Buttons Busting

Baby girl (also known as "kiddo who lives at home" will graduate from high school tonight.  And let me BUST MY BUTTONS with pride telling you that her class rank is 11 out of a class of 760.  If you need me to calculate that for you, she is in the top 2% of her class.

I hope you are impressed because we are so so proud.  Smart smart smart (and cute and sweet) just like her big sis.  That is also smart like her mama and cute like her daddy  (neither of us are very sweet)

I told her she was EXTRA special graduating 11th in 2011.   And I'll be beaming from the 4th row as she walks that stage.

Way to go kiddo!!!!!

but did you have to grow up so fast?

Wanna see something new?

No, not from the new SU catalog (available to everyone July 1)  - I'm too tight to expedite...

This is a new download for MDS called Hello Baby - and it has a pennant punch which makes pennants and  easy turned down corners too.

and there is PINK in the kit too

you have to order the kit to get the MDS pennant punch right now - I'm betting it will be available separately at a later date - but that is just my guess.

Heritage Page - in Pink?

Bella Rose paper is a BRAND NEW download (of retired designer series paper) for MDS and I thought it would work with heritage photos  - then, based on that paper, I decided to use one of the photo effect tools and tinted the focal photo pink.  I think I like it!

This would be my father-in-law's aunt.  Isn't she gorgeous?

SEW crazy

I really wasn't going to bore you with my digital scrappin' for awhile, but I'm so excited about the Simple Stitching download - I just have to show you some layouts - the first one is not the newest stitch download - the second 2 photos are.

sketch from Alesha Walls

Next, my idea (yes, it does happen)

Third, the  5.26 Sketchy Thursday Sketch

You might notice these are OLD photos - pre-digital days - I love MDS so much, I am scanning in my photos from DECADES AGO so I 'll have more to digi-scrap.  (yes, I realize that is pathetic) 

Spring Break for Adults

Look at the first small photo on the first page - yes, there was a lady using a walker with a grass skirt...

Honest, I did pull out punches

Honest, I pulled out punches today - didn't finish anything but I have 2 "in work"

Then I left that mess on my desk and hopped on the laptop and made this:

which makes the mess on my desk look pristine!

Color My World - Digitally!

Welcome to the first VC Rocks blog hop of the 2011 Season - Color My World!

If you were not "hopping" and just popped in to see me, why not follow along the hop trail and see what great things my fellow VC Rockers prepared? 

Home base is HERE. 

To go backward click HERE.

To go forward click HERE. 

To see how to watercolor in My Design Studio (MDS) scroll down.

WHAT?

Watercolor Digitally?

You betcha!

I about panicked when I found out our blog hop theme was "Color My World" since coloring is not my strong suit - but then, I remembered what I learned from Leah Fedynak on mydigitalstudio.net

This technique involves NO water. I'm going to show you how to color simple things like the center of the flower from Sweet Details (digi download) in a soft watercolor style.

First, I created the basic layout using Framed With Love, a photo replicated 3 times but cropped each time so it looks like I cut it apart, and a daisy from Sweet Details.

so it would look like THIS:

Then I added an oval (see the gray blob in the middle of the screen below?)

Then in the design center (right side) I added a drop shadow  - increasing the opacity to 100% and the blur to "full" - and I changed the color of the shadow from black to Rose Red (see photo below)

This next part is gonna seem a little weird but hang with me. 

While you have your oval selected, in your Design Center click on "paper fill" and fill the oval with ANY paper (I used a black stripe) - see it in the middle of the photo below?

Now click (or double click?)  on the 'paper filled oval' and you will get a screen where you can pull the paper down OFF the oval - see photo below:

So now, you have a blurry edge Rose Red oval in the center of your page. 

I'm betting you know what happens next....

I moved the oval over the flower center and rotated it slightly to match.

You can see that I zoomed in so I could place it correctly.

Zoom is at the bottom of your Design Center.

You may (or may not) want to adjust opacity to get the look you want .

