A Daring Adventure

I have such a blessed life, and I am always appreciative for it. Outside of paper crafting, I am an accountant with an amazing company that takes really great care of me. After 12 years in the Corporate Accounting department, our fearless leader, David, is moving to Australia to start a new job there (he’s staying with our company, but he won’t be in our office anymore). We’re a really close-knit group, so there are going to be a lot of emotions over the next week.

To send David off on his new journey, I was tasked with creating a card for us to all sign. I knew I needed a 6″ x 6″ card so that everyone could sign it, and I knew I wanted something masculine and appropriate for this event. I turned to MDS2+ and came up with this:
stampwithbrian.com - Daring Adventure.jpg
I love the idea of a hybrid card (one part digital, one part paper crafting). The textures on the front of this card are beautiful and professional-grade, so MDS really does its job.

Tips, Tricks and Reminders:

  • Layering made easy.  I wanted a slightly weathered look with my card front, so I paired some ink splatters and a weathered background with the sentiment. Aside from the fact that you can “undo” or “delete” elements you aren’t satisfied with, I love that you can alter the opacity of the images or the color of the images. It’s really cool! I lightened the Early Espresso and Baja Breeze ink splatters to better accentuate the wonderful sentiment.
  • Adding depth to the project.  The program also allows you to drop a shadow underneath a shape (I added it to the sentiment) and to change the opacity, color and clarity of the shadow. It’s the shadow that really adds depth to this card front.

Have you tried MDS? If you haven’t tried it, won’t you give it a try? You don’t have to completely give up playing with ink and paper to play around with digital.  Make it a hybrid event.

MDS elements:  Ink Splatters, Extreme Elements, Daring Adventure  MDS Colors:  Early Espresso, Baja Breeze  Papers:  Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze  Accessories: 3/16″ Corner punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Brian

My events.  My events are updated for October.  If you are in the Atlanta area (or have unlimited funds to fly here), check it out!  I’d love to have you in one of my classes.  Click on October Events above.

Join my team. Have you thought about being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator but have just put it off? Are you an orphaned Stampin’ Up! demonstrator who seeks the motivation and support to grow your business? Contact me today to discuss ways you can join my team and be inspired by my network of amazing stampers.

12 Comments

  1. Good morning! What a handsome card for David. I like your selection of collage stamping and this Early Espresso sentiment couldn’t be more perfect. So will you be sitting in David’s chair? That’s what I want to know!

    • Thanks! And did you notice the Baja Breeze? I just had to! It’s been long enough, hasn’t it? I’ve many years ahead of me before I’d have David’s job, but thanks for your confidence in me, Patti! πŸ˜‰

      • I did I did notice the Baja Breeze! I think you can pull it out it makes for a great Winter color so I’m sure we’ll see more of it! You’re knowledge of MDS should be shared on a DVD that you could sell for $20. like other Demos do. I own MDS2 and don’t dabble in it. Just imagine all of those $20 dollar bills coming your way from intimidated Demos and crafters alike looking for a simple How To Tutorial that You do so well!

      • I so agree with the demo. I don’t have the program yet, but now you’ve inspired me to get it! Absolutely gorgeous card! David {and the others} will so appreciate it!

  2. I love the dimension you’ve achieved in the graphics on the card! I’m hesitant to try MDS because I know I’ll have to purchase a good printer. What kind of printer do you have?

    • Hey Sue! There are several options for printing: you can actually sent the project electronically to Stampin’ Up!’s printers (there’s a button inside the program), you can take a file to Kinko’s (or similar) and have them print it for you on your cardstock or you can buy a really expensive printer. I have a low-grade color printer at home, but since this was work-related, I used the industrial-strength printer at the office. If I were going to make invitations or holiday cards with MDS, then I would defitely utilize Stampin’ Up!’s printing services.

  3. The first thing I noticed about this card was that Baja!! And I love it paired with the rich tones of Early Espresso. I’ve never tried the MDS program – scrapbooking isn’t my thing and for now, I’m still happy to get a little inky with my cards. It does seem to be gaining popularity though and your hybrid card is certainly tempting….

    • Linda, Thanks for your message! MDS will NEVER replace ink and stamps for me, but it sure is proving to be a nice supplement. Go for the 30-day trial. You’ll be glad you did. πŸ™‚

  4. Brian, this just the perfect sentiment and by the way the B.B. is the subtle color for this card. I think this is so right for a male without looking harsh …good for you ..you nailed it …MDS can be my next year`s adventure …using my up and coming new trimmer is this years. Oh , just curious do you ever offer any stamp -a-stack by mail ? I`m just curious because of your growing cast of admirers? Later Gator !

    • Hey Sonny! I’ve actually been working on crafting some packets of cards for my tens of readers. πŸ™‚ I really appreciate your support and will be sharing something about this sometime soon. After awhile, crocodile!

  5. Your boss will love his goodbye card!! And am sure your co-workers were proud to sign it!

  6. LOVE it Brian! As always πŸ˜‰

    I mailed my card for the swap on Wednesday, if you don’t get it let me know!

Leave a Reply to Brian Cancel reply