My Mind's Eye Blog

Product Spotlight | Brads

Hello! It’s Valerie here today with a couple layouts featuring My Mind’s Eye’s fun decorative brads. 

 

Supplies: Market Street :“Nob Hill” Streamer paper. Jubilee Tangerine 6x6 pad, Jubilee Tangerine “Fantastic” chipboard elements, Jubilee Tangerine mixed bag. Necessities decorative brads: Teals, Blues, Reds, and Black & Gray. Other: Silhouette Cameo (font: Intro), baker’s twine, and black mist.

 

First up is this layout about my son’s obsession with Legos and The Lego Movie. This layout was inspired by all the awesome string art that’s floating around Pinterest these days. Usually this art uses a wood board and nails, but I wanted to see if I could incorporate this onto a layout.

 

Brads made a perfect replacement for nails. I set up my layout using the Silhouette Studio software. Instead of cutting the “L” out, I placed teeny tiny circles at all the corners where I’d be poking a brad through and then deleted the “L” outline so just the holes for the brads would be cut.

 

Once all my brads were in place, I just wound some baker’s twine around the brads.

 

 

For this next  layout, I made a repeating pattern and incorporated the brads into the pattern.

 

Supplies:Jubilee-Wild Berry “Hey You” Gardens paper. Decorative brads from Jubilee Mint Julep, Jubilee Wild Berry, Jubilee Sherbet, Now & Then Milo, and Now & Then Mildred. Other: American Crafts white cardstock, Silhouette Cameo, and Studio Calico alpha stamps.

 

The scattered brads mimics how the letters are spread across the refrigerator. I was able to mix and match brads from a few different sets. Usually I’d gravitate toward enamel dots for something like this, but I’m glad I decided on the brads instead.

 

We would love to see how this inspires you to use My Mind’s Eye decorative brads! Ready, set, grab those brads, and GO!

 

December Sketch Challenge

It's sketch time again! On this month's sketch, we are using strips of patterned paper to anchor a photo in the bottom right corner. I stacked the title up at the top between the journaling and surrounded it with little accident pieces. I added more embellishments near the photo including the big flair. 

Remember...you are interpreting the sketch so feel free to rotate the sketch or change out the one photo for multiple photos.  Envision the pieces and see how you can make the sketch your own with embellishments, paint, patterned paper, and other wonderful My Mind's Eye products. 

Supplies: Now & Then: Izzy - Smile 'Bloom' Paper, Izzy - Smile Flair; Izzy - Happenings Mixed Bag; Izzy - Happenings Enamel Dots; Izzy - Good Times 'Range' Paper; Milo - Friends 'Field' Paper, Izzy - Boys Brads; Izzy - Dream Big Buttons; Other: Stencil: TCW Stencils, Ranger Ink: Archival Ink, Distress Ink; Maya Road Twine; Uniball Vision Ball roller

I started this layout by selecting a fun patterned paper background from the Now & Then line. I let the colors guide my layout and used the same colors to stencil some designs on the background. Next I added some splatters of black paint before adding in the strips of patterned papers. 

Next I pulled out some leftover strips of patterened paper to create my base for my photo. I absolutely love using up scraps on my layouts. I find strips of paper very grounding and my go to design. I ripped one of them and stacked them together. I find it easy to combine bold patterns together in small strips. I added also black ink around the starts to give them a little more pop. 

Here I inked the edges and stitched them to the background. I also added a sub-title next to my picture using a die cut from the mixed bag.  After I glued the photo I added the baker's twine on top. 

I love making my title as part of my design. I started with lines drawn in pencil on the top of the page. I started by placing the title down first and then added the journaling all around the title. It really draws the eye to the top of the page and adds a cool element to the page. 

Okay. Now it's your turn.

A random winner will be chosen and shared on January 2  . You have until the end of the day on January 1  to share your project.

Please link your sketch via the InLinkz tool at the bottom of this post. Your layout must feature MME products. Only one entry per participant, please. The prize is any MME collection.

Have fun and good luck!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Halloween Tags

 

Hi there! It's Ronda here today to share with you three boo-tiful halloween tags.  

I love this time of year and especially love creating tags for this season. Tags are a great little project to get your creative juices flowing. I like to hang them up together as decoration and then use them either on my layouts or all together in a mini album.  

