Stuck on Stick-ons!

You know the best part about stick-ons? It's that you can use them in so many ways. for this layout, I used only the outside ring of the stick on to make a fun title block (or circle) for my layout.

The Thanksgiving Stacker Collection

I hope everyone has recovered from the Big Dinner and the massive shopping day! I spent "Black Friday" here at home with the laundry and a house full of kids. I did sneek away to create a simple layout using our * New* Thanksgiving Stacker Collection .

This was from Thanksgiving 2006 - I was the hostess and cooked my very first Thanksgiving Dinner! I had plenty of direction from my Mom and help where it counted most from my Husband. There was no way on earth I was reaching in that bird and pulling out the innards.

This collection is available to retailers and will be sent to our talented designers in December! Keep checking for more great ideas using the Thanksgiving Collection!

I am Thankful For...

I have a great many things for which to be thankful this year, as I do every year. And this year I wanted a place to journal all my thoughts and feelings about the past year. I wanted a place to journal my gratitude to the Lord for blessing me with this life and this family and this talent. All things come from Him, and I feel that truth very deeply this year.

So, when I saw the MOSD Cover to Cover Steps Album, I had a fantastic idea for a way to use my artistic talent, my abundant supplies, and my love of stories to create a treasure. This album has two 5.5x7.5 clear covers, and eight chipboard pages from 5.5x4 to 5.5x7.5. There are lots of places for me to journal my thoughts, feelings, and stories. This album is NOT for photos...it's just for words. Which is great...since I always have a LOT to say!


I also used a number of hybrid products in this album: transparencies and clear stickers printed from my computer (with thanks to Heidi Swapp and Rhonna Ferrar), cardstock journaling blocks, plus lots of stamps, tags, bits of ribbon, and odds and ends. I continue on my mission to "use up my stash" and you can see that this album uses a ton of product!

As you can see, I bound this album with my Bind-it-All tool and a black O-wire. The Bind-it-All is a wonderful companion product to the MOSD albums!

Now, to find my favorite journaling pens and get to work filling this creative journal with my thoughts! Thanks for looking!

- Gloria

Butterflies!

I'm sure we've all noticed a surge of butterflies in scrapbooking. Well, Midnight Oil is no exception. We also love butterflies, and have created an intracacy to show it! I used the lavender butterfly intracacy to create this layout of my daughter and one of her friends. Be sure and check out all of the other wonderful intracacies we have to offer!

Happy Autumn!

As the last of the fall leaves are blown and bagged off my lawn, I can't help but feel a bit wistful.
Autumn has always been my favorite season and I take tons of pictures. These shots of my son are some of my favorites. Is there anything better than jumping in the leaves?






This page together very quickly, using some fall colored papers and a MOSD Monogram for my title. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

Holiday Wishes

I'm such a packrat--I've been trying to think of a scrappy way to save all the Christmas Cards from last year..so they have set in a pile on my kitchen desk area for a year. Yes, a whole year. Well I finally got some inspiration to create a Holiday Wishes Card holder album. It's super simple. I'll warn you now though the pics I took were not that great--we haven't seen the sun around here in a few days so the lighting isn't wonderful, but hopefully you'll get the idea even with the pic problems.

Holiday Wishes Card keeper Album

You'll need a 6x12 Big Boy album
Your fun favorite Christmas Patterned Paper stash
bull nose clips
ribbon, tulle, fabric
embellishments
adhesives

I'm a huge fan of daisy d's so all of my papers came from the Mistletoe collection from last year.
I covered each page of the album with patterned paper--sanded and inked the edges after they were covered. I decorated the front cover with the same patterned paper and the die cut's that were included in the Mistletoe Daisy D's paper crafting kit. I also used the treading water punch from Fiskars to make the scalloped edges. I Loooove this punch!
Once you have all the pages created--I chose not to embellish the interior pages--simply because they will have all the gorgeous Christmas Cards from 2007 tucked inside. I seperated my cards into categories, but you don't have too. Friends, family, coworkers, my daughters cards, etc. Then I started using the ribbon, fabric, tulle and clips to attach the cards to the front and back of each album page.
It went super fast and the great thing is the cards can be taken out in years to come to enjoy all over again since they aren't glued down!

It's a fun and fast project and a great way to keep those cards and memories of years past!



