My Digital Studio Christmas card

When I mail Christmas cards I like to enclose a family pic ( or at least one of the kids together). My Digital Studio is a great way to create  personalized greeting cards or just a photo card to accompany my Christmas cards.
Here's mine for this year.

The greeting and elements/ background are MDS and the ornaments are cliparts from the web. I can print these at home or bring them to my 1-hour photo lab for printing.

Season's Greetings

I haven't made a card in awhile.... just so  busy making other things! I made this awhile ago but I totally forgot to post it!

Let It Snow decor

I made this cute little home decor sign for a craft sale. My Gypsy allowed me to play around with my font sizes so I could make the letters more whimsical . I used Alphalicious font which I got for absolutely free when I upgraded my Gypsy!!! WhooHoo.... gotta love free!!! :-)

The snowflake is a die from Stampin' Up! as is the white vinyl. The paint is from Making Memories.

Christmas altered canvas project/ Stampin' Up! vinyl

Happy Saturday! Today I thought I'd post another altered canvas I made. This is for a friend to give as Christmas gift. I have to tell you , I just love the vinyl from SU!..... it's amazing to work with and they have so many fantastic colors to choose from! It cuts beautifully and applies so smoothly... if you're looking for some good quality vinyl at a reasonable price, check out SU!
Anyway, here's the canvas ( the scallop squares will hold  4X4 pics).....

The sentiment is from Season Of Joy.... seriously getting a lot of use outta that cartridge! The ornaments are a cutfile I purchased from Peppermint Creative. I used Night Of Navy, Whisper White,Real Red, Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink and Rose Red vinyl for the ornaments. This is a 12X12 stretched canvas, painted with chocolate brown acrylic paint. Cordinating colors for the photo squares and this project was completed in under 2 hours!!

Here's a close up of the ornaments and greeting. The Cricut cuts this vinyl without snagging and tearing... even the smaller sized images.

Mojo Monday 166

Here's my card for this weeks' Mojo Monday challenge. I diecut the ornament with my Cricut ( Season Of Joy cartridge) and the rest is Stampin' Up! ...... Holly Jolly DSP, embossing folder and Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive cardstock and Certainly Celery satin ribbon. The sentiment is stamped in Cherry Cobbler and is from Snow Swirled set and the tag is a retired punch ( keytag, I believe).  I added Martha Stewart glitter to the ornament.

Hope you enjoy!

Have a great day!

Berry Christmas : Christmas wreath on door card

I've seen several versions of this card on the web, but I wanted to add my own touch to this style. I stamped River Rock cardstock with the woodgrain background stamp for the door  (and also for the door panels, which didn't show well in the pic!)and the cardbase is Old Olive and the wreath is from Berry Christmas as is the sentiment  ( Holiday 2009 mini) with a few red rhinestones for holly berries. SU! dimensionals popped the wreath from the door.Finally, I used a vintage brad( Stampin'Up!) for the doorknob. The red paper twist cord is from Ikea.

Sorry that this pic isn't too clear but you can see the door detail  better from this angle.

Altered Canvas : Stampin' Up! vinyl and Cricut

Good morning! Well , last weekend it was a sunny 12 degrees ( celius) and absolutely no snow! Today we have about 3 inches of snow on the ground and it's still snowing! That's life in Newfoundland !!!
All this snow really puts me in the Christmas mood, my son has been begging me to bring out our Christmas village. So this snowy afternoon seems like the perfect day to start it! But before I do, here's today's post. I love combining my Cricut and SU! to make projects. Usually it's cards but this time I thought I'd try to make something a little different. Hope you enjoy!

Originally , I wanted to use these ornaments for my wall. They are  from a cutfile I purchased from Peppermint Creative , but once I had the first layer cut I felt it was too small for my wall. But I just had to put the vinyl to use, so here is my project! This is a 12X12 canvas, inked with Old Olive and  Kiwi Kiss on the edges only and Ruby Red and Holly Jolly DSP for the photo mat. I pulled out my BigShot for the tags , the stamped image behind the Peace is non-SU!. The ribbon is SU! taffeta . The vinyl is cut out with Stampin' Up! Real Red vinyl. Let me tell you , this  is the best vinyl I've used. It's  not too flimsy and it really adheres well to a variety of surfaces. I already purchased all of the colours available! I plan on making a variety of canvases for an upcoming craft sale. Oh, and the ribbon actually came from a package of pj's!!! :-)

My Digital Studio Fall layouts

I have been so busy with planning  my card workshops lately that I've seemed to have forgotten all about the scrapbooking that I should get done!! I just don't have the space ( card stuff is everywhere!!! YIKES!) in my teeny tiny craft space so I had to satisfy my urge to create pages with My Digital Studio. My favorite aspect of the MDS program is that it allows me to use any of my pics as a background for my layout. I really like to use my shots of nature for this purpose . It`s amazing what an impact it can have on my layouts.... no need for lots of embellishments,etc.

