Paper Craft Crew Challenge with Swirly Birds

Once upon a time .... I used to do a lot of card challenges.  Splitcoast Stampers have several challenges every week - from color challenges to design challenges.  A lot of stamping blogs also offer different challenges.  With this card I am doing a design challenge from the Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch (say that 10 times fast!)  They are celebrating their 200th challenge with this design.  I was a member of the Paper Craft Crew when it first started and did weekly cards for a few years as a member of the team.  Back then, I mainly did digital cards for the challenge since that was when Stampin' Up still supported My Digital Studio.  Sadly, that is not the case anymore (and I am still sad about it!!)  I decided to get out my new Swirly Birds set.  This is the cutest stamp set!  It's funny - when I first saw it in our pre-order, I did not like it so I didn't purchase it early.  Well, guess what was on my first order when the new catalog came out!!!

I used several stamp sets on this card.  For the Dapper Denim striped background, I used the  Diagonal Stripes Background Stamp (pg 125).  For the light Flirty Flamingo center background, I used one of the watercolor wash stamps in Work of Art, stamping off once before stamping on the white card stock.  I like the combo of denim and pink in this card, what do you think?

Here is the sketch if you are interested in making a card with it.  You might want to visit Pam's blog since she is giving away a pretty good prize this week!  (Sunny Girl Scraps)  Also stop in at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge Blog and see the other cards for this challenge.  Many of team members are also giving away blog candy.

Final Paper Craft Crew Card

A quick post tonight before I hit the shower and my bed.  Who would think you could be so tired sitting around the hospital all day!  But 12 hours at the hospital was enough.  Sonny came through the hip surgery with flying colors.  I don't think he will ever admit it, but he did say his pain today after surgery was nothing compared to the pain he has been having before surgery.  The surgery lasted about 1 1/2 hours and then another hour in Recovery.  I figured he'd be out of it all day but they gave him a spinal block and only a small bit of "la la" sedation meds so he was pretty awake when they took him to his room.  He was in the room around 2:30 and the Physical Therapist came in at 3:30 and had him up and walking down the hall.  I couldn't believe it but he did fine.  He was starving so I called Marianne and had her stop and get him an Italian Sub on her way home from work.  He ate that around 4:30 and when they brought his dinner tray, he ate most of that too!  I can already tell I am going to have my hands full when he gets home though trying to keep him from trying to do too much.  The Phy. Therapist had him sitting in a chair and told him to sit as long as he felt like it.  He made it a couple of hours and then had me help him get back in bed.  Well, he should have called a nurse to get him in the bed and they let him know it when they came in to check on him!!  He is hoping to be able to come home tomorrow afternoon but we'll see.  He is doing so good that I don't see why not though.

I forgot to share my last card I made for Paper Craft Crew.  I have been on the Design Team for 3-4 years and mostly made my cards using My Digital Studio.  When MDS was discontinued, I decided to turn in my resignation also.  Don't get me wrong - I will continue to use MDS (I just bought $130 worth of new downloads!) but just decided it was time to turn my focus somewhere else.

I love this baby card that I made with MDS - and just in time too.  My daughter-in-law's oldest girl had her own little girl last Friday.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge 141

Well, today was a little crazy with the Retired list going live.  Many demonstrators get up at 5 - 6 a.m. to check it out and put their orders in.  (I'm not an early morning person so that was not me!)  Stampin' Up's website crashed and was down for a couple of hours I think.  By 11:00 a.m. (maybe earlier), several items had sold out already including all the reinkers for the In Colors that are retiring. Those colors were so popular.  I am hoping that Stampin' Up will bring a couple of them back sometime in the future.  You never know!

Not only were the stamps and accessories retired, but also all MDS items were offered at 305 off.  If you have My Digital Studio, now is the time to grab these retiring items.  Here is a link to them.

MDS

Here is the card I made for this week's Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge using My Digital Studio.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge MDS Card

It is time for the Paper Craft Crew challenge.  This is my card for this week.

Of course, I used My Digital Studio to make this card.  I used the Freeform Tool to color the flower and love how it turned out.

The sentiment is a good one.  If we all treated ourselves better, we would feel better, don't you think?

