My Mind's Eye Blog

Mix and Match with Karen- Mother's Day Edition

This is Karen and I am back for another month of Mix and Match with Karen, the Mother's Day edition!

Mix and Match is the blog series that allows me to share how easy it is to mix old MME with new MME.

Recently I came upon a photos of my mom with her two daughters (my sister and me) and I knew I had a photo of me with my boys, so I decided this would be the perfect excuse to honor my mother for Mother's Day. I thought about how it all started with her.

Not only could I have not had my kids if she hadn't had me but I know that she taught me how to be a mom with the unparalleled love she had for me.

Since my photo was quite colorful, I decided to pick lines that were loud and happy colors. I ended up using My Girl, Boy Crazy, Hip-Hooray, and The Sweetest Thing. I have a few stickers and enamel dots from other lines, too but those are the main four I used.

Once I picked the back of the Simply Lovely Doily Paper from The Sweetest Thing, I noticed the zigzags and got the idea to cut it apart and have some colorful paper sneak up from behind.  I cut off the paper
using the zigzags as my guide and then glued some Hip-Hooray Boy Party Paper on the back. I then lay the top piece of the zig zag paper on top. I decided I wanted one more section to peek out so I cut out another line along the zig zags and this time glued the Kite Strings paper from the My Girl line. I then put down the zig zag paper on top and I ended up with something like this right before I put the top section back down:


Once I had the top part down, my paper was about 15 inches so I cut off an inch from the bottom and two from the top. I then stuck the photo of me with my boys in the red section and put my mom's photo behind a frame just below mine. And then I had fun adding my title and journaling. The rest of the layout was just pulling random chipboard embellishments, accessory sheet papers, enamel dots, and stickers from each of the lines.

This is what I ended up with:



Here's the embellishment cluster on the top left. And you can also see how I stitched along the zigzags. I used blue thread for zigzags and green thread for the frame.


Here's the photo of me with my kids and my mom with her kids:


And a mini-cluster on the top, right:


The title on this piece reads: It all began with you. Thank you for being the best mom. I am so thankful.

And the journaling says: There are many things I learned from the schools I went to and the books I read in my life. But the most important thing I ever learned came from you, mom. You are the one who
taught me how to be the best mom in the world. You are the one who taught me to love unconditionally and to support the people my kids are, no matter what. I am so incredibly lucky to have had you as my teacher. I love you with all my heart. Thank you so much, mom.

So there we go.  If you haven't touched these beautifully soft and happy lines in a while, I urge you to pull them out and play with them. I am confident you will have at least as much fun as I have had. And if you use them for a Mother's Day layout, all the better!

Mini Albums with Monika - 49 lists

To celebrate the last year I'll ever have in my 40's, insert a very long sigh, I decided to share a bit of who I am, How I feel, what I think and what makes me, me, with my future generations. I doubt that my children will find this very interesting right now, but in years to come, I'm hoping that it will help them to understand who their Mommy was during her 49th year of life. I would love to have had a chance to know how my Mom felt at 49. And most certainly my Oma since she lived all the way in Germany.


Hi all, Monika here with the April edition of Mini Albums with Monika. My theme of 49 lists this month works out just perfectly for me. There are 52 weeks in a year which means I'll be reminded to create a list at least once a week. I'm not quite sure what to title my mini album though and once I decide, I'll proceed with decorating my cover. Any ideas?

I've already journaled 5 list topics...want to take a peek? This type page is a lovely way to hide a more private note.

My journaling card already had the numbers and all I had to do was add the places I've called home in my 49 years. It's hard for me to believe that I've lived 15 years in one place...longest streak ever for me. After removing the book pages, use a variety of Decorative Tapes to cover the spine area and add a few more strips to the back cover as well. See how I've utilized my tapes to signify the number 49 below?

And I just had to include a page from the original book I recycled. Using the library card from the  xxx collection, I created a pocket and added a decorative brad.

One list at a time from now until my next birthday, which will be the big Five-Oh!

Rather than just trimming your paper to the exact size, add a variety of page styles to your mini album project. Knowing that I would be more apt to list each week if my album pages were already trimmed and semi-embellished, I created nearly all my pages at one time. I purposely left room in my album to add additional pages using the new collections as they are released.


I created a Pinterest board a while back and added possible listing ideas as I found them. As I was trimming and creating my pages, I was so happy to find that many of the die cut titles and journaling spots were perfect jumping off points for my listing all on their own.