It just a matter of minutes I can make my own unique patterned paper, which can be used for hybrid projects or for a layout. Pretty cool, huh! It looks like the paper is edged but it`s really just the curly label punch ( 4-5 times) stacked together for this neat effect. I reduced the opacity of the snowflakes so that they didn`t overpower the page and alternated their sizes. I think this would also make a cute Christmas card.

Talk about keeping it simple, I just selected a patterned DSP and added pics and a bit of journaling. But if I feel like making some changes later on, I won`t have to worry about glued pics, etc.  I`m pretty sure this page will get a few more details added soon.

Have a fantastic day!

Color Throwdown Challenge

I made a couple of cards for this challenge ... I just couldn't decide which one I liked best!!

I just got Snow Swirled stamp set and I can already tell it's gonna get a lot of use! It works with just about any color combo! Talk about versatility!!!! You can't tell from the pic but I added a little red Smooch to tyhe center of the small snowflakes for a touch of glimmer.

And now for my second card for this challenge:

I'm not how much I like this one but I made it for the cahllenge so I posted it. I love the Dasher stamp, but often I can't think of  just the right card layout for it! I do like it layered on the circles, though. Anyway, here's my second card!

Happy Crafting !

Flower Pot cards : Cricut "Walk In My Garden" & " Season Of Joy"

I was going through my stash of cards from my past workshops when I found this little card. I made this cute little flower pot card at one of my first stamp classes and it was such a hit! I jazzed it up a little with some new satin ribbon and pearl accents and a button detail on the flower.

The stamp set Favorite Thoughts was perfect for this card! The flowers were made with my Cricut  Walk In My Garden cartridge.

Wouldn't this make an adorable Christmas card? I thought so!!

I really like the colour combo of \Cherry Cobbler and Handsome Hunter ( retired) together. SU! embossing folders give this card an elegant feel, as do the ribbon. I added some glitter glue to the poinsetta  for a touch a festive shine!

Happy crafting!

Rememberance Day

Today is a very important day; the day we honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. Thank you to all the  members of our country's military . Please take a moment of silence in honor of them.
Our family attended a special service at our church in honor of this solemn occasion. My daughter participated as a cadet ( her first year) and I was so proud of her and all the members of the Codroy Valley Cadet Corps.
I thought I'd post the poem " In Flander's Fields" as a tribute to past and present soliders who selflessly give so much so that we can have so much. Thank you.

In Flander's Fields

In Flander's Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks ,still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn,saw sunset glow,

Loved , and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from falling hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flander's Fields.

                                                     - John McCrae

                         

Explosion Box Album

I've seen several versions of the Explosion Box album on the web, but I haven't been able to find one that had pockets for pics, etc. So I made my own. I will be making several of these for a local craft show next weekend.

I made this box with leftover Basic Grey papers and some dies from Stampin' Up!

The inside.... sorry I don't have a better pic. But hopefully you can see how I decorated the inside and some of the flaps. The middle is Basic Grey papers embossed with a stamped sentiment ( on Old Olive) adhered to it, with a bit a ribbon I found in one of stashes.

Hope you enjoy!

Tote-ally Tess card

This time of year I seem to be focused on making Christmas cards /projects , but today I took a break from and decided to post a simple birthday card. Tote-ally Tess was a set I purchased in the spring but it hasn't been used as much as I would like to. Hmmm, maybe I'll make a Christmas card with her??? LOL

Gift card holder/ small sized card

This gate fold card is just 4 1/4 by 4 1/4  so it can make a nice gift card holder ( just add pocket inside) or a smaller  card. I'm still trying to use all of my old Christmas paper . The frame is from Cricut's Season Of Joy cartridge.

Letterpress cards from embossing folders

 The art of Letterpress has been around for ages , but it has really caught on in the paper craft world in the last year or so. I've seen products from several companies for quite some time but Stampin' Up! only just launched their own with the release of the 2010 Holiday Mini . I really like them , but it got me thinking, couldn't I use my embossing folders to achieve the same effect? The folders have two sides , one raised side and the other inverted. The inverted side is usually the front of the folder, so if it has lettering like many of the Cuttlebug folders, then you can't use them as letterpress plates. But for most of my folders ( I have so many!) I can use them!! Yay!!!
Here's a few cards,I will post more as I play around with this technique .

This is SU! Northern Flurries folder which I inked with Pacific Point craft ink . I noticed that the slightest pressure was needed when applying the ink, as it tended to smudge the folder. I just used a baby wipe to clean off the excess ink. You can't tell from the pic , but I sprayed Glimmer Mist on the white. I find that the Glimmer Mist will usually make my cardstock bend / curl up ( you can really see it in this pic) , so after it dries I usually put it under a heavy book to flatten out , which I didn't do for this card!!!

When using the embossing folders I had to play around with my Big Shot and the plates to get the right amount of pressure.  I just used two plates with the white spacer but the image didn't press into the paper , rather it stamped on it. I liked that too, so now my folders can be stamps,too!! I used two plates, the spacer ,a crease pad and a piece of folded cardstock to get just the right amount of pressure for the snowflake card.  This is a Tim Holtz embossing folder.

Winter Wonderland

We woke up to a blanket of snow this morning. Everything was so tranquil.... if only winter could stay like this!