Happy Friday!!!

I'm shocked that I have a page to share with you today! I've been beyond busy since we got back from the trip — Stamp Shoppe is open this weekend and my house needed some MAJOR TLC — I've been cleaning for days! But I got a chance to sit down and play for a little bit. I'm not ready to dig into "THE" trip album (lots of photo organizing to do still!) but thought I'd still play around with a page for today's challenge — who knows what I'll do with it, maybe frame it : )

Today's challenge was a sketch challenge!

Now head on over and see what the other girls came up with for the sketch!

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!

Happy Friday!!!

It's MDS Blog Hop day, and today's challenge was "Mom"! This layout is VERY unoriginal… it came from the Sunset Serenade Designer Kit! I'm getting so far behind on my scrapbooking and just want my 2009 album DONE…. so am starting to use a lot of templates to save time and help me knock of the book.

That's one of the beauties of MDS…. you CAN design from scratch, but you don't have to!

Landon's Birthday is on Sunday and I've been hard at work creating a Mickey Birthday Party with My Digital Studio! So check back soon for more MDS projects with that

Now, check out the other Mother's Day Projects!

Happy Friday!!!

Today's Blog Hop Challenge was a Color Combo Challenge! We were to use: Night of Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Basic Grey and Whisper White.

I have to admit…. I struggled with this one! I LOVED the colors together, but with a family of mostly boys, my girly colored photos are few and far between. Then I found these pictures and was so thankful my niece had worn bright pink at Christmas…! It worked perfect! I had always loved the Melon Mambo in the "FROSTY DAY II" Digital Paper — so was happy to be able to put it to use.

Here's what I came up with!

Check out what the other girls have come up with!

Well, since my last blog post where I was "coming down with something"….. I've gotten pneumonia and have been down and OUT. I'm on the upswing, except still can't do much but lay on the couch. It's royally obnoxious and I'm going stir crazy…. with the exception of catching up on some Scrapbooking in MDS!

Here is one of the spreads I've done in my couch potato state. I had a lot of fun with this one… it uses a lot of elements from one of the new downloads – "Epic Overlays".

Enjoy! There's more coming soon : )

And don't forget — it's the FINAL DAYS OF SALE-A-BRATION!!!!! Just 3 days left to get your FREE gifts for every $50 you spend. Head on over to my online store and order off your wish list and select your freebies while you still can! All Online Orders eligible for Aly's Online Ordering Rewards on top of Sale-A-Bration benefits!

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!!!!!

Happy Friday, Ladies!!!!

Today's challenge was a sketch challenge…. it's Thursday night as I'm writing this and I just got a chance to look at the sketch, and it worked out perfectly with some photos that I just took!

My little guy had his first soccer practice just 2 days ago, and it was quite a "moment" for me…. seeing him with all the other kids, kicking the ball around and listening to his coach made me realize that he just isn't a baby anymore. I guess I KNEW that…. but…. this confirmed it in a big way, and it was hard for me to not cry through the whole practice!

I'm going to have SO much fun watching these little guys play…. Landon isn't quite 3 yet (his birthday is April 22nd) — so this is definitley a "beginners" class! It's hysterical watching them run around…

So on to the page….! Here's what I came up with:

To make the really big over sized arrow, I used the pennant punch and made it long and thin, and then added an arrow punch to the bottom of it.

This was a really fun layout! Thanks, Heather, for picking it!!!

Check out what the other girls have come up with: