My Mind's Eye Blog

Tamara's Back to School Teacher Gifts

Hi, this is Tamara. I just love the start of a new school year: a fresh beginning, new teachers, friends, and experiences awaiting us.  It is always nice to give your child's teacher a small token of your gratitude for the countless hours they will be spending with your child in the future months. 

I had fun raiding the School Supply aisles at Walmart and found an adorable half-sized composition book and mini clipboard.  I had the small lunch tin in my stash from a craft store.

Supplies: Chalk Studio:Lettered patterned paper, Chalk Talk patterned paper, Happy Day patterned paper, Best Day patterned paper, 6x6 paper pad, Banner Kit and chalk, decorative brads, lable stickers, twine, layered stickers; Decorative Tape Set: Pink and Charcoal; Misc.: Black ink, thread, and twice, pop dots, hole punch, corner rounder, metal lunch tin, mini clipboard, mini composition book. Almond Joy candy bars.

The fabulous new  "Chalk Studio" line with MME and Rhonna Farrer is perfect for teacher gifts - who knew a teacher's daily tools (chalk and blackboard) could create such wonderful works of art?  I love the inspirational quotes and phrases printed on the papers and embellishments.  They capture the spirit and generous gift of teaching - and made creating these projects a breeze!

For the Mini Composition book, I covered it with papers, using double stick tape.  I cut around the edges of the "Believe in the Impossible" Quote.  I matted the "Enjoy Everyone and Smile Everyday" layered sticker with pink paper and tied it around the cover with pink and blue striped twine.

For the mini cllipboard I used this fantastic quote from the 6x6 paper pad. Doesn't it describe a teacher's goal perfectly?

I trimmed the blue paper to go around the metal clip and mod podged the papers to the wood clipboard. I added a strip of thin pink striped decorative tape above the chevron paper.  I wrote the teacher's name in chalk on the beautiful die cut label and attached the tag with a brad and twine.

TIP: Remember to apply the mod podge to the wood, then smooth the paper over it - NOT on the back of the paper (or your paper will warp and buckle).

Let dry, then finish with a coat of mod podge  to to seal it. 

For the Mini Lunchbox Tin, I rounded the corners of the blue background paper and stitched around it.  I layered a scalloped circle and black chalkboard circle from the "Chalk Studio" Celebrate Banner Kit.

I cut a label sticker in half and slid the pieces under the scalloped edges.  I added the "Love and Laughter" layered sticker with a strip of grey chevron paper, accented with pale pink brads.

I tied the "Create the JOY" tag to the handle with blue and black twine and filled the tin with mini Almond Joy candy bars.

Hope you enjoyed my teacher treats and that you're inspired to create something of your own.

Happy Thursday!

6x6 Paper Pads...Not Just for Cards!

Hi everybody! Tonya here with you on this wonderful Wednesday! Today marks the first day back to school for my kiddos…can you hear the silence?!!! It's golden!

My fun assignment for today's blog post is to use one of the 6x6 paper pads for both a layout and a card.

Let me show you what I came up with!

One of the things that my family loves to do together during the summer is hiking. Fortunately, for us, living in the pacific northwest makes this a very accessible hobby. This particular day we headed up to 

the Columbia Gorge and hiked into the Oneonta Falls which starts and then ends at Horsetail Falls. It's perfect for working up a sweat and exhausting the little ones!

We even had a passerby nicely ask if we would like them to take a family photo for us (too bad she didn't happen upon us prior to the hike…you know before the sweat and dirt got to us!).

I chose to use the new Chalk Studio collection for this challenge. I really wanted to convert my photo to black and white and put the subtle colors in this collection to use.

Supplies:  Chalk Studio:"Happy Day" Paper, 6x6 Paper Pad, Chipboard Elements, Decorative Alphabet, Banner Kit, Twine, Decorative Brads, Decorative Frames, Decorative Tape,Sticker Accessory Sheet

6x6 pads are so fun to use on layouts. I love using them to enhance the background. The fact that the designs and patterns are smaller makes it easy to combine several sheets without overwhelming the design of the layout.

The 6x6 papers needed a little extra oomph so I machine stitched around the edges and added some playful chipboard accents.

The 'I Love Us" on this cute banner was originally white. I simply took very light Copic markers and colored the letters in.

Supplies: Chalk Studio:6x6 Paper Pad, Decorative Tapes, Decorative Brads, Twine, Chipboard Elements, Decorative Tags

This was a super simple card to put together. I basically just layered different elements together and topped it all off with a chipboard sentiment.

Again, the same 6x6 pad helped me put the card together in a snap!

I love how different yet similar these two projects look. Remember to use those pads on your layouts every once in a while!

Have a great day, MME fans!

Tonya

Giveaway Tuesday | Gossamer Blue and Karen Grunberg for BPC!

Happy happy Tuesday, MME fans! Today we have something extra fun for you...THREE awesome giveaways!

Please read the descriptions for each prize and let us know your preference (if you have one) in the comments. This giveaway will be open until next Tuesday. Good Luck!

 

GIVEAWAYS 1 and 2 - GOSSAMER BLUE Main Kit & Life Pages Kit

Adrienne Alvis

September kits at Gossamer Blue are filled with My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste and Chalk Studio products. The kits combine rich colors with the trendy chalkboard and office supply look creating a strong September offering.

For endless inspiration, check out the Gossamer Blue blog and gallery!

Gossamer Blue is giving away two prizes.

 

One lucky winner will win a Main Kit:

And another lucky winner will win a Life Pages Kit:

 

 

GIVEAWAY 3- BOOK OF STORIES (KAREN GRUNBERG FOR BPC)

Hi everyone! This is Karen and I am here to give away a seat in my upcoming Big Picture Classes workshop.

