School's. Out. For. Summer.

I can't believe that the kids are all out of school today! My oldest will be starting Kindergarden next year but school being out deeply effects me. Why? I now have an endless supply of babysitters. YES! Troy is so happy that all of his friends can play all day now, he hated waiting for everyone to get home from school. One downside of being an August birthday when I held him back. But I am glad I made that decision!

I wanted to make something with Troy that he could give his best friends when they got home today. I made these candy airplanes growing up so this took me back to the day :) Gum airplane wings, Lifesaver wheels....oh to be a kid again.

All you need:

But of course I had doll them up a bit :) I wrapped the gum wings with "Safari Kids" paper and added a little embellishment. I also added a little message to the side of the Smarties.

They were a big hit with this 5 year old :) Love this boy.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend and takes the time to remember loved ones that have passed on before us. See you here next week!

After making my big college of photo shadow boxes, I had some extra frames laying around with pictures from our last photo shoot. Sometimes I wonder what to do with enlarged photos after I am done with them. I wanted to use one on a scrapbook page to show that you really can use LARGE photos on a 12x12 page! 

This picture is a 10x10 print for a large frame I have. It filled up the majority of the piece of 12x12 paper so I did my title and journaling right on top of the photo. I love how it turned out. 

{DCWV: Scallop Paper Stack & Kids Rub Ons, May Arts: Ribbon} 

And just for fun, thanks to the crop tool, you never know where I am really taking pictures!! Like this one on my front porch! All depends on the natural light and what time of day it is :)

Have a great day! See you back on Friday!

Life is Good.

Wow. What a weekend. Originally, I was not going to post anything about what I was up to this weekend. But after thinking about it, I would not be representing a true part of me through this blog if I didn't. This weekend changed my life! 

My best friend, Amberly, has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She was diagnosed in September and it has been one of the hardest things in my life to deal with. Scans in April showed that the cancer is moving at an alarming rate, despite all efforts to slow it down. After the discouraging results, I decided to turn all of my anger and "life is not fair" frustrations into something positive. 

In 3 weeks, with the help of LOTS of my friends, we planned and put on an all night softball tournament in our little town to raise money to send Amberly, her husband and her 4 little boys to Disneyland. 22 teams, 300+ ball players, 150 raffle items and a community that came together. (The DCWV scrapbook basket was a huge seller at the silent auction!) The event was Friday night/Saturday and it was a looong weekend that I will never forget. It was life changing as I witnessed the "good" in so many people around me. We have the entire vacation booked through one miracle after another. Every aspect of the trip is planned, booked and paid for. And we still have $15,000 that was raised for experimental medicine and bills. This is the WAY condensed version of this story. But Amberly and this event is a huge part of my life and I wanted to share. We are already brainstorming how we can do it again next year and help another family grant a wish.  

I think I have recovered from my sleep deprivasion!! And I am ready for all some fun things at work, leading up to the CHA Summer Trade Show in Chicago in July!

I have had this project in the back of my head for a while now. I found these shadow boxes at a warehouse sale at work a while ago. I don't think we sell them anymore but you can find similar boxes at Ikea. You could also use black frames, really in any size that you can find.

{The cute couple on this packaging are my two bosses. How cute are they!! And yes, they are as nice as the look in the pictures!}

Using Photoshop Elements, I created 9- 8x8 files using pictures from a recent photo shoot with a local photographer. I simply enlarged the photo and then added either a brush effect or text to each photo. I wanted to keep them pretty simple. I printed the 8x8 prints at Persnickety Prints which prints amazing photos. Try them out, I promise you will not be disappointed!!

Hung each frame on the wall in a grid pattern. Tried to keep them as straight and even as we could but it was a very time consuming task. I decided I am not perfect so why would I expect my frames to be?? :)

I hung these in my living room and I can't wait to have someone stop by my house so I can show them off. I love how easily some digital elements were mixed with photos to create a hybrid look. This look is HOT right now!

I hope everyone has a great Monday! See you on Wednesday!

And we have a winner....

{Picket Fence Digital Kit by 300dpi.com by DCWV Digital}

Thank you to everyone who entered!! Another giveaway will be here before we know it!

Have a fabulous weekend! See you back here on Monday!

Gloomy Day Giveaway!!

Happy Wednesday!! It is almost lunch time and I am still in my jammies. One of "those" days when there is too much to do to take the time to get dressed :) I am teaching our DCWV employees a digital scrapbooking class tomorrow so I have been busy getting ready for that. It has been so fun to see these women of ALL ages fall in love with digital scrapbooking!! 

