Tag Archives: my mind’s eye

PPC94: Growing Up layout with Indie Chick and Prima

Some of my favourite colours are included in the Scrapbooker’s Paradise PPC#94 colour challenge this week, and yet I had a hard time working with them. I’ve been making Christmas cards and projects for the past while and it felt strange to switch gears from green, red and gold and work with such soft, light colours.

I know a Christmas card done in these colours could be fun as well, in fact, I think I have one. (rummaging in files…)

Aha! So I could totally have taken it easy this week and just used this older card that I’ve never posted as my challenge project, but you get to enjoy a double feature, because I did make a layout as well.

We have just a tiny garden patch. It looks larger than it is, and so I’m always disappointed by our small harvest. But it’s good for us to be outdoors, learning to grow things, and we enjoyed our potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers (all six!) and strawberries this year. And my raspberries always produce well.

The kids were a lot of help this year and loved to be out watering and picking. Weeding, not so much.

I used pretty paper from My Mind’s Eye Indie Chick collections. The 6″x6″ pads go a long way for me and the colours are perfect for this challenge. And the stamps are so pretty – they are from Prima.

I love how with stamps you can create a huge variety of colour schemes, moods and designs. Definitely my favourite way to add interest to a project, and something I try to include in all of my classes.

Well, that’s it for me! Check out what the rest of the design team has done, join in the challenge and win some great prizes, and don’t forget to shop online or in-store at Scrapbooker’s Paradise. They have frequent sales and today it’s a Black Friday sale!

The Black Stuff layout

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Hi Friends! Today is Friday – don’t that feel good? Today is the busiest day of the week for me – it’s just going to be nuts! But fun stuff – cause it’s Friday!

Today at Scrapbooker’s Paradise we’re doing another of Allison’s great sketches – I love how I can use her sketches for either cards or layouts, or whatever I want – they are very versatile! And if you create something inspired by the sketch, you just might win some great scrap goodies!

The photos in my layout were taken during the first barbeque of spring last year, and I love my daughter’s expressions in these pics – she was clowning for the camera!

I used paper from My Mind’s Eye, some great chipboard letters from Cosmo Cricket which inspired my title, and then just had fun arranging things to suit me. I think it still resembles the sketch, do you?

I also had to make a marshmallow roasting stick for my page – I die cut a branch using a Tim Holtz die and then used puffy paint to create the marshmallows! When you have as much paper crafting stuff as I do, you can make almost anything!

Oh, these photos just make me giggle! And that’s why I scrapbook – I get to enjoy fun moments like this all over again!

Won’t you visit the Scrapbooker’s Paradise blog, check out the design team projects and play along? We’d love to have you!

 

Two My Mind’s Eye Challenges and an Altered Record Album

I bought a vintage record at an antique store earlier this year – it’s a beautifully illustrated story of Rapunzel, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I would use the album case and records to make a scrapbook for my seven-year-old daughter. It’s still in the process of being completed, and I want to share the whole thing SO BADLY but for now I’m going to share just two pages that I created using My Mind’s Eye products and their April challenges.

I made this layout, the back page of the album, using the My Mind’s Eye April sketch:

Seeing as it’s only one photo, it’s a rather loose interpretation. I die cut a pretty frame using my Silhouette, and ended up cutting a Stella & Rose die cut into two pieces for the layout title. I have at least three different MME paper lines on this layout!

The next layout is all about shapes – first off, the octagon inspired concept which is another My Mind’s Eye April challenge:

Again I used my Silhouette, this time to die cut a honeycomb mask. Just for fun, I added flowers to a few of the honeycombs. I laid this over my background paper and misted with Glimmer Mist. I added a little spatter using a darker shade of Glimmer Mist – anyone want to give me some tips for mister bottles that have NEVER worked? I’ve rinsed, and shook and poked and nothing helps. Hate that!

Yes, that is a record making up the base of my layout! The album stores the records in kraft paper pockets and so the pockets and the records both became part of my album. I love that the photo peeks out from the hole in the middle of the pocket when the page is stored!

Oh, and in showing this you get a peek at another album page – yes, I am maximizing my album by adding pages on hinges – isn’t that fun?

I am having so much fun making this album, loving my daughter through scrapping her personality, and if all goes well, I’ll be able to show you the full album next week. Mark your calendars! :)

Playing in Paradise #62: Biker Boy Layout

Don’t forget to enter my wee giveaway by commenting on my 1500th post!

I’ve been so inspired this week in my scrapbooking – of course when I’m scrapping I feel like I should be painting, but I go where the drive takes me as much as I can. Not to mention getting to use the new products I ordered over the last few weeks!

After finishing my son’s Golden Book mini album, I had a few photos I still wanted to document for my main scrapbook, and a sheet of stickers from Simple Stories “Awesome” line to play with. I like Allison’s Playing in Paradise sketch challenges, because her sketches are so open-ended that I find they work well as cards or layouts, and there’s a lot of room for clean and simple interpretations or a more layered look, which is what I gravitate toward.

