Statement of the Heart in Subtles - Stampin' Up! UK Regional Training 2014 Swap

Today is my first big Stampin' Up! event. It's the UK Regional Training day, which means demonstrators from all over the UK are gathering in Telford to celebrate all things Stampin' Up!

When ever a group of demonstrators get together, our favourite thing to do is Swaps! Everyone is invited to create and take something along and swap it with everyone you meet. It's a great talking point and a fantastic oportunity to come away with lots of inspiration and ideas. We all have different styles and skills and it's great to see what different personalities do with the same supplies! I knew I wanted to make the most of this oportunity but I just didn't have enough supplies to create very many items. I decided that creating an image on My Design Studio would be the best way to go about creating lots and lots, without lots of cost! 

As Stampin' Up! demonstrators, we have a mission statement which is known as the Statement of the Heart.  Here is it, 

This sums up everything that Stampin' Up! means to me, I love what I do, I want to share what I love, not only craft supplies, but memories and emotions. Not everyone likes to create, but everyone has the ability to enjoy the creativity of others. If I live my life in this way, celebrating and sharing love, my life and the lives of those around me will be different.

To every demonstrator, the statement of the heart means something different, but it does mean something. By creating a postcard for everyone I meet today, I'm sharing what I love and hopefully giving them something they can love too.

Now that you know why I created this, why not come back later in the week to find out how I created this!

MDS #100happydays ... a long way to go.....a long way to go...

Family time is such a big part of being happy! Sometimes though, friends are just as important in creating that happiness. The photo's on these pages are all from days out, near and far. With regards to MDS and creating these pages, I used two page templates, deleted the suggested placement of the photos and added photos where I wanted them. I then changed a few things, added a journaling block and wow, it has a completely different feel.

Do these pages look familiar? They should do, I've used this page template before! There are 24 different page templates in the 'delight in the day' photobook, with 100 photos to include, I'm looking at my final book being at least 30 pages. This means I'll be repeating some of the templates, but that just helps the books coordinated look. 

Here are the pages, that I previously used this template for, you can check out the full blog post here.

They were the first few pages I did. I used the templates exactly as they appeared, and chose photos to match. As I progress through the book, i'm starting to choose photos first, and then adapt a template to fit. Is there an obvious difference? I would love to hear your opinions on how the two compare...

Crossing the half way point! Journaling a really important experience..

Today's layout marked the crossing of the half way point through my 100 happy days photo book. I loved the experience of being happy for 100 days, and in part that was probably due to the experiences I had in my life during those 100 days. 

 

At the beginning of February, I visited America for the first time. That alone, was a very big deal for me as it's something that's always been too far outside of my comfort zone. But what made this trip even more difficult was leaving my twin boys, not in the care of their Daddy, who unfortunately couldn't get the time off work, but to his wonderful parents. You can not imagine how hard looking after toddler twins is, particularly ones that don't sleep through the night, until you are faced with it. I honestly didn't know who I was more worried for! As things went, we all had an amazing experience, exhausting for many, but amazing none the less. I fell completely in love with America and my little niece Tabby. I can't wait to take the boys out there to meet her and experience the joy that American's have for making sure your alright!

Anyway, here is the layout

Does it look familiar? I've used the same right hand page earlier in the book, but it looks very different when the left hand side is changed.

Simply drop and drag - great results with mds!

This weekend has been a busy one! I went to my monthly scrapbooking crop in Exeter on Saturday, completing six 12"x12" pages! I was very very pleased, as my pile of to be finished layouts has been growing recently! Then yesterday i spent the day updating the website, writing documents and scheduling classes. After spending much of the day on the computer, I really wanted an easy drag and drop page for my mds album and this one was perfect! 

Even though it's simple, it's still really beautiful and most importantly fits perfectly in my album! That's 8 more photo's done!

More MDS Magic - We're now over a third of the way through!

As I become more confident with MDS, I'm taking longer with each page. Today I've even added extra photo blocks to the layout! With 100 photo's to scrap, i'm trying to get more photos per page but this comes as a huge task, each photo also has journaling that goes with it! I've used the add embellishment button a lot today to add extra journaling space, but using the search function and searching 'delight in the day' I've been able to make sure that everything I've selected will always coordinate. I've also added some ribbon that I found on one of the other pages - copy and paste - voila!

I'd love to know what you think?

I can't believe i'm creating this all from the basic download - it's just £13.95!

You can get it here item 130646

Happy Valentines Day

I love Valentines day.....not for all the romance but it's the one day of the year you can focus on those you love the most! I love creating valentines gifts - every single recipient knows how much love, care, effort, time and cost have gone into even the simplest smallest things. This year though, things are a little different...I'm 8500 Miles away from my husband Paul and my two lovely boys, and then there's the eight hour time difference! 

Nothing can make up for the fact I'm not at home decorating hearts, making heart shaped jam sandwiches and smothering my boys in hugs and kisses...but I still wanted them to enjoy valentines day. It meant crafting a child safe project! So with a little help and pin-spiration - I came up with these. 

Squishy welsh rugby balls :) in "Have a ball this valentines" packaging.

So where is the Stampin' Up! In this? Well, I used our great design software to create this packaging! MDS or My Design Studio is a great package that gives you great opportunities to create on the computer and then print out your projects. You can then leave them as I have here, or continue to craft in the traditional way, using your printed project to create a hybrid project.

MDS is available from the link below either as a free 30 day trial or you can purchase it for only £13.95.

http://www2.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryID=1793&dbwsdemoid=5010266

Once you've got the software, you can continue to add digital elements, like stampin' up! stamps and designer series paper or you can use just the elements that came free with the original software like I have with this project! There are also two MDS packages available as free gifts during sale-a-bration and I can't wait to get home to play with the one I choose with my latest order. 

So, sorry to those who missed out on valentines gifts this year - I will make up for it next year!! But I do wish you all a happy and love filled valentines 2014. X x x