I wanted to CELEBRATE....

every occasion with a magnetic HYBRID banner! This idea has been brewing in my head since I saw the build a banner kit from the Holiday mini catalog. I dreamed of making a gift that could be used all year round...well that took a little more planning than I originally thought :) LOL
Jenny Peterson (my dear friend) inspired me with this card and it came together quickly after that - thanks sweetie!

My vision came together and the YEAR ROUND Build A Banner was created!
With 28 Digitally Designed pieces this banner can say:
HAPPY - Birthday, Holidays, Thanksgiving
PEACE on earth
EASTER

SPOOKY

HELLO

BABY
LOVE you to infinity and beyond

and MANY more.......I've added a few of the images below to show you how easily it changes.

Harvest of Thanks and ABC-123 Sketch Alpha downloads worked perfectly to create the changeable letters for the banner! How fun is the "little letter" in the bottom.... and to add more HAPPY to this Hybrid project they cut out quick and easy with the Apothecary Accents Framelits. Whoo Hooo

LOVE....you to infinity and beyond

SPOOKY

BABY

This banner was just begging for an easy way to store all the pieces while not in use so below is the portfolio create to do just that! Inside the portfolio are 2 large cello bags folded in half to make 4 pockets! It's storage and packaging all in one - YAY!!!

These pockets hold the banner itself with all the design elements.... punched circles, ribbons, doilies, glimmer circles, and all 28 of the designed letter and holiday tags. Now I'm off to design a focal point that will add a WOW to the front of the portfolio!!!

While you're creating holiday gifts this season I encourage you to THINK HYBRID!

POP POP FIZZ FIZZ...

Oh how great being a BUC it is....

I'm so sad that football season is over! It just flew by.
At the end of our last game the cheerleaders and football players exchange gifts. That means the MOTHERS had to create 31 football themed gifts, while the girls made signs to hang on the fence for each of the players. Thank goodness pinterest was there with this cute little slogan! The goodie bags were filled with Pop Rocks, Popcorn and CHEER soda. So I wanted a topper that looked like the crowd was cheering POP POP FIZZ FIZZ ..... Oh how great being a BUC it is!

I designed 4 to a page (seen below), cut them out so the football looked as if it popped off the page, then I glued them to the front of a real red tent topper. So much quicker then stamping 31 of these bad boys!!! They looked very professional with matching name tags on the sting bags, too.
See it up close on instagram

Downloads used: Ahoy Mate for the background and the flags - Game Day Football Stamp for the football. I used the freeform tool to add the color behind the football 

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Hybrid Designing!

Mandy 

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

Organizational gift #2

plus, 3 and 4....I guess you can say I've been creating like crazy!
Thank you Stampin' Up! for Fabric, Cardstock, Designers Paper and Digital Images that ALL match, yaaaayyyy! They helped me make some fun gifts for Jenny's Birthday! I hope she likes them :)

We'll be focusing on the Calendar in this post but I have to mention the Bakers Twine Holder (L) and the Credit Card Holder/ Picture Album (B). The Credit card holder was inspired by this post, sent to me by my friend Kasey.  It's yummy in person and so much cheaper then a Vera Bradley! And my sweet friend Kay brought a twine holder that she made for show 'n tell, it was SOOOO cute I had to make one, too!

Let me show you the Calendar/ Pen Holder up close

Give me a big Woo Hoo, because it's pretty and functional.  Mom sent me this idea from a local office supply store and I thought "Oh my, I could make this in MDS and it would be pretty." There's was just  basic but I loved the idea and we've been eating soup. hehehe

Here's how I used MDS to get'r done 

(did you know you can find "get'r done" in the Urban dictionary - oh how I love the south) 

 These are the 2 pages I created in MDS and printed at home. The numbers were printed on regular  paper and the main image on vanilla card stock. 

Each page design needs to measure 4 3/4 x 10 to wrap around the can and then cut them into 4 pieces. 

cut out the hole for the number

place sticky strip along one side 

wrap the numbers first - NOT TO TIGHT

Then wrap the pretty pieces, starting at the bottom, using the lip on the can as your guide. 

"Souper" easy! LOL 

I will be making several of these for teachers but it'd make a great gift for an friend at work, too! Just toss in some coffee beans and a few pens. We'll make this at our MDS class in November! 

Supplies used: 

Spice Cake Digital DSP 

Month to Month brush stamp set $7.95

Simple Stitches and Corners $4.95

Dotted Scallop Ribbon Boarder Punch $0.95

I've been so inspired to create recently and I hope this inspired you!  

cards, gifts, layouts and chocolate

At my place this Friday night for Chics & Chocolate! If you missed any of this months classes here's your chance to make them up! Sign up for one or two of the kits below, $10 each, bring your adhesive and something chocolate to share. I'll have coffee (decafe and reg) and hot water for tea.

Card kits have 4 cards (2 of each design) with fun techniques!

(cased and adapted from my sweet friend Jenny)

Scrapbook kit includes the 2nd half of last months layout too!

Gift class is a DVD case with 4 matching cards

Please RSVP here and let me know what I need to cut for you! See ya Friday night :)

Family Gifts finished by June 1st....

