My Mind's Eye Blog

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Hello World Layout

Hi everyone, Laurel here.  It has been awhile since I did a layout but I finally had a bit of time so I took full advantage.

When I received the Hello World collection, I knew it would be perfect for this photo and my love for travelling.  I have been very fortunate to have visited places like Japan, England and France but of course there are many more places I want need to see!

As I gathered items for this layout, they just sort of fell into place as there were so many items that were perfect for the theme I was going for.
I was able to incorporate so many different elements and techniques it just made me happy to be creating.  I love to cluster bits and bobs to help carry out my theme and of course for me – a haphazard, unsymmetrical look.


I fussy cut the strip at the bottom of the page from the Travel paper (there is just something about fussy cutting), and then just added stickers, stamps, stitching and other embellishments until I was happy with the look.

Products used:
Hello World:  pattern paper, All Aboard Veneer, Rubons, Sticker Sheets, Sticky Notes

Other products: Stamps, die cut

Fancy That Mixed Media Challenge

Hi everyone!

This is Karen and I am excited to be here with another Mixed Media project! 

 

This month, I knew I wanted to use the beautiful papers and embellishments from the Fancy That! line but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. Sometimes, this is the hardest part of any project for me: getting started. I feel like I can stare at the page for hours arranging and rearranging different starting points and never committing to anything. So this month, I challenged myself to just gluing things down and then having to learn to go with what I'd already committed to on the page.

 

The first thing I did was pick three papers I loved that I thought went with my photo. I ripped them up to different sizes, layered them and then stuck my photo on top. I did minimal rearranging and just glued it down:

 

I already wasn't sure I liked it but I decided to quiet down the voice in my head and move forward anyway. I glued a few more pieces on the opposing page and added a layer below and above the photo on the right.

 

 

I'm still not sure I like any of it. But we're moving on without overthinking it.

 

I then decide to repeat the flowery paper on the right with some punched hearts on the left. The idea comes up and I just go with it. I also like the arrow because it draws your eye towards the page and the hearts.

 

 

I decide it's time to add some shiny stuff. I add gold embellishments and shiny sequins in lots of places on both pages. I also decide the right page is much darker than the left so I add a bit of black to both sides. (I also decide i don't like the full circle on the top right, i cut its top off.)

 

 

I like it a bit more now. It's also quite shiny which makes me happy.

 

 

I decide it's time for paint. Because paint is my happy place, I always add it with my fingers. I add some pink, red, and gold so I can repeat the colors in the papers I used.

 

 

And finally to bring back the black, I trace around the page, the hearts and some other elements to give them a black border so they pop out more.

 

 

it's very shiny and i am finally happy with it.

 

 

I don't believe there's a true path when creating mixed media. You have to just go with your own flow and when you think you're done, you're done. I could always do more and I could also have stopped a few steps ago. I just sort of go until I feel I am getting near the feeling of "too much" and then I stop. To be honest, I don't think the results are much better when I overthink the process and not having the anxiety the whole time is a huge bonus.

 

 

Thank you for letting me share and I hope you'll join me in creating your own lovely Mixed Media pages this month! 

On Trend with Layers and Gold Detail

Hey there, MME fans!  Missy here.  I’m sharing a page I created using the beautiful On Trend collection today.  If you haven’t seen this collection in person, you simply must get your hands on it!  It’s so pretty and my favorite parts of it are the shiny gold elements, the fun overlays and the beautiful patterns on the papers and the Journal Cards.  I used some of the new Canvas Cardstock to build my page on and it’s amazing!  This design was inspired by a few of the Journal Cards, so I used them as key elements on the page.

 

I started with the Canvas Cardstock in Snowbound.  It’s very sturdy and beautifully textured.  I used a bit of watercolor on it, and since I used the plastic packaging technique, I didn’t use gesso beforehand.  The cardstock took it very well and didn’t warp at all.

