My Mind's Eye Blog

Mini Canvas Created with Jubilee Rub-ons

Hello! Valerie today with a fun mini-canvas project. I was so excited to see rub-ons included with the new My Mind’s Eye collections, so naturally they were the first thing I grabbed to play with after I unpacked the new collections. I love how you can layer them on top of just about anything. I’m using the white “Story” rub-ons from the Jubilee Tangerine color scheme for this project. The Jubilee collection also has black, gold, and silver rub-on options.

Supplies:Jubilee -Tangerine: “Story” rub ons,  “Adventure” flair pins, “Awesome” enamel dots “Adventure” enamel shapes. Other: Canvas, Liquitex Matte Gel Medium, Studio Calico Mister Huey.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t take step by step photos, but I will walk you through my process.

 

It’s a very simple, repetitive process. I picked up this gallery wrapped canvas at a local craft store. It’s 5 x 5 inches and is 1 1/2 inches deep—much deeper than a basic back stapled canvas.

 

1. Choose 3-4 mist/ink colors that coordinate with the collection you are using. 

 

2. Spray your canvas with water. 

 

3. Splatter one ink color on one area of the canvas and spray with water again to make it spread.

 

4. Let dry or speed up the process with a heat tool.

 

5. Repeat steps 2-4 with each color you are using, and continue to repeat this process until you get the desired effect and intensity of colors (and don’t forget about the edges).

6. Once dry and you are satisfied with the finished ink effect, I recommended brushing on a thin layer of matte gel medium (or Mod Podge) to keep the color in place. The rub-ons also adhere to the canvas better after the gel medium is applied. Let the gel medium dry or use a heat tool to speed up the process.

 

7. Apply rub-ons with included popsicle stick. You may need to place something hard like a book under your canvas between the stretcher bars if you are using a larger canvas size.

 

8. Once all your rub-ons are applied, add another layer of gel medium over the entire canvas. 

 

9. Add a flair badge, enamel dots/shapes, or other embellishments. I used hot glue to adhere the flair.

 

10. Hang on wall and enjoy!

So there you have it, a really fun canvas in ten basic steps. Totally doable, right?! I can’t wait to see what everyone makes with the rub-ons from Jubilee! How will you be using them?

Monochromatic Layout

Hello! Valerie here today. The end of summer is upon us, but I'm hanging on tight to these last few days and celebrating with another summer layout. Before we know it, it will be time to make those back-to-school layouts. 

SUPPLIES:Now & Then Milo "Little Things" Anchor paper and Izzy "Dream Big" chipboard elements. Necessities Black & Gray "Stripe" vellum paper and enamel dots. Blues enamel dots and decorative brads. Other: Silhouette Cameo, American Crafts Thickers & cardstock, pen.

 

I have been almost exclusively mixing the Necessities line with Market Street, but when I chose these photos, I knew it just had to be Necessities with Now & Then this time. I gravitated toward a very monochromatic color palette with this layout and love how it really makes the photos pop. 

I started this page in Silhouette Studio. I picked this circular raindrop shape I originally designed for another purpose, and decided on a horizontal strip of photos. I kept the colors all very soft and similar for a great texture effect. 

 

Next time you sit down to make a layout or two, I challenge you to try a monochromatic scheme. And remember, monochromatic isn't just shades of white and black. It can be any color. I'd love to see what you make. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Valerie

Birthday Scrapbook Layout + Bonus Card | by Valerie O'Neall for MMME

Hello! It’s Valerie with a multi-photo birthday layout and a card for you today. My son’s birthday party photos are one of my favorite things to scrapbook. I love comparing year to year and always can’t believe how much he has grown and changed.  

Supplies:My Mind’s Eye Necessities Teals and Black & Gray 6x6 paper pads, Blues enamel dots & enamel shapes, Teals enamel shapes, Reds alpha & word stickers, Teals alpha & word stickers, Blues alpha & word stickers, Blues decorative foil tape.  Market Street Ashbury Heights 6x6 paper pad. Now & Then Dorothy “Lovely Day” enamel shapes. Other: date and phrase stamps, paint, mist, Silhouette Cameo (font: Barrio).

