Warning: Website Based Scrapbooks Aren't Intuitive or Creative!

Yes, it does sound like I'm biased, but it's totally true!  We were crunched for time this Christmas so I went to the S******h website to make some quick calendars and "save some money."  Hahahaha!  Joke's on me!  After struggling with the program (which doesn't let you resize your photos) and after many many MANY messages of "warning: low resolution", I gave up and went back to My Digital Studio.  (Yes, My Digital Studio also helps you design calendars....)  Wow, what a difference!  And at the advice of another SU person, I got it printed at C****o and saved a ton of money there, too!  Only $9.99 per calendar!  Yes, I really have learned my lesson.  Here are a few of the pages that I made....

This first page is for January on my Mom and Dad's calendar.  I used a background snowflake Designer Paper, put a few snowflake stamps on it and colored them white, then added a shadow behind the snowflakes so that they would stand out a bit.  Simple and fun!  And best of all, I got to decide how the pics would be arranged and if I wanted a mat and what size and color for the mats!  Sure adds a lot to the page.

This is February on my Mom and Dad's calendar.  It features my only niece on this side of the family and some of her cousins who love her dearly!  After selecting the Designer Paper from my Love Letters set, I put torn edges around the upper and sides, then added the curlies across the bottom.  I also added the two hearts, chose the color that matched the curlies and the DP, then added the shadow behind them to add dimension.

This is the February page from my in-laws' calendar.  These are my only two nieces from this side of the family.  (Both families are woefully short on the female offspring!)  After putting the heart stamps on this one, I recolored them, using the color picker.  I chose one of the pinks that's in my niece's dress.  How wonderful to be able to dress up your pages by matching up the colors in the photos to your embellishments!

 So now can you see why I wasn't satisfied with the crazy placement and limitations of the online program?  I'm never going back again.  I've learned my lesson and learned it well!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.  I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year's. 

Blessings,
Julie

Scrapping Camping Photos With Walk in the Woods

We went camping last October when the kids had some time off for the CSI Teacher's Convention.  We had never camped at Lake Wenatchee State Park before, so decided to head there.  Besides, it's on the east side of the Cascade mountains, so there was a better chance of not getting rained on.  This is what the first day and a half looked like. 

 The kids found giant mushrooms growing on the forest floor around the campsite and had a blast chopping them up with the hatchet.  Yes, we made sure there was a rule that you don't pick up the hatchet unless one of the parents is supervising.  I used one of the mushroom photos for the backgrounds on these two opposing pages and brought the opacity down to about 40%.  I love being able to journal directly on the page instead of having to make a journaling box.  That is one of the many benefits of digital scrapping! 

 And while we were there, we did have to do some exploring.  ;-)  The lake was beautiful and since it was the off-season, hardly anyone was there.  Except the bears.  Yes, I did say the bears.  Apparently right before we left for our trip, a man was mauled next to his cabin which is on the same lake as the campground.  All he did was walk outside.  Scary!  It's a good thing we didn't know about it because I was already on high alert during the night and on our day excursions!

The campground we were at had apparently seen more bear activity also, so they didn't allow any garbage left out overnight, even in the bear-proof cans.  So we taught the kids about making noise on the trails and to and from the bathrooms (which were a good hike away) and how not to walk alone.  I guess I can't blame the bears for being there ... after all, look how gorgeous it is?! 
So on these two pages, I used my Woodland Walk DP.  I didn't want to muddy it up too much, since the paper already had a great design, so I just used a couple of strips of color and some Hodgepodge Hardware to decorate.  I think the scenery does the rest. 
So, what have you done with your digital scrapping lately?  We'd love to see it!
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. 
Blessings,
Julie

Demented Robot :-)

It's not my fault, I tell ya!  When I first attempted the previously shared card for my DH, the image came out blurred.  For some reason, it looked like a mirror to me and this crazy question popped into my head.  It just popped, I tell ya!  So, what do you think of my mirror, mirror on the wall?  Does it make my tread look big?  ;-) 

Thanks for stopping by to share my demented moment with me.

