Spring is in the Air!

Stampin' Up! posted several pictures of Thanksgiving Point Gardens and I just had to share this one.  Its beauty is breathtaking and puts your mind at ease.  I'd love to see it in person!

You can see more pictures from the 2012 Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival on My Facebook Business Page.

While the view is not quite as spectacular in my garden, the butterflies are going crazy over the privet bush in my front yard.  You can see more pics on my personal Facebook page.

I'm enjoying the beautiful spring weather we are having at home and hope it is as great where you are.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Stampin' Up! Employee Appreciation Breakfast

Stampin' Up! posted some pictures from their Employee Appreciation Breakfast.  This was the handmade banner that was at their celebration.  You can see the rest of the pictures they posted on my Facebook Business Page.

The employee appreciation photos don't show how pretty the home office is.  Here is a picture of the center atrium area in the home office.

This Stampin' Up! postcard gives you a better view of what it looks like when you walk into the home office at the Riverton campus.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Blog Buttons for Bloggers Who Don't Know What They Are Doing

Whew, I spent most of the weekend wishing I was a blog designer while updating my blog.  Many thanks to the REAL blog designers who generously share their tips online.  This started with my wanting smaller blog buttons to reduce scrolling up and down to see everything.  Getting my social media icons onto one bar was the most difficult part.  Who would have thought that this little blog button bar would take all day to figure out?

 

First problem was that it's hard to google something when the name of the thing that you are looking for is a big mystery.  There are many posts about adding blog buttons so people can share your posts. I finally realized that I wanted "follow blog buttons" instead of "share blog buttons".  At this point, some of you may be laughing to much to read the rest of this post.  Like I said in the beginning, I am not an experienced blog designer.  HTML code and I are not good friends!

The other thing I learned is to search for Blogger blog button tips.  Why?  When you don't know what you are doing, at least get directions for the right type of platform.  Because my blog is hosted by Blogger, it helped to narrow the search.

Three posts were the most helpful for creating my social media button bar.

Stacy's post, Social Media Button Bar How-To  got me started on the right track.  She included a link to Project Alicia's post titled Idiots Guide to Adding Social Media Buttons to Blogger. Imagine my frustration when in the beginning I couldn't follow these instructions!   She gave fabulous instructions for getting the buttons and codes for "Your Picture URL."  The problem was that I didn't know how to get "Your Feed URL" for everything. When you read her post, the last part will make more sense.

Luckily, Single Dad Laughing had detailed instructions on how to find "Your Feed URL" in his post here. 

By putting the information in the three posts together, I finally got my social media button bar.  It took me a while to figure out how to fit the blog buttons in one row instead of two.  If you saw my blog early on Easter morning, these little social media icons were running amok!  They certainly didn't want to be the same size and line up together.  Lesson 461:  Sometimes it takes awhile (hours or days) for the changes you make to actually happen. 

For those REAL blog designers out there who share their knowledge, (and actually read this entire post) THANK YOU.  For those of you on a steep learning curve like me, stop and laugh at yourself now and then. Who knows, maybe your social media icons will shape up and get in a straight line when you aren't looking.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Happy Easter

Easter Blessings to everyone!

This cross is a digital version using the Modern Label Punch similar to the card I posted here.  This cross is easier to make with My Digital Studio than it is with paper punches.  That's because you can stretch the Modern Label Punch in My Digital Studio.  And by using the mat feature, you have fewer pieces to handle.  While I still love the texture of paper, this is a fun project to share with everyone for Easter. 


Three things that I enjoy about digital designing are: 

1.  I can find all of my supplies (usually).
2. You don't run out of your favorite paper or embellishment.
3. There isn't a mess to clean up after creating a project.

Why do YOU like digital designing? 

Digital Stampin' Supplies
124436  Easter Blossoms Stamp Brush Set  $3.95
129928  Afternoon Tea II Kit - Digital Download  $9.95
124412  Beautiful Butterfly Shapes - Digital Download  $0.95
125785  Flag Punch - Digital Download  $0.95

129336  Labels Collection Punch - Digital Download  $1.95
118853  Punch Shapes - Digital Download  $3.95
124330  Basic Pearls And Rhinestones - Digital Download   $1.95

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

My Facebook Page

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Summer Smooches Sneak Peek

Order your Summer Smooches products today!