Edited to Add:
to attach the cards to each page I stacked the cards on the album page and wrapped ribbon around the entire page. This allowed me to hold cards on both sides of the album. On the pages that I used the bull nose clips from the office supply store, I took the cards and lined them up on the edge of the page or at the bottom of the page and clipped them on. Then I tied ribbon on the clip ends for decoration. I added ohter pics showing one with the ribbon ties

I am Thankful

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. I wanted to take time in this post to say thanks - to everyone - regardless of where you live.

Here are a few things I am thankful for around MOSD:
1 - A wonderful business partner Christy...I couldn't ask for a better partner in this adventure
2 - A fantastic design team, Shannon, Marcie, Debbie, Veronica, and Gloria...these ladies are the heart and soul of MOSD. This blog wouldn't be possible without them, nor would so many other aspects of MOSD.
3 - Our truly talented designer Suzy Molen...her talent for product design is remarkable
4 - Our production specialist Cathy...without her you wouldn't be able to get your hands on any of our products
5 - Our retailers - WOW what a great group of business owners. Thanks for your support, ideas, and partnerships
6 - Our consumers - thanks for believing in our products, seeing our potential, and of course buying our stuff so we stay in business

Here are a few things I am personally thankful for:
1 - My wonderful and understanding husband of almost 12 years
2 - My beautiful, smart, and talented Children (hey I am Mom of course I can say that!)
3 - My faith
4 - My Country
5 - our military serving in all parts of the world, protecting our freedoms and furthering democracy for those that can't do it for themselves
6 - my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins for their support
7 - being able to celebrate another year with grace and appreciation for all that we have

So to everyone reading this - THANK YOU - I truly am grateful
-Ali

Add a little whimsy...

Intracacies can be used in so many ways. Here is one way to be a little whimsical and fun...



I cut out a tree trunk and then trimmed around a flower intracacy so that it was circular and resembles the top of a tree. I then highlighted the tree with different colors and textures of flowers. Add a fun background paper and some patterned paper grass and viola...a fun memory that you can look back on for years to come.

~Shannon

Winner Search!

Howed all you faithful blog readers out there! I was hoping you could help me out... the scrapping world is no different than any other so I'm hoping for some of the 7 degrees of seperation magic to work... here is what I need:

I have a prize pack for Krista Hannah for her mommy moments album seen on this post:

Mommy Moments

I also have a prize pack for Christy Wright for her Smile album seen on this post: SMILE

Because we ran the contest in a new and innovative way - there were some cracks and not having contact info for all the entrants is a major crack --- so I am hoping ya'll can help out!

If you Know Krista or Christy - have them contact me at my mosd email address --- christy @ mosdinc. com. I really want to get them their goodies!

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM

When I saw the Transportation Intricacies and Stick-Ons, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them! Create this little mini book for my nephew!

I used my Cricut Expressions to cut out the title "Built Tough" (Graphically Speaking cartridge) and then attached it to the clear cover of a Hip 2 Be Square album.

I used the Adventure Monogram Stacker on the reverse side of the clear cover. Then I placed the Transportation Intricacies on the first chipboard page of the album. (The letters were cut using the Cricut Expression and Schoolbook cartridge.) A few of the Intricacies were pop-dotted to give added dimension. As you can see, I was digging into my Basic Grey paper stash again! Let me assure you, I have LOTS more!

Each page of the album has definitions and Stick-On pictograms. I copied the definitions out of my trusty dictionary and printed them out onto cardstock, using a newsprint font. All the letters for the vehicles were cut using the Crictut, but you could simply use letter stickers.

Here are a few close ups.

The last page contains a poem about transportation.

Here is the top view.

I kept this book very simple with all the focus on the pictures and definitions. This 6x6 album will make a cute gift for any little boy who loves things that go ZOOM!

- Gloria

Snow Time Album!

As I was sitting here at my kitchen table watching some fat snowflakes fall to the ground, I was reminded of a snow album I had done for MOSD using the easel album. This was one of my very favorite albums! I loved the way the glittery snowflakes, gems, transparencies, and snow photos all worked so well against the acrylic pages. It was just a perfect match! So be sure to take some snow photos this season and use an acrylic album to showcase them.

Adding Detail with Intricacies

I am in love with MOSD's Intricacies! I trimmed an 11 x11 sized floral Intricacy to create a border for this layout. The flowers were perfect for these pictures with the purple clematis in the background. I also added a Ballet Stick On in purple and my girlie ballet page was complete!

