My Mind's Eye Blog

It’s Back to School time!

This time of year is a time of transition for many people. The days are shorter, the nights are colder (yeah!) and children are headed off to school.

If you are a parent, this may well be the “most wonderful time of the year”. Do you shed tears of joy or sadness at the thought of your child/children going back to school? Or is it you that’s going back to school?

I’m the type of parent who is glad that it’s back to school time. My boys have been on each other’s nerves for the last week or two. It’s just time. Truth be told, I am worried for their safety! (I’m exaggerating) I’m doing the “mother dance” and I feel extremely guilty for feeling like this. *sigh*

My oldest child began third grade last week. I was feeling just fine (as stated previously) until I sat down to type this blog post and realized that he is half-way through his elementary school years. Before I know it, he will be in Jr. High. He already doesn’t look like my little boy anymore. He is getting embarrassed to hug me in public, but will come upstairs for extra hugs and kisses at night and I LOVE it.

I have tried to capture these changes and associated emotions in this layout. 

There Goes My Heart 

(I had a fun time using the more "girly" Abbey Road Lucky Me collection for my tough boy)

Featured Collection: Abbey Road

Designer: Amber Packer

My youngest child begins preschool tomorrow. He is thrilled beyond words! We met his teacher a couple of weeks ago and already have the calendar for September. He has been counting down the days, and knows that tonight is a special night. It’s all about him and celebrating the start of a new era in his life.

It is hard to feel sad at my loss when he is so excited!

Ready, Let's go!

Featured Collection: Abbey Road

Designer: Amber Packer

A friend of mine gave me a great idea. She has a special school album for each child. She scraps the first day, last day and any special awards in that album. She puts everything else in her other albums. Since they are all in one place, it’s easy to see their progression.

This entire week we will be focusing on back to school. We’d like to hear from you. What do you do for back to school? Comment on any (or all) of this week’s posts to win our Abbey Road Round & Round collection.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

More Winners!

Today we are giving away "A few of Tiffani and Amber's favorite things".  Our winner's today are:

The winner Tiffani's favorite things is:  Janine R!

Hi back! Looking forward to your inspiration,...beautiful layouts!

Posted by: Janine R. | August 24, 2009 at 07:09 AM

The winner of Amber's favorite things is: Karin C!

wow, you do some lovely, lovely work...very inspiring to me..

Posted by: karin c | August 20, 2009 at 02:06 PM

Whirlybird Girl

I love the whimsical style of the Abbey Road WhirlyBird collections - so pretty and funky! It's totally suited for the photographs I have of my girl and her friends, especially since we often refer to Fay as "our little giggle bird".

 

I love how the colours enhanced the wonderful emotions in this photograph. I really wanted to keep to a sort of folksy/western feel to the page so I did some hand stitching on the accents.

 

There are a lot of layers & texture on this page.  The things I love most are the paper edges and the flowers.  I didn't want to use them as is, so I go creative with my scissors.

Download Anam_Best Friends

Enjoy.

 

A whirl wind of a trip...

... makes for a fun ride! What better way to showcase my memories than with My Mind's Eye Abbey Road Collection, more specifically the Whirly Bird Line.

This past May I had the privilege of teaching aboard an Alaskan Cruise and became fabulous friends in the short week long trip with one of my fellow teachers, Becky! She has such a fun personality and provided some amazing laughs on this whirlwind trip. I just knew I needed to do something special with this picture!  :) 

We were like 2 peas in a pod and had no qualms about getting goofy and decorating our bright pink hard hats for one of our classes. With the fun, bright colours in this photo I knew the colours in the Whirly Bird Line would be a PERFECT match and as you can see, the pinks, blues and greens worked fabulously!

I had fun layering the various chipboard die cut embellishments. I used a brown pad around most of the edges and in some cases, I used a Sakura Micron pen to do a bit of detailing.

I used a border punch on my blue photo matte to mimic the scalloped edge on the background die cut paper. Cut apart a pre-printed element like I did with the chipboard word strip in the photo above.

I also cut apart 2 different paper die cut embellishments to get my custom "girl friends" title here. Use your craft knife to cut around printed patterns on the beautiful papers if you think you will lose the details once you place your photo on it. I cut around the swirls and birds so I could just tuck the edges of the photo behind, adding even more dimension to your page.

Next time you are scrapbooking, try looking past the obvious to see how you can slightly alter a paper or embellishment to make it work perfectly for your own project... surely you will not be disappointed!

Happy Scrapping!

Challenge 2: PageMap Winner

All we can say is … Astounding!

