My Mind's Eye Blog

Mini Albums with Stephanie | May 2014 Edition - Inspiration File

Hi there everyone!!  Stephanie back with you this month to share another fun mini album tutorial!!  I've really been wanting to create an inspiration file book for a while and as soon as I opened the new My Mind's Eye Market Street and Necessities goodies, I knew they would be perfect for my book!!

I'm a huge fan of Pinterest and online galleries, but I really love holding tangible items!  I love gathering all of my favorite ideas on paper rather than only having them on my computer.  This inspiration file contains some of my favorite quotes, magazine pieces, photos, etc., but you could easily make a mini album or travel folder using this technique!  Let's get started!!


1. Start by gathering your supplies.

You will need:
1. paper for your cover and end page (8x10)
2. two pieces of chipboard trimmed to 8x10
3. two pieces of vellum trimmed to 8x10
4. decorative tape
5. adhesive
6. adhesive fastener

I am using two of the Market Street 8x10 Ready to Frame art pieces for my cover and end page.  The "A Dream Is Where It All Begins" is the perfect quote for my little book!  And the gold vellum paper from the Necessities collection is just divine!!  I love how they all work together so nicely!



2. Adhere your vellum to one side of your chipboard pieces and your cover/end pages to the other side.  If you have paper with a certain orientation make sure that each one is facing the correct direction before adhering down.



3. Add a strip of glittered tape or washi tape down the middle between your two chipboard pieces.  Leave just a little gap between the two so your folder can open and close properly.
 

4. Add another strip of glittered tape/washi down the spine of your book and fold together to make sure your tape is sealed well.


5. Sew or hand stitch around your file book edges just to make sure your cover and inside pages stay attached.
 

6.  Add an adhesive fastener (purchased from local office supply store) to the inside of your book.  I added mine to the right hand page, but you could easily add one to both side.

Now you are all ready to fill your book with inspiration and ideas!!  Here's a look at my inspiration file book!



On the inside, I decided to add my inspiration pieces to the right side of my book and a few of my favorite quotes and embellishments to the left hand side.  



Whenever I come across something that I want to keep, I just add it right to my inspiration book!  It's stacked right with my calendar, so I carry it with me wherever I am!  You can never have too much inspiration!!

Thanks so much for joining me today!! I hope I have inspired you to make your own inspirational file book or folder mini album!!

Supplies used:
MME Market Street Ashbury Heights 8x10 Ready to Frame Art
MME Market Street Ashbury Heights Chipboard Elements
MME Market Street Ashbury Heights Journal Card Packs
MME Nob Hill “Sparkle” Foiled Paper
MME Nob Hill Journal Card Packs

Custom Embroidery Hoops

Hello! It's Valerie today and I can’t wait to show you what I made! I decided to switch things up a bit this time and make a home decor project using Market Street.

We have lived in our home for almost eight years and I’m embarrassed to admit to you that the walls are still rather bare. I have a handful of my favorite photos displayed and one piece of my own artwork, but that’s about it. Sad, right? I guess I’m just too indecisive and have wall decorating commitment issues. I have a handful of wood embroidery hoops that I stocked up on when I saw them on sale. These hoops are super inexpensive and so fun and easy to customize (see below for instructions on how I prep my hoops for art.

I grabbed some ivory linen and some muslin from my fabric stash and assembled the hoops. Prepping these hoops is super easy. I think each one took me about 15 minutes or less. The larger hoop has a 6 inch diameter and the smaller is 4 inches in diameter.

The Market Street chipboard florals are gorgeous, and I love the scripty words. I layered the pieces on top of a vintage doily and adhered everything with hot glue.

Supplies:Market Street-Nob Hill: chipboard elements, mixed bag, chipboard buttons, and enamel dots; Ashbury Heights:chipboard elements, flair pins, and label stickers; Other: wood embroidery hoops, linen & muslin, vintage doilies, hot glue.

How to prep an embroidery hoop


Layer a square of your base fabric on top of a square of muslin. I like my stretched fabric to be opaque and not show the wall color underneath. The double layer is just my personal preference. Use your own judgement regarding one layer or two. Some fabrics are more transparent than others and some people have much more colorful wall paint that might show through a thin fabric. Pull the fabric taut all the way around and then tighten the knob using some pliers.


Trim excess fabric, leaving enough to fold over.


Apply a thin layer of hot glue to the back of the hoop. Fold over and pinch the fabric down all the way around.


And that’s it! Easy, right!? You are now ready to embellish the front.

So what do you think? Ready to give some embroidery hoops a try?

Layout by Laurel

Hi everyone, Laurel here.  I couldn’t wait to dig into the Necessities collections when they arrived!  They are going to make such great accents for my projects!  Today I have mixed the Necessities Wood with the Now & Then Mildred collection.

 

I used the wood paper as the background paper, I really am a sucker for woodgrain!   I then adhered a panel of the Mildred paper on a slight tilt as I like the look of a somewhat haphazard, messy type of layout.

 

 I then just layered bits and pieces (many of them scraps from other projects) until I was happy with the look then added some stitching.

 

 

As a final touch, I added some of the new wood shapes. 

 

What do you think?  Don’t you love our Necessities line?!  What are you going to do with it?

 

Laurel

Market Street Card Trio

Hi everybody! Tonya here with you today. So, were the rest of you as excited about Market Street as I was?!!! Such great color schemes, illustrations and the metallic gold. Yummy! I simply could not wait to get my hands on it and start creating! Today I have a trio of cards to share with you.

This first card started with my love for that small floral print paper. I just had to use it. Paired it up with the gold and black striped decorative tape, die cuts, chipboard button, and a decorative brad.

Supplies: Market Street-Nob Hill: 6x6 Decorative Paper Pad, Foiled Mixed Bag, Decorative Tape, Decorative Buttons, Decorative Brads Miss Caroline: Fiddlesticks "Lucky" twine

This second card was completely inspired by those big gold metallic letters in the Necessities line. I dressed them up a bit by adding the striped decorative tape and some machine stitching.

 

 

 

Supplies: Market Street-Nob Hill: 6x6 Decorative Paper Pad, Enamel Dots, Foiled Mixed Bag, Decorative Buttons Necessities-Metallics: Metallic Monogram Alphas

 

The last card was all based around that gorgeous gold doily die cut. This was pretty simple to put together. The card base was cut using my Silhouette. Then it was just a matter of layering the doily and some chipboard pieces.

 

Supplies: Market Street-Nob Hill: 6x6 Decorative Paper Pad, Chipboard Elements, Enamel Dots, Foiled Mixed Bag

 

Thanks for stopping by the My Mind's Eye blog today, hope you are feeling a little bit inspired!

 

Tonya

Anatomy of a Double Page Layout | May 2014

Before we share this post we want to take a moment to express or sincere gratitude for all the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice while defending this beautiful country we are so blessed to live in. Thank you doesn't sound like nearly enough to convey our feelings but we won't ever stop saying it.

Enjoy your Memorial Day.

Hey everyone! This is Shelly with your monthly dose of the makings of a double page layout.

This month, I thought I would share one of my favorite places to go looking when I am in need of a little inspiration. I don’t have to go too far. I actually turn to my own pages. Why re-invent the wheel, when you have something that has worked in the past. Right!?!

So here is my new page.

Supplies: Now & Then: Izzy – “Good Times” Range paper, “Boys” Dapper paper, “Smile” Bloom paper, 6x6 Designer paper pad, “Good Times” 3x4 Cards, “Happenings” Enamel Dots, “Dream Big” Decorative Buttons; Now and Then-Milo – “Little Things” Label Stickers, “Documented” Decorative Buttons; Record it! – Pretty Things Decorative Tape; Other: String, letter stickers, number stickers

 

And here is my inspiration page.

Last month, I shared a spring summary page for my daughter’s album. While getting those pictures ready for print, I also prepped pictures for a spring summary page for my son’s album too; nothing like hitting two birds with one stone. For my son’s spring page, I was inspired by this older page of mine. I knew these pictures would work perfectly with the same sketch with just a little tweaking to make it work again for me.

Like always, I had my sketch ready and waiting for me when I was ready to get creative. As you can see, I simply replaced one vertical picture for a third photo strip to accommodate all my extra pictures. I kept with a very generic sketch leaving room to get creative once I started cutting up papers. This sketch was solely to remind me how I had planned to lay out my pictures. Sometimes I like to add in more detail if I have ideas flowing, but this go around, I didn’t really have a plan except for my pictures.