Supplies:  Frightful: Frightful Words Paper, Mixed Bag, Decorative Brads, Chipboard, Other: Ranger Ink Wakley Media Paint, Golden Paints, Uniball Vision Black Pen. 

On the Little Monsters tag I painted the background purple. I like using pops of color with the typical orange & blacks.  Purple is definitely one of my favorites to pair with those colors.  Once my background was dried, I layered the frightful words paper on top, ripping the bottom edge to expose the purple.  I added some burnt orange paint to the paper and then began layering my elements.  

 

Those witch legs are so stinking cute paired with the banner! I wanted to bring some of the black color to the top so I added the little monsters banner along with the 31 pennant and two chipboard bats.  The pumpkin brad looks great as the final pop of color.  

  Supplies:  Frightful: 6x6 Paper Pad, Decorative Brads, Chipboard, Stickers, Other: Golden Paints, 

On this 31 tag I also started with a pop of color, a dark turquoise.  I mixed the turquoise with a little bit of white paint to break up the dark color.  I grabbed my 6x6 paper pad and picked out this frightful piece of patterned paper to layer on top.  The white against the turquoise really stands out. 

 

I didn't think this tag needed much more so i just layered a few pieces here and there.  The sticker arrow to the top is paired with the fun spider.  

Did you notice there are three around the page? Three is always a good number in design.  I adore the giant sparkling 31 chipboard frame so I made it my focal point of this tag.  I love that it echoes the design of the patterned paper.  I finished the tag with the chipboard "October 31," adding that touch of white to the bottom.  

Supplies:  Frightful: 6x6 Paper Pad, Mixed Bag, Decorative Brads, Chipboard, Stickers, Enamel DotsOther: Ranger Ink Wakley Media Paint, Uniball Vision Black Pen. 

The Boo Crew tag is all about pairing patterned paper.  Again I went to my 6x6 patterned paper pad and pulled out a few sheets.  I wanted an orange base without too busy of a pattern so this orange chevron was perfect.  Next I layered the same pattterned paper in three different strips across the top of the tag.  By using the front & the back of the paper plus adding some purple paint, I really changed up the look and stretched my paper.  

I created a rosette "flower" out of patterned paper in a simple white & black design.  I added the brad circle on top changing out the small brad for a larger one. Don't be afraid to change up these fabulous brads to suit your design esthetics. I then added another brad element and a sticker circle design to the background before adding my rosette piece on top.  

The enamel dots around the page add that perfect pop of color and reinforce my circle elements around the page.  

Happy Halloween!

Decorative Brads

Hello, friends!  Missy here with you today.  I am really excited to share my project with you…it’s all about using up all those decorative brads from your MME collections! 

 

Sometimes we only use a few here or there, and then the rest wind up just sitting there.  Here’s an idea for you to help use them up. 

 

The best part? many of the MME collections (past and present) coordinate very well together.  I pulled out some from several collections and was surprised at how easy they were to use on just one page.

 

I had the idea to create some sort of grid, so I cut a circle grid on my Cameo.  I had planned on using it like a square, but I played around with it and discovered that I loved it on its end, like a diamond.  It just worked so well, and so I went with it. 

 

I printed my photo in black and white and used one of my favorite patterned papers from the Find Your Wings & Fly collection.  Those bright colors are stunning!  I decided to use lots of brads that matched to fill in most of the circles on my grid.

 

Supplies:Find Your Wings & Fly “Up & Away”: Paper—Rainbow Harlequin, Big Top, Quatrefoil; Decorative Brads; Sticker Accessory Sheet; Chipboard Elements; Decorative Stamps; Decorative Brads from: Chalk Studio, Lost & Found Record It “Heirloom,” Cut & Paste “Flair”; Cut & Paste “Presh” Decorative Tapes; Decorative Tape Sets—Coral & Aqua, Mint & Grey; Other—Silhouette Cameo; cardstock; watercolors, black Sharpie pen, thread.

 

 I think the brads look so cool on the grid!  I like that some are solid colors while others have a pattern or words.  And they’re all mix & match!

 

I love how all the brads coordinate so well, and I adore this chipboard banner!