I grabbed a couple 6x6 paper pads and picked some patterns I thought coordinated well with my photos. I love playing around with typography and decided to make a big, emphasized, repetitive title. I adhered my photos to the page with some decorative foil tape from the Necessities collection. And then a birthday layout doesn’t seem complete without some splatters of paint—like confetti.



I took the birthday layout, and using a sketch of it, created this card from the sketch. I had extra letters left over because I cut out some extra knowing I’d create a card too. Who doesn’t always need a stash of extra birthday cards ready to put in the mail for friends!?

Anyone else ever use their layouts for card inspiration? I challenge you to try it next time you sit down to scrap.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Vacation Themed Double Page Layout | by Valerie O'Neall

 

Hi! It’s Valerie today with a vacation themed double page layout. I don’t create a lot of double page layouts for everyday stuff, but I use the format all time for vacation layouts. It’s double the space for photos and more lengthy journaling I tend to do for pages like this.

A couple summers ago, we vacationed in Idaho. Not your usual vacation destination, right? We had friends who had moved out there and we thought we would probably never have a better excuse to visit the great state of Idaho. It was one of the best vacations we’ve had as a family. One of our adventures in Idaho was whitewater rafting with our host as our guide. I’m not the adventurous type, especially when rough water is involved, but I’m glad I agreed to it and glad I can check it off the list.

Supplies:Market Street “Nob Hill” chipboard elements, Stripes paper, & label stickers. Ashbury Heights chipboard elements. Necessities Reds Stripe vellum, enamel dots, and enamel shapes. Necessities Metallic metal dots and metal shapes. Necessities Wood monogram alpha. Cut and Paste Charm “Smile” enamel dots and “Bliss” enamel shapes. Lost & Found Record It 4x6 journal card, Now & Then Mildred “Oh Happy Day” chipboard elements.

I knew I wanted to use some vellum on my page from the Necessities collection, so I picked the Reds, Stripe vellum because of the red raft in my photo. Then, I searched the Market Street collection for a coordinating pattern and picked the “Nob Hill” Stripes paper because of the arrows and shade of yellow.

The “Awesome” chipboard shape from Nob Hill wasn’t quite the right shade of red for me, so I sprayed it with some red mist and now it coordinates perfectly. I flipped back a couple seasons and used a 4x6 journal card from Lost & Found Record It for my journaling.



The right side features an extra large photo, so why not use some extra large letters?! The Necessities Wood monogram alphas are my favorite. They are a great neutral shade that matches practically everything. I embellished the title with some Necessities enamel shapes and some word stickers from the Market Street Nob Hill label sticker sheet.

Next time you're scrapbooking vacation photos, you should give a double page layout a try (if it’s something you don’t normally do, of course)! And on the topic of vacation, I’d love to know—where's your favorite unconventional place to vacation?

Product Spotlight | Necessities:Wood

Hi! Valerie here with a double page layout featuring the Necessities Wood collection. This is one of my favorites from the Necessities collection. It's totally versatile and perfect for mixing and matching with Now and Then and other past and present collections. It can be masculine or feminine depending on what you pair it with.

I wanted to share a lot of words and a lot of pictures, so it was a no-brainer to make a double page layout about the camping trip we took last summer with some friends. The Wood collection can't be beat for outdoorsy-type camping layouts. It's perfect!

Supplies:Necessities-Wood: "Light Wood" paper, 6x6 Wood paper pad, Wood dots, & Wood "Veneer" paper. My Mind's Eye Market Street "Ashbury Heights" chipboard elements, Now & Then Dorothy "Celebrate" chipboard elements, and Milo "Documented" chipboard elements. Other: Silhouette Cameo, Thickers, embroidery thread, pen.

 

When I saw the wood veneer paper, I knew the first thing I had to do with it was try and cut it with my Cameo. It might be advised to avoid cutting unconventional material of a different brand with your cutting machine, but I'm a bit of a daredevil when it comes to crafting supplies.

