Happy Sunday!!

Hey all you MOSD blog readers!! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend! We are off to the zoo shortly. Of course I am packing my camera! I think I probably have about a MILLION or so zoo pictures, but there's always room for just a few more, right?

The same is true for many places that we go. We are big fans of museums, art centers, etc. We try to go at each exhibit change. The kids get a sense of culture and they don't even know it because it is disguised as fun stuff! Ha! Got em!! Here is a recent trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum...



They have a comic book exhibit and we are HUGE comic fans. So when I saw this, I immediately thought of the MOSD Stick Ons!! Dont' they make great captions?

Well, the children are calling and my camera is charged! Have a great weekend and keep on scrapping!!

~Shannon

Filigree Fun

I had the pleasure of going to a local crop and actually scrapbooking last night. I usually go and set up my store, so just scrapping was wonderful. My 3 bugs scrapped with me - which was fun! I really have to "let go" and allow them to create in their own way, lol. My youngest colored a picture of a dinosaur in his coloring book and proceeded to use every glue dot and white flower I brought with me... But this is how he scrapbooks and I love it!

The girls pick out patterned paper and proceed to glue as many pictures to a page as they can - then decorate with flowers, buttons, stickers. Barely any of the paper shows - but I don't mind! I love the creative freedom going on. (Not to mention the overuse of my button stash, lol)

So, I have a few hours to create and just "be". I dig through my packet of pictures and find a beautiful one from 2005 of my husband and children at Disneyland. I wanted to keep it simple and I did not want printed backround paper to distract from the picture - so I decided to use The Filigree Intricacy. I am very happy with how the overall page turned out. This one is not for my scrapbook, but rather for my clipboard on the wall by the front door. Some scrapbook pages are too beautiful to close up in a book, and the Filigree Intricacy deserves to be on display.

Friday Fun with Sketches

As you may know, I love a sketch. What you may not know is that I like to create sketches as well as use them. So, I have created a special, never before seen sketch just for the MOSD blog!



Here is the LO I made from my sketch.




Notice I used some of the new MOSD Stick-Ons (the arrow and the sunburst) on my LO. The orange "paper lace" was cut with my Cricut and the Graphically Speaking cartridge. Since making your own "paper lace" is not an option for many of you, I know you will all be looking forward to the new Intricacies that MOSD will soon have available!

Now here is the really great news...if you use my sketch in a layout, link your creation to the comments section here, and one lucky winner will receive a dandy prize from me!

As always, HAVE FUN!

- Gloria

Had so much Fun last night!

Last night Alison and I had the pleasure of being the Guest Chatters at 2 Croppin Cousinz. We talked all about our newest album the Big Boy --- the one that is featured in our contest... we talked all about the Intricacies and we chatted a little about how Ali and I came to be in business together - that is a GREAT Story!... but I woke up this morning and I was like... DANG I forgot to ask THEM ( the cool 2CC chicks) about the product I found so awesome at their site!!!!

So - Alison if you are reading this stop now - because I am about to promote another stores product - it is NOT an MOSD product and ... well Just stop and go back to designing US cool stuff... Everyone else - KEEP READING!!!

I am saturated up to my eye balls in scrapp stuff - I look at kits, tools, adhesives all day every day until my eyes are watering from the strain. It is a rare occasion any of these items make me want to spend money - I have too much stuff already... so, I went to 2 Croppin Cousins to "check it out" before the chat and they had something I actually want to buy! That is sooo rare - and it's the product I forgot to ask them all about!

I know all you trendy gals may not think these are all that - but I do: RIBBON JARS!

They have a different jar every month - I am in LOVE and I am about to go SHOPPING, lol. Head on over to 2 Croppin Cousinz --- they also have some MOSD stuff!!! Wanna join me and Shop a little too???

Here, there & everywhere...

It's hip to be Square!

Remember that song by Huey Lewis & the News?

