Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  Hope you are having a wonderfully fun day!  We're working on carving pumpkins right now, and the boys did a little trick or treating this morning at a local shopping center.  They're very excited for "real" trick or treating around the neighborhood tonight, though! 

I wanted to share with you a few more Halloween treat ideas.  These are some bags and treats I created for the boys to give their classmates and teachers.  The bag toppers were made with Big Shot dies (either the Top Note or the Scallop Square) and then I added stamped and punched images.  Here they are:

And, I also made a few treat-filled bats -- got the idea from Patti Lee (thanks!!!) -- you can see her original idea along with template and instructions on her blog here.   Photos of my bats:

Now, back to pumpkin carving!

Happy Halloween!

Michelle

digital night and day! . . . and other new digital downloads available now!

I am currently working on a very special digital album.  This album will be a gift for my brother and sister in law, so I don't want to share it all here and spoil the surprise, but I did want to give you a sneak peek at the first page and explain one of the quick and easy techniques I am using to create my own custom backgrounds on the pages.  Here's the first page:

The background on this is actually created in three layers.  First, I added Pumpkin Pie as the background color for the page, then toned down the color a bit by adjusting the "opacity."   (This is as easy to do as sliding a control button until you get the look you want!)

Next, I added one of the beautiful designer papers from the Night and Day digital download.  Instead of adding this as the background, which would have replaced the pumpkin pie, I selected the "Add as Page Layer" button.  Then, I resized the paper to take up the entire page.  Again, I adjusted the opacity to about 80%, so that the pumpkin pie color would show through and the paper would be lighter and more lacy looking. 

I repeated the process one more time with another of the designer papers from Night and Day (love this stuff -- marketed as Halloween paper, but so much more versatile than that!  And, you have to love being able to change the background color behind it!) 

To complete the page, I added the photo, the text, and the digital scallop stamps.  This software really is terrific -- easy to learn for beginners, but yet with plenty of creative options for those who have been doing digital scrapbooking for a while! 

Speaking of creative options, there are also some new digital downloads available for My Digital Studio.  They are: 

Night And Day Designer Series Paper - Digital Download 118115

$4.95

This elegant, symmetrical designs of this Designer Series Paper digital download for My Digital Studio complement any project. And the simple black on white colors make coordination with other Stampin’ Up! products a snap.  (Actually comes with a cool scrapbook page layout as well!)



Cast A Spell Designer Series Paper - Digital Download 118114
$4.95

This Designer Series Paper digital download for My Digital Studio is guaranteed to put a spell on you. Perfect for spooky Halloween fun, this paper will put a little magic in everything you make!

Coordinates with Stampin’ Up!’s exclusive colors: Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Perfect Plum.

(And, comes with a predesigned greeting card!)

Circle Circus Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download

$5.95

The perfect accent for your next project can start with a simple circle. The Circle Circus Stamp Brush Set for My Digital Studio offers circles with all sorts of lively, fresh designs to choose from. Whether you're decorating a tag, creating a card, or adding dimension to a page, you can find a design that works for you!

Medallion Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download 118124
$1.95

The large damask-style medallion stamp brush is perfect for backgrounds and will lend a touch of Parisian elegance to any project.

School Days Ii Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download 118116

$9.95

Lucky for us, school doesn’t have to last forever, but the good memories of school still can. With the School Days II stamp brush set for My Digital Studio you can make cards, scrapbook pages, or photo albums that make sure those good days are not forgotten, and shared with those you love.

Great Moments Ii Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download 118121

$9.95

What are your greatest moments? Sometimes it is tough to remember them all. Keep your greatest moments where you can find them with the Greatest Moments II stamp brush set for My Digital Studio. With so many images to choose from, you’ll always have what you need to make that moment last forever.


Pumpkin Patch Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download 118122
$9.95

With the versatile Pumpkin Patch stamp brush set, there’s no limit to the Halloween treats you can create! Use 2-step stampin' to create cards, gifts, or tags, and everything you make can be unique!

Want to learn more about My Digital Studio, try it out, or order Digital Downloads?  (By the way, something cool to know about Digital Downloads is that there is no shipping and no tax on your downloads -- simply order them through my website and you will be given links/instructions to download them to your computer!)
 
You can visit my Stampin' Up! website or please contact me for more information!

Halloween Fancy Favor Bags

For the open house this weekend, I decided to put together a few ideas with the Fancy Favor Boxes.  The black box is my spooky monster box . . . just decorated with different fall color circle punches and googly eyes.  The inspiration for this came from a card in the October issue of Cards magazine.