 

And I know you're curious about how I did it, right? I used the corrugated paper cut settings (blade depth on 8, speed 3, thickness 33, double cut). Since the veneer paper is a bit fragile, I used a light hold cutting mat, but you could also get away with using a well-loved regular cutting mat that isn't "brand-new" sticky.

 

With these settings, I did have to gently separate the positive area from the negative area, but maybe if I put the blade on a 9 or 10 it would pop right out. 

I already love the texture of the wood veneer paper, but thought it would be fun to embellish it even further by stitching on top of it. Pierce your holes first and then stitch just as would through paper. Although, I recommend not piercing holes too close to the edge of the veneer or the hole might split and extend all the way through the edge.   

 

So what will you be using the Necessities Wood collection to create? I hope you found some inspiration here today. Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapping Dad

Hello! Valerie here today. I tend to gravitate toward creating layouts about my son, but with Father’s Day coming up I’m way overdue for a layout featuring my husband. Naturally I’m a little biased, but he’s the best dad I know and totally deserving of a layout or two every now and then.

Supplies: Market Street-Ashbury Heights :“Aim” paper, Ashbury Heights and Nob Hill mixed bags, Nob Hill 6x6 pad, and Nob Hill chipboard elements; Necessities-Teals 6x6 pad and Black & Gray “Confetti” vellum paper.

Nothing too fancy going on here. Just some basic layering using the Market Street and Necessities collections. The 12 x 12 vellum in the Necessities collection is tough to beat. I’m a huge fan of vellum and there’s a color to match anything. I also love everything that is gold and silver foil stamped in both collections. I’ll take foil stamping over glitter any day…way less mess. (Although, it is a little more difficult to photograph.)  



Before I leave, I have a little journaling tip for you. Since I had a lot to say on this layout (which is totally unusual for me), I decided it would be best to do a little practicing first. I wasn’t sure where exactly to start and then if it would all fit, so I decided to practice on a sheet of tracing paper. I laid the tracing paper down right on top of the layout and then used the stripes of the patterned paper as my guide.

First I tried writing on every other line. I soon realized it wouldn’t all fit if I did it that way, and so I switched to writing on every line instead. Problems solved. I can now slide the tracing paper around and figure out where I want to start and see that it will all fit in the space I provided.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Now go grab a photo of your favorite dad and make something today.

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?

Using Stitching to Enhance Patterned Paper Designs

Hello! It’s Valerie here with you today. I have a single photo layout with hand stitching to share using MME’s Now and Then collection.

Supplies:Now and Then- Milo:“Friends” Field paper,"Friends” accent stickers, enamel dots; Now and Then- Izzy :“Good Times” Range paper,Now and Then- Dorothy :“The Best” accent stickers,“Celebrate” chipboard elements;Misc:white cardstock, embroidery floss, alpha stickers, lace trim.


For this stitching technique I mimicked shapes from the patterned paper. I first drew the shapes freehand onto some regular white copy paper and traced with a marker for a nice bold line.

The bold line makes tracing easier. I cut the patterned paper down into a smaller square and adhered it to white base cardstock. Using a lightbox and layering my hand drawn template under my cardstock, I traced the shapes onto my layout.

If you don’t have a lightbox, just simply hold your paper layers up against a window on a sunny day so you can see the lines to trace. I pierced holes along all the pencil lines and started stitching using a basic running stitch and a satin stitch. The satin stitch for the leaves was a little tricky on paper since the holes had to be spaced close, but not too close.

I took a scrap of the patterned paper with me when I shopped for embroidery thread to make sure I’d get a good match. I didn’t already have any matching thread in my stash. Shown below are my hand drawn templates.


I used Photoshop to add my journaling to the white space of the photo. I decided to add the journaling to my photo because I didn’t leave enough room for the journaling elsewhere on the page. This is something I have always wanted to try, but never have until this layout. Love it!

So how about that?! Two techniques that I don’t make use of often enough, but really make the page a lot more interesting. Thanks for stopping by today!

