My Mind's Eye Blog

September Word of the Month

It's hard to believe that September is almost over.  But, if you look at the beautiful mountains near our offices (the Wasatch Mountains) you can see the beautiful red and yellow leaves of fall and know it's the case.

Three of our design team members are excited to share with you their word of the month layouts:

Melissa Bell: Together

 
Featured Collection: Lime Twist “Happy Go Lucky”

I got to spend quite a few days with these two cuties this month. They have some big changes happening in their life and even though they are too young to fully grasp the changes coming their way they have been troopers. In the photos above Josalyn was shedding some baby tears and Bryce immediately ran off and brought her back her binky. He knows just what brings her comfort. He then put his arms around her and they snuggled while watching some TV. They are both great examples to me of relying on those you love.  I hope they continue to hold on together.

“Happy Go Lucky” was the perfect collection for my layout. It allows me to use a combination of what Bryce would call boy and girl colors. J To hand stitch the word together I first printed the word out in a font that I liked. I then used tracing paper to trace it and then pierced holes. I then put the tracing paper where I wanted my word to go and used the holes as a guide to pierce holes on my layout. Then stitch away! I definitely will be trying this again!

 

Suzanne Sergi: Back in Session

 
We actually started school at the end of August, but for our family September was all about getting "back" into routines. We enjoyed a pretty relaxed summer schedule, so it has taken us awhile to adjust to homework, sport activities, and new bedtime hours.

For this page I used the Rosy collection from the Lost & Found 2 collection. I think I have used these papers about three times already! I love the patterns, and especially the ones on the 6x6 paper pad. I was able to pull in the ruler sheet onto this page. I added a bit of tags to hold my title, that I typed on the computer. A few stars, and paper clips finished this back to school page.
We may not have our routines down to a perfect schedule, but the kids are enjoying the school year so far!

Jana Eubank: Salami

  
Featured Collection: Lime Twist

Even though the title of my page is "You" . . . my word of the month is SALAMI. LOL! Read my journaling and you will see why! ;)

 

Journaling reads, " Camryn and I were driving in the car on our way to the grocery store, when she asked, "Mom, what about the salami?" I said, "Do you mean pepperoni? Do you want to buy pepperoni at the store?" She says even more concerned, "Nooo! I'm worried about the salami! What if it hits our house?!" I asked her what a salami was and she replied, "A BIG wave!" I'm not exactly sure where Camryn learned about Tsunamis, she must have heard it on the news, but I did my best to explain to her that Utah is too far from the ocean to be hit by a tsunami wave. I don't think she believed me, but her dad and I got a good chuckle out of it! We love you, Camryn! September 2011"

What is YOUR word for September?

Blog Challenge 27 Winners!

What an amazing group of entries we had this time!  You never cease to amaze us.  Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us.

We are pleased to announce this month's winners.

Layout Challenge Winner: Lisa Saunders

 
 

Layout Challenge Honorable Mention Winner:

Natalie Elphinstone

 

Card Challenge Winner: Lea Lawson

 

Congratulations!  Please email [email protected] with your shipping information and we will get your prize on the way to you soon!

Be sure to check out the beautiful layout and card entries.

We hope you will join us in October for Blog Challenge 28!

A all the way to Z

I absolutely LOVE mini-albums! I love them to the point that some days I think it would be a hard battle to choose between creating a Mini Album or creating 12x12 layouts (which are usually my preferred method for telling my stories). Most people think of Mini Albums as a lot of work and a complicated project, where I am of the belief that sometimes simpler is better.

When I saw the gorgeous new Six-by-Six paper pads that My Minds Eye just released, I knew what I was going to do. I decided on the "Away We Go" pad and added the flat cardstock stickers from the Lost & Found Two collection.

I decided to use an A-to-Z index file card set as the basis for my mini album. I thought it would be neat to record all the little things that happened during the Summer. You could easily do an A-to-Z of Christmas or even the whole year as the tabs give great basis for divisions within the album. You can get the index files in a bunch of sizes, but I went for the 4" x 6" version so I didnt have to have specifically sized photographs printed.  My biggest issue was narrowing down photographs for certain letters, because I had a lot of choices.

I made the covers with some spare chipboard I had on hand and covered them with horizontal strips of the Six by Six papers. Make sure they are slightly larger than the pages so that the index tabs don't get damaged.