Next stop was to lay out my pictures and pull out some pretty patterned papers that had some colors that talked to me. I really wanted to stick with mostly yellow, a little bit of green, and a touch of the blues and orangey reds.

After pushing papers and colors around, I really liked the yellow stripe to be the background of my pictures. With so much green in my pictures, I thought it was a nice contrast. I am not a color expert by any means. I know some of the basics, but I ultimately flow with what calls to me and makes my eyes happy.

Then it was time to have fun and embellish. I filled in some of the open space with some of the 6x6 papers from the Now & Then Izzy Collection. I love that there are “bonus” patterns in those designer paper pads. Both of the patterns I went with are not designs that are 12x12.

I created a little banner cluster from a couple of scraps left over from the same papers I layered behind my focal picture topped with one of the 3x4 cards embellished with a little enamel heart and the year.

I brought the same letters from the title over to the right side of my layout to bring the sides together along with some buttons, enamel dots, and decorative tape.

Not to leave all you single page loving enthusiasts out in the cold, so here is some inspiration for all of you too! I thought both sides of this layout would look great as a stand-alone too. I would probably add two more enamel dot/button clusters for a little more pop, and it would be good to go.

And I can’t forget about the right side! I like that my random words could act as a nice title holder for a single page layout too.

Do any of you turn to your own albums for inspiration? It makes me happy that I can be inspired by my own creations, yet the new pages always seem to meld into their own look. I like that I can tweak my sketches to make them work for the pictures that I have on hand.  Just a few little things here and there and it’s a whole new page to me.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Sparkle and Shine

Hello there!  Missy here with you today.  My latest scrappy obsession is definitely the shiny gold trend.  I just love the sparkle and shine it gives!  The new Necessities collections are just full of metallics.  I pulled out the gold Metallic collection paired it with the gorgeous Market Street Ashbury Heights line.  They work so well together.

 

I started with the “Word Wood” paper from the Necessities Wood line and did some heat embossing.  I wanted more gold sparkle, so I used a lined stamp and embossed with gold powder.  I like to jazz up my backgrounds with stamps or paints these days, and this was a nice way to add some sparkle to the background.  The metallic vellum is just to die for!  I used it as a patterned paper and mixed it in with my layers.  There is even sparkly gold decorative tape…I just couldn’t get enough of that!  I added to the top and bottom of my layout.  Lastly, the large Metallic Monogram Alphas are so versatile.  You can see how they can be used here on a layout pretty easily.

 

Supplies:Market Street “Ashbury Heights”—Globe Paper, Shimmer Paper, Metallic and Enamel Dots, 3x4 Journaling Cards, Decorative Tape, Chipboard Buttons, Flair Button Pins, 6x6 Paper Pad, Decorative Brads, Label Stickers, Mixed Bag, Chipboard Elements; Market Street “Nob Hill”—Chipboard Buttons, Chipboard Elements; Necessities—“Worn Wood” Paper, Metallic “Triangle” Vellum Paper, “Metallic” Monogram Alphas, Metallic Decorative Tape; Collectable—Decorative Stamps; Other—Recollections Embossing Powder, Stampendous Embossing Ink, Stampendous Ink, EK Success Punch, Heidi Swapp Color Shine, Thread, Gelly Roll Pen, Hampton Art Stamp.

 Here you can really see the shine!  I say the shinier, the better.  And isn’t that little jar so cute?  I wanted to create the effect of little bits floating up out of it, so I used enamel dots to create that effect.  I dug back into my Collectable goodies and used a stamp I had never used before.  I stamped it onto a piece of transparency paper and cut it out.  That makes it a lot easier to place it wherever I want it without having to actually stamp it underneath layers or on top of a photo.

 

 

Eeeek!  More glittery gold!  If you haven’t tried heat embossing, I highly recommend you do.  It’s not as hard as you may think, and you can see how awesome the result is!  I added in some gold thread as well.  The decorative brads are amazing, as always!  They’re a fun way to add some color and texture to your page.

 

 

The flair pins are another fun way to add pops of color.  They can also be a part of your title since many of them have words or sentiments on them.  I layered mine here, near that cute mason jar.

 

 

I’m very excited to dig more into these metallic collections. There are several color schemes, and they all sparkle and shine!  I hope you are inspired to play around with them…I just know you’ll love them!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Mixed Media with Karen | May 2014 Edition

Hi everyone!

This is Karen and I am back with Mixed Media with Karen for May!

Ever since I saw the flairs in the Now and Then line, I knew I had to find a way to use them. And then I saw the Mildred Today Dots paper and I knew I had my next mixed media project in front of me.

The first thing I did was to glue the paper into my journal. I then turned the flairs over and removed the pins in the back of each one by one.



Then I arranged them on the page. I tried not to think too long. I find that when I am making mixed media pages (and layouts) the looser I am, the more I like the end result. So I just lay them all down and went
with my initial instincts.


Here's the picture I took when I was all done so I wouldn't forget where each of the flairs were.


After that, I removed all of them and wrote journaling around the circles about all the things I wanted to remember. Important notes to myself.


Then I put the flairs back down. And I drew some loose circles with a very thin black pen around the existing circles. Some black paint around the edges of my page, and I was done.


A few circles were too cutoff for me to fit a flair on them so I added some tiny circle embellishments on them instead. Here's another look:


A simple one this month but it was really fun to do. I want you to remember that a mixed media project doesn't have to mean something complicated and cumbersome. It's always about having fun!

Have you used the flairs yet? I would love to see what you did with them!

Karen

Market Street Card Set

Hey everyone!!  Lea here today with some cards using the brand new Market Street "Ashbury Heights" product.  I *might* have squeeled & gasped when I opened my box of new goodies the other day.  But seriously...who can help it when new My Mind's Eye arrives on your doorstep?!

I love the dreamy & whimsical nature of the colors & fonts used in Ashbury Hill, so I focused on the word "dream" and created two sweet love cards.  They are full of pink & different shades of green & gold...and I just love them!

Supplies:Market Street - Ashbury Heights: shimmer paper, dotted paper, 6x6 paper pad, chipboard elements, chipboard buttons, decorative brads, mixed bag diecuts, enamel dots, 3x4 cards;Necessities - Metallic: decorative tape; Now and Then - Mildred: alpha/word stickers.

For both cards I layered papers & journal cards together, and used stitching & foam adhesive to give the cards more dimension.  I also slanted the sentiments on both of them to give it that eclectic, "thrown together" handmade feel...even though I very strategically placed every item.  Lol!

For the first card I cut the card base from the "Ashbury Heights" shimmer paper.  After cutting a block of polka dot paper & a scalloped border strip, I layered them together, then accented with a glittered paper strip & tied twine around the bottom.  I layered this entire block to the top of the card with a doily diecut, popping the paper block with foam adhesive.  I tucked a tab under the left side of it, then accented with twine threaded chipboard buttons.  I added a little sentiment strip & brad to the bottom of the journal card, then accented the card with enamel dots.

For the second card I started with a blush cardstock base.  I layered a vellum & aqua paper block together, then adhered the "Dream" journal card to the top with washi tape strips.  After adding some zig-zag stitching to the front, I adhered it to the card base.  I added the chipboard embellishments to the front, then finished the sentiment with tiny alpha stickers.  I finished it off my accenting it with enamel dots!

These new collections have ignited my crafty mojo A LOT, so I would highly suggest you add some of the Market Street goodies to your stash.  They have literally filled me with inspiration!  Thanks for checking out my cards, and I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day!

 

Lea

Heather Part 2

Yesterday we introduced you to our fabulous May guest designer...Heather Leopard!

Today Heather is back with a few more projects and the answers to the questions we sent her.

Q: What is your favorite MME collection of all time? Why?

A: This is a toss up between Lime Twist and Market Street. Lime Twist was just so playful and fun and when I look back through my albums, every project I made with that collection just makes my heart happy.

Market Street is packed full of amazing colors and patterns and the GOLD foil accents, oh my! It was soo inspired to CREATE - layouts, mini album, home decor.  I have so many ideas swirling around and my walls will soon be covered in Market Street loveliness!

