Digital Christmas Cards...MDS Blog Hop

It always makes me smile when I can create with pictures of theses beautiful people! Is my sisters family not just gorgeous?! She had these pictures taken by on old friend who has a photography business - Lisa Rappa Photography. I love that my sister helped a FAMILY OWNED business! Since were going to spend the money this season shouldn't it be with Local Artists?! 

 Here's a few MDS tips: Creating all 3 designs inside a Tri Fold card project will help with the cost of printing!  Plus, if your like me and can't decide which you like best you could have them printed just like this and get 3 postcard designs out of one card. hahaha

No, really I would make a decision and change all 3 panels of the card to look the same. The next image shows the back side of the card so they could be cut into postcards when they arrive. 

*Save some cash* Adding your designs into a full card is the most cost effective way to order them without sacrificing quality! Prints sent off to Stampin' Up! are a heavy weight cardstock with a matte finish that look and feel like you paid a fortune - but you didn't - and your helping a small business owner, and friend, YOUR Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. 

 If you don't have a local demonstrator, I'd love to help you with your cards and gift giving this season! 

Since inquiring minds (mostly just me) what to know... I created two polls on the top right of my blog.

 I sure hope you'll take a minute and answer them. 

 Which design you like the best? 

What kind of cards do you typically send and What kind of crafter are you? 

The ornaments

Stamps:  Merry & Type, Friends 24/7, Season of Cheer

Paper: Elegant Soiree

Happy Holidays 

Stamps: Season of Cheer, Friends 24/7

Merry and Bright - Indigo 

Stamps: Thoughtful Overlays, Merry & Type

Punch: Flag 

Merry and Bright - Cobbler

Wether your a digital designer, traditional crafter, or not crafty at all I'd love to help you with all your Holiday needs. I teach gift and card making classes, offer gift making kits, and have ready to give items for sale! How may I help you, this season? linkedtogether@gmail.com

For all you Digital Designers, thanks for following the HOP!  It's time to gather some more inspiration from these super talented ladies.

1. Jeanna Bohanon 

2. Rochelle Gould 

3. Mandy Grant (that's me!) 

4. Julie Leblanc  (she's your next stop on the HOP)

5. Amber Meadows

6. Terri Mongeon

7. Aly Schilling

8. Cindy Schuster

9. Erica Shaw

10. Heather Summers

11. Alesha Walls

12. Holly VanDyne

Who's in charge around here, anyway?

MDS blog hop week 4 was all about the boys!  So I decided to scrap my boys and their friend building a tree house about 4 years ago. Fun stuff! I love they way these turned out :)

These pictures NEEDED some explaining so I incorporated the title and the text into a conversation.
After trying several background colors I landed on gray it's just such a great neutral and I really need to use it more!

Here's what I used:
Stamps: Timeless Portrait (tree) & Vintage Overlays (dark splotchy background)
Embellishments: Downtown Grunge Template (frames & stitching) This is a MUST have kit!
Paper: Basic Gray Background & Pocket full of Posies DSP
Font: PR8 Charade

There several out this week for the Blog Hop but here's the link to all the ladies. 

Check out what they have going on, even if it's not MDS, I'm sure it's awesome :)

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Rochelle Gould 

3. Mandy Grant (that's me!)

4. Julie Leblanc 

5. Amber Meadows

6. Terri Mongeon

7. Aly Schilling

8. Cindy Schuster

9. Erica Shaw

10. Heather Summers

11. Alesha Walls

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think about the layout.
Mandy

Friday are for....a MDS blog hop!

Yes, I went digging through old photos again and found these fun birthday pictures of Erika when she was in the 1st grade! That's what scrapbooking is all about memories, right?! I hope you'll scrapbook a few memories today! 

Our MDS Blog Hop Challenge was a Birthday Theme. There are some great new Birthday Downloads in the digital shop - that came out on Tuesday. You can log on to Stampinup.com click the Store button (on the top, far right) and then you'll see all the new downloads on the right side of the page. Just scroll down to see everything they have added for the week. 

I check that page every Tuesday and you should, too!

Well, that's my fun birthday layout of my dramatic little girl. I did a double page layout this time and just for you to see I should have added an outline... but I think you'll get the drift :) One of my favorite downloads is Word Play. You get the same fun images as the stamp set but they are broken up so you can use multiple colors and place them where you'd like! I used Word Play to stamp the WISH BIG on bottom of this layout. 

Digital Supplies Used: highlighted items indicate downloads that I've purchased in addition to the 2000+ images in the full version of MDS. All downloads, even those included in MDS, can be purchased and used with your current digital design program! Ask me for more details.  

Punches: Oval, Square, Scallop Square (overlapping to create the pink border under the pictures), Top Note Die, Tasteful Trim # 2, Scallop Trim Border

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday (Candle and Make a Wish), Word Play, Nursery Alphabet Images (Giraffe)

Embellishments: Clouds in Sunny Day Kit

Designer Papers (DSP): Sweet Stiches

Tips & Tricks with MDS: Here's a quick view of how I used the oval and square punches, to fill the giraffes holes brown. Now you would just bring the giraffe to the front! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Now, hurry on over to see the rest of the amazing digital designs from the MDS Blog Hop team! 

Remember to play in MDS today and leave me a comment because I'd love to hear all about what YOU created with MDS :) 

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Rochelle Gould 

3. Mandy Grant (that's me!)

4. Julie Leblanc 

5. Amber Meadows

6. Terri Mongeon

7. Aly Schilling

8. Cindy Schuster

9. Erica Shaw

10. Heather Summers

11. Alesha Walls

Don't forget about the Buy three get one FREE sale we have on our yummy designer series paper!

I'm so excited!!!!

and I just can't hide it (sing along).....

But first here's the card I promised yesterday.

Embedded Embossing - give's the look of patterned, texture paper! And it's so simple!

The white piece on the front of the card is 4"x3 1/2" - we punched out stars and glued them on with the glue stick (making sure to get the edges of the stars) Then ran it through the Big Shot with a texture folder....it's just that easy! Tip: the glue sticks are the best way to attach something that has been textured with a folder. If you want to be bold, you can add several layers of punches to the paper and then still run it through. 

Gotta show the inside of the card, too.

Ok, so I can't HIDE it, any longer.....drum roll please! 

I'm hosting a Weekend Getaway where I SPOIL you rotten! 

Are you intrigued? Click below for all the royal details.

Design Divas Retreat  

50 hours of doing whatever craft you want, with your best friends! 

We all need to be spoiled, so come on, join the fun!

Mark you calendars for June 10th, 11th and 12th