Step-by-Step MDS Page and a Video

The blog posts have been a bit thinner than usual.  What have I been up to?  Well, on Friday I mentioned the e-cutter I recently obtained.  I've been playing with that for about a week... fun, fun!  But even more time consuming has been the learning curve on creating videos.  Holy Baloney, Tony!  Without the proper software, this is very painful!  I'm currently on a 30-day free trial.  I sure hope Hubby agrees to let me purchase this software which has made my life easier.

Meanwhile, I've had a request to do some step-by-step tutorials of MDS Monday pages to get some beginners going.  I'd be happy to help out, when I have the time.  Warning though, triathlon training season is about a week away, so time will be dwindling very quickly in the near future.

Since I made a video tutorial to accompany by Friday Mashup page, why not start there?  There was a sketch to start with, so I add some sketch elements to my page first.  I'm pretty literal; I add the sketch to the background and start adding punches (Labels Collection 2, flag, circle) directly over the sketch.

From there I pick some patterned papers and draw my color combo from the papers.  I knew I wanted the Spring Fever kit, so I just played with patterns until I found a combo I liked.  This could end up taking a loooong time.

• Delete the sketch from your workspace.
• Add Spring Fever paper to Labels Collection punch (hint: double-click the punch shape to be able to zoom in or out on the pattern in a pop-up window)
• Add Twitterpated paper to flag punch
• Add photo to circle punch
• Adjust the flag size to your liking.  Add a standard drop shadow and change the offset to x=2, y=2.  Copy and paste a second flag.  Angle the flags at 7 and -7 degrees.

• Add Textured Whisper White card stock to the background.
• Add honeycomb stamp from Lemonade Stand kit, Basic Gray, opacity 20%, and send to back.  I had also added a drop shadow, offset x=2, y=2, to make the pattern stand out a little more.
• Add Spring Fever borders and layer behind the Label Collection punch.  Drop shadow offset x=2, y=3.
• Add little bunny and chick graphics.  I had mirrored the chick.  No drop shadow.

 

• Add Very Vanilla designer rosette, recolored Basic Black.  Add drop shadow at opacity ~52%, blur medium, offset x=1, y=1.  (hint: use the align button on top tool bar for quick centering)
• Copy and paste Twitterpated flag punches, resize, and fill with striped Spring Fever paper. (hint: use align button)
• Add "fishtailed" Certainly Celery satin ribbon following the video tutorial below.
• Add a text box.  I actually used a couple text boxes to get the spacing right.  Font: Bodoni MT Conde, Beautiful ES.
  

• Now some tweaking.  I added a white mat to my circular photo, drop shadow offset x=2, y=2, and adjusted the size.
• The Labels background was a bit bright for me.  I changed the opacity to 80%.
• Copy and paste in place the Labels Collection punch.  Edit to 100% opacity, fill with Whisper White color, add Basic Gray mat, size=1.  Add a drop shadow opacity 35%, blur medium, offset x=1, y=1.  Send the white punch behind the Labels punch filled with Spring Fever paper.

Let me know if this tutorial was helpful.  If I get good feedback, I may be brave enough to try it again.  :)

Here is the video for the custom punch trick and filling a custom punch with an embellishment.  If you prefer photos, I have a few on my previous post.  First edited video ever... be gentle, please!  :)

Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel.  I'll be creating more videos very soon.  Thanks for stopping by!