Traditions Central!! Our Very First Blog Roll!

Wahoo! We are SO excited to share in our FIRST ever blog roll with you! We are so blessed to have a wonderfully talented design team, and we couldn't think of anything better to do for Mother's Day then to turn our spotlight on them and let them WOW you with their talent!

Here's how it's going to work: beginning today and continuing each day until May 10th one of our designers will host a challenge or special topic on their blog, and some of the other designers will be posting samples and their own thoughts about the challenge. We hope you will visit their blogs and play along - if you do there will be chances to win prizes each day!! You can check in here each day to find out who's hosting what...

The theme of the challenge is Mothers and Daughters Traditions and we will offer up a bouquet of fabulous projects - cards, scrapbook designs, gift and packaging ideas, altered projects, recipes, plus fun facts and quizzes. We're gonna have a lot of fun together

Our FIRST challenge will be hosted by Cathy Weider at her Seaside Rose Cottage. Cathy has GORGEOUS gardens and the flowers in her garden are composed of many layers of petals... hmm, layers... there it is, our first challenge! You need to create a card with a lot of layering!

Go to Cathy's blog to check out the details of the challenge, and then check out more samples with Giovana, Leah and Melissa. As promised, there's a super sweet prize in the works, so make sure to take time to play! All you need to do is leave a comment on Cathy's blog with a link to your picture - if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, please use key word MDCBlogRoll as we're going to be creating one gallery for all our blogroll submissions!

In the spirit of Mothers and Daughters traditions, we wanted to share a little of our history and how the Mothers and Daughters scrapbooking store came to be! Here's what mom had to say about us:

Mothers and Daughters Creations started many years before the present day Scrapbooking Store you see on-line. Both of my grandmothers were very talented women. My paternal grandmother taught me to sew. Her sewing was amazing - not only did she create clothes for people, she also designed her own draperies and home decor items. I have a tendancy to lean toward the home decor items, although have been known to create a shirt or pair of pajamas on occasion. My maternal grandmother taught me to crochet. She spent hours in the winter months teaching me the intracies of creating even stitches of just the right tightness. All this hard work paid off a few years ago when I crocheted my granddaughters christening dress. My own mother is also a wonderful seamstress as well as an avid crafter and beautiful painter.

In years past, my daughter (Tamara), my mother (Louise) and myself (Linda) have participated in many joint ventures with a variety of crafting venues. There are many happy memories of the three of us working together to create items to do a special craft show or display for a local store.

More recently Tamara got involved with scrapbooking through Stampin' Up and a local scrapbook store. Her special talent for color combinations and design made her a very popular teacher and kit designer in the local market. After the birth of her second child and making a move to the country, it became more difficult to keep up with the local (now 40 miles away) store, and Tamara wanted to try to earn income at home to stay home with her children . . . so came the beginnings of the idea for Mothers and Daughters Creations.

We opened MDC for business in November of 2007. We started with a couple of kits and a few hand selected products. We have selected products based on our feel for the product rather than the popularity - we have a very unique selection which we are happy to present to you in our store. This weekend we'll be running some special sales in honor of National Scrapbooking Day, so we hope you'll take a little time to shop as well as enjoying the challenges on our blog roll. We want to thank all of you for stopping in and we are so excited to see your creations! Let the first annual MDC Blog Roll begin!!

Spotlight on a Sparkle Card...

Hello all!! We wanted to take a quick moment to showcase an awesome card from last week's challenge to add bling to your card - check out Robbie's 5 challenge wonder card!!

Robbie is another long time supporter of our challenge blog, so we definitely want to extend our thanks!

We hope you will all be back to visit us later today as we unveil this week's challenge and our FIRST EVER Mothers and Daughters Blog Roll!!! There will be tons of blog candy, prizes, and just good old fashioned fun so pop back over and check it out!

MDCSB28 - Scrapbook for a Cause...

Hello and welcome to our weekly scrapbooking challenge! The month of April is a special time in our family because it is Autism Awareness month. A lot of what happens in our family centers around Autism, and we always like to join along with other families and Autism organizations to speak out and bring awareness to our cause.

This week we want you to step up on your own soapbox - take a moment to scrapbook about your own cause! Maybe your life has been touched by someone with cancer, or MS, or even Autism. What have your learned from them? We want to hear all about it! Check out our design team samples and see what's near and dear to our hearts:

Robin Wade - Creating Memories One Moment At A Time

Robin used paper from Best Creations and bling from Zva Creative.

April Dycus

April used paper and embellishments from sei.

Tamara McKlveen - Tam's MDC Creations

My page uses papers from Bo Bunny.