Blessings,
Julie

p.s.  The DP is retired, the polka dots were embossed on Tangerine Tango and then sponged with Pacific Point, the greeting was made with My Digital Studio, and the mirrored image was stamped on the center oval from the Baby Blossoms Stamp Set and then the oval was stamped on the very vanilla. (This technique is called "kissing".)  The base of the "mirror" is from my stencil from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  The bots were colored with blender pens and the pearls were colored with a sharpie pen.  The layout is from the SC327 sketch challenge.

My Digital Studio Birthday Page

Here's a quick birthday page that I made for Zach.  I love all of the little accents that I can add, like the paper clip and jumbo eyelets.  I also added some balloon stamps and cupcake stamps.  There's a shadow added behind them so that they look like they're lifted off the page.  There wasn't a string for the balloons, so I added staples and made them longer so that they would look like strings.  The scallop pieces and the ribbon in between are from the Ice Cream Parlor add on from SAB.  Fun, eh?  And look at that cute little boy in the journaling box...he's from the All in the Family set.  I love it that I could add the glasses on him to match my little guy.  So what's your last scrapping page?  I'd love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

My Laptop Is Back!

 First off, sorry that I've been MIA this week.  My laptop finally came back and it's been time consuming, to say the least, to get everything back on it!  Since I've been busy with that, I decided to treat you with more My Digital Studio scrapbooking.  :-)  These pages are all from the book that we put together as a thank you to my in-laws for taking us to Hawaii. 

 And yes, we bought our own copy, too!  These pages were predesigned.  We took off a lot of the accessories and left it a bit plainer so that the photos would take over the pages.  I love the scroll in the background, which you can do by making something opaque, but the same color so that it appears lighter and of the same color family.  Isn't that lovely?  And the little flower is a stamp, colored, a brad added in the middle, and a shadow of 100% behind it.

 This page started out a different background color.  We kept the Kiwi Kiss and changed the other color to Melon Mambo.  Isn't that a great combo?  I really like the brightness of it.  We thought it would be fun to surround the family photo with individual shots of each grandchild.  The wording was fun and I love being able to journal in white over the background papers!  (Aren't those kids adorable?!)  To line up all of these photos, I used the rulers and zoomed in to about 200%.

 Need I say anything about this one?  I love this photo and the book is 12 x 12, so can you imagine how wonderful this picture is IRL?

 I had to show you these two pages because of the flowers and strips that I added.  the flowers have a white shadow behind them and pearls in their centers.  I love the soft look that they create.  Oh, see that handsome man standing second from the left?  That's my wonderful husband, Ron.

 Another wonderful thing about My Digital Studio is that you can have your opposing pages match!  All you have to do is design your first page, then add a duplicate page or duplicate mirrored page from the menu.  It's so easy. 

 And this is to show you what else has been taking so much of my time.  We had to paint our bathroom because it still stank like cigarette smoke from the previous owners.  The wall color is Jamaica Bay from Sherwin Williams.  We have a fish theme in the room, so my 14 yr. old painted seaweed on two walls.  The sweet thing is that we were able to use leftover paint for the seaweed!  I love being able to finish a project with leftovers!

And yes, this is my 10 yr. old, swimming underwater.  What a nut!  He actually wanted to pose for this!  :-)

So, I don't have everything loaded up yet, but I hope to finish that in the next few days ... just in time to do my taxes!  Blech!

Ok, enough blathering for today.  Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again.  I wish you a wonderful and peaceful Sunday.

Blessings,
Julie

MDS Greeting Card Hybrid Projects

 Cardmaking is so much fun with My Digital Studio!  For this card, I chose a blank page, then added a designer paper as a page layer.  After adjusting the size that I wanted it to be, I double-clicked on the designer paper so that I could choose which area of the paper to use.  This is the orchid from Summertime Splendor, one of the designer paper downloads.  Aren't those colors gorgeous?  You should see the rest of the sheet!