Here's one to show you how I've semi-embellished a page, inserted a note about a possible list topic and it's all ready for me to journal my thoughts.


By repurposing an old book cover and removing the pages inside, I've created a "new" book with colorful pages and embellishments using a variety of collections from My Mind's Eye.

Download your tutorial with tips and suggestions here.

Materials Used | Collectable: 6x6 Paper Pad, Decorative Stamps, Layered Stickers, Decorative Tape, Tiny Word Stickers, Label Stickers, Memorable, Notable "Memo", "Love This", 

Unforgettable: Die Cut Chipboard Stickers, Decorative Brads "Today", "You Are", "Happiness"  

My Girl: Decorative Stamps, Layered Stickers

Decorative Tape: Yellow + Gray, Green + Navy, Red + Turquoise

Miscellaneous: adhesive, Sharpie, Vellum, upcycled book, book binder rings, my Mom's old Singer sewing machine

Until next month,


Note from Stephanie: Monika will be sending me updates here and there on this project and I'll be sharing them here on the blog. This project is too awesome to only share one time!

Leah Part Two

Welcome back to the blog, everyone! Yesterday we introduced you to Leah Cameron. Leah is our April guest designer and she rocked the MME this month!

Today we are sharing the rest of her projects. Enjoy...and make sure to stop by her blog to say hi. You are sure to find plenty of inspiration there!

 

 

So Very You layout

Supplies:Collectable-Unforgettable: Happiness Decorative Brads; Happiness Cheerful 12x12 paper;   Today stamps; Story Label Stickers; Story Tale 12x12 Paper; Firsts Fresh 12 x12 paper; Firsts Enamel Dots; You Are Tiny Word Stickers;My Girl: Fancy Free 12x12 paper

Ashley says:This layout is based on the March MME Sketch challenge. Sketches are my favourite way to start a layout, although sometimes by the end I am not so sure you can even see the sketch at all! This one, however, has remained very true to the original design. I love the look that a scattering of the enamel dots give to a layout, I think I have these in every colour available!

A tip I have that I used on this layout is if you feel the layered brads are not quite right on your layout, maybe the size is out or the colours don’t suit exactly – don’t be afraid to alter them slightly to suit. In this layout, the largest of the layered brads seemed too big, and the next size down too small. So I simply removed the largest circle of paper from the layered brad and it was perfect.

I also wanted to include a bit more colour in my brad cluster, so I punched a piece of the hexagon patterned paper from the 6x6 Paper Pad and stuck a brad through the middle to make my own layered brad.

 

The Very Best of Alexa Cameron mini album

Supplies:My Girl: 6x6 Designer Paper Pad; Chipboard Elements; Decorative Tape; Decorative Stamps; Sticker Accessory Sheet; Genuine 12x12 paper;Collectable-Unforgettable:Today Stamps;Collectable-Remarkable:Beautiful Stamps;Decorative Tape: Red and Turquoise

Leah says: The 6x6 Designer Paper Pads are perfect for mini album projects. For this mini album I simply cut some thin chipboard into 6x4 page sizes and adhered patterned paper to each side to make the foundation for my pages. Using this size makes it simple to simply cut 2” off one side of the 6x6 page to fit the 6x4 album.

I printed out some of my favourite photos of my youngest daughter Alexa from 2012 to feature in this album, I have done this in previous years and it is great to be able to go back in years to come and see how much she has changed.

 I used my vast collection of border punches to decorate edges, along with the gorgeous decorative tapes that match in so well with the bright colours in the My Girl collection. The smaller paper pads have the same patterns as the larger 12x12 sheets, but scaled down so they work beautifully for mini albums.

I also made use of the stamp sets from other collections in this project – I love how versatile the stamps are. I have used just the edge of the ruler stamp to border one page, and used the dashed border stamp as a curvy butterfly trail on another.

Leah- Thank you so much for your beautiful and crative work with MME this month. We couldn't be happier with your projects !

Introducing our April Guest Designer!

Hello MME fans! Hope you had a wonderful, restful, and creative weekend!

We are so glad you are joining us this morning, because it's time to introduce you to our April guest designer!

Meet Leah Cameron!  We love Leah and her enthusiasm (and love!) for MME. We are thrilled she agreed to join us this month!