I also made a couple of pumpkin boxes, the first one using circle punches for the eyes, nose and mouth . . . and leaves.  Used small paper strips, curled around a stylus for tendrils (thanks for the idea, Jane!)  Then, decided it would be fun to use the three heart punch to make a pumpkin box (photos of that below).

Deal of the Week #4 -- Time for a Princess or Pirate Party!

These final deals of the week are from October 26, 10 AM (MT) through October 31, 11:50 PM (MT).  Please send me an email (click the email me tab on the side) to take advantage of this great deal!

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
116214	174	Princess Party Kit	$15.95	$9.99
116213	175	Pirate Party Kit	$15.95	$9.99

More info about these fun kits:

Princess Party Kit


You can make your princess's fantasies come true with our Princess Party kit. Your little princess and seven of her ladies-in-waiting can celebrate a splendid happily-ever-after complete with invitations, decorations, and dazzling crowns to create and wear.
■ Contains products to create invitations, crowns, purse boxes, banner, and food toppers for eight
■ Coordinates with the Princess Time stamp set and Princess personalized name stamp


Pirate Party Kit

Hoist the Jolly Roger and get ready to have a swashbuckling good time! Gather your little buccaneer and his or her mateys for a pirate party of the finest sort, complete with invitations, decorations, and eye patches to create and wear. This kit contains products you need to create party invitations and decorations for eight guests.
■ Contains products to create invitations, eye patches, banner, treasure boxes, and food toppers for eight
■ Coordinates with our Pirate Time stamp set and Pirate personalized name stamp

Batty for You

Still battling the flu here, turns out we weren't quite as over it on Tuesday as it at first appeared . . . hopeful that we'll all be well again soon, though.  In the meantime, had a quick project to share with you (not to worry, assembled long before the flu struck, so the candies are safe!) 

These were created with medium cello bags, topped with a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock cut with the Big Shot Top Note die.  I attached the die to the bag with sticky strip (just a small amount on each side, so it would hold firm but wouldn't be too hard to open).  Then, I embellished that with wide Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain ribbon, and the Batty for You image from the Batty for You stamp set (stamped in basic black on pumpkin pie, layered on a Basic Black circle and then a Scallop Circle cut from the Night & Day Specialty Paper). 

- Michelle

Open House Card #3 -- Halloween Smiles!

Here's the third card I prepared for my Holiday Mini Open House make and takes:

This uses the adorable Twick or Tweet stamp set, along with the Day and Night Specialty Designer Paper.  The designer paper is used behind the pumpkin image, for the black frame, and the polka dot window sheet at the bottom.  Also used some pumpkin pie striped grosgrain to complete the card.

Everyone is doing much better around here, so looks like the open house will be on for this Sunday!  If you are in the area, please stop in and make a card (or two or three . . . ).   

- Michelle

It'll be a Green Christmas . . . with etching . . .

When I saw this wonderful tutorial on emboss resist glass etching, I knew I had to try it for myself!  And, I knew just what I wanted to etch on . . . I'd been saving some cool hexagonal jars from one of my favorite grocery stores to recycle into gift packaging!  The nice thing about these jars is that they have square surfaces, which makes it easier to stamp on them than it would be on a rounded surface.  Plus, I figured there was no need to create a mask -- I'd let the shape of the side I was working on be the boundary for my etching instead.  So, without further ado, a couple photos of the first jar I created:

The Merry Christmas stamp is from the Holiday Best stamp set, and the Snowman is from the Snow Buddies set.  (Actually, used this technique on three sides, the third side is snowflakes from the Snow Buddies set--you can catch a glimpse of it on the left side in the top photo). 

Basically, what you do is wipe the glass with your Embossing Buddy (I'm usually lazy about this, but this is one of those projects where it is very important for best results), stamp your image in versamark, apply embossing powder, shake off loose powder, and emboss.  Then, brush on your etching cream and let set following the manufacturer's directions.  Rinse away the etching cream (the embossing powder will probably come off, too, but if not, you can gently scrape it away), and you're done!  I found it best to do one side of the jar at a time.

The second jar, I filled with chocolate-mint candies and will send to a good friend as part of a swap soon.  For this one, I used the Season of Joy stamp set.  And, I couldn't resist sponging Champagne Shimmer Paint on to add sparkle to the piece I stamped and attached to alter the lid!  Here's how it turned out:

Finally, I found some box-shaped glass ornaments tucked away and tried it out on one of those:
 

Too much fun!  Try this out -- I'd love to see what you create with this technique, too!

