Easter Hop!

Happy Friday!!!

It's MDS Blog Hop day, and today's challenge was Easter!!! I'm still stuck on my 2009 album when Landon was born AFTER Easter, so rather than jumping ahead to another album (and risk getting side tracked on the way!) I thought I would share my Easter Subway Art displayed!

Subway Art is SO FUN to make in My Digital Studio — with all of the color selections and the ease of the software for formatting and editing, it's a breeze!

Back in this post I had talked about the year of Subway Art project, so this is one of those 13 inserts:

I've been enjoying it all bright and cheerful the last few weeks!

Now do the bunny hop on over to check out the other projects!

Think GREEN St. Patty’s Day Projects!

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!!!!!

A Year of Subway Art!!!

I'm so excited!!!! As I had shared with my Facebook Fans a couple of weeks ago, I've been working on a Subway Art project…. the final prints just came back from the printer and I'm SO EXCITED!!!! They came out so awesome, and I'm already displaying March's in our home!

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

Thanksgiving at the Schilling Home!

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I had every intention of going "all out" with decorating for Thanksgiving in Stampin' Up! Style… only time slipped away from me more and more as we got closer to the day! But I did manage to add a few Stampin' Up! touches to the holiday in our home and thought I would share them with you.

The first is our table setting – I used the Table Setting XL Die to die cut the name card tents at each of the places:

Then the next thing I did was make up these little Recipe Card Holders for my mom and sister-in-law…

ALY'S HELPFUL HINTS:

• Yes! This recipe card holder was fully constructed with Stampin' Up! Products! The base of the holder is an altered Decor Block from the Holiday Mini, the wire "post" is a Hat Pin from the Pretties Kit and the clip that holds the Recipe Card in place is a 1/2" Library Clip!
• Our Decor Blocks have a wonderfully smooth surface that makes DSP application easy – for a "weathered" look like I was going for here, burnish the DSP to the Blocks with a Sanding Block. For a sleek look (not shown here) trim the edges closely with a Hobby Blade.
• I used a girlie mini drill (he-he) with a 1/16" Drill Bit to get the Hat Pin in the block – I applied Crystal Effects around the edges to help it hold.
• The leaf was cut out with the Wood Sheets that we carry in the catalog, the Leaf Bigz Die and Big Shot Machine. The beauty of the Big Shot? It is so heavy duty you can cut through just about anything! Refer to this post for a listing of other materials the Big Shot will cut through.
• I died the leaf with Markers and an Aqua Painter.
• Pop Up Glue Dots is what held all of the clip components at the top together.
• Pair this Recipe Card Holder with the "From the Kitchen Of" stamp set for a fabulous gift presentation! This wonderful stamp set is part of the Gift Giving Guide and just one of the items that can be used towards your FREE Decor Element through January 4th!

WHAT TO ORDER:

Decor Elements Decor Blocks (116829), Autumn Meadows Designer Series Paper (116769), From the Kitchen of Stamp Set (114964), Very Vanilla Cardstock (101650), Basic Brown Classic Ink (104315), Really Rust Stampin' Write Marker (100073), Creamy Caramel Stampin' Write Marker (100078), Taken with Teal Stampin' Write Marker (100068), Earth Elements Textured Cardstock (108697), Wood Sheets Texture Cuts (116309), Clips Assortment (112580), Pretties Kit (109114), Hemp Twine (100982), 3/4" Circle Punch (107217), Sanding Blocks (103301), Crystal Effects (101055), Pop Up Glue Dots (104183), Big Shot Die Cut Machine (113439) and Leaves #2 Die (113459)

TO ORDER STAMPIN' UP! PRODUCTS ONLINE 24/7 CLICK HERE!

Don't Forget!

• To take place your Online Holiday Extravaganza Order – select products up to 50% off! Click Here for more details, Click Here to place your order! – JUST ONE DAY LEFT!!!!
  
• To register for Aly's Stamping Christmas Party – Click Here! – JUST ONE DAY LEFT!!!!
• To schedule your Complementary Christmas Card Designing Appointment – Click Here!
• To place your qualifying order for a FREE Decor Element – Click Here!
• To order your December Card Kit of the Month – Click Here!