My Digital Studio Photo Collage

I am loving My Digital Studio! I found this "love" frame in the Christmas section at Michaels and I knew it would be perfect for Valentine's Day as well as Christmas. I played around with My Digital Studio to create a 5x7 collage to add to the frame. I plan on using the template I created to change the photo every month. At the end of the year, I will mount the 5x7's on cardstock and use them to create a calendar for 2011. Maybe that way I'll actually have my calendar finished and ready to use before the end of January (yes, I'm still working on my 2010 calendar - stay tuned for that project!). Here's how to create your own collage using Stampin' UP!'s MDS.

I began by opening a blank 11x8.5 page. Select punches and choose a square punch. I made mine gray and used the ruler to resize it to approximately 7x5".

Next select photos from the design center on the right of the screen. I added a photo box, resizing it to fit along the left side of my rectangle.

Continue adding and resizing photo boxes until the entire rectangle is covered. I used four for my collage.

Click the camera icon on the left side of the screen in the resource palette. Browse until you find the folder with the photos you want to use. Then drag and drop your photos into the photo boxes leaving one open for embellishment. If you need to change the placement of your photo, double click it, or use the nudge photo and zoom in tools in the design center on the right.

Once your photos are added, click on the background paper icon in the Resource Palette. Browse to select the category that contains the paper you'd like to use. Here I used the real red polka dot in the Christmas Jingle section. Drag and drop your paper into your photo box. Before adding my paper, I added a black rectangle and stretched it along the bottom portion of my page and added a couple of stamps in white.

Embellish as desired. I selected punches again and added a whisper white heart. To create more dimension, I also selected a drop shadow from the Design Center.

The last step was to add a final stamp. To add stamps to your page, click on the stamp icon in the Resource Palette and browse until you find the stamp set that you'd like. The color can be changed by selecting choose color in the Resource Palette. You may also add stamps through the Design Center.

The final step is to save your project for professional printing. I was in a hurry, so I had my photo printed in one hour at Costco. To do this, select Share Project and click on Export to jpeg. Follow the instructions to save your image. Make sure to save a copy within your projects as well. That way you can use the same template over and over again.

My Digital Studio - Loved Page

A couple of months ago I completed my certification for My Digital Studio. There was never any doubt that I would order the program - after all, I love to spend money on new toys, but I wasn't convinced that I would enjoy digital scrapbooking at all. I had tinkered with digital photo greeting cards in the past and even have a whole folder of digital paper and embellishments that I downloaded, but it just wasn't the same as sitting down with paper and embellishments. While it still isn't the same, I think I've found a place for digital crafting in my life. I can create a page in a lot less time than it takes for me to pull out my supplies, let alone glue anything down. Plus I can bring My Digital Studio with me anywhere I can bring my laptop. This page was inspired by this months cover of Canadian Scrapbooker and was created in less than half an hour while I was at the lake over the Christmas holidays. Best of all, I had no mess to clean up!

Ginormous Flowers - Decor Elements in a Tinkerbell Room

This post has been sitting in drafts for almost a year and I started it almost a year after I first put the flowers up over the bed. Time definitely flies! I remember when I bought my Ginormous Flowers being excited, yet intimidated by them. On one hand I couldn't wait to add them to my kids' rooms, but on the other hand I couldn't find any examples online that I liked and felt like I was on my own with them. I don't like things to look scattered, even when designing my scrapbook pages, so the sample on the Decor Elements brochure wasn't one I wanted to follow. In the end I decided to just go for it. After all, they're removable, right?

My youngest daughter has been in love with Tinkerbell since before she could talk. When she turned five we promised to redecorate her room in a Tinkerbell theme. We started with the bedding, but quickly realized that this limited us when choosing colors for the rest of the room - big mistake! When I saw the Ginormous Flowers Decor Elements in Stampin' UP!'s Phase II brochure, I knew that the pink in the first set and the teal and olive in the second set would match my oldest daughter's room perfectly, but it seemed a waste to order both sets just to use half from each. I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that the "leftovers" from each set would work well with the Tinkerbell theme we had started in my youngest daughter's room. I ordered both sets and used the so saffron, Old Olive, and Tempting Turquoise flowers in this bedroom.

I used most of the smaller flowers above the bed, but I saved the largest flower to create a fun backdrop for a mini bulletin board. The centre is made of a cork pad from the kitchen section at IKEA. I glued it right on top of the flower. She loves tacking up her favourite pictures and keepsakes.