Leah sent us a veritable TREASURE TROVE of projects. There are still plenty to share tomorrow, so make sure to check back then.

Here's a little bit about Leah:

I have been scrapping for about seven years.  I have always been interested in scrapbooking, even before I knew what it was!  I look back now on the photo album I made of my sister’s wedding in 1990, and can see the beginnings of my scrapping obsession.

My friend actually gave me a gift voucher for a beginner’s class in 2006, so that was when I first had a real taste of scrapbooking as I know it today.   I love scrapbooking for so many reasons – it gives me some “me” time, which has been very much appreciated over the past 7 years with two girls only 16 months apart.  I love that I can record the memories that otherwise would be forgotten.  And let’s be honest – I love the products!  

There is nothing better than getting that little ticket in the mail box which tells me there is a pizza box waiting – I think our postie must think we have a pizza addition!It almost goes without saying that one of the most anticipated scrappy parcels to receive is My Mind’s Eye – so I can’t even begin to explain how thrilled I am to have the opportunity to Guest Design for my all time favourite scrapbooking company.

Q:What did you have the most fun working with and why?

A:This is so hard to answer, as I loved it all...but if I have to choose I will go with the 6x6 paper pads – which is not what I would have thought when I first saw the ranges. My scrapbooking style is quite simple, so I sometimes find some of the “busier” patterned papers hard to use but the smaller scale of the 6x6 pads made them perfect for my Project Life and mini album.
PS. I also love the stamps!

Q: What is your favorite MME line of all time? Why?

A:Again, so difficult to narrow it down – but I think I will go with “Miss Caroline” as I adore the wood grain and floral mix. I really need to get me some more of that wood grain paper!

 

A Weekend Escape layout

Supplies: Collectable-Remarkable:Original patterned paper, Delightful patterned paper,Dates patterned paper; decorative buttons;stamps;layered stickers; enamel dots.

Leah says:Sometimes when you have a photo you just love, you don’t need to add much to create a beautiful layout that says all you need it to. Here I have just added some simple border strips that I punched from patterned paper, used the gorgeous stamps from the Beautiful range to stamp a very subtle pattern over the white background paper and added some simple embellishments. My favourite part of this layout is the Happy Days Are Here “sun” that I placed on the horizon. I knew as soon as I saw the Smile Layered Stickers packet that I wanted to use this as a sun, and this photo suited it perfectly. I simply removed the sun from the green background and adhered it directly on my photo.

 

Project Life Spread

Supplies: Collectable-Unforgettable: Today stamps; Story Journal Card; Story Journal Paper 12x12; You Are Title; You Are Tiny Word Stickers; Story Label Stickers; Decorative Tape; 6x6 Paper Pad; chipboard, Story “Story” Journal paper;Collectable-Remarkable: Beautiful Stamps.

Leah says:The Collectable Unforgettable range could not have been more perfect for my Project Life insert for my youngest daughter Alexa’s 7th birthday. I based this spread around the Story Journal Paper with it’s 3x4 sized cards, and then selected matching papers from the 6x6 Paper Pad. Again, this size is ideal for Project Life as you don’t have to cut into a full 12x12 sheet to just use a small piece. I printed out my favourite shots of her birthday week, and made quite a few of them small so I could fit more photos in the double spread. I have done quite a bit of stamping on this, as borders, background as well as feature embellishments.

 

Altered Notebooks

Supplies:My Girl: Felt Stickers; Decorative Brads; Sticker Accessory Sheet; Decorative Tape.
Patterned Papers: My Girl: Flutterby, Ride, Bouquet, Rainbow, Chevron;Decorative Tape: Yellow and Grey

Leah says:I decided to decorate the front covers of two diaries that my girls had been given for Christmas. I tried to choose papers and embellishments that suit their personality – I have one very “girly” girl, and the other, well, not quite so much! When I was half way through they came to investigate what I was up to and wanted to join in, so I let them decorate a notebook on their own. I think I must have done a fairly good job predicting what they would like, as it turns out Kiara chose the same paper I had for her notebook.

 

Her Happy Day layout

Supplies:Collectable-Unforgettable:You Are Pleasant paper, Today Moment paper, Today Remember paper, You Are Chipboard, You Are Tiny Word Stickers, Firsts Decorative Stickers;Decorative Tape: Yellow and grey.