And yes, those are pearls that you see on the printed image.  That's another wonderful download.  I added a text box to type my message into and chose the color by using the color picker to take the darker blue from the orchid.  Yup!  It's that smart. 
These cards are called hybrids because I printed them, added some accessories and mounted them on cardstock.  I really like doing that!  And just think, you can design one area, copy and paste it multiple times on one sheet and have 4 cards ready to go in no time!  I'm definitely keeping this template on my computer.
I made these two cards for two dear friends of mine.  One lost her husband last summer and the other just lost her husband last week.  I'm hoping that these cards help ease the loneliness a little.  And that is what stamping is to me.  It's a way to touch those around me and to let them know that I care.  A handmade goodie goes a long way to someone feeling special.  I want to bless others with the work of my hands.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station once again.  I'm going to try to get to that tutorial this week for the folds that made the tree and the snowflake.

Blessings,
Julie

More Digital Scrapbooking Pages

Here are a few more pages from the Hawaii scrapbook.  These first two are of all the grandchildren playing at the beach.  I really love the colors and these pages in 12 x 12 make the photos so amazingly gorgeous and colorful.

 Of course the majority of our time was spent at the beach.  Hurray for the children being old enough to truly enjoy it!  As you can tell from their faces, they had a ball boogie boarding, body surfing, and snorkeling.  Oh, and don't forget playing in the sand!

We did have some times of going out to eat together.  Sometimes that was a bit of a challenge with 16 people in the group, but most places were able to accomodate us.  For this page, I journaled directly on the background Designer Paper and added a strip from one of my Kits that I've downloaded. 

And this as the opposing page was copied over as a mirror page and then we added the photos.  Again, the journaling was added directly onto the photos and Designer Paper.  I love added a shadow on the words.  The effect is a 3-D look. 







So that's what part of the book looks like.  If I find some more pages that have ideas of how to easily personalize your album, I'll be sure to share. 

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio Hawaii Scrapbook

My in-laws celebrated their 50th anniversary last July and decided to take the family to Hawaii to celebrate.  While we were there we were all busy clicking away.  We had a secret plan....to scrapbook the trip and surprise my in-laws with it. 

We had many pages (48 in all!) and most of them were themed.  Each family had a two-page spread with their own experiences and photos.  These two were our pages.  I used a layout that came with My Digital Studio, plugged in the photos, added a couple more, added the swirls on the edges and our names in Hawaiian.  The book is beautiful!  I'll show you a few more pages in the coming days.  And yes, I'm planning on ordering one for myself!  :-D  This software makes scrapbooking SOOOOOO easy!  If you'd like to see it in action, let me know and I'll give you a tour of it.

Thanks for once again stopping by the Stamping Station. 

Blessings,

Julie

SHHHHHHH!!!!!! It's a secret! :-D

Don't tell, but we're making a beautiful calendar for my in-laws for Christmas!  We've designed it on My Digital Studio and it was so easy.  Since the calendar contains pics of my children and nieces and nephews, I chose to just share the ones with my kids on them.  (Easier than getting permission and then the whole surprise would be out there!)  Anyway, here's your sneak peek of our 12 x 12 personalized calendar...

Nate's my middle child.  His smile and laugh are very infectious. 

Todd is my oldest.  He enjoyed Hawaii, but was sick of the heat after 3 days and wanted to go back home.  The silver lining on that one is that hopefully he'll always live close to us and not move to the other side of the country!

Zach is my youngest.  He's full of all kinds of personality.  He's also a ham! 




So now you need to keep this quiet and don't tell my in-laws, k?  I'm counting on you!  Oh, and if you want to have the same fun, My Digital Studio (which we used to make the calendar) is 50% off through tomorrow (the 30th), so go click on the shop now button at the top of my blog and order quick before you have to pay full price for this amazing tool.

Blessings,
Julie

New Blogheader With My Digital Studio

Sometimes you just have to try something new. I've been revamping my blog, trying to make it more efficient and easy to read. Well, then I started looking at my blogheader. Hey, wait! There wasn't a blogheader! So, why not open My Digital Studio and try making one? A lot of other people have, so I should be able to also, right?
With much playing around and experimenting, I finally figured out what the design should look like. This color combo (Crumb Cake [formerly known as Kraft], Basic Black and Whisper White) is one of my favorites. I used to add Ruby Red to it for a splash but now my favorite splash is Cherry Cobbler. Getting this header to fit was a bit trickier, but I did finally figure it out. I hope you like the new look.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

