MDS Blog Hop - Monochromatic

I had more fun with this challenge then I expected....I searched and searched....LOVE the search button with stamps and embellishments but it's not always easy for Background Papers so I decided to use a "trick" to make them the color I wanted. I've added a video at the bottom to show you how!

Oh and some of you told me you couldn't SEE the video last time so I've made it bigger. LOL But you can also click the HD arrows and make it full screen without it being blurry. Sorry, last time I was trying a new way to upload my videos that DIDN'T work...I'll try to go back and fix that soon! 


There's about a 30 second delay halfway through where MDS was updating (CRAZY) so hang in there I didn't go anywhere. LOL

Check out some of the other Monochromatic Schemes! 

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

Cupcakes Made Simple

It's the 3rd week of our MDS blog hop and I know you've been inspired. I sure hope you've sat down to play in MDS and create something special!

This weeks Alesha picked a CUPCAKE theme. How fun! Well back in December I fell in love with a card that Dawn Olchefske created and it's been sitting in my "cards to case" file for way too long. So I thought this would be the perfect time to use it. I love how her card had all the cupcakes stacked on top of each other but (you know me) I just can't spend that much time on one card. So my solution was to make it all in MDS so I could print 6 cards from one sheet of cardstock! Plus, anything HYBRID get me excited! Yes, even more excited then I was in the picture on the right. LOL

So what do you think? It's so full of texture and not a FLAT printed card, right! I wonder if you can TELL what's printed and what's real...Go ahead, get a little closer!

The only thing stamped is the birthday tag and it was "masked" out of the Delightful Dozens stamp set. 

 After I printed and put together the first one, I started thinking, we all need guy birthday cards and I think this could work. 

 I made a few changes and Voila, it's fit to give a guy...no bows, no bling, just cupcakes!

They went together quick and easy, with the help of the YUMMY new Smitten Alphabet download.
You'll get to create these cards tomorrow(Sat, August 20th) at our MDS class... in real life and digitally!

Downloads used for these cards:
Cupcake Punch $0.95 (if you attended my class with the cute trees you already have this one)
Smitten Alphabet Punch  $7.95
Pocket full of Poises $4.95 not required for the class but oh so worth it!
If you already own these downloads any $10 will cover your class fee. 

I used the Grunge Kit for the texture you see in the Masculine card. I love how it looks like the cupcake wrapper is wrinkled! Did you see that?!

If you'r not already, I'm sure you'll be drooling after you see what the others have created with CUPCAKES!

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

My quick video below will show you how I laid out the elements
to get 6 cards out of one sheet of cardstock!

(If you are reading this in your email you'll need to go to my blog to watch the video)

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!

Digital has us hopping...Back to school

Woo Hoo, I'm so excited to share with you my first ever blog hop and I'm giddy because it's with my favorite product...MDS!  When Erica Shaw asked me to join this truly talented group of ladies, I was honored. Many of these women have taught me tips and tricks on www.MyDigitalStudio.net that I have passed along to you. We'll be doing a weekly challenge with My Digital Studio *squeal* and I will try my darndest to play along each week.

Our theme this week was Back to School.....
Well, we start back in a few weeks and I'm hoping Erika will let me take a picture of her first day of Middle school. Sadly enough, I'm fairly sure the boys will NOT smile for me to snap a shot as they drive off to High school.  So for me the challenge was to FIND the pictures. I managed to dig up a few old pictures of Erika on her 1st day of Kindergarden. Where has the time gone?

Supplies Used: 

Noteworthy HOSTESS only CD 

This is my favorite and I'd love for you to get it free, let's have a digital PARTY! 

School Days #11832 $5.95

Simple Stiches #126025 $4.95 

And the NEW Petite Pennant punch $0.95 that we used in class last week! 

Now hurry and hop on over to be inspired by all of these talented ladies projects... 

but make sure you save some time to design a page of your own. *wink*

1. Jeanna Bohanon

2. Rochelle Gould 

3. Mandy Grant (you're here)

4. Julie Leblanc 

5. Amber Meadows

6. Terri Mongeon

7. Aly Schilling

8. Cindy Schuster

9. Erica Shaw

10. Heather Summers

11. Alesha Walls

Digital Elegance

Our next Digital class will be this Sat, Feb 19th at 1:00.
I am so excited!  This class has been such a blast to design for. I can't wait to watch, as you start to become a digital designer, too! Here's a sneak peek of the project we'll design in the class.

Each class will require approx $10 in downloads that we'll use in the projects we create.

I'll teach new tricks at each class, then send you a link to video tutorials I've prepared.....so if you forget you can go back and practice. You'll always have the tricks right at your fingertips.

Can't get enough? I'll post additional projects and videos for anyone who joins the club. Just order $25 in downloads a month or print $25 in projects through me and I'll send you the password protected link!