Next, I added vertical strips, some cardstock stickers, and one of the elegant My Minds Eye pearl swirls from the Lost & Found Two collection.

I arranged my photographs and trimmed the portrait to 5.75" x 3.75" to fit easily on the page. I cut the landscape photos depending on where I wanted them across the pages.

Next, add your papers and embellish with the cardstock stickers. I kept everything flat as there are a lot of pages in a complete index and too much bulk leads to issues with the binder rings ,as it was mine were 2" rings. I added text along the way. . . not much as I wanted to keep the pages slightly bare and also I dont have a ton of alphabet stickers :)

Here is a look at some of the inside pages...

I used my Crop-a-dile to punch all of the holes, doing a few pages at a time and then slotted them on the rings. I added some ribbon and my Mini Album was done! An evening with themed papers and a nice mini album as a result.

I hope that has given you some inspiration to make your own little A-to-Z album.

Anam

3 Products, 2 Ways . . .

It's time for another "3 Products, 2 Ways" feature! We love how each crafter has their own individual style.  Several people can take the same products and come up with different ways to apply them to their own projects. It’s fun to be inspired by one another and how we see the world in our own unique way . . . it really gets the creative juices flowing!

Our wonderful Guest Designer, Melissa Bell and design team member, Jana Eubank, were given the three following products to work with. 

1. Lost & Found 2 - Blush "Precious" Pintuck Paper (can use front OR back)
2. Lost & Found 2 – Sunshine "Two of Us" Pearls
3. Lost & Found 2 – Rosy "Love" Buttons

    
 
Next, they incorporated these three products in with other products of their choice and came up with their own projects. Check it out!

Melissa Bell: Love You Forever

 

Supplies Used:

• Lost & Found 2 - Blush “Princess” Pintuck Paper
• Lost & Found 2 - Rosy “Love” Buttons
• Lost & Found 2 - Sunshine “Two of Us” Pearls and Packaging
• Lost & Found 2 - Sunshine “Two of Us” Damask Paper
• Lost & Found 2 - Sunshine “Memories” Blossoms Paper
• Lost & Found 2 - Sunshine “Lovely” Plaid Paper
• Lost & Found 2 - Sunshine “Forever” Title
• Lost & Found 2 - Blush “Favorite” Dance Paper
• Other: Dark Brown cardstock, Dark Brown Floss, Chalk Ink

Melissa says, "This was such a fun challenge for me! I love how you can mix together a number of the products from the different Lost & Found 2 collections. I tend to stick with one collection when creating a layout and this challenge had me looking at all four of them."

Jana Eubank: Remember These Moments

 

Supplies Used:

• Lost & Found 2 Rosy "Love" Buttons, including the backing card
• Lost & Found 2 Sunshine "Two of Us" Pearls, including the backing card as the Journal Spot
• Lost & Found 2 - Blush "Princess" Pintuck Paper
• Lost & Found Two, Rosy “Remember” Lovely Paper
• Lost & Found Two, Rosy “Best of Friends” Celebrate Paper
• 1 sheet  red cardstock
• Lost & Found 2 Sunshine "Two of Us" Pearls, including the backing card as the Journal Spot
• Lost & Found 2 - Blush "Princess" Pintuck Paper, including the backing card
• Lost & Found Two - Rosy “Remember” Title Die Cut
• Lost & Found Two - Rosy “Everything” Layered Stickers
• Lost & Round Two - Rosy “Love” Layered Chipboard Stickers
• Lost & Found Two - Rosy “Ordinary” Label Stickers
• Lost & Found Two - Rosy “Ordinary” Decorative Brads

Here is what Jana had to say about her layout:

For the three product challenge, I decided to focus on the Lost & Found Two “Rosy” collection. First, I used the striped side of the Blush “Princess” Pintuck Paper as a bold border across the middle of my page. I softened the edginess of the striped pattern by punching cream lacy borders from the other side of the paper.  After adhering the lacy borders to the top and bottom of the striped paper strip, I matted the border with the red gingham side of the Rosy “Remember” Lovely Paper. The layered paper strip adds the perfect amount of energy and color to this page.
 