The number of entries we had in our second blog contest … 63 … Astounding!

The caliber of the entries … Astounding!

And, again, you’ve left us absolutely speechless.  So, without further adieu,

The winner of Blog Challenge 2: Page Maps is:

Suzanne Sergi

Suzanne will receive three collections of her choice!

Our Honorable Mention has been awarded to:

Lori Gentile

Lori will receive one collection of her choice.

We have added a photo gallery of all 63 Astounding entries. Please take a moment to view them. They are located in our Challenge 2: PageMap photo album to the left or you can click this link.

We’d like to thank everyone who shared their talents with us! Our next blog challenge will start Monday, September 14, 2009. We hope you’ll join us!

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We have a few more prizes we need to hand out. Thank you to all who have taken the time to comment on the bios of our Design Team Members.

The winner of “A few of Anam’s favorite things” is: Rachael!

Good to meet you! I love the breaking free line too, I recently scrapped a 5 week stay in Kauai entirely in Breaking Free! So far I'm at about 30 Layouts! Of yours, my favourite is the vintage layout. Such awesome colors!

Posted by: Rachael Wood | August 14, 2009 at 08:38 AM

The winner of “A few of Trisha’s favorite things” is: Valerie!

Beautiful work!! I have to say I love a LOT of the same favorites on your list!! Thanks for sharing!

Posted by: Valerie | August 20, 2009 at 07:05 AM

You have through the end of this week to continue commenting to win “A few of Tiffani and Amber’s” favorite things.

Blog Challenge #2 update

Check back with us on Monday, August 24, to see our winning Blog Challenge 2 entry and view all 63 amazing entries!

The BEAUTY of STOMP!

What a joy the "STOMP" line from the Abbey Road Collection is to play with! Not only can we use it to make great juvenile pages, but it worked quite well on this more mature layout too.

The blues and greens in the "Plants Life" Die cut paper worked beautifully while complimenting the colours in my photo of a gorgeous canal in the Netherlands. The tranquility of the water and trees on this early morning left a mark on my soul and it is a memory I wish never to forget.

I applied brown ink to all of the edges of the various papers to give some definition. There are plenty of layers to add visual interest.

I had fun creating a little shadowbox using one of the frames from the co-ordinating Big Attitude Accessory Sheet (AR1076) and Transparency Frame(AR1071).  For directions on how to do this layout, please download the following instructions: Beauty Instructions

So after creating something for me, I could not resist using some of the dinosaur themed papers for a classic picture of my son who thought it was a good idea to eat a dirt pie... hmmmmmm... must be a boy thing! I broke out a few more of the "STOMP" papers and accessories from the Abbey Road Collection to make the following page...

We all know that I am all about lumps and bumps on my scrapbook pages so I added some Crackle Accents to my die cut title "GET DIRTY". I also had fun layering the new epoxy brads with hand cut elements from the papers and transparent embellishments. Don't be afraid to cut apart a sheet of paper to get the image you want.

On this project I really only wanted to use the Dinosaurs and swirls.  Using my scissors, I cut out the designs so I could "pop" it up and create my own custom scene.  I combined the cut outs with a die cut image and the adorable chipboard embellishments.

Do not be afraid to layer the various components to give lots of depth to your project.  

So there you have it... a couple of fun layouts for the young and the young at heart! Have fun playing with the My Mind's Eye "Stomp" Line.

If you have signed up as a My Mind's Eye Fan on our Facebook page, there is a place where you can upload photos of your projects, I would LOVE to see what you create using "Stomp" line too! If you have not signed up... what are you waiting for? Pop on over and say "Hi"! We'd love to have you come and hang out with us!

Hello, Amber!

Hello! It’s nice to officially meet you. I have had the opportunity to help facilitate the start of this blog and am lucky enough to also be the lead of this fabulous Design Team. I design for a monthly kit club and am a guest contributor on a regional TV program called Good Things Utah. I appear on the show at least once a month and demonstrate projects using Scrapbooking products (mostly home décor).

I have lived in the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley my entire life. My husband, Bryan, and I have two beautiful (yes, I call them beautiful) boys, Neal and Riley. I am the oldest of my siblings and the only girl. I am used to living with all boys and wouldn’t know what to do if I had to share the bathroom with another girl! Family is very important to us. We are lucky to live close to both sets of parents & still have four grandparents alive.

(photo credit: Haylee Bean Photography)

When I started college, I was planning to become a CPA like my father. At the beginning of my junior year, I changed my major to Statistics. I ended up graduating with a degree in Sociology and plan on getting a masters degree when my children are older.