The Summer Smooches Suite is a collection including the Bright Blossoms stamp set, bright and cheery paper, coordinating embellishments, fabric and digital downloads.

Here are my favorite products in the Summer Smooches Suite.

If you look at my new blog banner, you'll recognize the Summer Smooches Digital Kit.  That is what I used to make my banner and this card. 

The Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper is bright and colorful.  It also coordinates with the Summer Smooches fabric.

And the Petite Purse Die.  This makes it easy to cut a small purse that you can design in many different ways.  You can go to my Facebook Business Page to see the Stampin' Up! Tutorial.  It's a post from 4/1/2012.

Here is a list of all the products in the Summer Smooches special.  Go to my online store to see each of the products.

125495	Bright Blossoms Wood-Mount Set	$16.95
125497	Bright Blossoms Clear-Mount Set	$12.95
125409	Summer Smooches Designer Paper	$10.95
125583	Daffodil Delight 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	$10.95
125411	Summer Smooches  Fabric	$9.95
125606	Petite Purse Bigz L Die	$32.95
129919	Summer Smooches Photobook Template	$17.95
129601	Summer Smooches Digital Kit	$9.95

The Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper coordinating colors are Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango, and Rich Razzleberry.

Enjoy the Summer Smooches collection.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

My Facebook Page

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Digital Designing 101

I'm having a lot of fun today creating new projects with my digital kits.  This card was made with the Mixed Bunch digital kit.  I love this kit because it includes paper, stamps and a punch.  It is one of the projects that we will make in Digital Designing 101 with My Digital Studio.

This beginner-level class is limited to 6 people so I can provide hands-on help. 

Date:  Friday, April 20th
Time:  7 - 9 pm
Location:  Fort Worth (Mistletoe Heights area)
Class Fee:  Buy these digital download items from  my online store to make your projects.  There are no additional class fees.  You will also need to download the free 30-day trial version of My Digital Studio if you don't already have the program.

Digital Downloads
129359  Mixed Bunch Kit $7.95
124453  Fun Flowers Shapes Punch  $1.95
124414  Top Note Shape  $0.95
125766  Teeny Tiny Wishes  $7.95

Contact me at sharon@sharoncheng.com to sign up for these classes today. 

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

My Facebook Page

Pinterest

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Angel Everyday Enchantment

This angel is designed to watch over you, your creativity and your dreams. The quote, "Until you spread your wings, you will have no idea how far you can fly," fits so many different situations.  How many times have you let fear or anxiety stop you from moving forward?  Hopefully, having this angel in your home will help you find your inner strength when negative self talk starts to creep in.

This angel project was inspired by a mixture of many ideas.  I had a friend who wanted me to do something with vellum.  I've been playing with My Digital Studio to create hybrid projects that are faster and easier than ones that only use traditional papercrafting techiques.  And I've been wanting to do an angel for some time now.  Go to my Pinterest board, From This to That, to see the angel that inspired this project.

Stampin' Supplies

125117  Fresh Vintage Stamp Set  (Free with $50 order during Sale-A-Bration)
125537  Mixed Bunch Stamp Set  $21.95
125754  Sunset Serenade My Digital Studio Brush Set  $7.95
129357  Loving Thoughts My Digital Studio Brush Set  $5.96
126154  12 x 12 Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (Free with $50 order during Sale-A-Bration)
120805  12 x 12 Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (12)  $14.95
119859  Extra-Large Oval Punch  $16.95
120908  Small Oval Punch  $10.95
119858  Boho Blossoms Punch  $16.95
119869  1/2" Circle Punch  $5.95
125603  Blossom Punch  $16.95
118309  Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack  $16.95
119275  Scallop Ribbon Border Punch  $15.95
125598  Labels Collection Framelits  $26.95
114507  Beautiful Butterflies Die $21.95
125596  Fashionable Hearts Embosslits Die  $11.95
114517  Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder $7.95
113439  Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine  $99.95

That's a long list of supplies!  Now you know one of the key reasons I became a demonstrator.  I love Stampin' Up! products and wanted to get a lot of them.  Please contact me at sharon@sharoncheng.com if you want to find out how you can earn the money to get what you want too!

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

My Facebook Page

Pinterest

My Online Store