Making Memories

Meet Cindy Ferguson

Making Memories is full of talented design team members. Cindy is no exception. She is a papercutting genius.  I was so impressed when I saw her work so I thought it would be fun to post it on the Making Memories’ blog.

Her love for papercutting began when she saw some papercutting art at her grandparent’s farm in Germany. She gave it a try and has been doing it since.

Cindy gets her inspiration from books and stories that she reads. These stories help her to visualize the project in her mind. Then Cindy sketches them in her notebook or on the back of origami paper before she begins. She cuts with a craft knife and a self-healing mat. She does not use a glass mat because it is too slippery for her delicate cutting.

Her artwork takes anywhere from two hours to three days.  Cindy’s tip for anyone who is interested in trying this is to have LOTS of sharp blades. She goes through 3-5 blades for an 8 1/2 x 11” project.

Cindy started this in September of 1996 and created a blog to showcase her work. Check out her blog to see more of her work.

Cindy works on the product design team at Making Memories. She has been working on new lines that will be released this fall.

Australia Scrappers!

Which scrapbooking magazines in Australia do you like best? Which ones do you read?

Paperie is Now Shipping

I love the Paperie collection and I love it even more now because it just started shipping.

Look for beautiful papers (including double sided, flocked, varnished, and die-cut), journaling books, alpha stickers, shimmer alpha stickers, dimensional stickers, brad combos, clips, blossoms & buttons, embossed albums, and trims.

Making Memories' Paperie collection comes in four color families including (see below) mocha, greenhouse, poolside, and rouge.

 

   

For more ideas using the Paperie collection, visit Making Memories' idea gallery.

Tara's Inspiration

Hi. My name is Tara. I am a product designer at Making Memories which means I get to help create all the fabulous Making Memories' products that you love including Paperie, Fa La La, and Spellbound.The rest of the lines I am working on will be released later this year. Be exited!

As a graphic designer I have been taught to look and observe things that the everyday person may not notice. Since I’ve been working for Making Memories, I have become even more in tune with the tiny details in the world around me. These tiny details turn into inspiration. Inspiration is so important to me because it helps create "strokes of genius" that turn into beautiful products for you to enjoy. 

When you are in need of a little inspiration, try the following:

1. Head to the store - Pay attention to the colors and pattens that are used in fabric. Are there patterns or color combos that you like? See how these fabrics are used in the fashions around you.

 

2. Take in some culture - Last week the Making Memories' design team went to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts to see the Monet to Picasso exhibit. The colors and brush strokes and energy in the paintings and sculptures were so inspiring, I will be looking back at those images and memories for months. Next time you are out enjoying an exhibit, look more closely. You will be surprised how easily you can be inspired.

3. Send a greeting card -Every time I am in the grocery store I head to the greeting card isle for inspiration. I love looking at beautiful greeting cards because they inspire me. Next time you look at greeting cards pay attention to the fonts they use to see if you get inspired. 

I just shared what I do to get inspiration when I need it the most. Now it is your turn to share. What do you do to find inspiration?

Music Designer Challenge - Week Four

The final music designer challenge takes total inspiration from a song to create a new layout. Sometimes a song speaks to us in such a way, we could think; "I should do a scrapbook page about that". Some songs cause us to look into ourselves with their beautiful lyrics while others might make us grateful that we're not in the same situation as the singer/songwriter. Ultimately, songs tell stories - which is exactly what we try to do with scrapbooking in preserving stories.

I have a story - it's more a secret than a story, but when I first heard this song a few years ago, I knew exactly what my "dirty little secret" was! Yes, this refers to the song "Dirty Little Secret" by The All American Rejects. I LOVE to read and once I get into a book, I CAN NOT put it down. I have to finish it and everything else goes on the back burner. I take books with me everywhere. I don't think a lot of people realize just how much time there is to read at a red light!

What songs speak to you? Is there one that makes you reflect your life, or admit something that might be less than stellar? Here is your challenge to create a page with that song in mind.

This layout was created using Making Memories' Paperie papers and brads from Greenhouse and Rouge, and Making Memories' 5th Avenue Sophia papers and embellishments.

Joey

Guest Designer Tiffany Ervin

Today we are excited to have Tiffany Ervin as Making Memories guest designer. Tiffany is using the Making Memories' Paperie collection in rouge for her layout.

When I saw the Paperie Collection, the first thing that came to my mind was a lot of bold, yet very delicate, gentle colors, the pink for me is all about femininity, the red is rich in tone. These two colors make a very powerful statement. To me, these colors reflect how I view women today -their femininity, intelligence, hard work, and every day strive. Women possess strengths of both colors, strong, yet gentle when they need to be.

Whenever I start a layout I always look at my cardstock first and determine which pieces I will use before I choose my photo. In most cases, I like my photo colors to match my papers.  Whether it's the clothing the person is wearing to any object in the photo that closely resembles the color of my paper.  Since the Making Memories Paperie collection has that perfect touch of femininity,  I wanted to use a pretty photo of my mom to go with it.

The theme for this layout is, "What is beauty?" Beauty is many things, it is however you envision it through your eyes and your heart, do you see beauty on the outside, the inside, or do you feel beauty from both? From people, to objects, to your environment, where does beauty take you and how do you define it? Taking the photo of my mom and putting it together with the Paperie Collection gave me enlightenment as how I view the definition of beauty, simply HER. She is beauty in every way.

Thanks Tiffany for sharing your work with us.

 

Guest Designer Sasha Holloway

Today we are happy to have Sasha as Making Memories' guest designer. Sasha is using the Paperie collection in poolside.

 

Circles are a great element to add to a scrapbooking layout. For this layout, Sasha first cut various circles and strips of paper from Making Memories' Paperie collection. She did this before she knew what she wanted the layout to look like. This helps her to be more creative and stretch her imagination.

This layout is of Sasha and her kids. Sasha and her husband are both in the Air Force so when either of them are deployed, her kids have a beautiful layout to look at instead of a plain photo. It helps her kids know how much she loves them.

Thanks Sasha for sharing your layout with us.

Guest Designers Anne-Marie Teo

Making Memories’ Paperie collection comes in four wonderful color pallets - rouge, mocha, greenside and poolside. This week we have asked three guest designers and one Making Memories designer to create a page with each color family. Today, our guest designer is Anne-Marie Teo from Switzerland.

When I saw Making Memories' Paperie collection, I knew exactly the layout I wanted to create. I love the browns and creams of the mocha line. It has such a classy, vintage feel to it. Instead of going with a traditional layout design, I wanted to make it a little more ‘fun’ and ‘funky’. Paper tearing, inking and placing the photos and elements in a slant are some of the techniques I used to achieve this.

I used the solid background of Making Memories' Paperie geometric mocha paper so the photos would 'pop' off the page. I also used the flocked brocade paper to create a border and accented it with a little bow (using the Paperie trims) and an epoxy clip to add interest and texture to a plain background.

At the center of the layout, I layered toile and floral paper from the Paperie mocha collection and a journaling note. I also cut out floral accents from the toile paper. For the title, I used a mixture of Making Memories Paperie alpha and alpha shimmer stickers. The journaling strips were printed using my home printer. Lastly, I added dimensional stickers and a pebble brad as accents.

Thanks Anne-Marie for sharing your layout with us. Check back tomorrow to see the poolside color pallet in use. 

Education Week - Slice

Today I'm going to share with you one of my favorite ways to use Making Memories Slice Cordless Design Cutter. While I do love to cut out the shapes and letters for my projects, I also love to use the negative space that you get after cutting. For this layout, I used the circle from the Basic Shapes design card. I have been addicted to using circles on my layouts for a while now, and this gave me a whole new way to use them.

I started by taking a scalloped edged sheet of white cardstock, and used the Making Memories Slice to cut three large circles along one side. I then used my Paper Piercer to punch small holes all around each circle. I attached the entire sheet to my blue cardstock using thick pop-dots, which gave it the raised look with tons of dimension. Then I had fun filling all three circles with a variety of Making Memories Epoxy Buttons, glue dotting each one onto the blue cardstock background.

I also decided to use the large circles that I had cut with the Slice. So now I have both the positive and the negative on my layout. Because they were white and I was adhering them to white, I ran them through an embossing folder to give them a little texture. I finished it off with chipboard letters from Making Memories' Animal Crackers collection, string, staples, and my journaling.

Laura

To learn more about the Slice visit whyslice.com

Questions for YOU!!

We want your feedback. Answer the following questions by leaving a comment on this post.

When you buy a Making Memories Style Program (like Animal Crackers, Noteworthy, 5th Avenue, etc.) how many pages to you make with it? Do you typically make one spread or a book? Do you buy the Making memories style programs for a specific purpose or project? What do you do?

Also, when you buy a Making Memories page kit, how many pages do you typically make with it?

Making Memories would love to hear from you. Oh course we will make it worth your while. We will pick one lucky winner to receive the style program of their choice. That's right! You pick it and we'll ship it right to your door.

Let us know your thoughts!