My Mind's Eye Blog

“Sew” Cute!

I’ve been waiting for today’s Good Things Utah segment for a few months.  Ever since the first time I saw the prototypes for the new See Me Sew fabric bags I’ve been anxiously awaiting their arrival.  These darling kits have been shipping for the last couple of weeks and are waiting to find their way to your home!

There are three bag styles: Ruffled, Tote and Messenger.  Each style has three different and equally beautiful color schemes.  The patterns even come from some of my personal favorite collections: Lush, So Sophie and, of course, My Mind’s Eye’s famous polka dots and plaids.

Seasoned and novice sewers will love the ease of these all-in-one kits.  When you open the package, you’ll find a flower embellishment kit ready to stack together and sew the button on and a fabric panel pre-printed and ready to go.  No pattern needed – simply cut out each piece along the border of the printed piece.  There are step-by-step instructions printed on the inside of the box and a video for each bag style available on our website (http://www.mymindseye.com/SMS/SeeMeSew.asp)

Since I am unable to actually sew on the program today, I thought it would be fun to demonstrate a few fun techniques you’ll find helpful when creating your bags.  Like how to create the flower embellishments, what some of the basic terms used mean (for us beginners) and my Mother-in-law’s “no frustration” gathering technique using Pearl Embroidery Thread.

Look for today’s segment here as soon as it is available.

I am by no means an expert seamstress, but I can sew a straight stitch and follow instructions.  Guess what?  Turns out that’s all the expertise you’ll need to sew these darling bags!

Happy Sewing!

Mother’s Treasure Chest

Every mother knows what her treasure is.  The problem is can you find the notes and gifts from them?  The perfect gift for the mother in your life?  A treasure chest for the precious gifts from her treasures.  Whether you make this box for your self or a special mother in your life, it will be a source of joy for many years to come.

Miss Caroline (Dolled up) and her spectacular embellishments made this project quick, easy and, most of all, beautiful!

I am demonstrating this treasure box on Good Things Utah today (locally from 10 – 11am on ABC4).  Don’t despair if you aren’t local!  We’ll upload the segment as soon as it is available here:

I have included a .pdf of the instructions so you can make this project, too!

Happy Wednesday!

 

Easter Baskets

Good morning!  I hope you are having a fabulous Thursday!

This morning I am demonstrating how to make these handmade Easter baskets on Good Things Utah.  Every once in a while the producers of the show will ask me to create something special.  This is one of those times. 

When they first asked me to create an Easter basket, I had so many different ideas run through my mind.  I sketched a few ideas and began to create.  Like most things I do, the project took on a life of its own and I enjoyed a few unexpected twists.  When I was done, I had created two baskets – each with a style of their own. 

 

The first basket I created using Miss Caroline – Dilly Dally.  The grays, blues and reds add an unexpected pop of color for Easter.  I chose to weave the paper together to create the look of a traditional basket.  The red checked handle adds to the feel of a weaved basket.  I thought this basked would be a fun one for boys, so I thought a red ribbon would be a great finishing touch!

 

 

The second basket is created using the soft, gorgeous pastels of Miss Caroline – Fiddlesticks.  For this basket, I wanted to accentuate the femininity of the colors, so I added a frilly border using a scallop border punch.  The yellow twine added an earthy touch and the buttons look like they are holding the handle on the basket.

On both baskets, I added ruffled trim along the top of the opening to add the look of grass without the mess.

These baskets went together surprisingly fast!  I used Tombow Mono Adhesive to quickly adhere the paper to the paper mache hat box which was the “base” for this project.  Tombow Mono Adhesive is my favorite liquid adhesive because it is strong and it dries fast! 

As always, I have included step-by-step instructions so that you can create your own!

For those of you who are unable to watch the segment live, I’ll upload it here:

Do your projects take on a life of their own too?  I hope your day is wonderful and that you have a little time spend creating!

Hugs,

Amber Packer 

 

p.s. The Tombow team has been creating with My Mind’s Eye products all week.  Be sure to swing by there and check out their beautiful projects and great products.

Layers of Ruffles Lamp

As I was working on the jewelry box for last month’s Good Things Utah, I had an epiphany.  As I was looking a the layers of ruffles on the sides of the box, I thought to myself what a cute lampshade that would be. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was totally do-able.  At first I was worried about the heat from the light bulb.  But LED lights don’t get hot, so the paper won’t be a fire hazard.  If you are careful, you can use an incandescent (regular) bulb, as long as the lamp shade is far enough away from the bulb, it won’t get hot either.  Test it out and see what you feel comfortable with.  Personally, I would use the LED bulb.  You will need to be careful, but if you are, you can have a beautiful, hand-made, one-of-a-kind ruffled lamp within an hour or two. 