Well, you saw what the Sizzix fairy brought me on Monday and it didn't take me long to put the Tim Holtz Texture Fades to the test. See, they have been advertising that you can emboss chipboard unlike typical embossing folders. So the first thing I did was get my DCWV Chipboard Stack out and rolled a piece through my Big Shot with the Damask folder.

Well, it worked like a charm. The finishing embossed looks looks amazing on our chipboard! It looks extra cool since our chipboard stack pieces are pieces of chipboard covered in textured cardstock. Texture to the max!!

I made a quick gift card holder for an upcoming wedding that I have. I added a second piece of chipboard to the back and used my Crop-a-dile to attach them with a big eyelett. 

The eyelet keeps the chipboard loose enough that you can open and shut the card by twisting the top piece of chipboard. Added ribbon and a few DCWV Mango Frost embellishments and it was done! And since I am too lazy to go pick out a gift card, cash it is :)

I love it since it looks more like a gift than a card! I know Alyssa will love it.

Well it's dark and kinda gloomy here outside at my house so I think today would be a fabulous day for a giveaway! The question is easy this time since I always hearing the answers as I meet "Stack-a-holics" across the country, 

What is your favorite DCWV Stack of all time?

{winner will receive THREE 12x12 stacks of their choice}

3 ways to enter!!

1. Leave me a comment here with your answer

2. Leave me a comment on our DCWV Facebook Page under the giveaway thread 

(be sure to "like" our page!)

3. Become a new "Follower" of our blog. 

I will combine all of these entries when I pick my winner through www.random.org!

Good luck!! I will pick a winner on Friday!

a little "thank you" is in order...

It is no fun to wake up on a Monday morning to this...

But the day instantly perks up when this shows up on the porch from the Sizzix fairy...

So I guess today IS going to be a good day!!!

I stayed up late last night making a teacher "thank you" from Troy's preschool teacher. Yes, it's May which means the end of the school year and teach gifts!  I can't believe Troy is finishing his 3rd year of preschool this week and will be a big Kindergardener in August!! So excited for him!

Well, Miss Jen LOVES treats (just like me) so I knew I could give her anything with chocolate and she would feel appreciated :) So I wrapped up a few rolls of Rolos with paper from the Mango Frost, Metallic & Pastel Stacks. Used Scor-tape to wrap the paper up and to also add the Hershey Kiss on the bottom. Love that stuff. 

Tied them up with some May Arts ribbon and added a quick rub on "thank you" line. School pencils that are "almost" too cute to eat!! They were super easy and I think Miss Jen will love them. I wouldn't be able to eat them, I would just put them on my shelf and admire them forever!

Have a fabulous Monday! There will be a giveaway this week so stay tuned!! Be back on Wednesday :)

Fabulous Paper Flowers

There is nothing better than opening up your email to find a "look at what I made with your products" email! It is amazing to be inspired by people and the creative ways that they think! I had to show off a unique project from one of our "stack lovers", Amy Holmes. 

                    

She was asked to decorate a window display for a local business with a spring theme. She created these gorgeous 3-D flowers with DCWV's Garden Party Stack. So cute! 

The flowers were taken from the idea of the Felt Chrysanthemum Pillow tutorial from her blog. She just used scrapbook paper instead! The flowers measure about 15" in diameter so they are quite large. She also used vintage lace, tissue paper, music paper, book pages, crepe paper and glitter to embellish them. She glued them back to back so they would be pretty from all angles.

Thank you for sharing this darling idea, Amy! I think once the rain has cleared up, I will make some of these to hang from my front porch. They just make me happy!

If you have created something fabulous with our Stacks, please share them with me by emailing me at erinmadsen@diecutsinc.com

What it is all about!!

What Mother's Day is all about.......

 Breakfast in bed. Toast buttered by a 5 year old literally ON my bed with the company of his favorite stuffed animal.

two homemade gifts made with love at church...too bad Colt ate my flower pot cupcake before he gave it to me. "It has my picture on it so it's mine, Mom." Makes sense.

a gorgeous hot pad made at Troy's preschool. "Mom you are wearing a blue dress and you are happy cause we are holding hands". Yes, son. You never want to hold my hand anymore so of course this would make me happy.

the only Mother's Day picture that was captured and it's blurry and Troy has bandaids on from a busted chin. 

my kind of perfect. 

A perfect day. 

