Amy Parker-Design Team member

Hi Everyone!!!! Soo exciting! This is my first post here on Noel Mignon! (I am sooo nervous that I am going to have about a million typos! LOL!) *Ahem* And please have confidence that I can type a sentence without using an exclamation point. :D

So the first thing I will be doing on here is introducing myself! :D I am 26 years old. I am married to my husband Jed, and a SAHM to our almost three year old daughter Creedence, and we just found out recently we are expecting baby number two! We live on the Central Coast of California in the Monterey Peninsula, where is it almost always 60 degrees outside. We have two cats-brother and sister-who's names are Marley and Shiloh.

I do most of my crafting at night when Jed and the Munch are asleep, but as of recent my bedtime has gotten earlier and earlier! I am an avid Chai Tea drinker, make my own at home. And I am probably the worst housewife in the world as I hate cleaning house! :P But at the same time I can't stand someone else doing it for me. LOL! Been working real hard lately to change my habits and giveaway a bunch of our stuff so that things are easier to do around here. I am a collector at heart so going through things can get a little crazy, as not much will make it into the giveaway pile! But that is why I have Jed, he keeps me in check. :D

I got into scrapbooking when my daughter was a couple months old, but I mostly just bought things in the beginning. I think it took me a few months more before I actually finished a project! :P But I have never looked back since! :D

Created using the Noel Mignon Lemonade Stand kit! :D (Only 3 Left!!!)


What are some of your favorite supplies?

I am addicted to my Martha Stewart punches, specifically my Starburst punch, 3-in-1 Butterfly punch and Large Chrysanthemum punch. Punches in general are sooo versatile! That is what I love most about them. I can use the same punch on very different papers and get fantastic results no matter what! :D One other thing I love, that I am actually not so good at using up, are adhesive pearls (mainly Kaisercraft. Prima, and Basic Grey-but I also have quite a bit of K and Company) and trinket stick pins (Maya Road and vintage). I LOVE love love these things! And I try to remember to use them, but I also kinda hoard them. :P But I for sure can not resist them when I see them in the store or when something new comes out, I simply just have to have them! :D


What is one thing about scrapbooking that frustrates you?

I think, honestly, it is probably the same thing that gets us all-not enough time or energy to do all the scrapbooking I would like, and not enough room to store all the stuff that I want! LOL! Yeah I know, I couldn't choose just one! Those two things are so bad for me. I feel like I am always down to the wire with stuff, and always like I have a million piles of stuff on the floor around me. :P If I could just get rid of my need for sleep, and have a room that was about 20 feet by 20 feet filled with shelves and drawers and all that good storage stuff-I would be in absolute heaven. :D Most definitely.


What's the best piece of constructive criticism you have ever received regarding your work?

I have actually received two pieces that tie in together from two different people. The first DT I was ever on, I got a request from the owner to try photographing my work outside. After countless attempts to photograph anything inside, we both quickly realized that it was a much better idea to at least give outside a try. And, to be honest, that was almost just as hard to do for me. :P I was soooo bad with cameras because I really had never worked with one before. I tried so many different spots around our house to find the perfect place to photograph, then after that I tried different times of the day, and different weather conditions. (I have even photographed in the rain! Don't ask, I kinda had no choice at the moment :P) I found that photographing outside provided the ideal light that my camera (and my limited understanding of my camera) needed in order to get a clear in-focus picture, and one that was bright enough to not need much editing to make it so.

And the next piece actually came from my husband. :D I rely upon him quite a lot when it comes to my scrapbooking as he has a better eye for design balance than I do (mainly because he is on the outside of the project, non-biased to the LO). When I first got interested in scrapbooking I looked it up online and quickly stumbled onto a designers blog, and completely fell in love with her work! I showed it to my husband, and he told me that if this is the route I would like to go with my work (documenting memories of course, but for right now pretty much making things for show), then I will need to start designing my LOs a lot differently. I was doing so much detail on my LOs, and filling the page so much that it was almost a joke. There was no way that a camera would be able to capture all of that, and actually quite a bit of the LO would simply get lost in the picture because I had so heavily embellished them. I would need to start designing in such a way that photographed well. I needed to start looking at my LOs from a very different view. From that day on, I create my LOs very differently as I pay close attention to the design and embellishing so as to keep the LO easy on the eyes and appealing at the same time. It often helps me to look at my LO in progress through my camera lens, it helps me to get a better sense of where I might need to add something for balance.


Well that is pretty much me! :D I created the LO above with a little pull out tag so that I could use my blog post here as the journaling! (I will share that LO in full with you another day! :D)


Stay tuned this whole week as the new team will be posting their introductions as well! :D I look forward to reading them all, and learning lots of wonderful things about all the girls! Take care everyone!! And Happy Memorial Day! :D

Jana Eubank - Design Team Coordinator

Hi, Everyone!

All week long we will be introducing you to the NEW Noel Mignon Design Team. You'll get a chance to get to know the new members of the team as well as the returning designers. So let's get started, shall we?! :) Here are a few things about me. :)



A few years ago I was googling on the internet trying to find a set of Melissa Frances Acrylic Stamps. I will forever be grateful for my stamp obsession at that time, because that google search led me to NoelMignon.com. I put the stampset in my cart and then started to browse the shop for other items I might want to throw in with it. I noticed Noel had a Debut Scrapbook Kit up for sale . . . and it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I immediately ordered it . . . and every kit she has made since. :)

I feel honored to have been a part of Noel's design team for the past two and a half years, and even more honored to continue on with such a talented group of designers as the Design Team Coordinator. Noel definitely puts together the BEST kits out there and I am constantly telling her that I am her Forever #1 Fan!



Page created with the Noel Mignon Sonoma County Kit

Who or what inspired you to start scrapbooking?

My mom. She lovingly created memory books for me and my brothers and sister. Not only did she maintain family picture albums, but she also created albums for each of us kids. I remember her MAKING us sit down and write our own journaling each year. We hated doing it at the time, but I am so glad to have those memories in my own words.

There wasn't much in the way of stickers and patterned paper back then, so she would save the wrapping paper from our gifts and cut out the images to decorate our scrapbook pages. When I was in high school, she attended a Creative Memories home party. When she came home and showed me her page, I knew immediately I wanted to begin making my own books.

What are some of your favorite supplies?

LOTS of patterned paper, dimensional alphabets, and buttons. I never seem to get enough of them! I especially love mixing patterned papers from several manufacturers. That is one of the reasons I ADORE Noel's kits. There is so much paper in there! I used to get bored creating with other kits because every page seemed to feel the same. With Noel's kits, I can create page after page with a different feeling every time.

What part of creating a page do you enjoy the most?

I have to say that my very favorite part of working on a page is adding the dimensional details and finishing accents. To me it's like finding those last few pieces to a puzzle that you have been working on for several hours. I love playing with bits and pieces at the end of a project and watching them fit perfectly in place. What a satisfying sensation!

Greetings from Disney World

yep yep!!!! We are on our second day at Disney and right now I am at MGM Studios in Disney watching the Star Wars parade and tribute they have going on. Melana is such a Star Wars fan so I was so excited that this was happening right now. We are hoping to get a few autographs for her :) In particular Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.


This was taken in 2006 when Melana was 2 1/2 and she just couldn't believe her eyes...all she could do was stare at her. :) This year I didn't tell them we were going. So you can imagine the excitement on her face when we drove up.

Anyway here is a quick little idea for you. Instead of buying postcards from the store how about making them yourself.

I don't know about your family but mine love to see my layouts so I decided that I would print a picture of a layout on cardstock(or photo paper) in 4x6 size and adhere it to another piece of cardstock with the traditional post card backing.

Here are a few of the backings of a post card for you:







If you are going to print on photo paper and you have a laminating machine
i would do your postcard and your writing and then laminate it. I did mine on cardstock just because I am cheap and didn't want to waste what few sheets of photo paper I have left. :)

Here is mine:



Before I go I just want to say that I have enjoyed the last few years on this team.
After looooooooooong and hard consideration I decided not to reapply because of personal reasons. I have been having some issues with my 6 year old and I need to get her back on the right track. Exhausting I tell ya.

I will still see ya'll on the boards when I get back on June 7th!

Happy Sunday!

My Week in the Life & a Quick Tip

I have been wanting to record my "week in the life" for a while now, and so I was really excited when this was our new challenge.

"Finally! An opportunity to sit down and actually do this!" I thought.

I must say, once it came time to record it, however, I got a little overwhelmed. I didn't do any research (from some of the other scrappers out there that have done this before) to help me narrow down what and how I would record things... so I went into it thinking, WHAT would best represent a good glimpse at my life right now.

I think "glimpse" is a perfect word for this layout. Does it record every little detail about my week? No way. It would have to be a massive book to do that... but when I look back at this, years from now, I will definitely get a good impression of a little of what my life looked like in May 2010.
(P.S. The challenge is still going on- make sure to join in for a chance at a fun prize!)
Made with the Lemonade Stand Kit - 3 left!!, plus my new obsession... Coredinations Cardstock.

Quick Tip:

I'm sure the awesome stampers that are out there are going to cringe at this picture.

I believe I've mentioned a time or two, stamping is not really my thing. I ADORE how it looks, but I've never quite gotten the hang of remembering to use my stamps.

Perhaps it's because I let my acrylic blocks look like this:
*shudders*

I discovered a really quick fix for cleaning this off, that most of you probably have in your house!

A magic eraser!
It cleans nearly all the ink off, presto chango! (Even the Staz-on!) And I didn't have to go out and buy some fancy cleaning product. :)

Now maybe I'll get to stampin' more on my projects.... :)

Make sure to check back in next week to get to know our new and returning design team members! :)

Happy Firday!!

  Good Morning!  I was supposed to share a layout based on a sketch - but I am changing it up a bit.  I am going to share a my challenge layout.

To do something a little different with the pattern paper I cut a 10x10 (I think) square in the middle of the scalloped paper.  I really like the way it came out - may use the technique again!

The week in the life challenge is a popular one - one that I just couldn't be counted on to use my big camera - so instead I opted to use my iphone.  That way whenever I would remember - usually in the middle of the workday - I would dnap a photo and I was done!  I didn't think too much about it either.  I just took a photo and knew that it would represent something about that day.  From what I wore, to what activites we were doing.

When it came time for a title I didn't want to name it 'a week in the life' so I wnet with first letter for each day of the week, then my sub-title is 'a week in MY life'

I honestly couldn't decide which pattern paper to use so I decided to layer a bunch of them.  I also used my go to technique of folding paper - it is an easy way to add dimension and texture to a layout.

And instead of the traditonal journaling that I like to do I just listed one or two words to describe what was going on.

Hope this was inspirational for you - I know I always like knowing what the ideas behind the design of a page were.  Have a lovvely weekend!

Michelle

Spotlight on...

Deanna Misner (Mill Street Kit)

Jules De Lumen (PlayDate Kit)

Katie Burnett (PlayDate Kit)

Pam Lacy (PlayDate Kit)

Nathalie Kerley (Sonoma County Kit)

Debbie Standard (Seaside Cottage Kit)

A New Challenge This Week!

Only I, Michele Kovack, could screw up this week's challenge! The DT gals scrapped about their typical week......but me, being the teacher I am (we teachers follow directions so well), scrapped about her typical day.....oooops! But in any event, here is my LO for this week's challenge.....using the Lemonade Stand kit! (only 4 left!) I did a bit of Glimmer misting as well. I used some stamps from my stash to create the coffee stain and journaling.

My son and I read every night......he is 13, and we have spent the last two years reading the Harry Potter series. We have about 20 pages left, so I asked him if we would be done reading. You know, because he is 13. His answer was, "No, Mom, I was thinking we could start Lord of the Rings next!" OK......that will take us till he is about 20! LOL!

My life.....nothing too glamorous....but it's mine, and I wouldn't trade the kids, hubby, laundry, dishes....for anything!

Don't forget Noel's newest kit called, Sun-Kissed, goes up for sale June 5th! To see sneaks of this gorgeous kit, click HERE!

one more to share!

first and foremost, i want to say thank you SO much for allowing me to play along with the team this month, i had so much fun!

before i go, i want to share one more layout that i did with this month's kit.
there you have it!
again, thanks so much for allowing me to hang out this month!
have a beautiful day!!
xxo
s

New Challenge & A Scraplift

Today marks the day that a NEW challenge is up on the Noel Mignon Challenge Blog: A Week in the Life Challenge.

This was a lot of fun for me. I love recording everyday moments and this was the perfect avenue for it. I grabbed a bunch of everyday photos that I took on my iPhone and compiled them together on this page.



Page created with the Noel Mignon Lemonade Stand Kit (Only 5 left!).





For this second page, I scraplifted Caroline's cute Playdate Kit page (ScrapperCaz on the message board).

Here is Caroline's page:



And here is my page using the Lemonade Stand kit :



Have a great week!
Jana Eubank

2 Beauty's

I figured I better go ahead and get most (or at least try to get most) of my Disney pics scrapped that were left before we went back. I would hate to be 2 trips behind :)
I ran across this one when i was searching and it cracked me up because we were on day 3 there and this particular day were we eating lunch at Cinderella's Castle. She still could not get over that she was able to meet all the princesses.

Do you have any older photos from past vacations that still need to be scrapped?

Happy Sunday!

Tip & Technique: Painted Embellishment

I have lots of friends named Michelle that inspire me. ;) A couple of them on this team! However, today my inspiration comes from another Michelle that is not a scrapbooker, but is a incredibly talented artist (and one of my best friends!).

She created some little watercolor paintings a few years ago on top of text paper, and that is what I had in mind when I made this little embellishment for my layout.

Start off with a square or rectangle of text paper. I used some October Afternoon paper from the Lemonade Stand kit (5 left!).

Choose several colors of acrylic craft paint. You just need a small drop!

Add a little bit of water to each drop.
Brush on some of the watered down paint on the text paper.

Continue to do this to form your background. You don't have to cover the whole thing!

I wanted to make a happy little flower picture- it's simple enough for me to paint!

If you leave some globs of paint on the picture, it'll dry with some texture.
I cut out another quote from the same paper and adhered it on top, along with embellishing it with one of the rhinestone brads from the kit.
Check out that cool embellishment!



(The background/border of this page is made from the Jenni Bowlin Coredinations cardstock in the Lemonade stand kit. To make it coordinate with the painted embellishment, I used the same paint on the embossed polka dots, and then roughly traced around them with a pen.)