 

 

 

Since I have a few teenagers and their leaders in my area coming to watch me, I wanted to make the project something that they would like.  So, I pulled out the new Miss Caroline – Dolled up collection.  The combination of pinks, grays, blues, yellows and whites are the perfect mixture of soft and bright that teenagers (and preteens and grown up women) LOVE.

I used one 6 x 6 pad to create my lamp shade.  Depending upon the size of your shade, you may need more than one pad.  I like to use the pads because the patterns are made smaller and you can see more when you punch the holes

This was a fun and easy project that makes a big impact.

As usual, I have created project instructions for you to download so that you can make this project for yourself.

When the segment is uploaded, I will add the video here:

 

I hope you enjoy this project as much as I do!

Amber Packer 

Jewelry Box

The Follow Your Heart collection designed by Rhonna Farrer is so soft and beautifully romantic and all the beautiful embellishments are like jewelry for your scrapbook pages and projects.  I guess that’s why when I saw this cute, plain jewelry box on clearance at Target I thought of Follow Your Heart. 

Many of you know of my love for mod podge and wood.  When I want to really be creative, I turn to projects like that.  For some reason, I chose to use double stick tape for this project.  I guess I thought that mod podge is permanent and if I ever wanted to change up the colors in my room that I may want to change the jewelry box.

I would suggest that if you are creating this for a younger girl that you use mod podge.  Isn’t it fun to have choices!  *wink*

I used the Follow Your Heart – Be Happy color scheme.  The soft colors blend so well together that you can really play with mixing patterns.

If you can’t get to a jewelry box from Target, you can pick up one from a thrift store.  Most craft stores have paper mache or raw wood boxes.  That’s another good place to check.

I had a lot of fun with this project.  You will too.  After you get the papers on the box, play around all the fun embellishments.  Remember – you are adding jewelry to your jewelry box!

What a great time I had on Good Things Utah today.  As usual, I have included instructions which you can download here:  Download 2012_02_16_MME_Jewelry Box

When the video is ready to go, I’ll add it here.

Have a happy time creating!

Amber Packer 

Love Layouts

There are many different types of love and relationships to be grateful for.  We wanted to share a few of our “loves” with you.

I absolutely ADORE you

by Lisa Spiegel 

Featured collection: Follow Your Heart – be happy

I added the "You are my Sunshine" banner from the "Follow Your Heart- be amazing" line because it's "our song". :)  This photo made me think of our song because the sky was a little grey that day...and they make me happy when skies are grey. :)

I sewed a pocket for my photo behind the transparency...the journaling is hidden behind the photo and visible when the photo is pulled out. :)

 

You are the one Constant in my Life

by Karen Grunberg

 

Featured Collection: Love Me

 

A Half Dozen Roses by Jana Eubank 

Featured Collection: Love Me 

This year was an eventful Valentine's Day at our house. My daughter received her first roses from a boy as part of a Valentine's fund raiser at her school. Instead of sending my daughter just one rose with a card, her crush bought her six! She was beaming for the rest of the day! Her dad wasn't too keen on the idea and vowed to keep "those boys" at bay for a few more years by guarding the house with a shotgun. LOL! I used the Love Me collection for this page. I love it's soft hues and the way the bright red roses pop off the muted colors, allowing this memory to become center stage. The die cut bingo number border anchors my photos. I added a pink, glitter bookplate from my stash to highlight the date on the border and added a hand cut doily from one of the patterned papers. The rhinestone brads are from the Lush 2 collection and add just the right amount of sparkle. My journaling becomes more interesting with the addition of a couple of stamped chandeliers in light gray ink (Lost & Found stamps).

 

Family Love by Anam Stubbington 

Featured Collection: Lost & Found Christmas 

As I have already done a Love Me Layout for myself and Ian, I went with a Family photograph to celebrate love. 

I loved the Lost & Found Christmas colors but wanted to use them for a non-Christmas layout as the combination of the browns and golds just inspired me to do a love layout. It took a little fiddling with placements but I think I made it work like it looked in my head.

Supplies:

Lost & Found Christmas Papers: Bright, Boughs, Holly

Lost & Found Christmas chipboard

Lost & Found 2: Sunshine Burlap Trim

Other: Heart Punch, Foam Adhesive, Distress tool.

 

Love your Smile by Amber Packer 

 

Featured Collection: On The Bright Side – TWO

My Riley’s smile can light up a room.  It brings joy to my life and melts my heart!

Sneak Peek: Miss Caroline–Dilly Dally and Dolled Up!

Our last sneak peeks are from Miss Caroline!  Miss Caroline has four different color schemes. You have already met Howdy Doody and Fiddlesticks.  Today we introduce you to Dilly Dally and Dolled Up!

