Friday, August 29, 2014

Wondrous Wreath

Hi Everyone!  As some of you know, the new Holiday Catalog went live yesterday! YEA!! It is so full of fun things I can't even think of a favorite.  I love all the co-coordinating products, any time there is a matching punch or framelit for a stamp set, I am happy. This card uses a new set called Wondrous Wreath.  The samples shown for this set are all Christmas wreaths but I thought it would be fun as a fall wreath or even a spring wreath as well.  I'm not the only one either, I saw several people with the same thought on a few other websites. Great minds thing alike, right?










One of the great new things about this new set is the "Tab" that Stampin' Up! has added to the top of the stamp.  Hopefully you can make it out in this photo.  The reason this helps is so that you can layer easily.  Just make sure your tabs are all facing the same way, and your stamps will line up. This wreath is made up of 3 layers.  I first stamped with the biggest leaf layer in Hello Honey.  I then added  the second layer with Tangelo Twist.  See that tab?  The stamps lined up so easily!  Next I added the berries in Blackberry Bliss.   Now for the even more amazing part, the framelits have the tab too!!            



See the tab on the framelit, no more turning and turning to figure out how to line it up. 


















I added a banner with the new Good Greeting stamp set.  This stamp set if only available for hostesses placing orders of $300 or more from now until October 31st.  Behind it is a bit of Natural Chevron Ribbon which I have trimmed and turned over to hide the white chevrons.   






Here is a fun Video showcasing this fun new set and showing you the tabs in action! 
I hope you are enjoying the new Holiday Catalog!  Contact me with any questions you may have!
Would you like a hard copy of the catalog? let me know and I will get one to you.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

MDS Blog Hop ~ Playful Polka Dots

Hi Everyone!  It's MDS Blog Hop time again!  The MDS Blog Hop is brought to you by a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators who love to use My Digital Studio and hope to inspire you to use it too.  We link our blogs together on the second and forth Thursdays of the month and this week we are highlighting the Playful Polka Dots Download!  This download is on sale this week for only $5.97 in the US.  I have this download and have used it several times in the past.  I love the bright colors and the co-ordinating embellishments that come in the kit.
 The kit also comes with a pre-made template, which is what I used here.  It was just so easy to pop in the pictures.  The template is in the 11 by 8 1/2 format.  I normally use a 12 x 12 format for my pages but it's OK, you can change the size.  I will be talking about editing templates on my Beth's Digital Cuts blog.














Here is a card made with embellishments from the kit.  I love the green rick rack trim.












This page also uses papers and embellishments from the kit.





















The Playful Polka Dots kit is on sale through Monday September 1st. 












http://hollystamps.com/mdsbh08-28


If this is your first stop on the Hop, click all the way around until you come back here so that you don't miss a stop.  I hope that you find some fun MDS inspiration!

Next up on the Hop is Holly!  Holly is an MDS master and she will have certainly made something great!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A short and Sweet Promotion

What?  $150 worth of product for only $99.00!!  Is it true?  Yes it is.  Stampin' Up! is having a super short and super sweet promotion for just one week.  August 21st though August 28th you can get $150 worth of product in your starter kit for just $99, and NO SHIPPING COSTS!! 

Becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is easy and now is a great time to give it a try.  You can save some money on your hobby, or step it up a bit and make a little bit of extra spending money, or work it and make this your job.  Have you seen the Holiday Catalog?  It's super fabulous and goes live on August 28th!  You could  choose products from the Holiday Catalog to complete your kit!  If you decide that being a demonstrator is not for you, that's ok too, you can drop your demo-ship at any time, but I don't think you will.  Stampin' Up! sends out a special magazine every other month full of ideas and tip and tricks, and there is a demonstrator website filled with all sorts of ideas and videos to get you in the crafty mood and learn how to use the fun and fabulous Stampin' Up! products.  Have you tried the Blendabilites yet? This is the perfect time!!   Found a lot you liked in the new Holiday Catalog?  You can order products from the Holiday catalog in your starter kit RIGHT NOW!

Here's the Run down:

Short and Sweet Starter kit offer: Get $150 worth of your choice of product for just $99 August 21st though the 28th.

