Coordinating Projects in My Digital Studio

I hope you've all had a GREAT weekend!!  I'm back in to work tonight after a fun weekend off from my job at the college!  Thought I'd take a few minutes today and share a coordinating project idea for you!  I've had this thought in the back of my mind for a while, but this is the first time I actually got around to executing it!!

First of all, my 2014 Christmas Card.  I actually had this card designed in early 2013--I had initially created it as a card idea for my mom to use for her 2013 Christmas cards, but when she passed away, this card design got placed on the back burner.  The technique on this card is called 'brayering', and you can find a video tutorial on how to do it on mydigitalstudio.net here.  I loved the card and decided to use the completed design for my 2014 card.  With a busy year, it was nice to just spend a couple minutes/tweaking it and be able to send it off to Stampin' Up!s print services!

Christmas Card 2014 Card Front

Christmas Card 2014 Card Inside

 My idea is not anything new, but I frequently look at the celebration/holiday cards I create, and think how cool it would be to create 'notecard' sized 'thank you' notes using the same basic card layout to just follow the theme thru for the season or event.  I was FINALLY able to do just that this year for my holiday thank you notes!!  Now, a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card doesn't quite scale down 'exactly' to fit the 3 1/2" x 5" Notecard, but I simply duplicated the front of my Christmas Card, removed the wording, and exported the full image as a jpeg  Then I placed it into a photobox on an opened Notecard design screen, and adjusted it to fit.  Finally, I found a sentiment that I liked and replicated the 'snow' idea on the words and saved the image.  I was able to print the note cards out (two to a page) on my home printer!  

Coordinated Holiday Thank You Note

I left the inside on the cards blank for me to be able to hand-write my notes.  I really love how easy it was for me to create coordinating thank you notes using my Christmas Card design in My Digital Studio.  You can try it out for FREE for thirty (30) day by visiting my online store and downloading it there!!

Happy Stamping!

Pam

Digital Painted Petals

I am enjoying my first 'real' weekend off since about November (I've had days off in there, but with the holidays, etc., I have been on-the-go, and not had a lot of time to just relax and be at home!), so it's been fun to play in My Digital Studio and create some fun projects!!

Painted Petals Stamp Brush Set
138139
$8.95

One of the new digital sets that came out at the start of January is Painted Petals--which is also featured in the new Occasions Catalog (available in Wood, Clear & Photopolymer), so I decided to have some fun and replicate the notecard samples shown on page 18 of the Occasions Catalog.  Here's what I came up with:

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3

Sample #4

Sample #5

Aren't these fun?!  I've been enjoying my time using My Digital Studio, and remember, you can try it out for FREE for thirty (30) day by visiting my online store and downloading it there!!


Happy Stamping!





Pam

What's Cookin'?!

With the start of the year, things are finally settling down a little for me--I always seem to have multiple irons in the fire, but I'm never bored!  I needed to wait until after Christmas to share this project/post, but I did want to spend some time and share how Stampin' Up!'s digital program--My Digital Studio (MDS)--saved my butt when it came to Christmas gift-giving a few weeks ago!

O.K., so backing up a little, I purchased a Silhouette Cameo this fall, and have been fun working with that device in conjunction with MDS.  I think I've mentioned in the past that I have a large family, so I typically do one 'family' gift per sibling that is the same across the board.  I had plans to use the Cameo for my family gifts this past year, but as Thanksgiving loomed, I just was not able to find all of the supplies I needed for that project, which meant that I needed to re-group and move on to "Plan B". And that meant My Digital Studio to the rescue!!

So Thanksgiving Weekend I buckled down and decided to get to work on creating a 'Family Recipe Collection' using the Easel Calendar Template option.  I had downloaded the 'Most Loved Seasonal Recipes' template when it came out, and I had been compiling a list of favorite recipes from my siblings, so it was just a matter of getting them down into the Recipe Book!!

There's no hard/fast rule as far as what sort of template to use to create recipe books, but I knew I wanted to do the Easel Calendar, so that the recipe could be self-standing while someone was using it, and the fact that I already had the 'Most Loved Seasonal Recipes' template was just a no-brainer!!

O.K.  One other cool fact I noticed, when I was in the designer template screen (above), I discovered that I could actually RESIZE the window to fill the screen, which gave me a better view of my template options as well as the preview of what was included in each template!  How cool is that?!  I'm going to be using that option all the time now when I'm using a designer template!!  I'm a fan of the 'Made from Scratch' recipe template option, BUT, with the timeline I had to work with, there was no way for me to be able to take photos of the various completed recipes (which mean a lot of cooking) as this template was designed AND be able to get the book done and to the Stampin' Up! print services!!

I was able to get everything entered, and proofed and was able to send my order off to Print Services and was SO super happy with the end product!!  Here are a couple of the original template pages and the edits that I chose to make to fit my preferences.  First up, the cover:

I decided to change up the front a little--had the DSP extended to cover the entire front.  I removed the lattice stamp as well as the title and the words on the banner and picked a font (that I color matched to the green on the DSP) to create 'my' title for the book:

The template had seasonal recipes, and as such, each 'season' was a slightly different color scheme.  I just decided to mix up the pages, and not specify a season or 'type' of dish (appetizer; beverage; main dish; salad; soup; bread; dessert; etc.)

