MME The Sweetest Thing

Another hit out of the park for My Mind's Eye with The Sweetest Thing collection! As fast as I was checking the line in, I was planning my layouts.  The first I have created with the Bluebell line for my daughter's photos of the night she received her class ring.  The colors couldn't have worked better with the background in the photos.  I played with lots of patterned papers for this layout!  A slid a less exciting photo, but one I thought was significant enough to include, behind one of my more prominent shots.  Embellishments are always  breeze with MME as they offer plenty to choose from with the stickers, fancy brads, and journaling spots.  American Crafts Thickers made for the perfect title.  One of my favorite little touches is the bling I used instead of the dot over the "i".  If you haven't been in to see the new MME, you are missing the boat!  Hurry in!  It's going fast!

Graphic 45 candy tin

Hi Everyone,

From time to time, we see some amazing creations from our customers.  Today, Kim Jefferson brought in this incredibly detailed candy tin.  She covered the box with Graphic 45 paper.  She said that it took her about 6 hours to make.  The amazing fussy cutting she did added so much depth to this tin.

Check out The Next Iron Crafter from CHA Summer

Here is a link to the event that inspired our Next Iron Crafter Event.  Our Hostess will be Gina Adolph who is a whole lot of fun!

Don't bother studying the challenge because our mystery box will have different contents.

Christmas Cards class repeat - final class

For those who have been unable to get into my Christmas Cards class, I am running it one last time on Saturday September 8th.  We will be making a total of 8 cards in this class (4 of each design) to get you started on your Christmas card making.

Please bring the following Copics to class and make sure to have a pair of sharp, detail scissors.

R29
R89

I look forward to creating with you soon!
Cindy

P.S. Halloween Card class coming on Saturday 9/29.  Stay tuned for samples!

Hexagons and honeycomb

I had a chance to grab some crafting time on Saturday and made 2 cards using our fabulous Design Team pick for August...new lines My Mind's Eye.  If you have not seen the new MME in person, hurry up and come to Photo Scraps to check it out!  The lines are so gorgeous that they make me drool.

Both of my cards use hot trendy patterns, hexagons and honeycomb.  I am seriously in love with the honeycomb paper and hope to carve out some time tonight to make another card with it. Along with the honeycomb paper, I stamped a bee and the sentiment from the matching MME stamp set.  The bees were colored with Copics and once I had my card glued together I used Glossy Accents on the bodies and wings to give them some dimension and shine.

My second card is based on a card that was sent to me by my friend Lynn in Oregon. This card took a painstakingly long time to create, between the cutting out of the hexagons in all the different patterns and then trying to line them up nicely on the card.  The sentiment came from the same MME stamp set that the bee did and I chose that one as a little inside joke to myself because I will not be making a duplicate of this card, so it is truly one of a kind.  The hexagons were cut using a die from My Favorite Things and multiple patterns of MME from The Sweetest Thing 6x6 pad.  One of the perks of MME's 6x6 pads is that the patterns are shrunk down so that you have all the goodness from their 12x12 sheets but with a pattern size that translates well for card making.  A few of the hexagons are popped for dimension, and a little ribbon finishes off the card.



Don't forget to join us for Demo Day on 8/18 and grab some of the beautiful MME while you are in the store!

Cindy

Quick and sweet MME card

This is the first card I've made for the month with the gorgeous new MME papers.  It is a quick but sweet card inspired by a card that I saw on Pinterest.  It is done in the CAS style (clean and simple) which is often a challenge for me because it means minimal layering and minimal embellishing, but I love the fresh and clean look of it. 

The polka dot paper is from MME's All Is Bright collection.  The flower was done with wool-blend felt and Spellbinders dies.  The adorable little sentiment is from our own Lisa Hetrick's Avocado Arts set called Style Borders & Sentiments.  I love love love this set because it has tiny words (which you often need) for every occasion, plus great borders that can also be used as background builders.  I made a gorgeous quatrefoil background (current pattern obsession of mine) last night by repeatedly stamping one of the borders and because her stamps are clear you can do perfect placement.  The little tag that the words are on was cut using a Cuttlebug die.

Remember to stop by the Design Team area of the store not only to pick up the great product that we are featuring each month, but also to see our creations in person!

Take care,
Cindy

August's Demo Day card

Demo Day is quickly approaching...make sure to mark it on your calendars.  Come join us for some creative play time!

We will be making a card at my table using 2 of my favorite stamp sets:  MFT's Inspired By Flowers 4 and The Cat's Pajamas Simply Said.  This card is perfect for many different occasions and I will have all the sentiments on hand from Simply Said so that you can choose what you would like your card to say.

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Cindy

Simply Said set from the Cat's Pajamas:

Oh my...My Mind's Eye!

Have you seen the new MME in the store?  If not, run...don't walk...before it all flies out the door!  We got in several of the new MME collections and they are all fabulous.  The papers are just delicious with in-trend patterns like chevrons and honeycomb, the colors are gorgeous, and they all offer endless possibilites for cards, scrapbook pages, and paper crafting projects.  The embellishment packs are irresistable and the stamps are wonderful too.  Needless to say, the Design Team is using the new MME lines as our spotlight product for the month of August.

Stay tuned to see what we create!
Cindy

Gina A. is Fresh and Easy...