Free Shipping:  You get free shipping on these products, that's another 10% in savings.

Everyday Discount: Stampin' Up! demonstrators receive 20% off every order everyday.  More if  you meet sales goals.  Demonstrators orders qualify for Hostess rewards too, the pluses keep coming!

Extra 10% off your first order: Stampin' Up! gives new demonstrators an extra 10% off their first order to give them a good start on building their business or stamping supplies.

Free Catalogs and Sneak Peeks:  Stampin' Up! demonstrators get a free copy of all the Stampin' Up! catalogs as well as a bi-monthly magazine called "Stampin' Success.  See new products first and get them a month before they go live.


Earn Extra money or meet new friends: Becoming a demonstrator is a fun way to earn some extra cash by hosting stamp workshops or classes.  Even better, make new friends with other stamp enthusiast in our online community and in your own community at home!

No Obligation: The is no obligation to make further purchases, no requirement to host a workshop or class, no penalty to drop.  This is RISK FREE.   And, if you happen to make a sales goal of $300 by January 31st, your demonstrator-ship will continue to the next quarter if you wish to continue.

And you get me! I am here to help you along and answer any questions you may have.  I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator since 2005 and I love it.  Contact me today if you have any questions!
You can join online by clicking the join my team tab under my blog header, or I can send you a hard copy if you prefer. 


White Chirstmas = colorful fall (sneak peek)

Hi everyone!! It's back to school day for my kids! It feels like fall is just around the corner.  Fall is actually my favorite season, I love the cooler weather and the colors of fall.  When I saw the trees in the new White Christmas set, I knew I wanted to use them for fall.  Here is my first attempt.







I used markers to ink up the stamp, Always Artichoke on the ground and Baked Brown Sugar on the trees.  To make the leaves I used the broken tip of a pencil for the small dots and the eraser for the larger dots.  The set also has a great stamp that I used that is a scattering of dots.  The colors used are Always Artichoke, Tangelo Twist, and Hello Honey.  






I then used a blender pen to add some Crumb Cake to the tree trunks and Always Artichoke to the ground. 
The card base is Kraft, with a layer of Chocolate Chip and an accent of Hello Honey from the Moonlight paper stack.
That cute little wooden leaf if new too!  You get 36 little wooden accents in this new pack called Autumn Wooden Accents for $3.95.  The back has leaves and acorns, great for fall.  I tied it on with some Baked Brown Sugar Bakers Twine.








Here is another of the little wooden leaves.  The "Thanks" is from the set Another Thank you.










The Trees are from a set called "White Christmas with is a great new set in the Holiday mini catalog that goes live on August 28th.  I wish I could show you the whole set but we are not allowed to show pictures of actual product until the catalog goes live, but we can show you items made with it.  The set has the Trees but it also has cute winter accents to complete the scene, such as a snowman, a car with a tree tied to the top, a deer, a polar bear, a star, some cardinals, and "thinking of you at Christmas... " and "... and sending every good wish for the coming new year" as well as a Merry Christmas banner.  So cute! And, its a photo-polymer set so it is not expensive either!! YEA!  Wish you could see it?  Well, I have ordered catalogs to be sent to all my customers I have heard from a few of you that they have stared arriving, so check on page 31!  If you didn't get  yours, let me know.   I always order one to be sent to myself just to see when they start to arrive and I didn't get mine yet but I am sure I will any day. 

Of course since the set was out I had to make a Christmas card with it too. 

See the cute little bird?  It was so easy to perch him on the branch because of the clear stamps.











 See the snowflake? also new in the Holiday catalog.  What doesn't show up great in the photos is the dazzling diamonds I added to the trees and along the ground. 









I sponged behind the trees with Soft Sky.  To keep the ground pure white I masked it off with a strip of vellum held in place with post it notes. 



Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you are excited about the upcoming Holiday Catalog!  I love it! Let me know if you would like a copy if you didn't get one! And remember, the catalog goes live on August 28th and you will be able to view it online! 





