An exciting day today as SCS unveils the new SU Creative Crew

For the past month I have kept a little secret.  But today is the day the Stampin' Up! Creative Crew is unveiled on SplitcoastStampers.com. Each month the crew is challenged to make 4 projects with a certain focus.  I will be on the Creative Crew January - April along with a few partners in crime.

I think the staff did a great job choosing the Creative Crew and believe me when you see what they have come up with for the huge January unveiling you will be as amazed as I am by their work.

You can view all of the projects by clicking HERE.  However, you can view my submissions immediately I will be posting each submission in a separate blog listing.

I chose to do all 4 of my entries in My Digital Studio.  I am so in love with this program that Stampin' Up! has produced, and it's truly amazing all of the capabilities it has.  You just have to be willing to play around a bit and not be afraid of it.

Shop with Me 24/7 to purchase My Digital Studio (MDS)

January 2011 Creative Crew "Catalog Focus"

Since I have not taken the opportunity to preorder from the new Occasions or Sale-A-Bration catalogs, I chose to use My Digital Studio (MDS) and some of the downloads made available from those catalogs to present you with the first Challenge give to us.

So without further adieu here goes nothing!
It's easy to make great pages when you have a willing subject that needs to be scrapped.

You can view all of the details for this page in the Creative Crew gallery on Splitcoaststampers.com or by clicking HERE to go directly to the page in My Gallery

Thanks for Looking!!

Shop with Me 24/7 to purchase all supplies used in this project.

Creative Crew, Challenge #2, Designer Series Paper/Color Focus

For the second challenge the Creative Crew was presented with we needed to either use the Love Letter DSP or a combination of Basic Black, Very Vanilla, and Riding Hood Red.  It's definitely a striking combo!!

Once again I looked to My Digital Studio to complete this challenge, and came up with this great card.  I think it's fantastic and it's almost too easy, and did I mention no mess to clean up either when you are done???

You can view all of the details at SplitCoastStampers.com by clicking HERE.  The "mirror image" is what really made this card happen, that and I just love the look of the Textured Cardstock and those new little Vintage Flowers are just awesome.

Shop with Me 24/7 to purchase all supplies used in this project.

Challenge #3 - Holiday Seasonal Focus - Wow em with Hearts

Ok, I know I sound like a broken record, but with MDS I made this happen.  The biggest reason I love using My Digital Studio (MDS) is

1. I can still keep track of my little ones
2. There is no mess to clean up
3. If I make a mistake, I can remove the object and restart with no waste
4. I can save, change, and edit at will
5. I can choose to print the item or send it electronically
6. It's a great way to share with everyone my projects
7. Downloads are way cheaper than buying stamps
8. I don't have glitter all over the house or in my hair

I am sure there are more reasons, and I will continue to add to those reasons as I explore and use it more or can think of something since I am working on coffee #3 right now, it was a long night :)

Ok back to the project, I almost forgot to add it!!

This challenge was to focus on Hearts, whether it was with punches, stamp sets, Dies, etc.

Well MDS has lots of hearts already in the program, in the form of Designer Series Paper (DSP)," Punches" and "stamps."  Stamps in MDS are referred to as brush sets and they are pretty forgiving as far as sizing goes so when you go to print they do not appear distorted if you have chosen to enlarge or shrink the stamp.

Again view all details on how I made this page come together HERE

Shop with Me 24/7 to purchase all supplies used in this project.

Challenge #4, the last one, What I Love About You

Our last focus was a scrapbook page focus, and it was to share about something I love and why.
Well I adore my family and doing what I can to make every day special, but even more so I love ensuring that the special days become extra special.  Fortunately, my husband and I make a great team and we can generally pull off something really fabulous.

So here ya go

Again view full details HERE

Shop with Me 24/7 to purchase all supplies used in this project.

It's your turn to play, I've shown you Mine, I want to see yours!

Now that you have seen my projects I encourage you to play along with us and start using those goodies.  You may want to do only 1 challenge or all 4, I just want you to start the New Year off using your stash!!
And remember, I am hear to provide you with inspiration, guidance, assistance and kudos.

Here's an explanation on how to use keywords when uploading your creations to splitcoaststampers.

The Creative Crew gallery will be generated by KEYWORDS so it is very important to remember to use them. It is easiest to just copy and paste the keywords as they are shown in each challenge to ensure they end up in the right galleries.

Each month we will have four challenges based on suggestions from demos, from the catalog, or from featured products, etc, these will be called "Focus Categories" for the purpose of these challenges. The main "focus categories" will be: Catalog Focus, DSP/Color Coach/Color Focus, Holiday/Seasonal Focus, Scrapbook Inspiration Focus 

The keywords chosen were based upon what the gallery needs to populate each month. It will seem like there is a lot of keywords, (which is why I suggest just copy & pasting when playing along  ) so I will try to explain what each one does for populating the gallery. 

CCREW(month)(year)(Category Focus) = Gallery projects directly related to individual challenges. Example = CCREW0111CF
CreativeCrew = Populates the entire CC Gallery
SUO = Stampin Up Only - use this if everything on the project came from SU!
SUM = Stampin Up Mainly or Mostly - use this you have an obvious product that isn't from SU (such as Copics, embossing folders, die cuts, contraband DSP, etc)

Here are the keywords you want to use to play along for January when you upload to splitcoaststampers.com, my suggestion is to just copy and paste the line, and either choose SUO or SUM depending on your supply usage.   Be aware "creativecrew" is 1 word, and you want to separate your keywords by commas.  You can view the challenge details on each of my blog listings that showcase that particular challenge, feel free to ask me if you need clarification on anything.  I will try to be as specific as possible

CCREW0111CF, Creativecrew, SUO or SUM  (Catalog Focus)

(Spring Showcase using any Spring 2011 Occasions or 2011 SAB product)

CCREW0111DF, Creativecrew, SUO or SUM  (DSP/Color Focus)

(Love Letter DSP or color combo of: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, and Riding Hood Red)

CCREW0111HF, Creativecrew, SUO or SUM  (Holiday/Seasonal Focus)

(Show me your SU-Stampin' Up! Heart - punch, sizzlets/dies, stamp sets, etc.  Wow me with your hearts!))

CCREW0111SF, Creativecrew, SUO or SUM  (Scrapbook-SB Inspiration Focus)

(What I Love About You - spouses, children, pets, parents, friends, ice cream, stamps, etc - something you love and why.)

Ok you get the gist - now start playing!!!!
Shop with Me 24/7 to purchase all supplies used in this project.