My Digital Studio Update: I actually have a few bits of GOOD news concerning My Digital Studio this morning.  Stampin’ Up! made the following announcements on it’s Demonstrator website this morning: While Stampin’ Up! previously announced that the MDS product line would be unavailable after Sunday, May 31, 2015, it is excited to let you know that all of its MDS items will be included in the upcoming Retired List promotion from April 21-June 2, 2015.  Digital downloads, software, and print products will all be discounted by 30 percent and are guaranteed to be available through the end of the promotion (MDS software discs are available while supplies last). Click here to see a list of products, including promotional prices for each item. New Dates Stampin’ Up! has extended the availability date for MyDigitalStudio.net, the digital download manager, and its MDS YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest pages through midnight, June 9, 2015. Demonstrators and customers may call Demonstrator Support for assistance with MDS until Demonstrator Support closes at 7:00 PM (MT) on Tuesday, June 9. Project Life The Let’s Get Away Digital Project Life Card Collection by Stampin’ Up! from the occasions catalog was posted on the ProjectLife.com website yesterday and is currently available for 20 percent off.  For the foreseeable future, all Digital Project Life card collections will be made available through the ProjectLife.com store.  (There are both Project Life by Stampin’ Up! and Project Life digital downloads at that site.)  I’ve never tried to download something from this site, but I plan on buying the Let’s Get Away download, so I’ll let you know what I find out.  I did notice that the download only includes the card collection, no stamp brushes.  However, there are other Project Life by Stampin’ Up! stamp brushes on that site, so it looks promising for an ongoing resource for digital downloads! Future Updates While Stampin’ Up! will not sell MDS after June 2, 2015 or offer support for MDS after June 9, 2015, it is working on a solution for you to continue to be able to use your digital downloads and order print products. Stay tuned for updates. Stampin’ Up! hopes you enjoy the Retired List promotion—and that the extended deadlines will be helpful to both demonstrators and customers as it phases out the MDS product line. So, that’s a little encouraging!  I’ll keep you updated as I learn more information.

Sketch for Paper Craft Crew AND New Zealand layouts

This is my card for Paper Craft Crew challenge this week.  I used My Digital Studio to create it.







Check out the rest of the design team's cards HERE.

I've been so bummed about Stampin' Up discontinuing MDS.  I've been wanting to get my New Zealand scrapbook published and finished it last week.  It was going to be over $100 with Stampin' Up and I just couldn't justify that!  The book was 53 pages which is why the price was so high.  Today I checked with Shutterfly and was able to send my pages there PLUS I found a promotion code that took 50% off the order if it was $100+ and another code for Free Shipping!  So what was to be $122 turned out to be only $65. .. much more manageable!!

Here are a couple of the pages from the book:

I scanned our boarding passes to include on the page.

Another scan - the pass for the Hop on/Hop off bus.

Butterfly Basics - MDS Style for Paper Craft Crew

This is my card for Paper Craft Crew challenge this week.  It uses the Butterfly Basics stamp set from the Occasions Catalog .... but in digital form!  Yes, I used My Digital Studio to create this card but it can just as easily be reproduced using the stamp and ink method!

Make sure to check out the other designers take on the sketch this week.  (http://www.papercraftcrew.com/)

I finally finished my projects for Quarterly this weekend.  Marianne and I are headed to Raleigh tomorrow.  She is going to leave work around noon and we will be on our way.  I don't usually wait till the last minute to do my projects but I ended up working most of the day finishing up my 3D swaps.  Luckily, I only had to do 8!  I needed 12x12 card stock to make them and I didn't get my order until Wednesday afternoon.  I scored them all Wednesday night and got them made today!  Whew!  I will be sharing them with you after I swap.

Have a great weekend!

Paper Craft Crew Card

I finally finished off my Feb. Stamp Club today.   I can do those 4 cards in my sleep!!  But I think everyone liked them and we had a fun time making them.

Our weather has really been funny.  Monday it was almost 70 degrees and today I don't think we got past 40.  Sure hoping spring is coming soon. 

I got my 10 Year pin in the mail last week from Stampin' Up.  It's hard to believe I've been a demonstrator for 10 years!  I have enjoyed every minute being creative with Stampin' Up products.

This is my card for Paper Craft Crew this week.  I got most of My Digital Studio files downloaded onto my new laptop and made this card:

Isn't this a pretty baby card? 

Here are the Weekly Deals:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Paper Craft Crew 132

It is snowing like crazy outside right now!  It's been snowing a couple of hours - fat wet flakes - and our yard is completely covered.  It is supposed to keep snowing until about 3-4 a.m. to give us about 7 inches!!  All the snow from yesterday had melted away except for a little bit in front of our garage door but now it is back in full force!  The poor school kids are going to have to go to school all summer at this rate!  And of course, I had moved my stamp club to tomorrow from last Thursday when we were snowed in.  As of now, I have one gal who lives in the neighborhood and can walk here coming Thursday; one coming Saturday; and two coming on Tuesday!  Haven't heard from the others yet.  I'm glad I was able to get my hair cut today and go to my chiropractor.  Tomorrow I'll be making a snowman!

Since it's Wednesday, it's time for  Paper Craft Crew challenge.  I actually made my card this week and didn't use My Digital Studio!!!