Wouldn't y'all love to say that you had your brother(s), sister(s), mother(s), father(s), children(s) and/or grandparent(s) Christmas Gifts finished before June 1st?
I know that would just tickle me pink!

Here's the gift.....
A monthly planer complete with pictures of your/their family! 

Check this out, it's just so cool.

I made these for Christmas last year and gave myself one too ;) 

I absolutely love it. I get to take a trip down memory lane every time I use it!

It was priceless (even though it was really a cheap gift) to watch them open it. 

Glad we did them last, because they wanted to look through the whole thing!

So when can you make yours? 

THIS SATURDAY, May 14th at my digital Designs class 1:00pm

I will have everything ready for you with special templates from 

August 2011 - December 2012.

I've done all the work so you don't have to!!!

To attend, just download the 2011 Notable Calendar Template 

remember I've created the 2012 templates for you ;)

You'll love this for all your other digital crafting too, the papers are so rich and full of texture!

Space is limited to 9 seats so download your template now. If you can't attend and want the template with all my extras, just order the 2011 Notable Template and 

I'll send you and email with the video tutorial. 

Please note: This will not be a "from start to finish" video, as in past. 

This class is intended to go hand and hand with the AWESOME 30% OFF print products for the month of May. So, make sure you go home, fill in the photo boxes, add some journaling and don't forget to send it off (before June 1st) to be printed!

She's so creative!

I just had to show off how creative my sweet little girl is, well I guess she's not so little anymore, she'll be in middle school next year. *sigh*

It was "Flower for your Teachers" last Thursday and Erika wanted to make flowers.  So this was her design (COMPLETELY, she asked for NO help). Are they not cute?  Little flower pots using the cupcake die!!! She filled the cupcake holder with rice and stuck the pencils in the rice. She wanted to spray paint the rice brown, like dirt, but she ran out of time.

She created 2 sets, one for her everyday teacher and one for her target teacher. 

Here's an up close view of the pencils. 

Erika used the large oval punch to create lots of petals and then she attached them to the pencil with sticky strip and glue dots. I love how she added the ribbon "leaves" to finish it off. I'm super proud of her and I know one day she be an awesome demonstrator. I think I'm going to have her design a card for my next month's card class! 

So what do you think? 

The Grab bags are going FAST, they are already having to use the $5 and $10 bags to send out the $15 options (still worth $60). So hurry and get your's today! 

CLICK HERE TO ORDER - there's tons of new items on the clearance rack, too! 

Happy Shopping,

Mandy 

More then Memories

I am super excited about Scrapbooking this year, getting my children in albums so there not just sitting on my hard drive! I think the calendar books I did for my family, in My Digital Studio, is what has me excited to PRINT photos so we can see them. How about you?

Last year, I taught 12 layouts at my Scrap class but this year we'll have 18 layouts which would make an awesome FAMILY album for the year!

Check out some of the cute pages we made:

Created in Class -Spetember 2010

Created in class - July 2010

Created in class March 2010

I'm also adding in some extra fun because I want to see your family come out of your hard drive too!

When you bring the layouts back, with pictures to share with everyone, you'll get a ticket into the drawing for free stuff :)

I'm ready to Create More then Memories this year...are you?

Jan 22nd 10am - Bring your adhesive and come ready to make 3) 12x12 pages.

RSVP by Jan 15th email me at Mandysu@comcast.net

My Digital Designs class will follow this class at 1:00 Jan 22nd. If you own My Digital Studio Bring your laptop and Download the files prior to class (i'll send you the list when you RSVP). If you don't yet own My Digital Studio you can come and watch how the program works and your 1st class is FREE.

RSVP by Jan 21st

L-inked Together,
Mandy

The New Occasions Mini is here! If you didn't get a copy in the mail send me an email with your address so I can send you one.

Eran FREE sets for over 2 months - ask me how!

3 hours of FUN

and 40 cards DONE!

Happy New Years.... I hope your new Years Day was spent doing exactly what you wanted!

Ours was perfect, the boys spent 2 days in our bedroom with Chris watching football. They even put both flat screens in there so they could watch all the games at once. Erika and I spent the day crafting. I have sooooo many card to stamp, 50 for baggie books, 40 for meeting swaps and as many as I can muster up to take to Leadership, which is just over a week form now. Well, I didn't get them all done but I've now finished the baggie books!!! I spent a few minutes, when we started crafting, showing Erika how to work My Digital Studio because she asked how to work the program. She made herself an entire album filled with pages of her past birthdays! I was super impressed, but then again I always am with her crafting skills. She not very girly, she even deleted all the flowers that were in the page templets she selected.....LOL so I'm thrilled she loves to stamp. I asked her if she like Traditional scrapbooking or Digital better and she said she like them both but that digital was easier! 

I was tempted (only for a second) to take a picture of the MESS Erika and I created and the boys and their TV's but I didn't dare let you see my messy house. I did tell you in my last post that house keeping was not at the top of my to do list...but I'm sure it should be. *wink*

Don't forget we'll be making Valentines Cards, for the people you love, on Jan 7th at my card class. 

Here's the awesome Filled with LOVE bundle - grab it now and start created sweet gifts for your sweet ones!