Book of Stories is a class focused on helping you create a process that helps you generate, keep track of, store, and use your stories. This way, when you're creating layouts or projects, you always have your stories available to you and can make sure to add meaningful journaling to any project, including those generic photos of your subject just smiling at the camera.

I love teaching process classes way more than anything else because they are so customized. The goal is not for you to copy me but to come away with a skill of your own. With something that you can make yours, adapt to your life and use over and over again. It’s like the giving a fish vs teaching to fish thing. I like to take classes like that so I like to teach classes like that.

This class focuses on four aspects of story organization:

1. Collecting: finding where your stories come from, what inspires you, how do you generate more stories?

2. Organizing: how do you sort your story ideas, what details do you want to make sure to get down on paper?

3. Storing: What’s the best way to store all these stories and details? Will you have a mini book to hold or do a system on the computer?

4. Using: Now that you have your new system, how do you use it? How do you make sure it’s a living, breathing system and doesn’t get stale.
When you sit to scrap, how do you find the story you need or want?

I want you to know that I love teaching at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I love teaching. I pour my heart and soul into each of my classes. I try to make sure I am fully engaged and that each of my students walks away with exactly what she or he wanted out of the class. Money and time are both scarce resources and I don’t take either of them for granted one bit.

If you find yourself struggling with story ideas, having the stories around when you’re scrapping, having more stories, having better stories, or if you just want a good organizational system, I hope you’ll consider taking my class. I think your stories are really important and they deserve to be told.

So, today, I am delighted to give away one seat to a blog reader. To qualify, just leave a comment on anything that made you smile today!

I hope to see you in class!

winners WINNERS!

August "Document Your Summer" Challenge- Ruth G

 

August Sketch Challenge- Cynthia B

Way to go, lucky ladies! As always...thanks so much for sharing your creativity with us.

Please email stephanie(AT)mymindseye(DOT)com with your address and choice of collection/color scheme!

September Challenge- Labor Day!

Hey there, everyone!  Missy here with you today for my very first post as an MME Design Team member!  I’m so excited to be here and to be sharing projects with you that will hopefully inspire you to create something amazing.

I took on the September Challenge and today I'm here to share the challenge and my interpretation with you.

The challenge is.....Labor Day! In the USA, today is Labor Day. You can read a bit about the holiday and its history here. Not to worry. If you live in a country other than the US, of COURSE you are welcome to join in this month. As you'll see, I scrapbooked a layout that had nothing to do with the holiday. I interpreted it in a personal way.

As always, it is completely up to you how you interpret it and how you scrapbook it.

For me, Labor Day will always be a time for my family to celebrate.  Our first daughter was born Labor Day weekend 2006, so I’d say that is an extra-special reason to be thankful!
 
I decided to use the Cut & Paste “Adorbs” collection to create a page documenting my labor as well as the sweet and precious result.  Labor Day was the perfect time to be “in labor,” right?! 

Supplies:Cut & Paste-Adorbs:  “Story” Recollect Paper, “Loved” Devoted Paper, “Special” Unique Paper, “Hello” Greet Paper, “Special” 2x6 Journal Card, “Be” Thrive Paper, “Story” Bits & Pieces, decorative tape, “Special” Decorative Stickers, “Hello” Decorative Brads, “Loved” Decorative Buttons, “Special” Tiny Word Stickers, “Be” Chipboard Stickers, “Hello” Enamel Dots;Decorative Tape Sets:Mint & Grey; The Sweetest Thing:stamps; Collectable: Stamps; Misc: Bazzill Carstock, Silhouette Cameo, Golden Modeling Paste, Lily Bee ABC Stickers, Hemp Cord

 I began with a circle stencil that I cut using my Silhouette Cameo and some modeling paste.  I like to give solid backgrounds a little bit of texture and interest without being too busy and taking away from the patterned papers and photos.  From there, I chose some pretty feminine patterns and layered various strips behind my photos.  I added in a bit of blue for some contrast, and I threw in a few pieces of embossed vellum.

The chipboard stickers and buttons add such dimension.  I love this pink flower.  I added a chipboard button and some hemp cord bow.  Buttons are one of my favorite embellishments.
I also love to add clusters to my pages.  Here, I used the Adorbs “Be” Thrive paper to create a small border strip.  Next, I added a strip of the pink dotted washi tape, one of the Adorbs “Hello” brads, some tiny word stickers, and some enamel dots.

Another fun and easy way to embellish is with stamps.  I pulled out my stash of stamps from The Sweetest Thing collection and added in some arrows.  The grey arrows washi tape is part of the Mint & Grey Decorative Tape Set.
I loved so many of these patterned papers, and I layered and distressed them.  I love for them to have a “worn in” look.  I traced around some of the diamonds on the “Hello” Greet paper with a black pen.  Something as simple as doodling can add that little something extra to your patterns.
 
Thank you so much for stopping by today!  We can’t wait to see how you interpret this month’s challenge.  I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day!

Now for the rules:

1. You can submit a layout,card,album,altered item,etc.

2. The project must consist of mainly MME. It must "look" like a MME project. :) It must fit the theme.

3. The project must be created new for this challenge. You may only submit one project.

4. Upload the project to the InLinkz link tool at the end of this post by the end of the day on Tuesday, September 17.

5. A random winner will be chosen and announced with the second September challenge on September 18. The prize is any MME collection- the choice is yours.

I will be back later today with the August challenge and sketch winners.  Thanks!