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Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Quick Play and Now off to work

I had chores to do this morning - and part of those chores was clearing off my table of my stamping stuff since I am not sure when I will get time to play with real paper again. Just before leaving for work, I decided to take a little time for me - and play with some more of MDS. I just 'threw' some elements together along with some 'papers' to come up with this design to submit for the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge #200. I stacked a couple 5 petal flower punches on top of each other, colored them with paper and added the Hodgepodge Brad. It is a simple design. I just love using the sketches from many different blogs - it helps SO much when the mojo (and time) are low. I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek at another of my digital creations. I noticed I have to do a bit of tweeking on the sides, but it is time to run off to work - a 9 hour shift today.
~Paula~

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

More Digital

Last night I printed out the catalog pages for my MDS - but only the ones that were text since I didn't want to print 97 pages of B&W images - what good does that do? Anyway, as I was going through all the stuff that I got when I purchased my MDS, I decided I would play with some of it. I first had to reload the elements from the Sale-a-Bration CD that I bought that had several kits and stamps on it so that I could use it with the MDS program rather than my Photoshop CS4. I chose a printed Marina Mist for my background paper and then added Perfect Plum grosgrain ribbon. I used the brads from the Vanilla hodgepodge hardware set and used just the word Bliss from the set. I modified the oval punch and matted it with Marina Mist - added shadows and the card is complete. I have this actual stamp set as well, so I could easily recreate this card - perhaps change the ribbon up a bit since I don't have this color ribbon in my stash. Now I just need to make something astonishing - and what better day to do it than today. It is cloudy and there is threat of thunderstorms and rain again today. I don't have to work, but I do have Civil Air Patrol tonight. I have been working on stuff for that, and have a bit more to do - but I just want to relax. I am reading the latest Fern Michael's Sisterhood book - and it is so good I just can't put it down - so I will probably read until the book is done - by then I will be sleepy and want to take a nap - so I just might.
I hope your day is going well - thanks for stopping by the spa today.
~Paula~

Are you Square?

Or, maybe the question should be do you like making square projects? Like boxes or cards, or ??? Well, today at Top Tip Tuesday my teammate, Leanne has a fabulous tutorial on making a box envelope of any size. We also have some wonderful sponsors for the week. I have chosen to make a Mother's Day card - to enter into the Elizabeth Bell Challenge Blog's April project. This Challenge blog started back in the Fall of last year and I have not missed one of the challenges yet - until last month!! I just did NOT get around to making a centerpiece for Easter even though I bought some items to assist in the project - work just took over and I never got the time to do anything. I was going to try and do something really quick in the 11th hour, which was Friday night - however, I went out with a friend and we did our own form of art at a local art gallery. Those of you that live in the South Eastern United States may be familiar with Sips and Strokes. It is similar to those pottery places where you go in and select a piece of pottery to paint, then leave it for a week for them to fire for you, EXCEPT this is a PAINTING place. You pay a small fee, you get a canvas and an instructor walks the class through the painting and at the end of the night you have a beautiful painting that you created. It is interesting to see the variations of the different class members and the end result. My friend and I have done this one other time and I think this time I like my painting much better. It is a fun girls night out for a minimal fee. So, you can now understand why I wasn't able to do my Elizabeth Bell project at the last minute - which I seem to have done for the last several months - so THIS time, I decided I would get a jump on this project RIGHT away. Besides, Mother's Day is long before the due date of the 22nd, so I HAD to get this done. So, I used this sweet little girl on my card. I colored her with my prisma color pencils - which I haven't used in quite some time. I then cut this image apart and layered it giving a 3D affect. I have set her on this beautiful Designer Paper from Stampin' Up! This paper is a sneek peek from the new Catalog that will be out later this summer, however, until the end of this week, with a qualifying order, you can order this paper as well as a stamp set - you can click on my Stampin' Up! link to get all the information. I think the way I have placed this little cutie makes her look like a fairy amongst the flowers. I added pearls to the flower in the top right to give some dimension. I then added some Marina Mist satin ribbon - using the ruching method. I had started to add the sentiment to the front of the card, but my sweet husband said that he thought it looked better without the sentiment on the front and that perhaps it would look better inside. So, I added another portion of this beautiful DSP to the inside of the card and then added my sentiment. The inside is quite simple but I didn't w


