My Mind's Eye Blog

Pinspiration Friday | August Edition

We are so glad you stopped by today, it's Pinspiration Friday!

Every day, we scour the Internet for inspiring MME projects. We find your work on your blogs, through our FB page,and in online galleries. We pin the ones that inspire us most!

Then once a month we challenge our designers to use one of your creations as inspiration for a layout or card.

This month Danni and Tina are joining us. Here's what they came up with. Enjoy and have a lovely, creative day!

 

Inspiration Piece: Megan Smith

Danni's version:

Supplies:  Cut and Paste-Presh: Trendy, Awed and Amazed patterned papers, layered stickers, enamel dots, decorative brads

Danni says: I was so inspired when i found this gorgeous pin from Megan.  She created an incredibly eye-catching card with her simple, yet fun design and awesome color palette.  I love how she used the gorgeous enamel dots (you know I'm obsessed), rounded corners and fun focal. 

On my card, Hooray, I chose to stay pretty true to her overall design and focal location as well as the rounded corners and amazing enamel dots.

I love, love, love the new Cut and Paste Presh line and was excited to pull it out and use it on this card.  I adore the layered stickers with the vellum, the gorgeous enamel dot colors and awesome brads.

Step 1:  Cut block of "Trendy" patterned paper slightly smaller than 4 x 6 card size (this will become your card front, do not adhere to card yet, we will work with a card front, then adhere at the end)

Step 2:  Adhere block of "Amazed" patterned paper to "Trendy" block (I cut mine 3 x 3 3/4", but a smaller block would also work)

Step 3:  Cut strip of "Awed" patterned paper (I cut mine 1/2" by 3 3/4"), adhere and then stitch (if desired)

Step 4:  Adhere "Hooray" Decorative brad

Step 5: Adhere floral layered stickers, enamel dots and button

Step 6:  Adhere card front to 4 x 6 cardstock card

These steps could be repeated several times using various decorative brads and layered stickers to make a few cards to have on hand in no time at all.

I had a ball creating this card...thanks so much for the inspiration Megan!

Inspiration Piece: Virginia Fynes

Tina's version:

Supplies: Find Your Wings & Fly-Up & Away:Always paper,Chipboard Accessories, Layered Stickers,Decorative Tape,Stamps, Enamel Dots:Find Your Wings & Fly-Sky's The Limit, Stamps;Misc:Clipboard:  Staples Stencils:  Crafters Workshop
Paint:  Distress Paint Gesso:  Liquetex Ink:  Ranger Stamp:  Kaisercraft Adhesive:  American Crafts (tape runner), Imaginisce (foam tape) 

Tina says: Pinspiration Fridays are one of my favorite monthly segments here on the MME blog!  I love seeing the amazing inspiration from all of our cyber space friends and I love the challenge of using one of the MME pins as inspiration for a new project.

Today, I was inspired by this awesome altered clipboard wall decor by Virginia Fynes.All I have to say is...WOW!  These are incredible.  I love seeing normal, everyday objects altered into works of art and Virginia knocked this one out of the park.

For my project, I choose to use Virginia's concept of an altered clipboard, but grunge it up a bit.

(Note:  Before I started my project, I removed the clip from the clipboard, so it would be easier to adhere the paper and embellishments to the board.  You can re-attach the clip to the board with 'pins', but mine is purely for decoration, so I just glued mine back on. )

I started with Find Your Wings and Fly, Up & Away, Always paper and adhered it to the clipboard with Matte Medium.  Once it was dry, I began 'grunging up' the board with ink, paint, stamps, and stencils.I layered the 'grunge' around the board and added layered stickers and chipboard embellishments for more fun!  I also stamped several balloons on patterned paper and adhered them to the clipboard with foam squares. 

I am really pleased with how the altered clipboard turned out and it was such a fun, happy project! 

Thank you Virginia for providing your amazing Pinspiration!  Next time you are looking for an inexpensive project, find a common household item and alter it!

She Has the Best Hair by Tonya

Hi My Mind's Eye fans, Tonya here today to share a layout with you.

This was made using the Cut & Paste - Adorbs collection. I was super excited to get to use this line, my daughter wears these colors all of the time so I have about a gazillion photos that will work with this color scheme.

The inspiration from this layout came from the fact that I really wanted to use the stamp set (the chevron arrows to be precise) and I also wanted to put some of the thin washi tape to use. 