 

 

And a few stickers and other pieces to draw your attention to the photo, with a few pop dots thrown in for dimension.  The brads create amazing texture and dimension and are perfect for adding a pop of color just about anywhere on your page.

 

Think of an idea like this the next time you find yourself with leftover brads.  This was actually quick and easy since the grid told me where to place the brads.  There is really no way to mess it up!

 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

 

Missy

 

 

Happy Haunting Halloween Tags

Hello Ronda here today to share with you some SPOOKtacular tags featuring the Happy Haunting Stamps.  I love doing tags for Halloween.  There are so many different ways to use them. 

I like to do a Tag Display leading up to Halloween as decor.  You can make them with your kids and they look great displayed.  After Halloween take the tags down and turn it into an adorable mini album.  Let's take a look at a few of the tags I created. 

Stamps can be a great way to create accents on tags.  I started this Spooked Tag by painting the background with orange and purple paints.  I then stamped the spider web three times around the tag.

After placing the chipboard down, I realized I needed to stamp another spider web stamp so it would be visible. 

Supplies:  Happy Haunting:Chipboard Accessories, Decorative Stamps, Decorative Brads; misc: Ranger Archival Ink, Ranger Distress Paints

I love how the spider webs hang out in the background accenting my chipboard piece.  The decorative brad "31" looks great stacked on the chipboard skull.  I added more brads and chipboard pieces to the stamped webs, along with the brad word "spooked" which became the title of this tag.

Stamps are also great as focal points.  On this tag, this stamp becomes the star.  I love the "Labels" Paper but stamping on it, the image would become lost. 

So I could use this paper, I simply added white paint to tone down the paper.  Now when I stamp the image, it holds up against the paper and takes the lead. 

Supplies:  Happy Haunting:Chipboard Accessories, Decorative Stamps, Sticker Accessories, Decorative Brads; misc: Ranger Archival Ink, Ranger Distress Paints

I love the way the skeleton stamp is the focal point on the patterned paper.  I sprinkled some black paint around the tag and added a purple swipe of paint to the top of the tage.  I hung the decorative brad above his hands, like he was holding it.  The final touches are the chipboard piece and sticker at the bottom of the tag.

Stamps can be used to create a stellar background.  On this tag I painted it with three colors and then scratched into the paint using a fork. 

Supplies:  Happy Haunting:Chipboard Accessories, Decorative Stamps, Decorative Brads; misc: Ranger Archival Ink, Ranger Distress Paints

Next I stamped all over the background using black ink and the happy haunting stamps.  I then added the bat brads, pulling up their wings to give them dimension.  I added the chipboard sticker at the top as the final piece. 

I hope you found some ways to add stamps onto your tags!

September Sketch Challenge

Hello everyone.  It's Ronda here today bringing you the September Sketch Challenge.  We are going for the top on this month's sketch, the top of the page that is.  I love this sketch for it gives you ample opportunity to use your stash of My Mind's Eye patterned paper along with some fun decorative tape.  By placing the photo and embellishments down the left side, we keep the layout balanced.  The title & subtitles stretche across the page echoing the strips of patterned paper & decorative tapes.  Remember the photo can be multiple photos in a strip down that left side. 

Supplies:  Cut & Paste: Charm   - Sweet: 'Spin' Paper, 'Treat' Paper, Bits & Pieces Stickers;  Charm-Smile: Decorative Brads, Enamel Dots; Charm-Hey You: 'Trends' Paper; Charm- Carefree: 'Relaxed' Paper, Chipboard Sticker, Label Stickers; Charm- Decorative Tape; Decorative Tape: Mint & Grey; Misc: Maya Road Mists, Black Pen, Jillibean Soup Alphabeans.

Every time I visit my husband in Doha, I have to step out on the balcony and take in the view.  I just love taking my tea & breakfast out there to look at the downtown buildings and soak in city life.  On my layout I wanted the one photo as my focal point.  I split the top with patterned paper and decorative tape.  The torn edge gives added texture to the layout. 

I sprinkled mists on the background and let some of the yellow mist drip down the page.  I love layering the chipboard hearts, brad tags, and an arrow sticker around the photo.  The vellum clouds added the perfect touch to my photos.

I created a faux stitching along the patterned paper using a black pen.  The enamel dots add in pops of color all around the photo.  I snuggled the title & journaling right up against the photo. 