ant to take away from the front of the card. I got my sweet image called Kneeling Willow from Simon Says Stamps. They are Whiff of Joy stamps and I was gifted a $20 voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamps - so it was wonderful to get actual Elizabeth Bell stamps to use on this project. If you have made it this far on my post - thank you! I have gone on about my art and I appreciate you sticking with me this far.
I am happy to say that my schedule at work has changed in such a way that I can do more crafting now. I am not thrilled about working the closing shift, however, it is almost the best of all worlds. I can craft during the day before I go to work, I can have lunch with my sweetie - breakfast out on the weekends and spend the whole day doing gardening or other things and then go to work in the evening. I do miss dinner with the family, but they understand that the reason I am working is for a good thing. Teens are expensive!! And I have WAY to many craft things I want to get!! :)
I am also entering this card in the Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge this week, which is making something for Mother's Day as well.
Stop by later - I might just have some more crafting to show you - who knows, it might be digital or it might be playing with paper!!
Thanks for visiting the spa today.
~Paula~





























Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Another Digital Play

I am loving using the sets in the My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! This is another digital card made using one of the sets that will be available starting May 1. This set is called Fabulous Florets and it is amazingly versatile. I think there is even a coordinating paper that comes in the mini catalog if you order the set, but since I was being lazy and didn't want to get up to go find it, I just chose to use my own selection of colors. I started with a background of Pacific Point and then matted whisper white on top and then added my images using old olive, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Baja Breeze and a color that is close to Daffodil Delight. I faded the opacity on the two large flowers in the background to give them a softer look. I grabbed some grosgrain ribbon and a couple buttons and added those and then created the scallop oval matting and picked out a font for my type and typed the sentiment. I added another texture stamp and tried to make it Baja Breeze, but it still looks black to me - but I still like the finished affect.
The challenge on the SU Only challenge blog this week is to make Mother's Day cards - so this one fits the challenge perfectly. Now I simply have to take this image to the printers (I don't have a color printer at home) and print it out on cardstock and then add my own personal sentiments to the inside and send it off to my mom. Of course, I COULD order the stamp set too and then I can just stamp it out, using this design as my sample card. I am REALLY enjoying the few projects I have had time to make using My Digital Studio and the cost is SO enticing. You might want to just check it out for yourself. The program is easy to use and comes with many different items to start with. The downloads are within any stampers budget too and the quality is the same that you get with any of Stampin' Up's products.
Anyway - I have to work tonight - so this is all I get to do in the way of being creative. I hope you have enjoyed visiting the spa today and seeing the digital work that I have done. Do come back soon for more creative inspiration.
~Paula~

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Blog Candy

Yes, my teammate (Leanne) over at Top Tip Tuesday is offering some yummy blog candy on her blog. If you like Magnolia stamps - then you must check this out. Go to Leanne's blog to find out the details.

~Paula~

Monday, April 18, 2011

Open Challenge . . .

. . . at Top Tip Tuesday this week. My teammate Carol has a wonderful tutorial on making an envelope wallet. She has some great ideas for using one of these once you have completed it too. We also have some great sponsors and there are beautiful samples from my teammates.
I encourage you to stop by and see what everyone has been up to this week and then have a go at making something. With Easter coming up on Sunday you could make a centerpiece for your Easter Supper Table, or alter a tin, notebook or candle. Use your imagination and come up with something fun - you might just win one of our sponsored prizes or be chosen as one of our top 3 for the week. Come back later and see what I get done today too - I do plan on doing something, but have some gardening projects I want to do first. Perhaps I will do that, and then make a digital scrapbook page about my garden! :)
~note~ I had to change my post because I didn't realize that this week at Top Tip Tuesday it is an open challenge - not a non-card challenge. However, with that said, since it IS and OPEN challenge - that means anything goes and I am sure there are lot's of fun items you can make this week to participate.
I did not get a chance to craft today since I got called into work. SO, tomorrow I am going to work in my garden and see what else I can get done.