I liked the layout, but I didn't always have the info regarding the Source of the Recipe, Prep Time, or Serving Size, so I opted to crop and use 'serves' where applicable, but deleted the rest of the information in the 'Title Banner' and replaced it with a Text Box for the name of the recipe.  In the interest of creating more 'space' for the recipe, I moved the banners 'up', as well as deleting the 'type' of dish each recipe was.  I had considered leaving that info, but I decided to simplify things (LOVE the editing options to create 'just' what I want!!).

 Some recipes, like above, were pretty simple.  I also had others that were short, so decided to include two on a page (below):

 On the recipe above, I included some 'additional info' at the bottom, using the SAME font as the title on the page, but changing the color to match the banner in order to keep it uniform on the page, but also allow it to be noticed.

The 'back cover' I debated on a bit.  The template has a very boring (Sorry, SU!) back cover, and I had thought about putting a recipe on the page, but then I also realized that there would be some printing barcode thing that would get put on the page, and didn't want information getting cut off.  Instead, I opted to use the same DSP as the front cover, and picked one of the banners from the titles, sized it down and then put in a message of my own.

And here are a couple of the finished pages of the actual book:

 

I am SOOO glad that I had My Digital Studio to fall back on when I needed to come up with a special gift, and it was a big hit with my siblings when they got their Christmas presents!!  I even have requests to print a couple more for my nieces/nephews, which is easy to do since I have a completed project that only needs to be re-submitted!!

I have always been a believer that the possibilities of My Digital Studio is really only limited by one's imagination, so why not start your creative journey today?  You can try out My Digital Studio for FREE (for 30 days) by visiting my online store, so why not download it and start creating?!

Happy Stamping!

Pam

January 2015 Diva Blog Hop--Theme: NEW

Happy NEW Year, Everyone!!

If you're joining me from Amy's Blog, I'm the last stop for today.  If you just started here, feel free to head to Sue's Blog and start from the beginning to hop thru all the sites!  I hope you're enjoying the fact that we're back for another year as much as we enjoy coming up with projects and ideas to share with you!

Today's theme is:  'New'.  Each of us got to pick what our definition of 'new' was for the post, so you've seen lots of different ideas!!  We have Sell-A-Bration happening now, as well as a brand NEW Occasion Catalog.  There's a New Year, with New Possibilities, and there's always the potential for New Arrivals.

I was SUPER excited when I saw that Stampin' Up! released the digital version of Zoo Babies at the beginning of January, and with that being a 'new digital set' to use in My Digital Studio, that's what I'm going to share/show today!

138140--Zoo Babies Digital Stamp Brush Set

So, for my initial inspiration, I decided to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) the designs showcased in the Annual Catalog on Page 78.  Totally loving this card, and the Crisp Cantaloupe/Hello Honey combo on it!

A few other fun things to note: I used the digital Lullaby DSP, and I re-colored the wooden heart embellishment (new thought just as I'm posting--I could have just added a drop shadow to keep the wooden heart look more 'wooden', with just a splash of color beneath).  I cropped a piece of the paper doily and added white baker's twine.  Really quick/easy to put together!!

Now, the other design on Page 78 was actually showing a framed name.  I decided to change it into a card, and it was fun to come up with my options for turning a 3D item into a card-front!

My first challenge on this one was figuring out the frame to use.  Initially, I tried the Whisper White Fancy Frames Embellishment, but it was just too much.  So then I tried the Basic Gray frame, recolored it to Whisper White, and it was PERFECT!! I used the Circle Punch, size down to about 3/4" and the Mini Flag Banner Punch that were filled with either color or digital Lullaby DSP (all with drop shadows).  For the stitching I used a Freeform Circle that I changed the line style to 'stitching', and colored it to white.  This card just makes me smile every time I look at it.  And I have a friend due in a month or so--I think I know what card will be getting attached to the gift there!!

And here are two other cards that I decided to have fun and design using the digital version of Zoo Babies:

A couple cool things on this card. . . . the background on the card I saw designed was made using the Alphabet Press Embossing Folder, but there currently isn't a digital version of that one available, so I used a piece of the 'Soho Subway' paper that I inserted into a photo box and then re-colored it to Smoky Slate.  The other fun step was adding the ribbon.  I added the Knots and Ties Trim 2 in Whisper White and then cropped the image so that just the bow was visible.  Then I copied and duplicated that piece two more times.  I turned one of the pieces 15 degrees to the right, and another 15 degrees to the left.  Brought the one I had not rotated at all to the front of the three pieces, then centered and grouped them before placing on the front (turned 90 degrees) of the card and adding a button on the middle of the grouping.  

This card also makes me smile.  Pretty simple, and really, could be just about any color combination--here I'm using Smoky Slate, Melon Mambo & Pool Party (with Basic Black & Whisper White, of course).  I used the coloring tool to add just a touch of black to the toucan's beak, feet, legs & eye.  Going back, I think I might add a small circle of black on the eyes of the other two animals, too--but it's even cute just like this!!

So, there you have it, a couple fun New card ideas for the New Arrivals in your life!!

I hope you've enjoyed the Blog Hop stops along the way today!  For quick reference, here are the links to everyone's sites:

• Sue
• Denise
• Sandy
• Autumn
• Amy
• Pam (You're here!!)

Happy Hopping!!
Pam