Supplies:  Cut & Paste: Charm   - Sweet: 'Spin' Paper; Charm-Hey You: 'Trends' Paper; Charm- Carefree: 'Relaxed' Paper, Charm- Decorative Tape; Flair - Snapshots: Decorative Stamps; Misc: Ranger Ink Archival Ink, Ranger Ink Distress Ink, Jillibean Soup Alphabeans.

The great thing about sketches is that they can be used for a multitude of projects including cards.  I used the same sketch and leftover paper to create this simply cute card.  The layers of patterned paper and decorative tape look great at the top with the stamped frame acting as the focal point. 

Now it's your turn to take on the sketch! 

A random winner will be chosen and shared with our next challenge on October 1st . You have until the end of the day on Monday, September 30 to share your project.

Please link your sketch via the InLinkz tool at the bottom of this post. Your layout must feature MME products. Only one entry per participant, please. The prize is any MME collection.

 

Summer Fun Cards with Tonya

Happy Monday morning to you all! Tonya here to share with you some cards that feature all things summer...flowers, butterflies, and of course the sun!

I've pulled out three different collections, one for each card. That is one of the things that I love about My Mind's Eye...it is so versatile. None of these collections are summer themed, but they all were super simple to make summer cards with!

This one was made using Boy Crazy...

Supplies: Boy Crazy- 6x6 paper pad, decorative buttons, chipboard elements, enamel dots Lime Twist: Fly a Kite "Everyday" Twine Find Your Wings and Fly - Sky's The Limit: Alpha & Word Stickers

This one uses Cut & Paste - Presh...

Supplies: Cut & Paste - Presh: 6x6 paper pad, decorative buttons, enamel dots

This last one was made using My Girl...

Supplies: My Girl- 6x6 paper pad, felt stickers, enamel dots, decorative brads, decorative buttons Lime Twist: Fly a Kite "Everyday" Twine

Hope I have inspired you to pull out your supplies and make a few cards, summer themed or not! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Tonya

July Sketch Challenge!

  Hi there!  It’s Ronda here with you, bringing you the July Sketch!  Today's sketch is meant to challenge you in a good way.  On this sketch i have split the photos across the page.  To make sure we have a balanced design, I have tied it all together with a couple different elements including the title. 

On the sketch you can try one long vertical photo at the top and a small horizontal at the bottom.  Play around with the sizes and make your title bold in the center to bring it all together.

Supplies: Find Your Wings and Fly-Sky’s the Limit : ‘Labeled’ paper, 'Balloon Parade' Paper; 'Zig-Zag’ paper, Sticker Accessory, Stamps;  Find Your Wings and Fly-Up and Away:  ‘Krafty Floral’ paper, 'Admit One' paper, decorative brads, layered stickers, enamel dots; Misc: gesso, watercolors, acrylic paint, Ranger black ink, TCW stencil, Jillibean Alphabets, black pen,

I truly love the time I get with my sweet nephews.  Felix was at my house one day for a family get together.  He has his own chair for the table and drink cups in my cabinets.  We set him up with a dessert and just watched him tackle it like a pro.  It's these simple moments that I will always treasure.  It truly is the Sweet Life. 

To start this layout, I use the Sky's the Limit Label Paper with a gesso wash.  After it dried, I added in various water colors on the background using the paper line as a color story of blues, greens, yellows, and oranges.  I love that you can see the patterned paper design peeking through the layers of color.

I love the concept of the split photos.  You have to work in areas and then bring it all together somehow. I started on the top by layering a doily on the background to ground the photos with a nice white color.  I then added the strong black stenciled images along the photo, knowing black was going to bring the layout all together. 

I pulled out some scraps of patterned paper and punched 5 shapes in my color story.  I spread them across my page bringing the designs and colors all around.  While looking for those patterned paper scraps, I noticed the Admit one paper and thought a few tickets would look really cute too. 

I then worked on the bottom half of the page, again grounding my photo with a neutral strip of patterned paper.  You can see some of the scrap & punched patterned paper tucked under the photo here too.  Once I had both sets of photos down, I started adding in those finishing touches that would really bring the page together.  Stickers are a fun way to bring color, shape, and contrast to the page so I added them to both the top & bottom areas. 

