Pals Paper Arts #219

Okay, so I'm procrastinating.  I'll admit it!  I should be finishing up three sets of swaps I need to have done within the next two weeks.  Instead, I'm playing along with the great color challenge over at Pals Paper Arts.  I totally love these colors and, thanks to Angie Crockett, I have a wonderful single layer card design to CASE (Copy And Share Everything).   To see her card, you can visit her Body, Mind, Spirit, and STAMPS!

For my 'clouds,' I made a template using the Cloud Punch from My Digital Studio.  I printed it out then, cut around the clouds.  Using the cloud mask, I first sponged Crushed Curry over the entire area.  Then, sponged Cajun Craze to give the varying definitions of color.  I used Always Artichoke to stamp the image and sentiment from the For All Things stamp set found on page 41 of the 2014 Holiday Catalog.

Stamp Set:  For All Things; Inks:  Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry; Card Stock:  Whisper White; Accessories & Tools:  Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Sponge Dauber

Clean and simple and full of wonderful Fall colors. You can find the Pals Paper Arts Color Challenge HERE.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

A Friend

Well, what to do?  I didn't have any of the Kiwi Kiss, a retired Stampin' Up!® color, that is part of the current ColourQ Challenge.  Problem solved by making my own Designer Paper using My Digital Studio.  I really don't utilize that program as much as I should.  I used one of the images from the Creative Elements Stamp Brush Set to add a touch of white to the solid Kiwi Kiss background.  I stamped the sentiment onto the Melon Mambo using Tempting Turquoise ink and got this really cool looking bluish color.

Stamp Sets:  Flower Shop, Petite Petals (Stampin' Up!), A Friend (Stampabilities);  Inks:  Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!); Card Stock:  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Accessories & Tools:  Pansy Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Large Pearl Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!), Pop Dots

You can find the ColourQ Challenge HERE.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Today is my oldest granddaughter's birthday.  The new stamp set, Work of Art, is one that is coming out in the new 2014-2015 Annual Catalog and it has already become of new favorite.  It also fit the occasion.  Bailey is a beautiful and vibrant work of art!  I'm so proud of her.  It is a joy getting get to know her as a young adult.

The inspiration for my card came from one I saw done by Maria Pane.  She used the new 2014-2015 In Colors that will be seen in the new catalog, too.  They are gorgeous!  For Bailey's card, I used the retiring 2013-2014 In Colors.  I'm sad to see them go as they are such pretty colors.  I wanted to use a sentiment from Delightful Dozen but I could not for the life of me find that set.  So, I fired up My Digital Studio and printed it on white card stock.  It's on the inside of the card and I forgot to take a picture of it.  I used Midnight Muse and surprisingly, it matches the front of the card perfectly.

Stamp Sets:  Work of Art, Delight Dozen (Stampin' Up!); Inks:  Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit (Stampin' Up!); Card Stock:  Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Accessories & Tools:  Stampin' Dimensionals

Originally, I had just stamped the hearts but they just didn't show up well.  So, I stamped them again on Whisper White and fussy cut them out and used Dimensionals to pop them up.  It looks so much better.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

A Simple Thank You

Today I finally have My Digital Studio, from Stampin' Up!, back on my laptop!  I am so happy!  I was just getting to know the program when my other laptop stopped working.  I had it fixed.  It ran about three weeks and poof! it was gone again.  I am so blessed to have a son who kindly gave me a sweet little laptop so now I'm back in business learning to do more digital creating.

It's just a simple thank you card.  Now I can finishing downloading all the the neat stamp brush sets, embellishments and punches and papers and the list just goes on and on!  I can now start to work on the gifts I have in mind for my grandchildren for Christmas.  The fun just never stops!

Until next time . . . happy creating!

Birthday

Having worked eight hours today with errands run before clocking in, I didn't have time, again, to work on what I wanted.  But, when in a pinch, there is nothing like My Digital Studio to make it easy to work a simple, cute design.  I didn't take the time to write down what I used but will eventually go back and do so. 