Supplies: Cut & Paste - Adorbs: Special "Striking" paper, Hello "Greet" paper, Be "Live" paper, Be "Thrive" paper, Loved "Devoted" paper, Chipboard Stickers, loved Decorative Stamps, Hello Decorative Brads, Story 5x7 Bits and Pieces, Hello Enamel Dots Decorative Tapes: Pink & Yellow.

To get the glitter stamped image I just used the Martha Stewart glue pad and then applied the glitter and finished off with a spray sealant. 

If you look closely, I colored the little square inside of the stamped frame with a gel glitter pen. It doesn't show up so well in photos, but I love the extra little dimension and sparkle it gives to the layout.

Thank you for checking out the My Mind's Eye blog today. I'm off to enjoy this last bit of summer break with the family before school starts next week.

Tonya

Introducing our August Guest Designer!

Please help us welcome our August guest designer, Evgenia Petzer!  We've been admiring (and pinning) Evgenia's work for quite some time and we are thrilled to have her joining us this month.

My name is Evgenia Petzer, i am 28 years old, Russian girl who now lives in South Africa and loves it! I love to make cards, layouts and sometimes altered items. My style is more feminine, always detailed and layered. I also love photography and try to capture lots of moments of our everyday life. We have a son (who is almost 5), another baby on its way and a cute yorkie and a ginger cat.

And some random facts about me: i drink about 20 cups of green tea every day, i have a constant huge mess in my scraproom, i am addicted to sunshine.

Q:What did you have the most fun working with?

I had a great time playing with all the collections , but i am totally addicted to the enamel dots, they are so fun to play with, look like candies and make any project special.

Q: What is your favorite mme collection of all time and why?

I absolutely loved the All is Bright collection. Christmas is my fav time of the year and those colors were a bit unusual, but i absolutely loved it!

Bloom Where You are Planted mini album: 

 

Supplies:Find Your Wings & Fly: chipboard buttons, paper and accesories kit, enamel dots, decorative brads, 12x12 stickers, alpha and word stickers,layered stickers, 12x12 die cuts;Kate and Co-Oxford Lane: enamel dots

Evgenia says: Sometimes you have photos, that wont fit in a page and they will work perfectly for a mini-album, so i decidede to scap one of our trips to a beautiful Cherio Gardens. I love to work on a white background, that allows to put your own accents where you want them. Also this album is very handy and looks nice on your table in a lounge.

Evgenia says: I love making cards, all of them are always layered and detailed. A little tip- colorful stitching can make your card pop even more. On these 3 cards i used 3 different colors of thread, to add a fun detail!

Thanks for sending us these lovely projects, Evgenia!

Simply Stamped Cards with Shelly

Hello everyone! This is Shelly here today to share some simple stamped cards. I love to keep a few stacks of simple cards on hand for a “just in case” moment. Maybe you just want to send a simple note off to a friend you can grab one and go, or maybe you just wanted to give a simple thank you gift to a friend or even a teacher.

I like to wrap a short stack of 6-8 cards with envelopes and stamps for a simple thoughtful gift.  With the school year kicking into gear, wouldn’t it be a nice “hello, nice to meet you” kind of gift for your child’s teacher?

Supplies: Collectable Collection – Remarkable “Beautiful” Decorative Stamps, Unforgettable “Firsts” Enamel Dots, Notable “Cute” Enamel Dots, Memorable Decorative Tapes; The Sweetest Thing – Honey “Happiness” Stamps; other: Twine and Ink.

When it comes to doing card sets, I like to keep things simple and easy to reproduce, keeping cutting and pasting to a minimum because those always seem like a tedious time consuming task to me. Stamps are always an easy go-to when reproducing in larger quantities. You never have to worry about running out of anything!

I like to start it off by cutting a stack of 8.5x11 sheets of cardstock in half, creating a prototype, and then I start stamping. This is just my preference, but I like to do my stamping before I fold my cards. This way, the paper lays flat, and I don’t have to worry about that slight little bounce when I go to stamp. I know, I am a little crazy… am I the only one that does that or is that a normal thing?

I stamped all pinks on each card, then went through and did all yellow, and then all orange. This kept things real easy, not needing to switch out stamps each time I did a card. I went with the “One of a kind” sentiment from the Sweetest Thing Collection. I thought it was a nice versatile saying. You could easily use this card as a simple note card to say hello to a friend, birthday card, or even a thank you card.