Did you notice the circles all around the page?  Punched patterned paper, stickers, brads, and enamel dots across the page really bring the design together. 

What really bridges this design of split photos is the title in the middle.  I wanted nice neutral colors on this already colorful page so I used a combination of black & white.  I drew some black lines on the page and journaled above & below the title.  After I completed the journaling, I added the stamped images in black as the final touch.  They really draw your eye around the page balancing it nicely. 

Now it's your turn to tackle the split photo design.  Have fun and remember to bring it all together through color & design. 

A random winner will be chosen and shared with our next challenge on August 1st . You have until the end of the day on Wednesday, July 31 to share your project.

Please link your sketch via the InLinkz tool at the bottom of this post. Your layout must feature MME products. Only one entry per participant, please. The prize is any MME collection.

 

Fourth of July Cards with Danni

Good morning, Danni here with you to share a couple of cards to celebrate the Fourth of July.  I created three different cards using similar supplies from the MME Kate & Co. Oxford line and Collectable line with some washi tape, punches and my Cameo.  I used the Red and Black Decorative tapes to create my red and white stripes for the cards and love how fun this tape is.

  On my first card, Stars, i created a banner strip using the red stripe designer tape on some heavy vellum.  The banner strip paired with the Collectable "Remarkable" was easy to layer with the fun buttons, brads and enamel dots in the Kate & Co. Oxford line and bring the mid-western feel to the holiday.

Supplies: Collectable-Remarkable:Authentic patterned paper;Kate & Co-Oxford Lane:Triples patterned paper,Designer brads, Enamel Dots;Red & Black decorative tape;Misc:  Cameo cuts (heart, stars and sentiment), Tim Holtz Mini attacher, machine stitching, Bazzill cardstock, vellum

On my second card, Star & Stripes, I created an Uncle Sam hat using the red stripe designer tape on vellum paired with the Kate & Co. Oxford Lane Triples paper.  I cut the sentiment using my Cameo and added the fun ampersand brad to finish the "star and stripe" sentiment. 

  Supplies: Collectable-Remarkable:Authentic;Kate & Co.-Oxford Lane:Triples patterned paper;decorative brads, Enamel Dots;Red & Black decorative tapes;Misc: Cameo cuts (sentiment), EK Success punch, Tim Holtz Mini attacher, machine stitching, Bazzill cardstock, vellum

On my last card, Happy, I die-cut a little envelope and layered it onto a poloroid frame cut with my Cameo.  I adhered vellum to the back side so you could still see the fun dots behind it and then adhered lots of various hearts and a star coming out of the envelope.

Supplies: Collectable-Remarkable:Authentic, Kate & Co.-Oxford Lane:Triples and Floral Burst patterned papers;Misc: Cameo cuts (sentiment and poloroid frame), EK Success punch, Martha Stewart heart punch, Tim Holtz Mini attacher, machine stitching, Bazzill cardstock, vellum

Thank you for visiting us today.  We hope you enjoy your fourth of July celebration with your friends and family!

4th of July Cards

Hi everybody, Tonya here to share a few 4th of July cards with you. I adore this holiday, it's the one of the rare times through out the year that my family and my husband's family get together. The pure joy on all of the kids' faces as they light up and watch fireworks is just the best site to behold.

Red, white and blue is one of my favorite color schemes and using a variety of My Mind's Eye Products I made these three cards, all were super quick and easy to put together.

For this first card I pulled suppies from the Kraft Funday collection.

Supplies: Kraft Funday Bright Days- 6x6 paper pad, Chipboard Elements, Decorative Brads 

For this next card I put the Decorative Tape to use by cutting out three different sized chipboard stars and covering them with different tapes.

Supplies: Kate & Co.- 6x6 paper pad, Decorative Brads  Decorative Tape set, black and red Kraft Funday Bright Days- Decorative Stamp Set

 For this last card I thought I would make a play on the cute little bird in the Kate & Co Cambridge Court stamp set. Instead of "Let freedom ring", I used...

Supplies: Kate & Co Cambridge Court- Decorative Stamp Set Kate & Co Oxford Lane: Decorative BradsBoy Crazy: Enamel Dots Decorative Tape Set: Red and Black

Hope you all have a fabulous and wonderful 4th of July holiday week!!!! 

 

Tonya