Next, I used the Sunshine “Two of Us” Pearls to add a pop of color beneath the title die cut. I love the shimmer of the yellow pearls. It’s the perfect elegant touch and the yellow color ties together the yellow lettering of the Title die cut with the yellow flowers in the background paper. I also loved the backing card that was part of the Pearls packaging and decided to use it to house my journaling. I simply typed my journaling on my computer, printed it on a transparency, and then adhered it over the card with small glue dots.
 
Finally, I decided to incorporate the Rosy “Love” Buttons into my page by creating another page accent to adorn the top of the journaling card. I used the circle accents from the Decorative Brad package, along with a few flag stickers to create an award-shaped accent. Instead of using the brad in the center of the layered circles, I used a buttton. I was able to utilize the backing card from the buttons by turning it sideways and tucking it behind the journaling card. The green art deco stripe anchors the award accent and added the perfect hint of color to the top of the journaling card.

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Isn't it fun to see how each person takes the same products and uses them in their own way? Now, you give it a try!

Have a great week! Melissa & Jana

Spooktacular Boxes

Happy Monday everyone! Suzanne here with a Halloween project to share with you! I cannot believe Halloween is almost upon us. I am still trying to adjust to a back to school schedule. However, my favorite holiday is Halloween, and it is a perfect time to add some spooky decor in the home!

Today's project features the new Mischievous Collection. It definitely has a vintage feel, and as always, the variety of spooky patterns is fabulous.  I also love the touches of blue sprinkled throughout the collection.

When I sat down to create this project, originally I was going to use round craft projects to build upon. However, I decided I wanted a more funky feel, so I used square boxes that you can find in your craft store. They are bare, so you can dress them up in so many different ways.

Here is what I created with three different spooktacular square boxes:
 
 

This was definitely difficult to photograph! :) I added a few storebought Halloween items to add a few more traditional details to the project: the witches hat, the pumpkin bell,spider and a Halloween sprig my daughter had to have as we left the store. On the Halloween sprig, the silver balls were originally purple. I used a spray adhesive to give them a coat, and then rolled them onto silver glitter. I did leave the fuzzy purple ball alone, except for a few sprinkles of silver glitter, too. 

On the outside rims of the boxes, I went to my "go to" technique of acrylic paint, and glitter. Simply give the rims about two coats of paint to ensure overall coverage. Then I add another heavy coat, and sprinkle the glitter on top. The paint acts as your adhesive. This time instead of a coarse glitter, I tried a glow in the dark glitter to add a eerie effect at night. I cannot wait to see if it works.The banner strips are also from the Mischievous Chipboard Elements. They fit perfect on top of the outisde rims.

I used one of my dies to create the rosettes from the paper, and use the Mischievous Decorative Brads to embellish the centers. I did add some black crepe paper around the second  box. I used my hot glue gun to randomly adhere the crepe to the outside.

I added one final paper rosette, to the storebought witches hat. Of course, I wanted to include the date of Halloween, so the chipboard accent was perfect for the finishing detail. This decor item will now find a home, as we begin to decorate for the Spooktacular holiday!

Thank you for visiting the My Mind's Eye Blog today, and hope that today's project has inspired you to create Halloween Decor for your home! Happy Halloween!

Suzanne Sergi

 

Caught Our Eye: Nadine Wachter

When blog reader, Nadine Wachter, heard her local scrapbook store had received their Lost & Found 2 shipment in, she ran right over to get her hands on it!  Within a few days, she had created 6 layouts and 6 cards!  We are featuring two of her beautiful layouts today.

We love the way Nadine clustered the Sunshine brads in this layout.

Nadine’s “helpless” layout is beautiful, yes.  More importantly it reminds us how important it is to not only document people and events but feelings, emotions and trials.

Thank you, Nadine!

Cherish Banner

A little over a year ago I created my very first banner for a design team that I was a part of. It was quite the challenge for me, but I loved how it turned out. The sad part was that I had to send it off in the mail never to see it again. I made a promise to myself then that I would make a banner for myself to display in my apartment. I knew right where I would hang it too.

When the original Lost & Found collection came out I was in heaven! I started to collect the Union Square line knowing that it would work perfectly for my banner. My kitchen & dining area is made up of the color palette red, black & white. I gathered all the products I wanted to use and set them aside knowing that I would start to work on my banner soon. Well months have gone by and finally my banner is complete! It feels so good to have it done and hanging up for me to enjoy.

Supplies:

• Union Square “Favorite” Birds of a Feather Glittered Paper
• Union Square “Perfect” Damask Print Paper
• Union Square “Beautiful Day” Journey Glittered Paper
• Union Square “Home Sweet Home” Love Glittered Paper
• Union Square “Home Sweet Home” Collage Paper
• Union Square “Moments” Charming Glittered Paper (die-cut)
• Union Square “Moments” Seamstress Glittered Paper
• Black Cardstock
• Color Box Black Chalk Ink
• Making Memories Black Glitter Chipboard Alpha
• Queen & Co. Pearls
• Chipboard Pennants (7)
• Friskers Apron Lace Border Punch
• 7 gypsies Quote Stickers
• Black Ribbon
• Strong Adhesive – I used Pioneer’s Embellishment Stick
• Crop-a-dale
• 7 Photos

Tips:

• Watch out for the glue! I tried my best to be careful and even washed my hands a couple of times but still ended up with a little glue here and there where I didn’t want it.
• Have a plan or make sure you have some extra product on hand. I started to cut my paper and then realized that I wanted to change what I was doing. If you look closely at my banner you will notice that one of the patterns is upside down. That wasn’t ideal, but I had to make it work. J
• Let your perfectionism go! This is always hard for me. I just kept telling myself that the little imperfections will go unnoticed. If you do notice them please don’t tell anyone else! ;)
• Have fun! I sometimes get caught up in what the end result will be and forget to enjoy the creative process of putting it together.

Instructions:

Now there of course is really no right or wrong way to create a banner but here is how I put mine together.

1. Using my chipboard pennants I traced them onto the backside of the patterned paper that I wanted to show. Then I cut them out. Pretty basic.
2. I then inked the edges of my chipboard pennant s and the patterned paper that I had just cut into pennant shapes.
3. I then cut strips of black cardstock and punched them with my border punch.
4. I then decided what I wanted to frame the tops and bottoms of my pictures with. I used the die-cut patterned paper as a stencil to trace the bracket design on the different papers I wanted to use. I also used the die-cut paper itself as part of that. Inked all the edges.
5. I then attached the recently cut bracket designs to the back of my photos. It took some measuring to make sure that the tops and bottoms were aligned.
6. Using some adhesive I attached my photos to the pennant shaped patterned papers. I tried to put the photos in about the same place on each pennant. I also made sure to leave enough room for my letters.
7. I then adhered my pennant patterned papers to the chipboard pennants. Here is where I had to be super careful about glue. I used a nonstick surfaced mat to help me keep the surface clean after each pennant.
8. I then adhered my black cardstock punched strips to the back of the chipboard pennants. I used adhesive squares. More forgiving and less of a mess.
9. Now it is time for embellishing! Because I used photos on my banner I didn’t have much room for adding tons of fun products. I decided to add pearls to my letters to spice them up a bit. I also had some quotes stickers in my stash from a couple of years ago. I decided this was a good project to use them on. Have fun with this step! My Mind’s Eye has some really fun stickers, chipboard pieces, titles, etc. that would be really fun to use. I had stored up quite a bit of it but will have to use them on other projects.
10. Tie your pennants together with ribbon and hang! Yay! Enjoy your new home décor piece.

If you haven’t created a banner yet I hope this inspires you to do so!

Melissa Bell 

Lost and Found 2 - Breeze

Featured Collection: Lost and Found 2 - Breeze

This week my family had to say good bye to our dearest pooch, Max. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. Any pet owner knows that these animals are more than just an animal, they become members of our family. And sometimes, we even tend to love them a little more than some family members... lol! He was a great dog and loved everyone unconditionally. We adored him as did anyone who met him. Full of spunk, love and personality, this dog had it all. He was taken far too soon and I know it will take time to fully "get over it"... if that is even possible.

As hard as that was (and still continues to be), I have to say how much I needed to be able to create this page today. It helped me more than I expected and although a few tears were shed during it's creation, do I ever feel better now! I smiled fondly looking through old photos to find the perfect one to use and now have a cherished keepsake.