Downloads Required for Digital Designs Class on 02/19/11

124412 - Beautiful Butterfly Shapes - Digital Download
Price: $0.95 CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

121433 - Elegant Soirée Designer Series Paper - Digital Download
Price: $4.95 CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

120168 Textured Card Stock - Digital Download
Price: $4.95 CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

I only have seats for 10 people and if everyone who says they want to come, attends, it would be more then full.  So, I'll fill the seats as the orders are placed. Can't attend the class but still want the video? Just send me an email to let me know you will not be attending, when the downloads are purchased you'll receive the link! Same goes for anyone reading this after the class date.

You can place a $50 download order and get the DIGITAL Sale A Bration content CD for FREE!!! You'll love all the images that are on that CD! 

Check it out! It's a catalog of all the MDS images:


CLICK HERE TO VIEW MDS ARTWORK CATALOG

CLICK HERE for a spreadsheet to track your downloads

Have a beautiful day! 
Mandy

Video Alert and WINNERS

I finally found a way to upload a video longer then 10 min....whoo hooo! 
So, here's the video tutorial for the Hybrid Card I taught on 1/22/2011. It's 18m long but it has some great info in it, I think. *wink*

And the finished card!

I drew 2 WINNERS from the ladies who sent me their new info to update my records.
Random number generator gave me #3 & # 12.  


The ladies that sent me their info in that order were:
#3 Shari Budner 
#12 Lynn Huffines 


Congratulations y'all get to pick a FREE SAB set with any order placed between now and March 30th. 

L-inked Together, 

Mandy Grant 
mandysu@comcast.net


Click HERE to SHOP my website 

Click HERE to open the SAB catalog


Click HERE to see the 70 other FREE sets 

Lovin' Hybrid Projects

And the NEW Glimmer Paper! I wasn't 100% sure what to think of the Glimmer paper when I saw it in the Occasions Mini Catalog but now I want it in every color! The glitter hearts on this card were punched out easily with the 3 heart punch. And there was no mess, the glitter stays put even when you punch it!

Here's one of the cards we did last Friday at the Creative Cards Class.

Inside of the card

You said this was Hybrid - WHERE?
The picture below shows the print out of the Valentines Girl in the Greeting Card Kids Digital Stamp. The Colored images were printed larger which is another cool thing you can do with digital images!

I was so excited about the Greeting Card Kids in Digital, they were only $3.95 and I can print them to color in with my water color crayons. How cool is that!

Come to my Digital Designs class on Jan 22nd at 1pm, to learn how to use digital product on a Hybrid project!

Check out all the new downloads available for the Valentine projects you will make season. I'm super excited to play with my 2 favorite products, now in digital, Love Letter DSP and Artistic Etchings Digital Stamp!

Click Here to order the new downloads.

Love Letter DSP Digital $4.95

Artistic Etchings Digital Stamp $3.95

Love Impressions DSP Digital $2.95

Love Impressions Embellishments $3.95

Notably Ornate Digital Stamp $3.95

Create A Cupcake Digital $5.95

Cupcake Punch Digital Download $95

Bring on the Cake Digital Stamp $7.95

Chat Room Love $5.95

Chat Room Occasions $5.95

Love Bandit Digital Stamp $5.95

XOXO Stamp Digital $1.95

Botanical Gazette $3.95

Nature Stamp digital stamp (ONLY) $1.95

Vintage Flowers Digital Embellishment $1.95

Springtime Vintage DSP digital $4.95

Sewing Stamp Digital $3.95

Sweet Stitches DSP $3.95

As the season changes

so does my blog header!

I just love “My Digital Studio” aka “MDS” and it’s so easy! I created a header for my blog and then used that template to make several seasonal ones to change out! I get bored easy (that’s why I create the morning of a class…or I’d want to change it before we could have the class hahaha) that’s why I needed some change in my blog, too! I hear some of you laughing because you know that’s so true! It only took a few minutes to change out the colors and add a new element in place of the Halloween Owls!

So, what do you think of my Fall Header? I do think it reflects my style and I love that Michelle Laycock was able to create a crumb cake background that  would “fit” with each of the seasons!

Lookie here, these are the November downloads for MDS!!!

# 123949 Tags til Christmas Stamp Brush Set $5.95

# 123950  Jolly Jingles Stamp Brush Set $7.95

# 123951 Decorative Label Punch $0.95

# 123952  Medium Oval Punch $0.95

# 123956  Christmas Cheer Digital Kit $9.95

There have been a ton of new digital designs (click the words to go to my shopping cart to see them) added that will keep your digital crafting fresh all the time! We have had several added each month and it appears we’ll have a TON added in January! So, if you haven’t stocked up on the designs you wanted get them now so you can add more with the new BIG release!

A new great place for DIGITAL inspiration…If you have not already joined you need to become a member of www.mydigitalstudio.net

It’s full of just digital ideas but if your a paper scraper you’ll love the layout ideas, too!

Visit My Digital Studio