Card Trek and Technology

Hello again!

For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm a die-hard Star Trek fan.... especially "The Next Generation" series.  I was tickled when I saw this video released by Stampin' Up! recently:

I think that was pretty silly and fun!  I like to believe that hand-made items & gifts will still be appreciated that far into the future - after all, it comes from the heart!  But there's no denying that we are in a digital age, and technology rocks!  (In other words, I would die without the internet!  LOL!)  Using technology certainly makes our life easier, and one of my most favorite Stampin' Up! products that saves so much time is the My Digital Studio software package.  SU! has an ongoing Free offer available to download and use MDS2 for 30 days, plus you have a huge MDS catalog available with more digital items released every Tuesday.  Click the image to learn more about this versatile program....

My son, Alex, is serving a 2 year mission for our church and sends home a ton of photos on SD cards.  I was able to start his scrapbook album to record his missionary experiences using MDS2.  When he returns home, these 12x12 pages will be printed, and I will turn each of them into a hybrid page (a combination of digital and traditional scrapbook page).  It will be easy for me to add on a few embellishments here and there to 'dress it up', and for Alex to journal his memories and add names & dates.  It's great to sit down for a couple hours every few weeks and keep up with his photos - MDS2 makes this a very easy project to complete!  Here's a snippet of what I've done so far -

MDS2 is versatile.  It does more than just scrapbook pages and albums - you can create journals, cards, tags, calendars, videos, DVDs....  and you can print from home, send files to your local printer, or have your projects professionally created through SU!'s service providers.  It's truly a great product!

Have a great day!
June

WT310 Silhouette

The Ways to Use It challenge on SplitCoast is all about Silhouette Stamping today. This is where your main image is solid and stamped in one color only (you can use an "open" image and color it in a solid color). This kind of stamping is really striking and has alot of WOW factor.

To make my card above, I brayered black ink on white cardstock on the top of the main panel, then stamped the tree from Nature Silhouettes. The deer was stamped next, then I filled in the edges with black ink. Then to really make my main panel visually pop, I heat embossed it about 5 times with clear embossing powder. The surface is now really glassy. I got alittle close with the heat gun during one of the layers, and it caused the ink or paper beneath to spread a golden brown color from the inked areas.... I thought it provided a very cool background effect! After the main panel cooled down, I matted a couple times on white and black cardstock, then popped it up on a So Saffron embossed panel using the Square Lattice embossing folder/BigShot.

Thanks to Kim for hosting this challenge once again. I hope that you have a great Thursday, and are able to come visit with me again soon...
~June

Stamps: Nature Silhouettes

Paper: White, Black, So Saffron

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: brayer, heatgun, clear embossing powder, sponge dauber, striped ribbon, dimensional popdots, Square Lattice embossing folder/BigShot

SC320 CC310 for you...

Hello everyone! Today's card is a combination of Sketch Challenge #320 and Color Combination Challenge #310 on SplitCoast. The colors this week are So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, and Pacific Point. These summertime colors are so refreshing and coordinate very easily. This card actually uses stamps from 4 different stamps sets. I really like how many of the sets can blend together to really expand the usefulness. I inked the leftmost panel in Wild Wasabi ink, then sponged on Pacific Point ink on the flowers. After a few moments, the ink was dry and I colored in the flowers with a white gel pen. The middle panel was inked in So Saffron ink, with Wild Wasabi sponged on the very edges before stamping on paper. The stamp was cleaned before each use so that the Wild Wasabi green ink wouldn't contaminate the So Saffron yellow inkpad. I had stamped the polka dot label on scratch paper and cut out the oval circle so that I could use it as a mask to sponge in So Saffron ink on the label that was stamped for the card. The butterfly and label are raised with popdots.

I hope you have a great day and thank you for visiting with me!


Stamps: Baby Blossoms, Just Believe, Vintage Vogue, Great Friend
Paper: So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, white gel pen
Accessories: sponge daubers, dimensional popdots, pearls