Happy Friday!!!

I've been in over my head tying up every loose end possible as we get ready to leave for Stampin' Up!'s DISNEY WORLD Incentive Trip!!!! And before I was tying up loose ends, I was beyond busy getting ready for Landon's Mickey Birthday Party.

So, I didn't have a spare second to get to the fabulous sketch challenge today. But I don't want to leave you hanging, so here are a couple of pictures from Landon's Mickey Party that were all done in MDS!

Cupcake Toppers:

Water Bottle Wrappers:

M&M Toppers:

There's a LOT more, but there's just a little preview! I'm actually going to be Guest Blogging the Party on the Stampin' Up! My Digital Studio site in a couple weeks!

And here are the Mouseketeers:

Now for me to go finish tying up all of the loose work ends so I can start packing up for a week of enchantment! We're so excited!

Check out the other girls posts today!

Here's what they looked like on my screen — this was mostly text, but the stars were all a stamp brush image. The banner on the top was the same one that I had created out of punches for the invitation:

Then to make the tasting flights, I made labels in My Digital Studio and put them on clear cups:

To get them spaced right, I made a circle punch 1 3/8" in diameter and put the text and shamrock stamp brush image in the circle punch — I left the circle punch there as I created a sheet of them, then went through and deleted them so that they didn't print. I was then able to print the sheet off on a full sticker sheet and punch out all of the labels with the 1 3/8" circle punch. Here's what the sheet looked like before punching them all out:

The ensemble:

Here's my hubby enjoying his beer flight:

And the beers tasted : ) — Saranac's Irish Red Ale was the winner!

First off, I have to brag about my family a little bit and share some of our photos from the weekend. Here is my hubby, brother and dad at the parade:

And my little leprechaun:

We had fun : ) — Now for the projects! So when we got back from the parade I did a Pot 'O Gold Scavenger Hunt for the kids. I made up all of the clues in My Digital Studio and hid them in various places:

Here's what one of them looked like on my screen when I was creating — the rainbow was made with the ROUND TAB PUNCH, believe it or not! It has the best arch to it. I stacked one on top of the other to create the rainbow, and then ended with a white punch to cover the last color. The grass is also a punch that comes with Everyday Designer Cards (the one with the cute little clotheslines):

One of the things in their pots was gold candy, and I made a little tag for it in My Digital Studio and strung it on with some Garden Green 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon:

The ensemble:

Here are the happy boys at the end of the Scavenger Hunt, when they found their pots hidden in the shed!

Next I'll share all of the MDS work for the Beer Tasting : )

Enjoy!

Top 'o the mornin' to ye laddies!

I'm so excited about today's MDS Blog Hop, because the theme was "Think GREEN!" and I've been in high gear getting ready for St. Patrick's Day! Now, I can't honestly say we've done much to celebrate this holiday in the past…. but Landon decided it was his favorite holiday and his excitement has gotten me into it!

I have a TON of projects to share…. and won't even be able to get them all into this post…. I still need the day to finish getting ready for Saturday Morning, and as I finish things I will post MORE project ideas! But I still have a bunch now : )

Let's start off with the invitation! Landon decided that he was going to have a party with his cousins – so I made up the invitations in MDS. Here's what they looked like "raw":

I printed them off on Whisper White Cardstock, and then for the actual invite, I mounted it to Pumpkin Pie Cardstock and added a string of ribbon:

The banner on the invitation I actually made from scratch! I used lots of punches… I will have to put up a tutorial on how to make it later : ).

NEXT!

Let the decorating begin!!! Here is a look at where the decorating is at so far (more to do, but mainly all food related!)

I made the banner in MDS — you wouldn't BELIEVE how EASY it is to whip up banners….. all you need is the "Hello, Baby!" Digital Kit!! The entire kit is imported with punches, so all you have to do is change up the designer paper and text! For this banner, I used a lot of the Designer Paper in the "Convention 2011 Digital Kit" because the greens in it matched most what I wanted to use (they used Convention exclusive greens!) then I used the Color Picker function to save those colors as my "favorites" so I could use them everywhere else. Here are some close up shots of the banner.

I printed it on Whisper White Cardstock, cut it out, and covered it with "Gold Glow Smooch Spritz" and then added an assortment of buttons and ribbons.

The other decoration I did in MDS was the Subway Art framed piece. Here's a close up:

This Subway Art piece is one of the ones included in the "Year of Subway Art" kit — CLICK HERE for more details.

I also made one of the ornaments on the tree that's pictured — CLICK HERE for more information on that (it wasn't made in MDS).

Then the last project I can share with you right now (more to come, I promise!) is actually a kids project! Since this particular party is mostly about entertaining the kids (though beer will still be enjoyed by the adults : ) ) I wanted to make something up for them! So, I made a worksheet in MDS – I used a stamp brush image for the "Luck 'o the Irish" sentiment and created the pot with punches (Word Window and Oval Punches). This worksheet got printed off on Whisper White Cardstock — then the kids can go through and add a tissue paper rainbow and gold!

