MDS Blog Hop - What are you working on?

Hey guys - Christmas is next week! How did that that happen?! I swear there was a Nickelodeon show when I was a kid about a girl who could stop time by putting her fingers together. That's the super power I want! Because you know what I would do? Stop time and take a nap. That's right. Uninterrupted sleep. No alarms (aka kids) just sweet slumber. Ahhh. A girl can dream right? ;)

My parents are coming to spend Christmas with us this year (yay!!) and I'm still trying to make things lovely and cozy for them. So I'm working on a few printables for the finishing touches. I've loved the chalkboard look that has been floating around on Pinterest for a few years now so I'm making a few of those. I may frame some and I may mount a few others on foam core; I haven't quite decided yet.

This is the first that I made using the Watercolored Winter download:

I wanted a few more and as I was scouring through my massive list of fonts for the perfect ones, I realized that I have several amazing downloads already. Why not use what our amazing Stampin' Up artists have already designed for us?

Voila! From the O Holy Night download:

And Daily December Memories:

Quick and so much fun! So before you spend oodles of time trying to duplicate that amazing printable on Pinterest that you don't want to pay for, take a look at your downloads and see what's already there. You might find something that you don't have to tweak at all! 

Before I send you on to Cindy I just wanted to take a quick second and thank you for visiting my blog. I've been doing the MDS Blog Hop since it started 3 1/2 years ago and it's been such an amazing opportunity. But 3 1/2 years is a long time and I need a break! Life is crazy (as we all know) and I'm finding that I need some time to step back and focus on my family. 

I have loved being a part of this group and it's pushed my creative limits much farther than I ever dreamed. I'm amazed at how far I've come in the last few years! I've made lifelong friends as well - something I will always cherish. Hopefully I'll be able to still participate in projects with these amazing women in the future - I don't plan to drop off the face of the earth completely! But I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has followed us whether you've stuck with us the whole three years or just popped in every now and then to see what we're up to. Your support really does mean a lot and we love being able to share our love of digital designing with you!

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Ok... now you can head on over to Cindy's blog ;)

MDS Blog Hop - Christmas Traditions

Hello! Can you believe it's December already? Crazy how the year flies by. Today on the blog hop we're sharing our Christmas traditions with you.

Last year in our house a cute little elf named Christopher started coming by to visit and ahem...caused some mischief while he was here. When he first came the other toys weren't too thrilled to be sharing their territory. They chased him all over the house. But this was one of my favorite days - we found him playing a game with a few of the guys. Looks like he's finally fitting in.

My boys are so excited that I'm creating a book of all our Elf memories - a book for each year that he comes. "But where are we going to keep all those books?!" they asked. Well, on the shelf of course! 

I hope you're enjoying today's hop and love taking a peek at all the fun traditions our blog hop team is sharing! Cindy is up next :)

MDS - Project Life (PLxSU)

Thanks for joining us on the MDS Blog Hop today! You may have just come from Monika Davis's blog; she's our guest designer this month and we're super excited to have her! I've admired her work for a few years now so it's fun to have her post some MDS projects with us.

This week we're working on Project Life layouts - have you caught the PL bug yet?  I think the concept is fantastic and it's so cool that Becky Higgins is collaborating with Stampin' Up to create these adorable products! 

The only reason for my hesitation is that PL is just different from my usual style. Change is hard, no? But it's growing on me - especially when I know I can finish albums quickly and get caught up on my kids' scrapbooks. Simplifying can be a very good thing. For now, I'm trying to combine my style with the PL style. It's still a challenge for me but with any luck I'll find a happy medium and keep getting better with practice! 

I chose to start with some pictures from our summer vacation to Utah. In the few years that we've been gone, my parents decided that they wanted to raise chickens for the eggs and to help cut down on the bugs in the garden. With my brothers' help they built an adorable chicken coop.

I knew Andrew and Simon would be excited to see the chickens, but I didn't expect it to hold their interest for long. Boy was I wrong! The boys loved gathering the eggs, feeding the chickens and of course - chasing them around the yard. I think the chasing was Simon's favorite part. I have about a bazillion pictures of the boys and the chickens, so a PL layout is definitely the best way to scrapbook all of them. 

Cindy is up next on the hop and I can't wait to see what she has to share with us! Hope you enjoy our layouts :)

Once again Blogger isn't cooperating and it won't let me add the link 

into our next button, so please click here for Cindy's blog.

MDS Blog Hop - What are you working on?

Welcome to the MDS Blog Hop! We're so glad you could join us!

