STAMPIN'UP! MY DIGITAL STUDIO PREVIEW

Stampin'Up! has released the "MY DIGITAL STUDIO" (MDS) program and downloads for preview by demonstrators. I will be purchasing the full program but I couldn't wait for delivery so I downloaded a few of the downloads (which are included with the full program) so I could play a little tonight.

FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

The program will be available for customer purchase beginning October 1st - and is WELL worth the $79.95 purchase price.

For this card I used MDS Designer Series Paper in Riding Hood Red, Background "Cardstock" also in Riding Hood Red. MDS buttons in white and one of the digital stamp images from the Old St. Nick stamp set. I downloaded the buttons (every core color was included) for $3.95. What is so wonderful about this program is you get the same look but the product is not consumable. YOU NEVER USE THEM UP!!!

If you are like me you need to hold the paper, scissors, punches in your hands so you might not think you would like this. TRUST ME - if you enjoy computer work at all - your'e going to LOVE it. Even if you don't want to completely create your project on the computer think of the money you could save by just purchasing the Designer Paper downloads and printing out just what you need. I purchased the Small Polka Dot Designer Paper download for $3.95 and received the DSP in 34 core colors - (including KRAFT, ALL THE CURRENT INCOLORS and a even few past In-Colors.)

The fun in creating with this program comes from manipulating objects and playing with colors and textures and shapes. I LOVE computer graphics so I find it FUN. However, I also LOVE coloring, and cutting, and pasting, and punching so would NEVER give up my hands-on crafting. I will more than likely use MDS for scrapbooking and continue 3 dimensional card making and crafting. Adding buttons, ribbons, metal objects, layers etc to scrapbooks gets REALLY expensive and makes the books too heavy and cumbersome - not to mention difficult to store. Digital scrapbooking is a wonderful way to cut costs AND save room.

Keep watching - I'm sure you'll be seeing alot of projects made with this program in the next few weeks.

Happy stamping!
Jill

CHANGES TO MY BLOG

A few of you received a blog post from me yesterday about the Stampin'Up! Demonstrator Agreement. After I posted it I decided it was more a "vent session" than a real blog post so I deleted it before I sent it out through FeedBlitz. For those of you who did receive and read it - thanks for allowing me to vent and please accept my apology for the tirade.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about - I have to decide if I want to sign a new demonstrator's agreement with Stampin'Up! by the end of the month. If I don't sign it I can no longer sell product. If I DO sign it I can no longer share information with you about products that aren't Stampin'Up! It is a very difficult decision for me. It pretty much comes down to INTEGRITY and I'm afraid if they don't amend the agreement before the end of the month they will force me to resign.

So, putting that behind us for now, lets get on with today's works of heart - 3 to be exact.

The first one is a remake of yesterday's attempt at a Zindorf. I'm STILL not 100% satisfied - but getting closer. I realized that with the moon coming up from behind the trees you would only see light on the very tips of the right side branches of the trees - so there is a bit too much white on my pines. Other than that - I'm basically happy with it.

PRODUCT USED - ALL SU!

Brayer

Sponges

SU! Brilliant Blue Ink

SU! Lavendar Lace Ink

SU! Almost Amethyst Ink

SU! Basic Black Ink

SU! White Gel Pen

SU! So Saffron Ink

I get Christmas Card magazines at my day-job office this time of year and I love to look through them for ideas. This next card was inspired by a card in one of the magazines. Theres used a lovey pine bough but I LOVE this stamp set from Stampin'Up! and wanted to use it.

PRODUCT USED:

SU! Scenic Seasons Stamp Set

SU! Whisper White Card Stock

SU! Real Red Card Stock

SU! Markers - Handsome Hunter, Real Red, & the retired Forest Foilage

SU! Heat n Stick Powder

Crushed Glass Glitter

NOTE: When I received this stamp set I cut the sentiment apart from the image to make it more versatile and easier to use.

The last card I made last night is also inspired by Michelle Zindorf. I've found I really like using the large craft sponges and brayer to create backgrounds. If you haven't tried her technique yet you've really got to give it a whirl. LOVIN' IT!!!

PRODUCT USED

Pumpkin Stamp

SU! Christmas Set (I forgot the name - Snow Swirls maybe????)