Here's Another Cutie, Courtesy of My Digital Studio

This is another page that I made yesterday. The background is from the Write Stuff II download. Isn't it great???!!! My Nate boy is playing his second year of baseball and is having fun. (Though the season seems a bit long to him.) He usually plays right field or third base. Ok, enough bragging. See how easy it is to use My Digital Studio? I used a photo layout, added text into the text boxes, added the "go team" and "game on" stamps and recolored them, lightened the photos and cropped them with MDS and then I'm done. Ta da! Can scrapbooking get any easier than that? And now I'll send them away for printing so that all of the colors will be exactly SU!, though I could just get them printed at Kinkos or Costco. I think I'll try a calendar next. :-) Yes, MDS also has calendar options.
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station. I'll try to stop showing off my boys, though I haven't posted a page of my oldest son recently. I'll try to hold off on that one for awhile.
Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio ... Easy to Journal

I was in the mood to post a scrapbook page today and what better subject than one of my boys. With My Digital Studio and the designer pages it's a quick click and drag with the photos, mat the photos with a SU! color, choose a background paper, add some journaling and stamps and you're done! I love being able to add those special touches like the arrows and labels. Do you want to try it? Let me know and I'll get together with you. You can play with My Digital Studio before you decide to buy or not.
Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!
Blessings,
Julie

Happy Birthday Baby

I had some serious fun experimenting with this card. First of all, I didn't have those really cool swishes from the Extreme Elements stamp set. I used My Digital Studio to print them in Pacific Point on my Whisper White cardstock with a gray shadow behind them. Now, to dress them up a little.

How about the Party Hearty cupcake with a darker blue on the frosting? Sure, that works. Oh, we need to pop that a little, right? So, let's dab on some really cool Frost White Shimmer Paint from the Holiday Mini Catalog.




Well, what are we going to do with the greeting? I know! Let's use Teeny Tiny Wishes and the Word Window Punch. What??? That's not done yet? Ok, we'll pop out a couple of sizes of ovals and use the cool shimmer paint on the smaller oval. Now, a little bit of Itty Bitty Backgrounds and we're done! Oh, don't forget to put a bit of shimmer paint on the edges of the lighter blue (Ballet) cardstock. Ok, now we're done. This should be ok for a 13 yr old boy.

:-D

Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio

Hostesses can order MDS for $40 this month if their workshop has $400+ in sales. There's still time to take advantage of this great offer!
If you'd like a demonstration of this great software, contact me by clicking on that email button on the upper right corner. I'll gladly show you what many possibilities there.

Blessings,
Julie

MDS Pre-designed Cards

Isn't this a fun card? It's a pre-designed card on My Digital Studio. The only things that I added were the bow and the polka dots on the chocolate chip cardstock. That's IT! And did you know that it's really easy to use the pre-designed cards to make your own? Check this out...




Isn't it cute? I just love those little kitties. I changed the message and added some stamps for the background and focal point, added a little shadowing and I'm done! :-D
Thanks for visiting the Stamping Station. Hope to see you again soon!

Blessings,
Julie

Another My Digital Studio (MDS) Possibility

Hey! So, what do you think of this? Put in a photo and size it for the background, change the opacity, add another photo, some words and one stamp...I'm done! Maybe 10 minutes? And I have a custom background of the fun cake that we made. So, what do you think? Are you curious about what YOU could do with MDS? Email me or call and we can talk. I'll give you all the info that I have.
Oh, and don't forget that it's a new week and we have new deals for the week. Click on the button in the right column to see what the special is for this week.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

Kids at the Beach

My friend Erika and I took all of our kids +1 extra camping. This was a couple of years ago, but I've never gotten around to scrapping it. How exciting to finally have them put together. What a wonderful memory! My Digital Studio software from Stampin' Up! made it very easy to complete this page. It might have taken 10 minutes, after figuring out how to embellish. Did you notice the cute little ladybugs crawling around on the page?

Hostesses during the months of October and November have the chance to buy this at half price. Contact me for more information.

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station!

Blessings,
Julie

My New Daughter Digitalized

Here's my new daughter Sophia. She's a student from Korea who is living with us. I FINALLY HAVE A GIRL IN THE HOUSE! :-D We have a hard time getting pictures of her face because she's very quick to put her hands up. She says that she practiced that in Korea, so that is why she's so quick. LOL!