I think the card is cute and ready to go after the stamping, but sometimes it is nice to dress them up a little more. You could add a little extra something by adding some decorative tape. The rolls seem to be never ending, and it is self adhesive which is perfect for mass producing. If flat isn’t in your blood, you could also add a little extra pop of dimension with a few enamel dots.

I like to keep a couple of cards in my card file box, so I can grab one when I need one. I also tied a few of them together along with envelopes with some twine as a set for when I need a nice random “Thank You” gift for a friend, family member, or a teacher.

So there you have it, my easy go-to process when mass producing lots of simple cards in the quickest way possible. Do any of you do the same? Do you like to keep cards and card sets on hand for that “just in case” moment that might pop up?

Thank you for stopping by today, and have a wonderful day!

Watercolor Love

Hi!  Tina here today with a fun, artsy, and totally hip layout! 

Watercolors are super hot right now and everyone is using them on their layouts, mixed media projects, and home decor items.  I thought I'd jump on the 'watercolor bandwagon' and create my own version of watercolor love.

To create my watercolor 'tiles', I first heat embossed several shapes to a piece of white watercolor paper.  (thick cardstock would work well too).  Once all my shapes had been embossed, I began adding watercolor in various colors to the piece of watercolor paper.  I really love the shades of pink, purple, blue and green that were created when the watercolors mixed and mingled with each other.

Once the paper was dry, I cut it into randomly shaped squares and rectangles and stitched them to  a piece of white cardstock.  I seriously love the color on this page.  It makes me happy!

To finish my layout, I added a small picture behind layered chipboard pieces and added a chipboard strip and twine above the title.  I love this technique so much, I think I'll have to lift myself on another future layout.  :)

So get out those watercolors and make your own unique background! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fantastic week!

Cut & Paste Tags

Hi Everyone, it's Ronda here today with you to share some easy tags using the Cut & Paste lines.  I love the versatility of tags. With the school year kicking off, tags are great to have to have in your stash when you need a little something for a gift. 

Supplies:  Cut & Paste: Adorbs  - Special: ''Unique' Paper; Adorbs-Story: Bits & Pieces Layered Stickers;  Adorbs-Be: Chipboard Stickers; Adorbs- Decorative Tape; Phresh-Good Times: 'Decorative Stamps;  Misc: Ranger Archival Ink, Maya Road Twine, Black Acrylic Paint, Gesso,

I knew the Adorbs Special Unique Paper had to be my background for one of my tags.  I just completely adore it but wanted it tone down just a touch so my chipboard pieces would stand out.  I used some waterdown gesso to create a light wash over this beautiful paper. 

Next i added the "B" side of the paper as a topper to my tag along with some decorative tape,  I then added some small black paint splatters and stamped the Phresh Good Times images on the background.  I love that pop of black sitting in the background. 

After getting the background just right, I added in the chipboard saying, tucking in the speech bubble tale into the layered sticker.  I love how these two statements naturally go together.  To finish this card, I simply tied soem black twine to the top bringing the black all around the tag. 

Supplies:  Cut & Paste: Adorbs  - Special: Sticker Sheet; Adorbs-Story: Bits & Pieces Layered Stickers;  Adorbs - Hello: Enamel Dots; Adorbs - Loved: Decorative Buttons; Adorbs-Be: Chipboard Stickers; Misc: Ranger Colorwash Spray Ink, Dylusions Spray Ink; TCW Stencil, Modeling Paste, Maya Road Twine, Acrylic Paint

This UR2 Cute Tag began with some modeling paste and a stencil on a manilla tag.  Using the Cut & Paste Adorbs line as inspiration, I colored in the background with blues, yellows, and greens.  I left some spots open with no color letting the manila peek through the background.

Next I layered on the pink pennant sticker and the UR2 Cute layered sticker in the center of the tag.  To give the tag more punches of color I scattered the enamel dots in the background.  I also added some chipboard flowers that are similar in color to the main sticker.  I added that extra green button to the sticker drawing your eye to the phrase. 

I keep all my tags in a little basket ready to add to a girft.  I usually write my sentiments on the back of the tag and use the twine to tie it to the gift.  How do you store your tags?

Cut and Paste Cards with Danni

Good morning!  Danni here with you today.

I was so excited to receive my DT box filled with all of the gorgeous new Cut and Paste lines.  I am loving all the fun, playful patterns in these lines...the colors are so incredibly awesome for every day life.

I wanted to create a couple of cards today and some back to school notecards for my kids.  I love all the new elements and embellishments, they make creating so easy.

On my first card, You Make Me Happy, I adhered chipboard to the already fun "cloud" paper and came up with a relatively quick and easy card to tell that special someone what you think of them.

On my second card, Hello, I wanted to emphasize these cool layered stickers, I love these florals on this sheet so much and had a blast stitching and layering this sweet card.

This next card was created with the Hey You journal card and these FUN tiny word stickers, love these so much.  I created this card for my daughter who was starting middle school this year and it was fun to create a playful card for her first day.

The next notecard, Sweet Child of Mine, was for my youngest son for his lunchbox on his first day, I love the 6 x 6 pads for creating cards, but this notecard came together so quickly using the new Cut and Paste pad.

On my final card, Extra Special, I wanted to create a more masculine, simple card for my older son and this fun sentiment Extra Special, made it so easy.  To tone down the possibility of his friends seeing the sentiment, I adhered some vellum over the top and stitched, still allowing the sentiment to peek through.

Cut and Paste cards  MME supplies:  Cut and Paste 6 x 6 pad, Tiny Word stickers, layered stickers, enamel dots, Journal Card, Enamel Shapes,chipboard and designer buttons;Misc:Papertrey Ink vellum, machine stitiching, Bazzill cardstock, sequins

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous and creative Thursday!

 

Easy Peasy Framed Art with Tina

Hi! 

Tina here today with a super quick, super fun, and super adorable home decor project!

I don't know about you, but I love quick, fun, and super easy home decor projects.  It is so satisfying to create some unique and totally yours and to be able to display it in your home.  Every time I walk past a project in my home that I created with my own two hands, I have a sense of accomplishment happiness.

Supplies:Find Your Wings & Fly, Sky's The Limit, 6x6 paper pad,Find Your Wings & Fly, Sky's The Limit, Sticker Accessories,Find Your Wings & Fly, Sky's The Limit, Chipboard Buttons,The Sweetest Thing, Smile Decorative Tape;Other:Frame:  IKEA,Chipboard Alphas:  Tim Holtz,Twine:  Etsy,Spray Mist:  Lindy's Stamp Gang,Adhesive:  American Crafts (tape runner), Imaginisce (foam tape)

Here's how I created this project.

1.  Remove the glass from the frame.  Adhere a sheet of patterned paper to the frame cardboard in place of where a photo might be placed.
2.  Cut a smaller piece of pattered paper to layer on top of the piece #1.  Stitch a grid on the paper to add more texture.  Adhere to larger piece of paper.
3.  Apply strips of decorative tape to edge of photo mat.  Many of the MME decorative tapes fit perfectly in the mat edge space.

4.  Stitch buttons to top of 2 balloon stickers.  Layer the 2 balloons on top of each other and adhere with foam tape to add dimension.
5.  Cut border sticker into 2 smaller sections and apply to frame.  Apply another circle sticker to left end of border stickers.
6.  Tie twine around entire frame.

And that is it!  How is that for quick and easy?

As always, we love seeing your MME projects.  Please share them with us on our Facebook page.  We are always looking for inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great one!

Cut and Paste, Tina Style

Hi!  Tina here today! 

There are so many things I love about the new Cut and Paste collections!  The fun ombre patterned paper, the 4x6 journal cards, and the new 5x7 sticker sheets.  All of the embellishments coordinate so well with the amazing paper and chipboard sheets. 

I'm a fan of clustering and it's a 'go-to' design technique.  Clustering with My Mind's Eye chipboard, die cuts, and stickers always creates such amazing looks full of detail, fun, and interest.

Supplies: Cut and Paste, Presh, Noted, Details paper, Cut and Paste, Presh, 6x6 Paper Pad, Cut and Paste, Presh, Good Times, Tribal paper, Cut and Paste, Presh, Right Now Chipboard Stickers, Cut and Paste, Presh, Decorative Tape, Cut and Paste, Presh, Good Times, Decorative Buttons, Cut and Paste, Presh, Noted, Enamel Dots, Cut and Paste, Presh, Inspired, 4x6 Journal Card, Cut and Paste, Presh, Inspired, Bits & Pieces, Cut and Paste, Presh, Beautiful, 4x6 Journal Card, Cut and Paste, Presh, Beautiful 5x7 Sticker Sheet,  Other: Die Cut Machine:  Silhouette Cameo, Twine:  AmericanCrafts, Adhesive:  American Crafts (tape runner), Imaginisce (foam tape)

For my layout today, I wanted to cluster these items around my photo, but I also wanted to add a little bit of pattern and design to the ombre colored paper. 

