#SSINKLS21: Layout Sketch

Classes are finally done for the semester! Yay! Now I have time to craft. I was sad when I heard that Stampin' Up! would no longer support My Digital Studio after this month; so I knew I had to use it on one last sketch.

This picture of us was taken about a year ago at a friend's wedding. It's one of my favorite pictures of us together.

Please play along at SSINKspiration with this great sketch by clicking on the sketch image below.

The detailed list of items used in MDS:

Page 1 Supply ListBackground
     Designer Series Paper\Large Polka Dot\Kraft Large Polka Dot

Embellishments
    Crochet Trim Ribbon\Chantilly (re-colored) Color = CERTAINLY CELERY 181,198,130
    Crochet Trim Ribbon\Chantilly - bow (re-colored) Color = CERTAINLY CELERY 181,198,130
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad
    Brads\Certainly Celery - brad

Punches
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\Large Polka Dot\Certainly Celery Large Polka Dot
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch, Fill Color = RICH RAZZLEBERRY 149,69,103
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\Large Polka Dot\Certainly Celery Large Polka Dot
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch, Fill Color = RICH RAZZLEBERRY 149,69,103
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch, Fill Color = RICH RAZZLEBERRY 149,69,103
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\Large Polka Dot\Certainly Celery Large Polka Dot
    Labels & Tags\Decorative Label Punch,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\Large Polka Dot\Certainly Celery Large Polka Dot
    Labels & Tags\Get It Done - punch 2,  Filled with: Designer Series Paper\Small Polka Dot\Chocolate Chip Small Polka Dot
    Hearts\Small Heart Punch, Fill Color = RICH RAZZLEBERRY 149,69,103

#SSINKLS18 - Sketch Challenge

We've got a great layout today at SSINK for you to use on any love pictures you may have from this last weekend.

I created my page today in under 10 minutes in My Digital Studio. (Thanks Donna for telling me about the search feature!) My page features my two loves. (That's more of my husband than I can usually get in a picture, so really it's just Abby!)

There's How Many Days Until Christmas?

There are only 14 more days until Christmas! Are you ready? I hope so, but if not, the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration Design Team gals are here to help you out!

As you hop along, please be sure to comment and show some love on every blog! We are always excited to hear from our followers! You should have just left stop number four on the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration Blog Hop - Cynthia of Ink-A-Doodle Creations. If so, you are in the right spot. If a link doesn't work or you get off track, you will find the full blog hop lineup below.

Our office participated in a Festival of Trees last week. We decorated a tree, and donated all of the decorations that we used. The trees were then auctioned off to raise money for scholarships. The winner of our tree sent me a copy of their eGreeting; which featured our tree.

This got me thinking. "eGreeting; what a great idea!" I used My Digital Studio and a pre-made 6"x6" greeting card template from Christmas Jingle. I added the Basic Rhinestones on the ribbon, as well as an Ornament Keepsakes punch, text, and a photo box. Since Abby, my cute, obnoxious little crafty buddy, is the center of our household, she had to be prominently featured!

Time to head over to see what Bree has in store for us today! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Blog Hop Participant List:

1. Kim at Stamping with Kim
2. Jennifer at Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life
3. Diana at Stampin' Fun with Diana
4. Cynthia at Ink-A-Doodle Creations
5. Darcy at Dj's Stampin' Place
6. Bree at Craft-Somnia Momma
7. Donna at Organized Chaos
8. Tonya at Stamp with Tonya
9. Heidi at Stuck on Stampin'

#ssinkls13 - Layout Sketch

Hello! How are you today?

Did you know that you can do many things today at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration? You can view the winner of last week's #ssinkcs13 card sketch challenge. You can see how other design team members were INKspired by today's sketch. You can link your own INKspired layout to the post and maybe you'll be this week's winner!

Due to my work travels, my husband and I decided to go to the aquarium for our anniversary this year instead of a zoo. Have you tried taking all pictures of all fish all day long? Between the two of us we probably took close to 600 pictures that day. Only half of them turned out. Those little buggers move fast! It did make for a very entertaining day. These were a few of my favorites that did actually turn out.

This page was made in My Digital Studio. To make the bubbles, I used circle punches filled with white and then took the opacity down to 10 percent.

Friday Favorites

I know that this year I have too many irons in the fire, and that I need to start thinking about Christmas now, so I'm not freaking out at the last minute starting December 20th. Therefore, I used My Digital Studio to create a journal so I can track my lists for cards, gifts, and what still needs to be done.

This is the cover of the journal:

If you're not familiar with MDS, contact me for a one-on-one demonstration, or check out mydigitalstudio.net.

Check out Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration for a variety of current favorites of the Design Team.

