321 Stamp: Launching Creativity

Digital Scrapbooking Day means free downloads!

What's better than free??!! If you own Stampin' Up's great digital crafting software, My Digital Studio, then the free downloads work with that -- but there are also versions that work in other programs so this is for everyone. And if you're thinking of getting MDS -- then be sure to download these freebies and you can install them in your program later!

Click here to visit the great My Digital Studio website where you'll be able to download the free items.

And here is a photo from Stampin' Up co-founder Shelli Gardner's blog so you can see a few of the downloads in action.

You can click here to read Shelli's post on this great offer.

New My Digital Studio Hostess Offering

There is a great new hostess benefit option from Stampin' Up through December 31 -- a CD for My Digital Studio that is loaded with great Christmas Designs and projects. Here is a list of all you get.

This kit includes:

• 10 Designer Series Paper patterns
•  4 new punches exclusive to this ensemble
• 36 piece stamp brush set
•  a variety of embellishments
• 2 greeting card templates
•  1 postcard template
• templates for tags, labels, boxes, and a banner

And here is a video that shows many of the projects.

 

The CD is just $16 in "hostess dollars" in the United States -- and a minimum hostess workshop of $150 earns you $25 in hostess dollars so you can get this CD and more.

Host a workshop by December 31 and choose this great new digital crafting CD.

Why I LOVE My Digital Studio!

For the second year, our Christmas gift to my husband's side of the family has been a calendar made using Stampin' Up's fabulous My Digital Studio program that features fun images of everyone in the family -- plus customized calendar pages with our own family birthdays, anniversaries and special days to celebrate. The first image in this post is the cover -- we have a fun tradition started by Bill's dad of taking a "say what?" photo. I think it started when he'd catch people while they were getting ready for the real pose. Such a fun tradition to continue as a way to honor the memory of grandad.

Here's December -- just a variation of an 11 by 8.5 inch designer template that's built into My Digital Studio. And notice how I could add text to the built in Dec. page grid with our dates! Very easy to do by just adding a little text box.

The calendar's been such a hit. The first year they were surprised, but now they know it's coming so I'm training them to shoot and send me great photos for the 2012 calendar! If you have not tried My Digital Studio, you need to. There's even a digital content CD included in the current Sale-a-bration catalog that features the digital version of every item in the SAB booklet. It's one of the free choices when you spend $50. So buy the My Digital Studio software now (which already includes 2,000 digital design items) -- and you can get the SAB digital add-on CD free. And you will not believe the downloads that are unveiled each week.

Here's one more calendar page I love (especially since my cute son who stuck those plastic eggs on his hair is now a big teenager!) -- and to learn more about My Digitial Studio on the great MDS site, just click here. There are lots of videos and project tips that teach you how to use the software to its full potential.

A belated Merry Christmas

Wow -- I've been a blog stranger I know but December can be like that -- so busy. Plus throw in a nasty cold mid month and time gets away from you. I hope your Christmas was wonderful. We left the warm weather of Florida behind for a nice visit with Bill's family in Tennessee so we could visit with grandma (who's 95 and still plays a mean game of Scrabble in the house where she lives all by herself -- amazing!) -- plus there was a new baby cousin to meet.

Check out what greeted us on Christmas morning -- yes, snow -- which is actually pretty rare in Tennessee. Houston and Riley got to go sledding -- big fun for two Floridians.

And this was the year that I had to go all digital for the Christmas card using Stampin' Up's great My Digital Studio software -- love how easy it is. Our summer vacation was a trip to Chicago and a step out into the sky box on the Sears Tower (I know it has a different name now but it will always be Sears to me). So of course that photo had to be our card -- and anyone who knows how much heights freak me out, knows that this was a big deal for me to get up the nerve for this family photo.

You can always click on any photo to view the image larger. Enjoy spending time with family this Christmas season and I hope you find some creative time just for you.

 

My Digital Studio makes custom cards fun

I'm learning to use Stampin' Up's new digital crafting solution -- My Digital Studio. It will make lots of different things -- can't wait to make a custom photo calendar!

This card above is a simple photo Christmas Card that I whipped up thanks to using a designer template that comes with the software. Easy to use -- just drag the photo into the photo box, use the easy cropping tool to place it just where you want -- you can even add a drop shadow for some dimension. (FYI: I saved this very low resolution version so it's not as sharp as the higher res version that I actually printed. Next time I'll save at a higher resolution.)

I love how you can design the inside of the card as well. I added simple text and a few images to both panels on the inside so the card has a really finished look. You can see I used the inside top panel as a place to explain the photo on the front. Can't wait to get the printed version from SU's professional printing service. The colors will then be a match for the "real" embellishments I have so I can add those to the card front if I want.