As scrapbookers, more often than not, we tend to focus on the easy stuff to scrap... birthdays, holidays, first day of school, etc. But our hobby CAN be very therapeutic too and help you preserve the memory of a loved one while helping you recall some of your favourite moments with those individuals (pet or otherwise). I feel so much better having something that I can cherish and remember the greatest dog that ever lived. This is afterall the core reason for our hobby... to preserve our memories and remember the past. With this layout as a reminder of the fabulous pooch who warmed our hearts, his memory will not soon be forgotten.

My Mind's Eye's Lost and Found 2- Breeze Collection made this difficult task easy. I knew immediately that I wanted to use this particular set of beautifully patterned papers and co-ordinating embellishments. The colour pallette was perfect (the blue almost matches Max's one blue eye). The design and patterns were the great fit for my living room decor so once completed, I framed it and placed it on my mantle so it can serve as a daily reminder of our cherished Max whom we lost far too early.

I used my exacto knife to cut around some of the beautiful glittered details on the papers so I could tuck and layer as necessary in the upper right corner. I built a cluster of embellishments to balance to page in the lower left corner.

The perfect combination of colour, texture and dimension... I fell in love with this over the top amazing collection. I am sure that once you have the opportunity to play with it, you will love it too!

I do hope that this post is not too depressing... I tried very hard to keep it "light" but feel it is important to remind ourselves that life is not always sunshine and roses. It is just as important to scrapbook the tough stuff as the lessons that can be learned serve to better us in ways that we could have never predicted. It is a bonus when there are gorgeous products to make that journey a little bit easier.

Step outside of your comfort zone once in awhile... it can be a very good thing.

Happy Scrapping!

Trisha

 

A Touch of Ink!

Once again, My Minds Eye has released another round of amazing and versatile stamp sets for the Lost & Found Two collections. I love how you can use the stamps for both fresh and vintage styles.

I love using stamps to create backgrounds and details for my projects, like journal tags. If you don't feel confident about stamping directly onto the background paper, stamp on a separate sheet and then cut out the details to adhere to your project.

Here are two cards I made stamping on some of the awesome Lost & Found Two papers.

And the layouts...

Having pancakes on my birthday instead of cake has become a bit of a tradition now. 

For the background on this layout, I used the Rosy Everything Lace stamp to stamp straight onto kraft cardstock. I know the impressions aren't perfect but I kinda like the vintage worn effect I ended up with. The label was stamped on the tag, cut out, and mounted on foam.

For this page, I used the other lace half from the Rosy Everything Stamp set, but this time I used pink and lime green ink on white cardstock. I also stamped the halves together to make the round flower shapes.

A lot of people have fears of background stamping, so using tags is a great way to incorporate stamps on your layouts without too much stress.

Don't the new My Minds Eye Pearl Swirls look awesome?? I love those wooden buttons from the Lost & Found Two range!

For this page, I loved this photo of Lily and decided to use just the stamps to make the background the title and created a fancy tag to add a little fun!

I hope these pages and cards give you a little inspiration to add the stamps to your own artwork. Remember to have fun with the stamps and experiment! Using different ink colours can change the feel of the final stamped image.

Blog Challenge 27: Layout

It’s our favorite time of the month. We know how talented our blog readers are and LOVE to see what you come up with each month for our challenges!

The challenge: Design a card based on this fabulous sketch and use “Back to _______” as your theme (sketch by Anam Stubbington).  You get to fill in the blank!

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: Add a link to your project to the bottom of this post using inlinkz by Sunday, September 25, 2011 (midnight, MST). Please include your first and last name and project name when uploading. (a photo of your layout or project will show directly in the post)

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

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

Three of our designers have shared samples with you to help you get your creative juices going!

Melissa Bell: Back to the Beginning

Featured Collection: Stella & Rose 

 

Jana Eubank: Back to the Books

Lost & Found 2 – Breeze

 

Suzanne Sergi: Back to the Diamond

Featured Collection: Lime Twist 

For this challenge I decided to document my son's love for baseball. I love this photo of him, even though he may not be looking at the camera. I caught him while he was deep in thought, and he was about to begin the next inning. For this page, I  chose to use the Lime Twist Collection. It was perfect for this all star page of him. I also used one of the transparencies that I cut into thirds, and used around the large photo. It added just a bit more detail to this page. I used the last portion of the transparency directly underneath my title on the large tag. I stated with the sketch and made a few adjustments in my final design.

 

Upload your entry here: