My Digital Studio Tutorials

CREATING A CARD 101

Welcome to the ease and speed of My Digital Studio™ (MDS™).  The revolutionary NEW crafting tool from Stampin' Up!.  I would like to devote each Monday to showing you fabulous tools in this powerful new software.  Today's card, BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS was created by the talented artist at Stampin' Up!.  You have several options when creating a card in MDS.  Let me show you the steps I took to create this card.

OPEN YOUR My Digital Studio™ SOFTWARE PROGRAM

This is the screen that will greet you every time you open My Digital Studio™.
I selected the GREETING CARD option.

You have five different card size options to choose from.  I chose 6X6 SQUARE.

I am then given three choices of how I want to create my card (any option can be modified).
  I chose the DESIGNER option.

I'm given a choice of several PRE-DESIGNED cards (which can all be modified).  As you click on each one, a sample card will be shown in the lower window.  Click through all your choices until you find the card that best meets your needs.

On the PAGE ARRANGEMENT page, I am given the option of designing not only the front of the card but the two inside portions as well.  You can make changes later to this option.  The back of the card is always reserved for a MDS copyright watermark.  For this example I chose just a card front to show on my blog.

On the PHOTO OPTIONS page, I am given the choice of inserting photos individually or automatically inserting photos.  I am not using photos for this card, so I clicked next leaving the "Pick and Click" option selected.

On the NAME PROJECT page, I replace the "My Project 3" text with the name I want to give my new project.  I make sure the new project will be stored in the right file. 
NOTE: The "/Users/AB/Documents/My Digital Studio Projects" was the default file established when I loaded the MDS software on to my computer.

After a few moments, my computer generates the card and it appears on the MDS CANVAS page.  This the the place where you can create, modify and share your design.  The other options available to you are professional printing through SU!, printing at home, printing at your favorite photo processing store, creating a DVD, creating and interactive CD and Multi-Media options.  For this exercise, I didn't change a think.  I just chose to EXPORT to JPEG so I could upload it to this blog and show it to you. 

I have all sorts of information about My Digital Studio™ in my right side bar.  Please feel free to check it out and send me any questions or comments (blog candy).  I offer FREE PERSONAL TRAINING when you purchase My Digital Studio™ software from me.  When is the last time you purchase software and received FREE PERSONAL TRAINING?
My Digital Studio™ #118108

ADDING PAGES & EMBELLISHMENTS

I will continue where I left off last week in the design of a 6" X 6" card in My Digital Studio™.  Above you see the card as it appears on the "canvas" in the design center of the software.  The front of the card is completed; now we can add the inside portions of the card.  To do this we will need to add two pages.  One for the inside front cover and the other for the inside back page.

Note: When making cards in MDS, the very back of the card is printed with a My Digital Studio™ icon logo at the center bottom.  You will not have the option of designing this page.  You will only be able to design the front cover, inside cover and inside back.  For this reason, no more than three pages can be used.

We will add the pages by selecting the ADD PAGE ICON or select the INSERT DROP DOWN MENU and select ADD PAGE.  The ADD NEW PAGE window will open, as shown below to allow you to add a new page.  You will do this action again to create the third page (inside back cover).

You will now have NEW BLANK CANVASES to work with in your design.

Let's add a few design items to the inside of the back cover to finish the card.  Below, I added some stamped images from the stamp set ENJOY EVERY MOMENT and positioned them right in the center of the inside back cover of the card.

Following are the steps I took to accomplish this design.
I began by adding the stamped image "enjoy" by going to the DESIGN CENTER (right of canvas) and selecting the STAMPS option.  When you click on the large ADD STAMP icon, it will open up a selection window for you to choose from any stamp set in your software.

I chose the ENJOY EVERY MOMENT stamp set and selected the stamp that says ENJOY.  The ENJOY image appears on the canvas in black (default).  It actually appears exactly as if you had actually stamped that image on a piece of 6"X6" cardstock in Basic Black™ ink.

 I want to color "enjoy", so I select the image "enjoy" and then go to the Design Center in the STAMP palette and choose CHANGE COLOR.

Here is the CHANGE COLOR palette that will appear.  You have many ways you can color your stamped image.  Let me tell you a little about each of the color selections.

PALETTE- Stampin' Up!'s exclusive color selection.
SWATCHES- A rainbow array of non-SU! colors.
HSB- Allows you to select a non-SU! color controlling Hue, Saturation & Brightness
RGB- Allows you to select specific non-SU! Pantone colors using Red, Green, Blue codes
PICKER- Allows you to use a "picker" tool to select a color that has appeared somewhere else in your project.  This would be how you could select a color from your sister's dress color in the wedding photo
FAVORITES- Color choices that you have used in the past that you saved to your FAVORITES palette.

You can see here at the bottom of the COLOR WINDOW how you could just pick a color or you could save it to your favorites and then pick the color to use for your stamped image.

I added a drop shadow to the stamped image "enjoy" by selecting the DROP SHADOW icon in the STAMPS Design Center palette.  Here you have complete control of any drop shadowed images.  Play around with the setting until you find what you like.  You can always click DEFAULT to go back to the way the software originally had your shadow.

The shadow can be moved anywhere by clicking on the black image "enjoy" and while holding down the mouse key, drag until you see the shadow moving out from behind the image "enjoy".  You will notice the PIXEL OFFSET X & Y coordinates change as your mouse moves the shadow around.

You can save those coordinates to be used on THIS PAGE and/or IN THE PROJECT.  This will save you from having to go into every object and manually having to add a drop shadow.  Cool, huh?  When you've finished with your DROP SHADOW, select OK and let's move on.

Here's how I added the WHITE BRAD in the middle of the Riding Hood Red™ flower.  BTW- I enlarged the flower by selecting it and then using one of the little square "anchor handles" and dragging it outward.  To find the WHITE BRAD, go to the Design Center and select the EMBELLISHMENT palette.  Then click on ADD EMBELISHMENT.

The CHOOSE EMBELLISHMENT window will open to allow you to choose from all available embellishments in the program.  Here you will be able to preview all your choices and make your selection.  Once your selection is made, the embellishment will appear on your design canvas in it's ACTUAL SIZE.  You may enlarge your embellishment, however, when printed it may appear slightly pixelated (resolution not as sharp).  Embellishments do not offer the option of changing color.  They are what they are.  There other design options you have which are shown in the DESIGN CENTER EMBELLISHMENT Palette and self explanatory.

Have fun playing around with the power of this amazing software.  Feel free to contact me with questions.  Next week we will cover how to save your design as a JPEG document to share with others.

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My Digital Studio™ (118108)

Comments

[Bertrice Smith]

Thanks so much for this tutorial for making this card. You did a perfect job in explaining the different steps. It was so easy to follow. I will definitely be following your tutorials.