were the easy part.

Big Bold Birthday Stamp Set

 I started by stamping, resizing and coloring the three flowers.  I used the flower from the Big Bold Birthday stamp set.  This stamp set comes with the program.  ( I used a gray background so you can see the white flower)

Stack the flowers together

I wanted it to look like one flower so I stacked them.  Then, because I am a perfectionist, I wanted them to be exactly center of one another.  I looked a little foolish trying to measure each side, moving a bit here, a bit there.  After some frustrating moments I gave up and started  to look for an easier way.  This is a digital software after all, shouldn't it do this for me :)

Using the Alignment Feature

The alignment feature to the rescue.

First, you have to select all three stamped images. 
1. click on the first stamped image
2. hold the shift key
3. click the remaining objects, while still holding the shift key

Notice how the three objects are highlighted.

Once you've highlighted the stamped images, click on alighment and click middle and then center. It's actually kinda fun watching the flowers move on there own.  (see red circles)

Group the Stamped Images

We are almost done.

Once the flowers are all set, you have to group them.  This will turn them into one stamped image instead of three.

To group the stamped images:

1. make sure the three stamped images are highlighted ( just like before)
2. go to the Arrange tab in the menu bar
3. press Group (see red circle)

A flower is born

And, Ta Da!!!!!  You have a complete flower.

You can copy and paste as many as you like.  The one thing you can not do is resize it.  I am hoping that MDS will have an update for that soon.

Give it a try.  Thanks for looking.