So, I was pretty excited to see that the swatchbook download Faces I Love is one of the Weekly Deals this week. I've been thinking about putting together a book for Jesse of our family. I know he loves to look at pictures and it'll help him to remember our extended family. We visited this summer and it took him about a week to warm up to my parents - and we were staying with them!

This download is very simple. You really can just drop your pictures in and it's ready to print. Although, I'm playing around with it some. I've changed some of the background colors and added cute little stick figures from the All in the Family stamp set. I'm not sure yet if I want to add more. I'm a big fan of embellishments, but...it's pretty cute the way it is. I'll have to think about it. :)

Here are just a few of the pages:

I'm so excited to print this swatchbook! I thought of using it as a stocking stuffer, but I don't think I'll be able to wait that long ;)

Cindy is up next on the hop and she always has something amazing to show us! Btw, I can never get Blogger to let me add a link to the picture below so I have to put Cindy's link separate. Sorry!

Click here for Cindy's blog

MDS Blog Hop - Time to Print!

Hello! I've been away from the hop for the summer. Things just got too crazy for me to keep up so I took a little break. I'm glad to be back and hope I can inspire you with some fun projects today!

We spent three weeks visiting family this summer and my kids were over the moon to spend all that time with their cousins. Who wouldn't love a party that lasts for three weeks?  The kids are definitely missing each other and can't wait to be together again but with the time zone difference and school schedules it's difficult to keep in touch. I'm always trying to get my boys to write cards and send them to family but they're resistant to the idea. They like getting the mail, but sitting down and writing seems a little too close to school I think.

I decided that if they had some fun cards to write on they might feel a little more motivated. I chose to do a post card because it's a smaller space and they won't feel like they have to write a novel. See how tricky I am? ;)

I started with a template from the Fifty Nifty download and played around with all my downloads until I found combinations I liked. Definitely the long way to do things, but it works for me. So far I have two designs and I've got a third one brewing in my mind... My boys will definitely want some options. I mean, who wants to send the exact same card over and over again? :)

Design 1:

Front

Back

Design 2:

Front

Back

I'm pretty excited to get these printed! Crossing my fingers that my boys will actually use them!

Cindy is up next - can't wait to see what she's sharing with us today! 

Click here for Cindy's blog

MDS Blog Hop - What are you working on?

The big news in our family this week is that school is officially out for the summer! It's bittersweet; we're moving in a few weeks and it's really hard to leave a school that we love so much. My kids have grown leaps and bounds while attending Halley and it will always have a special place in our hearts.

I feel like I put a lot more on this page than I normally would, so I'm still playing around with it some. But I'm close to finishing. I can feel it. :)

I'm excited to see what other projects are in store for us this week! 

MDS Blog Hop - What are you working on?

Hello everyone! Hope you're feeling inspired by today's blog hop!

Currently I'm trying to play with some of my new downloads! I'm really excited about all the Project Life goodness coming our way. I love the concept of PL, but I still really love to make traditional layouts so for this layout I used the PLxSU downloads but stuck with my usual style. I had fun cropping the different cards and grouping them with other cards for a whole different look. There are so many fun things in the PLxSU kits that it'll definitely keep you busy for awhile!

Next up is Cindy! Have a great day! 

MDS Blog Hop - what are you working on?

Hello there! Before we get started I just have to ask - have you noticed the colors going a little funny on Blogger?  I'm not sure if I'm going crazy or if there's a problem with the site. My uploaded images are most definitely not the right color. They're darker than they're supposed to be. So... just a heads up - these may look a little strange but that's all Blogger. I had nothing to do with it. :)

I have some simple little projects to show you today. A friend of mine is having a baby girl very soon and she asked if I could make some printables for the nursery. She wanted to hang some Primary songs on the wall and I'm excited to see how it turns out. I think it will be adorable! We're still playing around with ideas, but these are my favorites so far. *If you click on the link you can listen to the full song and read the lyrics.

This is one of my favorite Primary songs, "A Child's Prayer". I've loved it since I was a girl; it always calms me.

I have so many favorite Primary songs and this is another one - "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". 

This song is called "I Am a Child of God"; I sang it countless times growing up and it's even more special to me now because I have my own kids and I realize how important it is to teach them about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so that they can build their own faith. 

This isn't from a Primary song, it's actually from an address by President Hinckley (former prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) given to the youth of the church in 2001. I remember watching it on TV - a lot of the things he said have stuck with me. Much of his counsel that night was focused on six "B's" - things he wanted us to work on to build a strong character and prepare us for adulthood. I thought this would be a great thing to put in a child's room so they can see it often as they grow up. I like how this turned out so well that I think I'll make one for my own kids' rooms!