One Handsome Grandson!

Yesterday I shared a scrapbook page I made of my granddaughter.  Well, technically she's not a scrapbook page but her photos now are one.  I think it only fair that I give equal time to her brother.  Again, I took a baby photo and current school picture and made a scrapbook page using My Digital Studio.  Devin is now 12 and, being the oldest of three, quite the responsible one.

Be sure to browse through the Sale-A-Bration Last Call Blog Hop where you'll find many fantastic projects.  Just click on the tab in the menu bar at the top of the page.

It's time for me to to get back to cleaning things up for tonight.  My oldest son, Wayne, and his youngest son, Gage, are coming over for homemade pizza.  I don't get to see Gage very often so I'm plan to take a few pictures and make some new pages for my scrapbook. 

"Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' Into the future"

Part of the lyrics from the song Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band is how I feel about those precious grandchildren of mine.  They are all growing up so fast.  School pictures are a great way of watching them slip into that future.  The scrapbook page below was made using My Digital Studio.  It's my youngest granddaughter as a baby on the left and as a sweet little nine year old on the right.  She is definitely one of a kind!

You know, I think it's time she and I had an all girl weekend together.  Shopping, lunch out and crafting together.  She is quite a little artist and I know she will love some of the new things I've acquired since her last visit.  I think it's time I introduced her to some Twinkling H2O.

The First Day of Spring

I'm not a big TV watcher but on Tuesday nights a friend comes over and we watch NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles together.  Most of the time I have my nose stuck in a book or my fingers covered in ink depending on my mood for that day.  So, today I'm sharing a new banner I made using My Digital Studio.  Bright, cheerful and today is the first day of Spring!

 
I don't know about you but I am more than ready for Spring to be here.  Winter just seems to drag on too long these days.

Happy Spring everyone!

My Guys are the Best!

I have been blessed with such wonderful sons!  I have needed new tires on my car for months now but not having worked for so long, it just wasn't something that fit my budget.  My thoughtful and generous boys gifted me with new tires on Sunday.  They knew I was starting a new job Monday and knew that my tires were not safe to being driving such a distance on a regular basis.  While at my youngest son's getting the tires put on, it started to snow and soon turned into a nasty driving situation.  Once the tires were on, I headed for home, about a ten mile drive, and due to tires with tread made it home without a problem.  The old tires had no tread, no traction and I'd slip and slide all over just trying to drive a straight road.  It was not fun.  So, now I"m good to go with good tires.  Like I said my guys are the best! To pay tribute to them here is a scrapbook page I did using My Digital Studio.

Handsome, aren't they?  I sure do love them.

Sunny Day Thank You

Sunny Day is one of the templates available in My Digital Studio.  It makes it so easy to create a card or scrapbook page.  I changed up the colors for this one which is one of the new features of MDS2.  If you'd like more information about My Digital Studio, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Imagination Abounds!

The other day Aiden and I found a bag of magnetic letters in Grandma's cupboard.  His eyes lit up and he had all the fun of putting them on the front of the refrigerator.  Each day he goes in and plays with them after his nap.  His three year old imagination runs wild and I love the pictures he draws and the stories he tells.  Yesterday he came up to me and asked me to come look at his dinosaur bones.  This is what I found.

My Digital Studio makes it so easy to add another page to the scrapbook dedicated to my grandchildren.  So many memories can be shared with them through these pages.

Enjoy Every Moment with My Digital Studio

What do I do when you don't have a lot of time to craft?  I fire up My Digital Studio.  Since I've been so limited in my crafting time lately, I came up with this simple design using Lovely As a Tree.  I love trees, especially oak trees.  Hopefully, once I get all this early spring, well, late winter, cleaning done, I'll have more time to work on new projects.  For now, My Digital Studio will give me some crafting moments when I can't get my hands all inked up.

