My Mind's Eye Blog

Sticker Week | Tamara

 

Supplies:Joyous: Postage patterned paper, Joy patterned paper, Noel patterned paper, Merry patterned paper, Carols patterned paper, Tinsel patterned paper, Flourish patterned paper, sticker sheet, alpha/word stickers, gems; Misc: red thread, brown ink, black pen, foam tape.

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is taking a photo on the stairs of all the kids in their snuggly new pajamas - just before we open presents.  I thought the glittered papers and classic Christmas colors of the "Joyous" collection worked perfectly with this photo from last year. This collection has a fabulous 6"x12" sticker sheet with large designs.  I thought it would be fun to use three of them for the focus of my page.

 

I cut a strip of the glittered chevron paper and dove-tailed the bottom to create a banner.  I cut 4 more banners out of various papers and sewed around them with red thread.  I layered them on the background paper with the pretty blue and red border. I matted the 4.5"x6.5" photo with cream and red striped papers.

 

I cut a cream circle out and used it to mat the back of the red "Season's Greetings" sticker.  I put chipboard on the back of the 3 stickers to "pop" them off the page and placed silver gems on two of them.

 

I cut out the red glittered swirl border from the "Noel" paper. I used the festive pack of Joyous alpha/word stickers for my journaling.  I popped a few of them up with foam tape to give dimension and inked the edges. I placed a large silver gem on the "Joy" sticker. I used the light blue "Merry Christmas" sticker as a tab on the photo.

 

I was amazed that the package comes with SIX sheets of stickers - the possibilies are endless!!

I hope you enjoy creating holiday projects with these wonderful sticker sheets.

 

Tamara

Mini Albums with Monika | November 2014 Edition

Who's ready for some daily story documenting this December? Welcome Friends to...

I'm Monika and I'm tickled to share with you my largest "mini" album to date. Well, size wise anyway! Sit back and let me share my approach with this Holiday Memories mini album.

Supplies:Sleigh Bells Ring | Patterned Paper: “Noel” “Christmas Confetti” “Reindeer” “Blitzen", 6x6 Designer Cardstock Paper Pad, Alpha & Word Stickers, Decorative Tape, Gift Label Stickers, Treat Bags, Decorative Tags,Joyous | Patterned Paper: “Red Reindeer” “Carols” “Joy” “Dear Santa”, 12x12 Paper Crafting Kit, 6x6 Designer Cardstock Paper Pad, Mixed Bag, Alpha & Word Stickers, Decorative Tape, Decorative Tags, Gems Miscellaneous | sewing machine, adhesive, jute twine, Bind-It-All, glassine and kraft bags, kraft cardstock, paper doily

THE PROCESS
I've done December mini books in the past:

1. ranging in size from 3" thick, starting on the day after Thanksgiving when we decorated the tree all the way to December 31st
2. just jotting notes into a smallish embellished spiral bound notebook and not even including a story for each day
3. that aren't finished...and it's been years since I began them...but that's okay because I was able to capture stories and photos for at least part of our December and something is better than nothing

If you're thinking, "Who has the time for that?" then how about this...choose a few activities this month that have meaning for you. Take some photos. Jot down the story about why these photos have significance for you and voila, you now have a snapshot in time of some lovely memories.

So this year, I'm giving myself permission to document our December story just on days that I want to. Or have time to. Because as you all know, December is so very busy and full of joy.

 

I'm not sticking to a rigid schedule, but we do have some annual activities that we do as a family and I've included pre-made pages into my mini album to help me document those events.

 

THE PAGES

THE DETAILS

I'm making the glittered advent tags work for me and pre-designing pages for activities that I know are going to happen. 

 

• 14 is for the year 2014
• 8 is glued on a Polaroid Frame chipboard element that has foam dots on the back allowing me slip a small photo behind...we'll be attending our town's Christmas tree lighting on this evening
• 5 is part of a two page design and has been embellished with a Gem and a Decorative Tag...I'll add in our #5onthe5th photos {a monthly project I do} and we're going to document our favorite ornament
• 2 is for the "2" of us - this page is just before my December 24th page and might appear to be out of order, but...my husband proposed to me on Christmas Eve and I'm going to try to get him to write a little note to tuck inside the Treat Bag along with mine

I love little surprises!

 

REPETITION FOR THE WIN

How gorgeous is that Dear Santa paper? 

 

I adore it and actually used it for three pages in my mini album. 

 

Yes, three times! 

I have three kids, aged 9, 11 and 23 so I've inserted those Santa pages for the 9th, 11th and 23rd of December.  

 

The Glittered Advent Tags were added to glassine bags {for the 9 and 11 year-olds} and then I added the 23 tag right on top of the 25 next to Santa for something a little different. 