Friday, August 15, 2014

Using Blendabilities on Designer Series Paper

Hi everyone!  Today I want to show you another way to use your Blendabilities.  Did you know you can use the Blendabilities on your Designer Series paper?  You can!  And the black and white patterns in the Back to Black paper collection are perfect for this. 









I started by cutting out a piece of paper in my desired pattern.
















Next I used the lightest shade of Melon Mambo Blendabilites to add color to the right side of the pattern.












I then added the medium tone of Melon Mambo to the left side.  All done! So fast!  You can make papers in lots of fun colors to really expand the paper selections you have!






I used my Blendabilities to color the flower as well.  Some Mossy Meadow ribbon adds a fun set of leaves. 


















Thanks for stopping by today! 






Thursday, August 14, 2014

MDS Blog Hop!! Tea Time II

Hi Everyone!!  It's MDS Blog Hop time again!!  I love being a part of this blog hop and sharing what I love (My Digital Studio) with this talented group of ladies!  This week we are highlighting the MDS Download Tea Time II.  Tea Time II is part of the Weekly Deals this week.  Did you know that each week Stampin' Up! releases new specials?  And they always include an MDS Download! Yippee!  This week the featured download special is the Tea Time II download and this one is really a very nice download.
I made this fun page of my two youngest helping me get the flower beds ready for spring.


















 I also made this page of my family from 1970!!  It's fun to see my dad with hair!  (hi dad) 


















The Tea Time II download is really a fun one.  The papers I choose for these two pages already have some great detail added to them with out you having to do a thing.  Here is one of the papers as is.
The download also comes with 13 stamps and 42 embellishments. 





Continue on with the blog hop and see what the rest of us have come up with! Up next is Holly blog, where you will always find inspiration!

www.hollystamps.com/mdsbh08-14

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Wreath Re-peat

I know that this post is a re-peat from last year, but I have a good reason.  The stamp set and Framelit dies used to make this card are on sale right now as part of the August Big Shot Promotion!  Isn't this a fun card?   Yes the Gumball Green paper is discontinued, but imagine it in Garden Green, or maybe Mossy Meadow.  But then you might say, "But Beth, the Merry is discontinued too" and you are right. I am sure you can find many Merry Christmas stamps to use instead.  And, the Holiday catalog is just around the corner and I know there are some great holiday stamps that would be great here.
Anyway, I just thought I would share this card with you today in case you are checking out the August specials and trying to make up your  mind about what ones to get.  



Thanks for stopping by today! 
                                       Click here to see what Big Shot items are on sale!

Monday, August 11, 2014

Seeing Stars

Hi everyone.  I am still playing around with the star framelits!  What is that, four posts so far?  But this time I am not working with the Bright & Beautiful Christmas set, this time I just used the framelits themselves and paired them up with a Happy Birthday from the Itty Bitty Banners set. 
This card came together really quickly.  I pretty much copied this card from one on SplitcoastStampers.
The background is made with the Polka Dot Textured Embossing Folder in Pacific Point.  I added a Crushed Curry Ribbon with a strip behind it.  The Large star is made in Cherry Cobbler. 










The Ribbon slips through the star and the Cherry Cobbler star is just sort of hanging there, I didn't glue it down at all.  Amazingly it stays in place, but I like that it is free.  The silver stars are punched out of silver foil paper. 


Be sure to check out all of the Framelit Bundles that are on sale this month!  There are some great deals! 





Thanks for stopping by!!
                                Click here to see what Big Shot items are on sale this month!!











Thursday, August 7, 2014

Bright & Beautiful flip flop card

Hi Everyone!  I have another card using the new Bright & Beautiful stamp set for you!  I really like this set and the matching framelits!  As I was going through my Cherry Cobbler card stock last week I found two flip flop card bases that I made a really long time ago! I decided I needed to make something with it right away and reached for the Bright & Beautiful stamp set again.