~Paula~

What do you do . . .

When you have a day off, followed by a day off followed by two evening shifts? You PLAY!! Or rather CRAFT!! And that is JUST what I am going to do over the next several days - well, in addition to other chores that I HAVE to do around the house - but honestly, I have not had time to really craft for quite some time and I surely want to take advantage of it.
Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and purchase the My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! because I wanted to have the exclusive templates and the access to having my projects printed professionally. So, this morning, I finished downloading everything and had a play with one of the sets that is going to be available starting May 1. I layered DSP on top of Pink Pirouette and continued to layer, alternating colors until I got to my image. I added drop shadows along the way to give dimension. then I added the ribbon and bow at the top. I used the Saturday Sketch #199 from the Stamping 411 blog. They have gone to a Stampin' Up! only products - so this 'card' fits right in.

Now, my thoughts are to take this to a printer and get this printed off and then add this to the Pink Pirouette Cardstock and add a real ribbon. If I was going to do that, I would probably remove the ribbon and bow that I have added digitally.

Well, I 'hope' you like my new digital card. If you haven't tried digital, I really encourage you to do that. It is really SO much fun and there are SO MANY elements and embellishments, and papers that you can add to make the creation truly yours. AND, the nice thing is that it travels quite well and the 'mess' is confined into a small space that fits on your lap (that is IF you have a laptop computer!!)

The other nice thing about creating digitally - especially with the Stampin' Up! products is that you can decide if you REALLY need the rubber and paper - and you can create projects digitally and then stamp them out in paper form later on when you have more time.

Enjoy your day - and stop back by later to see what else I am up to.

~Paula~

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Playing with Digital

Today I decided to download some of the new digital items coming out in the new Summer Mini and then played with them a bit. I don't have the My Digital Studio program from Stampin' Up! because I already have Photoshop CS4 - however, I can see that there are items that I will want access to that I can't access unless I have MDS, so I will be getting that program eventually. Which is a good thing anyway because then I can get the items I create printed through Stampin' Up! Anyway, on to the 'card' that I created. I started with a transparent 'canvas' and then added pacific point. I then created a matte and filled it with one of the papers in the digital dsp. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to create this card and what colors I wanted to use, so it just kind of evolved - with layers upon layers. I love the bold colors in this and now I am anxious to order the stamp set that goes along with this and create this same 'card' using ink and paper. I didn't add any other elements because I don't have any to add at this point in time, but I don't think this really needs anything else - those big bold flowers just seem to be 'laughing' at life - and I love it!! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my first Stampin' Up digital design - I am sure there will be MANY more to come as I get more and more of the elements. Now, off to find the CD that came with my last order - that has some of this stuff to play with - or, maybe I will just rest before I have to go into work. Hmm, decisions, decisions. ~Paula~

Having fun and TIME to Craft!!

My schedule at work has changed a little (at least for this week) allowing me a couple of days to craft. So, I took advantage of the time and made a few cards. On Tuesday, I made this card to fit the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge #64. This was such a simple sketch - almost too simple as it took me awhile to figure out how I wanted to actually do this one. You see, I had just gotten some brand new Martha Stewart punches and wanted to try them out. I will actually be getting several more shipments of these punches, but this was from the first shipment. There are 4 punches to this set that I got through HSN. They are the Starburst Punch around the page combo set (which includes two punches), the startburst punch all over the page punch and the aster deep edge punch. I played with the first three and haven't opened up the last one yet. However, I REALLY like the punch all over the page punch. You can literally punch wherever you want on the page. Well, since the sketch was using some kind of design in one corner, I decided to just punch there - but you can really use this punch right smak in the middle if you want. Anyway, I am lacking on birthday cards right now - and with my youngest daughter turning 15 tomorrow, I thought I better make something to give to her. Now, I am not sure this will be the card - this one might just end up in the box to OWH - I really need to get a box sent out to them - and soon - it has been way too long since I have sent anything. Anyway, this was the first card I made.