It took many photos for me to teach you - but in reality it just takes SECONDS to do this.  If there is a punch you can use (or stretch and distort) to fill the area of a stamp you'd like to color, you can color it faster than you can walk to the sink and fill an aqua painter with water.  And with this method you can change your mind and switch colors as many times as you'd like without wasting supplies!

Want to know another cool MDS color trick?

You are not limited to SU colors

What if I wanted my background to be Rose Red?

When I did that - the center of my flower doesn't look the way I want.

But I still want ROSE RED as my flower center. 

Stomp foot decisively!

(Stomping will not help)

But, I have a solution.

Click on your oval and click drop shadow again - and click to change the color

Instead of picking one of the SU colors shown so nicely in little boxes -  click on the tab above the colors that says HSB

Then you can move your cursor to pick up a lighter or darker color - slightly off from Rose Red.

Below, you can see where I chose a lighter shade for the Daisy Center.

This HSB color choosing is also how you can have tone on tone stamping.

There is no Versamark in MDS.

You can also "color match" in MDS - there is a little dropper where you can exactly match another color in your photo or project but I'm not getting into that today.

I hope you learned a trick or two about MDS

Have fun with digital coloring!

One more time: 

VC Rocks Blog Hop Home is HERE

To go backward to Maddebug Designs, click HERE

To move on to see what Kelly Mayou, The Weekend Stamper, has for you, click HERE

VC Rocks has all kinds of classes, swaps, challenges and fun.  We are accepting new members this month ONLY.  I learn so much from the Rockers.  Come give us a try (if you can stand our chit chat!)  Read the side bar on the Blog Hop Home page and you'll learn a little more about VC Rocks!

A or B?

Blogger has had a bad case of ummm, "hiccups" this week.  Things disappearing.  No access.  Access. Things still gone. 

Maybe posts will still show back up!?!?!

Maybe it was my post that broke the system... those shoes I scrapped were sooooooo ugly - blogger couldn't handle it.

I hope all is running perfectly soon, so you can have a perfectly great time of the VC Rocks Blog Hop - Tomorrow and Sunday.

For tonight I'm going to show you two versions of the same page, cause I just can't decide which one I like best - which one should I have printed?  (while the printing is being offered at such great prices!

A? 

or B?

Shoes of my nightmares

Oh yes, there are lot prettier things to scrapbook - but these nasty shoes (the stuff of my nightmares) are family lore - the story needed to be recorded. 

As your children (or grandchildren) grow - don't just take pictures of the pretty things - document some reality.  Someday when I'm feeling really strong I'll scrap the photos I took of my girls rooms during their early teen years - HORROR movie material!

Quite a Pair

My daddy and my baby girl - before she "became" a red head and before he got so bad with Parkinson's.

Stampin' Up! is running a DEAL on printing your digital pages - I just got a huge stack back and the family was IMPRESSED with the quality of the product.  (it goes without saying that they were impressed with my work - hee hee)

Up to the Minute

This is what you call "current events"
Photos from Friday night and Sunday.
GO MAVS

I bet I took 15 photos of the scoreboard - thinking I'd get a shot of our biggest lead of the night - and it just kept getting better!  Sorry LA fans - you have the memories of ALL those championships to comfort you.  We are still hunting for our first.  And it feels great with each step closer.

Another layout sketch from Alesha Walls - following a sketch makes scrapping so easy - find a great sketch and give it a try!

Christmas in May

This is an idea you can use in traditional as well as digital scrapping.  If you have a page with LOTS of photos (this is a sketch from Alesha Walls again) - make a matching page and put your journaling for each photo in the corresponding spot.  This way you have the "purty" page and also you have all the info you want to share.  Like THIS:
Purty page...

Journaling page...

and more and more...

More Chicago pages... 

If I haven't convinced you to play with MDS YET - let me remind you that stuff doesn't retire in MDS.  ALL your old favorite SU colors are still there, along with Designer Series Papers (some new and some retired, but still loved) - now I'll never run out!

May is National Scrapbook Month - if you don't want to digi scrap, I hope you can still get a layout idea or two from all the pages I'm sharing. 

If you do want to digi scrap, this month SU is having all kinds of specials - printing deals and download bundles - you need to go to the SU website and check it out.