Although the Ginormous Flowers package comes with only one of these large flowers, for some reason (likely mispackaging) my pack came with two. When I found out that I could keep the second flower, I knew exactly what to do with it. My daughter's bedroom has a very small angled wall at one corner. I decided to mount her clock on top of the extra flower.

A couple of years ago I made her a frame using leftover Designer Series paper for a challenge while I was on the design team at A Charming Place. As part of the challenge I was to recyle an item that would end up in the garbage. I cut a picture of Tinkerbell from some packaging to add to this wooden frame.

I dug through my scraps and found enough leftover paper to create a second frame her wall.

Finally, I had one flower leftover (and a lot of extra dots and leaves!). I did a little more recycling and cleaned the wax out of a burned out jar candle (also from IKEA). I dumped her crayon odds and ends into the jar and added the extra flower to the outside so it would look pretty sitting on top of her armoir.

Overall, I am happy with how the room came together. Even after a year, it's still a work in progress - after all, I need to find a place to use all those dots and leaves! Eventually I'll add a couple more frames and some other finishing touches, but for now she's thrilled!

Want to see some brand new Decor Elements? Check out the brand new additions to the Decor Elements line (including chalkboard elements) available for order January 5th! In addition to the new Decor Elements, Stampin' UP! has released the brand new Occasions Mini Catalogue and Sale-a-bration brochure a few days early. Customers may begin ordering from these new catalogues and earning free Sale-a-bration rewards beginning January 5th.

Mojo Monday 118 - Lovely as a Tree

We drove home from Calgary last night and I was inspired by the prairie sunset along the way. Even though we were driving east, we had a 360 degree view of the lingering sunset. It reminded me of exactly why I live here in spite of the cold! I used this week's Mojo Monday Sketch (better late than never). The itty bitty tag is from the new Tiny Tags set to be released January 5th and the snowflake charm is from A Charming Place.

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Tiny Tags
Ink: Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Regal Rose, Versamark
Accessories: Perfect Details Texturz Plate, White Gel Pen, Tiny Tag Punch, Grommet, Ribbon

On Board Trinket Tags

I have to put in a plug for the On Board Trinkets found in the clearance rack of Stampin' UP!'s online store. I bought the kit awhile ago, but as always waited until the very last minute to pull them out to create my tags for those extra special gifts. The regular price on these was $29.99 CAD and they are on sale while supplies last for $10.99 CAD. They come with 6 9x9 sheets of chipboard plus matching die cut patterned paper. These were so easy to make. I printed wallet sized photos and used my punches to cut them out, covered the chipboard with the matching die cut paper, added some ribbon and tiny tags and was done! If you look closely, you'll also notice a sneak peek at a stamp set that will be featured in the new occasions mini catalogue. The itty bitty tags, as well as the 4 you were stamped with a new set called Tiny Tags and punched out with a matching punch. I think I have a new favourite punch!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Season of Joy Card

I'm loving the Season of Joy stamp set this year! I sat down with my ink, sponges, and Season of Joy stamp set this afternoon and came up with this "one last Christmas card". Now I need to move on to the wrapping and tags!

Last Day of the 12 Days of Holiday Sale & A Special Offer from Me!

Today is the last day to take advantage of the great specials on select Big Shot dies and Decor Sheets. As my gift to you, from now until December 25th, I am offering the Big Shot machine for only $99.95 Canadian (sorry, Canadian customers only). That's below demonstrator cost! This promotion is my own special promotion and will likely not be honoured by other demonstrators. Because it is a personal promotion and not one offered by Stampin' UP!, sales tax and shipping will be calculated on the full price. Orders may be placed through me or through my store. For orders placed through my store, I will refund the $32.95 by cheque, so make sure your mailing address is complete. Order today to take advantage of the 12 Days of Holiday Sales as well.

Check out what I made with my Big Shot, Chocolate Chip Decor Sheet, and the Tulipe Die (all on sale). This is part of my Stampin' Studio. I rescued the change table and baby dresser from my own garage sale when they didn't sell right away. They're not exactly top quality, but the decor piece dresses them up a bit. I literally did this in exactly 10 minutes from start to finish.

Here's a bit more of the room. The chocolate chip Decor fits quite nicely with my Create Decor Elements piece, which was my very first purchase when Stampin' UP! released their line of Decor Elements.