Fun with MDS Monday

I recently discovered the MDS Monday blog by my good friend Jessica at Stamp a Blessing! I have really enjoyed the digital fun with MDS and stumbling upon Holly's blog was quite a treat.
Here is the format I modified:

And here's what I created:

I really enjoyed the opportunity to play with the different photo boxes and using the pop of color in the center photo. I look forward to following Holly's blog and making more MDS happiness!

I'm linking over to the challenge over here...

Scrapbook Layout

I wanted to spend some time and create a scrapbook layout for my young daughter's 4th birthday celebration. I love the festive Valentine colors' and the overall mix of greens, blues, reds, and black. This was a fun project that was quick to do and I love that I get to preserve such sweet memories of my little girls childhood.

MDS and Free Photo Offers!

I have been really enjoying MDS lately. The ease of this program makes digital scrap booking a breeze AND I haven't even explored the many options for card making yet!
Only for today, Walgreen's is having a free 8x10 photo offer. I always jump on these photo deals (because who can pass up free right) but this time is extra special to me because I used MDS to create a photo layout that I can proudly display in my home. Get your offer today- you won't be disappointed!

Upload photos › Pharmacy & Health | Photo | Shop Products Balance® Rewards

Christmas Card Collage

Over the past few weeks I have been busy creating Christmas cards. I have enjoyed the seasonal colors, stamps, gift ideas, etc. but now that Christmas is just around the corner, I've cleaned up my workspace, put away all my holiday stamps and will work on other things (i.e. sewing mermaid outfits for my girls- they LOVE mermaids;)

Here's a photo collage of some of my creations. I borrowed from here and there, had some original ideas, and overall had fun making these cards. Merry Christmas- Jesus is the KING!

 I used Picasa & MDS to make this photo collage- these programs working together has lots of potential!

MDS Watermark

For the longest time now I have been missing the watermark feature in Picasa. There used to be this cute program called Picnik that allowed you to add a watermark (text box) to photos- easy peasy. Why Google discontinued this service I'll never know but here's where MDS comes in...

I've heard of people using MDS to embellish their photos for watermarks but I never really gave it much thought until TODAY. I played around with MDS and love the ease of this wonderful program. I had to learn a few things from the MDS forum and Diane Malcor's tutorial was very straight forward and allowed me to create this:

 I used a Brocade Blue cardstock so that the watermark is visible; otherwise it's relatively opaque on my photos. Thank you Diane for the clear instructions. I'm happy that I now have a watermark- finally!

Recycling Recyclables

I normally don't have a problem getting rid of extra stuff- clutter, paper, knick knacks, etc.- but when it comes to coffee cans, I just can't toss it. I always think there's just got to be a way to salvage these cans! Recently, I found a way to salvage our empty coffee cans into Christmas treat containers. I'm thinking of filling it up with candy or cocoa as simple gifts for my daughter's piano teacher or for that special neighbor of ours!

I used some burlap that I picked up from my Dad's house last year- it was the wrapping for a smoked ham and I just loved the unusual look of it. I have been cutting on it for some time and now I think I finally used all of it (sniff, sniff) but I love the results!

Just today I added a burlap fabric flower to the lid but it covered up my beautiful DSP. I might add 1 or 2 more elements (or not!) but I love the simplicity of this container and how I was able to recycle my recyclables:)

MDS Swatchbook

I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving break! It was nice just to relax and take a break from the usual routines...

For the holiday, the family and I took a road trip to my hometown, El Paso, TX. It's always hard to pack with baby and kids but one thing I was determined to bring along was my laptop- not my tablet but yes, my old school laptop. I love my Android tablet for it's convenience but when it comes to program applications and overall ease of working on big projects, the laptop is the way to go.

With a extra babysitters on hand (thanks Granddaddy and Auntie Soobin!) I had some time to play around with MDS by making a 5.5 x 3.25 Twitterpatted Swatchbook. I love the ease of modifying the design template to suit my needs and much thanks to Janet Wakeland of MDS.net, I was able to make the most of the 30% off print sale by making 2 books in 1! Out of the 26 pages, 1/2 was a family mini-album and the other 1/2 by a baby book. Thank you Janet for the awesome videos and for sharing your great ideas!!!

Here's one page from the swatchbook. I love, love, love the flexibility of MDS and how I was able to incorporate not only the software design elements but also, add my own background paper, images, etc. that I have acquired from other companies- it was a win win!! 

 

Another useful MDS tool that I learned to enjoy and play around with is the opacity feature.

MDS is fun and I can't wait to play some more!

Behavior Clip Chart

A few weeks ago a close friend shared with me her latest strategy to get her 3 y.o. son to help with chores, follow instructions, etc. When she described her system, ideas were going through my head and I thought, 'hey, I can not only do this but I can make this chart!' My 3 y.o. precious girl has a determination that oftentimes I need to help mold in a healthy way...or in layman's terms she can be 'hard headed!'

Behavior clip charts are all over the internet, especially Pinterest. I wanted to simplify my own system and use the word OBEY as an acrostic. I chose OBEY because it's important for my kids to learn to obey us as their parents and ultimately OBEY God all their lives.

O- obey the 1st time, B- best behavior, E- no excuses, Y- no yelling in the house.

I used a doily image on the letter O from SU MDS and overall I like how it turned out.

There are several aspects about this system that I like- she can reach it and it's visible on our refrigerator, when her behavior warrants a consequence, she has to pull a clip (take ownership of her actions), and over time if the laminated cards get a little worn, I can easily replace them or the clothespin.

I started off with 5 clips because of the 5 letters in her nickname and simply adorned them with SU DSP. She helped decorate them and is proud when at the end of her homeschooling day, all of her clips stayed put!

I follow a 3 strikes your out rule and if she keeps all of her clips, she can pick either a 'SWEET (candy), TREAT (toy from my dollar bin collections), OR MOVIE (30 min. movie privilege on my tablet). If she pulls one or 2 clips, she gets a small treat (sticker, etc.) with the incentive to try harder. She also has opportunities to win her clip back when I see she's truly trying...Again, super simple but is working wonders in my home.

Bookmarks Galore

Yesterday was my first day back teaching the preK Sunday school class at church. After a 4 month hiatus, I was ready to soak up the sweetness of these kiddos and teach them the joy of God's word! This semester we're working on Bible memory verses and this week's verse is from Acts 16.31. I wanted to help the kids remember this verse with something easy/memorable so a bookmark was in order. This age range of 3-5 years enjoys books and now they have a bookmark with a Bible verse to remind them that to believe in Jesus is to be saved AND your bookmark can 'save' your spot in your book :)
I love the ease of MDS and the vibrant swatch makes it all flow so well!

Laminated bookmark for Fresh Fire Pre K Class

Backpack Tag

I don't know where the summer went but it flew outta here! My first grader is starting her journey at a new school so I wanted to make a couple of luggage tags for her lunchbox and backpack. Not only was this project super easy; but also, FAST! I like the color combos and now it's off to the laminating machine!
Praying that my big girl will have a wonderful school year and I believe she will 'delight in today'!

2014-2014 School Year Backpack Tags

Honoring my husband

I've known my DH for 18 years- we've been married for 14 years (YIKES) and he is a wonderful person. He's strong, smart, and an awesome provider. I love him. A few weeks ago my friend Jessica blogged about the lack of respect men receive in this day and age. I agree- all too often men are ridiculed and portrayed as lazy and inept. So in true SU fashion, I used MDS to create a bookmark as a reminder how much he means to me and the kids.

I chose a bookmark because hubby is an avid reader and ironically enough, there's never a bookmark around when he needs one-- well, I fixed that!

Picture Collage Punch

It's been a few weeks since I used MDS so I went to their site and followed along with a video tutorial by Marti Crapo demonstrating how you can create a picture collage from a letter punch. It was a pretty straightforward process and I like how it turned out.

Playing with MDS

I have a confession to make... I love all things techie- especially craft-techie things. I love the ease, the challenge of learning a new technique and the rapid results. I think that is why MDS and I were meant to meet! As I'm taking the time to learn this fascinating software, so far some of my favorite features are the ways in which I can enhance my photos (i.e. round corners, rip edges, color photos, etc.), I love the vintage overlays in the stamp section, and I also enjoy the background papers.

My current project is a journal for my 3 year-old daughter. It's taking some time to sort through a billion photos but I'm looking forward to capturing these memories in a cute electronic format.