...or at least my new Little Yellow Bicycle Design Team layout is! :-) I just love this new summery line but I really didn't have any summer pictures that inspired me right now so I decided to "FOCUS" (tee!hee!)on the CAMERA THEME papers and embellishments. Not every layout is going to be award winning and this one is definitely a simple, frill-free layout, but I think it turned out cute and the whole thing was done - start to finish! - in 30 minutes! Looking at the LYB camera print paper and the little transparency "polaroid" outlines made me think of the fun of instant cameras before digital cameras. Back then, only a polaroid could capture an instant memory and allow you to see the results within minutes. That gave me the theme for these pages: "Instant Memories" and I quickly gathered a few cute pics of my nieces and nephew and their children. These were all shots I liked for one reason or another but none warranted a full page or spread. So I grouped the pics, put the photos behind the new KaiserCraft Polaroid Frames, added a little cardstock, the polaroid transparencies, and the LYB "Five Favorite Memories" journaling pocket (I LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! that you can change and personalize the banner - something I've done on my own with former LYB pockets but this looks so much more professional) As a final touch I added a couple film strip transparencies to the pocket and wrote my title inside the camera shape from the same transparency packet. (I still have plenty of the travel transparencies leftover from the packet for use on future layouts!) The camera theme is perfect when you want to group some favorite pics that don't otherwise share a theme. Stop in soon to get these papers and put together a layout using some of your own recent favorite pics or maybe even some old polaroids you have laying around. Either way, have fun with this fresh and easy layout! Gina A

Christmas In July class samples

Here are the cards we will be making in my new card class:  Christmas In July (and August too!).  The first session started filling up so quickly that I added another session for those that are ready to get a jump start on their Christmas card making.

Session 1:  Saturday July 21st, 12 - 3 pm

Session 2:  Saturday August 4th, 12 - 3 pm

We will be making a total of 8 cards in this class (2 of each of the 4 designs).  You will need SHARP scissors since we will be doing some cutting for some of these cards.

Please bring the following Copics to class if you own them:
R29
R89

I look forward to creating with you soon!
Cindy

Ocean Getaway

Little Yellow Bicycle's newest release Escape is perfect for any of your summer photos with the bright, fun colors.  The diecut paper served as my base but for the second page I turned the paper twice until the pennants were on the bottom of the page to create balance.  Bo Bunny's Buttercup Double Dot cardstock was used behind the diecut paper and going across the layouts.  From my stash I covered a strip of zigzag chipboard with one of Escape's beautiful papers to run across parts of both pages.  Hand-cut pennants from a variety of the papers plus clouds, sun, and words from the Clear Cuts Acetate Shapes served as embellies.  The FUN-O-METER had to go on my layout because, well, it was just fun!  The Fresh Verse stickers helped create the title on the right page while I used Prima's alphabets for the smaller title on the left side.  *New technique alert!  I stepped out of my comfort zone and actually misted the top photo on each page with Studio Calico's Mister Huey's Opague White.  I couldn't love more how those photos appear to have ocean spray jumping off the picture.  Make your "escape" to Photo Scraps to see another hot summer line!!

NEW: Christmas In July card class

I know it is hard to think Christmas when it is 102 degrees outside, but let's try to do it together.  Join me on Saturday July 21st from 12 - 3 pm for an all new card class:  Christmas In July.  We will be making a total of 8 cards (2 each of 4 designs) help get you started on your Christmas card creating.  Here is a sneak peek of one of the cards.  More samples and a supply list to come soon!

Cindy

My 2nd Demo Day card

Yes, you read my post title correctly!  We will be making 2 different cards at my table for July's Demo Day.  This 2nd card is of the CAS style (clean and simple), using a Memory Box die to form a "window" so that patterned paper can peek out.  Think of all the possibilities with this easy design and dies/punches...an ornament with Christmas paper peeking through, a balloon with birthday paper showing...I could do on and on.

As always, there will be a variety of sentiments on hand for you to choose from.

Cindy

Gina A. got SMASHED in Sweden!

Can't wait for our next SMASH crop - hope you can join me on Saturday, July 21st, 6 p.m. to Midnight for some Smashin' and Scrappin' fun! Looking forward to showing everyone my latest SMASH project... I used the larger purple SMASH book to create a wonderful memory book to commemorate my recent trip to Sweden for my Goddaughter's wedding. Tracy took a few "sneak peek" photos to show you just a tiny bit of this great album. I still have some journaling to add (and might even squeeze in a few more embellies!) before it'll be completely finished but I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the look and I especially LOVE that it took one crop here at the store and a few quick sessions at home to complete the whole thing! As you can see from the pics, or will see when you view the real thing at the crop, this book gave me plenty of room for enlarged photos including 8 x 10's and 5 x 7's plus many 4 x 6's and cropped photos. I actually counted and there are 216 photos displayed throughout the book with another 40-plus tucked into the many envelopes and pockets that are part of the book. This also gave me lots of room for ephemera like the wedding invitation, brochures, business cards, etc. (Be sure to check out the pages about our visit to the ICEBAR... 30 degrees c. and FREEZING but lots of fun!!! I even added a Heidi Swapp Memory File so I could add more pictures to the pages about that cold adventure!) Looking forward to sharing this book with all of you on the 21st and can't wait to see what things YOU'VE been SMASHING since we last cropped together. See you soon and Happy Scrapping!!! Gina A.

My July Demo Day card

Join us for Demo Day on Saturday July 14th from 11 - 4 pm.  We will have lots of great projects for you to create.

Words and quotes are some of my favorite stamps to collect and use.  At my table, we will be using a quote chosen from one of 2 fabulous stamp sets by MFT called Vertical Greetings (or Vertical Greetings II) as the focal point of the card.  I like to call the kinds of quotes in these stamp sets "words of wisdom" or "words of inspiration" and find them very versatile in that you can use them for many different situations.  The quote that I chose for my sample card is great for sympathy, someone going through an illness, or someone going through a rough patch in life (divorce, job loss, etc) and needs their spirits lifted a bit.

I will have both of these fantastic MFT sets at my table so that you can choose the words you would prefer to have on your card.  Each of these sets even comes complete with their own die!

I look forward to creating with you soon!

Cindy