Using My Digital Studio to Design

I needed to get working on my swaps for our upcoming team meeting on Sunday, so I decided I'd do a hybrid project to show the versatility of My Digital Studio.  I just love the Sweet Pea designer papers.  I  saw a card posted recently on a stamping blog somewhere, based on this one that you simply print out from MDS, all ready to go.  It is a 5 x 7 card, using the Sweet Pea papers add-on to MDS:

I thought it was a cute card, but I'm a layers gal, so I decided to create my card from scratch using My Digital Studio.  Mine is 4.25 x 5.5 inches.  After playing around for a while, here's what I came up with.  I'm still debating about adding a sentiment, but so far I like it without:

My hybrid card added some layering to the MDS version.  Mine is a tent card, with the fold on top.  I used Chocolate Chip textured card stock for the card base, an accent of Rose Red textured card stock with Pretty in Pink brads, and So Saffron card stock (non-textured) to frame the image.  The  bottom border is from the Sweep Pea DSP pack.  My main image is from the digital My Sweet Pea MDS add-on.  I cropped the original DSP sheet, made the image smaller, and printed it out onto Whisper White card stock.  This was then trimmed and adhered to the So Saffron mat.  I wrapped 1/4 inch Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon around the card once it was assembled.  Here's the hybrid version, which I made six of for our swap:

It was fun designing something in MDS - it saved me cutting up the little bit of Sweet Pea DSP that I have, and I was size the main image as I needed for my card, making me able to reproduce the main image multiple times to make six cards instead of having to buy three packs of the Sweet Pea DSP.  Man, I love My Digital Studio!  Have you gotten your copy yet?  It works on Windows and on the Mac.  I'd be happy to help you get a copy - simply email me or better yet, click on the 'Order Online' button on the left panel of my blog.  It will take you to my Stampin' Up! webpage where you can shop from the catalog directly!  My Digital Studio is item 118108, and is $79.95.  Did I mention you can use your credit card and shop online?  What are you waiting for?

A Good and Not So Good Valentine's Day

The day started out with our oldest doing acolyte duties at the first service at church this morning.  My DH and I then enjoyed some time together hanging out at our local coffee shop.  I did some cutting for a swap I'm participating in over at Stampin' Addicts. 

Last night I did some stamping, making an easel card calendar (pictures to come on Monday).  When I set it on my DH's desk to show him, his comment was 'Wow, this is nice, but isn't it kinda girly?'.  He thought I was giving it to him!  So, after getting back from the coffee shop today, I made a masculine version of it for him.  He loved it! 

We celebrated our Valentine's dinner last night with a nice piece of filet mignon at Outback followed by seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D (again!), which allowed us to go to a handbell concert at church in the late afternoon today.  Afterward, we headed over to Panera Bread for some dinner.  When we got home, our oldest called me upstairs, that our youngest needed me right away.  I knew right away that it was her hamster, Sandy.  During Christmas break, we noticed that Sandy had developed a tumor on her abdomen, below her right front paw.  I did some reading and found that female hamsters sometimes get tumors, and that there isn't much you can do in that case.  The tumor became the size of a marble, but she seemed to be doing well.  Today was a different story.  Sandy slept as normal during the day, but upon coming home from dinner, our youngest noticed that Sandy was very limp and having difficulty breathing.  Sandy hung on for about an hour, dying in my hands.  It was tough saying goodbye, but we knew it was coming.  Our little one took it well - both of us cried together as we stayed with Sandy during her last hour.  Knowing that Sandy is no longer suffering and is now with God in heaven helped to ease the pain a bit.  It will be tough seeing that empty cage in the morning.  We'll miss that cute little girl!