So there you have it! That's what I've been working on. I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop - so glad you could join us! 

MDS Blog Hop - Hybrid projects

This week we're focusing on hybrid or e-cutter projects. Now... I did get a Cameo for Christmas and I am so, so excited about it - but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Do you ever feel like the more you try to simply life the busier it gets? That's where I am right now. But hey - I pulled it out of the box! Tell me that's not progress. ;)

I recently did a blog post for the MDS Design Team showing some of the cute things I made for my son Jesse's nursery. If you've already seen that post then I apologize for the repeat. This time I just wanted to show you a hybrid project I created. I've seen this idea floating around Pinterest and I'm so glad I was finally able to finish it.

I like to decorate my kids' rooms around a particular theme or idea; for Jesse I chose "Oh, the Places You'll Go." It's one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. I wanted something that would grow with him, so I purposely stayed away from things that were baby-ish. 

I remember spending hours looking at National Geographic magazines as a kid - I've always wanted to travel. There's something so magical about dreaming of far off places. Anyway, I scoured Instagram for all the coolest photos of the coolest places out there, saved them to my phone and then had them printed. I couldn't resist using MDS to bring in some fun elements. Stampin' Up has put out some pretty awesome travel downloads! 

My photos were 3x3 so I created the same size box on my page in MDS and filled it with quotes and graphics. Then all I had to do was print those designs, cut out the individual elements and put them together. I used Stampin' Dimensionals on some of those elements to bring in more depth and interest to the layers. I feel like it helped give bring more interest to the whole project. 

For a couple of these I knew exactly the look I was going for - like the 'I love NY' picture above. For others I had a basic idea but had fun just adding papers and elements as I went along. I love those moments when creativity just flows and you can enjoy the process rather than worrying about whether or not it'll look great. 

I have several more Instagram pics that I'd like to put up in Jesse's room, along with some more elements from MDS. That's where my Cameo will come into play ;)  I've got plans. Big plans! For the moment I hope Jesse enjoys looking at these 'wonders of the world'. I know I do! 

Let's continue on with the hop - Cindy is next! 

Click Here for Cindy's blog

MDS Blog Hop - What are you working on?

Welcome to another blog hop! So excited to have you drop by today! I've been pretty busy in MDS so I have a few fun things to show you.

First up is a letter. And not just any letter - a chain letter for a sticker club! Did you just roll your eyes? Heave a mighty sigh? I did. I always do when I get a chain letter in the mail. Especially if it's one for your kids. You know the type - a letter assuming that you've just been waiting for just such an opportunity along with this little gem: "Parents if you can't do this within 6 days then please let me know because it's not fair to the kids!" Oh, thanks. Guilt comes by mailbox now. Makes you wish there were bills to look at instead.

However, included with this letter was a note from my friend expressing her hatred of chain letters and telling me it was perfectly fine with her if we didn't want to do it. I agreed with her feelings completely but...my kids love stickers. It could be fun right?  Long story short, after I'd looked at the letter a few times I decided it could use some sprucing up. And while I was at it, I'd rewrite the whole thing. Because, let's be honest - what's most annoying is how presumptuous it sounds.

Behold! A chain letter that people can feel good about!

I have to say, I don't mind sending these out. And it helps that I've already asked my friends if they'd like to participate so I know who's willing and who's not. Crossing my fingers that we get some awesome stickers! 

Ok, I have two more projects to show you and I'll make it quick. You didn't come here to read a novel, now did you? ;)

In my church I'm the Assistant-Secretary in the Relief Society (it's our women's group) and since people are aware of my crafty tendencies, I'm asked to put things together that are, shall we say...pretty. Oh, that I had all the time in the world. I could make everything pretty! 

Our Relief Society President asked me to take our goals for the year and make something cute that could be displayed each week at church. Here's what I came up with: 

I hope the chalkboard trend never leaves us, because I love it. Love, love, love it! 

One of my other responsibilities in the Relief Society is the monthly calendar. Lucky for me MDS has a cool calendar feature! Makes my life sooo much easier! We email it out to everyone each month and the way I see it, if you're going to be this busy you might as well have a cute calendar to look at, right? 

So... that's what I've been up to. Hope this gave you some great ideas to use MDS. You don't have to be a scrapbooker to love it! 

Click here to go to Cindy's blog next - can't wait to see what she's been working on!