So, using my Silhouette Cameo, I die cut a large floral shape to place under my cluster.  It adds color and designs to the relatively simple clusters.

Love this look!  I'd love to see your favorite design technique too.  Is it clustering?  Is it clean and simple?  Is it linear and graphic? 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great day!

Anatomy of a Double Page Layout - August's 4x6 Photo Love

Hello everyone and HAPPY MONDAY! This is Shelly back with another behind the scenes look at the makings of a double page layout.

This month I am going with a 4x6 photo theme! As with probably a lot of you, I enjoy being part of different online communities across the web. I have read several times in different places people searching for inspiration using only 4x6 photos. They love to keep things real and simple by ordering all their pictures in stacks of the traditional 4x6 size. I usually plan out my pages prior to ordering so that I can size my pictures accordingly, but I thought I would take on the challenge today to create a page using only 4x6 photos.

Supplies: Kate & Co.-Oxford Lane: From Me, Tartan, Triples, and Polka patterned papers; Chipboard Elements; Sticker Accessory Sheet; Enamel Dot; Decorative Tapes; Kate &Co.-Cambridge Court: Sticker Accessory Sheet; Boy Crazy: Tags pattern paper, 6x6 paper pad; Misc: Silhouette, photo corners, string, Zig photo pen, Bazzill cardstock

I picked out a small handful of pictures taken over the Fourth of July week last year. I printed them all 4x6 without doing any page planning ahead of time. Awe, I have to admit. It was pretty darn nice just to send these off to the printer without putting any thought into it.

Like I do with just about all my pages, I laid out two sheets of white cardstock to plan my attack. Within no time, I had my pictures placed just where I liked them. I was able to fit 7 of the 8 photos I had printed on my layout. Nice.

I really loved the bold colors of the blues and yellows from the Kate and Co-Oxford Lane Collection. I pulled out a few of the papers and realized that I really needed a pop of red too. The Boy Crazy Collection had just what I needed to complement the Oxford Lane papers.

I decided to do different vertical strips on the left side of the page. I knew the navy chipboard border from the Chipboard Elements would be perfect for this page. So, how do you get a 12-inch border to work for a double page layout? You cut it. I do this a lot. I usually just zip it in my trimmer while the border is still on the packing sheet, but this time the backing kept slipping. I pulled out my trusty scissors to cut away following the inner circles as a guide.

Once my paper strips and border were in place, I was able to work on the title. I cut the “Summer” title from my Silhouette. After having the full title in place, I realized that the “vacation” didn’t have enough pop. To fix that I already had the Boy Crazy Collection on the floor next to me, I layered a 6x6 sheet of the grey stars underneath my title. That solved the problem!

I mimicked that same look on the right side of the page, adding in my journaling. By total chance, the journaling matched up perfectly with the lines from the B-side of the Polka patterned paper. I had my journaling printed out on a white sheet of cardstock. The paper was sitting right next to me, so I lined it up out of shear curiosity. Boom! Perfect match. If you are curious to what my settings were for my journaling, it was Bohemian Typewriter font (downloaded from the internet) with a font size of 10.5 and single line spacing. Don’t you just love it when the stars line up for you?

My final step was to have fun embellishing! I filled the open space on the left side of the layout with that bold yellow doily flower from the Kate & Co.-Cambridge Court Sticker Accessory Sheet. It may have taken me some time to pop out those little holes, but so worth it once it was in its home. I finished it off with a chipboard button and some decorative tape across the picture.

Once I do something to one side, I like to do the same to the other. So, more decorative tape, buttons, and enamel dots were in order.

I know not everyone likes to do double pages like I do, so I thought I would show you this trick again.

......

Do you see it? This layout has three times the inspiration! Each side will totally work for all you single page loving, 4x6 photo printing scrappers out there too.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Hopefully, I have inspired you to pull out those pretty papers and scrap a double page layout (or maybe even a single or two!). If not, is there something else you are looking for when it comes to doublers? I would love to hear your comments, concerns, and challenges when it comes to a double page layout!