SU! Whisper White Cardstock

SU! Real Red Cardstock

SU! So Saffron Ink

SU! Pumpkin Pie Ink

SU! Ruby Red Ink

SU! Craft White Ink

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Versamark Pad

Versamark Pen

Detail Clear Embossing Powder

SU! Markers - More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Mellow Moss, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa

Hope you enjoyed the post today. I know there was alot to look at - guess I'm making up for the lack of recent posts.

Until Next Time -

Happy Stamping - with WHATEVER product you use!

Jill

ZINDORF INSPIRED . . .

ZINDORF INSPIRED MISTAKE THAT IS!!!!!! Are you familiar with the work of Michelle Zindorf? She does these AMAZING scenic pieces of artwork with a brayer and sponges. I was inspired to have a go at it - really - how hard could it be right??? Hah! Harder than you might think!!!!!

I have to admit I debated on whether to post this card or not - but then thought if I could point out my mistakes it might actually help you to NOT make the same ones!

This card was quite beautiful when I finished it and I was very proud of it - so much so I showed it to hubby who thought it looked like a painting. ORIGINALLY this card wasn't quite so dark. The sky was a deep, brilliant blue and beneath it a line of amethyst mountains lining a quiet, blue lake surrounded by pine trees. There was also a lovely, clear moon rising in front of the mountain ridges. What?!? There's the PROBLEM!

ERROR #1: Have you EVER seen a moon rise IN FRONT of a mountain range????? Of course not - the moon rises behind the mountains and therefore the bottom third of my moon should have been covered over by the amethyst mountains. The more I looked at it the more it bothered me so I decided to "fix" it. The only way to do that was to cover the mountains with more night sky. (If you look closely you can still see the diagonal line of my mountain range.)

ERROR #2: Do not add sponging to your card if it is already assembled! DUH! Notice the blue sponging on my white mat?

ERROR #3: As I was adding more night sky, I sponged too hard against my post-it note moon mask and ended up smudging the edges. My advice - be careful and if you DO smude the edges of your moon DON'T try to fix it with a white gel pen. It looks like . . . well you know what it looks like. My mother doesn't let me say that word! LOL!

Okay - so enough picking on myself for one day. I hope you learned from my mistakes and won't make the same ones if you try your hand at a "Zindorf". Come back tomorrow - hopefully I'll have corrected my errors and have a beautiful moon rising BEHIND my amethyst mountains.

Thanks for visiting today -
and until next time -
Happy Stamping.

Jill

ON DASHER, ON DANCER, ON RUDOLPH?

The man in brown came to visit yesterday and brought a truckload of Holiday Mini goodies - so of course I played ALL evening last night.

Of the 4 cards I created (after scanning the image sheets and putting together all 9 stamp sets), THIS one is my favorite. I LOVE everything about it. Okay - maybe the nose IS just a little too big - but other that THAT I love everything about it. The VERY BEST PART??? The button!

All products used to make this card are SU! (except the button and ribbon).

STAMP SETS
Dasher
Paisley Background
Scenic Seasons

CARDSTOCK
Very Vanilla
Cameo Coral
Soft Suede

INK COLORS
Creamy Caramel
Cameo Coral
Soft Suede

MARKERS
Soft Suede
Blush Blossom

This was pretty easy to put together which is another PLUS for this card and it's just too darn cute when it's done.

Enjoy your day today!
and until next time -
Happy Stamping!
Jill

ONE SHEET WONDER - Part Two

As promised, here are the eight cards I made using the ONE SHEET WONDER template from yesterday's post. Did any of you print it out and try it? If so I'd love to see what you did.

Before I go any further let me apologize for all the extra spacing between cards. Blogger has a mind of it's own when it comes to where to put spaces and how many to add. I tried and tried to fix it - but finally thought "what the heck" and left it the way it is. Now - on to the cards.

I used Stampin'Up! Product almost exclusively for these cards. I began with a sheet of 8.5 x 11 Very Vanilla cardstock and randomly stamped specks in Real Rust using a stamp for the Itty Bitty Backgrounds set. Next I stamped the oakleaf & acorn image from the "Lovely as a Tree" set in Chocolate Chip. Using a craft sponge I applied More Mustard, Real Rust, and Perfect Plum. After cutting into pieces using the ONE SHEET WONDER template I sponged around the edges of each piece in Soft Suede and added touches of Tempting Turquoise to each piece.