- Michelle

New Blog Header & Deals of the Week #3

Happy Monday!  With my little guys not feeling well yesterday, I actually ended up with a little unexpected time to play around on the computer while they napped.  So, put together a new blog header for Halloween using My Digital Studio!  Super easy -- just created an 8.5 x 11 project page, picked the papers and stamps I wanted, and then, when finished creating, saved the project as a jpeg.  In a photo editing program, I cropped it down from 8.5 x 11 to its current size (not sure how to do that in My Digital Studio yet . . . will let you know when I figure it out!) to upload to the blog.  And, viola, here it is. 

Also, it's Monday, which means a new set of Deals of the Week!



The third deals of the week are from October 19, 10 AM (MT) through October 26, 9:50 AM (MT):

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
114348	179	Basic Jumbo grommets	$6.95	$4.49
109857	179	Mini Library clips	$12.95	$8.99
112571	179	Circle Designer brads	$5.95	$3.99
112581	179	1/2" Library clips	$6.95	$3.99

Don't miss out on these great deals -- contact me today to place your order -- or order online anytime at www.michellevanwiggeren.stampinup.net (click on the "shop now" button to go to my store!)

- Michelle

Snow Much Fun!

Sorry about the pun -- just couldn't resist!  Also just couldn't resist sharing another one of the cards for the Holiday Mini Open House this Sunday!

This one is made using the Snow Buddies set from the Holiday Mini.  The snowmen in it are just so adorable.

 The layout for my sample is taken from page 5 of the Holiday Mini.  Instead of the cute circle border, though, I used some Bride Specialty Paper, and brayered Certainly Celery classic ink onto it.  The foil on the specialty paper resists the ink . . . so you can use this specialty paper for way more than just bridal/wedding purposes! 

The snowman is colored using Watercolor Wonder Crayons, and I also added some Frost White Shimmer Paint . . . and stamped a few snowflakes using the shimmer paint, too.  

The greeting was created in My Digital Studio -- wanted the words to be white, but didn't want to emboss or use a rub on.  So, My Digital Studio to the rescue . . . I created what I wanted, printed on Whisper White, punched with the Scallop Square and adhered.  Here's the close up of it:

Hope you have a terrific weekend! 

Happy stamping!
Michelle

Autumn Shimmer Mist Cards

My Holiday Mini Open House is coming up this Sunday, so I've been working on samples and make and take cards for that!   Hope you will drop by and stamp with me if you are in my area!

For one of the make and takes, I wanted to offer a card appropriate for Thanksgiving and had recently purchased some of the gorgeous Autumn Meadows Designer Series Paper in the Holiday Mini (when you follow the link, be sure to click on more images below the photos of the paper, so you can see the full sheets!  The small clips just don't do the papers justice . . . ).  I also recently purchased the Medallion stamp from the big Idea Book, and thought these would be fun to use together.  As I was working with them to create cards, I also decided to experiment with some Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint on the cards . . . amazing stuff . . . creates a beautiful golden glow and adds some sparkle on whatever you use it on. 

Here's the card I decided to use as one of the make and takes:

For this card, I sponged the shimmer paint on the focal image, around the edge of the Soft Suede layer framing the focal image, on the greeting, and on the bottom part of the card base.  Hard to capture all the shine and sparkle but you can definitely see a hint of it in the photo.

 And, one of the other cards I created:




















 Come try this out at the open house -- or let me know if you'd like supplies and/or more detailed instructions for how to create your own autumn shimmer mist cards!

-Michelle

Tiger Cub Scrapbook Fun

Last night was my oldest son's first Tiger Cub Scout den meeting, and I lead the boys in a scrapbook-making activity to fulfill one of their requirements.  They made two pages (one where we'll eventually put a photo of all the boys in the den, and one for photos of themselves with their family), and put them in a simple blue binder.  They decorated the cover with their name (die cut using the Big Shot) and a punch art tiger cub.  Here's how Daniel's cover turned out:

And, here's a close up of his tiger cub:

The Tiger cub is made using a variety of Stampin' Up!'s Circle punches.  I had everything pre-punched, and attached to glue dots.  So all the boys had to do was peel and stick.  Then, draw their tiger's stripes and whiskers.  Super fun! 

