Two New Ways to Mosaic

Normally, my blog only shows the work that I do, but I wanted to share with you two new items Mosaic Moments has created to make page making easier.

First, there is an updated version of the mat … one side looks the same as the one you have.

The other side is designed to cut larger photos without any counting of little squares! Check out the video below to see how they work. (this is by the founder/designer/owner of Mosaic Moments, Tami Potter!)

Then, there is another thing I am so excited about …. the basic die sets (Sets A-E and the die that cuts 1″ squares) are now available in colors!

Color matching has always been used to make it easier to find the right die. If you look at the page patterns, found here, you will see lots of blocks of colors. These match the colors on the packaging for the dies and make it easy to see what dies you need. For example, if I see a blue square, I know that is from the A die set. If I see a pink rectangle, I know to grab die set C.

When I put my dies on magnetic storage sheets, I labeled each set with the coordinating marker color, because the dies themselves were still the natural metal color. Until now …

Now the entire set is available in color! So, the A dies are all blue, the B dies are purple, the C dies are pink and the 1″ square die is green — just like the blocks of color on the page patterns. I am so excited for the new look, since it will make it so much easier for people new to the system to grab the right dies.

The colored dies have a few pros and cons … first, unlike the rest of the dies, the colored ones are NOT made in the US. They come from China. But, because they are made in China, they are much less expensive than the US-made dies. And, because they are made in China, you do not have to snip them apart. (NOTE: The rest of the dies will continue to be made in the US)

The new dies are only available as an entire set. They retail for $179.99. I’m not sure I’ll keep them in stock, but I will take pre-orders for them and include a couple extra dies as a thank you for paying when you order. Shipping in the US will be free for these, as well.

You can learn about the new dies, here … 

The un-colored, made-in-the-US dies will still be available individually. And I have most of them in stock.

So, there you have it … great news of new products that make it easier than ever to create amazing pages using the Mosaic Moments system!

A Jar of Gifts

A friend asked me if I would make up a gift certificate for one of her customers. I wanted to make something really special, so I came up with these …

Aren’t they adorable?!

Here’s how I did them …

I started with the Canning Jars 3D die from Sizzix. I wanted to make a card with the die, rather than just cut out the jar image. So, I folded and scored a card and positioned it with the fold just inside the left side of the jar, like this…

 

Because this is a thick, steel-rule die, it will cut through two pieces of heavy cardstock at the same time, making this completely doable!

Next, I cut out the jar lid out of Ranger’s adhesive-backed foil and attached them to the front of the jar.

The lid is slightly larger than the card, which left a little bit of sticky on the backside. To fix that, I applied a little bit of baby powder to the edges to eliminate the sticky.

I then inked the edges of the jar with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The gift certificate that I made barely fit in the jar so I made a little strip of paper and used the Tiny Attacher to attach the edges to the card. Then, the certificate just slips inside and is held in place. Perfect!

I added a bit of lace from Stampin’ Up to the front with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive. The trick here is to put the dots of glue on the flowers, set it on the cardstock and leave it be for 5 minutes to allow the glue to work. Then, you can flip it over and trim off the edges to fit the jar.

I tied a bit of bakers twine to the front side of the lid and then created a label. I cut cardstock 2″ x 1″ and then rounded the edges.

 

Next, I stamped Just For You (from Stampin’ Up) and two dotted stripes from Tami Potter’s stamp from Impression Obsession.

 

I added a little ink on the edges and adhered them to the lace.

And, it all fits inside of card-sized envelope.

Who wouldn’t want to receive a gift card like this??!!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Scavenger Hunt

This month, the captain of the Mosaic Moments Design Team created a unique and special challenge … she gave us a list of dozens of items to find, photograph and include on a layout showcasing the experience of fall.

I had a wonderful time doing it. I learned a lot about photography, lighting and macro shooting. And, enjoyed several romantic dates with my husband as we watched the sunset at various parks and along country roads searching for the things to photograph.

This year was not a spectacular year for color, but I still managed to get some beautiful fall photos. While I missed some of the reds, oranges and yellows that typically make up fall, I fell in love with the shades of brown and gold found in the fields and farms.

My favorite photo showcases the gold at the end of the rainbow …

This one reminds me to always take my camera along because you never know when you will stumble upon a Kodak moment … it was taken in the parking lot at Home Depot!

To learn more on how I created this page and to see close-ups of the layout, visit my page on Journella, here. Please leave me a comment or cheer me on!