 

Supplies Used: White Textured Canvas Cardstock—Snowbound; On Trend—“Awesome” Awesome Paper, “Happy” Sketch Paper, “Party” Rub-Ons, “Cool” Die-Cut Journal Cards, “Happy” Photo Overlays, “Cool” Decorative Brads; Fancy That—“Pearl” Stickers; Other—Artist’s Loft Watercolors, Coats Thread, Brother Sewing Machine, Sharpie Pen, pop dots, October Afternoon date stamp, Ranger Archival Ink, Silhouette Cameo.

 

I used almost an entire pack  of the Rub-Ons on this page!  I just love them so much, and they adhere very smoothly.  There are several fun designs, and I used them all around the photo and Journal Cards.  The flower clusters are Rub-Ons that I fussy cut out.  I love the texture it gives rather than just rubbing it directly onto to the paper.  This also works well for layers so the rub-on doesn’t tear.  I also added a bit of gold stitching.

 

I cut my title on my Cameo and paired it with more Rub-Ons.  I really love the white-on-white look.  Add in the pops of gold, and it’s just too pretty for words!

 

Isn’t that 'Awesome Sauce' circle SO cute?!  I punched it out of a Journal Card. I just had to have that as a big element on the page because it’s just the cutest saying.  I added some stitching through it and added pop dots under it.  I just LOVE that gold and white striped journal card….too gorgeous!

 

One last close-up…the overlays in this line are awesome…I cut this circle out and layered it with a few strips of patterned paper.  The date sticker is from the Fancy That line.

 

I hope this inspires you to create something awesome with this collection…it really is beautiful!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Mix and Match: Split Text

Hi everyone!

 

This is Karen. I am back with another Mix and Match for April. This month I wanted to try something slightly different. Even though I have a relatively good idea of what I like and don't like on my pages, I've learned over time, that even my favorite ideas feel stale sometimes and it's worth trying to mix things up a little. I also want to make sure to mention that sometimes a small, subtle change can have a big impact so it doesn't have to be a drastic change each time.

 

Here's my page for this month:

 

 

For this month, I wanted to see what would happen if I broke up the text on to two pages instead of having it all in one page. I still kept the same amount of journaling but I split it across two pages. Once I decided to do that, I wondered what would happen if I also put a really wide photo that stretched across two pages. So I created a 4x12 photo, broke it into two 4x6 halves, printed them and then glued one on each page.

 

 

I absolutely adore the new Hello World! line and I knew I wanted to use the papers with this page. My next idea was to pull all the pages I liked and a bunch of other yellows and blues from older lines and then punch circles out of all my pages. I used lines as old as four years in this page. I can never reiterate enough how well the colors match across MME's new lines and older ones.

 

 

Once I had all my circles, I lined them all up so that there was a relatively even distribution of color all along the page. The next step was to stitch along some of the chunks of circles to add some texture, visual interest and mostly for fun.

 

 

I also started thinking about my title and how I would display it, I knew I would break it into two sections across two pages, but I wasn't sure what color I should make it. I went around and around and then finally settled on white. I figured this way it would stand out but not steal the thunder from the circles or the photo. I also thought I could then use smaller colorful alphas to make it more interesting. The left side ended up like this:

 

 

And the right side is quieter but still mostly white.

 

 

Here's how the full title looks across the two pages: See how the white is subtle but stands out?

 

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With the washi on top and bottom and the circles and the split title and large photo, there was already enough going on in this page so I didn't want to add too much more. Instead I decided to add some subtle small embellishments and those airplane and arrow enamels were calling my name, so I made a little cluster on the top right.

 

 

And then added tiny ones on each page on the bottom to create repetition and a visual triangle.

 

 

Some fun stitching on top and bottom and I was done! Here's a side look to see some of the fun texture the circles add:

 

 

And here's another look at the whole page:

 

 

The journaling is all about how I am having to travel for work quite a bit and my feelings around leaving my boys, etc. You can read the full text here.

 

Thank you for letting me share another layout with you. I liked experimenting with small changes to my page this month and I really like breaking up the text and enlarging the photo. If you've recently experimented with doing something that's new to you, I'd love to see your pages so please leave me a link in the comments. Thank you and see you next month!