Well, I've had that song in my head while I've been working on my latest project, the Hip to be Squre mini album by MOSD. It features two acrylic covers and six chipboard inner pages, all sized 6x6 with rounded corners.
While it's not quite finished yet, I couldn't resist sharing some peeks with you!

Check out the circle on the cover page. And that cute little submarine...
They are MOSD's latest brainstorm - Stick Ons!

The tag attached to the cover is another MOSD acrylic tag.

Now that summer is over, get busy scrapping all your here, there, and everywhere pictures with one of these hip little albums!

Just around the corner...

Fall, glorious Fall, abundant with crisp air, apple harvest, crunchy colorful leaves, sweet candy corn and spooktacular fun during Halloween! So I decided to cook up a little Spooky Ghouly fun with the Expressions Build a Word Book letters! Who says you have to use the letters for a mini album?????

The letters were covered with Making Memories Halloween Collection from 2007 and then I got adventurous and took a candle flame to the edges and burned them. It is a little smoky so I'd either do this outside or in a well ventilated area. It's a great fun wreath to usher in the spooky season to come! You can enlarge the pics by clicking on each one individually--I'd love to see what Out of the Box ways you have used the Expressions Build a Book Letter~ Just link it back here on this blog post!

!! Guest Designer Search !!

We have been hinting at it for quite awhile and the day is finally Here!!! Today, August 25th, kicks off the first ever MOSD Guest Designer Search! We have teamed up with the awesomely talented Becky Fleck of Page Maps and the ever generous with their time and postings people over at Pub Calls! Dust off your Mo Jo and scrap up some goodies!

The Guest Designer Search pack looks like this:

Each pack contains the Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs Cover to Cover Big Boy Album, an exclusive combination of Stick Ons (they're like rub ons - only better!), and the awesome "Half Map" designed just for this occasion from Page Maps.

*Contest is open to residents of the USA only. Winner will recieve a prize pack of MOSD product as well as a spot as a Mod Squad Guest Designer for November 2008. The Retailer where the winner purchased the Contest Pack will win a prize pack of MOSD products.

* Contest runs August 25th through September 30, 2008 and all entries need to be received through Pub Calls by Midnight in your time zone on or before September 30th.

* Decorate up the Big Boy Album any way you'd like. You must use the enclosed sketch for inspiration on a least 1 of the pages. Using the Stick Ons is encouraged, but not required.

* After you are all done decorating, snap some high quality pictures and email your submission to: pubcalls@gmail.com with the subject line of: MOSD DT CONTEST.
In the body of the email please include: Name, Address, Phone Number, Email and the name of the store where your Contest Pack was purchased. Be sure to show as much of the album as possible, and mention specifically the page(s) inspired by the sketch.

So where can you get these awesome Packs???

Easy! Visit these fine retailers:

Addicted Scrappers

Cara Miller Designs

The Scrapbookers Bag

Friend Scraps

Remember When Creations

Celestial Creations

Serendipity

A Time for Memories

If you have any questions please contact the MOSD Contest Coordinators:shannon@mosdinc.com or christy@mosdinc.com

Yet another BIG announcement...

is coming tomorrow! (Ha! Got ya!! LOL). Make sure to check out Pub Calls Blog and this blog for more information!!! Want a hint??

It has something to do with Becky Fleck, our new Cover to Cover BIG BOY 6x12 album and a challenge for YOU!!!

Are you loving the new 6x12 style of scrapping? Do you love acrylic albums? Do you love page maps??? Stay tuned! Details will be posted tomorrow!!!

~Shannon

BIG HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT....

I love it when I get to make a new announcement - it just makes my day!

I'll let you in on a little secret that even our Design Team doesn't know (well at least until they read this)! The reason they don't know is because the ink is still drying on the contract!

For Immediate Release:

Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs, Inc.
purchases
Monday Morning Memories!!!

You read that correctly! MOSD has acquired MMM along with all products rights and their Owner/Chief Designer Suzy Molen - okay okay - you don't purchase/acquire a person - BUT Suzy will be joining the MOSD team as our Director of Innovative Design. MMM has some fantastic products - their / our (love that) Intricacies are to die for! You can check them out here and here.
Here are a couple of pictures to wet your whistle:

AND if you are a retailer you can even have Suzy design exclusive or custom Intricacies for your store's classes, kits, or even for open stock.