MDS Blog Hop - Happy {Heart} Day!

Good Morning! It's a lovely snow day for us here in Virginia. I like snow while it's falling and for the few hours that it's beautiful, white and untouched. Then I'm over it and ready for the sun to come out, warm things up and melt it all away. Whether it's snowy or wonderfully warm and sunny where you are, I hope you're settled in front of your computer enjoying the blog hop with us! We love our blog followers!

This week the theme (if you haven't already figured it out) is Valentine's Day. So...anything about love fits the bill. I couldn't resist creating a page telling my boys some of the things I love about them. It was pretty hard to narrow it down - there's just so much to love! I'll just have to make it into a two page spread I guess... or maybe an extra page for each of them :)

Ok, time to hop along and see what Cindy has for us today. Hope you've been inspired to create in My Digital Studio!

Blogger is being weird again and I can't add the link to the graphic above, so please

 CLICK HERE to get to Cindy's blog. 

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you get to spend it with those you love the most!

MDS Blog Hop - What are you working on?

Hi! Did you just come from Aly's blog?  Bet she's got something adorable up for the blog hop today!

I don't have any special projects to share this time, just working on some scrapbooking.  I take about zillion pictures in a week so it's inevitable - I'm behind.  But I've decided that I'll never be finished, and I've made peace with that.  In fact, I embrace it! If I ever reach the point that I am 'caught up' then I need to get out more. Live a little. Take more pictures! :)  

I don't really have a method to my madness; I simply scrapbook what I feel like at the moment.  My creativity flows better that way.  Sometimes I even start working on a page before I know what photo I'm going to use.  It just depends.  This time around I knew what picture I wanted - one of my sweet little Jesse that I snapped a few weeks ago.  He finished his bottle and passed right out - and it was the most adorable thing I'd ever seen.  You should have seen me holding my phone at all kinds of crazy angles trying to get a great picture! My antics were worth it though. This is one of my favorite shots of him. 

I mostly used Hello Perfection and Finest Simplicity but the background paper is from Life Celebrated and set at 40% opacity.  

To help with the placement of my circles, I opened a circle punch, expanded it to the size I wanted and used it as a template for the smaller circles. Once I had them where I wanted, I deleted the large circle.  Easy Peasy!

I hope you're having fun and feeling inspired on today's blog hop! Your next stop is Cindy who always has a treat in store for us! :)

MDS Blog Hop - Desktop Wallpaper!

Well, hello there!  It's been awhile. Hope you had a lovely Christmas break!  We'd like to welcome you back to the hop with some cute wallpaper ideas for your desktop.  I've been asked before to create a video tutorial showing how I create these but I just haven't found the time to do that yet. We can blame Little Man. The pregnancy was full of complications and now he won't sleep during the day for longer than 30 minutes at a time.  So, yeah. . . it's all his fault.  I have absolutely no responsibility in this at all.  The upside is that he's ridiculously cute!  ;) Seriously though, I'll make it a priority to do a tutorial since I promised it to a few people FOREVER ago.

Wallpapers are actually very simple to make.  Create a new project in MDS and choose the Custom option.  Set your page size to 2560 x 1600 pixels and start creating!  Once you're done, save the file (I prefer to save it as a png to get a good quality pic - jpegs are compressed files), then pull up the file, right click on it and select 'Set Desktop Picture'.  Voila!

I do have one hint for you: the objects will be larger than you think once they're on your desktop, so it's actually better to size things down a bit.  You can double check how things will look by exporting the file and setting it as your desktop picture.  It's better to see what it looks like while you're still in the process of creating.  If you wait until you're completely finished and you don't like it then you'll have to go back and change everything.  Well, maybe not everything - but enough to be annoying.  There you go.  That was actually two hints by the way. What can I say?  I'm feeling generous. ;)

I just got several of the pocket card downloads and they are cute, cute, cute!  I opened them to see what everything looked like and before I knew it I had several ideas for wallpapers.  I had to add a cute pink bike - it reminds me of the one I had growing up.  Gotta love the coloring tool!  I like that this design is fun, bright and simple.   Just what I need for such a bitterly cold January.  Spring, please come soon!

If you'd like, you can download this wallpaper here.  See - I am feeling generous!  ;)  

You can find the downloads I used here: 

Chillin' Out Pocket Cards

This Makes Me Happy

Happy Things Pocket Cards

Grateful Pocket Cards

Chevron Ribbon

Burlap Ribbon

Family Fun Photobook (stitching)

Cindy is next up on the Hop - can't wait to see what she created for us this week!