Fantastic Designs...

I was blog hopping and found a fantastic Big Boy Album by Julie Kelley. You can check our her White Mountain Day's Album here on her website

You'll notice she used the Bind It All to bind her album instead of the usual rings! Looks Fantastic! It's a good thing that she likes the Bind It All, because She just got Fantastic news---She's a New Zutter Sister, The design team for Bind It All!
Congrats Julie!!

Getting to know our DT

I thought it was about time we filled everyone in a little bit more on our fantastic designers. So every Monday for the next few weeks I will be featuring one of our Design Team Members.

This week I would like you to meet Gloria...you have seen her fabulous work and blog entries for some time now but did you know she homeschool all her children? Read more below

Designer Bio: My name is Gloria Stengel and I live in Oceanside, CA, a northern suburb of San Diego, with my husband and three homeschooled children. I discovered rubber stamping 18 years ago, and scrapbooking about 12 years ago. Itʼs been a love-affair ever since. I like to explore and create with many mediums, and I really enjoy making hand-made mini albums and altering items to make them into memory keepers. I try to challenge myself to use old products and techniques in new ways, to discover new techniques, and to coordinate various, "non-matching" products in my creations. I have been a paper craft instructor off and on since 1998 and have taught in such venues as homes, scrapbook stores, church basements, and online. I love being part of the MOSD DT - the products are interesting and fun to work with, plus Ali and Christy and the rest of the DT are amazingly talented and so fun to work with!
Here is a pictures of Gloria - so if you bump into her at a scrapbook venue in Southern California you can ask her all the questions you have been dieing to know!

Expressions Build a Book

We've all seen chipboard word minis made by other manufacturers. But all they offer are generic words, like Love, or Family. Not that they aren't nice words, but what if you could do MORE? MOSD has one of the coolest concepts out there - the Expressions Build a Book. You decide what word you want to use and you've got it!

I decided to create a mini that showcases my eldest son's personality at age 11. So guess what? I created a "COLIN" album.



Not only can you customize your album's word, but you can decorate each chipboard page to suit your theme.







I want to add a bit of journaling here and there, but I am thrilled with how it turned out. I think the colorful Prima papers and embellies really matched my son's exuberant personality. I plan on making one for each one of my kids.

So as you can see, the possibilities are endless. What word will you choose?

Want to win some MOSD acrylic Albums?

Well the Awesome Becky Fleck is giving some away!!! Check out her blog for all the details... but it involves using a sketch - of course!

Big Friday Fun

When you tell people you having fun with a Big Boy they sort of look at you funny! Unless they realize you are talking about the MOSD Cover 2 Cover Big Boy Album! As you all know, MOSD is having a guest designer contest involving the Big Boy - and amazing company that they are, they gave the DT albums to play with too! The Big Boy is a 6x12 album with clear covers and 6 chipboard pages.

Here are a few pages to show what I made with mine - a spooky Halloween album! You gotta check out the cover - that spooky word is a wooden word that I picked up at Michaels for $1.99. I painted it and glazed it and messed it up! My spooky ghosts are cut from vellum with a very old Sizzix die! Page two uses the special Becky Fleck Page Map created just for MOSD!

(click on the photos to see them in a larger size)
















I bound my album with the Bind-it-All tool and a black O-wire. Then I tied on lots of yummy ribbons.



- Gloria

Teen Albums

I know that several of us have teenagers that we like to scrapbook about, that's if they let us take any photos, lol! I used the 6 X 6 hip to be square album to create an album about my oldest son and his love for hot rods. I love this size because it gives me just enough space to add embellishments to my photos. I really like the way this turned out & my teenager thought it was pretty cool too!

It's Hip to be Square

So MOSD has an awesome 6x6 Cover to Cover album called Hip to be Square. I had so much fun working on this. I had recently gotten some of Teresa Collin's Christmas paper and they are PERFECT for these albums.


These albums are so much fun to work with. 6x6 is a fun size and sooooo easy with these papers. I already have one Christmas gift done! Woohoo!!

~Shannon

Stick ons with a side of Bling...

Love the Stick ons! The flourishes are perfect for just about any layout and the fun addition of a little bling to accent the flourishes :) what could be better?
I love the fact that I don't have to worry about little bits and pieces flaking off like regular rubons and they are a whole lot easier to apply to your projects! Check with your local retailer and ask them to stock the MOSD Stick On's

Acrylics and Alcohol inks

Ever wonder how to hide your adhesives on an acrylic album? I think that is a question that haunts all of us. Well, I accidentally stumbled upon a solution...alcohol inks!! I was working on my Clearly Designed Square Album and using some clear glue adhesive that was not so clear. I thought, "Oh no!!!"...then I tried a few dabs of alcohol ink where the boo boo occurred...and viola! The mistake is hidden (or just blends in with the inks!)



Do you have any fun tips for covering up mistakes? Share them here!!

Have a great week...and remember...it's ok to make mistakes! Sometimes the best things have been discovered that way!

~Shannon

Word Album Tip

Today I thought I would share with you a neat little trick that I discovered when working with the word albums. Sometimes when you are using a word that has six to seven letters the letters can get a little pushed together once you cut the first few, plus I sometimes goof up my cuts! To make my last couple of letters a little longer so that I would have more of a staggering effect & to give me a little more room I adhered the leftover chipboard that I cut from the first letters to the last letters. Just overlap the chipboard a little and then adhere. Once you cover them with patterned paper you will never be able to tell! Just a little trick I thought I would share!

Arrg Matey! Pirate Fun!

I love MOSD clear albums, and the Clearly Designed Easel Album is just pure fun! I love how subsequent pages peek through the clear pages. I love that you can treat the clear pages as if they were mini windows. I love that you can ADD pages to the album!

The Easel Album comes with 3 rings for binding, two 5 X 7 clear covers/stands, and four 4 X 6 clear inner pages. (Additional pages sold separately.) I added some chipboard pages in various sizes to my album, to make it unique! (I also used metal rings for my album, since I added extra pages the rings that came with the album were too small. )

This album highlights an adventure my kids had last September at our local harbor. They even got to sail out on the ocean on the ship! How fun is that?! Oh, and check out the "found" items I used on my cover - keys, coins, beads, leather cording, etc.












I used some of the new Teresa Collins travel line, plus some old K&Company papers I had in my stash. I also found some of the Making Memories metal trim hiding in a bin in my scrap room, which I distressed with ink and paint. This was such a fun project, going back to my vintage/collage roots as a scrapbooker, but with a NEW twist - acrylic pages!

Photography credit for this album goes to my very best girlfriend, Sandy Conroy. As well as props for taking my kids on this adventure while I was in Europe with my husband!

- Gloria

Spook Tacular!

It's time to start thinking about that boo-ti-ful time of year! Halloween! The gals over at Lickity Split Scrapbooks have this awesome class Using what we call the "style" album. Designed by Shannon of KISS Crop and Shop this Album has it all - clear covers, various chipboard pages and the cutest cardstock, papers, tags and ribbons ever!

Want to take this class? Check out a CK convention near you!

Midweek Madness

I've been doing a lot of reflecting this week. You see, a scrapper I knew was killed in a car accident on her way to work. She was my age, 41, and had 2 kids ages 3 & 7.
Obviously, this is a tremendous tragedy for her family. Her children will grow up without their mom. As awful as this is, there is something positive to this story.
Through her pictures and pages, a part of her will remain alive. She created a legacy for her kids, who will be able to look back and see how much she loved them.
Are you in many pictures? Or are you like me, always the photographer? My husband occasionally offers to get my picture with the kids, but I usually decline, thinking I look too heavy or don't have make up on. So what's my message today? Get in the picture. Tell your stories. Don't worry if it isn't perfect. Oh, and give your family an extra hug and tell them you love them.

Contest update

Another Contest Design.... this one is from our friend Jen over at Celestial Creations! Thanks Jen! Just 14 more days to get your contest entries in! Keep creating everyone!

Stick Ons - There not just for Paper Crafts!

As a mother of two I am always picking up stray socks and pajama's off my childrens' bedroom floor. It makes me CRAZY! Can I say that again - it makes me CRAZY! I have been on a long quest to find a solution to this problem. So this weekend I created one of these for each of my kids:





Now I can hear you saying - 'you poor naive woman' - how is a cute laundry basket going to get clothes up off the floor. My reply - 'it probably won't - for long' but hey they are cuter than plain ones, my girls love them, and it is working right now. And the baskets give me a place to put the folded clothes before the girls get them put away - and that gets them off MY bed. Baby steps....I am all about baby steps. Besides they cost me less than 10 dollars a piece (3.50 for the basket 5.00 for the Stick Ons).

My point to all of this is not to bring you into my laundry woes - but rather to show you that Stick Ons are for so much more than scrapbooking and paper crafts. You can decorate laundry baskets, walls, cell phones, toys, lunch boxes - anything you can image. OH - and did you know we will make custom Stick Ons - contact your local retailer or find one in our retail locator and ask about getting your child's name or nickname!

Happy Washing!

Greetings!

This past Monday was my hubby's birthday. I had his present, but sat looking for a card and came up empty. Then I decided to make one.



I used the awesome MOSD stick ons together to make my greeting! I left them plain because there was already a lot of stuff going on with the rest of the card. It was quick and easy (but don't tell my hubby...he thinks it took hours! LOL).

So the next time you are without a card...MOSD is here to help you in a pinch!!

~Shannon

Tip for Journal Bits

I have to admit, when we released the Journal Bits Stick Ons, I was less than thrilled. Journaling helpers really are not my thing... I can never get it all lined up, my writing is too long, etc. Perhaps you feel the same way? Well, fret no more because I have a solution for you! Practice using vellum!

I layed the vellum over my Journaling Bit before I attached it to my page.

I wrote out what I wanted to sayusing pencil... But It was too big....

So I moved the vellum and tried again... this time I got a perfect fit!

Now I have the vellum as a guide. So I attached my Journaling Bit to my paper, used a black pen and wrote my journaling without any problems!

I have a whole new attitude toward the Journaling Bits!

I LOVE THEM!!!

California Dreamin'

I live in coastal southern California, the land of "always summer." However, California is a BIG state, so here is a mini album to show some of the faces of CA.

This is a MOSD Clearly Designed Step Album. The album comes with 3 black, plastic rings and 8 clear pages that vary in size from 4X 5 inches to 7.5 x 5 inches. The pages form steps, with the smallest page acting as the front cover and the largest as the back cover.

My favorite technique to use on the clear pages, is to stamp on the acrylic. I used Jet Black Staz-On ink and an Autumn Leaves stamp for the cover. I then put a piece of double-sided paper through my Xyron 510 to make the FRONT of the paper sticky. I then attached this to the clear page. No adhesive shows and now the back of the page is another pattern of the double-sided paper! This technique also makes the clear page feel like you are looking through a window; the stamp on the clear acrylic with the paper on the other side of the acrylic gives the project depth without a lot of bulk.

Another technique I like to use, is attaching rub-ons directly onto my photos. This is an easy way to add some interest to a photo.
(to see larger images, click on the photos)














I used the Scenic Route Grafton papers and LOTS of stickers and rub-ons.

- Gloria