#ssinkls12 - Scrapbook Sketch

As mentioned in my Project Life post last week, we spent my birthday at Kauffman Stadium. I used a picture of the hubby and me from that day for today's layout sketch.

I used My Digital Studio to create this page. The background is Villa in Bashful Blue. I used one of the Starburst Sayings punches and changed the color to white to layer behind our picture. The punch and the picture have a Brilliant Blue Mat.
The stamps are all from Party Hearty. I changed the presents to Melon Mambo. The coloring tool made it easy to give my candles a Yo-Yo Yellow flame with Night of Navy bases!
Jokerman is the font I used with a text box to type out Birthday at The K in Night of Navy. I felt like it still needed a little something, so I added some Smoky Slate ink splatters around the page.

Did you know that you can play along with the Sketch Challenge today at SSINK?

May Layout Challenge

This is the Layout Challenge for May at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration. My first thought when I saw it was, "oh, what pictures will I use?" I started filtering through my pictures from our last anniversary trip. (Yes, I'm still working on that album. Yes, our anniversary is in less than a month.) I found the perfect pictures to use on this layout!

Now, I'm really hoping that you're going to tell me that we're not the only goofy couple out there that takes pictures of each other. I'm fairly certain that I have shots like this of us from every year.

The digital DSP is from the Watercolor Wonder download. All of the stamp images are from On Film Kit. I tried to do an ombre with the camera images. The top one is Smoky Slate, middle is Going Gray, bottom is Basic Gray. The Smoky and Going don't appear to have that much difference when spaced that far apart on a page.

I hope you enjoyed my take on the layout. Stop over at SSInk to see the cute ways the other designers were INKspired by this challenge. You can link your own INKspired post up over there as well!

On Film Kit - Digital Download

$7.95

Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper - Digital Download

$4.95

Mds Download - Digital Download

$19.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Abby Layout

Who knows what today is? It's time for our April Layout Sketch Challenge at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration. This layout was a fun one for me.

I used this sketch to show off my beloved baby. 

This page showcases the hard and soft of Abby. The two pictures on the right, she is not happy, so I softened them up with the ruffle trim border and watercolor flowers. She loves to terrorize me, and make a mess; so I used the ink splatter to represent that behind the picture of her playing.

The techniques that I used include changing the opacity of the background color and matching the color of other elements using the picker tool for the mat, ribbon, and stamps.

Please visit us at SSINK and link up your own page that you create using this layout inspiration! Pin it if you love it!

Wee April Ones

Today we are celebrating kids! Much like the kids that will soon be hopping behind the Easter Bunny, you never know what treat you will find as you hop along our blog hop today. It may be babies, kid birthdays...you just won't know until you make the rounds! ;)

As you hop along, please be sure to comment and show some love on every blog! We are always excited to hear from our followers! You should have just left stop number 8 on the Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop - Donna from Organized Chaos. If so, you are in the right spot. If a link doesn't work or you get off track, you will find the full blog hop lineup below.

I don't make a lot of baby cards, so I knew that's what I wanted to focus on today. However, I realized that that means I also don't own a lot of current Stampin' Up! baby sets. My Digital Studio to the rescue!

The stars, moon, and "rock-a-bye" are all from the Nursery Necessities stamp brush set. I used the Match Color tool to color the stars silver like the brads. The DSP layer is my favorite element on this card. It is from the Rock-a-Bye Designer Kit. I layered Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon behind it as a "mat." I created the "baby" with the Love Birds Alphabet & Numbers stamp brush set.

I love that I have My Digital Studio at my fingertips to create any type of card I need at a moment's notice. Plus with so many elements available it's easy to make gender-specific and gender-neutral cards! I did realize as I was scrolling through all of my digital elements in MDS that I really need to use it to create more often! Adding that to my goal list!

Next up on our hop is Tonya! Click that Next button to head on over!

Blog Hop Participant List:

1. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
2. Erica B. of Stamping Starlette
3. Shellie G. of Craft Smashup
4. Kathy P. of Katrina P's Creative Corner
5. Cynthia R. of Ink-A-Doodle Creations
6. Bree R. of Craft-Somnia
7. Jennifer C. of Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life
8. Donna S. of Organized Chaos
9. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
10. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
11. Diana E. of Stampin' Fun with Diana
12. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun
13. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
14. Rose C. of Stampin' with Rose
15. Darla R. & Nancy K. of Stampin' with Darla and Sisters

Bye-Bye to Sale-A-Bration

Today is the last day that you can earn any of the 2014 Sale-a-bration items for free. You can click on the product images below to go to my online store, so you don't miss out on yours! I'm sad to see them go; but so glad that I got the One Big Sale-A-Bration 2014 Digital Ensemble as one of my free items. Now I've got all of the images to use forever on my projects in My Digital Studio!

I needed to create a Quick & Easy card for Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration. It doesn't get any quicker or easier than My Digital Studio!

I used Soft Sky for my background. White Baker's Twine and Soft Suede brads adorn the banners from Banner Blast. The elements at the bottom are all from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack.

With just a few minutes on the computer, I now have a great card front I can print out; or a digital card that I could email to someone, or post on their Facebook wall to let them know I'm thinking about them.

Mds Download - Digital Download

$19.95

One Big Sale-A-Bration 2014 Digital Ensemble

$0.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Spring Layout

Today we've got a layout sketch challenge at SSINK. If it INKspires you; we'd love for you to play along!

At first when I saw this sketch, I was a little intimidated. I couldn't figure out what pictures I wanted to use with it. However, I was lucky enough to spend an entire day working on sorting pictures and playing in MDS last weekend, so I was able to create this. Once I started sorting pictures, I knew my landscape pictures from Rolling Hills would work perfectly.

I may have mentioned a time or two how much I love My Digital Studio. Since it's release in 2009, Stampin' Up! has continued to update and improve it. I love all the functionality and playing around to find new things I can do with it. I wanted to share a brief tutorial with you on how I was able to line up the flower "punch" in the background, and also fill it with one of my pictures.

As you can see at the bottom of the picture above, if you're working on a photo book, the first two pages are your front and back cover. That means that page number "one" will stand alone in your book; two and three will be a spread, etc. If you want to work on your spread pages side by side so you'll know what it will look like when printed, choose one of the pages you're working on, go to View in the top menu bar, and choose Page Spreads. This is what your work area will now look like:

In order to span an image across both pages, you first want to start by putting it on one page and sizing it to roughly your desired size.

Next, you'll want to right click on the image and choose Span Pages at the bottom of the list.

It will now look like this:

Do you see the buttons in the middle of the right hand column under Punches? The ones that say "color fill, match color, paper fill, photo fill." This is where you'll go to fill your punch shape with one of your pictures. Just click on photo fill, a box will pop up where you can view your folders with your photos in them; you can choose your photo, and Voila!

I hope you love MDS as much as I do! I'm always happy to answer any questions you may have about it. If you haven't already, make sure to stop by Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration to see what the other designers have created as well!

Mds Download - Digital Download

$19.95

Subtles Flower Brads Pack - Digital Download

$1.95

Fun Flowers Shapes - Digital Download

$1.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Layout Challenge

Every third Monday of the month, Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration has a layout challenge. This particular layout was a little more challenging for me than some, as I had to find just the right picture. 

Of course I used My Digital Studio to create my page, because I love our digital papercrafting program! One of the many reasons I swoon for MDS is that even though some of my favorite cardstock colors are retired, they are still available digitally. Our wedding colors were Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip. Imagine my panic when Stampin' Up! announced that they were retiring Sage Shadow in 2010, a year after our wedding.

As I was searching my folder for the picture I wanted to use today, I was inspired to create a page that was reminscent of our wedding, while showing how we were currently celebrating our love. This was why I leaned towards using Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, and Very Vanilla on the page. The yellow strip of DSP was added to give the page a little more color.
The heart is an embellishment from the "Love Is All Around" download that I featured in Thursday's blog hop post. It, of course, was red; which I didn't feel fit in on my page. This brings me to two more things I love about My Digital Studio; the recolor and crop features. I was able to crop out most of the arrow around the heart. I also recolored it to Sage Shadow. The parts of the arrow I was not able to crop out right next to the heart, I used Sage Shadow square punches to cover up. Voila, now I have the perfect heart!

Thanks for stopping by. Please check out Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration to see the other Design Team members' creations. Also, if we've INKspired you to create a page, card, or 3-D item with this layout, please link your post up with ours. We'd love to see it!

2014: The Year of Journey

I've declared 2014 the "Year of Journey." No, not the band. Although, "Don't Stop Believin'" could be a good subtitle. I've already started doing a lot of soul searching this year to figure out where I want to be and how I'm going to get there. (Better late than never, right?) Some might wonder if I'm unhappy where I am. On the contrary, there have been few times I've been happier in my life than I am right now. I'd like to stay happier, so I'm on a mission to make sure it happens.

The Layout Sketch today at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration inspired me to use My Digital Studio to make a vision board for what I currently feel is most important to me at this point in my 2014 Journey.

Layout Sketch

The lower left hand corner is me on January 19, 2014. One of my goals this year is to continue my healthy lifestyle changes, which should inevitably lead to weight loss. The four yoga poses are ones that I struggle with right now. They are going to require strength, practice, and confidence. I hope to master each of them during 2014. I do strive to inspire people; I've always been a helper and that feeds off it. "There is a certain happiness in being silly and ridiculous" has pretty much always been my life motto. Life is too short to take everything seriously. Keep it light and fun and it makes things easier. The other quotes I found on pinterest and they really spoke to me as they are all things I struggle with in one way or another. Oh, and the tatoo is one that I want to get this year.

