Archive for September, 2009:
Back to Real Paper and Ink!
Aloha, all!
My friend, Helen, came over to join me in my craft room this afternoon. What a joy it was to have her over. Not only did her sparkling personality really give me a lift–her visit forced me into getting back to paper and ink–and embossing powder, and "real" stamps, and adhesives and…
Well, you get the picture. I was back in my craft room, and away from my craft computer (but not toooooo far! Had to show Helen My Digital Studio!)
I managed to send Helen home with the samples we made today to demonstrate some great stamping techniques. But, once she left, I decided to stay in the paper and ink mode, and try one of today’s SUDSOL challenges. Now, SUDSOL is just for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators. But one of the guiding philosophies behind the group is to provide us demonstrators materials that we can share with you, our friends and customers!
So this is the card I made based on today’s challenge in the SUDSOL "Chat and Challenge" classroom. The challenge was to make a card with some square elements turned onto a diagonal. The original "inspiration" for this challenge also had the photo corner punches on it. So I decided to stick with that, as I made changes elsewhere in the card.
The Designer Series Paper that I’ve used here has come to be a favorite of mine–but not because of its original purpose. This, you see, is the paper meant to go with the Build A Bear stamps and Sizzix Die cuts! It’s "Pawsitively Prints." But what fun it is to use just as Designer Series Paper with any kind of card! The colors in this DSP are So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive and Ballet Blue (oh, with some Whisper White in the background). I tried to use all the colors; but the Ballet Blue was just to "in your face" when I tried it with the other DSP colors.
I have become so thrilled with the idea of challenges–to get my creative juices flowing!–that I’m going to start putting one in each newsletter that I send to my customers. And I’m going to be starting a contest each month. The winner each month will receive whatever items I’m offering for those who place a $50 online order through my Stampin’ Up! website. If you do both–submit an entry AND place a $50 order online, you’ll receive an extra benefit.
My October Newsletter will be coming out by Monday evening (September 28th). So, if you’d like to get in on the goodies, sign up for my newsletter now!
Subscribe to the comments for this postTaking a Break from “School”!
Aloha, all!
Where have I been? In "school," that’s where! I have almost totally engrossed myself in learning all that I can about My Digital Studio, the new Stampin’ Up! product that you’ll be able to order beginning less than a week from today! Finally, on October 1st, you’ll be able to order your very own copy of this great digital paper crafting program.
And I want to be here for you when you start using it to help you get off to a quick start with it.
In previous posts I shared some of the projects that I’ve made with MDS. Today I’d like to share a few techniques that I’ve learned from my own practice with the program as well as from seeing the work that other Stampin’ Up! demonstrators have done.
I know it’s only September. But, by the time you’ll be able to order My Digital Studio, it will be October, and I need to get those greeting cards done quickly. And, yes, I send Halloween cards. It’s one of those times when I can make silly projects and I’ll only offend those who are offended by Halloween in the first place. (Of course, I definitely do not impose my Halloween cards on those who find Halloween offensive, for whatever reason.)
In this card, I made a "punch" pumpkin out of designer paper of my OWN design! How can you do that, you may ask? In MDS it’s easy. Just superimpose two different digital papers (or the same paper set at different angles) and reduce the opacity of one or both so you can see through them. Voila! Here I have some Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black mixed together, with some stripes and polka dots. And the little spider on the right is hanging on three of his wordy webs. That’s done by placing the whole spider "stamp" on the card three times, lining them up nicely, then placing small squares of black "card stock" over the spider in the top two webs. Super easy!
If you’re used to using any kind of digital imaging program, you’re already very experienced in this sort of digital TRICKery. But it’s definitely a TREAT to do with this Stampin’ Up! digital papers and images.
Today, one of my neighbors who’s going to be moving to the mainland is coming over to play in the craft room. Want to bet I’ll have her at my computer, too? But for sure I’ll have something I’ve made with paper to show off tomorrow.
Designer Kits in My Digital Studio
Aloha, all!
As I showed you yesterday, you can use My Digital Studio to make a scrapbook all of your own design. I did most of the layouts myself, and picked embellishments, stamp sets and papers from all over the place in the program.
Today I’ll share a couple of pages that I made using one of the built-in Designer Kits, Sunny Day. In these Designer Kits, there are entire pages all laid out for you. All you have to do is find your photographs and click and drag them into the spaces designed to holdl them. MDS resizes the photos for you automatically (it does this no matter how you lay out your scrapbook pages.)