Between Suzy, Christy, our Design Team, and me - we have a lot of new product ideas under development that we can't wait to share with you - in time...

Friday Card Fun

The MOSD Stick-Ons are a fun product to use for card making. I used the monograms and the tag stick-ons on these cards.

For the first three samples, I simply placed my Stick-On onto the white cardstock, then used my brayer to add ink all across the page AND the Stick-On. I used a baby wipe to remove the ink from the monogram. Since the monogram is black, the ink did not stain. I used a Kaleidoscope ink pad, from ColorBox. It creates some fun effects. The brown one looks like leather! The Stick-On on the pink card is coated with Stickles glitter glue! Up close, it rocks!

For the other cards, I simply add the Stick-On directly to patterned paper. I also stamped on the tag Stick-On with Staz-On ink.

I made these cards in no time. They make great personalized stationery sets and can be given as a gift. Have fun playing!

- Gloria

Pets and Scrapbooking

Most people who know me also know that I love animals. We have six cats and two dogs, so you can see the proof! Since my pets are a big part of my life I love to scrapbook them. I also like to be able to share their photos with my friends and family, and have found a MOSD item that is perfect for this. I used the clearly petite album and made an album about my pets. Now I can take it with me wherever I go. So, I have a little challenge for you. Post links to any mini-albums you have made about your pets and I will draw a random name for a RAK from MOSD. Can't wait to see your albums!

Midweek Madness 8/20/08

Hey there scrappers! How's your week going so far?
I hope you're all getting ready for the EXCITING contest that MOSD will be having soon. You won't want to miss it!

Today I wanted to talk a bit about some tools I consider must haves when I make a mini album.
Doing any job is so much easier when you have the right tools! Here are a few things you might consider adding if you don't have them yet...

A craft knife: This is a must for working with shaped chipboard. like our Expressions word books, you need this. Once you've adhered your paper, you need one of these babies to trim around edges or to remove the excess paper from the inside of a letter. I love the Fiskars finger tip craft knife.

A sanding implement: Once you've trimmed excess paper from chipboard, you can sand off any remaining loose bits. An emery board works great. My favorite is the Basic Grey Precision file set. It comes with a variety of sized files to get in all the little nooks and crannies with ease.

A Crop-a-dile: This baby can punch through anything, especially acrylic! Use these to create your own openings to bind our acrylic albums.

A tool to apply rubons: I have a confession. Rub-ons used to be very hit or miss for me. Since I've purchased a good tool, I'm adding rub-ons everywhere. Lose the popsicle stick!

A Xyron sticker maker: these come in many sizes, so consider how you'll use it. Some are big enough to run Expressions word book letters through. How easy would it be to add paper with that baby? Even the small "x-box" size is useful for ribbon and small embellishments.

A Slick Writer: these markers by American Crafts write on everything, including acrylic. Use them to doodle, journal, or even outline the edges of acrylic pages.

So that's my must have list - what's on yours?

Creating Keepsakes Convention FUN with MOSD!

I had the pleasure of spending Saturday at the Lickety Split Scrapbooking Booth at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Charlotte NC, teaching a fabulous BOO wordbook that was designed by the talented folks at Lickety Split Scrapbooking. The booth was packed all day and the make and takes were SOLD OUT on Friday and Saturday!!! The BOO word book was a fabulous project using the Expressions Build a Book and acrylic covers from Midnight Oil.

Lickety Split creates some amazing album kits using the MOSD product line--so go check them out

http://www.licketysplitscrapbooks.com/

If you are headed to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in your area make sure you look for this fantastic make n take!

Now to share a few fun pics

Me and Setma,owner of Lickety Split Scrapbooking :)

Thanks for having me!

A fun group of Ladies completing the Make N Take at the

booth!

Did you know....

I recently participated in a discussion regarding scrapbook products and the concept of 'greening'. ie: buying, making, or 'consuming' scrapbook products that are made from post consumer waste - ie: recycled. By the end of the discussion the general consensus was that it was a good concept - but the designs and product still need to be marketable - consumers still need to like the product or design enough to buy it. The discussion also turned to the fact that so many products are made in China and right now the U.S. economy is struggling and wouldn't it be nice if more products were made in the U.S.A.
We were pretty pleased with this discussion! Here at MOSD we are proud to report that all of our products are 95% made in the U.S.A. and all of our chipboard is made of recycled materials. Why do I say 95% made in the U.S.A.? Because we pride ourselves in Honesty and Integrity and I haven't been able to confirm that the little black rings we include in our albums were made in the U.S.A. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that all of our products are cut, assembled, printed, and packaged right here in the U.S.A. - Maryland and California if you want to be specific. I'll let you know when I find out about those little black rings. But we are PROUD PROUD PROUD to be able to use these symbols on our packaging....

Picto Grams

Have you seen them? These are an awesome new product that MOSD has come up with! Currently Picto-Grams come in 5 different styles - perfect for your aspiring police officer, firefighter, or farm boy...like my little guy shown above. They are available in different colors as well. And like other stick on collections, you can alter them with a variety of materials.

~Shannon

Scrap That Gift!

One of my favorite thngs to do is share my talent... I LOVE to make gifts using up my scrap stuff! This is a perpetual Birthday Calendar I made using the Cover to Cover Tabbed Album.





Because this album has 6 inner pages it is PERFECT for this type of gift... the front of page 1 is January and the back is February and it continues through all 12 months.





Today I challenge you o Scrap A Gift!!!





Some Tips and Tricks I used on this album....





*Brown Staz-on ink on the edges of the clear covers.


* I made an "extra" page out of patterned paper by tracing the cover onto the paper. I cut two and glued them together back to back for stability. This is what I put the title "Birthdays" on.


*I just used paper to mat the inner chipboard pages - I left them "chipboard" and inked the edges - this made the project go FAST - but since the paper matched the brown tones of the chipboard I could "get away" with it.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Friday Fun with Page Maps!

MOSD is so excited to to announce that Becky Fleck of Page Maps has designed an exclusive sketch for our upcoming contest. (Oops, almost spilled the beans!) Keep your eyes peeled here, at Page Maps (http://www.pagemaps.com/), and at Pub Calls (http://www.pubcalls.blogspot.com/) for all the details - coming soon!

Because I am a HUGE fan of Becky's maps, I purchased her new book, Scrapbook Page Maps: Sketches for Creative Layouts. (Awesome book!) The book comes with a bunch of 3.5x5.5, sturdy cards which show each sketch. The cards come with a small cardstock box so that you can take your cards to crops - or out shopping for supplies. Well, I decided that I wanted to bind my cards together so I would not lose them. And, sadly, the box is not big enough to accommodate a binding method. So this is what I came up with!

I used the MOSD Clearly Designed Accordion Album - just the covers, which are 4x6. I used a sanding block to round the corners of the album covers, to match the rounded corners of the Page Maps cards. I then decorated the clear covers with the Page Maps "logo" and some paint, rub-ons, and other goodies. Isn't it yummy?!

I then used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in the tops of my cards. I used a tab punch to make tabs to divide each layout type. Then I bound it all together with metal binding rings. (The cool black rings that came with my Clearly Designed Accordion Album were too small for this job!) I did not add ribbon, since the cards are printed on both sides and I needed for them to be able to swing freely on the binding ring.

Now I have cool "mini book" of Page Maps cards to take with me to crops or to use at my scrap desk. And the icing on the cake? It stands up on the table! The clear covers are 4x6, so are a tad bigger than the cards, which makes this into a great easel book!

Another plus - I still have the other two pages of my Clearly Designed Accordion Album to use for another project!

And, as the fun continues...we have a WINNER from last Friday's blog give away! Blogger #5 was chosen by my teen-age son, so Lauri send me your address and we'll get those Stackers out to you! Email to stengelgloria at gmail dot com.