Leah says:I just adore this photo I took of Alexa on her 7th birthday. It shows how happy she was for it finally to be her day. I love how it shows her school uniform, and her new birthday hair clips! I found the grey decorative tape to be perfect for this layout, and I have used two different patterns – one for the vertical stripes which adds great movement to the page, and also a simpler diagonal pattern around the outside of the tag that I cut myself out of patterned paper. The heart sticker was the perfect touch to this homemade embellishment.

 

WOW Leah! Thank you so much for your awesome projects! Don't you all agree she outdid herself?
And tomorrow we still have two layouts and a mini album to share!

Thanks so much for stopping by! See you all tomorrow.

Freaky Friday- April Edition

Today we are going to try something new. I challenged two of our designers to switch styles for today's post. So basically today is our very own Freaky Friday. Style-wise at least. :)

Who will be taking the challenge today? Tina Walker and Suzanne Sergi. When I think of Tina, I think of white space, mixed media influences, and clusters. When I think of Suzanne, I think of embossing folders, classic style, and feminine pages. I thought these two were the perfect pair to switch styles.

Here's what they are sharing today.

First up is Tina channeling Suzanne's style!

 

 

Tina says: When Stephanie asked the design team members to swap design styles with each other, I must admit, I was a little nervous.  These types of challenges are always tough because you are comfortable with your own style, and when you create a project using the style of another designer, it definitely pushes you outside your comfort zone.

So how did I interpret Suzanne’s style?  I started by printing off several of her recent projects from the MME blog.  I arranged them in front of me and certain design elements became noticeable.  Suzanne generally created layouts with one (1) large (4x6 or larger) photo. 

This is a big change for me since I generally use smaller photos (and multi prints of the same).   Her backgrounds use larger pieces of patterned paper, incorporating design elements from the background paper in the page.  Love this! Suzanne also uses large banners, (which I also love), and lots of round embellishments.

I wanted to create a layout that used these key design elements, but still make it my own.

Supplies: Collectable-Remarkable:Beam Paper, Grin Paper,Genuine Paper,6x6 pad,decorative buttons,pins,chipboard shapes,layered Stickers,label stickers,die cut title, journal  card,enamel dots, tiny word stickers;Misc:Clothespin:  Crate Paper,Twine:  American Crafts,Deli Paper: WebRestaurant Supply Adhesive:  Tombow (tape runner), Scrapbook Adhesives (foam tape),Die Cut Machine:  Cameo,Sewing Machine: Brother,Thread:  Coats and Clark,Staples:  Tim Holtz

To make this a marriage between Suzanne's style and my style, I used the design elements I mentioned above, but created an 8.5 x 11 page.

Also, one of my current favorite techniques is to die cut a piece of deli paper and place it over a busy background paper to create a subtle, muted effect.  Love this look!

I am so happy with my finished project.  I think it is the perfect blend between our two styles and love how it turned out.  If you ever have the opportunity or desire to swap styles with another scrapbooker, jump at the challenge.  It is definitely fun.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

And Suzanne's take on Tina's style...

Suzanne says:I will admit, this one was a bit challenging. I feel that I have developed my scrapbooking style, with tweaks here and there. However, to interpret another style can present to be a challenge. It was really fun, though!

Supplies: My Girl:Bouquet paper, Flutterby paper,Fancy Free paper,decorative brads,felt stickers, decorative buttons,enamel dots;Misc:twine,ink,Cameo

One of the things that I noticed about Tina's style was that she likes to utilize white space on her layouts. I tend to love patterned paper, and use it in large amounts onto my pages. Tina keeps it clean with minimal patterns. She has an eclectic and artsy style.  I did the best I could by dabbing in a bit of ink to add color to the background of my page.

Tuba tends to use smaller photos, and not the large photos I am accustomed to.  I went smaller to a 4x6 of these sweet little girls.  Her pages are modern and so I pulled out my Cameo to cut a couple of clean designs. I wanted to add a bit of me onto the page, so you will see the die cuts embossed to give them that extra texture. I love round elements on my pages, so I pulled in the felt flowers from the My Girl collection to add some extra pop.

Tina also inspired me to bring out the decorative tape! I used it as a border along the bottom of the page and to create fun interest at the top!

 

So there you have it...our very first Freaky Friday on the MME blog. Hope you enjoyed it!

Have a fabulous weekend. :)

Felt Stickers

Happy Thursday, MME fans!