-Michelle

Deal of the Week #2

Week 2 Deals of the Week

Item	Description	Special Price
115961	Perfect Setting Bigz XL die	$25.99
114515	Flower Burst Embosslits die	$5.99
116760	Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die	$25.49

To take advantage of these great deals, you can visit my website or send me an email!

My Digital Studio -- Album #2

For the second album I made with My Digital Studio, I used the Summer Home professionally designed pages, with only very slight modifications.  Love how quick and easy that made it to put the album together!  Truly, the most difficult part was selecting the photos I wanted to use from the 100s I had taken. 

Here are some of the pages I made:

Hope you enjoyed them and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

- Michelle

My Digital Studio -- Extreme Halloween Card

By now, you've probably figured out that I've been having great fun scrapbooking with My Digital Studio . . . what you may not know is that I've also been creating cards.  In fact, just today, I decided to create a digital Halloween card. 

Just as for scrapbooks, there are designer templates that you can use to create cards.  However, I decided to design this one completely on my own.  Here's the front of it:

And, the inside pages:

After selecting the card size I wanted to create (this one is a standard portrait card), I selected my background color.  I chose Basic Black; but I didn't want it full strength, so I made the color more opaque.  Then, I added Basic Black Villa Designer Paper as a page layer (doing this allows you more freedom in the size and shape of the paper, instead of just having it completely fill the background).  I changed the opacity of the designer paper and added a mat behind it, so that it would appear more grayish in the spaces that are usually white.  Also added a Basic Gray grosgrain ribbon.

Then, to create the inside pages--and have the basic design from the front carry through to the inside--I used an option in the program that allows you to add a copy of the page you've just created.  That way the papers and ribbons all line up.  Super simple, super neat, and super fast!


For the images, I used the Eat, Drink, and Be Scary digital stamps, as well as what is becoming one of my very favorites -- the digital Extreme Elements stamp set (you can make so many fun looking effects with these).  Oh, and can't forget the cat -- that's from the program's Cute Cats digital stamp set!

Aside from the orange splatter at the top of the second page, the orange effect around the stamps is a drop shadow.  You can see this for instance around the spiders and stars.   To create this effect, I changed the drop shadow from the default Basic Black to Pumpkin Pie, and then boosted the opacity to 100% and used a medium blur.  (Sounds more complicated when I write it out than when you do it in the program -- it's actually as simple as a few mouse clicks).

Each page also uses a curly label punch -- it is Basic Black with a grey mat on the first two pages, and then Basic Gray with a Going Gray mat on the third page.

And, there's a digital hodgepodge hardware star brad on the first page.  Can you tell -- I just love all the embellishments and creative possibilities in this program!!! 

- Michelle

Golden Wings of Friendship Revisited . . .

Just wanted to give you a quick update . . . finally had a chance to finish off some of the embossed Wings of Friendship images I had made at the same time as the pieces for the cards in this post.  My friend Irina (who, by the way, has wonderful blog candy on her blog right now--go check it out!), had a great suggestion for a color combo -- she suggested blue and brown.  I liked that idea, and decided to go with In Colors and create a Bermuda Bay (which is somewhat more turquoise-y or green blue, I guess . . . Brocade or Ballet Blue would have been pretty, too . . .) and Soft Suede card.  I also changed the layout a bit from my last cards.  Here's the final product:

Also decided to try out Pumpkin Pie with the Soft Suede.  Rather than sponging on this card, I scribbled with Watercolor Wonder Crayons, then spread the color with an Aquapainter.  Here's how that card turned out so far (still needs at least a greeting):

For the white flower near the bottom, I decided to try scribbling in the petals with my white gel pen, then using an Aquapainter to spread the white ink around.  Really like how that came out -- think it would be a fun technique to use to color some Halloween images . . . or even snowmen! 

- Michelle

My Digital Studio -- Pages from my first album!

Scrapbooking with the new My Digital Studio is really fun and easy.  And, I love the finished product!  Last week, my first scrapbook arrived on my doorstep from the publisher.  If you are in my area, you are welcome to check it out at my holiday mini open house on October 18th (please check my calendar or email me for more details!)  And, if you'd like your own copy of this fabulous software or would like more information about it, just let me know (or order online anytime!.)

My first album is 36 pages long, so not possible to share it all here.  However, wanted to share at least some of the pages!  For this album, I used colors, papers, and even some layouts from the Happy B-Day predesigned pages, and really customized them with stamps and more, to suit my photos and style.  So, without further ado, some pages:

Will have more pages to show you soon, too. . . just finished my second album yesterday! 

- Michelle