Thanks so much for stopping in! We hope you have time to share with us this week - happy scrapping!!

MDCSB27 Sketch Challenge Spotlight....

We wanted to take a quick moment to spotlight one of the beautiful entries from last week's scrapbook sketch challenge - chech out Arianne's page:

How sweet is that?? Thanks so much for playing along Arianne!

Final Days for the Cafe Mojo Ribbon Challenge....

Hello! We just wanted to send out a final reminder about the challenge we are sponsoring over at the Cafe Mojo challenge blog... the challenge is to use ribbon in a unique and creative way. You still have until April 30th to play, and if you play you could win a $15 gift certificate to Mothers and Daughters Creations! Our very own Giovana created this lovely sample to help spur your creativity:

Giovana used paper from Imaginisce, ribbon from May Arts, a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket, and pearl bling from Kaiser.

We want to thank Cafe Mojo for this awesome opportunity to sponsor their blog and we hope you have some time to check them out and play along with the challenge!

MDCC40 - A Little Bit of Sparkle...

Hello and welcome to the Mothers and Daughters Creations store challenge blog!! This week's challenge is for all you bling lovers out there - we want to see some gemstones on your card! They can be big or small, a little or a lot - what ever you've got! Our design team came up with some great gemstone cards - check them out:


Dawn Schulte - Dawn's Special Creations
Dawn used papers from Scenic Route, an image stamp from Stampavie, and a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket. Her gemstones are from Kaiser.




Leah Cornelius - Paper Blossoms
Leah used paper from Marks Paper Company, a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket, and bling from Kaiser.



Beautiful job as always, ladies!!! So come on all you players out there, we want to see your bling!! This week one lucky player will win a variety pack of bling from our store, but you have to play to win! Just leave us a comment with a link to your photo and use keyword MDCC40 if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet - easy as pie! We hope you have a blingin happy day!

There's Still Time to Play with Cafe Mojo...

I also wanted to send out a quick reminder about the ribbon challenge we're sponsoring over at the Cafe Mojo challenge blog... the challenge is to use ribbon in a unique way. Their design team came up with some awesome samples, so you really want to go over and check it out - beautiful stuff!

The deadline for the challenge is April 30th, so if you haven't had time, there's still time to play! The winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to Mothers and Daughters Creations store, so let's see your unique ribbon ideas!!

MDCC39 Card Sketch Featured Artist....

We want to congratulate Carla on the beautiful card she made for last week's sketch challenge - what an awesome job!!

Carla plays along with us a lot and always has such beautiful work - we want to give her a special thanks for all her support!!

We'll be back a little later with today's challenge.... see you then!

MDCSB27-Sketch Challenge

This weeks challenge is to use the sketch at 52 Sketches/52 Weeks to create your project! Below are some samples from our Design Team using the sketchs from weeks #15 and #16 - We would love for you to play along - Just leave us a comment with a link to your blog and use MDCSB27 in your tag line - for some added fun post your creation to the 52 Sketches/52 Weeks blog as well! Happy Scrapping!

Marie Levine - Ria Creations!
Maria used sketch #15



Melita Chow - By His Grace
Melita used sketch #15 and papers from Best Creations and Imaginisce




Tamara McKlveen - MDC Tam's Page
Tamara used Sketch #15 - and some BoBunny
paper from the Alissa Collection!



Linda Boucher - MDC Linda's Page
Linda used Sketch #16 and paper and embellishments
for the BoBunny Grease Monkey Collection

MDCC39 - Sketches and some ribbon Mojo...

Hello and welcome to the Thursday Card Challenge. We have TWO exciting challenge opportunities for you today, but first we'd love to showcase Robbie's card from last week's Pop Up challenge:

Thanks so much, Robbie, for sharing this fabulous card with us - lots of Pop Up action here!!

This is an exciting week - we are so honored to be sponsoring the Cafe Mojo Challenge blog! This is a super fun challenge blog with a lot of talented and creative ladies sharing ideas and techniques for everyone to try. Please go over and check out their blog - we know you'll love it! This week our store is sponsoring a ribbon challenge at Cafe Mojo!! The challenge is to use ribbon in a non-traditional way. Check out this sample from our own Maria:

Maria used paper from sei, a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket, and ribbon from May Arts. We hope you'll take some time to play the challenge - one lucky participant will win a $15 gift certificate to our store!!