Today we want to spotlight one of our favorite embellishments...felt stickers! These stickers are the perfect way to easily add a touch of whimsy to your layout or project.

They are fun, happy, bright, and playful. Who doesn't want more of that in their world?

I challenged Jana and Danni to share their ideas using these darling stickers. Here's what they came up with!

 

Be Happy by Jana Eubank

Supplies:My Girl :Playful paper, Rainbow paper, Pinwheel paper, Sweet Girl paper, Bouquet paper, Genuine paper, Felt Stickers, Layered Stickers, 12 x 12 Stickers, Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots

Other: Yellow cardstock, Tab punch, Scallop border punch, Ink, Adhesive, Foam squares, Trimmer

Jana says:I adore the felt stickers from the My Girl and Boy Crazy collections. I love the multiple layers in bright colors. Some of the layers even have stitching on them, which really adds to their cozy, handmade feel. When I look at them, they remind me of the cute, whimsical designs that are stitched on my young daughter's clothing (something I look to often for inspiration). I knew they would be a perfect accent on this layout about my daughter's birthday.

I added some of the enamel dots to the flowers, ice cream cone, and butterfly wings. I love the contrast of the shiny enamel dot with the fuzzy felt. So fun!

 

 

Robot Door Hanger by Danni Reid

Supplies:Boy Crazy:Plaid Paper, Geared Up, Felt Stickers, Decorative brads, tape, layered sticker, enamel dots,Silhouette Cameo, hole punch

When I first saw these felt stickers, I knew I wanted to create a door hanger for my youngest son's room.  These cute robots, cars and stars just needed to be displayed.  He loves fun things from my scrap booking supplies, from lunch notes, to bookmarks, to door hangers, to folder inserts, he loves them (he's still young enough to enjoy those things, yay).

I cut the door hanger using my Silhouette Cameo and then cut a fun block of arrows and backed it with chevron paper.  I loved layering the hanger with the papers, felt stickers, tapes and brads. 

I used hot glue in a "glob" and pressed it up a little to angle the head so the robot is looking at "you".  I thought it would be fun to add the layered sticker "genuine boy" to his hand, a couple of brads to the felt sticker and a couple of enamel dots to that cute robot tummy.

 

 

Eye Love You by Danni Reid

Supplies:Boy Crazy:Plaid, Point the Way, Stitched and Seeing Stars paper, Felt stickers, decorative brads, enamel dots;Misc:heart punch, white cardstock, machine stitching, Tim Holtz mini attacherIf you do not have a Silhouette Cameo, you can use a door hanger template online.  Here's one of several free printable templates online: Door Hanger Template

Danni says: I decided it would be fun to use this fun one-eyed monster to create a fun card for my youngest, one to slip into his lunchbox.  I thought it would be fun to create a sentiment that played on the "eye" in the monster.

How darling and creative are these ideas??? Have you used our felt stickers in your crafting? If so, we'd love to see! Link in the comments or on our FB page.

Happy crafting!

My Girl with Danni

Good morning!  Danni here with you today to share some projects using the new My Girl line. 

I am really excited to share with you a baby gift set and additional card created with the My Girl line.  I am absolutely crazy about this line.  This assignment was the first time I had the chance to look through every last detail of the line and I can not tell you how much this line makes me giddy. 

I had been playing with the papers and enamel dots, but oh the layered stickers, sticker sheets and chipboard are so much fun. I see so many fun girl-ish/summery layouts and projects with this line but I needed to create a baby gift tag and card and I decided that I would use this line. 

I wrapped the outfits in tangerine tissue paper to match the colors in the outfits (butterflies) and the colors in this line were perfect and happy. 

I started by cutting a tag out of vellum, using my Cuttlebug.  I decided to create a vellum tag to allow the playful colors to pop.  I absolutely LOVE the large "girl" stickers on the 12 x 12 sticker sheet and wanted to layer those on the tag.  I cut the "baby" sentiment using my Cameo and adhered some enamel dots (love these so much).  I then decided to layer a fun flower sticker to finish the sentiment.

On my card, I used the negative of the "baby" sentiment and backed it with the plaid paper to draw attention to the plaid in the sentiment.  I adhered the chipboard banners as arrows, because that is trending right now, and adhered a layered flower to finish it off.  I love the fun colors in this line and loved that they matched the gift set I needed to wrap for shipping.

