MDS Challenge

I've been neglecting My Digital Studio lately!  I really need to get busy with my New Zealand scrapbook before I forget all the details!!  I have sooooo many pictures that I think it is intimidating me.  That is one of my biggest problems with scrapbooking - I want to include ALL the pictures and if I did, the book would be too heavy to sit on my table!!

In the meantime, I decided to do a MDS Monday challenge page using one of the pictures from New Zealand.  This picture was taken at Bruce Bay, which is on the west coast.  We were driving from Fox Glacier to Queenstown and it was a beautiful sunny day.  The drive was just gorgeous and we made many stops along the way.  My favorite was this stop where we walked along the beach a little bit collecting unique rocks and shells.  I couldn't resist getting my feet wet in the surf but, boy was it cold!!  The worst part of the beach was the sand knats!!  I didn't get bit but poor Taffy was sweet nectar to those knats!

Edited to add note:  Just realized that it was also a sketch challenge.  Oops!  Guess I'll have to do another one!!

 I used a couple of kits to create this page - mainly Be Awesome and Beautiful Today.

Ashley with a handful of the rocks we collected.

Rocks on the beach.

Super Hero and Card Swaps

If you are into Super Heroes, do I have the stamp set for you!  This would make a lot of cute cards for your kids and grandkids!  This photopolymer set was just released yesterday.  If you have not tried Stampin' Up's photopolymer stamps, they are great and stick to your blocks so good!

A lot of possibilities!

Here are a few more of the card swaps to share with you:

Top one is by Kathy Hunt, Way to Go by Lisa Pressley and Work of Art by Sharon Measmer

Top is mine, Baby is by Frances Wagner and Sea Street by JoAnne Hewins

My Swap Cards

I recently participated in a New Catalog Card Swap and received some beautiful cards!  Here is the one that I made using the popular, Work of Art.

 I was so happy to see that the 7/8" Cotton Ribbon made back into the new catalog.  It is so easy to stamp on this ribbon.  The stamp sets I used were:  Gorgeous Grunge and Work of Art.  The frame comes from the On Film framelits.

To give you a few more ideas, here are a few of the swap cards.

The top card is Marianne's and the bottom belongs to Sandy Herman.

Three more swap cards - The top card is from Nancy; Wetlands is Patty's and the purple one is Allison's.

Watercolor Background Technique

Hope your weekend was a fun one!  We took my Mom out on the lake yesterday in our boat.  She really enjoyed it although she had her nose in her book the whole time.  She was towards the end of her book (For One More Day by Mitch Album) and couldn't put it down.  I am so happy that she is still able to read - large print books only but that is ok.  When we came off the lake, she wanted to take a bath in my garden tub.  She just loves that tub!  It's funny because I hardly ever take a bath and she would take one every day if she lived here.  The hardest thing is trying to get her in and out of it since it is so deep!  Then we met Angela, Marianne and Greg for dinner and had some yummy fish and shrimp!!  

I have been working all day today on my 80 swap cards for convention.  Let me just say, I'm sick of this card!  I thought I'd chosen a pretty easy card, but I realize it has too many layers - 3 circles and a Word Bubble that need to be cut out with Big Shot; a tiny heart that is punched out with the Owl Punch; plus tying 80 tiny bows with Bakers Twine!!  I have got everything punched, cut and glued together.  Now I just have to put the whole thing onto my card front!!

I took a break and made another card for fun today.  I had seen this card on another website and loved it.  So I made a few changes and ..... I love it!!

For the background, I sponged inks -  Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Coastal Cabana - onto the Hexagon Embossing Folder and then spritzed it lightly.  I put a piece of watercolor paper inside and ran it through the Big Shot.  I stamped the Blended Bloom and used the Blendabilities to color it.  The sentiment is from the photopolymer stamp set, Endless Birthday Wishes.  It has been such a popular stamp set that is has sold out but Stampin' Up is going to restock and it will be available for sale again soon.

Craft Project Central Challenge

I made this card earlier today for the sketch challenge (#36) at Craft Project Central.  It's a fun sketch.

I used the MDS download from Project Life.  You don't have to just use Project Life for scrapbooking .... see this great card I made with it!

For every ten cards submitted for the sketch challenge, Craft Project Central will choose one winner who will receive a FREE one-month subscription to the site.  That would be a great prize and would give you access to the month's project tutorials.

Perfect Blend 50th Birthday

Our doctor recently turned the big 5-0.  So I made a card for him.  I used the coffee cup from Perfect Blend since he is a big coffee drinker.  I don't have the Perfect Blend stamp set BUT I do have the digital stamp.  So, I printed out the coffee cups onto Naturals card stock and the wrappers onto green dotted DSP and cut them out.  I used the Chevron embossing folder for the green card.  Just Sayin' stamp set has gotten to be one of my favorites!!  I used it for the "you're how old" along with the matching Word Window framelits.  I die cut the "5" and the "0" using the retired Bigz Die.

Serene Silhouettes

I created this card last week and I believe it is my favorite of all the cards I have made!