How do like these bright colors?  The card base is Hello Honey.  I stamped the stars for a background all over the Whisper White card stock.  The middle piece with the Honey background and white stars is the Irresistibly Yours (Sale-a-Bration).  And I even "fussy cut" SHINE from Banner Blessings!  (Products used can be found below.)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Ashley gave Sonny a film converter for Christmas so we could convert our 35 MM slides to pictures so I could make a book with them.  Well, I found a really old picture of me with my parents and Angela from Easter - who knows what year - probably in the mid 50s.

Don't know about you growing up but at Easter I always had a hat and a corsage!  And I'm betting my grandmother made my dress!

Paper Craft Sketch Challenge

We're still in the deep freeze here.  I laugh when I hear some of my New York friends who moved here say that this is not the South they had in mind when they came here!  Guess we have it better than New York, or Boston, or Connecticut or .....!! Last night's low was supposed to be 10 degrees with a high of 19 degrees on Thursday!  You can bet I will not be going outside!  We had a little bit of snow late yesterday afternoon - or thunder snow as the weatherman called it.  All I know is it would snow for a little while and then the sun would come out; then a little more snow and a little more sun.  Sonny had to escape for a bit - he is getting cabin fever!!  He drove up to the post office for his day's entertainment.  He has left his truck at the top of the driveway so he can drive his Red Cross route today.    I ended up canceling my Stamp Club for Thursday and rescheduling it for next Thursday.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate!!

This is my card for Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge # 132.  I used My Digital Studio to create the card.

Here is the sketch:



Check out the cards from the rest of the Design Team here.

Paper Crew Card Sketch 131

How is your day going?  It's Wednesday which means it's once again time for the challenge at Paper Craft Crew.  I'm excited to share this week's sketch and my take on it using My Digital Studio.  Come and visit and have a look.

I love this color combo!

Paper Craft Crew Challenge 130 and Blog Candy!!

It's time for my challenge from the Paper Craft Crew.  I got my card done in time and posted on the site .... I just didn't get it posted to my site earlier!!

Again, I fell back on My Digital Studio for my card.  I love the colors in this card - taken straight from the DSP - Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Sahara Sand and Black.  What do you think?

This month there is BLOG CANDY!!  You'll get:  Chevron Embossing Folder, Island Indigo Chevron Ribbon & the Banner Punch.



So make sure you check out the Paper Craft Crew Blog to see what the other designers have created using the sketch.

You Brighten My Day for Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Since it's Wednesday, I'm over on the Paper Craft Crew Blog for their weekly challenge.

Can you believe I actually made a real card for the challenge this week???  I didn't use My Digital Studio - shocker!!

The card base is Coastal Cabana (what am I going to do when that color retires??)  I paper pierced little holes all around the Whisper White card stock.  On a scrap of white, I stamped several hearts from the You Brighten My Day stamp set (Sale-a-Bration set) in Coastal Cabana and Real Red and punched them out.  I used the Circles Framelits to cut the red and white circles.  I tied the Coastal Cabana twine and a bit of the Gold Bakers Twine around the card.  I used the Little Letters Framelits to cut "YOU" out of Real Red Glitter paper and popped them up with dimensionals.  The finishing touch is the gold and pink sequins on the card.

Here is the sketch for the week:

I hope that you enjoyed my Design Team card for this week's Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge. Take a minute to go over to the blog and check out the other designers projects and enter yours in the gallery.  Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit today!  Enjoy your Wednesday!!   I hope to be talking to Ashley later in the day to find out how her vacation on her Rock Boat Cruise went.  They left on Saturday and arrive back in Ft. Lauderdale later today.  I know she had a blast!

Paper Craft Crew Challenge #127

This is my card for the Paper Craft Players sketch challenge this week:

This is a retired stamp set that I never purchased.  That is one of the reasons why I love MDS so much.  I can find stamps - retired and current - in the program and don't have to make room for them on my shelf in my craft room!!

Check out the other design team members cards using the sketch HERE

Use the sketch and create your own card!

.

Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Surprisingly enough, I got my card done and submitted in time for the Paper Craft Crew challenge.  I have been really bad lately and forgotten about it until it is too late to submit.  I am trying now to do two or three cards ahead so when I get busy, I won't forget.

The sketch this week was fairly easy so it did not take long at all .... expecially with MDS.

I used stitching around the whole card and around the center piece to tie it together.

Here is the sketch:

Check out the rest of the cards from the Design Team here - PAPER CRAFT CREW  We would love to have you play along and create a card for the challenge!

Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Here is the card I made for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week.  (Yay!  I remembered to submit it AND to blog about it!!)

Here is the sketch:

Check out the other cards made by the Design Team HERE.

Holiday Lodge MDS Christmas Card

I spent a lot of time last week working on My Digital Studio finishing up some projects.  I have made calendars (several different ones), tags, journals, cards, etc.  This time of year is when MDS is a life saver for me.  I designed all my pages for MDS Monday so I won't have to worry about that the next couple of weeks.  I even made the cards for the rest of the month for Paper Craft Crew's blog.  I made my card last week but forgot to put it on the site!  Here is last week's card - better late than never!:

I love using the traditional red and green colors.  The house is a retired stamp called Holiday Lodge. It really is a pretty one.

