Monday, December 12, 2011

My First MDS

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Hey Y'all. Well, it's another cold Monday here in  the DMV, but at least the sun is shining (weakly) and there is no precipitation. (YEA!) How was your weekend? I hope you had a Great one!

My weekend did not go as planned at all. It was still a good one, just not the one I really had planned. It started off ok, I got to sleep in on Friday, (always a plus), followed by a mani/pedi, then lunch with my sis and then we decided to throw in some quick shopping for my Christmas party Friday night, before my hair appointment. So as we're finding some outfits, I call to check and see what the dress code is only to find out it's been moved  to another night! Luckily I have that night off! On the plus side though, I got a really cute outfit, and I found a purse to go with it on Saturday at one of my favorite haunts, Target. (You did read that Tar-jay, right?), So, now party-less I got to spend the evening with my sis and nephews so I can't complain too much. My stampcamp for Saturday got moved to next weekend, which was actually ok, because it allowed me to go and get the bulk of my Holiday shopping done. Now if I can just get the cards done, and get everything mailed out this week, I'll be good to go. You'd think with all the cards I've been doing, I would have my Holiday cards done, but nope. More importantly, I have to get stamps or I won't even be able to send them out. I don't remember the last time I used regular snail-mail. Guess that's why I have such a back-log of cards at home, huh? The good news about the last minute date change is there will probably be at least two more people which will be great for my hostess! I had to work Saturday night but then got to go to a party with some friends for a little belated B-day gathering. Yesterday I went to a Pampered Chef party with my stampin buddy April and met some really nice new friends, especially Sherry who I have a feeling will def be a partner in crime (sooner than later, I have a feeling)! And of course we had football, right up to midnight so you know it was a good weekend, even if last night's game didn't end the way I would have liked it too.

So with that said, let's chat about football. I'm so ready for the College Bowl games to start up because I am really missing my College Ball!  :-(  NFL wise though it was a mixed afternoon yesterday. As you know by now, I have 3 main teams, The Patriots, The Cowboys, and anyone who plays the Redskins. So yesterday was easy since my boy Tom and the Pats were playing the Redskins. Winnah, Winnah, Chicken Dinnah! Now, while I was waiting for the Cowboys to play there was Miami vs Eagles....SMH....I told you if I bragged on them they would probably just go back to disappointing and they lost BIG! I stick by my assertion that they are the South's Redskins. With the caliber of players they have they should simply not do so poorly on a consistent basis and continually disappoint their fans. Over in Denver, Timmy T and his team, pulled out a last minute win over the Bears. Did you see this game? Oh Holy Smokes!!! There was about 5 minutes left and the score was 10-0 and they come back to win. Their kicker kicked a 59yd'er to tie the game! Who does that?!? 59 yards! And then went on to kick the winner in OT. AMAZING!!!!! N.O. beat Tennessee and then came the last game of the night. The Cowboys vs the Giants. This was just a game of lead changes that went right down to the wire. Those dang giants called a Time Out with 6 seconds left, to ice the kicker for the winning FG, which had already been put into play by the time all the whistles were blown and split the uprights! But if you looked on replay he called it in time, the refs were just slow to blow, which I have to say Really BLOWS! Especially since the next attempt was blocked and we lost by 5. Cowboys and Giants are now tied and they meet again on 1/1. I will be so sad when football season is over, but you know who will be glad? My studio assistants. Yep, Duecey and Bitty HATE football season. Me yelling at the T.V. gets me more than one Evil - Kitteh - Eye a game. Yep, they will be glad, at least until baseball season starts back up full swing! :-)

On to stamping, I finally got around to playing with my birthday present, my MDS!  I've decided to try a new feature here and add MDS Mondays to my End of the Week Technique and have two regular challenges for myself. This will allow me to add one more routine post here and not only challenge myself to step out of my box, but also to develop my skill with MDS. I'm very excited about this and hope you will be too. I just have the basic program at this point so we'll see how it goes.

I had seen on the Utah Divas page that this weeks challenge would be to incorporate Polka Dots or Stripes on a MDS project and I managed to use both. I have to say, I did this card much quicker than I had anticipated and that was even with making a revision. It only took me around 30 minutes which I think was pretty good.

Here's the final card-


This was all done without any additional downloads. I was excited to use the striped DSP for my second layer and the sprinkles on top of my cupcake look like "polka-dots" to me. What do you think?

Here was the original-


I liked it, but I just felt like I wanted a little something more. I love ribbon, but don't have a lot at home to choose from yet, so I don't incorporate it into a lot of my cards. I really like that with MDS I have so many ribbon choices already built in and can change the colors too. For my ribbon I layered 2 Brocade Blues on my card and then layered a Whisper White one right in the center. I then made two bows sized them like I wanted them and then layered them too. So quick and easy! I Likee!!!! The only thing I couldn't figure out was the ribbon placement. I actually wanted it to tuck under the second layer instead of going across the entire card, but other than that I was really excited about the finished look.

This MDS is going to be really helpful for me because you know there's no way I could have gone back and added that ribbon on a real card. That's one of the really nice benefits of creating cards in MDS, you can do Mock-Ups to see if you're going to like a design or see what changes you want to make before you actually cut cardstock and adhere it. What a time saver as well as money saver! Plus the biggest bonus- Built- in Rulers. So easy to make sure everything is equal and placed just right! The one real downside I've found is unless I plan on doing a Hybrid card Tink can't have her way with my cards. Now, if there is a glitter function on MDS, I don't know about, I hope one of you will chime in and let me know, because that would be one download I would be getting STAT!!!!

Now you know I think the inside should be pretty too, so even though this is digital, I couldn't just leave you with a card front. Here's the inside-


Another feature I really like it the ability to change the opacity, so it's just like stamping off. I added a cute little trio of balloons to pretty up the inside and lightened them up, just like I would have done on a regular card. I wish I had been able to find a "string" stamp but I think it still looks cute. And if I go by my standard of "Would I like to receive this either in the mail, or by E-mail?", I have to say, YES!

What do you think? I'm pretty excited about my first MDS project and how well it goes with the theme. Hopefully I will be able to link this to the Utah Diva's MDS Monday page (I don't see a linky-tool, I'm waiting for a response from them) If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

As always, if today's project inspires you to create, I would love to see it!

If you need supplies to create this or other project in either MDS or our regular product, visit my ONLINE STORE. There's still plenty of time to get your Holiday shopping done too.

I hope to see you back here soon.

Till then,

Be Safe,
Shan


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Thanks so much for taking the time to share a little love with me. I hope you find this blog to be as much of a blessing to you as you are to me. :) Be Safe- Shan