Not just for stamping...

By a show of hands, how many of you thought the Big Shot was just for stamping or scrapbooking projects?  Ok, I'm sure if I could actually see you, I'd see a couple of hands!!! ;)  Well, attention all you fabric connoisseurs, lookie, lookie what I made!  It's a quilt block - using two of Stampin' Up!s Big Shot dies!!!

Isn't it cool?!  This particular quilt block is 10x10.  The two dies I used were the 5 point 3D star (#113473 - $26.95) and the Scallop Circle #2 Die (#113469 - $26.95).

I promise you, the hardest part of this entire project was choosing which fabric to use!!!  Once the fabric was picked out, it was as simple as laying the fabric on the Bigz die of my choice, rolling it through the Big Shot, and that's it - my quilt pieces were ready to be sewn to my quilt block base!  It cut out each shape for me with no need to measure!  AND, the benefit of the Bigz dies is not only does it cut out identical pieces, these dies are capable of cutting through multiple layers of fabric at one time!  Dies with scorelines can cut up to 3 layers while dies with no scorelines can cut up to 8 layers!!!  Now that my block is completed, I'll wash and dry it to fray the edges of the petals and leaf to give it a shabby chic look.

So far I've only made one block, but I've got plans to make more - one each for my downline (watch your mail ladies!!!).  If you sign up with Stampin' Up! before the end of March, (password: cfindlay0924) I'll send you a handmade quilt block made by me as well!!!  Also, don't forget, if you sign up during Sale-a-Bration, you'll receive a discount on your Starter Kit and ANY current stamp set of your choice, FOR FREE!!!

If you would like to learn additional ways to incorporate the Big Shot into your sewing, give me a call!  I would love to show you how the Big Shot can be used for quick and simple sewing projects!

Happy Stamping!

My Digital Studio - An Unbiased Review

Ok, so you've heard me go on and on about how much I love Stampin' Up!s new software My Digital Studio, but, maybe you're looking for an unbiased opinion!  I came across a review written by Kate Pullen (she is not a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator) I thought I would share:

Before I share this review of My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up, let me add some perspective. I am not a digital scrapbooker and I am not experienced at using digital scrapbooking products. While I do use software to resize photographs for use here at About.com, my skills are very much that of a traditional papercrafter. I do use and enjoy digital stamps, however my usage of these is very much limited to printing the outline images and applying color using inks or paints. Therefore when I first looked at My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up, there were two big questions that I asked myself – as a traditional crafter would I be technically able to use a design package such as this and secondly would I enjoy this form of digital crafting? The answer to both of these questions is 'yes'! So, now you know about my starting point, read on for a more detailed look at My Digital Studio.

Getting Started

I found My Digital Studio very easy to use. The software comes with a 128 page pdf user guide. This is a very comprehensive user guide and I found that it gave the information that I required to get creating quickly. In fact, once I had understood the interface I jumped in and started creating, only referring to the user guide if I was unclear about something. 

My Digital Studio comes with professionally designed templates as well as offering users a blank canvas for their own layouts and creations. The ready-designed templates can be used as they are or as a starting point for other designs. A user can, for instance, change the color or the different elements to achieve a totally different look. 

I used a ready-designed card when I was finding my way around the software and I found this a really useful way to understand how the different layers work and to learn a little more about the different page objects. I ended up with a hideous mess – in my enthusiasm to try all the colors, designs and embellishments, all the design rules such as 'less is more' and working within a limited color palette to achieve elegant results went out the window and I managed to cram a surprising amount into one card! However, while I may not have produced the most sophisticated of cards, I ended up with a really good idea of the basics and felt confident enough to produce my first project.

Using My Digital Studio

I found My Digital Studio very easy to work with and was almost instantly producing acceptable looking cards. The biggest challenge for me was trying to resist using everything on a single page. I found the rich mix of papers, stamps, embellishments and color options, combined with the flexibility of the software gave me an almost endless source of combinations. 

The exclusive Stampin' Up colors are used throughout the package and this makes color coordinating and matching very straightforward. One tip that I picked up was that if you allow the cursor to hover over a color on the color pallet tool, it will give you the Stampin' Up color name of the color you are looking at. My monitor is not clear enough to be able to accurately distinguish between some of the different color shades.

Designer Kits

Stampin' Up have provided designer kits with My Digital Studio. These are complete kits of complementary design elements that can be used together and include background papers, stamps and embellishments such as ribbons and brads. These are a great help for people looking for quick results as there is no need to experiment with colors or combinations of designs. I found these, along with the ready designed templates, good sources of inspiration.