My boy loves motorbikes. I have a feeling his teen years will be nervous ones for his mom! One night at bedtime I was asking him if he would want to drive a car or a truck when he gets his driver’s licence and he said dreamily, “How about a motorbike?!” I love our bedtime conversations!

These sticker sheets are such a great way to unify a layout. Too often I scramble through my embellishments trying to mix and match and it takes time and sometimes just more genius and creativity than I have. For this layout almost all the embellishments are from the same sticker sheet; I  just found a few more star charms to include to add a little more dimension.

Titles are hard for me. I always leave them until last and then don’t have space for them. I’m trying to do better, because I love a good title. For this one I stamped the word “Biker” and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I inked the kraft cardstock with cranberry ink, and stamped flames around the edges. Kind of rustic and definitely masculine. I just have to say also that I love the base paper I used for this layout – it’s My Mind’s Eye, of course!

Let Allison’s sketch inspire you and play along with us this week! There’s always a great prize, and the deadline is Thursday noon. Visit the Scrapbooker’s Paradise blog to see the rest of the design team entries and to submit your project.

April All Occasion Card Class Reveal

There are no entries yet in this week’s Playing in Paradise challenge! Deadline is Thursday noon – why not enter this week – you have an excellent chance of winning! And don’t forget to comment on my blogiversary post so you can have a chance to win a stamp set from Paper and Such!

I wanted to share the cards we made in my card class last night. They were so fun to make, and I have enough kits to do another class so if you’re interested, please contact me and we can set up a date for you and your friends to play!

The class includes a dozen cards, though several share the same design. I kept the design simple so that they were quick to assemble, and we did all the stamping first, then cut out the paper, and then assembled each card.

I used a combination of stamps from my (vast) collection. The frame above and the bold sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. Part of my prep for the class was to design a die cut that would fit the stamped frame. It’s not hard to do using graphic design software; I simply scanned the stamped image and drew a line around the contours. Then I converted that line to a cut file for my Silhouette.

Seeing as I keep my stamps for years and years and years, I will be able to use this die cut anytime I use this stamp set, and always be guaranteed a perfect fit. (die cut first, then stamp inside the die cut)

I absolutely love this stamp set from Close to My Heart. The outline flowers are clean and classic and the set also comes with tons of text stamps – it’s extremely versatile! You can order it here. The sentiment on this card is from Papertrey Ink. I want to point out the technique I used to colour the flower – I wanted it the same blue as the frame, and so I inked a little make up sponge and sponged the colour in, choosing different colours for the leaves and flower centre. It’s not a precise way to colour, but adds a lovely soft effect, and the depth of the colour depends on how much ink you sponge on! I love the way the flower and the frame blend together for an almost transparent effect.

This is probably the simplest card. A chance to show off some beautiful paper, and a few words that say it all.

The paper for each card is from My Mind’s Eye Miss Caroline. My current favourite paper line!

Another simple card. We did two versions of this design, turning one horizontally:

Again, more fabulous paper!

One more die cut frame – this time I took a scissor and cut out the circle from the centre, and then adhered some paper in behind – another way to spotlight on beautiful paper! I was also trying a messy colouring technique – the kind that looks like hasty brush strokes. Whether or not that worked for this is a matter of opinion.

I also wanted to use the interactive cut files I designed, and so we made two interactive cards. The zip strip card hides a message under a pull off tab. We also made some rolled paper roses for this card.

This one used my slider window design. When you pull that little tab, the window opens and a message is revealed. It was fun to show my friends how to make one last night!

Whew! That was a lot of cards to share! But a totally fun way to spend a couple of hours, I promise you!

Playing in Paradise: Love Hopes card

Hi friends!  Don’t be too jealous of me because today I’m in Las Vegas! Way last October, I bought tickets for my husband’s Christmas present. He has always wanted to have stadium seating at the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas and it was so fun to surprise him on Christmas morning with tickets to Vegas for just the two of us! It’s the first time I’ve successfully surprised him with a gift he actually likes. Double points for me because this is also his birthday present; he’ll be turning thirty-five tomorrow. Just five years older than Gravedigger!

While most of our fun will involve motors – he has a visit to So-Cal Speed Shop on his itinerary, a tour of the car show at the Imperial Palace and an afternoon at the Las Vegas Speedway – I do get to have fun too! Tonight we are taking in Phantom of the Opera, just for me! Yes, opposites DO attract, why do you ask?

Even though we’ll be away, I couldn’t miss a challenge at Scrapbooker’s Paradise. Won’t you play along this week as we share some meaningful quotes?

I love Bible verse stamps – they make cards so meaningful – so I had to use one of my favourites on this card. I also used another favourite – my Spellbinders dies! The little girl was stamped and coloured over a year ago; it’s about time I used her on a project don’t you think?
I think that was also the first time I used my Copic markers!

Isn’t this paper beautiful? I am in LOVE with the newest patterns from My Mind’s Eye and ordered all of them from Scrapbooker’s Paradise. I’ll be using the 6×6 pads in my April card class! (Email me for details and dates!)

The problem with stamping on patterned paper is that you can lose some detail in the pattern. Since I used a red ink, the words that overlapped with the red flowers got kind of “lost.” So I just emphasized some words by stamping on white cardstock, cutting them out and adhering them in their place. I think it works!