Lauri said...
LOVE you LO's :) Cute pics!!
August 9, 2008 3:38 PM

As always, HAVE FUN!

- Gloria

Join Us For A Chat!

Would you like to talk to the owners of Midnight Oil and learn more about the company, the designers, and the fabulous new products that are in the works? Well, you can! On Wednesday, August 27th Midnight Oil will be having a chat at 2CroppinCousinz at 8pm eastern. There will be games and prizes so you don't want to miss it. Can't wait to see you there!

Acrylic & Adhesive

Happy Wednesday to you!
Today I wanted to talk about a sticky situation. Adhesive. I often see posts on message boards that ask how to adhere pictures and embellishments to acrylic pages.
My personal preference is good old Adtech adhesive. Not only is it inexpensive, but it seldom shows through my pages (provided I'm not heavy handed with it).
Choice B for me is glue dots. They do show through and need disguising on the back side of the page. These are great for larger embellishments.
Choice C is my Xyron sticker maker. This works wonderfully for paper strips and ribbon.
Many people like liquid adhesive that dries clear. Some examples are Ki Gloo, Zip Dry and Diamond Glaze. I tend not to be very patient, so I don't like waiting for glue to dry. But if you don't mind waiting, these are terrific options, especially for bulkier embellishments.
Still others prefer to use Spray adhesive, but you must use it in a well ventilated area. Since this is not an option for me, I've never tried it.
Do you have a product you love to use on your acrylic pages? We'd love to hear about it!
Have a great week everyone!

A little winged love

One of the fun things I've learned while making mini albums is you can do so much to them that's really not feasible on a 12x12 album page--I love to go OFF the page--large embellies with dimension--like the wings I cut here with my Silhouette. The wings were cut from bazzill cardstock using a TTF font from scrapnfonts. They cut great :) and are sooo much fun when they are layered in varied sizes. They are perfect on this Take Along Album by Midnight Oil!

Another great thing for mini books is all these fantastic journaling notebooks--like the noteworthy journaling notebooks by Making Memories--I used the notebook pages as the "backgrounds" on this album-it added a fun touch along with some pink polka dots that I made with a Krylon Paint pen. Not to mention the fact that finding and using an Awesome Monthly kit can really make your mini album come together soooo quickly because all the fantastic goodies have already been coordinated for you, this one came from the Fantastic www.addictedscrappers.com

4 days till Charlotte Creating Keepsakes Convention! Be sure and Stop by the Lickety Split booth to do an awesome Make n Take with a Fantastic Chipboard and Acrylic BOO album by Midnight Oil!! I'll be there from 11-5 on Saturday:)

MOSD is very excited today!!!! We are getting the ball rooling for a VERY COOL contest.... I can't tell you much more except that exclusive items are going to be available through these Partner Retailers..... stay tuned blog fans!

1. Addicted Scrappers
www.addictedscrappers.com


2. A Time For Memories
www.atimeformemories.com

3. The Scrapbookers Bag
www.scrapbookersbag.com

4. Celestial Creations $ Scrapbook Suplies, Inc
www.celestialscrapbooksupplies.com

5. Cara Miller Designs
www.caramiller.com


6. Friend Scraps
www.friendscraps.com

7. Remember When Creations
www.rwctc.com

8. Serendipity
(No website)
19 South Main Street
Henderson KY 42420

Another Eye Spy Sunday...

This Sunday I am super excited to share a blog with you... Kristy's Custom Creations !! Check out her blog for a beautiful MOSD wordbook she has done! So cute!!! If you are planning to attend the Branson Autumn Days in September...make sure to check her out!!




Word books are so popular right now and MOSD has so many options to choose from. After attending CHA Summer, I had the chance first hand to check out some of the various forms of wordbooks and honestly, MOSD offers more options and is less costly than some of the other systems. So make sure to check em out like Kristy did!! You'll be glad you did!

~Shannon

Oh a Cropping I will go!!!

Happy Saturday Every One!!! Today is a good day for me... I have the pleasure of getting together once a month with a great group of women for a crop. I co-host the event with my Creative Memories Rep and we have decided to start a fun new program - the Diva for the Day. If you pre-register for the event you get put into a drawing for "Diva of the Day" -- one of the things you win as the Crop Diva is a corny little layout I whipped up ---

So the lighting is not too great - it's almost midnight - normally I would scan it --- but the Stickles are wet - I seriously just whipped it up, lol... but I digress...

Here is a close up - I used stickles behind the printing on the transparency to "glue" it to the sparkly layout - I think I happen to be brilliant! It's hard to see because it's the Stardust Stickles - just trust me, I'm brilliant!

This corny little layout uses the Toddler Girl Topper ( hey go post on Friday Fun - you might win the whole Collection!) , with a black overlay. When retailers order from us they get to choose from colored or black on most collections - how cool is that???

And just as Gloria said yesterday ( he he - still today for me at this very moment) the Toddler Collections are VERSITILE and can be used for older kids too!

Want to see an AWESOME layout using the color topper? Ok, here is one designed by Suzy Molen of Monday Morning Memories:

A much better example of how a layout should be done --- but I bet Suzy didn't whip her's up at 11;30 pm... signing off for today - I'm off to pack for my crop!

Fun Friday Stacker Give-away!

For our Friday Fun this week I wanted to show you the Toddler Boy Stacker Collection. I've used the Edger for my youngest son's layout (he was about 3.5 in these photos - check out his hair!); and I've used the Topper for the photos of my 16 year old playing Guitar Hero. You can see that this collection is NOT just for little boys - my older son is 6 feet tall - nothin' little about him any more!

The stacker collections are easy to use and come in lots of fun colors. I used the lime green and teal colors with some cool Basic Grey and Crate Paper pattern papers to create two fun layouts of my silly boys.

Post some "blog love" and you will have a chance to win either the Toddler Boy or the Toddler Girl Stacker Collections. See the MOSD website to check them out. http://www.mosdinc.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6&zenid=fa1504b81502b5c14ae3117cde8c1dca

As always - HAVE FUN!

- Gloria

Photo Pages for Wordbooks!

My topic for today's post is photo pages. I'm always trying to think of new things to try with my MOSD mini-albums, and words books are no exception. One of the techniques that I love best is to actually use a photo for the entire letter. Just position your photo behind the letter to make sure that you can move it around for the best view before cutting it out. Once you have your desired position for the photo just trim around the letter and adhere! I love the way this looks & also like to mix colored and black and white photos also. Try it!

Midweek Madness 8/6/08

Acrylic - it's not just for mini albums. Do you have a page leftover from an acrylic mini? How about using it as a base for a quick and easy altered project!
This is a fridge magnet I created using an acrylic square:



Here's how I did it.

1.Apply a red frame MOSD Stick On to the front of the acrylic.
2.Cut a square or strips of patterned paper sized to fill / mat the inside of the frame.
3.Adhere a photo onto the paper.
4.Apply patterned paper to the back of the square. (This gives it extra depth.) Use the backside of the stick ons to hide adhesive.
5.Add embellishments and a sentiment to the front side as desired.
6.Adhere magnetic tape to to back of the acrylic.

Easy peasy and a fun way to get some art onto your fridge or file cabinet at work.

Happy Tuesday!

Hi everyone. Hope everyone is having a fantastic day! I wanted to talk about some resources for Mini Album Mojo :) That's right some great books, websites etc to help you design a mini album.

I just recently bought the Simple Scrapbooks Mini Albums In an Evening--it's a great resource for design ideas, displaying your mini albums and 52 mini album projects!

You can pick it up a your fave LSS!

Another great resource for Mini albums is

http://www.scrapbook-crazy.com/

Tremendous resources available for designing and creating

Gorgeous Mini Albums! Step by Step tutorials & hundreds of ideas.

Hope you have a fantastic week!!

Veronica