My Mind's Eye Blog

Mini Albums with Monika...Ephemera+Scraps=One Perfect Mini

Monika here for this month's mini album feature and I thought I would show you how to take a handful of ephemera, scraps of paper, patterned cardstock and less than perfect photos and make them into a fun, interactive documentation of a moment in time. 

When my husband asked me to join him for a long weekend in Nashville, he was already there on business, I said "Yes!" Then we went to work coordinating school pick-ups and overnights with Nana and Papa. But, it was all worth it. Totally worth it. Totally.

Supplies:  Collectable Notable "Memo" Documented, "Silly" Cheery Paper, Unforgettable "You Are" Die Cut Chipboard Stickers, "Today" Decorative Stamps and "Firsts" Enamel Dots, Six by Six Designer Paper Pad, "Smile" Layered Stickers, "Remarkable" Authentic Tiny Word Stickers, Unforgettable "Today" Decorative Pins, Memorable "I'm With..." Die Cut, Memorable "Journey Decorative Brads  |  Yellow & Grey Decorative Tape Set  |  Six by Six Paper Pads Life of the Party, Gnome Sweet Gnome, The Sweetest Thing Tangerine, Lime Twist Fly A Kite, On the Sunny Side  |  Miscellaneous: Adhesives, Stampin' Up Inks and Dies, Sizzix Big Shot and Dies, Sharpie Pens, Studio Calico Wood Accents, Chipboard, Tags and Labels from Craft Supply

When making a junk journal like this, as they are often called, I begin by choosing a handful of coordinating patterned papers that share common colors. Next, I choose a variety of patterns that include florals, stripes, bold patterns, subtle patterns that might also include contrasting colors.

Don't let anything go to waste...use your scraps to punch shapes. I just love using journaling cards as pages in my mini albums and almost always use the back sides to journal.

This mini book is full of imperfect photos and on this page, I used my "a good day"stamped sentiment to cover the spot where the lamp light was just a big white blob...now you barely notice it!

Again, an imperfect photo, but my husband finally agreed to let me ask another couple to take our photo because I couldn't find a good spot to prop my camera to do it ourselves. And one word says it all. HAPPY.


I love this page. Love the peekaboo element. Llove the shape of the heart. Love the striped paper and the way the arrow points down to the wood cutouts. Crush!



more TIPS

+  Use chipboard sandwiched between your two pieces of patterned paper for stability, paying special attention to the direction of your patterns when preparing to die cut your shapes.

+  Utilize the negative shapes from the chipboard pieces as page elements. I happen to love a chunky, layered mini album with a variety of shapes and sizes to the pages. Somehow, it makes it all the more interesting for me.

+  Decorative tape, mini staples, twine and pins are all fantastic alternatives to traditional adhesives when attaching ephemera to your pages.

+  Make your journaling cards, word stickers and layered stickers work for you in creating pages that are uniquely yours. Not every page has to include journaling or a photo, a mix of techniques and a little white space are good design elements.

+  It's okay to include everyday items like receipts, tickets, menu's, coffee cup sleeves and room keys in your mini album. That's what makes them so fun!


I hope you are all learning to love mini albums as much as I do as I just adore sharing here with you each month. Now go be crafty!

Old+New with Tamara

Good morning, everyone! This is Tamara and today I'm here to talk a little bit about combining old with new.

It is still winter, the snow keeps falling, and the temperature is freezing around here.  My heart longs for the sunny rays of California.  Since a vacation isn't financially doable right now - the second best thing is to scrapbook photos of warm sunny days at Disneyland.  It doesn't matter that these photos were from a vacation 7 years ago, the photos still warm my heart.

Supplies: Collectable-Remarkable:Beam patterned paper,Daily patterned paper,label stickers,brads, layered stickers,chipboard,:Collectable - Notable:Petite patterned paper,Devoted patterned paper;Miss Caroline-Dilly Dally:Tickets patterned paper,Token patterned paper,label stickers,die cut title,wood die cut, pearl sticker;Indie Chic-Nutmeg:decorative tape;Misc:gray thread,black ink,pen.

