On the Bright Side

On the Bright side is another amazing collection from My Mind's Eye! Talk about fabulous color-washed wood plank papers! I chose the white wood paper and some fun faux-stitched denim papers to begin my layout for my son's baby book (the one I have been trying to re-do!). We spent a weekend in 1994 at Kent Manor Inn on the Chesapeake Bay. The On the Bright Side collection had exactly the playful nautical tone I was hoping to capture. The diecut sheet has the fun pennant peices all ready to play with. I "strung" mine along baker's twine to replicate nautical flags. The title "The Sweet Life", which I backed with good ole Magic Mesh (You know you have some in your stash somewhere! Dig it out and challenge yourself to use it again!) Several other of the MME diecut shapes were used as mats for my photos. The denim one with the bracket shape I fussy cut to create a frame around my favorite pix of my then 2 year old son hiding in the hotel's bathroom cabinet. Also used another oldie but goodie in the form of rub-on alphies. Gotta love mixing the old with the new!

MME: Follow Your Heart

My Mind's Eye has done it again! I honestly adore everything in the new collections! And, yes, most of it has come home with me. The wood plank papers are to die for with their rustic, yet feminine flair. I used these papers as my backgrounds for a layout of my beach weekend with my high school girlfriends last summer. It provided the perfect feel for my beachy layout. The new popular polygon designed papers are another fave of mine. I cut out some of the shapes and pop-dotted them for extra dimension. Two mini albums on the page house other photos that are not as exciting but still important enough to me that I wanted to record them. The albums were cut from more MME papers and bound together with jute and a trinket pin from their collection. My postcard journaling block is actually cut from one of the MME papers too. The gorgeous yellow bling and the other embellishments all also came from these gorgeous line. You have to come in and see it for yourself! But, hurry it is going fast . . . .

Gina A says "Love it! Love it! Love it!"

If you haven't already been in the store to see this month's selection - the incredibly beautiful papers from My Mind's Eye - you should literally drop everything and COME IN NOW! Seriously, I fell in love with each of the lines so it was hard to choose just one for my Design Team Layout. I ended up using the papers and embellishments from the Follow Your Heart line. Oh my, soooo beautiful! I loved using the paper with lines so I could journal right on my page. I also tucked additional journaling behind the focal point picture (Need to learn about adding "hidden journaling" to your layouts? Sign up for my Journaling 101 class!) The rest of the embellishments from the line, including the beautiful buttons (these are not your mother's buttons, ladies!) and some baker's twine, added just the pizazz I needed to finish the 2-page spread. Now I can't wait to create something else with the other lines! Have fun with your own creations, too!
Gina A.

Kim made a cute page for our Design Team wall this month.   I love how she has the banners going sideways up the side of the page.

Dare to Share cards from January's Challenge

Sorry this took me so long to post.  I also missed a few names.  Please email me if I missed you or your name and I will fix this post.  Thanks for all the great inspiration!

Angie Gittles combined some fun patterned papers on this card.  I love the faux sunburst quilting on this card.

Kelly Hooker created this fun stamped card.  I love how she used the hearts as leaves on a flower.

Jane combined a little BasicGrey and a little Pure Innocence equal one adorable card.

I love how Jill Botelier cut the flowers in half and used them to edge her circle.  The subtle versamark heart stamp for the background tied it all together.

Missy Gosson thought outside the box.  The layering of the black scalloped mat and coaster made such a cute hanging piece.

Carolyn Simmons had a similar idea but she used a mini canvas and easel for her lovely creation.

We only had one layout entry but it perfectly captured the theme.  I just love doilies on lauyouts and cards.

New class sneak peek!

Join me Saturday March 24th from 12 - 3 pm for an all new card class!  We will be making all occasion floral cards using a variety of fabulous floral stamps from My Favorite Things.  Here is a sneak peek of one of the cards...

Cindy

Loving the MME!!

What a fabulous pick for Design Team for February...the new lines from My Mind's Eye!  All the paper is yummy and there are a ton of terrific embellishments to go with the lines.  I have 3 cards to share with you...

My first card uses 2 different MME papers and an awesome wood butterfly embellishment from MME.  The stamped quote is from My Favorite Things "Inspired By Butterflies" set.  To alter my wooden butterfly, I rubbed Distress Stain in Barn Door all over it (what an fantastic product!) and spritzed it with homemade pearl spray made from Perfect Pearls and water.  There is a lovely shimmer to it when you see it in person.  I made antennae with twine which I colored with a Copic and finished the butterfly off with some teal rhinestones.  It was a messy but oh so fun card.

I am not so sure it I like my next card, but wanted to share it with you all because I put a lot of work into it.  I used the paper piecing technique and embossed the beautiful Hero Arts poppies stamp onto a MME patterned paper.  I then cut the poppy flowers out and glued them over top of the image which I restamped and colored in the stems with a Copic marker.  The sentiment is from a new Hero Arts set.  This was a time consuming card because of all the cutting, but it was fun to play with a technique that I do not use that often.

My final card for tonight will eventually make its way to Florida because I made it with my mom in mind since red is her favorite color.  I used a piece of MME paper as my background then did a bunch of layering and stamped my Hero Arts image in Black Cherry Staz On ink (my favorite red ink).  Of all the cards I made, this was the easiest because it was simple stamping and layering.

Remember to stop by the Design Team wall when you are shopping to see all of our creations in person!

See you soon,

Cindy

Flower Soft Idea

I just had to take a photo of this calendar page by Ivy Eicher.  Flower Soft is usually used by our card makers but she had a vision of how it would look on this Easter Paper by We R Memory Keepers.  The colors match perfectly and the Flower Soft really made the trees stand out.  

February's Demo Day card and repeat class

Spring, where art thou?  Join me and the rest of the Photo Scraps girls on Saturday February 18th from 11 - 3 for our fabulous Demo Day!  To bring a little touch of Spring to February's Demo Day, we will be making a floral card at my table (with the beautiful Hero Arts stamp Fleurettes) with colors that I feel evoke early Spring - bright pink and green.  These colors make me happy, happy, happy! 

And for those who were unable to attend my last class, I am rerunning it on Saturday February 11th from 12 - 3 pm.  We will have lots of fun Copic coloring, trying out Distress Stains, making background paper with a technique, and creating some great cards.  Seats are already going quickly for this repeat class, so call the store soon to reserve your spot!  Kits are not available for this class due to techniques.  Here are the cards we will be making:

And lastly, be on the lookout for the Photo Scraps Design Team creations using our pick for February...3 fabulous lines from My Mind's Eye.  You have to see these lines in person.  They are gorgeous!

Hope to see you soon!

Cindy