What have I been doing? Part 2

I've been putting my MDS journals to good use lately, in working on my class plans.  I cannot physically work a long time in my studio, so I work with pen and paper.  I've written down ideas of things I want to make for my Prairie Treasures booth, too.  So many ideas... so little time.  I cannot understand at all why some people get bored being at home.  I just won't have it!

I designed these journals using My Digital Studio and had them printed up for me.  I've used them a lot.  It's more fun to stay organized when you have cute journals:)

The bulk of my planning has gone into upcoming classes.  I can't wait to share some of my ideas with you!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Free Digital Download

I just had to add this.  It looks like so much fun... AND... it's free!

Enjoy!

Spooktacular News!

Here's the latest news from Stampin' Up! --- get ready for an exciting week!  We'll be having free digital downloads all week AND... Nearly every stamp set we have will be on sale --- TODAY ONLY --- for 15% off!!!  Don't miss out on a super exciting day to kick off a super exciting week!

A Hybrid Card

After my husband's car disaster this morning, I wanted to chase away the gloomy feeling by creating a very vibrant and cheery card.  I chose Poppy Parade, Concord Crush and Daffodil Delight.  I decided to use the Mojo Monday card sketch challenge to plan my layout.
Here's what I came up with, including some work with MDS:

The flowers are from the Fabulous Florets stamp set.  The flowers stamped on the Whisper White background are actual stamps.  The larger (daffodil delight) flowers were created using MDS.  The beauty of a hybrid card is that you can still coordinate all your images, but you can also create the size that you need to work with your design.  I printed mine on Whisper White CS and then cut them all out and attached them with dimensionals.

The center flower has extra layers of just parts of the image, to give even more dimension.  I used Poppy Parade ribbon and the text is from the Fabulous Florets stamp set.  I sponged the edges of the piece with the text.  You can also see that I added a layer of Everyday Enchantment DSP behind my little strips of CS.  Once again, I have a card with lots of layers, texture and dimension.  I added a bit of Frost White Shimmer Paint/alcohol mixture spritzed over the top of the completed card.

I hope you'll try creating a vibrant project.  It really perks you up as the colors just sing together.

Why I Love to Design

I have a new addiction.  I am hooked on participating in blog challenges!  I find that following a sketch, theme or color challenge can jump start my creative juices and yet give me free reign to enjoy creating --- for the joy of creating and for the joy of sharing with others.  Often, there are no winners; just the fun of trying something new and then getting to share it.

Recently, I came upon the Paper Players Design Team Call -- for 2 new Design Team Members.  I decided to give it a try.

Here's my story:
My name is Lana Horton.  I love to design!  I've loved playing with design and color for as long as I can remember.  When I was a very young girl, I loved designing my own clothes for my paper dolls, rearranging and decorating my room, painting, coloring... you name it.  As I grew, my love of design grew with me.  When I got married, I decided to design my own wedding gown -- using 4 different patterns.  I look back now and marvel that I was able to pull it off, but I did.

When I taught elementary school, we created some sort of project most every day.  We did sketching, stamping, 3-D projects and a lot of water color creations.  The projects were all related to our studies and we all had a ball.  The Children's Choirs at my church that I directed and my students at school performed many plays -- musicals and fairy tales -- and I enjoyed designing all the costumes and scenery for my little ones.
When I retired, I just naturally gravitated to designing, stamping and creating lots of projects.  I love making cards, 3-D projects, and scrapbook pages -- traditional and digital (using My Digital Studio).  It's all fun and it all involves playing with design and color.  I've been a Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator for over 6 years now and have been a design artist for just about forever.

Here are some of my recent favorites:

Cards...
...with coordinating projects...

...framed projects (This is my sweet grandbaby, Olive Jane.)...

...scrapbooking projects...
                    .........traditional pages:

I like creating vintage pages for my family Heritage Album, adding lots of layers and texture.  The layout above was made using photos of my great aunt and uncle and my uncle's brothers.

Notice the embossed panels on the layout below.  This layout was made using photos of my great grandparents.

I like clean and simple pages, where your photos play the starring role.  The pages should tell a story -- family history or special memories.  The layout below tells the story of my grandsons playing in the snow.  Here's a link to some of my other favorite layouts.

...and digital pages, using My Digital Studio:

One of my favorite digital pages is of me with my father.  

Here's a link to some of my other favorite digital pages.

 

I would love to be a part of the design team at Paper Players!  I love to create and I love to share.  It would give me the opportunity to share what I love with others in yet one more way.

Look what I got!

My daughter surprised me with these!  I love them!!!