What I scrapbooked this time was my trip back in May, where I visited my son and his family in Oregon, family and friends in Maryland, and a couple of side trips to different parts of Pennsylvania. The first page is the page that will be on the cover of my book. Stampin’ Up!’s printer will be offering books with leather covers, books with printed photo covers, and so much more! You can even get individual pages printed, and then add your own 3-D embellishments to make a hybrid page! This book, though, is just for printing.
Unfortunately, for today’s blog, I’m a bit limited in the pages I can show you because the pages contain photographs of lots of people with whom I enjoyed my trip, and I’m not going to bother them with requests to be able to post their pictures on the Internet. But you’ll get the gist of what MDS can do.
For one thing, I’m probably not someone who would put pink, green, orange and turquoise together on a scrapbook page. It really takes a good designer to make that color combo work. And Stampin’ Up! has some darned good designers, because I think this works just fine!
The page above is one that I made myself, but using only elements available in the Sunny Day Designer Kit. I didn’t need permission from the azaleas and rhododendrons to show their photographs off!
Beginning today, I’m back in the craft room to make some cards for swaps. Then I’ll be off for a couple of days while I go with my husband to Honolulu. I hope to get some of those swap cards done to share before I leave!
Meanwhile, start thinking about all those scrapbooks that you’ve been putting off because you just don’t have the time. When you get your own copy of My Digital Studio, you’ll get them done in NO time!
“My Digital Studio” is Addictive!
Aloha, all!
Oh, my, where has the week gone!!!?? I’ll tell you–it went somewhere while I had my head buried up to my ears in My Digital Studio projects!
What have I completed so far:
- A 12" x 12" scrapbook about our summer at Bear Lake, Minnesota (mentioned that in my last post)
- An 8" x 8" scrapbook about our late and much loved dog, Cedro.
- An 8" x 8" scrapbook about my trip to the mainland last May.
The two 8" x 8" scrapbooks are very different. Today I’ll share some of the pages about Cedro with you. Remember that everything on these pages is either built into My Digital Studio, or is a photograph that I uploaded into the program. Text is made with a built-in-text editor, but uses fonts that you already have on your computer. There are no fonts included in MDS. There are, however, "stamps" that are alphabets. I used those in making the cover of the Bear Lake Scrapbook I shared in my last post. The background color for this entire album is Kraft card stock, with a row of Whisper White stitching running along the bottom.
Most of the colors are standard Stampin’ Up! colors. The embellishment colors for the page are Not Quite Navy and Pumpkin Pie. One of the things that MDS lets you do is change the opacity of elements such as these, thus changing the color, as I did with all but the dark Not Quite Navy flower.
In the following page, I used the built-in color picker, and "picked" the two darker colors for the embellishments out of the outfit I was wearing in the upper left photo. Way cool way to do this!
For the next page I used some of the winter-themed MDS stamp sets. There are snow flakes in several different sets, and I was so glad to find something with which to use them (we don’t have much snow where I live in Hawaii!)
What fun it was to do this scrapbook! I loved being able to choose from so many stamps, embellishments and colors!
Tomorrow I take a different tack. I’ll be sharing with you some of the pages from a scrapbook I made using one of the built in Designer Kits that MDS offers. Completely different look!
I am so excited about this product, and I’ll be working hard to get my MDS certification as soon as we’re able to try for it. And then I’m looking forward to many of you buying this program and working to help you make the most amazing scrapbooks–in record time and with no mess in your craft room!
My Digital Studio – A Special Scrapbook
Aloha, all!
I have been waiting all summer to be able to use My Digital Studio to create a very special album to commemorate our family’s time at Bear Lake, Minnesota, this summer. Now I’ve finished the album, and it’s ready to be sent off to be printed (not quite yet as Stampin’ Up!’s printing service is not quite ready to take orders yet!)
This will be the cover of the album. There’s not much in the way of embellishments, but the alphabet is one that comes with MDS.
The photograph is a very unusual photo of SEVEN loons swimming in formation near our dock. We couldn’t believe that many were swimming peacefully. Unfortunately, the only camera at the ready was a lower resolution camera. But we’re happy to have the photo anyway.
As the week goes on, I’ll share some of the pages from the scrapbook with you. As I don’t have the opportunity to get photo releases from most of the people in the album, most of what I show will be scenic pages. Not bad, though!
More Greeting Cards from My Digital Studio
Aloha, all!
You know I’ve been playing (er, working) with Stampin’ Up!’s new My Digital Studio since I received my copy last week. Yesterday I actually used it during a "Chat and Challenge" online session sponsored by one of the Stampin’ Up! demonstrator groups to which I belong–SUDSOL (if you’re a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I highly recommend the group. There’s a button on the right and down a bit to click to find out more information.)