 

Christmas Mosaic

I know it’s months after the holidays, but I’m just getting around to scrapbooking my Christmas photos.

There is a family near me that goes all out for the holidays with blow-up decorations. Over the past 8 years or so, I have watched each holiday as their collection grows and grows. It has become a bit of a tradition to drive by and observe the variety of characters they have. Trust me, they have them all — Pooh, Mickey, Dora, Scooby, The Grinch, Santa, trains, balloons, lighthouses, hippos and more.

This year, I decided to scrapbook them using a mosaic page. I used a 1″ punch by EK Success to cut out the smaller images and Tami Potter’s system for cutting out the rest. I used a bit of creative license to make up the word for the title, but I think it captured the magic. What do you think?

Authentique Love

When I discovered the new lines from Authentique, I fell in love. The company took a few colors and created a plethora of double-sided and quadruple-sided papers that all coordinate beautifully together. Naturally, I was drawn to the yellow collection, which features yellow, black, gray and a few hints of an orange.

But, like everything else in my eclectic personality, I was unable to select just one or two patterns to work with.

So, I opted to use a mosaic paper from Wish in the Wind as a base and then create a graphical page that would allow me to use a majority of the patterns I purchased.

These papers, designed by Tami Potter, come in a variety of colors. Each one has small lines marking the corners at every inch. If you hop over to Tami’s site, you’ll see amazing creations using the grid lines. Generally, I work with mosaic patterns when I use these papers, but this time, I decided to stretch out of the box a bit and use the grid lines to make stripes and rectangles.

It’s very different from what I normally do, but I love the result. Using Tami’s method makes it easy to line everything up and cut it to the right side. I fudged the “rules” a bit by using the space that is normally designated as the border in some portions of the page — and by placing a photo of my husband on an angle on top of everything — to give it a less formal appearance.

I added a few American Crafts brads, a stamp from Wendi Vecchi Studio 490, and Grungeboard letters from Tim Holtz, painted with Ranger’s Adirondack Paint Dabber.

The end result is a page I love, written about a man I love. What could be better?

 

 

Making Mosaics

Don’t you hate it when life gets in the way of paper crafting?!? That seems to be what has happened to me lately … When I am stressed, I have trouble being creative. Thinking is just too hard and I have many more failures than normal, which causes frustration and more stress and, well, it is sort of a downward spiral. Since paper crafting is both my hobby and therapy, I never want it to become a chore.

So, when things aren’t working like they should, I turn to one of my favorites — Mosaics!

OK. You can stop rolling your eyes at me now … these are much easier than they look — if you have the right tools.

Tami Potter is the queen of mosaics. While I have never actually met her in person, I have “followed” her for years.

She makes the process so easy with a cutting mat, paper and guide with grids. An idea book (one of my favorite scrapbooking books of all time) offers tons of examples, suggestions and tips. Here are her directions, via a video on her blog.

Here are closer looks at my pages …

Click on the images for a closer look …

I added sticker letters from The Paper Loft and cardstock from American Crafts for the title and journaling blocks.

Keep in mind that I did these while chatting with my friends and spent absolutely no time planning what would go where. I just figured out which pictures I wanted to cut and started cutting … With a little planning, you can make absolutely amazing mosaics!

And, since Tami’s method is so simple, it’s pretty hard to mess it up, which makes it perfect for therapeutic scrapping.

 

My Life in Pictures

This week’s challenge for Scrap Wars was to create a two-page 12×12 “then and now” layout showing yourself as a baby, at graduation and today.

I loved this idea and immediately thought of photos I wanted to include.  I printed a few and then over the next few days, until I had time to actually sit down and create, all sorts of ideas came to mind.

What I ended up with was a mosaic page (using techniques and papers from Tami Potter) that shows the important events in my life and the people and things that contributed to making me who I am today. I also included some of the things I love — like hot-air balloons, Winnie the Pooh, scrapbooking and chickens.

I used papers by My Mind’s Eye to frame the empty squares along the border and to fill in journaling blocks, the title and extra spaces. And used my Cricut to cut out the title.

When I finished, my daughter looked at it and declared she had never seen so many pictures of me in one place her entire life.

She’s right. Most layouts do not feature me at all. In fact,  I had trouble even finding pictures of her and I together. It seems I spend too much time on the other side of the camera. With a timer and a tripod, there is no reason for that, so my new goal is to make sure I am in some of the photos — with and without my family.

For now, stop by Scrap Tales in Brighton and vote for my layout. I can use all of the votes I can get!