 

I can't wait to look back on these pages years from now, seeing their handwriting and their thoughts. And the glassine bags are perfect for holding pages from circular ads showing what they've circled to be added to their Wish Lists.

 

 

DESIGN TIP | adding pages to a spiral bound mini album

Drop by my blog where I share a quick + easy tutorial showing how to add photos, ephemera and more pages to an already bound album here.  Because we all know that if you give a girl a mini album, she's going to have tons more stuff to add!

 

Enjoy your holidays, however you celebrate them or choose to document them, and may you have love and joy in your homes.

Product Spotlight | Frameables - Christmas Decor

Many of you will be pulling out your Christmas decorations this weekend, after the Thanksgiving celebrations are over. Might I suggest you add some MME Christmas charm to your decor with their fabulous new 8x10 "Frameables"? They have two Christmas lines: "Joyous" and "Sleighbells Ring" .

 

 

I started decorating my shelves and they were just lacking the finishing touch.  I was about to go buy some Christmas chalk art off of Etsy to print and frame.  Then I remembered that MME just came out with beautiful new Christmas "Frameables". The only hard part was choosing which ones to use - they are all so festive!  I love the glittered elements of the "Joyous" collection and the two sided prints of "Sleighbells Ring".

 

 

I finally narrowed it down to 4 prints.  I plan to switch them out occasionally in the coming month. I spray painted some old frames I had stashed in my basement, cleaned the glass, and inserted the print.  So simple!!!  These would make wonderful and inexpensive Christmas gifts too.

 

I placed "Season's Greetings" in a black frame, to make the red pop.  I paired it with two glittered damask candles that coordinated perfectly with the red glittered holly wreath.

 

 

I also put "Joy to the World" in a black frame.  I love that you have both the traditional black chalk art background and the red to choose from.  I added some ornaments and decorative picks under the easel.

 

I framed "Merry and Bright Christmas" in white, to contrast with the black chalk art background. I placed three green ornaments in a jar and added a Christmas pick and ornaments to coordinate with the holly wreath.

I placed the framed "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" frameable in a picture stand to give it height, then nestled it with a jar of pepperment sticks and glittered candles (in a jar of rock salt).

There is also a beautiful 12x12 "Joy" paper from "Sleigh Bells Ring" that would look  fabulous in a 12x12 frame.

 

 

Have fun decking your halls this Christmas season!

 

Tamara

Tag Advent Calendar

Hi!  Tina here today with my 2014 version of an Advent Calendar. 

Even though my children are grown and the excitement of the daily opening of an Advent Calendar is not what it was when they were little, I still enjoy creating a calendar each year, using a slightly different idea. 

Supplies:Joyous:North Pole paper,Carols paper,Mixed Bag, Tiny Alpha Stickers, Gems; Misc:Envelopes: Stampington Ink: Distress Ink Adhesive: Tombow Die Cut Machine:  Silhouette Cameo Binder Ring: 7gypsies Ribbon: Tim Holtz Distress Stain

For my 2014 Christmas Advent Calendar, I created a simple Tag Calendar, using a die-cut tag shape. 

For each day, I adhered a glassine envelope to the die-cut tag, then adhered the number tag on top of the envelope. 

I embellished each number tag with Joyous Gems and aged the envelope with Distress Ink.  I printed the daily activity on a strip of paper and 'hid' them in the glassine envelope.

The entire calendar was held together with a large binder ring.  After each day's activity is complete, the tag can be flipped to the back, revealing the next day.  How fun, right?

I am already looking for new ideas for my 2015 Advent Calendar.  Please share your calendar ideas with us!

Thank you for stopping by!

Tina

 

New Collection Reveals | Joyous + Sleigh Bells Ring

It's Christmas in July on the MME blog today. Can you see the lights twinkling, hear the fire crackling, and can you taste the eggnog?

Today we are sharing the two new Christmas collections with you.

First up is the more traditional holiday collection, Joyous. Joyous is classic + perfectly vintage and chic and is composed of reds, greens, and blues.

In this colleciton you will find eighteen 12x12 papers and a wide assortment of embellishments.

 

 

If you are looking for a slightly modern / more funky holiday collection...then Sleigh Bells Ring is for you.  Sleigh Bells Ring is made up of reds, greens, black, and woodgrain and is the perfect marriage of rustic and modern.

This collection also contains eighteen 12x12 double-sided papers and lots of fun embellishments.

 

 

So what do you think? Which collection suits your holiday crafting needs?

What do you consider a must have?

Leave a comment here and you will be entered to win an entire collection of your choice.

The winner will be drawn on Monday, July 14.

Good Luck!  And make sure to come back tomorrow for something Frightful!