"I Believe" it's a "Holly Jolly" time of year...

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I am glad you took a few minutes to stop by. If you came as a part of the My Mind's Eye Blog HOP... I hope you are having fun! If you just happened to come by my blog and check it out... THANKS! I am thinking though that you may want to go back to the beginning (MY MIND"S EYE BLOG) and follow it through as My Mind's Eye is giving away some fabulous prizes including the Holly Jolly Collection, the "I Believe" Collection and my personal favourite "Union Square"! If you are already paying along, you would have joined me from the super fabulous Karen Grunberg:)

You need to start at the beginning and collect a secret word from EACH blog along the way. You will end up with 12 words that form a secret phrase:) Then, email Amber at amber@mymindseye.com with all 12 words for your chance to win! You have until next Wednesday so there is plenty of time to play along! Winners will be announced Thursday:)

The other way to win is to leave a bit of love at as many stops along the way as you can! The more comments you leave, the greater your chances of winning as we will randomly draw a winner from all comments posted to all blog posts:) Pretty cool, eh?

So... let's get started! It's no secret the My Mind's Eye continually outdoes themselves with each new release. Just when I think it can't possibly get any better, they WOW me again and again! I guess that is why I feel so very blessed to be a part of the My Mind's Eye Design Team and have no plans of ever changing that! It's great being with a small core group of ladies and we all work so well together with diverse types of style. The AMAZING monthly guest designers continue to amaze me and it is an honour to be alongside of such amazing talent. I consider myself extremely blessed!

Choosing a FAVOURITE project from this past year is tough! I have plenty that are favourites for many reasons so I thought I would share with you a project that was originally for My Mind's Eye classes that I taught at various stores and events near and far! First up, in honour of my current FAVOURITE line: UNION SQUARE (and it just happens to be one of the giveaways!).

I created this layout as one of my "RELEASING THE ARTISTE WITHIN" classes and it is to serves as reminder to us to "Remember to LOVE and TREASURE the ever so sweet journey". As scrappers, we sometimes put a lot of expectations on ourselves to get every picture scrapped or to have to create masterpieces each and every time. Well, that should not be the case! This is a hobby and sometimes letting go of the "rules" is good for the creative soul!

It's not a race to the finish line. EVERY page you get scrapped, is one more than the person down the street that has not got their memories preserved. With that in mind, it allows you the freedom to once in awhile put a little bit of extra time into that really special layout... like this one!

I created my own CUSTOM title by cutting out individual words from other embellishments and piecing them together to get the message I wanted and still have it match the layout.

I took it even further and mounted the main photo on a chipboard book cover that could lift open to reveal a space for an additional photo and journaling (that I have not yet gotten too... hehehehee! YUP! I am human! LOL!)

I cut and layered additional papers, overlapping in spots and I am happy with the end result!

Play with your papers and cherish the hobby that has brought so many of us closer together. I hope my family will treasure these projects as much as I do but if not... that is OKAY! Truthfully, I scrapbook the way I do for me! It fuels my creative spirit and allows me to express myself in a creative way. I could just put my pics in an old manilla scrapbook with some notes beside the photos, as my grandmother did and it would be cherished by future generations just as much... I guarantee it! But when My Mind's Eye creates such AMAZING papers and embellishments, I am pretty certain I will continue to play in my scrapbooking studio for many, many years to come!

Okay... I am rambling... but let me show you one other project, perfect for this time of year using the Union Square Collection!

I had the privilege of being a Guest Designer for Provo Craft's CRICUT CIRCLE this week so using my Cricut Expression machine and these lovely papers, I created this fun Gift Card Enclosure.

I created a festive holiday card using non traditional papers and I think the end result was pretty cool!

See the little pocket below... perfectly sized for a gift card...

So there you have it and in case you did not figure out my not- so-secret word... it is " AND" (my little gift to you;)

From here, you will hop on over to my very dear friend, the one and only and super fabulous VICKI BOUTIN. I am sure she has a treasure for you too! Hope you are having fun!!!

Remember to leave a comment for your bonus chance to win and from my family to yours, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

(((HUGS)))

Tis the Season...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The lights are hung outside, the decorating inside has begun and I am even contemplating baking in the near future! If you know me, you KNOW I am not the baker type anymore... although I try, my energies seem to be spent in other areas. BUT my boys LOVE it so I am going to pick up a few ingredients and spend some good times with my boys as we cook up some festive treats!

Anyways, I have managed to get several gifts and will pick up some more this week. I even started cards this year! And yes... I will actually put them in the mail too! LOL! I have been designing like a mad woman as over at Graphic 45 we have a blog hop going on with Coredinations... there are some really cool creations so be sure to keep an eye on BOTH blogs for some fabulous eye candy!

And I have a really fun announcement! March 4-6, 2011 it has been confirmed that I will be joining the lovely ladies at Scrapalicious Inc in Mississauga, ON for a fabulous Weekend to Unwind event! I have some terrific classes planned and as always I come armed with a tonne of prizes! I really hope you will check out the link HERE and join me for one, two or even ALL six classes:) There are very limited spaces available so if you are interested, I wouldn't delay in signing up! I am currently waiting on the brand new releases from Prima, My Mind's Eye, Tattered Angels, 7 Gypsies, Teresa Collins and Graphic 45 and as soon as I am able, I will give you the sneak peeks you are wanting!

There are some other events being planned for the new year and as those dates are confirmed, I will let you know and hopefully you will be able to join me:) Anyways, for now, I will run (those Christmas cards I started have to be finished today hopefully so I had better get cracking!)

Happy Scrapping and I hope you are enjoying the holiday season thus far!