I hope my boys always remember that homemade gifts are the best gifts in the world. And I hope I always remember that as well.  Grateful that my true passion in life is something that can bring joy to everyone around me. Making things with my hands sounds like a simple thing. But they really are the best "things". I hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day!

Wrapping up Mother's Day...

It's Friday!! Wow, what a week! I wonder if you have been as busy as I have been! Busy is good. I try and tell myself that to keep myself sane. :) Had a great day in the office with the DCWV team today. I love my days when I am there being creative and sharing what I love. And the boys spending a day in day care once every 2 weeks is like Christmas to them!! They want to go all the time, little stinkers!

I shared this in a digital training class with employees today and they loved it so I thought I would share it with you! I needed a quick way to wrap up my mom's Mother's Day gift so I could run it to her today. I don't keep wrapping paper in my office so things usually get stuck something random that I have laying around on my desk :) 

First, I made a quick digital card in PSE. Made a 5x7 document. Added a picture, a quick grunge frame and some journaling. Saved it and printed it on my photo printer.

I simply adhered the photo to the front of the bag. I used a repositionable adhesive so my mom can quickly take the photo off without damaging the card. Then I stuffed the gift in a brown lunch bag and stapled it shut. Grabbed a card from our Josephine Box of Cards and trimmed an inch off of it. Adhered it over the stapled end of bag. Added a little ribbon and that's it! I love dressing up a lunch bag as a gift bag...it's becoming my EASY signature way of wrapping :)

Finished product! My mom LOVED the packaging just as much as her herb markers that were waiting inside. Happy Mother's Day to all of the women in the world! Have a fabulous weekend and we'll see you on Monday!

A Mother's Day idea...

It's that time of the year where you have to start thinking, "What do I get my mom for Mother's Day?" It has snuck up on me this year! Yikes! Good thing when I saw my mom on Sunday she said, "Do you know what I want you to make me for Mother's Day?" What a great thing to hear...an actual gift idea! My mom is super hard to buy for since she just buys whatever she wants....I think my husband can relate when it comes to shopping for me!! 

Her gift request was some herb markers for her herb garden...good, I thought!! I could make a duplicate set for myself since I inherited her love of cooking with fresh herbs and have an extensive herb garden every year. Fresh Basil. Music to my ears :)

 I used Photoshop Elements 8 to make a 8.5 x 11 document and then used "Picket Fence Digital Kit by 300dpi.com by DCWV" to make my herb names & markers. My pieces are 1 inch x 10.5 inches. I kept the colors bright so they would show up easily in the herb garden.

Printed the document out on my standard printer.

Cut the strips out individually. Scored them in half, inked the edges & laminated them.

The lamination will protect the markers from the water sprinklers & rain!

I cut the laminated pieces out. Used my hot glue gun to glue down craft wood dowels that were cut in half. (do you like my glue gun storage pot? Love my 5 year olds art work!) 

Hot glue each side down.

All done!

The lamination made it very difficult to photograph out in the sun so the pictures really don't do it justice! They turned out so cute! I know my mom is going to love them!!

If you are wanting to purchase anything from the 300dpi.com store, here is a coupon code for 25% your entire purchase active for the whole month of May! Code: PRS-52010

Have a great day! See you back here on Friday!!

Monday's Mango...

So do you have a NSD hangover like I do?? I scrapbooked with friends til 1:30am on Friday night...then was up and at it all day on Saturday. I got A TON of stuff done, love that feeling! Need to finish my Disney digital book and then I will be "caught up". 

I knew just the thing to work on this morning to get me out of my "hangover"...the Mango Frost Stack & Embellishments!  The colors in this stack are gorgeous...tangerine, yellows, melon pink, greens and blues. A super versatile line of stuff if you ask me :)

I really love this line because of all of the fun embellishments that coordinate with it!! It's like candy in my scrappy candy store :)

Used a 1 3/4 circle punch to punch out circles to fill my 12x12 page. I punched 2 circles from each pattern and got a total of 49 circles.

A great way to get the adhesive on all of these little circles, my Xyron Creatopia Machine! LOVE THIS THING!!! Had no idea all of the things it could do...will show you more ways to use it soon!

This is how it came out of the machine, just peeled back the clear top and all had a perfect layer of adhesive.

It's just too pretty, had a hard time covering any of it up!! This is definitely a "happy stack" :)

{click photo to enlarge}

And here is the finished page! Just added 3 pictures and 2 embellishments. Love how different this layout feels because of the circles. It's like making your own patterned paper!

I hope everyone has a happy Monday!! Sun is in the forcast ALL WEEK here! It's about time, Utah!