If you had told me that I would scrapbook for living, I wouldn’t have believed you. I was not “crafty”. But I had “crafty” friends. A good friend of mine had been teaching Scrapbook classes and was quitting. I decided that would be a good way to bring in a little extra money each month. I took some layouts into the store my friend had been teaching at and was hired! That was seven years ago.

Last year the store I was teaching at closed (sad day). I was worried about what the future would hold. I had been lucky enough to earn money and do something that I LOVED that also allowed me to be home with my boys most days. Those jobs are hard to replace especially in the current job market.

I, like Anam, have been a HUGE FAN of My Mind’s Eye since the days of Wild Asparagus. Most every class I have taught since then has had at least one layout designed with My Mind’s Eye products. I love how beautiful and versatile the papers are. I especially love the thick weight and texture. My Mind’s Eye papers are perfect for my layouts or home décor projects.

I’d like to share my favorite My Mind’s Eye products and some of my favorite layouts I have designed using them. 

Abbey Road - Stomp (blue, green, brown & dinosaurs?  What more can I say?)

Andrea Victoria (LOVE the mustard yellow, cream, charcoal gray and black combo)

Bella Bella (Just Gorgeous!)

  

Breaking Free (I'm a summer gal and LOVE the blue, brown, red & orange combo)

Penny Lane - Free Bird (These are just ME)

Spider's Web (WOW!  Spooky and Elegant at the same time!)

  

I, too, am a My Mind’s Eye Endorsed Educator. In fact, if you live in Utah, I’d love to see you in my class at the Scrapbook USA Expo on September 11, 2009. I am teaching a “Spooky”tacular Halloween Banner using the Spider’s Web collection. Click here for more information.

Visit my blog, www.amberpacker.com, to watch one of my TV segments or just to see what I'm up to.

I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to work for and represent My Mind’s Eye.  I am excited to work with the other talented ladies on this Design Team.

Would you like to receive a few of my favorite things? Just leave a comment on this post.

Hugs,

p.s.  You have until midnight tonight (Aug. 20) to email me your Blog Challenge Entry.

Stomping!

The Abbey Road Stomp collection is full of beautiful Greens and awesome blues - perfect for the summer! Personally Abbey Road's Stomp collection is one of my favourites because it is Fun, Funky and Fantastic - I love it for all the summer photographs of my kids... and my Husband. :)

Typical Brothers: This layout is about my Husband and his Brother.  They have had the very same interests since their teens - especially VW Camper Vans.

This Layout uses 1 single sheet of Stomp to create all the layered circles to give dimension and depth to a layout:

 

Featured Collection: Abbey Road - Stomp

Designer: Anam Stubbington

Downloadable Instructions: Typical Brothers

A few of my other layouts using the Stomp collection:

 

Hello my name is: Tiffani

Hi Everyone, I’m Tiffani Smith. I’m excited to be a part of the My Mind’s Eye Design Team even if I’m not excited to write a bio about myself.  I am what you could call a shy extrovert, if there is such a thing.  Anyhow, a bit about me:

I live in Bountiful, Utah with my husband, Ryan, and our six children Kensie, Sam, Drew, Ainsley, Finley and Owen.  I grew up watching the Brady Bunch but I never imagined I would have a bunch of my own.  Now I can’t imagine it any other way. 

I have been scrapbooking in one way or another since I was a little girl.  I still have the first album that I made all by myself. It includes photo booth pictures of my best friend Jenny and I with our Cabbage Patch Dolls and other such treasures an eight year old collects.  I didn’t know then when I was cutting and pasting that this would be what I would do “when I grew up.”

In addition to scrapbooking I love to make cards and décor items.  I would describe my style as clean but whimsical. Sometimes I like bright and cheery products. Other times I lean towards warm and vintage.  I grew up with a crafty mom and spent hours by her side watching her sew.  I think this is why I love to add stitching and buttons to many of my projects.

I shed a little tear when Tres Jolie was discontinued (didn’t we all) but love all the new products that have taken its place. I love the diversity of the MME products!  There is something for every look I’m going for.  

Some of my current favorites are: Ooh La La for Him, Abbey Road - Whirlybird, and Abbey Road - Round and Round. 

As a My Mind's Eye Endorsed Educator I enjoy sharing my favorite techniques for using these great products.  You can email me (tifsmith@gmail) if you are interested in having me come teach for you.  

One person will receive a few of my favorite things! All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on this post.