Heather says: We take family photos every year and while I do scrapbook many of those photos, I always like to create a mini album that we can quickly flip through each year. I created this mini by cutting 1 12x12 piece of cardstock into 3 4”x10” strips. I folded each in half and stitched them together in the middle so they would measure 4”x5” per page. For the cover, I covered it all with layers of pattern papers, a die cut gold doily and 3x4 card and twine.

 On each inside page, I trimmed the papers about ¼” on each side, carefully matching papers to the photos. Then I went back and chose 3x4 cards that had the perfect sentiment or vibe of the photo. Each page is unique in it’s own way – doilies, stitching, embellishments, etc.

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

A: The first thing from the Market Street collection that caught my mind's eye were the art prints with foil accents but I decided to hoard them for a little bit longer until I have time to add a little bit of a personal touch.

That said, I can't wait to get some new semi-homeade art up so I'll be starting on that project soon. I am always drawn to patterns and I love to try to find unique ways to mix them up so that was my obvious first step but, the sticker accents and chipboard made a big impact on my projects. The stickers were just the right touch and I love the dimensional aspect of the chipboard.

 

Heather says: I loved the gorgeous patterns on the Market Street washi tape and wanted to cover everything in it. Since that wasn't going to happen, I decided to alter a lampshade. I removed the fabric from the lampshade and then covered the bare metal with 3 different coordinating washi tapes. I then cut 3 different sizes of 5 different shapes - butterflies, bows, hearts, flowers and circles. I stitched them together from largest to smallest and then hung them from different sections of the lampshade. Now I have this unique and fun decor piece to keep me company here in my studio.

 

 

 

Swoooon. Thank you so much, Heather! We are absolutely head over heels in love with everything you sent our way. Thanks for your creativity and for really making MME shine!

 

Stephanie

 

Introducing our May Guest Designer!

Please join us in welcoming Heather Leopard as our guest designer for the month of May!

Heather has enjoyed capturing and documenting memories as far back as she can remember but it was the birth of her children and her desire to capture candid photos & stories for her children that reignited her passion for scrapbooking. She considers her style to be Layered Chic, mixing, matching and layering multiple patterns in unique, innovative ways. Heather has an eye for details and enjoys storytelling journaling. Heather currently designs for American Crafts and Gossamer Blue kit club. She manages social media for Scrapbook Circle kit club.  Heather’s work has been published in Scrapbook Trends, Creating Keepsakes magazines and Special Edition publications as well as various Northridge Publishing magazines such as Scrapbook Trends, CARDS, Mini Albums and more.  

Heather leads marketing initiatives for a major computer company and lives in Cypress, TX with her husband, two daughters and her bonus son.

 

BLOG |  http://thespottedleopard.blogspot.com/

INSTAGRAM | http://instagram.com/heatherleopard

PINTEREST |  http://pinterest.com/heatherleopard/

TWITTER |  https://twitter.com/#!/heatherleopard

 

 

Heather says: For this photo, which of me and my hubby holding a frame with our daughters in the background, I knew I needed to keep embellishments to a minimum. I offset the white background at an angle and then distressed and stitched around the edges. I added multiple layers of patterns, gold doily, die cuts and chipboard.  I tucked a 3x4 card with the “TODAY” tab in the layers. Simply pull it out to read the journaling. I just adored the “YOU” banner so I added small alphas in the grooves to complete my title. I scattered a few enamel dots and brads here and there along with a bow to complete the page.

 

 

Heather says: I created a multi-dimensional card by cutting a circle overlay and then adding 3 different pattern papers. I chose to use two very similar gold and white patterns with a bold floral pattern. I added additional chipboard embellishments, banner and sticker sentiment to tie it all together.

 

 

Heather says: When I received the Market Street collection, I knew immediately what photos I wanted to scrap! I couldn’t have planned the colors in the collection with my daughters outfit more perfectly if I had tried. I love using super-sized shapes on my layouts so I created a large circle out of leaves, inspired by the gorgeous prints in the Market Street collection. I used a subtle pattern for the background but toned down the center of the circle using gesso. I then machine stitched  the leaves, adding a 3D bow at the bottom and adding my title, die cuts and embellishments at the top. I chose to use the word phrases for my journaling.

 

 

I think it's safe to say that we are head over heels with what Heather has done with Market Street. WOW! Thanks so much for stopping by today. Come back tomorrow for Heather's fabulous Market Street mini!