All four color schemes have:

• 10 double-sided pattern papers
• 5 Titles
• Stamps
• Button & pin package
• Stickers
• Journaling Spots
• Twine
• Pearl Shapes
• Wood embellishment
• Brads
• and Rub-ons!

Dilly Dally combines blues, yellows, tans, greys, greens, weathered wood patterns and a spectacular pop of red into one fabulous collection!

Featured Collection: Miss Caroline – Dilly Dally; Designer: Amber Packer; Photo Credit: Haylee Bean Photography 

Dolled Up combines soft purples, greens, yellows, blues, tans, pinks, greys, a touch of purple with a juxtaposition of fabulous weathered wood patterns.

We have enjoyed sharing our newest releases with you!  Our designers are busy creating more beautiful samples for our booth at CHA.  We are excited to share them with you soon!

We’d love to share these last two collections with two of you!  Leave a comment on this blog post by midnight, January 22, 2012.  From the blog comments, we will randomly select one winner to receive the Dilly Dally collection and one winner to receive the Dolled Up collection!

Sneak Peek: Miss Caroline - Howdy Doody and Fiddlesticks!

We are happy to resume our sneak peeks!  The belle of our ball is Miss Caroline! 

Miss Caroline has four different color schemes.  We are introducing Howdy Doody and Fiddlesticks to you today!

All four color schemes have:

• 10 double-sided pattern papers
• 5 Titles
• Stamps
• Button & pin package
• Stickers
• Journaling Spots
• Twine
• Pearl Shapes
• Wood embellishment
• Brads
• and Rub-ons!

Howdy Doody combines soft pinks, yellows, blues, tans, greys, greens and weathered wood patterns into one fabulous collection!

Featured Collection: Miss Caroline – Howdy Doody; Designer: Amber Packer; Photo Credit: Peekaboo

 

Fiddlesticks combines soft purples, yellows, blues, tans, pinks, greys with a juxtaposition of fabulous weathered wood patterns.

 

We are thrilled with Miss Caroline and would like to share this collection with two lucky winners!  Leave a comment on this blog post by midnight, January 22, 2012.  From the blog comments, we will randomly select one winner to receive the Fiddlesticks collection and one winner to receive the Howdy Doody collection!

Good Luck!

“Love”ly Cone Wreath

While our 6x6 paper pads ARE perfect for cards (yeah), they are also the perfect for cone wreaths.

Normally, to make a cone wreath, you cut down 12 x 12 papers or old music paper into 6x6 squares.

But, with just TWO 6x6 pads, some of our gorgeous trims and brads with some doilies thrown in for good measure, you have everything you need to make this “love”ly wreath.

Pin It

This project was originally designed using the Lost & Found – Madison Avenue 6x6 pad.  I demonstrated this project today on Good Things Utah using the Lost & Found 2 – Blush pad and the Love Me 6x6 pads would be darling, too.

I have included the instructions here:

Download 2012_01_10_MME_Love Wreath_cone

I will upload the segment here when it is ready this afternoon. 

This project is quick and easy to make.  With the fabulous variety of 6x6 pads My Mind’s Eye offers, there is something for every occasion through out the year!

Amber Packer 

2011 Holiday Hoopla day 6

It’s here - the time of year where I waver between having a comfortable “I’m almost done” feeling and a feeling of panic when I realize that even though I thought I was almost done, I have realized all the things I have forgotten.  I am blessed in so many ways, one of which is with spectacular friends.  Unfortunately, I have not planned in advance and am quickly running out of time to come up with something as spectacular as my friends.

I love the style of jewelry today – eclectic, feminine and fun with lots of ruffles and glitz!  I thought about going to a jewelry store to find something special and then I started thinking of the fabulous Lost & Found 2 trims! 

Guess what!?  They make fabulous flowers for use on layouts, why not use them for jewelry?

I went to my local Hobby Lobby (Michaels, Joann’s or a jewelry store will work too) and picked up some blank adjustable rings with a flat top, flat circles for necklaces (and small ones for earrings), a bangle bracelet and bobby pins with a flat top.

Then I got to work: twisting and gluing; stitching and gathering and came up with these:

They were fun to make and so easy!  If you want to really enjoy yourself while you create for others, this is the project for you!  You’d better make sure you make a few for yourself.

What do you think?  Is this something you would like to make?  I have included instructions here: Download 2011_12_14_MME_Ribbon Rosette Jewelry

I also demonstrated this project on Good Things Utah this morning.  I will upload the segment when it’s available this afternoon.

Since this is also part of the Holiday Hoopla celebration there IS, of course, a giveaway!  Leave a comment on this blog post by midnight, December 25, 2011.  We will send one lucky winner the trims and brads I used on this project!

Good luck in your preparations!  I know I need it in mine. *wink*  I hope you are able to get your preparations done in time to reflect upon the majesty of this season.

Amber Packer