Here at our own challenge blog, we're having a sketch challenge! This week we're using this sketch from Becky Flack's Page Maps:

We're huge Becky Fleck fans here... every month she produces a set of 12x12 scrapping sketches and one other set of sketches that varies per month - sometimes it's cards, but it can also be circle maps, half maps, tag maps... all kinds of possibilities! Check out our design team samples:

Cathy Weider - The Seaside Rose Cottage

Cathy used papers from Imaginisce and stamps from Serendipity.

Giovana Smith - A Place to Praise and Craft

Giovana used paper from sei, Melissa Frances, and Daisy Bucket, and a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket.

Wow, lovin the cards inspired by this sketch - we can't wait to see what you guys come up with! And, just to keep things fun, we'll also offer an additional $15 gift certificate to the Mothers and Daughters Creations store to the winner of this challenge! If you want to try for two certificates, that's OK but you do have to make two separate projects! Playing along is simple - just leave us a comment with a link to your blog or photo. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, please use keyword MDCC39 for this sketch and MDCMojo for the ribbon challenge. If you are playing the ribbon challenge, you also need to leave a comment at Cafe Mojo to be eligible to win, so don't forget!!

Thanks so much for stopping in and we hope you enjoy your day!

(PS - Don't forget about our upcoming Blog Roll - if you missed the announcement you can find all the details here!)

MDCSB26 - Ad Art Inspiration AND A Fun Announcement!

Hello and welcome to Mothers and Daughters scrapbook challenge! We have a really fun announcement to share with you, but FIRST we want to share this week's challenge! This week we're having an inspiration challenge based on ad art... all you need to do is find a magazine ad that is NOT related to scrapbooking and use it as inspiration for your layout! Check out the design team samples:

Robin Wade - Creating Memories One Moment At A Time

Robin used sei's Dill Blossom collection to make her page (don't you just love that freakin' wheelbarrow????) and was inspired by this ad:

Tamara McKlveen - Tam's MDC Creations

I used papers from Basic Grey's Marrakech line, and my page is inspired by this ad:

Laurie Rodick - Lovin' My Life

Laurie forgot to get a picture of the ad she used, but look at her beautiful page using Daisy Bucket's Playful Petals collection:

Thanks, ladies, for your beautiful work! We can't wait to see what you can do with an ad... just leave us a comment with a link to your work (and the ad it's based on) and your work may be featured in next week's post!

And now for our exciting news - our very own Cathy Weider has organized MDC's very first blog roll! This will begin April 30th and will culminate on Mother's Day with a gallery of entries from designers and visitors alike. The theme, Mothers and Daughters Traditions, promises a bouquet of fabulous projects - cards, scrap book designs, gift and packaging ideas, altered projects, and much, much more.

Beginning on Thursday, April 30th, grab your cup of tea or coffee and a sweet roll and join us for our daily posts. We'll share fabulous projects, memories, and recipes, inspirational ideas for journaling scrap book pages and writing personalized messages for cards, and the secret language of flowers. Create a card or a treasure box, embellish a picture mat or a scrap book page, test your knowlege of trivia, or simply share a memory and you could win some of the fabulous blog candy we'll be offering each day. Sweet! Be sure to keep posted for further details!

Have a fabulously scrappy day!

MDCATC2 - Spring Themed ATC's

Hello, Everyone! Continuing the new challenge series we started last month, we invite you to play along with our newest ATC challenge. This month, we are looking for ATC’s featuring spring, Passover, or Easter themes.

If you’ve never made an ATC before, here are links to two tutorials on Cathy's blog that will help answer any questions you have. You can post any other questions you have here or there.

http://seasiderosecottage.blogspot.com/2009/04/scatter-joy-with-new-atc-challenge-at.html

http://seasiderosecottage.blogspot.com/2009/02/artist-trading-cards-101-tips-and.html

The rules are simple: Create a 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch ATC with a spring, Passover, or Easter theme. It’s okay to stretch your imagination and any and all media and techniques can be used. However, the card must include stamping somewhere on the front of the card and the stamping needs to be in the form of an image – not just a sentiment. It can be the primary image or part of the background, like flourishes or a fancy background stamp. Aside from that, anything goes. No vendor or color requirements.

Here are some beautiful sample cards Cathy made using Kaiser paper and stamps from the Imaginisce and Daisy Bucket lines. One of the earliest signs of spring is the new green growth on all of the shrubs and trees. Love it, and this paper from Kaiser too!




I also took a minute to make a very simple sample for this challenge using the new Bridgeport papers from sei and the calendar stamp from Imaginisce. My card celebrates the first day of spring this year - we don't really have a 'spring' here in South Florida since it never really gets that cold, so I missed it this year!






