My Mind's Eye Blog

It’s a Stamp Thing

Our Design Team was thrilled when they learned we were releasing acrylic stamps with our Lost & Found, Haunted, Blackbird, Holly Jolly and I Believe collections.  Acrylic stamps make it easy to customize your projects.  There are so many fun things you can do with them.  We challenged our design team to show you some quick and easy techniques as well as out of the box techniques.

 

Bethany Kartchner, this month’s Guest Designer, went out of the box and created something fabulous when she stamped muslin with the dress form that comes in the Lost & Found “Pretty” stamps.

Bethany said: “I absolutely adore stamps and when I saw this dress form in the Lost & Found line, I was inspired to do a mini art quilt. I didn't have a plan in mind when I started creating, I just wanted to have fun with my stamps and paints. One of my favorite techniques is to use a stamped image as a guide and paint over it. This is exactly what I did on this piece. I stamped the dress form three times on a piece of muslin and painted it with Shimmerz paints. I also stamped the background with My Mind's Eye stamps to tie the three images together. I'm planning on placing this project in a small shadowbox for display in my daughters' room.”

 

Anam Stubbington, created custom backgrounds using the Lost & Found “Perfect”, “Adore” and “Pretty” stamp sets as well as our “Blackbird” stamp set.

 

 

 

 

Tiffani Smith used Copic markers to color in the adorable witch stamp from the “Blackbird” set and created this fantastic Halloween card:

 

Jana Eubank stamped the banner stamp from the Lost & Found “Adore” stamps in multiple colors on solid cardstock and cut them out to create a banner that perfectly coordinates with our Market Street collection.

 

**You can view Jana’s entire album in our Lost & Found Photo Album**

 

Tamara Jensen added rhinestones to the snowflake border to add the perfect finishing touch to her Christmas Card:

Tamara said: “I say you can NEVER start on Christmas Cards too early.  When I wait until November or December - I end up stressed and all of the good Christmas Paper is sold out.  So - the kids are back in school, MME just released 2 AMAZING Christmas lines - let the card making begin!  Stamping is an economical way to add that special touch to your cards - especially when you need to create 50 or more.   I used the new "Holly Jolly" Stamps and Papers.  I kept the card design pretty simple so your eye can rest on the stamped greeting and Christmas photo.  I used 3 different Snowflake stamps to create the border along the card - and embellished the centers with Red and Brown Rhinestones from the Lush Collection.”

 

Amber Packer created custom embellishments using our Lost & Found “Perfect”, “Pretty” and “Boy” stamps as well as created a custom border using the sun stamp from the “Pretty” collection.

 

**We will be sharing a video of Amber stepping out this mini album soon**

A quick tip:  Remember to clean your stamps after each use.  We suggest you clean our stamps with mild soap and water or baby wipes.

Altered Tinsel Ideas

I love tinsel. I think that just about every project would be made more beautiful with its addition. Don't you? When I found out that My Mind's Eye had tinsel in their Lost & Found line and that it was thick and luxurious tinsel, I felt all sparkly inside. I was so inspired that I created this short video on two different ways of altering it for your projects.
I hope that you enjoy it!

Since it is almost impossible to see the project pictures in the video, here are a few still ones for your enjoyment.

 

 

Happy Creating!

Blog Challenge #14 Winners!

Around here it’s still hot outside and HOT inside our Blog Challenge 14 Photo Album!  In fact, it’s so hot, we’re pushing 100 entries!  Can you believe it!?  Thanks to you, our talented readers we have enjoyed another FABULOUS blog challenge.  As you can see from looking through our photo album, picking the winners is such a hard decision.  Be sure to look at all three pages of inspiration.

We are thrilled to announce our winners!  Drum roll…

The winner of Blog Challenge 14: Summertime is:

Tonya Dirk

Notice how Tonya red buttons to win “Bingo”.  She used the bingo card and large photo instead of using three photos.

The Honorable Mention winner is:

Angella Peardon

Can you imagine how much time it took Angella to fussy cut the bird and branches?  What a striking touch!

Tonya and Angella, please contact [email protected] with your mailing address and the prize(s) you’d like sent your way!

Our next blog challenge kicks-off Monday, September, 13, 2010.  We can’t wait to see what you create!

Don't judge a book by its cover...

Just because a collection was originally designed for a specific theme these does not mean you cannot use it for something entirely different! Halloween is still more than 2 months away and I did not have pics in my stash that were worthy of the new "HAUNTED" line (and truthfully, I had a tough time getting into that "zone" in July when I designed this...lol!).  I fell in LOVE with the flocked (YES... FLOCKED!!!!!) Chandeliers. Why not use it for a layout that is not the least bit scary.

This is a VERY simple layout too. I didn't have to do a lot to achieve the look I was after. I simply layered some of the beautiful Haunted Papers (using both Flocked and Patterned sides). Did you know these Kraft papers are flocked on one side and printed on the other?! NO??? Well, I am sure you will love them even more now that you DO know, eh?!

The only thing I added were the black flocked chipboard letters and the self adhesive rhinestones from the LUSH Collection. The larger chandelier was hand cut and glammed up a tad and VOILA! A nice simple layout full of texture begging to be touched:)

Want another idea of what you can do with Halloween themed papers without using Halloween photos? Check out the Blackbird layout below! 

I took my boys on the ultimate Mama Date this summer... we went to Disney World and met up with my friend and her 2 kids who live in Florida. With all of the fun stuff at Disney World, their favourite part of the day was getting their faces painted. CRAZY, eh? It truly is the simple things that can bring a huge smile to a child's face.

I used the blackbird collection to create this project and it worked so well with the photos. I really wanted to stay away from it looking too "Halloween-y" and think I accomplished it. I hand cut the bracket page, layered the photos, cut up the journaling into individual words and added a few of the die cut embellishments. 
I even went broke out my sewing machine to add some decorative stitching to the papers. It really finishes a project off and I have to get into the habit of using it more often! I outlined the chipboard letters (again from the LUSH Collection) and added a few self adhesive rhinestones to add the perfect amount of sparkle.

The next time you are looking for the perfect papers to create the layout for your treasured memories, feel free to experiment with products you would not typically think to use! You may be pleasantly surprised with the results!

Now... speaking of books! As the kids head back to school, it also means class time for us. I have been gearing up for several large events and am thrilled to be teaching a few fabulous My Mind's Eye classes this fall.

The picture below is part of the "Releasing the Artiste from Within" class I will be teaching at two store events in Canada.. opposite coasts! I may teach it in other places too... stay tuned for possible dates. If you can't make it to the store for the class, contact them! I bet they may be willing to ship you a class kit that is bursting full with all the beautiful My Mind's Eye goodies you see here and then some!I'd LOVE to see you there! There are still spaces available (but not many!), so if you are in the neighbourhood, come on out and join us for a few fabulous hours! I will also mention that I have included a bonus layout as I loved this collection sooooooo much.  So, I am throwing in more Lost and Found goodies as well as the instructions for you to create another layout on your own time!). There will also be FABULOUS My Mind's Eye prizes so be sure to come out and play!

September 17 - 19

Scrapbook Parade

670 Granderson Road

Langford, BC, V9B 2R8

Phone: (250) 727-0372

AND

September 24 - 26

The Scrap Shack

200 Irving Road

Riverview NB E1B 5V7

Phone: (506) 384-CROP

Have a great weekend and Happy Scrapping!

The Simple Circle

I love circles! They are such a simple shape, but full of power. Whenever I feel like a layout is missing "something" the first thing I do is see if I can incorporate a circle somewhere.

Circles add a feeling of movement and whimsy. They soften hard edges and corners. They can help draw your eye to something or are helpful in anchoring a page element.

Designer: Jana Eubank; Featured Collection: Lost & Found Madison Avenue

For this page, I layered circles together to create a background for my photos. I love the way they "hug" the photos and visually gather them together. I also added my title along the outer curve of the circle.

 

You can even use circles to create flowers for your pages.

The rosettes on this page were created by punching a 3" circle. Use scissors to cut a spiral on the inside of your circle. Roll the spiral upon itself beginning with the small outer "tail" piece. Put a glue dot in the center of the circle. When you have finished rolling up the spiral secure the flower by pressing the layers into the glue dot.

      

Next time you are feeling stuck on a project, consider using the simple circle for powerful results.

Paper Flower Topiary

Designer: Amber Packer, Featured Collection: Lost & Found Portobello Road

Good Morning!  I demonstrated our CHA booth topiary on Good Things Utah this morning.  

The subtle glittering in our Lost and Found collections add the perfect touch to this project. 

This topiary was a hit at the show.  I know you’ll love it to!

Supplies: To make a double-tiered topiary. Cut supplies in half to make one tier.

• 2 ½ – Each of the 10 Lost & Found Portobello Road patterned papers
• 1 package Lost & Found Union Square “Favorite” Trims
• 1 - 5” Styrofoam ball
• 1 - 6” Styrofoam ball
• 1 - 3/8” dowel 16” in length
• 1 package pearl head pins
• For fun: Add Portobello Road “Buddies” Decorative brads and Trims
• Also used: Glue gun and sticks, water bottle, circle punch, brown spray paint, glass pebbles, and 6” wide vase.

Instructions:

1. Paint dowel brown and allow time to dry.

2. Gently push dowel through 6” Styrofoam ball and about half way into 5” Styrofoam ball and add hot glue to keep in place.

3. Add topiary into vase and add glass pebbles to secure in place (can cut use floral Styrofoam square in the vase for stability).

4. Create 67 – 70 paper roses out of My Mind’s Eye Portobello Road papers.

4a. Cut (14) – 2” x 12” strips from each of the 10 Portobello Road patterned papers.

4b. Adhere two strips together to make a 2” x 24” strip. 7 strips of each of the 10 paper patterns.

4c. Punch (70) - 1 ½” circles.

4d. Lightly spritz each long strip with water, fold in half and roll up or fold up into flower shape.

4e. Use glue gun (liquid glue or glue dot) and glue flower to a circle to keep flower together.

5. Starting at the top of the 6” Styrofoam ball, add flowers in a random order. I created about 4 flowers and added them to the ball and then repeated that process until the project was complete.

6. When 6” Styrofoam is complete, start at the top of the 5” ball and complete in the same fashion.

***You may need to make some smaller roses to fill in any “holes”***

  

7. Tie ribbon in a simple bow on the bottom of each ball.

Free downloadable instruction pdf: Download 2010_08_12_MME_Topiary

We will be adding the video from today’s segment later this afternoon when it is available.

Enjoy! 

Simply elegant Guest Sign-in Book

When I got married, I had a sign-in book for all the guests that attended my reception. Although I'm glad I had it, I wish my book had been more personal. It would have been nice if my guests had not only signed their names, but also written a little note. (One of those things that you don't think of in the wedding planning rush.) I would have liked to have photos from our courtship and engagement included so that the guests could get to know us as a couple too.
I didn't want anyone else to have guest book regrets, so I started the tradition of making a guest album for the wedding of my siblings when my brother Nate got married about 5 years ago. Since then, I've made 3 such albums and each one has gotten better.
Here is my latest guest album created for my brother, Dane, who is getting married to a wonderful woman, Lani, in September. I'm thrilled for them!

 

  

  

Designer: Bethany Kartchner; Featured Collection: Lost & Found  

The backbone of the album is a Creative Memories 7x7 inch album. I'm not sure if these are still available. I found mine on Ebay a few years ago. The reason why I chose this particular album is because...
1. It is all white.
2. I like how I can add and subtract pages depending on the reception size.
3. I like how I can easily slip on page protectors once the festivities have ended.
That being said, any album will work for this particular project.

Lani's wedding colors are fall-ish: browns, burgundies, greens, eggplant, orange, etc. Therefore, I chose a brown/burgundy/white/cream color scheme. When I saw that My Mind's Eye Lost & Found line contained these very colors, I was thrilled beyond belief. They made my job so stinking easy that I almost feel like I cheated. Seriously. I didn't use any of the papers from the line because I wanted a very simple classic look, but I used their embellishments like crazy pants.

What you'll need to complete a project like this one - because I know that you are all totally inspired to make wedding guest albums for all your lovies...giggle...
1. A 7x7 album. (You can really use any size, but this is what I chose so my materials list is based on the 7x7 size. If you choose a bigger or smaller size, adjust as necessary.)
2. As many picture as you desire. I like to use either black and white or sepia pictures simply because they are more uniform and classic. I usually ask the bride and groom to supply the pictures from their courtship. For this album, I printed out 10 5x7 pictures that I cropped down to 5x5.
3. Two colors of cardstock. I used a burgundy and a deep brown. I cut the burgundy pieces to 5.5x5.5 inches. The brown were cut to 6x6 inches. (I find that the most pleasing mats are about 1/2 inch bigger than the picture or the mat layered on top of it)
4. Some type of adhesive. I used tacky glue to adhere the cover embellishments and mounting squares by Scrapbook Adhesives (a 3L product) for the inside pages.
5. Little quotes printed on clear paper, embellishments, ribbons, whatever you want to use to decorate your album.
6. If you'd like to ink the edges of your mats/pictures/embellishments, use Distress ink and craft foam.

Directions:
1. Assemble all your materials.
2. Crop your pictures to 5x5. Crop your first mat to 5.5x5.5. Crop your second mat to 6x6.
3. Layer your picture, first mat and second mat and adhere together.
4. Print out your quotes or find some that are pre-printed.
5. Decide on the number of pages you desire in your album. Keep in mind that you want to leave a few blank so guests have space to write notes to the bride and groom.
6. Adhere your pictures, embellishments, etc to the inside pages. Save a cool picture for the last page. Maybe a picture of the wedding location? A picture of their hands? etc.
7. Decorate the outside with ribbons and one or two embellishments.

Each of the MME quotes (like the photo above) were beautiful on their own, but they seemed to get lost when they weren't matted. I added the ribbon as a little extra touch and I love how it turned out.

Blog Challenge #14: Summertime

The challenge:  Design a SUMMERTIME layout or other project based on this sketch (by Anam Stubbington).

The rules: Use ANY My Mind’s Eye products (current or past) as long as your project has at least 80% My Mind’s Eye products.

The deadline: Email your project, first and last name to [email protected] (with Blog Challenge 14 as your subject) or add a link in a comment on this post by Thursday, August 19, 2010 (midnight, MST).

(For tips on how to best photograph your entry, click here)

The PRIZE: One winner will be featured in a blog post and receive three ENTIRE collections of their choice!  We will also award an honorable mention winner with one collection of their choice!

Everyone is a winner!  We are excited to see what you design for our challenge and are grateful to everyone who will participate.  We will put every entry in a photo album here on the blog.  By submitting, you are giving My Mind’s Eye permission to include your entry.

We hope you enjoy this month’s spectacular samples:

Summertime Swimming: Bethany Kartchner

 

Featured Collection: Alphabet Soup – Boy

I absolutely love the blue wood grain pattern paper in the Alphabet Soup collection and knew that it would be the perfect complement to my swimming pictures. However, once I put the two together, I realized that the color of the pattern paper wasn't exactly right for the color of the water in my pictures. Instead of trying another piece of pattern paper, I decided to use my Shimmerz Pearlz and paint waves of aqua into the pattern paper. (I used the design of the paper as a guide.) Don't be afraid to alter pattern paper to suit your own needs. After all, it belongs to you!  

A few sprays of Shimmerz Spritz and some Pearlz drips helped to tie all the colors in the layout together. I added a bit of Shimmerz Blingz to the adorable chipboard fish because I love a sparkly fish. (Reading Rainbow Fish has forever changed my view of these creatures).

I added a black border to the left side to balance out the off-center design. (I've never been very good at centering things!)

 

Designer: Jana Eubank

Featured Collection: Alphabet Soup - Girl

Nothing says summertime like a bright juicy popsicle with the sticky juice running down your arm. This page features items from the So Sophie Clever, Alphabet Soup Girl and Lush Blue collections.  I added a digital stamp frame to each photo before cutting them out and adding them to my page. The backs of the Alphabet Soup Girl Playing Cards make fun photo mattes.  I mixed the two different Lush Chipboard Alphabet sticker fonts for interest. To make them cohesive I used Glossy Accents to coat each letter with Aqua Microbeads.

Our July Top Tens

Bethany Kartchner: July Top 10 

 

Featured Collection: Alphabet Soup 

I wanted a color scheme that reflected the energy of our July 2010 so I chose to use the Alphabet Soup collection. Because I had so many pictures, I decided to place the bright papers along the border for a fun and funky look. To do the border, I simply snipped various pieces of the Alphabet Soup line and glued them on. (I used both the A and B sides.) The top and bottom are both from the die-cut sheet. I love the look of the scallop border along the top. It reminds me of an old-fashioned awning. To give my border more depth, I outlined using a charcoal pencil and sewed using black thread to tie all the papers together. This border would be a fabulous way to use up small scraps from your stash.
Another fun idea is to put a snippet of pattern paper into the negative portion of a chipboard shape like I did on the “T” in "Top" of my title work. It adds a little surprise and ties the entire piece together nicely.
Whenever I have a lot of journaling and not a lot of design space, I use journaling strips as I did on this layout. They are simple to do and are easily placed on top of photos, embellishments and papers.

 

Tiffani Smith: We {heart} Idaho

Featured Collection: Alphabet Soup 

The highlight of our summer is always the Meyers family reunion.  Sadly in the confusion on trying to get everyone into the car for the trip, my camera bag was left at home on the kitchen table.  So what I decided to do for my Top Ten album was to go ahead and make a bullet list of the highlights and then when I get pictures from everyone else that was there I can make additional pages that tell more of the story.   My papers and journaling card came from the new Alphabet Soup collection.  I really like all of the bright fun patterns in this collection!

 

Jana Eubank: Bountiful Parade

 

Featured Collection: Alphabet Soup 

For our family, July is all about parades, picnics, and spending time with family. We love to celebrate the 4th of July, but also look forward to celebrating Utah's statehood on the 24th with Pioneer Day.