I didn't want to stop playing so I decided to make a "hello" card too using the cute layered sticker.  I absolutely love the layered stickers in this line and can't wait to play with them some more.  I love all the summery/girly patterns and colors in this line and had a hard time choosing, so I decided to layer several of them.

Wow. That was FUN! Have you enjoyed playing with the My Girl line? We'd love to see what you've been making! Link us up on our Facebook page!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

tag supplies:  My Girl:12 x 12 sticker sheet, decorative brads, enamel dots and layered stickers  MISC: bazzill cardstock, Cameo sentiment, Cuttlebug

baby card supplies: My Girl:Pinwheel paper,  Fancy Free and Genuine paper, 12 x 12 sticker sheet, enamel dots

hello card supplies: My Girl:Playful paper, Genuine, Fancy Free, Kite Strings, Pinwheel paper, Chipboard sheet, layered stickers, enamel dots, chipboard buttons MISC: bazzill cardstock

Anatomy of a Double Page Layout- March

Supplies: Boy Crazy:Geared Up patterned paper,Stitched patterned paper,Plaid patterned paper,Ready Set Go patterned paper,6x6 pad,chipboard,enamel dots;My Girl:decorative tape;Winter Wonderland:twine;Misc: Silhouette,circle punches,snowflake punches

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back with another behind the scenes look at the makings of a double page layout. This past January, I brought you the first installment of this series. Thank you so much for all the sweet comments, and I am so happy to see that I am NOT the only one creating double page layouts. Go doublers!

Now, I also read some of you have multiple kids and take too many pictures to fit on a single page. I am right there with you! My favorite thing to do to get lots of those pictures onto a layout is to do a Season Summary page for both of my kids.

Yep, I have an album for my daughter and album for my son. I am sure there are some of you who just keep one family album, and some are like me (I hope) who scrapbook for each of your children. Right? It can be challenging to keep up with multiple albums, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. 

Summarizing an entire season onto one layout can knock out three months of memories all at once. Kind of nice! I just make sure I plan and order my pictures for those pages at the same time. The pictures that I use are almost identical, with a couple varied to focus on the individual child.

This past December, I shared a winter layout for my daughter.

Today I am going to share with you my son’s winter layout from the same year. When I started planning for my daughter’s page, I also planned for my son’s knocking out two birds with one stone.

Once I organize which pictures I am going to use, I start with a sketch. If I don’t sketch them out, I will completely forget what I was planning on doing with them when I find the time to scrap them. Sketches are key for me.

As you can see, I have my daughter’s page right there with my son’s page. I had a couple of extra pictures for my daughter and different “kid specific” pictures that were not of the same orientation, so I didn’t use the same sketch. I did use the same 2x3 size for the majority of the pictures and then had the larger sizes for the “kid specific” pictures. Doing blocks of 2x3 or 3x4 pictures for these summary pages can really streamline my process.

On those special days where I have time to scrapbook, I pull out my pictures and match them up with their sketch.

I always start off with a white base to push my pictures around on to get the layout just the way I want it before I add color and embellishments to the equation. I did have two different 4x6 pictures printed for this page. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to go with as the main picture; the sledding picture or my son looking through the window.

After putting my pictures on paper, I saw that I was able to add them both by trimming down the sledding picture.

Next step is journaling and color! Once I type up all that I want to say for a layout, I know where I can fit it in around my pictures or if I have to switch up where my pictures go. This time, it was easy. I already had journaling from my daughter’s page and it also worked perfectly for my son’s.

I printed it off on a tag which fit nicely next to the focal picture. Then, I get to add my color with pretty papers.

I deviated from my sketch a bit by dividing the left 4x12-inch strip on my page. It just felt like there was too much space above the journaling tag, so I simply trimmed the Plaid Paper and flipped it over to see the yellow circles.  Then I sized each piece to match with the adjacent papers.

The final step is to embellish and title the page. I knew I wanted a big ol’ title on the top of the page over the Ready Set Go Paper, and those fun circle chipboard pieces from the Boy Crazy line were calling to me with a mix of snowflakes.

To ground the chipboard circles, I layered them on top of different sized circles and then mixed in some snowflake punches. After cutting my title out of the grey cardstock, I realized that the letters got lost on such a busy piece of paper.

I tried the title in aqua, but it was still the case. I went back to the grey, and decided to stitch on each letter with different coordinating colors. Perfect, that worked for me.