Want to play along? All you need to do to enter is upload your card to any gallery or to a blog and post a comment here with a link to your card so we can all see it. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet please use keyword MDCATC2. Be sure to subscribe to this blog and Cathy's to get weekly updates and tricks and tips for making ATC’s! The deadline for this challenge is Wednesday April 30th at 12 noon, and we will announce the winner on May 1st. The winner will receive a fun ATC prize pack put together by Cathy... wahoo!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in - Happy Spring, a Blessed Easter, and Joyous Passover to all! Be sure to check back in a little later to check out our Monday scrapbook challenge.

MDCC38 - Pop it Up!

Hello and welcome back for this week's card challenge!

Last week we challenged you to go out of the box - the stamped image box, that is! Once again Carla graced us with a beautiful example:

Beautiful job Carla - thanks so much for playing along with us!

This week is a simple favorite - just find a way to pop something up on your card. We can't wait to see what you can come up with - check out these samples from our fabulous design team:

Dawn Schulte - Dawn's Special Creations

Dawn used papers from Bo Bunny and Daisy Bucket, rub on's from Imaginisce, stamps from Serendipity, and bling from Zva Creative.

Leah Cornelius - Paper Blossoms
Leah used papers from Imaginisce and sei, and rub ons from sei.

Katheryn Heflin - My Children, My World

Katheryn used papers from Imaginisce, stamps from Daisy Bucket and Serendipity, and bling from Zva Creative. (Here the egg and sentiment are popped - a little hard to see but super cute!)


Thanks as always to our designers for providing such lovely samples - don't forget, you can play too! Just post a comment here with a link to your photo. If you upload to Splitcoast stampers or Papercraft Planet, used key word MDCC38 - very simple!

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Be sure to check back a little later - we're adding an extra special challenge for the weekend with some prizes to go with it! Have a great day!

MDCSB25 - A Tisket, A Tasket....

Wow, OK, so sorry for being so late with our posting this week! Mom and I had to drive to Virginia last weekend and I had hoped to get the posting up and done early, but I just couldn't get to everything! We got back in town on Tuesday and I have been working like crazy ever since! So sorry to those of you who were looking for the post!

Last week we wanted to focus on our designers - the challenge was to scraplift from an MDC Designer. We loved this page from Kim:




Who drew her inspiration from Laurie's page, here:




Thanks so much for playing along with us, Kim! What a beautiful page!

This week we're challenging you to make a spring basket! It can be Easter themed or not - just something happy! Look at the lovely samples our design team created:




Maria Levine - Ria Creations
Maria used paper from Imaginisce and a stamp from Serendipity.

Melita Chow - By His Grace

Melita used papers from sei and Daisy Bucket.

Mia Montalvan-Castrillo - Scrappin Mama Mia

Mia used paper from Best Creations to create her basket.

Thanks so much to all our designers - I was so entranced by all the designs I want to copy them all!!

We hope you have time to play along with us this week - you just need to leave us a comment with a link to your picture, or if you upload to Splitcoast or Papercraft, leave a link to that picture and use keyword MDCSB25 - easy peasy!

Hope you all have a wonderful week - we will be posting our next scrapbook challenge on Monday so be sure to check back for our next fun challenge!

PS - I will be back to post this week's card challenge after work tonight...

MDCC37 - Out of the Box...

Wow, I can't believe we're already in to April! Another year just flying by with me running after it trying to catch up! I'm sure you guys with heavy winters are anxiously looking forward to a relief from the cold soon.... I am NOT looking forward to my first summer in Florida - I imagine it will be very hot, although mom has always said it's actually hotter in Virginia. We'll just see about that!


Last week we challenged you to use some spring colors, blue and yellow, with a pop of black. Look at the gorgeous card Carla created:




All I can say about that one is WOW - I just love it!

This week we are heading outside the box - the image box, that is! Our challenge for you is to create a card where your image bleeds outside the box - some refer to it as a cut away card. Here are this week's beautiful samples from the design team:



Cathy Weider - The Seaside Rose Cottage
Cathy used paper from Melissa Frances, ribbon from May Arts, and a stamped image from Serendipity.



Leah Cornelious - Paper Blossoms
Leah used a stamped image from Stampavie, paper from Scenic Route and Bo Bunny, and flowers and bling from Zva Creative.




Melissa Earnest - MME Designs
Melissa used papers from Bo Bunny, Imaginisce, and Best Creations and a stamped image from Serendipity.



I love Melissa's reverse take on the challenge - all of our designers are just so talented and creative!!

We hope you have some time to play along with us this week - just leave a comment here with a link to your picture - keyword MDCC37! Thanks for stopping by and have a happy stamping week!