Other Files

Other files can be used in My Digital Studio with ease. I loaded one of my gift box templates from About.com which is in .jpg format and placed stamped images and embellishments on this. This could then be printed onto a thin cardstock and formed into a gift box. If the file format had been a .png file, then I could have placed background paper onto the template. Photos and other illustrations are simple to use in My Digital Studio. They can be placed within pre-designed templates or custom placed in any project.

Projects

I have used My Digital Studio to produce handmade cards. I can see that I would also use My Digital Studio to produce stationery, gift cards and embellishments. As I mentioned at the start of this review, I am not a digital scrapbooker, however I can definitely see how easy it would be to produce great looking digital scrapbooks quickly and easily. 

Another area that I can see that My Digital Studio would be really useful for is in the practice and exploration of new ideas and designs. It would be very easy to try new layouts using different stamp designs and colors digitally before investing in the paper and ink versions.

Hybrid Projects

One area that I would like to explore further is hybrid projects. This is the combination of digital and traditional techniques. This could be as simple as just adding a few finishing touches to a card or more complex projects, for example creating custom designed embellishments for gift boxes or party favors.

Help

The help provided within My Digital Studio is comprehensive and certainly good enough to get even a complete beginner like me up and running quickly. I found the 128 page pdf user guide helpful, however I would really welcome the opportunity to buy a paper copy. Having a paper manual or user guide is my own personal preference and something that I find useful to work with, therefore having the option of a paper manual would be an improvement for people like me. Training on My Digital Studio is also supplied by Stampin' Up certified trainers.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed using My Digital Studio. There are advantages and disadvantages to digital crafting, some of which are described here and you are welcome to add your own thoughts.  One type of crafting isn't a replacement of the other, they are two very different techniques that can operate completely independently of each other or can meet in hybrid projects. 

I found My Digital Studio very easy to use and any fears that I had about using it were unfounded. I had two main challenges – both of which were self inflicted – the first was an eagerness to try everything at once meant that I created some rather crowded projects to start. The second challenge was that I was excited by the wide range of options that the different combinations gave me and I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying different things. I am sure that once all the different options become familiar then I will spend more time in creating and less time in experimenting. 
 

My Digital Studio won't be for everyone. People who hate the idea of digital crafting are unlikely to find any software that will change their mind. Crafters who are using other software tools, may also find that their best alternative is to purchase and download just the design elements that they require from Stampin' Up and use this within their existing systems. This is particularly true for users of My Memories Suite from Polaroid. However, for many other people who are interested in digital crafts, particularly those who are interested in making cards and products other than just scrapbook pages, My Digital Studio provides everything you require to make great looking cards and other items that can be printed or used in digital projects.
 

There are other digital crafting alternatives available. In addition to design tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, there are other card making and digital scrapbooking products. My Digital Studio combines the ease of use of a well designed digital crafting package with a wide range of Stampin' Up digital elements and this makes for a powerful combination.

Technical Note

My Digital Studio is delivered on discs and is very simple to install. I installed the software onto my laptop which runs using Windows 7 and I have experienced no compatibility issues. I do have a reasonably powerful computer with 4 gb of ram, which means that I am able to run My Digital Studio while running other applications without any loss of performance.

I hope that helps to answer a few of your questions.  Of course, if you have any additional questions, I'm always here to help!

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' with Cristina - March Newsletter

Each month I send out a monthly newsletter via email to my customers with a quick list of my upcoming events & Stampin' Up!s latest specials & promotions.

If you would like to receive my monthly newsletter, send me a quick note!!!  I'd be thrilled to add you to my list. :)

Happy Stamping!

The Curiosity of a Three Year Old

As every parent will know, when one of your kids is being a little too quiet, you don’t walk, you run to see what they’re up to.  More often than not, it usually means they’re doing something they shouldn’t.  That was the case for me this afternoon.  Our three year old had disappeared and was just a little too quiet.  We found him chilling out in my office...along with this….

and this…

oh, and this…

Um, yaaa..all those white little confetti looking bits...all stuck to my hardwood floor....those are all Stampin’ Dimentionals.  If you’re not familiar with Dimentionals, they’re double sided sticky foam dots that Stampin’ Up! sells to use on projects to pop paper layers and embellishments up off the page for a little dimension.  Yes, every.single.white.dot is stuck to my floor.  *sigh*.  Kids...you gotta love them. ;)

Cristina

Fun Florals

One of the many perks of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is the opportunity I have to attend various events specifically for demonstrators.  One of those events is a local get-together organized by a couple Vancouver Island demonstrators.  We meet twice a year for some business chit chat, great food, and of course STAMPING!!!  (Watch for an upcoming post showcasing some of the amazing projects I got to stamp!) We also sign up for card swaps which is a great way for me to obtain a collection of card and project samples for my display board - to show YOU of course!!!  We also have a "show & tell" table set up for various projects that we've come up with and would like to share.  One of the cards I saw was so cute that I knew I just had to come home and recreate it with products I had here.  SO, here it is!

 

Isn't it adorable?  It's a gate fold card and has three little 3-D flowers which add just the right amount of dimension!  Here's a closer view of the flowers:

I absolutely love this!  It's so simple too!  This is one of the projects I'm going to be doing with my Stampers 6 Club tomorrow evening.  I'd love to show you and some friends how to make this adorable card!  Call me to book a workshop and I would be happy to demonstrate it for you!

Happy Stamping!

 

Mini Products Still Available

Stampin' Up! has chosen to carryover several products from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. This list of products (shown below) is available for purchase through me and Online Ordering. In addition, these products will be available in the next Idea Book & Catalogue.  

Item #	Description	Price
116794	Ornament punch	$22.95
116806	Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint	$8.95
116854	Frost White Shimmer Paint	$8.95
116807	Platinum Shimmer Paint	$8.95
116829	Décor Elements Blocks	$13.95
116824	Stampin' Up! Textured Impressions Folder Petals-A-Plenty	$10.95
116821	Stampin' Up! Holiday Windows Magnetic Movers & Shapers	$39.95
116819	Stampin' Up! Table Setting Bigz XL die	$57.95
116820	Stampin' Up! Embosslits Merry die	$15.95
116823	Stampin' Up! Sizzlits Merry Details die	$7.50
116822	Stampin' Up! O Christmas Tree Pop-Up Bigz XL die	$57.95
118140	Stampin' Up! Tree Decorations Sizzlits die	$7.50
118108	My Digital Studio	$106.95
116519	Charming stamp set	$26.95

My crazy throught process...

Have you ever started a project with a result in mind only to finish the project and have it completely different than you thought?  This happens to me a lot, and I thought I would share my most recent project that this happened to.  My daughter was sleeping and my two boys were actually playing well together and not fighting for once, so I sat down at my computer and thought I'd try to design a card in My Digital Studio for an upcoming "Spring" card swap I'd joined. (wow, can you say run on sentence???)  ANYWAY, I needed to keep an eye on the boys while creating, so I wasn't able to head into my stamping "workshop".  I knew what products I currently had on hand, so I tried to stick with using only those in my design.  I had an idea in mind and couldn't wait to see it come to life.

This is the card I came up with.  The circle over the ribbon is just a reference for me for a knot.  My Digital Studio has the option of adding a knot with two small "tails" which I knew I didn't want, so I just used a circle for the general idea. ;)

  

Cute right?  Um, ya, I didn't really like it either.  It didn't look anything like I'd envisioned!  So what's a girl to do?  Change the layout and colors of course! ;)  

This was my second attempt:

 

I flipped the layout, tossed the yellow and added a vellum circle to the bottom and a blue background to simulate sponging (which I planned to add to the real card).  Hum...better, but still not right.  I think part of the problem is that the only butterflies I have is the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die for my Big Shot and I knew they were just going to be too big for this card.

SO, moving on....this was my third attempt.  Keep in mind that up to this point, it's all been digital design, so I haven't had to cut or toss a single piece of real cardstock yet.  ;)

I flipped the layout back to my original design, tossed the butterflies, changed the stamp set, layered it on Melen Mambo (one of our current In Colors) which I also punched the heart out of.  So much better!  Now, would it look ok stamped and created with real products???  

Here it is!

 

My finished card is still a bit different than my digital one, but I'm happy with the results.  Instead of a knot, I tied a piece of linen thread around a piece of our new Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon.  I've sponged the background behind the bird with a faux sky technique, stamped & cut out the bird in a different color, embossed & sponged the punched heart accent, used my new Scallop Trim Border punch (which you can earn FREE right now through Sale-a-Bration) and of course sponged almost every edge shown. :)

What do you think?  So much better than my first attempt, right?

Happy Stamping!