Stamp Brush Set:  Lovely As a Tree, Enjoy Every Moment; Inks:  Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple; Card Stock:  Villa Designer Series Paper, Early Espresso; Accessories & Tools:  Scallop Edge Punch, Pearl Basic Jewels

If you'd like to learn more about My Digital Studio or to download a free 30-day trail, visit my online store.

Delight

Last night I was pleasantly surprised when my number two son and his wife invited me out to dinner with them to celebrate Valentine's Day.  We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Charro.  I love their Chori-Pollo.  We had such an enjoyable time and the three kids were so well behaved.

My plan was to do some crafting and get a couple of projects completed.  Of course, that didn't happen and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now that I finally have My Digital Studio downloaded to my desktop, I made this very quick and easy card.  It expresses so well what last evening meant to me.

Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla are just three of my favorite Stampin' Up!® colors.  The stamp sets used were Extreme Elements and Define Your Life.  I also added a few Pearl Basic Jewels.

Have a Blessed Holiday!

Christmas Eve

May you have a wonderful and fun filled holiday spent with family and friends.

 

Having Too Much Fun!

Last night was my local demonstrators Christmas get together so I was out having food and fun and fellowship.  We had a gift exchange and did I ever get some great things.  I can't wait to CASE some of them.  It is a very talented group of Stampin' Up!® Demonstrators.

So, that leads me to the image I am sharing with you today.  Given time constraints I went into My Digital Studio and made this very simple page.  Iowa has been without measurable snow for 288 days and from what the meteorologist tells us, it's going to be a while before we get any this year.  As much as I'd rather not have a lot of snow, it is needed.

Throughout this next week, I'll be sharing some of the new projects I've been working on.  They will make great gifts for family and friends.

This is the Life!

Today is Aiden's third birthday.  I haven't got his card done, yet, but wanted to share this photo I took of him last week.  As I've mentioned before, I watch him during the week while Mom and Dad work.  He woke up from his nap and wanted to watch a movie but Grandma was in the middle of watching one of her own and it was a really good one.  Of course, he took exception to not getting what he wanted so I set him up in my bedroom so he could watch his.  He was one happy little man.

After I left the room, I got to thinking what a great picture that would be for his parents.  I always try to take some pictures on my cell phone and send them off to them so they can share some of Aiden's day with him.  I had the camera all set up on my phone and when I walked into the room, I just had to smile.  I told him  to stay still and smile.  This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of him.

What do you get when you combine Digital Scrapbooking Day and My Digital Studio? A week of A week of FREE downloads and 50 percent off ALL digital kits!

For more information and a list of the kits, click the image above.  If you have any questions, please contact me at marsha@coffeepotstampingcafe.com.

Christmas Gift Tag

Lately, I've been having a lot of fun making Gift Tags.  Now that Christmas is approaching, and I have a Christmas Gift Tag Class on the calendar, I've been playing around with ideas of what tags to make.  This one was made using MDS2.  It's very simple but I like the way it turned out.

Stamp Brush Set:  A Holly, Jolly Christmas; Inks:  Raspberry Ripple, Midnight Muse; Card Stock:  Christmas Jingle Designer Series Paper, Very Vanilla; Accessories & Tools:  Silver Brads colored Raspberry Ripple, Perfect Pennants Punch

I love MDS2!  And, with the Digital Scrapbooking Day approaching with free downloads and 50% off digital kits, it's going to be even more fun.  Watch for more details on Monday, October 29th!

MDS2 - How Sweet It Is!

Yes, today I took the plunge and upgraded my digital software from My Digital Studio (MDS) to MDS2.  My plan was to wait but there are some projects I want to make but couldn't use the downloads I recently purchased as they required the new version of MDS.  I'm still learning all the new features but here is what I created when playing around this morning.

I didn't write down the components I used, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to leave a comment.  I'll be happy to look them up for you.