I cut the strip of Whisper White about 2" x 5" and using Post-It Notes for masking, sponged Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive.  I started at the top and just moved my Post-It Note down but trying to blend the colors together as I sponged.    Using my Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the wild flowers from Serene Silhouettes in black ink.  Then I adhered the sponged piece and stamped the wild flowers again.  Next I stamped the sentiment from God Is Love and tied the Denim Ribbon (just retired) around the card before adhering it to the Night of Navy card.  I am sending this card to a friend in my Stamp Club whose son only has a few weeks to live.  He lost his eye last year to cancer and it has now spread to his liver and the outcome is grim.  I can't imagine losing either of my children, even if most of the time I feel like I have lost my son.  But I have to remember that I know where he is and that he is happy so that is a blessing.

On happy news .... my friend, Margaret, (that I have mentioned in my blog many times) - her daughter who lives in Charlotte had a little boy last night.  He was delivered via C Section at 8:30 and weighed 8 lb. 6 oz. Both Mom, Dad and baby, Logan Darcy, are doing well!  I can't wait to see him.

What's on your list?

The wait is over!  The new catalog is available.  You can click on the catalog picture in the column to the left to view the catalog on-line.  If you find a card or project in the catalog that you can't figure out, click on the "What Did They Use?" box just below the catalog and it will take you to a listing of all products used to make the samples in the catalog.  It won't tell you how to make them but it will give you a list of supplies and you can usually figure it out from there.  You can also find samples from Stampin' Up on their Pinterest site HERE.  While you are over in Pinterest, you can also check out my "pins" HERE and follow me.  Some days I spend entirely too much time "pinning" items!

So I didn't get a chance to put my order in until midnight last night!  Yesterday was a busy day.  I left early in the a.m. to play bridge; then to the post office to mail a couple of packages; and then to get a mani-pedi while waiting for Marianne to get off work.  When she met me, we went to Ikea; then out to dinner; and finally to Allison's house for a meeting.  It was after 10 p.m. when I finally got back home!  I was tired .... but not too tired to go through the catalog one last time before inputting my order!

Can you say "ka-ching"??  That's the cash register going off in my house!  Have you had time to pore over the catalog and you have sticky notes sticking out all over it?  Have you made your wish list?  Well, I have a dog eared piece of paper that I had listed all my top "need to get" stamp sets   Surprisingly, my first list was 16 "must haves."  Of course, that always grows as I see what others do with the new sets.  And, believe it or not, I only ordered one set last night and it was a hostess stamp set, Bloom With Hope.  I needed too many accessories this time so I am going to try and use some of my neglected stamps that are lonely on the shelf.  I ordered all the In Color ribbon, card stock and DSP stack.  Also the Stars framelits, So Taffy DSP, Large Dots embossing folder, and a few other items that I need for my convention swaps.  So, what do you have on your list?  Here are a few items that are on my list:

SOMETHING TO SAY

I seem to always be looking for sentiments and this one seems to have quite a few good ones.

SOMETHING TO SAY

AGE AWARENESS

I love these cute birthday sentiments and the fonts in happy birthday!

FLOWER PATCH BUNDLE

This is a photopolymer stamp so it will be super sticky for your clear blocks.  With the matching framelits (Bundle it), this will be a great replacement for the Secret Garden set that retired.  Plus I seem to be looking for simple leaves to stamp a lot of  times and this set has them.

If you are ready to order your items, I have the Hostess Code set up already.  If you would use the Hostess Code below when placing your on-line order, I would really appreciate it!

H69TSUFH 

Flower Garden Window Box

Make a lovely flower garden window box to brighten up yur space with fun patterned flowers that will last!  No watering needed - the best kind!!  These bright and fun blossoms will never wilt.  You could also gift this bunch of flowers to someone special with the matching card.  Don't need a window box?  The flowers would still make a lovely bouquet in a vase for the perfect gift!

This is the final project for May's Craft Project Central and it was designed by Amanda.  To get the instructions, just subscribe to May and meet one of the bonus project requirements of subscribing to two or more months in a row, putting the Craft Project Central badge on your blog, or referring a friend and when they subscribe, letting us know.  And if you have a minute, please leave Amanda a comment on her project.

Blendabilities Blended Bloom

Have I mentioned yet how much I am enjoying using the Blendabilities markers?   You will see me using them a lot this year.  I know you want to order yours and I hope they will be available to you soon.  Here is the latest update from SU:   They are telling us that certain colors (the same ones currently available to demonstrators for pre-order) should be available to customers to order in late June or early July!  That is a lot better than August.  I believe the main reason for this delay is they want to make sure they have enough in stock to meet the demand that they anticipate.  These are the colors that should be available:

• Cherry Cobbler
• Coastal Cabana
• Daffodil Delight
• Old Olive
• Pumpkin Pie
• Rich Razzleberry
• Skin Tone Assortment
• Color Lifter

This card was made using the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities along with some of the Skin Tone Assortment and Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities for the centers.  The flower stamp is a new single stamp called Blended Bloom.  It is so fun to color!!  I used Stippled Blossoms for the leaves in Garden Green.  The watercolor marks were made using Pumpkin Pie and Smoky Sate ins and they are from the fabulous Work of Art stamp as is the sentiments.

All of these items will be available starting Monday, June 2 at noon MDT (2 pm EDT).  If you need a catalog, please let me know.

The last day for ordering Retiring Products is June 4 so if there is something on those lists you have your eye on, now is the time to order them!!