To carry the circles and snowflakes over to the other side, I did the same thing in the plaid square. Since I used a red circle for layering, I decided to pull the red tag off that I had underneath the journaling tag because there was already enough happening over there with the circle embellishments. I simply added some twine to my tag, attached decorative tape down on two of the pictures, and my page was done.

So there you have it, another scary look inside my creative process of a double page layout. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for joining me today!

Just a side note for all you single page makers, you can still pull some inspiration from me today. If you look at each side of my layout individually, they can totally work for a standalone page too. Double the inspiration or should I say triple the inspiration?!?

February Mixed Media with Karen

Welcome to another Mixed Media with Karen. As soon as I saw this  paper, I knew I wanted to use it in my page this month. The first thing I did was to cut out the Polaroid frames.


Since I knew I was going to use a part of my page to collect all my daily gratitudes from the week, I covered the page with graph paper from the new My Girl line. I then used an edge punch with the rainbow paper from the same line and covered a third of my page with it.

Then I added my three Polaroid frames. I like to make my objects come off the edge of the page cause it gives it a feeling of continuation and it's not so "perfect."

I then added some embellishments using the days of the week  and washi tape. I just had fun with it didn't over-think it.

Next, I added my title and two photos. One of me and my sister from when we were kids. And one of my two boys. My title says: Family is where you are loved just the way you are.

Next came stitching. I stitched right through all my alphas and the tiny word stickers on the edge of the Polaroid frames. I love love love adding stitching to my pages, it adds texture and makes me happy.

Once all of the elements were down, arranged, glued, and stitched, it was time to add paint. I picked my two favorite colors from the paper with the stars: orange and pink. And I just had fun with it. My last step was to add black paint to the edges of my page. It makes everything else on the page pop that much more.

and here's my final page, ready for the daily gratitude journaling.

Thanks for letting me share my page and process. I hope you liked it and if you use the awesome My Mind's Eye products on your mixed media pages, I'd love to see them so link me up in the comments!

Supplies: Collectable:'Love this" Adore patterned paper,'Journey' journal patterned paper,'Memo' label stickers,tiny word stickers;My Girl:Fancy Free patterned paper,Rainbow patterned paper;Decorative Tape Sets: red and turquoise, red and black

Incorporating Stickers Into Your Layouts by Karen

Hi everyone,

This is Karen and this time I get to share one of my very favorite products with you: mini word stickers!

Anyone who's seen my layouts knows that I love super-long titles and that stories are a big part of my pages. The word stickers are super-awesome for both of these goals. So I wanted to share with you some of the ways I use these awesome products on my pages.

First let's take a look at the final layout:


Can you see all the word stickers I used? I told you I loved these!

Ok, so let's take a few steps back and start talking about all the ways you can use these stickers. The first, and maybe the most obvious way to use these is as part of your title. You can see mine here:

I mixed the word stickers with the alphabet stickers to say: I love my sweet, amazing boys and the silly hats, in every way.

I love all the color, versatility and interest the little words add into my title while still keeping the focus on the two main themes: boys + hats.

Another way in which I used the words is as side embellishments in the photos. If you look at the photo above, you can see the words "you are special" to the right of my son's photo. And if you look at the completed layout, you can see I added some to five of the photos. Like "you are delightful" or "adore you." I love these as  "side comments" to the photos. You could also use them as captions and put them below each photo. And use photos and words to weave a story or a joke.

Here's another way:

In the photo above, I used the stickers to build a sentence that's my core message to my boys: I love you today and forever. If they don't read any of my journaling but read the title, the little words by the photos and this one sentence, they'll get the gist of what I want them to know from the layout.

And finally, another obvious and wonderful way to use them is to combine them with another one of my favorite products: label stickers. I love that these words fit perfectly on the labels and can help you build more interest, more messaging, more story into your layouts. Here's how I used them in this way on my page:


I used the date label and the "you're perfect" label. This gives you the luxury of creating your own custom-labels with colorful words. Isn't that marvelous?!


I hope you enjoy these word stickers and labels as much as I do. Thanks for letting me share my layout. If you've used them in any of the ways I mention or in any other creative ways, I would love, love to see them so please link me up in the comments!




Supplies:Collectable -label stickers (memo, note, story), tiny word stickers (love this, perfect, authentic), My Girl:Bouquet patterned paper,Kite Strings patterned paper,Fancy Free patterned paper,Flutterby patterned paper