My initial plan was to print this out and make it an inspiration board, which I still intend to do. However, as I am still working on my goals, and life is an ever-evolving journey; I have decided to create a new page each month and make a 2014 book at the end. I plan to have my husband take a picture of me each month while practicing each of the four yoga poses so I can document how far I've come at the end of the year. I'm also certain that I will find more quotes that are fitting for me as my journey continues.

With light and love, I thank you for being a part of my journey today. Please stop in at Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration and see what the other designers have created with the sketch. We'd love for you to link your creation up with us if we have inkspired you with this layout.

*All of the photos came from Pinterest, with the exception of the one of me.

Supplies used:
  My Digital Studio
   Digital Stamp Sets: Define Your Life, Schoolbook Serif Numbers
   Digital embellishments: Basic Pearls

Stylin' Stampin' Inkspiration December Layout Challenge

The third Monday of the month means it's time for the December Layout Challenge at Stylin' Stampin' Inkspiration. Here is the sketch:

This is what I did with it:

If you've been following my scrapbook posts, you know that I'm working on our anniversary album of our annual zoo trip. I love designing in My Digital Studio, because I can create page elements that I couldn't do in a traditional album.

To create the background, I did a custom "paper" using one of the scenery pictures that I had taken. I used the picker tool to change the color of the washi tape to match the grass and some of the plant leaves. I also changed the color of the Hodgepodge Hardware clips so that they blended in to the picture a little better.

Make sure to stop in at SSINK to see how the other designers used the sketch. You can also play along and link up your own take on the sketch this week!

****BLOG CANDY WINNER****
Congrats to Meredith who was my blog candy winner from last Thursday's post!

Scrapbooking-MDS style

In lieu of going on a "real" honeymoon when we got married, my husband and I decided that we would go on an anniversary trip each year instead. Each year we have gone to a different zoo. It's definitely a fun day out, just spending the day together walking around. While we do spend some time watching the animals, most of it is spent taking pictures of EVERYTHING so I can scrapbook it when we get home.

Each year I have created a 5x5 album using My Digital Studio, and had it printed through Stampin' Up!'s professional printing service. It's really nice having a collection of albums to show that don't take up a lot of space and are easy to transport if we want to show them to someone. Plus, it is a great momento for us.

I have just started on this year's trip. Here is one of the pages I've created.

My favorite element on this page is the burlap ribbon. I already had all the pictures on the page, and when I added the ribbon, it happened that it was "folded" in just the right places!

I will continue to share pages throughout the year, and will also share a picture of the completed albums in a future post.

May Stylin' Stampin' Hop

It's time to hop again! Plus with this crazy weather we're having, hopping may be the only way to stay warm. (IN MAY!!!!)
By now you've probably heard about (and seen) Stampin' Up!'s retirement lists. There are so many great stamp sets and accessories leaving us on June 3rd; but trust me, there's some happy surprises coming soon!
This month we're using either one of the Best Of stamp sets (being released each month in honor of Stampin' Up!'s 25th anniversary), or our favorite retiring products.
While I'm most sad to see Curly Cute leave (you won't see it on my sale table!); I've used it on blog projects before, so I opted to use a set I've not used before. Circle Circus has been on my wish list since the day it came out. I was bummed when I saw it on the retirement list; however, I had purchased the digital download of it already. Three great things about the digital download: it saved me money, it doesn't take up space, and I'll have it forever! Have I told you how much I love My Digital Studio? ;) I hope you enjoy my projects featuring Circle Circus. How many retiring colors can you find in my projects?

My first project is a tag I made featuring my fur baby, Abby. Ironically, I made this; then 30 minutes later I was just venting to the other hop members about how annoying she was being. As my husband and I often say, "it's a good thing she's cute." Now you can see how cute she is, and how much she loves her heat vent!

My next project is a quick, simple card. I love so many of the new MDS features, but I think my favorite is the ability to color the stamp images!

Thanks for joining us on the hop. Please continue on to Pam's blog, and then through the rest of the hop to see everyone's fabulous projects! We'll see ya back here next month with some brand new products! (If I were you, I'd come back before then to see some sneak peek projects!)




Blog Hop Participants:

1. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
2. Nancy B. of Lady Stamps-A-Lot
3. Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
4. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
5. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
6. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
7. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
8. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
9. Heidi B of Stuck on Stampin'
10. Bree R. of Craft-somnia
11. Diana E. of Stampin' Fun with Diana