At the beginning of the Chat and Challenge (or C&C for short), the hostess provides a sketch or card and we are challenged to make our own card using the idea for the layout that’s presented. So usually that means that I am there for the beginning of the chat, I have to move into my craft room to make my card, then I catch the end of the chat while I upload my challenge card. That’s the way most of us work, except for those few who have their computer and craft room colocated (I’m not one of them).
But yesterday, I asked if I could try using My Digital Studio, and the hostess said it was fine. So I actually got to create (on one side of my monitor) and chat (on the other side). I’m thinking this is where I would like to have two monitors set up; except that my desk is so small that’s not really feasible.
I made two cards for this challenge. For the first, I used a photo of a Vireya in our garden as the central picture. For the second, I used only items that are available in My Digital Studio. I like the outcome! On the other hand, I so like working with paper and embellishments that I doubt I’ll be printing and sending many cards made digitally. But it sure is fast–and neat! My husband commented that I wouldn’t need a craft room at all if I just did everything digitally!
Horrors!!! Not that–and not likely 
Where have I been?
Aloha, all!
Where I have been is at my computer learning all that I can about the newest Stampin’ Up! product, My Digital Studio. My personal dream for this has been that it would help me with all the scrapbooking that I want to do. And believe me, it is doing that in so many ways more than I could have imagined. I can hardly wait to share some of what I’ve been doing with you. A problem is that the scrapbook on which I have been working (and it’s up to 32 pages so far!) has photos of lots of people, and I don’t feel as if I have the right to place their photos out here on the Internet without their permission.
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The good news is that I’ve been learning so much about this program, that my next srapbook–which will have photos of plants and flowers and not people!–will be one that I can share with you until the cows come home (um, but there are no cows in that scrapbook, so I may have to learn another cliche!)
Tonight, though, just so I could get something published for you, I tried out a greeting card. Believe me, I still have a lot of work to do to get proficient at the greeting card thing digitally! For one thing, there are not nearly enough stamp sets on My Digital Studio that match what I usually do to make my cards as nice as I’d like. For another, I still do not yet know how to manipulate the embellishments smoothly.
BUT–I am getting there!! And, by the time you’re ready to think about buying this software, I should be able to be a great coach as you get started in it!
Tuesday of this week I have some time to myself, and I’m planning to get my class projects for September and October finished so I can show them off in my newsletter. If you’d like to see these sooner than later, be sure to sign up for my newsletter! Just click to the right and you’ll be on my September list!
My Digital Studio–Wow!
Aloha, all!
I am just so totally impressed with the newest Stampin’ Up! product, My Digital Studio. Within half an hour of loading up the software, I had my first page ready to show off!
Now, this page (click here if you’d like to see a larger copy) is made with one of the predesigned layouts. The Designer Series Paper colors, the space for 3 photos, and the embellishments were all ready for me to plop photos in.
But then I had to go move things around a bit. And, if you’ve ever used any kind of a layout program in Windows, you will find grouping, flipping, moving, stretching, copying and pasting just the way you’re used to doing! I changed one photo to be a circle, put mats of different colors behind all three pictures, stretched one out, rearranged them, put a shadow behind them, moved the boxes for the text, resized the text–I just had a blast!!
Today, I’m going to start with making my own scrapbook design based on scrap maps and using stamp sets and colors of my choice. I have a large scrapbook that’s way overdue, and I can hardly wait to be able to send it to Stampin’ Up! own printing supplier later this month. What fun!!!
And you’ll be able to buy your very own copy on October 1st!! Not only that, with a hostess workshop of $400, you’ll be able to order your very own copy of My Digital Studio at half price!
It’s Holiday Mini Time!
Aloha, all!
I can’t believe it’s already the SECOND OF SEPTEMBER!!! The reason I didn’t pay attention to the first day of the 2009 Mini Catalog Order period is because it was also the day I had the first opportunity to order Stampin’ Up!’s newest offering, My Digital Studio (more about that when I get my very own copy later this week).
But the 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog is now ready for you to peruse and order! If you’re on my mailing list, you may already have received a copy (though Stampin’ Up! said there was a delay in mailing to the west of Illinois, and most of my mailing list is, well, west of Illinois!). But if you still need a copy, just let me know and I’ll mail one out to you. I have a big stack of them and they’re of absolutely no use to me in my craft room–so I want to get them out to you!
I still have some toys from the mini that I’ve not shown off to you, and I’m going to try to get to them today. I’ll be in a swap later this month, and I’m hoping to get my swap designed today. If so, I’ll share with you right away.
I’ll also be sending out my monthly newsletter next Tuesday (to give me time to design some My Digital Studio pages to show off). If you’d like to be on my mailing list, just click the top box to the right and it will be automatic!
See you tomorrow!