I wouldn’t mind treating myself to a Spiral Blossom die or two, but until I do, I cut and roll my own after die cutting a circle or a scallop circle. For these little roses I used a die from the Blossom Stackers set. And I used two different dies for the border strip. I overlapped them a little, a la Becca Feeken!

So that’s my project for the Playing in Paradise challenge this week. Won’t you join us and play along? Visit the blog here to check out the rest of the design team’s inspiration projects and get the details on how to participate. And have a fantastic weekend (though not as fantastic as me)! :)

All Occasion Card Class – April 10th

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I’ve been preparing some cards for my April card class. It’s been a long time since I hosted a non-Christmas card class, and I’m looking forward to sharing some pretty versatile designs. We’ll be working with your choice of two paper pads, My Mind’s Eye Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks;

or Miss Caroline Howdy Doody;

As you can see, one is a little more masculine than the other, but both are super pretty, don’t you think?

The stamps you see in the images are mostly from Papertrey Ink, and what we’ll do in the class is leave the sentiments as separate – when it comes time to give a card, the maker can match a stamped sentiment to the card of choice, and adhere one that’s just right for the recipient!

I didn’t have the die that goes with the frame stamp, and I didn’t want to die cut frames one at a time, so I created a cut file for my Silhouette and cut a dozen at a time – so fast and easy, and since it’s a twelve card class, I’ll have my kits made in no time!

Class takes place on April 10, 7-9pm at my home studio just outside Dawson Creek, BC and cost is just $25. Please email me to reserve your spot!

Shabby Chic Friendship Card

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Can I just say that I think that every project I’ve created for the Scrapbooker’s Paradise Challenge team has been one of my best and most favourite projects to date? I think it’s the quality of the challenges – they are open ended enough that I can be true to my style while being inspired by the challenge itself.

I love seeing how each team member looks at the inspiration photo in a different way and runs with it! I had to use the soft colours in the inspiration photo and use a pretty Pink Paislee badge that was sitting on my desk. My newest scrappy acquisition is the On the Edge Doily Die from Tim Holtz for Sizzix and I die cut two of them from pretty My Mind’s Eye paper. I assembled everything kind of backwards – I’m an intuitive crafter and I glue as I go and in this case it meant everything was adhered to the stamped image before going on the card base. And then after I finished it occurred to me that the focal image would have looked even better if it had been popped up with foam tape! But that’s okay. There’s still lots of pretty in this card, don’t you think? And I have so many wonderful friends I could give this to!

Please head over to Scrapbooker’s Paradise and check out this week’s challenge. It’s always a good one, and there’s always room for more competitors – you have until Thursday to enter and I’d love to see what you’ve made!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Colonial White
Paper: My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Two; October Afternoon Farmhouse
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Celebrations Stamp Set, Unity Stamp Co. Vintage Scripture
Dies: Papertrey Ink Celebrations Frame Die, Sizzix On the Edge Doily Die
Button Badge: Pink Paislee

You Have My Heart card

I made this card for My Mind’s Eye Card Challenge #32. I find it very easy to play their challenges, because they are one of my favourite companies and I almost always have new MME product to play with. I just can’t stop buying it!

I also love the sentiment included with the stamp set – it’s precious!

Everything on the card except the twine and the peachy crystals is from My Mind’s Eye. I love that weathered wood paper so much!

I made the pattern on the die cut using small elements from two different MME stamp sets.

Today I’m teaching a scrapbooking class in the town where my sister lives. It’s about forty-five minutes from my house and I love going there once a month, getting a good sister chat in, and scrapping with her friends. Hope you have a great day too!

You Kooks layout

We have a family tradition that when “mamarazzi” gets the camera out, the kids will pose nicely with the promise of a silly photo or two to wrap up the session. If they know they can goof off at the end, they usually behave during the serious part of the shoot. (Look at me using words like “photo shoot” and “session” when what I really do is snap like a crazy person with the camera on auto!)

These photos were taken during our annual Christmas tree hunt. It was such a beautiful warm snowy day – here in northern Canada it’s rare to be able to be out in hoodies on a winter’s day. We are relishing the mild winter for as long as it lasts.

I used papers and stamps from My Mind’s Eye – the Kraft Funday collection which I love. One note: stamping on the kraft printed paper (it’s more like cardstock actually) isn’t the same as stamping on regular scrapbook paper. The stamped image gets a little…chalky is the best word for it. It’s still cute, just be aware you won’t get the strong saturated colour you are used to.

I love using stamps and punches to add dimension to a layout. I also stock foam tape in two different thicknesses for different layered effects.

This was probably the hardest part – stitching using a fairly thick twine. I really had to wrestle the needle through the pre-punctured holes. It’s cute though!

I used this sketch from My Mind’s Eye for my inspiration – I love starting with a good sketch. check out the other challenge entries by visiting the challenge blog post!

Materials Used: Paper, stamps, brads, My Mind’s Eye; Punches, Stampin’ Up!; Title letters, Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey; Twine, unknown; Ink, Memento, Close to My Heart