So, then I played around with a new Spellbinders Die that I purchased through Flowers to Flourish. I get emails nearly daily from them and some of the deals are just too good to pass up. The Spellbinder dies are usually the ones I try to get as I hate paying full price for anything - especially Spellbinders dies - but I DO love them too!! So, I created this card - and it is sort of a sneak peek to a set that will be offered in the new Summer Mini from Stampin' Up! available starting May 1. Now, please don't look to closely at the card as it IS a little crooked -
and it is making me crazy, and I am ready to rip the stamped image off the card and replace it with one that is much straighter, but I can't decide if it is just the image or if it is the entire cut out - in which case, it will remain crooked!! The DSP is another sneak peek of an upcoming item in the NEW Catalog that will be out in July. However, you can order it RIGHT now until the 30th simply by placing an order of $20 or more. There is also a frame set that you can also purchase, but only until the 30th of this month. One of the colors that this package of paper coordinates with is Marina Mist - however, I honestly don't think it matches THAT well - but I did use my new marina mist satin ribbon and my magic bow maker to add the ribbon. another simple card - even if it IS crooked!!

Now if you want REALLY simple - take a look at this next card which highlights a little more of the beauty of this beautiful DSP available only until the 30th with a qualifying order. This has such BEAUTIFUL colors in it, and some of my new favorite ones as well - like Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist. I used River Rock as my base and then just cut a piece of the DSP that had this beautiful paisley flower on it and matted this on a piece of cherry cobbler - but not before adding the cherry cobblier seam binding ribbon. I LOVE this ribbon - it is so easy to work with and makes a wonderful embellishment, whether tied into a bow, or just left to make a statement of it's own. I used the same spellbinder die that I used in the previous card and stamped the sentiment - from the Vintage Labels (a Sale-a-bration set). I added Stampin' Up! teeny tiny pearls under the sentiment block - these are the last of my little tiny pearls, so I am going to have to order more of those. Now THIS is probably the card I am going to give to my lovely daughter.

Once I get on a roll, I can generally make several cards in a session - but often I get side-tracked, or tired of using a particular DSP - though I am trying to use what I have before buying more - yeah, that doesn't seem to be working out too well.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my latest creations from early this week. Now, with time still on my hands for today, before I have to run off to work, I just might make some more cards. I LOVE making cards and working on crafting projects - so, off I go.

Have a wonderful day and come back for a visit to the spa real soon.

~Paula~


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Spring is in the air!

I see it in the trees leafing out and the flowers blooming. Soon the seeds I planted in my garden will be popping through the soil. The birds sing to me every morning and it is lovely!! Today on Top Tip Tuesday my teammate has a fabulous tutorial - or rather a 'picture tour' of her crafting space and ideas for organizing all our crafting goodies. I love her 'theme' - but you will have to pop over there to see what I mean. But, before you go, I want to share with you my Spring Themed card. I have used the Saturday sketch #198 from Stamping 411 for my design. The challenge on the Stamping 411 site now is exclusive Stampin' Up! products - so I have chosen Whisper White as my base and then I used Melon Mambo stamped with one of the stamps from Baby Blossoms (#122000) I then took a piece of Daffodil Delight and edge cut with the Scallop Trim Border punch (#118402)I added a piece of white satin ribbon (#114616) and tied a bow with my magic bow maker using Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon (#119766). My image is from a new stamp set that will be available beginning May 1. I used Daffodil Delight ink and then sponged with Melon Mambo for a mult-colored butterfly. I think butterflies just SCREAM spring. As I planted my garden last week, a HUGE Monarch (at least I think it was a Monarch) butterfly landed in my garden. It's wings were so large and I watched as it 'fed' on something it found in my soil. I didn't want to chance disturbing him in order to run to get my camera - so I lost THAT photo opportunity - but I am sure there will be other opportunities to photograph the wildlife that is abundant in my area. I hope that you have enjoyed your visit here to the spa today - I know that the spa has been slow lately due to my commitment at work and other things - however, I do appreciate your visits and your comments. do come back soon as I attempt to put my crafting back on my calendar of events. ~Paula~