Holiday Home MDS style!

The sketch for Paper Craft Crew this week is very similar to one we did a couple of weeks ago.  In fact, I emailed the gal in charge to ask if it was a repeat!  I don't think she had realized that she had put the two sketches so close together.  I decided to make this week's card a Halloween card.  It's funny - when I first looked at the Holiday Catalog, the stamp set with the houses, Holiday Home, was not on my list at all.  But after seeing all the cute cards that everyone is making with this set, I had to get it.  Not only did I order it as a Clear Stamp, but I also ordered the digital stamp too!  Here is the digital card I made for the challenge:

I have been working on my calendars for 2015 and I also used this set for October.  This is my favorite so far!  I followed a tutorial on-line and learned a lot of new tricks for this page.  (An old dog can learn new tricks!)

I will be offering my calendars for sale.  They are $20 which includes the wooden holder for $10 for refills.  The calendars are 6x6.

True Friends - Paper Craft Crew Sketch

This is my card for the Paper Craft Crew Sketch this week.  It was a fun sketch utilizing Word Bubbles.  I found this quote in MDS and cropped it to make it fit into the Word Bubbles below.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hoe you have time to check out the rest of the designers cards HERE.  They are really great!

Paper Craft Crew Challenge

Remember 9-11.  Remember the 3,000.  Remember we are a strong nation together.  We will NEVER forget.


I think I mentioned that I am keeping Ashley's cat, Bogart for the next 4 months while she is in DC.  Well, that is proving to be quite entertaining.  I think Bogart and Sammie (my cat) are finally adjusting to each other.  Sammie likes to lay on a towel on a small wire grid shelf that I have on my craft table.  Well, today Bogart decided that looked like a good spot too but Sammie was already there.  So, he proceeded to go under the shelf and stretch out.  Sammie was so funny.  She scratched at the towel to get it out of her way so she could see Bogart underneath and when that was not working, she just peered her head down to check him out.  They finally decided neither was hurting the other and both fell asleep.  All this was going on while I was sitting there trying to get my cards done for Stamp Club next week!

Bunk Bed for the cats!

Finally .... sleeping!

 This is the card (and the sketch) I made for this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

I'm Back with Paper Craft Crew Sketch 108

I'm baaaccckkk!!  We had a great trip and a great visit with Ashley.  But you know how it is - as great as it is to travel, there's no place like home!!  Sonny and I feel like all we did this past week was eat!!  Guess that means I won't be doing much cooking this next week!!  (A gal can hope, can't she???)  We left early Wednesday morning in order to get Ashley to Ft Belvoir by 3-3:30 so she could in-process for her course. Fort Belvoir was a huge base - not what I was expecting at all.  It is only about a 30 minute drive (depending on traffic) to Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church and DC.  The base is practically a city in itself with a population of about 7,000.  We spent Wednesday evening in Alexandria just wandering the downtown area and having dinner at an Irish Pub we remembered from when Ashley was stationed in DC.  Thursday evening we took the metro to Bethesda and walked to our favorite restaurant to have strombollis.  Friday we met Ashley's friend, Debbie for dinner in Falls Church.  Saturday we drove to Arlington to check out the National Harbor which is 350 acres of shopping, waterfront activities, offices, hotels, etc.  There is a Carousel and a Ferris Wheel there.  We did not see the Carousel but you couldn't miss the Ferris Wheel.  Neither Sonny nor I like Ferris Wheels so we had to disappoint Ashley and say no to a ride.  We thought it would be too hot but I have since learned that the gondolas on the Ferris Wheel are climate controlled.  Maybe next time we visit .... it would be great to see the Washington DC skyline from 180 feet in the air!  

Of course, Sunday found us searching for a Steeler bar to watch the nail-biter game!  We won but considering we were ahead 24-3 at halftime and ended up making a field goal in the last 5 seconds to win the game, it was the usual Steeler nail biter to the bitter end.  The bar that we found was PACKED with real Steeler fans!  It was standing room only by the time we found a parking spot about 6 blocks away.  This morning we got up early and made the drive back to NC in the rain.  We have two happy cats who were glad to see us walk in the door.  We are babysitting Ashley's cat, Bogart, while she is at Ft Belvoir for four months.  In fact, while we were gone, they somehow set off our motion detector on our house alarm. Marianne called me about 5:30 a.m. Friday morning since they called her when they couldn't reach us at home.  She was on her way to work so was able to meet the police at our house to make sure all was ok. She had to call Angela to come over since Angela had the spare key to our house!  Family is nice!!

I did this card before I left for the Paper Craft Design Challenge using My Digital Studio.

Here is the sketch: