St Paddy's Day and some MDS fun

Hello there blog friends!  Hope you guys had a nice St Patrick's Day!  It also coincides with my mom's birthday, so we got to spend some time with her today, too.  Here are a couple of pics from our St. Paddy's day that I thought I'd share.  I had fun putting this layout together in MDS.  I used the Downtown Grunge and the 2012 Modern Prints Paper.  It really is so much fun tinkering with the layout.  I know this is a pretty basic one, but fun nonetheless!  I started with an 8 1/2" x 11 page layout, but cropped this to a 5x7 print size so I can put it in a frame. 

I was on a roll, so I created the layout below, too, using the On the Go digital papers and embellishments.  So cute!  I have been wanting to use this digital paper with this particular picture because it totally matches my little man's shirt!  Here's the look at the 5x7 page, which I also want to put in a frame...or maybe I'll make an album.  We'll see, but I'll be prepared with a hard copy of it either way :)

So, there you have it!  I am totally loving MDS.  The cool thing is, if you want to check it out, you can do a 30 day trial for free!  I think it's a pretty awesome offer, but you should definitely see for yourself if it's worth it for you.  You can check out the deets and download the software here.

Well, my dear friends, it's WAY past my bedtime, so I'm gonna say bye for now.  Hope you guys have a great rest of your weekend!  Since it's a rainy weekend here in Southern California, I may get to do more digital crafting or stamping afterall, so stay tuned!

Lucky St. Paddy's Day March Madness!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!  Do you have your green on?  Just thought I'd pop in with a quick card wishing you luck for the day.  Plus, it's the start of March Madness, so good luck to you on that as well!  I filled in my brackets last night and hopefully my teams will fair better than last year. 

Also wanted to wish my Momma a Happy Birthday!  Along with my niece Amanda and good friend Laura that are celebrating bdays today, too!

{Lucky You}

*Stamp Set: Sweet Treats

*Cardstock: Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Nursery Suite Specialty DSP

*Inks: Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz

*Accessories: 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Regals Buttons, Linen Thread; black double stitched grosgrain ribbon {non-SU!}

That's it for now. Hope you all have a fab day!

a St. Paddy's day {beverage} for this week's HSS Challenge

For this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge, I was tasked to create a card set using this week's Go Green St. Patrick's Day theme.  While St. Paddy's day probably doesn't conjure up a hot cup of coffee for most, I decided to "buck" the trend, so to speak. I have Sandy Hancock to thank for this fun coffee cup design!  She made the cutest samples, I just had to case it!  First, here are the deets to this week's challenge:

And now, here's a look at one of my Grande cups of java:

Isn't that so fun?  I have to say I'm getting great use of my In Color 6x6 DSP stack!  I used the Pear Pizzazz DSP patterns for my cups.  I then also dusted off my crimper to create my coffee sleeves.  The Lucky Shamrock stamp from the Occasions Mini catalog made the perfect logo for my cups.  I'm telling you - these cards were so fun and easy to make, I think you guys should give it a try!  Here are the quick instructions for you:

1.  Start with a 4" x 11" piece of cardstock as your base and fold it in half.

2.  Mark off a 1/2" from both edges at the base of the folded card.  Use the paper trimmer to trim from the top corner to your hash mark - this will create your coffee cup shape.

3.  Cut a 2 1/2" x4" piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and run through your crimper.

4.  Adhere a piece of 5"x4" DSP and your crimped piece of cardstock on top of your coffee card.  Once you adhere both pieces, trim the excess cardstock off using your paper trimmer.

5.  For your lid, cut a 4 1/4" x 1" piece of Whisper White cardstock.  Score lengthwise at 1/4" to create your faux edge on your lid.  Round the top 2 corners and adhere this piece onto your card with dimensionals.  You're done! 

Give it a whirl.  You'll see for yourself how fun these are to make.  Who knew that whipping up 4 cups of coffee could be such a blast?! Hope this inspires you to play along with us at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week.  Check out what the rest of the DT has in store for you and create a project to share with us!  Have a great day :)