If you haven't made a flip flop card (sometimes called a swing card) it is really very simple.  Start with a piece of card stock cut to 5 1/2 by 6 3/4.  The tricky part is cutting out the center.  You need to bring the card stock into your scoring tool or cutter and place it at the 2 3/4 inch mark. Now score 1 1/4 from the top and again 1 1/4 from the bottom.  Do this to both sides.  Then turn the card stock and with the cutting blade cut from the score marks to within 1 1/4 inches of the side, and then turn the card stock and cut down to with in 1 1/4 inches from the bottom, then turn and cut to the score line.  Do this from both sides.  There is a tutorial on SplitcoastStampers, which is where I learned how to make this card.
You can then decorate the card any way you like.
Here is the front close up.  I used Versa Mark and Cherry Cobbler embossing powder.  The accent colors are Soft Sky and Early Espresso.


















The back.















Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon and a star for some extra pretty.  The star is left over from the July My Paper Pumpkin kit.































I front flips to the back when you open the card.













Thanks for stopping by!
Don't forget, the Bright & Beautiful Stamp set and matching framelits are available as a bundle at a special price in August.  Click here to see all the bundles on sale.
















Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Project Life by Stampin' Up!


Hi everyone!  I wanted to share my Project Life by Stampin' Up! page today.  You know I love My Digital Studio, and the big majority of my photos are in a digital format. But I have A LOT of photos in boxes from years ago that are just sitting unloved. I had thought of scanning them into the computer so that I could create pages with them in My Digital Studio, but lets face it, just scanning them all would take days, maybe weeks even!!  And I have plenty of digital photos to work with already, so my digital love will be fulfilled anyway.   Here is where Project Life by Stampin' Up! is going to come to the rescue.  The whole idea behind this system is to make memory keeping super easy so that you spend more time enjoying life than you do documenting it :)  The pocket pages are sized to just plunk your photos right into them.  You can add to them with some embellishments if you want, but if not, it's still good.  No rules.  Where you don't have any photos, add a journaling card. The pocket pages come in an variety of configurations to fit your needs.  Step one is to start with the photos, after all, that's what the page is all about right?  On this page I was working with some photos of my children playing in the kiddie pool.  I noticed that my photos were mostly horizontal, so I looked for a format with mostly horizontal pockets.  I had a couple photos that were crop-able, so those were trimmed to fit in to the smaller pockets.  I was left with two empty pockets.  Step to, go through your pocket cards to find some that will fit your empty pockets.  These can be just colors that work, sometimes a break of color can help a busy page, or journaling cards to tell the story.  Journaling cards are important because you want to tell the story of the pictures.  You think you will always know who these people are, but then 40 years later you will be surprised to be unsure of just who that baby in the onesie is.    A few Sunday's back my mom was going through some photo boxes and asking my sister and I which babies were which.  Is this Ryan or David?  Sam or Tucker?  (Guess who just got a Project Life starter kit from their daughter this week?) So don't forget to do a bit of journaling.   Next add any extras you may want.  Maybe a sticker or a bit of trim?  Or just keep it simple.  On my page I just added a few sticker letters.  Here is a quick tip on lining up those letters.

Stick the letters onto a scrap paper or a post-it note.  Only stick the very bottom edge to the paper.


















Now line the letters up on your card.  You can hover over the card until you feel happy with how you have centered you letters, then press them down.



















Then slip off the scrap paper and press the letters down firmly.  Yea!  Nicely spaced letters. 




















































The page is really very simple.  I do love to make elaborate pages now and then and that's ok too, but they take time and only a few pages get into books when they are done that way.  With Project Life by Stampin' Up! I feel free to mix it up.  The pocket pages look great right next to a traditional scrapbook page and a digital page!  These are all made with Stampin' Up! colors and designs, so you can easily pair up the cards with your Stampin' Up! ink and papers.  The main thing is to get those photos out of boxes and into books that can be enjoyed by family and friends for years. 
There are lots of pocket card packages to choose from, even one for the upcoming holidays!  I think I finished 6 pages yesterday!  AND, The cards are also available in digital format!!! I can print out more if I need them and resize them too!  And what happens when you only have a few cards left so they don't work on any more pages?  Turn them into a greeting card!  Since the cards use all Stampin' Up! colors you can easily use the Project Life card on a card stock base to make a great greeting card too! 
If you have any questions about Project Life by Stampin' Up! please feel free to contact me, I am happy to help. 
Thanks for stopping by!