The base card for each is SU! Soft Suede stamped with Itty Bitty Backgrounds in Chocolate Chip and the accent pieces are Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay.

CARD A

CARD B.
Needs a bit of tweaking. I think I will move the

ribbon so it follows the diagonal line instead of
cutting the card in half and possibly place some.
mini brads vertically in the lower right corner.

CARD C.
I forgot to add sponging along the torn edge of the Dusty Durango Cardstock. Otherwise I'm happy with it the way it is.

CARD D.

CARD E
This is a little different than planned on the layout. Someone threw away the long piece of
cardstock that was supposed to be used behind

the three main pieces. Ooooops!

CARD F.
I like this layout alot too. It is actually 3 same size squares but the layout makes it look like a square and a rectangle.

If you use the template, make sure to cut and use all three squares. Otherwise the "rectangle" will be to short.

CARD G

The only card using non-SU! product. I didn't have the

brown buttons. Oh well. This card needs a little sponging
around the torn egdes too.

CARD H.
That's my 8. Let me see what you can do.

Thanks for visiting -
and until next time -
Happy Stamping!

Jill

ONE SHEET WONDER - Part One

Have you ever made or use a template for a "ONE SHEET WONDER"? I never had until yesterday. I've heard the term and seen some cards created with them but had never really been interested in trying my hand at it. THEN one of the SU! demos in my side-line issued a challenge to those of us participating in an upcoming stamping event to create a template and 8 cards using the template. It was actually quite fun and quicker than I imagined it would be.

This is the template I created. It is an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper. (The outside border lines are missing.) I added the measurements for those of you who might like to try it and lettered it so that you can match it to the corresponding layouts (shown below). I'm sorry the drawings are so light - they are pencil renderings and I forgot to darken the lines with marker before scanning - and since I'm in a hurry (as usual) I didn't have time to redo them for today's post. If you click on the image it will enlarge it so that you should be able to see the dimensions clearly.

The second image is a diagram of the 8 different layouts I created for this template. The letters are placed on each card so that when it is at the right angle the card is also at the correct angle - either a vertical or horizontal layout.

As you will see by the template there is a letter 'I'. There are 4 small, unused pieces left when you cut up the 8.5" x 11" sheet. I have an idea for a 9th layout using 3 of them - but since I haven't actually created it I didn't want to add the layout to the sketch. Sometimes what looks good in my head doesn't look so good on paper. Know what I mean?????

Come back tomorrow to check out the Fall cards I made using this template. Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry are the "In-colors" I used and they are beautiful - if I do say so myself. LOL!

Until tomorrow -

Have a great day and happy stamping!

Jill

WEDDINGS, BIRTHDAYS AND OTHER STUFF

WOW! I just checked the date of my last blog post and it was more than 2 weeks ago!
Where did that time go - and why wasn't I in my studio happily stamping??? Looking back at my calendar I realized why - I had a wedding and wedding rehearsal dinner to help prepare (my nephew), photos to edit, 2 technique's classes to prepare for and a birthday lunch and shopping (my 50th!). Life has been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks but I am all caught up now and looking forward to a week of playtime before getting down to the business of preparing for a workshop at the end of the month.



The 2 cards I'm sharing today are samples from one of my technique's classes. I love the scraps of fabric, the frayed edges and the country feel of the first one. I used SU! Real Red and Mellow Moss markers to color the stamp then stamped directly onto the fabric. I used the writing point of the markers to add "shading" and definition to the stamped image.

The second card is made using the "WRINKLE FREE DISTRESS" technique made "famous" by Sherry Cheever. This was my first attempt at it so it's not up to Sherry's standard - but I still like the way it turned out. I used Cameo Coral and Mellow Moss Inks to create the background then once it was dry, overstamped the image in Not Quite Navy. Isn't the stamp adorable? It's from Great Impressions. I have two older sisters and this reminded me of us as children so it was a "must have".

Not much to chatter about today but I did want to let all of you know about the Peoria Area Stamp Fest that several of us SU! demos are hosting in September. If you will be in the area on the 19th and would like information just leave a message and I'll get back to you with the registration info.

That's it for today. Have a great one and until next time -

Happy Stamping!

Jill