Using Record It! Journal Cards on Standard 12x12 Layouts

Hello! Valerie here with you today. I’m sharing a couple layouts that feature the Record It! journal cards on standard 12 x 12 layouts. These journal cards are ideal for pocket scrapbooking; although, if weekly/daily documenting with pockets just isn’t your thing (like me) there are still ways to incorporate them into your scrapbooking.

 

Supplies: My Mind’s Eye Record It! Pretty Things journaling cards, decorative tape, and enamel dots. Now & Then Dorothy “Wild & Free” Spirited paper, Mildred “Girls” Decorative Brads, Mildred “Oh Happy Day” chipboard stickers & decorative buttons, and Mildred “Today” accent stickers. Lost & Found Record It! “Heirloom” pockets. Record It! Just Splendid wood dots. Other: shipping tag, roller stamps, lace trim, baker’s twine, and Thickers.

 

At least once a year, I try to make a layout about myself. It’s something I should do more, but something I find difficult when I’m always behind the camera. Although, I love the camera feature on my iPhone and how I can flip it around from the back to the front camera.

 

It has definitely helped me get in more photos. Here in this first layout I mixed some 3 x 4 cards from Record It! "Pretty Things" with Now & Then “Mildred.” They coordinate so well together. I love the hip, shabby chic look of “Pretty Things" with it’s brush script and woodgrain. The gold accents from “Mildred” look so pretty mixed in with the pinks and neutrals.

 

 

This cluster of elements in the upper left corner helps balance out the larger grid below. You can’t go wrong with a straight line of small banners, brads, and dots!  The chipboard frame is from Now & Then “Mildred.” Don’t those tiny enamel dots make fun bullets for the list?!

 

 

 

 

Supplies: My Mind’s Eye Record It! "Just Splendid" cardstock & wood veneer journaling cards and wood dots. Other: Silhouette Cameo (font: Allura), typewriter, mist, cardstock.

 

Here’s a SUPER simple layout using a minimal number of products. I stacked two 4x6 journaling cards behind my photos for a unique photo mat. The “Just Splendid” line has lots of fun confetti colored dots incorporated into many of the journal cards, so I mimicked that effect with multiple colors of mist splattered around the page. Add a die cut title and fun wood veneer card and I’m just about done!

 

 

My Mind’s Eye journaling sets are so much fun! Not only have I been using them on layouts like above, but I even made a mini album recently with the 3 x 4 cards. How are you using the Record It! journaling sets? We would love to see how you are incorporating them into your paper projects.

 

 

Collection Spotlight | Chalk Studio II

Hello! Valerie here with you today sharing a five photo layout featuring Chalk Studio 2 (& a little Now & Then). I decided to create a layout about what my son is into right now at age 4 1/2.

Since I used a variety photos that span a period of about two months, I chose to unify them all a bit by converting them to black and white. I like the way the black and white photos fit in with the chalkboard look of the paper. Using that background paper from Chalk Studio 2 was definitely a little out of my comfort zone. It was a good challenge for me to set aside the white cardstock I prefer to use as my base layer.

Supplies:  Chalk Studio 2 - “Smile” paper, chipboard elements, & enamel dots. Now & Then- Milo “Documented” chipboard elements, Dorothy “Lovely Day” enamel shapes, Izzy “Smile” flair, & Milo “Little Things” label stickers; Record It! Charmed enamel dots & Cupid’s Arrow enamel shapes. Other: turquoise cardstock, Silhouette Cameo, thread.

With my photos in hand, I took a few minutes to write down my journaling on a scrap piece of paper. I laid out the design of my page using the Silhouette Studio software. I measured and marked off the “smile” and camera areas on the virtual cutting mat and then typed in my journaling and title. I let my digital cutting tool do all the hard work for me by cutting out all those tiny letters.

I placed lots of enamel dots down on the page for a fun confetti effect and finished it off with some chipboard elements and a little stitching. It was fun to do something different with my journaling. The die-cut journaling adds some texture and depth to the page that handwritten journaling doesn’t. What have you created or what supply have you used lately that has been out of your comfort zone? Thanks for stopping by!