Well, hello, CK friends! This is Amber Packer. I am the Design Team lead, blog coordinator, newsletter editor, and editorial contact for My Mind’s Eye. I sure am lucky, aren’t I!?
Hopefully you are almost done with the prep work and are ready to settle in and enjoy the upcoming holiday. I don’t know about you, but I am determined to NOT be up wrapping gifts at 2:00 a.m. OR, like last year, working on a layout. I am the mom of two darling boys who believe in Santa so Christmas morning is really fun for us.
As a scrapbooker, I want to somehow convey the feeling of the day in my layouts, actually capture the moment. Last year, I found myself asking the boys to “stop” in action (like I did in the picture of them running into the room in the following layout) or saying “do it again” while I adjusted my camera settings. This year, I am going to think ahead to what moments I really want to capture when taking pictures on the big day. The photo planner shared on this blog earlier this week will be a great help!
Now you know my secret. I hope you’ll giggle at me like I do when you look at this layout. I used the Holly Jolly collection from My Mind’s Eye with a dash of Lost and Found – Union Square.
When you want to add a little visual interest, but do not want to add a lot of bulk, cut a shape out of paper and trim just inside to create an outline (as I did with the red bracket). This helps pull your eye to the photos but does not distract from them.
I used my Crop-A-Dile tool to punch holes in the chipboard letter pieces and added jump rings to them so that I could string them from the red tinsel.
Notice the small bracket on the top and bottom of the horizontal picture? They used to be a die-cut title – that is, until I cut the title apart and used it as an additional anchor to the pictures. It also directs your eye from the “Christmas” part of the title towards “morning”.
I like a lot of layers, but not a lot of bulk. I also like to add my journaling in fun places so you’ll notice that I created a journaling border around the horizontal picture.
Do you receive the My Mind’s Eye monthly newsletter? Each month we include projects that are relevant to the time of year, sneak peeks of things to come on our blog, a sketch, and giveaway! I thought you might enjoy seeing a few pages from our December 2010 newsletter.
Guess what!? I have a fun giveaway just for CK blog readers! My Mind’s Eye would like to give one CK blog reader their choice of either our Holly Jolly or I Believe collection. Are you interested? All you have to do is sign up for the My Mind’s Eye newsletter and leave a comment letting us know you have signed up on this blog post by January 2, 2011. If you already receive the newsletter, just leave a comment here saying you already receive it. Easy, right!?
May your days be merry and bright!
Amber Packer
P.S. Are you looking for another way to win? Visit the My Mind’s Eye blog in the next few days and join in the fun of the holiday blog hop. MME is giving away the Holly Jolly, I Believe and Lost & Found – Union Square collections!