More Chicago (More MDS)

I LOVE these 2 layouts
Sketches again were from Alesha Walls

First one, I love because the title is PERFECT for the filmstrip.  And I love my little makeshift sunshine.  The circle on the sun is from a MDS download called Sweet Details. AND I love the font I found to use.  It is called Smitten Kitten - from a free font site.  Want it?  Google it!

Second one, I love because the older buildings and the black and white color scheme makes me think of the Gangster Days of Chicago.  (Like I am so gangsta)

It is an addiction...

Seriously, I can't stop...
These are all from my 50th birthday trip to Chicago (um, no that was not this year)
Sketches were all from Alesha Walls - she shares them on mydigitalstudio.net
More tomorrow... sorry punch fans

Digi Punch Art

Well, it is punch art - that is a small step back to normalcy...

To make his hat I took the largest arrow punch (not retired in MDS) and stretched it sideways.  Ha, can't do that with paper punches can I?  Added the arm stamp from All in the Family as the tassel.  Too Easy!

Don't know why I can't get punching - I think the Inspiration Fairy may be on a long vacation...

I keep on scrapping in MDS

I could show you TONS of pages but I think you'd be bored.

But here is one more

I saved this at a "lower" quality jpeg and the background paper looks weird - it is really a grid design.  This sketch was from Alesha Walls.  She is issuing a sketch every day this month - I'm going to attempt them all.  We will see what I do that is worth sharing with you.

OLD 4th of July

Back from my awesome scrapping weekend - I did 28 layouts (all I took) then switched over and did 10 MDS layouts.  But I've decided to show you 2 layouts with older photos - pre-digital camera days...

You weren't expecting these colors for the 4th of July, were you?  I went with the dress not the theme.  These are from 1990 - old photos but they look good with a fresh layout.  Check out that middle photo - all that hair is ME.  And the little girl with glasses is my oldest - "she who needs a REAL job and had a great interview last week"  - keep your fingers crossed.

Here is a layout a bit more traditional for this holiday- some of my favorite photos of  "kiddo still at home for a little while longer"

If you have kids or grand kids - remember to take photos from the side and back - no, you don't see their perfect little faces - but some of my favorites are these shots, you might find that works well for you too.

Happy Scrappin'

Last MDS (for awhile)

Last MDS share for awhile. 

(Sketch from a Heather Summers Layout)

I've got to do some other REAL LIFE things.

Like pack for a scrapbook retreat.

And clean house.

And pamper my punches 'cause they are getting rather jealous of the laptop...

No "stealing" today - it's original

I didn't even look at a sketch.

All my ideas.

Woo Hoo

Yeah ME!

I kept on adding stuff - I couldn't stop...

I have had more things on and off this page...

(Easy to do in MDS - hard to unstamp real paper)

Which one do you like

Buttons or No Buttons?

I stole this idea too...

I stole another idea.  This time from digital scrapper Cindy Cort. I have to call it stealing not borrowing 'cause I'm not giving her idea back - I'm keeping it.  In fact, I'm keeping it AND sharing it with all of you.  I haven't even finished all these layouts but I wanted to get this great idea out to you.

With the previous stolen idea, I was cramming 36 photos on the page

Now it looks like a cut 1 photo into 64 squares. All it took was adding a "square punch" - zip zip making it into a long thin rectangle (a line) and replicating it a few times.  With MDS you can get things spaced evenly with a click click of your mouse.  I'm telling you gals - this is easy stuff!

By removing the photo and saving the lines I quickly made this

I haven't completed this layout - I'm thinking the title should be "wish this was me"....

and if your grid lines cross at "bad" point or you want to "feature" part of your photo - just move them off a bit like this...

OR

add more than one photo under your grid of lines (I changed the color of my lines too)

I think my "heavy" photo should go at the bottom and the light houses on top.  In MDS I can go back and change that in a few seconds to see if I like it better.  If you own this program you REALLY need to start playing with it.  There are some great videos and some great samples being shown at mydigitalstudio.net

Happy Chocolate Ears day to all of you!

I have to get back to finishing these pages...