Once again, My Digital Studio made this a quick and personalized page. Sophia chose the Rich Razzleberry color and the flower pattern. (Did you know that you can change the colors of the DSP on MDS?) I used brads for the centers of the flowers. Oh, and notice that perfect bow? Well, let's just say that I didn't spend any time making that look perfect, te he he! So, here you go...another page with MDS.

So, what are you waiting for? You mean you haven't ordered yours yet? Quick! Click on that shopping button on the right...you're sure to be pleased with this purchase!

Thanks for stopping by the Stamping Station.

Blessings,
Julie

My Digital Studio Blog Carnival

Welcome to the first Blog Carnival of Stampin Addicts, where you will be able to see many wonderful ideas for My Digital Studio projects. My Digital Studio (MDS) is Stampin' Up!'s new digital scrapbooking software. Not only can you make scrapbooks of various sizes with it, you can also make calendars and greeting cards. Add to that, the pleasure of working with Stampin' Up!'s colors, stamp images and accessories and you have one fabulous product. Yes, it's definitely worth the investment!












Don't you just love that Bermuda Bay color with my Mexico pictures? These pictures have been sitting on my computer, waiting for me to print them and then scrap them. Well...no more! I will now be able to pump out my scrapbook pages and print them through Stampin' Up! Check that one off of my list!



Here is a card made for my Mom & Dad's anniversary this month. I designed it on MDS, printed on photo paper, then accessorized and mounted it on cardstock.


Here's a scrapbook that I made of last year's Christmas celebration. I used a pre-designed layout and whipped this out in 4 hrs, including adding a lot of elements that the pages didn't originally have. I love the idea of being able to link music up to viewing the scrapbook. This is my kind of scrapping! This movie was made with the MDS software...how cool is that?! There are many options for sharing your projects.

Are you starting to see how MDS could enhance your crafting life? You can shop for MDS via the button on the right. Just click on the Holiday Mini Catalog. If you don't have your own Stampin' Up! demo, please feel free to select me as your demo.

So...on to the next blogs in the carnival. I'll leave the links here so that you can view them through November 1st. All of the blogs in the carnival will also have a sidebar button for you to easily find their MDS Carnival post.

DMDezigns/Dawnmarie: My Digital Studio - The Birdseye Overview
HowManyCats?!/Comeka: Digitize Your Sketch Library with MDS
Yapha: Turning Templates into Treasures
Willysgirl/Sarah: MDS Xmas and Extras
Hollylogic/Holly: MDS as a Design Tool (or How Not to Slice Up All Your Brushed Gold)
Lyssa: Playing with Stamps You Don't Own
Lilysinkpad/Sara: Simply Scrappin' Kits Go Digi
JulieA/Julie: Wanna Little Music with Your Slideshow?
lovetostampandscrap/Cheryl: Creating a Calendar to Beat All Calendars
Melina Stamps!/Melina: Man-Scrapping with MDS
BroncoMom/Joyce: Build Your Own DSP
Britiney: Clever Album Covers - A Piece of (Cup)Cake
S1itcher46/Kim: Hybridizing and Cataloging Collections
Kelli: Side-by-Side Test: Is it Actual or Is It MDS?
Scrapbookmama/Ellie: Keeping the Spotlight on Your (Adorable!) Subjects

Happy Hopping to you!

Blessings,
Julie

Blog Carnival Coming Soon!

During the past few weeks, I've been showing you some fun projects that I've made with my new My Digital Studio software. Starting this weekend, you'll be able to view projects that some of my demo friends from stampinaddicts.com have created on our blog carnival. Yahoo! I'll have a link on the sidebar, so that you'll be able to find the carnival easily during the next month. Saturday is the kick off...it's sure to be amazing and fun! Please join us there!

My Digital Studio will be available for purchase tomorrow, October first. You can order it through your demo, or emailing me, or ordering online. This is a great way to use those photos that are just sitting on your computer. (Yes, I'm lookin' at you! :-D I know about those photos that have never been printed.)

So, please come join us on this fun adventure of crafting digitally!

Blessings,
Julie

p.s. Q. what do you say to a tent with a split personality?

A. you're two tents

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!