I love how the large photo captures the golden rays of light and the joy on my little guy's face.  I immediately thought of the pearl "Sunshine" accent from the "Miss Caroline" Dilly Dally Collection from last year. I layered it with the wood die cut and placed a layered sticker from the new "Collectable" Remarkable collection. 

One of my favorite things about MME products is that the lines are so easy to intermix. The papers and embellishments work seamlessly together.

This is good because MME comes out with new papers and emblellishments often. I have quite the stash of older MME that I still love and don't want to get rid of! Luckily older lines mix with newer MME lines very easily!

The"Miss Caroline" title "Our Many Adventures" was perfect for photos of the Disney California Adventure Park.  I cut out the tickets from paper - adding to the amusement park theme.

The "Collectable" chipboard "sunburst" accents echoed the sun on the Ferris wheel in the photos and added to the warm, sunny feel of my layout. Another older product I love is the decorative tape from Indie Chic. I loved adding it to the layout.

As you can see...Miss Caroline,Collectable, and Indie Chic all worked together perfectly here. Do you have older MME products that you held on to and love to use? Or do you use everything up? I'd love to see your projects combining "older" MME lines with newer MME lines! Link me up in the comments!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Winter Layout and Card- FREE digital file!

Happy Tuesday, MME fans! Today Danni and Tina are here to share a winter themed layout and card.

Enjoy and stay warm!

A Little Hello by Danni Reid

Supplies: Collectable: 6 x 6 pad, chipboard sentiment,brads;Misc:Cameo cut,white cardstock

Danni says: I love that winter MAY be coming to an end and a hello card celebrating cute snowmen in tape measure patterns and a fun sentiment is just the kind of wintery card I can get into right now.  I love the beautiful patterns in this pad, a lot of fun blues, deep reds, yellows, everything fun and wintery.

The brads from the Collectable line are so cute and make me so happy.  These brads added a perfect amount of embellishment to the snowmen without a taking away from the cute patterns.

I cut my snowmen paper on my Cameo and lined them with a sheet of the multi stripe tape measure paper.  I love how stylish it makes them feel, not so wintery and coooold!

Winter Fun by Tina Walker

Supplies:Lost and Found 3-Oliver:Blue Quatrefoil Embossed' Paper,‘Lace Fan’ Pape,‘Blue Lace’ Paper,‘Honey Embossed’ Paper,12x12 Chipboard,decorative tape,enamel dots,decorative brads,buttons

Tina says:Tina here today with a heritage layout featuring ME, during a winter in Wisconsin, circa 1967.  Lost & Found 3 Oliver is great for heritage and vintage themed layouts, and especially for winter layouts with its icy blues, yellows, and greys.

I wanted my title to coordinate with the rest of my winter layout, so I cut my title from a sheet of the Blue Lace paper, and cut a second title from a sheet of gold foil paper.  I offset the top title from the bottom title so that the gold foil paper would peek from behind, and adhered the title to the layout with foam tape.  The gold really makes the title stand out and coordinate with the  gold glitter embellishments.

As an added bonus, we are sharing the digital file for the title below, so you are welcome to use this on your own winter themed layouts.

TO DOWNLOAD THE CUT FILE, CLICK HERE

Enjoy!!!

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

Announcement

We want to thank everyone who entered the My Mind's Eye and Gossamer Blue guest designer contest. We spent a lot of time going through each and every entry and we were beyond impressed with the submissions. There is so much talent and we thank you for sharing it with us on facebook, our blogs and your blogs. All of your amazing and wonderful entries made our job of choosing a winner incredibly difficult. To give you an idea of the incredible work we saw take a look at the following submissions.




Gorgeous, right? We think so too. But that isn't all. We have even more gorgeous work to share!



There were many more that caught our eye and we are grateful to have had this opportunity to discover new designers. In the end, we ultimately decided to pick one international entry and one domestic entry. We are thrilled to share those two winners with you now.






Congratulations Katie and Yohko. You blew us away with your entries and we cannot wait to have you guest design for us. We will contact each of you ASAP to settle the details. To learn more about our winners you can visit their blogs; Katie's blog and Yohko's blog.


Thank you again to all who entered!

Project Life with Shelly

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back this month with another installment of Project Life inspiration. Last month, I brought you a quick and easy way to document your Christmas memories. Today, I am sharing one of my Project Life layouts using those fabulous “Journal” papers from the Collectable Collection.

I document our family’s everyday life by taking a picture a day and documenting it on a two page spread. Of course, you can choose to document however you heart desires.

To make things simple, I pulled out each of the four “Journal” papers and started to cut them into 3x4 cards. I also grabbed a few other sticker sheets from the Collectable Collection that would also work great for my layout.

For the first half of the week, I used a couple of the Journal cards and pattern paper from the 6x6 Designer Paper Pads.The smaller scale of those 6x6 sheets is just perfect for the small canvases. 

I love to mix my own handwriting and computer journaling on my cards. I think it is important to include my own handwriting, but sometimes it is really nice to type my journaling to fit more on the card.

I have been asked several times how I print on my journaling cards. I know there are several different tutorials out there explaining how to do it, but here is a quick explanation of how I choose to do it.

I open up my Word Document and insert a text box. The example here is a blank 3x4 card. I make the text box 4” high and 2.75” wide to accommodate some extra breathing room. After typing what I wanted to say up, I saw that I had room to add a stamped image.

After shuffling through my stamps to see what would fit on the card, I found the perfect little “Lovely” banner. I measured it out. Then, inserted another text box the same size as the stamp and slid the “banner box” into place so that I could adjust my journaling.

I print it off on to a sheet of paper to see how it looks over the card. I use temporary adhesive on the card and place it in line with the outline of the card. Hint: make sure you remember to turn the lines of your journaling card in your Word Document to clear so those lines don’t print on your journaling card. Trust me; I’ve done it many times.

Now all you have to do is set your paper down so that it runs through your printer the same way, and you have a typed journaling card ready for stamping and embellishing.

I do have to say my favorite card I used was the “You are the best” card.  There really isn’t anything better than Sunday afternoon enjoying an impromptu lunch with awesome friends after church.

I hope I have inspired you to create with the new Collectable Collection “Journal” papers and maybe even try your hand at typing up your journaling too.

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies: Collectable-Unforgettable:'Story' Journal patterned paper,decorative stickers,6x6 pad;Collectable-Memorable:'Perfect' stickers,6x6 pad;Collectable-Remarkable:'Beautiful' stamps;Misc:Becky Higgins Project Life Seafoam Edition and Pocket Page Protectors, American Crafts Date Stamp, Hero Arts Shadow Ink.

 

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

A Card Sketch from Danni

Good Morning! Danni here with you today to share a card i created using the new Collectable "Handsome" dots and "Remarkable" decorative  tape.

I started my card using the sketch below and deciding on one of my favorite quotes "Shoot for the Moon" by Les Brown.

I wanted to bounce the fun, bold colors in the enamel dots against the white and the designer tape allowed me to do just that. Instead of patterned paper, I chose to work with the tape because you can still see "white" through the tape so I was hopeful to really bounce the playful colors and make a "bold" statement.

I love how the enamel dots add the perfect touch to embellish the arrows and stars, it makes it playful, fun, bold yet still mailable (yay!!!).

Thank you for visiting us today and if you give the sketch a try, we'd love for you to link us up!

card supplies:Collectable: 'Handsome' enamel dots,decorative tape;Misc: Cameo arrows, computer-generated sentiment, Bazzill white cardstock

Using Clusters to Lead the Eye

Hello everyone! This is Jana!

Did you know that one of the best ways to lead a viewer's eye around your scrapbook page is by using clusters? Clusters provide interesting spots for the eye to rest and absorb your layout in nice "bite-size" pieces. I especially love building clusters with all of the wonderful, dimensional embellishments that coordinate with the My Mind's Eye collections.
 