Wanna win an Intricacy of your choice, along with a custom Word album and a variety of our acrylic albums? Check out the current challenge at Dreamgirls challenge blog. There are TWO prize packages available!

A little bit of snow to share

Winter is on it's way here for sure! Super cold, wind blowing and snow showers. It's a little early here in the South here for it to start--but I love it. Get's me in the holiday spirit!

Speaking of snowflakes and holiday spirit--these ornaments were super easy to make.

You'll need the following to make the ornaments

Clear Glass ornaments (buy at the local craft store's)
Paint
Clear glaze glitter paint or white school glue thinned down with water
Glitter, fine and coarse glitter.
paper cups
Snowflake stick on's


How To:
To do the Silver and Blue ornament
Take the ornament ball and the glitter glaze or the thinned out white glue and pour about 1-2 tsps inside. Swirl around making sure to coat the entire ornament completely. Then turn the ornament upside down in a paper cup for the excess to drain out. Don't leave it for long or it will dry completely. Once drained, take the coarse gliter and pour 1-2 tsp's inside the ornament and shake it around to coat the ornament. Add more glitter if you have blank areas. Let dry for a couple of hours. Put the ornament cap back on.
Now it's time to pick out the snowflakes from the snowflake stick on sheet. I found out that the snowflakes with skinny spindles actually applied better to the curved surface. Rub them on completely. TA DA! You have a gorgeous snowflake ornament!

To do the Pink multi paint ornament

Take pink paint and pour a small amount about 1 tsp in the ornament swirl around. Let drain over a paper cup. Come back in about 10-15 minutes and pour your second color of paint in the ornament ball. Swirl around again. Let drain into the paper cup.Take your fine cut glitter and swirl around in the ornament, some will show heavily and some will not. Wait another 10 minutes and then pour in your third color of paint. Let drain over a paper cup for a couple of hours. I used pink, light pink and white paint on the example. Don't get impatient when adding in the second and third colors of paint, if added too quickly the colors can become muddy. Put the ornament cap back on. Then you're ready to apply the snowflake stick on's.
You could add further embellishments with ribbon, a little bling, some christmas floral mini picks(those are super cheap this time of year)
These would make great gifts for the kids to help make for grandparents, teachers and friends. Just be sure to watch the younger ones, these ornaments are glass and will break. Or another great gift idea would be to make a complete set of ornaments for a terrific present. The ornament sets are usually sold in a set of 6 and can be purchased using one of those great 40% or 50% coupons.

Happy Holidays and Happy Scrapping!
Veronica

Calling all DIY'ers

First let me say thanks to Kim Guymon over at Scrapbiz for giving me the idea for this post! Give credit where credit is due right!!!!

Did you know that even the Associated Press is writing about DIY'ers and handmade gifts this year? You can read their article here. The gist of the article is two fold. First with the meltdown of the economy many crafters see handmade as a quality alternative to spending big bucks on store bought items. The second 'fold' is simply that many crafters have a rebellious spirit when it comes to in your face consumerism. They have pledged to go handmade this year as to NOT line the pockets of the big box store corporations.

So with all this in mind and all the fantastic ideas our MOD Squad has been posting on the blog....what are you plans for this holiday season? Using peoples surnames (that would be their last name - lol) in art is a hot trend item right now. What about using an expressions wordbook to make a wall hanging like Shannon did here.


Here are some other ideas that leap to mind: (many of these have been posted on the blog - so I challenge you to go dig through the old posts to find them!!!)

1 - Sets of handmade cards
2 - Recipe book or tin
3 - Christmas ornaments
4 - Candle holders
5 - Wind glass charms
6 - Wreaths
7 - Perpetual Calendars/birthday/important date reminders
8 - Journals
9 - 10 reasons why we love....grandma, grandpa, dad, mom, uncle, friend, dog, cat
10 - And of course - scrapbooks!

If you have made other items or have ideas using MOSD products please post a comment and or a link - you just might get some blog love!

Now go start checking those names off the holiday list!

Holiday gift giving...

Want an easy gift idea? Try this!! With a simple glass votive cup, I placed our awesome Snowflake Stick-ons around them and viola! Instant gift!!
Please note...stick-ons may take a bit of patience when placed on a curved surface, but they are great for adhering to most surfaces and glass is one of them!!