Remember this post?  I first introduced you to our fabulous new framelits and edgelits dies.
Well, my daughter didn't want me to store them in plain and undecorated stamp cases, so she designed inserts using My Digital Studio.  When she had them printed, she ordered a set for each of us.  She is a sweetheart.  If you'd like to see more of her work, click here and enjoy a visit to her blog.

The inserts just slip right under the plastic cover of the stamp cases.
Here's how the fronts look:

These are the backs.  For each one, she made a little guide for the recipe for each 'sandwich' for the Big Shot.  Very handy!!!

close-ups:

This is how they look on the inside of each case.  You may be wondering why there are 2 of each edgelit.  After thinking about it, I ordered another set so I could use both on the same card when I need a unique look.  It's quite handy to store them together.  Remember how I hold them in place?  I cut a section of our magnetic sheets and stuck them into the case.  The sheets are adhesive backed, so it's so easy to place them into the cases.
Tip:
I store my edgelits and framelits with the cutting side down.  It makes it easier for me to pick them up without risking bending them.  (I do not have long nails:)

For more ideas for using the edgelits and framelits dies, go to the search box and you should see some other fun projects I've made using them.  They are super easy and so much fun!!!  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go open my beautiful cases and play with my toys!

Favorite MDS designs from 2011

Today, this is my last post of favorites from 2011.  Some of these are a review of previous posts and some are brand new to my blog.  I hope they will inspire you to give our My Digital Studio program a try.  It's so much fun!
I have really enjoyed getting to learn my way around using My Digital Studio this past year.  These are my very favorite designs that I've made.
The first 7 designs are from my Heritage Album that I've been working on over the past year.  You will notice that the heritage pages have a similar background.  This was intentional, to give a vintage look to the sepia tone of the old photos.

The first 3 pages are of me, plus top page includes my daddy.

The next 2 pages are my great grandparents, on my mom's side.  In case you missed my previous post about these, I had HUGE photos I'd inherited somewhere along the way of both of my great grandparents.  I took them outside and took digital photos of them so I could photo edit them and include them in my album.

I also made a digital photo of one of my mother's paintings, so I could include it in my album.  It is a very large painting in a huge frame.  By using a digital photo, I can include something that would otherwise be impossible to share in my album.

My sister and I --- visiting Santa.

These layouts are from the album I've been working on in honor of my father-in-law.

These are the fronts of cards I made for Christmas.

This is the front of the calendar I made for Christmas gifts for family members.

...and last, but not least, the page I made in honor of our friend Edward whom we lost at the very end of 2011, and the page my daughter created.

The very final design was created by my daughter.  I'm including it as one of my favorites --- from her.

Remember to save and label your photos so you will have the information you need when you scrapbook.  Then, you can work in any order that you wish and eventually work with them all.  Scrapbooking is a way to pay tribute to friends, family and loved ones and to create a record of your family history.  Please scrapbook your memories, as a treasured gift for your loved ones and future generations.  Whether you do it the traditional way or with our digital program, it's a true gift of love.

In Memory

Today, I lost a dear friend.  We received news that a very close friend of ours died in his sleep last night.  He was 10 years younger and in good health, so we are in total shock.  He was our church organist for years and I worked with him closely for many years when I directed our Children's Choirs as well as accompanied the adult choir for him.  He was my husband's close friend and fishing buddy and like a member of our family, including being like a godfather to our children.  When I was at my daughter's helping take care of our first grandchild, he drove all the way to Wisconsin to bring me home when my father died.  He played for our daughter's wedding and could play absolutely anything on the organ.

I could not stamp today.  I will share soon.  I did make this page in his honor, on MDS.  This is Ed with my daughter, on her wedding day.  We'll miss you, Ed.  Now, you play your music for the angels and the fishing is always great - every day.

Say I love you!

Here's another vintage layout (MDS) in my album.  This is me, when I was about 2 years old, with my daddy.  I was a real daddy's girl and he was a wonderful father.  I miss him every day.

Love you, daddy!

A GIFT TO LAST THE ENTIRE YEAR!

Now that Christmas is past, I can share with you the MDS calendar I made this year.  I used several of them as gifts.  It was fun to design them, they were quick to ship and everyone who received one loved it!  I think the boys will especially enjoy seeing the photos throughout the year.

The above photo is the cover page.  This is a desktop calendar.  The plain sheets are the tops/coordinating pages for each month.  I printed them, too, so you could see how nicely they all coordinate.  I added the background papers to each month, along with extra embellishments and, of course, the photos.  It was fun and easy.  The most difficult part to do was making the decisions of what photos to use for each month.

Happy Stamping!