It's a month-long celebrations!  We get together with family to watch our hometown parade. We love being together and watching the kids scramble for candy. I used the Alphabet Soup Boy collection with a hint of Lost & Found.

 

Our featured Blog Reader is Nancy D: June

 

You may remember that I'm playing along with the My Mind's Eye Top Tens challenge... the challenge is to make a page for every month of the year, with a top ten list on it. My book documents my ten favorite activities from every month, and I just finished making May and June.  I'm so glad I've been doing this... it's amazing what you forget just a few months later! I know I'll really treasure this in years to come.

We would LOVE to see your July Top Ten.  Even if you haven’t been playing along this year, join in now and add a link to this blog post!

CHA Summer 2010 Wrap Up

It is safe to say that My Mind’s Eye had the most popular, best good looking booth at the show - and it wasn't because of the guys (although that didn’t hurt)! 

We are full of excitement at how well ALL our new collections were received.  Hands down, the talk of the show was our Lost & Found collection.

We thought you’d like to hear a few of the things we heard in the booth:

• · “Best product since Wild Asparagus”
• · “Best line ever from My Mind’s Eye”
• · “Best product line at CHA”
• · “Breathtaking”
• · “I loved it online but it’s even better in real life”

Our designers had similar reactions the first time they laid eyes on Lost & Found as well:

Anam Stubbington: “Oh, Wow....”

Jana Eubank: “I. CAN'T. STOP. LOOKING. AT. IT!!!! It's talking to me . . . it's calling me by name! I LOVE IT!  Okay. You were absolutely right.  HOW DO THEY DO IT?!!!  I kept wanting to click on the images so I could open everything up and see them closer!  WOW! I seriously am SPEECHLESS.  These are beyond words! Love 'em! Love 'em! Love 'em!!!! LOVE all the goodies that they made to go with the collections!  You know I LOVE all that lumpy-bumpy dimensional stuff . . . heaven!  The buttons, the trims, the chipboard, playing cards, cardstock stickers . . . Eeeeek! I can't wait to see it all in person. SWOON!!!!!  Note: The HARDEST part of being a part of this team is being asked which ones are my favorites. Ummm, yeah. That's like asking me if I like chocolate, or chocolate.”

Trisha Ladouceur: “WOW!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! LOOOOOOVE IT!  Yup... just when I think it cannot get any better... I get blown away every time!!!!!!   My faves?  Well, you know me, I am always drawn to the Red and Black... it's just screaming to be played with! You’ve got to know I will be diving into that collection first!  Like you even had to ask.  Those trims are INSANELY beautiful!”

Tamara Jensen: “The new "Lost and Found" collection literally took my breath away!! Every paper is an amazing work of art.  The elegantly glittered papers, 3-D accents, luscious trims, beautiful brads, and die-cut album covers are incredibly beautiful and fill my heart with happiness every time I look at them.  My problem designing was trying to narrow down which papers and journaling accents I wanted to use - because I had the overwhelming desire to use it ALL!! The color schemes are so timeless and perfectly compliment your photos.”

Amber Packer: “The very first time I saw Lost and Found I was in awe.  How did they come up with something so gorgeous?  I hadn’t seen any images so I wasn’t prepared in advance for what I was going to see - I just walked into the office and was shown the most gorgeous collection I’d ever seen.  I love the touch of actual glitter (not glitter glue) in all the right places.  And, who’s idea was it to print on the back?  Brilliant!  I love the trims – Glitter ribbon, tinsel and pleated crepe paper – Gorgeous!  The buttons look like they came from Grandma’s button jar.  3-D elements, stamps, brads and pearl brads anything a girl could want to design with.  I had the privilege of being the first one to actually get the chance to design with Lost & Found.  Can I just tell you, I felt a great sense of responsibility.  How would I capture the absolute beauty of this collection?  I wanted to use it ALL!  How do you decide what to use when you are compelled to use everything!?  Well, you design – A LOT!  That is what I plan on doing, and you will too when you get to see this in person (which should be soon).

We know not everyone could be at CHA.  We’d like to share some of the excitement of the show with you.  In the first video, the fabulous KC Burningham, takes you on a tour of our booth just from CHA.  You’ll love the funny things he has to say and his perspective on scrapbooking!

This video is a short slideshow of photographs taken of our booth.

In the slideshow, we showed just a small sample of the fabulous projects we had in our booth. We are working on getting great images of all our booth projects. We will share them with you here on the blog by this weekend.

We will be shipping ALL our new collections next week.  We would love it if you would share your reaction the first time you see it with us on this blog post or our Facebook page.

Thank you for your support of our company!  We couldn’t do it without you. 

The My Mind’s Eye Team