I made all of the gold pieces with self adhesive gold foam and ran it through the Big Shot with the Circle Die:

Here's what the finished project looks like when they have it all assembled:

And….. here's your St. Patrick's Day Gift and Freebie!!!! The printable for you to save and print off for your kiddos : )

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Kids Project Printable!

Here's a thumbnail of what it looks like:

I hope you enjoyed these projects – and be sure to check back later for more (Kids Scavenger Hunt Cards, Candy Labels, Beer Tasting Ensemble and MORE all done in MDS!)

For now, be sure to check out the rest of the blog hop as we're going GREEN!!!!!

What is Subway Art? It's font/text frameable pieces. You pick a theme or holiday, and create art out of the words that describe that holiday!

For this particular project, I made 1 insert for each month of the year, as well as a Birthday insert — there are a total of 13 inserts. I printed them through Stampin' Up!'s professional printer for the best possible quality, and they are now all ready to go! All  I have to do at the start of the month is open up the back of the frame and plop in the insert for that month.

I love these inserts SO MUCH that I have decided to sell the complete set of 13 to all of you! That means the hours and hours of designing is DONE for you. AND — they will come printed and ready to go! All you have to do is change your frame each month.

Here's a look:

Here's a complete listing of all of the inserts that you will receive:

• New Years
• Valentines
• St. Patrick's Day
• Easter
• Mother
• Father
• Americana
• Summer
• Learning
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas
• Birthday

A couple were kept pretty generic so they could be used multiple times — for example, "Americana" can be used for Memorial Day, Fourth of July or any time. "Learning" was meant to represent back to school, but uses general words for anyone – even if you don't have kids.

The frame is NOT included — you can pick your own frame to fit your style! The inserts are all 8 1/2" x 11" — you can put them in an 8 1/2" x 11" frame. Or, the inserts have been formatted with a wide enough border that you can trim them down to put into a 8" x 10" frame — a very standard and easy to find size.

Here's a close up of my August/Summer insert in the frame I selected — this frame is an 8" x 10" frame:

You have TWO options for printing:

• Standard – these pages are glossy and slightly lighter than Stampin' Up! Whisper White Card Stock. Cost: $25.35 ($1.95 per insert)
• Heavy - these pages offer durable paper with a matte finish. Pages are slightly heavier than Stampin' Up! Card Stock.  Cost: $32.50 ($2.50 per insert)

The inserts shown here are printed on Heavy paper — the quality of the printing will not be different, it is just the paper preference. With the heavy weight, you don't have to worry about the paper getting wrinkled when stored during the time they are not in the frame.

Use the link below to order your Subway Art today! Please allow approx. 3 weeks to receive your order (it takes approx. 2 weeks for me to get them back from the professional printer, and I will order them in batches, then need to re-ship to you).

All inserts are wrapped and shipped with care — they are sandwiched between chipboard pieces and shrink wrapped to avoid both bending and water damage.

Subway Art Inserts

Standard Paper $25.35 USD Heavy Paper $32.50 USD

I bought this tree at Pier One around Halloween time, with the idea that I would make ornaments for it every holiday….

Ummm….. yeah. It sat naked through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years… until finally I decided if I waited to be able to make enough ornaments to fill it for a holiday, it would NEVER happen. So for Valentine's Day, I bought ornaments with the intention to make a couple, and slowly phase out the bought ones and have all handmade ones….. 

Yeah…. didn't make even 1 for Valentine's Day…

Took them down and was ready for Saint Patty's day…. took a trip out to the store to buy some and told myself I would make AT LEAST ONE before March 17th…

And…..

I DID!!!!! I MADE ONE!!!!!!!!! It's funny how much joy we can find in simple things sometimes : ) So here is my one handmade St. Patty's Day Ornament:

I'm tickled with how it came out! The background is Watercolor Paper die cut with the Two Tags Die and watercolored with Garden Green Reinker and an Aqua Painter.

Once it was dry, I spritzed it with Gold Smooch Spritz.

The next layer is a 2 1/2" Circle of First Edition DSP, trimmed with Gold Smooch Accent.

Then came the shamrock — I punched out 3 hearts in Pear Pizzazz Textured Cardstock and shaded them with Garden Green Reinker and an Aqua Painter, trimmed with Gold Smooch Accent.

Then it was tying lots of ribbon and thread and adding some buttons, vintage trinkets and brads! Voila!

Here's a close up:

And believe it or not, I have even MORE St. Patty's Day ideas to share with you over the next couple of days! How about THAT!?

There are TWO to choose from!!

First, there's the Stamp-A-Stack — available as a Full and Express Version, as well as "On the Go!" if you can't attend in person (CLICK HERE for "On the Go!" Details)! Here are the featured cards for this month — there are THREE sentiment options for the "celebrate" card and for the Heart card, you'll also have the option of a flower image and "you make me smile" sentiment:

For complete details, CLICK HERE!

The other class option is going to be SO FUN and filled with techniques! "So Many Smooches" will help you gear up for Valentine's Day and learn all sorts of ways to use Smooch Spritz. Here's a look at this class!

For complete details, CLICK HERE!

I hope to see YOU at Creative Tuesday on January 31st, but don't forget to register by the end of the day on Monday January 23rd!!