 
I knew was going to have one photo, so that allowed me the opportunity to have a little fun with the remaining space on the page. First, I created a background for my photo by layering together several random blocks of 6x6 papers. There is no rhyme or reason to it, infact I sliced some of the corners off of a few blocks just for fun!
 
I decided that I wanted the page title towards the top. I combined the Happy Days layered sticker with the "Handsome" Title Card and then built a cluster around that with several decorative brads and "The Best Day" chip sticker from the decorative buttons.
 


 
The point of the title card naturally leads the eye down the page, so I knew I would place part of my design in the lower left corner. This is where the journaling block ended up. I used another cluster of embellishments on the bottom of the journal card to lead the eye towards the right. The arrows from the decorative stickers were a great choice and calls attention to the photos perfectly. A few more brads and a decorative button add a bit of interest.
 


 
I only had one image for this page, but the single photo felt out of balance. To remedy this, I added the exact same photo next to it printed in a slightly smaller size. This "echo" effect strengthens the page subject through repetition.
 
Finally, I didn't want the eye to stop abruptly at the photo. I stamped the trio of arrows from the "Today" Decorative Stamps pointing back towards the center of the page (I also stamped the same image at the top of the page by the title block) and added a cluster of layered stickers and more decorative brads to the top right corner of the photos. This casually circles the eye back to the title of the page and just rounds out the page.
 

Next time you build your page, try using clusters of embellishments to lead the viewer through your page.
 
Thanks for stopping by today!
 

SUPPLIES: Collectable-Remarkable: 'Beautiful' Delightful patterned paper,'Authentic' Genuine patterned paper, 6 x 6 Paper Pad,'Handsome' title tard,'Authentic' journal card,layered stickers,decorative brads, decorative buttons,decorative stickers,label stickers,enamel dots;Collectable-Unforgettable:'Today' decorative stamps;Misc:cardstock,circle punch,brown distressing innk,black stamping ink,white spray ink, black journaling pen,scissors,trimmer,adhesives

She Believed in Love at First Sight by Tina

Hi Tina here today!  Do you believe in first love?  I do!  And so does SHE!

So you think MME papers, embellishments, and stamps are just for layouts and cards?  No sir! They work beautifully for mixed media projects like canvas art.  Here's a pictorial look at how I created my LOVE girl!

Start with a blank canvas.  Since I am covering mine with paper, no need to prep the surface with gesso first.

Cut various sizes of patterned paper, vintage paper, and tissue paper and adhere to canvas with Mod Podge.

This is where the fun really starts!  Add color, texture, and dimension with paint, modeling paste and stencils.  I've even added some MME decorative tape! 



Add more color, texture, and dimension with stamps and spray mist. 

This is what an 'in process' canvas looks like.  I just LOVE all the color, design, and texture.
When you are happy with your background, create your girl.  MME 6x6 pads are great for creating your girl and accessories. 

Add more texture and dimension by outlining your girl with markers and pens.


Accessorize your canvas with enamel dots, decorative buttons, and add rub-ons where desired.

Don't forget the sides of your canvas.  I've colored mine with distress stains and MME stamps.

Mixed media is so much fun!  There is no such thing as being perfect, and it's a great way to experiment with color, techniques, and different products.

I hope you give it a try the next time you are looking for a way to use your MME product in a new way!


Supplies:Collectable-Memorable:6x6 pad,'Hello' stamps,'Journey' decorative buttons,decorative tape,'I'm With' enamel dots;Misc:Canvas:  9x12 Practica
Gesso:  Liquetex
Modeling Paste:  Liquetex
Spray Mist:  Adirondack Ranger
Paint:  Jenni Bowlin, Folk ARt
Mod Podge
Rub-Ons:  Stampin Up, 7gypsies, October Afternoon, Hambly, Jenni Bowlin
Stamps: Tim Holtz, Prima Marketing
Stencils:  Crafters Workshop, Pink Paislee
Markers/Pens:  Faber Castell, Pilot
Distress Stain:  Tim Holtz